As I mentioned over here, I paid a visit to The Mainstreet Trading Company today but was rushed through the bookshop by my family as they pointed out reasonably enough that (a) we were short of time, and (b) I had most of the shop's stock already ... anyway, I managed to get a snap of one of the fiction displays, and partially proving their second point, if you click the following titles you'll find posts which cover them in one way or another - Rook, Burnt Norton, After Flodden, Warpaint, The Bone Season.
More importantly, though, I picked up a leaflet about something which I thought was very interesting, and that is a new book group called Reading for Hope which will meet monthly at the shop beginning in October. It is for "anyone who is going through difficult times and is searching for new hope and meaning in life. The idea behind the group is that, through reading and talking about books which themselves try to find hope in the midst of difficulty, we might find some new ways of understanding and coping with some of life's challenges."
The group's first book will be The Music Room by William Fiennes (which coincidentally I bought in that very shop), and it's an inspired choice, I think, and a wonderful piece of writing which I summed up thus: "Lucid, restrained, accepting, tender - that's the mood of the piece, and it gives much to savour. If you're drawn to contemplative writing and to understated poignancy, then this essentially sad but ultimately uplifting book should touch and impress you, and will undoubtedly make you think."
The Music Room was one of my non-fiction books of the year last year, as was Will Schwalbe's The End of Your Life Book Club, another book which would help in difficult times. Can you offer any more ideas for 'therapeutic reading', or as the new group coins it, reading for hope? It would be good to hear your suggestions if you have any.
What a lovely and interesting display of books! I very much enjoyed Burnt Norton and loved Rook but I also enjoyed The Sea Sisters. With a storyline of a young woman going in search of the truth about her sister's death in (I think) Bali, it sounds a bit like a number of other books but I thought it was rather better than many.
I have just finished a book called Clay by Melissa Harrison and was so taken with it that I thought it might be one you would be interested in too. Set around a small park in south London it has a small but fascinating cast of characters and is one of the most beautifully observed books I have read in a long time. Melissa Harrison is as observant of nature in unusual places as she is of people and I ended up torn between keeping turning the pages because I wanted to know what was going to happen and reading as slowly as possible to make it last because it is only a slight book. It is fair to say that I won't forget Clay or its characters in a hurry so if a copy crosses your path, please do give it a try.
(I can't remember where I heard of it or why I put a note of the title in my notebook, but I am very glad I did)
Posted by: LizF | 03 September 2013 at 11:28 AM
Clay has been on my radar since it came out so I'm very glad to get your warm recommendation, Liz. Looking forward to Burnt Norton, too.
Posted by: Cornflower | 03 September 2013 at 10:13 PM