As part of my move I gave away 400 - 500 books to the West Tisbury Library. It was not an easy thing to do. I had enjoyed reading most of them and still liked to look at them. I kept the 100 or so that I thought I would still enjoy and in my first weeks here at Duncaster I have started re-reading some of the books I kept. There has not been any real pattern to it; I've just let my hands roam.
I enjoyed the Martin Beck series once again. Surprisingly, I did not like 'Heart of Darkness" nor "Bech is Back". DeAssiss' "Dom Casmurro" made me want to re-read "Epitaph for a Small Winner" if I can only find it. But, my hands fell upon "Last Orders" by Graham Swift. "Waterland" turned me into a real fan of Swift. His writing is just beautiful and thought-provoking.
I enjoyed "Last Orders" more today than when I first read it 15 or so years ago. It's very likely my increased enjoyment was due to my increased age - I'm a lot closer to celebrating my own last orders - and to my more intimate knowledge of death.
Swift, as with most of his writing, really gets you involved with people's lives. He uses the funeral of one of four close friends to say a lot about life in a very moving, yet realistic, way. These people are not intellectuals, nor are they very sophisticated. They are average people with all of the problems we all have. The problems of marriage and parenting predominate in the story. But there are wonderful descriptions of some English landmarks, such as Canterbury Cathedral and Margate.
I suspect that I will be reading this for a third time soon. It really moved me.
I enjoyed the Martin Beck series once again. Surprisingly, I did not like 'Heart of Darkness" nor "Bech is Back". DeAssiss' "Dom Casmurro" made me want to re-read "Epitaph for a Small Winner" if I can only find it. But, my hands fell upon "Last Orders" by Graham Swift. "Waterland" turned me into a real fan of Swift. His writing is just beautiful and thought-provoking.
I enjoyed "Last Orders" more today than when I first read it 15 or so years ago. It's very likely my increased enjoyment was due to my increased age - I'm a lot closer to celebrating my own last orders - and to my more intimate knowledge of death.
Swift, as with most of his writing, really gets you involved with people's lives. He uses the funeral of one of four close friends to say a lot about life in a very moving, yet realistic, way. These people are not intellectuals, nor are they very sophisticated. They are average people with all of the problems we all have. The problems of marriage and parenting predominate in the story. But there are wonderful descriptions of some English landmarks, such as Canterbury Cathedral and Margate.
I suspect that I will be reading this for a third time soon. It really moved me.
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