once Again

As I write this I'm listening to 'Mr Standfast part 2'. radio 4's classic serial. I do like John Buchan.Had a good week for comments.Stuck asked about Storm Jameson. read any you can find. I think most of them are out of print.I believe she was afounder member of 'Pen'.Harriet, thank you for being so encouraging. I was also thrilled to hear from Viola. Now I just need to find out how to reply underneath the comment.
I have a marvellous gadget called a ' book pillow'. Dovegrey told me about them some time ago but hers came from USA, then Jottings found a site in UK so I ordered a chocolate coloured pillow on Sunday and it arrived yesterday. It's such a load off my hands and the newspaper fits nicely over it so my hands are free.
have had a good haul from Oxfam. three Elizabeth Peters in her Vicki Bliss series. £1 each,then 4 Heyers which I didn't have. There was a 4th but when the pennies were there book wasn't.The Heyers are the latest manifestation. Most of the ones i already possess are as they were first produced.Also had 2 books from the lovely ELLie, which will go with the Russian Challenge.Never imagined i'd have a pile to review.Also bought 2 Steven Saylor at the library for 10p each.I'm supposed to be diminishing my piles .
What have I read?'Child of Nations' Irmgard Keun. I didn't enjoy it at all. i suppose I just didn't know what this book was trying to say. I go to Switzerland in May so will see if I can find it in German because that might be easier to grasp.In the meditation room, I finished 'Cold Comfort Farm' Stella Gibbons. On the whole I didn't find it funny and Flora Poste irritated me immensely. that does show good writing because she seemed very real.What did Aunt ada Doom see in the woodpile? We're never told.I shan't read it again.Another character, who drove me mad was the father in 'Over' Margaret Forster. He wrecks the family, recovers after three years then expects his wife to fall in with his wishes when she has built a new life. this book is written in beautiful English.
Then I read two more Lettice Cooper's. 'Black bethlehem' is London in war time and brought back memories. It was only when i had finished this book that I could make sense of it. totally different is 'Fenny' about a girl who goes to Italy as a governess and spends her life there. Fenny knows love but she never married. I have 2 more Coopers to read then I've read all that I can lay hands on. I think there will only be 1 or 2 to find.
Light reading was 'Death on Holy Mountain' David Dickinson. this is a Lord Powerscourt dtective novel set at the beginning of the 20c. I learned a lot about Irish history as well as having a relaxing read. Lord P made me laugh when he talked about 'industrial Quantities of Hail Marys'. As this was a clash between Catholic and Anglo Irish Protestant Ireland i can see how this idea arose.
Imagine having spent 3-4 years on research,getting one's book to the publisher then discovering that 4 other people had the same idea and one would be published before yours. This is what happened to David Lodge and in 'The year of Henry James' he tells the story. He recalls that two of the other authors were at Lamb's House in Rye at the same time as he was.Coim Toibin was his rival. One of the others still has managed to have his book published. the other 2 james books were by Emma Tennant and Alan Hollinghurst. to make matters worse Toibin and Lodge began their books after James had written a play. This is no sad tale though because Lodge is a wonderful writer. There are some of his essays at the end of the book so I'll write about them separately.
If it's Tuesday it's Brighton. My friend and I go every Tuesday. the company that runs a local school bus had the brainwave of one day a week going to Brighton cheaply.We leave Horley at 9.30 and Brighton at 13.30. we have about 3 hours, which is long enough to walk along the front. school Hols we have an extra 3 hours.We are a very jolly crowd of old dears. The weather in Brighton is never the same as here. It seems to have its own ecosystem.
Didn't look at my email for 2 days because I had a migraine so must dash off and do that.