... to see that I haven't posted here for almost a month. Life has been busy - in a good way - and I've done little reading, though that's certainly not due to any lack of interest in current books.
On a trip to Suffolk last week I took Eleanor Farjeon's The Little Bookroom which was a gift from a kind friend. It is quite delightful and has kept me fully absorbed, even on flights*. It's a collection of Miss Farjeon's stories chosen by herself and illustrated by the wonderful Edward Ardizzone, and what I love about it - apart from the typically expressive drawings and the imaginative trajectory of the tales - is the tone and the spirit of the book: it's fun and uplifting, light and brisk and breezy, and the stories have a joy to them which draws me back like a magnet.
While away we went to Sutton Hoo, the Anglo-Saxon royal burial site. Although the grave goods themselves are now in The British Museum, there's an informative exhibition to see, the burial mounds themselves to view, and you can tour a few of the rooms in the home of Mrs. Edith Pretty, the landowner at whose instigation the dig took place. On the back of this visit I bought The Dig by John Preston, a novel about the excavation which I have long had on my wish list, and which a friend who was with us at the site warmly recommended. Here's the blurb:
"Summer, 1939. While Britain is busy preparing for war, on farmland around Sutton Hoo House in sleepy Suffolk Mrs. Pretty has asked local archaeologist Basil Brown to excavate the enormous earth mounds on her land. And what Basil finds proves earth-shattering. His discovery brings an invasion of academics and busybodies from London. Each wants to run the dig and no one wants Basil or Mrs. Pretty around. Peggy, newly married to her university teacher, surprises everyone by making the first discovery of fabulous treasure, but away from the dig her world is falling to pieces. Why is her husband behaving so coldly towards her? While the clouds of war thicken and jealousy vies with ambition to muddy everything below, a battle for the right to unearth an invader from another age begins in earnest ..."
Now that I've been to Sutton Hoo and learned, in situ, more of its story, this sounds even more appealing.
*The Edinburgh/Norwich run is in small, propeller-driven planes, where on the outward journey at least, Mr. C. and I constituted half the passengers.
Lovely to see you back, and with a recommendation for something fun and uplifting..I am so in need of something fun and uplifting! Sutton Hoo was wonderful - I shall be looking at that recommendation too. Thanks Karen.
Posted by: Freda | 24 October 2016 at 11:57 AM
Here's to fun and uplifting books - there should be many more of them!
Freda, we're very glad we got to Sutton Hoo. Given the magnitude of the find there, what an experience it must have been for all those involved.
Posted by: Cornflower | 24 October 2016 at 01:44 PM
Absolutely, we need all the fun and uplift we can get. I love East Anglia but know mostly Norfolk. Glad you enjoyed your stay but I don't envy you the flight... I'm such a coward!
Posted by: Kathleen | 24 October 2016 at 04:21 PM
Actually, both flights were fine, Kathleen, if slightly bumpy as we went through the clouds, but much quicker than driving down.
Next time, perhaps, we'll manage to see some of Norfolk as well.
Posted by: Cornflower | 24 October 2016 at 05:07 PM
One day please explain "fun" and uplift" to your old cattish friend :-)
Posted by: Dark Puss | 24 October 2016 at 09:29 PM
I'll do my best!!
Posted by: Cornflower | 24 October 2016 at 10:08 PM
Oh we went to Sutton Hoo in May isn't it interesting and we managed to follow it with a day in London and a visit to the British Museum to see the Treasure. I had not heard of the book and shall now try and get it.
My Brother lives in Suffolk and this was our first visit to his cottage it's a beautiful county isn't it.
Posted by: Val | 25 October 2016 at 06:33 AM
The Little Bookroom, a much loved book from my childhood. Now I live in Sussex I also have read her Martin Pippin in the Daisy Field; local landmarks appear in the tales EF wrote, giving her version of how they came into existence.
Posted by: Fran H-B | 25 October 2016 at 12:45 PM
I'll have to look into Martin Pippin - although I don't know Sussex at all it sounds very much my cup of tea. Thanks, Fran.
Posted by: Cornflower | 25 October 2016 at 01:34 PM
Sutton Hoo has fascinated me since I first heard of it. I'm sorry that we never got around to seeing it on any of our trips to England. Maybe one of these days .....
Posted by: Joan Kyler | 25 October 2016 at 02:47 PM
I hope you'll get there before long, Joan. There's more information about the site here: http://suttonhoo.org/
Posted by: Cornflower | 25 October 2016 at 03:20 PM
I have just placed an order for "The Little Bookroom" - it sounds right up my street. I can highly recommend "The Dig" and it certainly brought the Sutton Hoo story alive. I am sure you will enjoy it.
Posted by: Deborah Vass | 25 October 2016 at 05:06 PM
That's great to hear. Thanks, Deborah.
Posted by: Cornflower | 25 October 2016 at 05:17 PM
I read The Dig years ago, having been taken to many archaeological sites when I was a teenager as my mum was fascinated with the subject, and thoroughly enjoyed it although I have never been to Sutton Hoo!
It's good news about a new Michelle Paver and more Susan Hill ghost stories but rather you than me when it comes to small planes - I want to reach for the sick-bag just thinking about them!
Posted by: LizF | 26 October 2016 at 11:50 PM
I read The Dig years ago, having been taken to many archaeological sites when I was a teenager as my mum was fascinated with the subject, and thoroughly enjoyed it although I have never been to Sutton Hoo!
It's good news about a new Michelle Paver and more Susan Hill ghost stories but rather you than me when it comes to small planes - I want to reach for the sick-bag just thinking about them!
Posted by: LizF | 26 October 2016 at 11:50 PM
Re. Michelle Paver's book, there's film of a rather disconcerting event here!: https://youtu.be/Tdkr26hItks
Posted by: Cornflower | 27 October 2016 at 12:09 PM
I was surprised that the book wasn't stocked in the shop at Sutton Hoo, but perhaps the National Trust prefers to stick to factual accounts rather than fictional ones.
We greatly enjoyed Suffolk, and have so much left to explore.
Posted by: Cornflower | 29 October 2016 at 10:40 AM
Not sure what I think of that - can't decide if it was a clever wheeze or a cheap stunt! Glad I wasn't there though as I would probably have embarrassed myself!
Posted by: LizF | 02 November 2016 at 11:45 AM
I think it was a bid to make the most watched book promotion video. Must have been pretty scary.
Posted by: Cornflower | 02 November 2016 at 09:27 PM