Sunday 20 July 2008

sunday salon

here we are again. what happens to the days between sunday and Sunday? Never have I known time to go so fast. i have heard some wonderful music this week on Classic FM. At 21.00 they play whole works. I especially enjoyed a symphony by Bizet which I'd never heard before. I tried to listen to the 'Proms' but didn't enjoy either Friday or Sat. I also think there are far better violinists than Kennedy.
read the 10th book in the Matthew Hervey series 'warrior' Alan Mallison.It is an interesting book but I can't get enthralled by Africa. this book is set during one of the first skirmishes with the the Zulus. I much prefer the books where Hervey is in India or Europe.
Have discovered a new thriller writer Elisabeth Corley and have her books from the library.She has sound plots, her characters develop and her writing style is elegant.
Also had and email from a publisher whom I'd emailed but never heard from. i do hope I have some books from them. these smaller publishers produce beautiful books. Hesperus books are an aesthetic joy.They also have a new series of Brief Lives and I have just finished Chekov for the 3rd time. It might be brief but there is so much in it. I hope to receive some more in this series. what is amazing is that not just the life has been discussed but the works too. I used not to enjoy short stories but since I began reading Mansfield and Chekov the genre has 'grown on me'.
This week randonj has been busy arranging a trip for three of us to Haworth in Sept.As a consequence I'm rereading both Juliet Barker books. Also reading about the Borgias to go with a crime through time I read and the Medicis because I have the biography of Isabella de Medici to review.
treated myself to a video of 'Sharpe's seige ' to go with the one's I have. 75p is all it cost.I know the series is on DVD but the cheapest I've seen was over a hundred pounds and when I finally have all the videos they will have cost me about £20 including postage.
Most od weather here today alternating between sun shining and dark clouds like imminent rain. There is also a cold wind. I love summers like this because Heat and I don't have a rapport. I swell and every part of me hurts, as well as a permanent headache. I could be the only person writing who often has 'seasonal affective disorder' in the summer.
Hope to be back tomorrow here. next weekend I shall be reporting on Liverpool and the Klimpt
Exhibition at the Tate there. I'm going with my daughter, a Deputy Head at a school in London. she breakas up on Wed. This is the first time we've done anything like this together and I'm really looking forward to it.

Friday 11 July 2008

in Suffolk

Well I eventually arrived in Ipswich on Wednesday but what a day to travel! I don't think the rain stop even for a minute and yet yesterday was so different.we do have a rich variety of weather.
I read 'The Nativity' by Geza Vermes. He is a Professor at I believe Oxford and also a Jew so that is the angle he approaches Jesus. In this book he discusses the differences and discrepancies between the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. He seems to conclude that the Nativity stories were'add-ons' rather than intrinsic parts of the Gospels.I found it very interesting to think about issues he raises. I have never thought that Mary was forever virgin and therefore so was Joseph. I think my Church(I'm RC) has always had a problem with sex and sexuality and not acknowledging that Jesus had brothers and sisters is one manifestation of this.
Now reading one of my cousin's books. She is a properly qualified psychotherapist/Counselor.This is one of those books which seems to suggest all illness is caused by ones self which is very dangerous and not true, I think attitude can affect the severity and duration of an illness but on the whole I don't think imbalance in the soul causes all illnesses.

Monday 7 July 2008

Monday musings2

Once again missed Sunday but like last week I had a very bad day and it's all I can do to stay alive when I feel so low. I think I had done too much for three weeks and that set it off. It's on the wane but not completely gone but that is also because of the weather. It's so wet and cold but I refuse to put heating on in JULY.
Have found a good new thriller writer called Elizabeth Corley. I read 'Requiem Mass' liked it so much I 've orderede more from the library. Crawley Library is amazing. I no sooner think of a book order it than it's there. I collected 9 books today most only ordered last week.
Also finished 'A Dangerous Liaison:Beauvoir and Sartre' Carole Seymour-Jones.Not only did I learn nothing new. I've read everything available on these two but it wasn't a patch on Deidre Bair. I know Seymour-Jones was dealing with both of them and I feel that that is probably what didn't work since they were both larger than life. They also have become their own legend.This book possibly had more about sex in it and very little about the works.Sad to say neither B or S seemed to have any moral sense whatsoever. I also feel that some of this is because really neither one grew up. One must at some stage in life consider others and the effect one might be having.
As a counter balance I read 2 brilliant crime through time novels by Ariana Franklin. The first 'Mistress of the Art of Death' was set in 1261 and is based round a Dr from Salerno, who has studied forensic science. the surprise is that she is a woman. Henry 11 is so thrilled with her that he won't let her go home and the second book 'Death Maze' is her next adventure, trying to prove who killed Rosamund Clifford and whether it was really Eleonor.
a translated thriller was 'The man with the lead stomach ' Jean-Francois Parot. This was good but I think would have been even better in French. Problem is it's hard to get up to date foreign language books from the library and they're expensive to buy.I'm saving for a couple of german books I'd like but they are both £12 although paper back.
These books brought my book diary to its last page. I began this one in 05. the new one is a Persephone notebook. Only snag is that it doesn't easily open wide but the paper is lovely. I use fountain pen for most of my writings.
Wednesday I'm off by nat.Express to my cousin's near Ipswich. I only have to take books for the journey because they have loads and I always find ones I haven't read. It's almost the only place other than my daughter's where this is the case.I have an hour's wait in Cambridge and in the autumn there was no shelter for this change of buses so I hope it doesn't rain and if it does that the red of my luggage doesn't turn all my clothes pink.
I'll see if I have time to write my blog from there . I shall write tomorrow if I finish some bits I'm reading. Oh yes, last week in the Brighton heart Shop I saw a book of Colette's stories but duidn't have the cash, I hope it's still there tomorrow because it's mine.