What to read next?

    Today's is a 'current reading' post for these troubled times which comes with our hope that wherever you are in the world, all is as well with you as it can be.

    As we carry on as normally but also as prudently as possible, Mr. C. is racing through the charming Miss Buncle's Book with great enthusiasm, so much so that I'm inclined to re-read it when he's done.

   While I wait for him to finish I might turn to Elizabeth Goudge whose wisdom and good heart is never not needed; I have the third volume of her  Eliots of Damerosehay trilogy to look forward to - click through for posts on The Bird in the Tree and The Herb of Grace - and she hasn't failed me yet.

    Then again, Laura Freeman's The Reading Cure might be a book to re-visit, both for its own sake and for the inviting reading trails it opens up, and let's not forget T.H. White's advice which Laura passes on with the suggestion to "plant roses so that thistles may not grow" - I'm sure your shelves are as well-filled with suitable material as are mine.

    Please do share any good reading, if you have a moment, and let's stay connected for moral support. Our best to you.

Comments

[Dark Puss]

All is fine and I am carrying on going to one (or both) of my two Universities as usual every day. I have no plans to change my behaviour (unless I fall ill of course). On the reading front may I comment the excellent and unusual Fly Trap a memoir written by the Swedish entomologist Fredrik Sjöberg. What is the fascination of the hoverfly, who was the enigmatic and obsessive Malaise and what happens in Kamchatka? Based on a tiny Swedish island Sjöberg expands from the micro world of a specific group of insects to the broader concerns of the natural world and some equally strange and fascinating human creatures. Strongly recommended!

[callmemadam]

let's stay connected for moral support. Our best to you.

Thank you for the kind thought. I think this sort of internet chat is going to be important to all of us as a restricted life gets more and more boring.

[Cornflower]

Thank you, DP, that book does sound interesting!

[Cornflower]

I agree. Thanks, Barbara.

[Karen Sagun]

I'm looking for something comforting myself. I've been reading Les Miserables for the last few weeks and it might be time for a break. I'm thinking Georgette Heyer or D. E. Stevenson, or maybe Margery Sharp. I also have one final Dorothy Whipple that I've been saving for a rainy day, so to speak. It might be time.

[Alison P]

Strange times indeed. However, I always knew that my ‘stockpiling’ of books and my out of control TBR would pay dividends one day...! I am currently hunkering down with The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin which has sat on said TBR pile for many years and am getting lost in early twentieth century America.

[Cornflower]

You're right, Alison, we won't be short of reading matter if we have to stay at home for a while!
I hope The Orchardist is suitably absorbing.

[Cornflower]

All good choices, Karen, and maybe now is the time for the excellent Dorothy Whipple.

[Mary]

Hilary Mantel arrived in the nick of time and I'm engrossed -it was like stepping back into a world where the plague was the plague!
But like Dark Puss it's business more or less as usual here. (Though my university seminar is cancelled and, sob, so is my holiday.)

[Cornflower]

Mary, pity about your holiday but probably best to be at home just now, and the 900+ pages of 'The Mirror ...' will certainly keep you going!

[Fran H-B]

On a special TBR shelf of their own I have 16 Persephone Books including their first one of short stories. I usually read a Persephone as a treat...bank holiday, New Year etc but think now is the perfect time to indulge in more than one. Perfect escapism.

[Cornflower]

Perfect, Fran!

[K. Harris]

I've been catching up on my nonfiction and re-reading the last books of two series that have new additions coming out soon, plus re-reading Elizabeth Goudge, Elizabeth Cadell, and Caitlin Moran.

[Cornflower]

That all sounds very good - hope you're doing well.

[rj]

The libraries have been shut down in my city, so I have one last library book on indefinite loan. But for comfort: I'm thinking: Sir Walter Scott and also Romantic thru modern poetry books. I may take an old-fashioned virtual trip to The English Lakes of the past (I have Victorian and Edwardian guide books from an uncle's collection). I think it might be fun seeing if any of the "sights" from that time period still exist.

[Christine McCann]

I just picked up Elizabeth Goudge's aptly titled. A Book of Comfort, an anthology she put together. The subtitle is A Treasury of Prose and Poetry Offering Wisdom and Consolation for the Difficulties and Challenges of Life. I'm looking forward to dipping into it.

[Cornflower]

That sounds like a good plan, rj.

[Cornflower]

Perfect, Christine!

[Toffeeapple]

Apart from all the books, there is all the yarn and fabric...

[Cornflower]

There is indeed!

[Dark Puss]

And musical instruments ;-)

[Cornflower]

That is true, and I wish I'd had my piano tuned!

[Dark Puss]

Oh that's unfortunate, was it about to be? Time to take up something like a flute, saxophone, or drum kit then!

[Cornflower]

No, it should have been done ages ago and I just put it off ...
We do have a French horn, a saxophone, an African stringed instrument (no idea what it is), and a small bodhrán in the house so we could put together a weird band!

[Cornflower]

I see I'm not the only one - your famous neighbour was due to have her piano tuned but didn't manage it before lockdown!