Living inside a book

    I remember when Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall won last year's Man Booker prize, Adèle said it would have the consequence of boosting sales of large handbags as you'd certainly need something capacious to carry it around!

    I'm in Mantel mode again now, having just finished Fludd (which is absolutely marvellous) and then - unusually for me - going immediately to buy another of her books to follow on with. As the Wolf Hall sequel is still some time off, I chose the enormous, 880-page A Place of Greater Safety. No large handbag required for this one, though, as I've got it on the Kindle and can carry it anywhere without walking lopsidedly and straining my shoulder.

    In the introduction to this epic of the French Revolution, Hilary Mantel says "I have tried to write a novel that gives the reader scope to change opinions, change sympathies: a book that one can think and live inside". As the little progress bar at the bottom of the screen tells me that after one evening I have read a mere 5% of the text, it looks as though I shall be living in it for quite some time - and that's a cheering thought, don't you think? I mean, if the book suits the reader, it's a pleasure prolonged to stay with it for a lengthy period.