Cornflower Books

Just arrived ...

    ... The Wanderers, the second novel in Tim Pears' West Country Trilogy, to be published in January.

    The first book in the series, The Horseman, was a reading highlight earlier in the year and is now out in paperback. Its sequel, set in 1912, follows Leo as he travels through the West Country, and also Lottie, at home on her father's estate but increasingly absorbed in the natural world.

    "Timeless, searching, charged with raw energy and gentle humour, The Wanderers is a delicately wrought tale of longing, loneliness, and love."

Thought for the day - 2

   

    "In life, we sometimes misplace priorities and significance. Too often, we do something for the sake of rewards. If the rewards are not forthcoming, we are disappointed, and lose interest and zeal in the work. That is simply the wrong approach. In general, there are delays between actions and rewards. Even if you finish a good work, rewards are not necessarily forthcoming: reception and recognition occur in a stochastic way, depending on many parameters out of one's control. If you can make the process of making the effort your primary source of happiness, then you have succeeded in the most important challenge of your life.

    So make music, even when nobody is listening. Draw a picture, when nobody is watching. Write a short story that no one will read. The inner joys and satisfaction will be more than enough to make you carry on with your life. If you have succeeded in doing so, then you have made yourself a master of being in the here and now."

    Ken Mogi, The Little Book of Ikigai

Strait is the gate

    I was in Oxford last weekend and as my visit happened to coincide with Open Doors days I took the chance to visit All Souls' Codrington Library. Rarely open to the public, the library had attracted large numbers, all queuing patiently for access, entertained the while by an excellent brass band playing Sousa's Liberty Bell March, better known to a British audience as the Monty Python* theme tune. The effect was surreal.

    Edited to add: I have just remembered that Matthew Clairmont is a Fellow of All Souls.

 

*If you've never seen Monty Python's Philosophers' Football, take a look.  

                                            ~~~~~

    I've mentioned my current re-read of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy in advance of publication of La Belle Sauvage, the next book in the series, in October. Today Amazon are offering all three novels for Kindle for £0.99 each - a good way to sample them if you don't already know them. The first book, Northern Lights, is the strongest, I'd say, but Pullman is so imaginative and writes so well that there's much to be enjoyed in all three.

Friday reads: al fresco

    The Autumn edition of Slightly Foxed is here - and it's warm* enough to read in the garden!

 

*Good days have been scarce in Edinburgh this summer.