linger on

Now that the days are slowly lengthening you might imagine opportunities to sit by the fire and read are fewer. But no, reading is as part of my daily life as cooking and eating and school runs and laundry and walking the dogs. I often have two or three books on the go at once and that's the case at the moment. I'm nearly finished Sightlines and it's been such a joy that I'm lingering over it, stretching the words over a few more bedtimes. Kathleen Jamie's essays are rooted in the natural world and are informed by her interests in archaeology, whales, birds, bones, pathology, islands and people. She brings us alongside icebergs, through whale museums to the islands of Rona and St. Kilda, past noisy gannetries and glinting orcas, to the moon and deep into the mysterious landscapes of the human body. All the way I journey with her, never leaving home and how my heart soars. 

grey and misty

Oh it's a bit uninspiring all this rain. Today it's too wet to consider all but the briefest of walks and even then I only go up the hill. The low lying cloud and mist have covered the hill in a blanket of damp grey. Quick - get back home, indoors to the fire, maybe a few stolen pages of reading (the poetic and beautiful essays in Kathleen Jamie's Sightlines). Not quite hibernating but certainly something close to it. 

September reading

I am doing a bit of tail chasing this month so far. It's been a busy few weeks but I've still found time for reading, though it's more snatched happen-chance rather than luxurious wallowing.  I have to admit I haven't yet finished Testament of Youth ~ I'm still enjoying it but, as with all big books I find smaller books nuzzle their way in seeking attention and so I've read Death Comes to Pemberley by PD James and The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness in the meantime. 

Death Comes to Pemberley - a sequel to Pride and Prejudice but this time with murder most foul - was a fun read, although I'd have liked Elizabeth Bennet to have had a bit more 'oomph' to her, the book featured more of Mr Darcy than it did of her and there wasn't much mystery solving to it.

The Crane Wife was unusual - part fable, part love story - it tells of George who, in the middle of the night, rescues a crane which has been shot by an arrow .... the next day the mysterious Kumiko appears in his shop and George falls in love with her.... The book's fairytale quality made it a bit hard to believe and, to be honest, I preferred the likeable, real and humourous characters of George's daughter, Amanda, and also that of Mehmet who works for George. 

This month's book is Findings by the poet Kathleen Jamie. I'm afraid I'm a sucker for anything Scottish, wild and winterish. I'm barely 10 pages in and I'm already captivated by her writing which holds close the everyday mundane alongside the magical.

**Joining in with The Year in Books**