It’s been three months since my last post, but actually six months since I was blogging regularly. In eight years of book blogging that’s the longest gap I have ever had. It’s been an incredibly demanding year and I found I needed to just slim everything down, focus on the essentials and free myself of some tasks so I could calm my stressed-out mind. And, let’s face it, like most bloggers I am sure, we do it because we enjoy, so when it becomes another thing on the to-do list perhaps it’s time to step back. And there were no earthquakes in my absence from the blogosphere so I am humbly reminded that the world has not been on tenterhooks awaiting my latest missive!
It’s no coincidence that my return to this blog has coincided with the autumn. I have written on here perhaps every year, that it is my favourite season when I feel a renewed sense of optimism and energy and the ideas seem to flow a bit more freely. My youngest is about to go off to start university so I am officially done with school, but it will take a while I think to shake off that ‘back to school’ buzz, especially as we will still be connected with education for a few years yet, albeit a bit more at arm’s length.
My intense busy-ness ended in July, but I decided to take the summer to rest a bit, recharge my batteries, do some visiting and a bit of travelling. Here are some of my memories:
Left to right from the top: Copenhagen, Malin Head (Donegal), City of Derry, Donegal again, Birdcage Walk in Bristol (made famous by Helen Dunmore’s fabulous book of the same name), Houses of Parliament, London (with a very clean looking Big Ben), Highgate Cemetery (London), Trinity Library (Dublin), the Algarve, Portugal.
I also made it to the Hay Festival at the end of May and (literally!) bumped into a couple of old friends from many years ago, when we lived in north east England, who I had lost touch with. Small world! So that was a highlight. I also saw one of my literary heroes there, the wonderful Michael Morpurgo.
My reading these last few months has been quite reduced too, due to being so busy and needing to study. But I do have quite a few reviews to catch up on. One of my literary discoveries over the summer was Val McDermid – I was looking for something that would absorb me and not require too much of my intellect to be applied (absolutely no disrespect, I think she’s brilliant) so I read her 1999 novel A Place of Execution. I loved it and am looking forward to getting into her work much more.
There is that big annual literary milestone, which has just landed – the Booker shortlist. I’m afraid the Women’s Prize passed my by this year, so I’m looking forward to getting into the Booker this year and working my way through the six shortlisted books as I have done every year. I had a lovely “conversation” with Percival Everett a couple of months ago when I was invited to put a question to him on the the BBC’s World Book Club radio show about his wonderful novel The Trees (itself shortlisted for the Booker just two years ago). So, I will probably be kicking off with his latest book James, which I have heard a lot about. I’ve got until 12 November, which will be a very tall order given my present rate of reading!
It feels GREAT to be back!
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