Sunday

Well here we are again as promised. it is a very cold and dark day here.the newspapers seem to have nothing except Obama to write about although I'm very glad he won. It would be nice to find less emphasis on his colour. I think he's a clever young man. time will tell.
Since the 26th Oct I've read a few books worth blogging about. My 'little room' reading was to catch up on two books by Chaim Potok. For anyone interested in Judaism especially Hassism, these novels are a must.I began with 'In the Beginning',where a very clever young Hassid upsets his whole family when he find studying only Hassidic views of the Torah too confining. The book is how he reaches this point. the other book was 'The Gift of Asher Lev'. This a title with 2 layers. Asher's first gift is his ability as an artist and again we learn the Hassidic position on art. Lev has a son and this is the other gift that he leaves his son to be educated in New York whilst he, Asher retuns to the south of France to paint. We gather he'll return every few months to see his family. why does he do this ? So that his father can be the next Ladover rebbe, followed by his grandson. Hassidic attitudes to women incidently are very clear in both books and as the women portrayed are clever one wonders why the suffeed being second class citizens.
Then I also read 'Ekaterinnburg' ( Hans, you'd like this)byHelen Rappaport. this is about the last few weeks of the czar's life. fanaticism of any kind seems to make people brutal and this a sad example of that. I was also so cross that our royal family didn't rescue their cousins. To me that makes them complicit in what happened next.
'careless in Red' Elizabeth George came next.This is set in Cornwall and there are some descriptions which really evoke the area.It is Lynly trying to engage with his wife's death but also getting involved with a local murder. I found this a really good book much better than the previous 2 or 3.
Lastly, I read the sixth of Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series. These two very ancient detectives run the Peculiar Crimes Unit and everything they do is peculiar.I have learnt so much about different aspects of London. One is about all the rivers in London, which haven't dried up but which run underground. The latest and I think posibly the last in the series is 'The Victoria Vanishes'. From this book I have learnt about all the unusual pubs in London and how they got their names. It is also a good story with some very funny dialogue.
I have read other things but to relax and they don't all warrant a blog. So I might be back in the week but if not I'll be here next Sunday.