Middlefocus

  I haven't been to a Library Reading Group before and a bit unsure of what to expect.  But I have been enjoying The Black Dress by Deborah Moggach and am looking forward to discussing it. I saw the flyer when borrowing a couple of books from my local library and since this was a title which suggested content that I wouldn't normally go for I thought I would give it a try. Expand my literary horizons. There's a reading group meeting each month and I figure it's both a stimulus and discipline for staying on track with reading goals. I'm also told there'll be a cuppa and biscuits to relax participants into the discussion. Read more: Here's a link to more information on The Black Dress .

  Judged a book by its bookmark! I had ordered this very large book on the visual strength of its giveaway bookmark, a stack of which were on the counter at my favourite bookstore. I picked the book up today and now cannot wait to get into it.  It is three books in one I'm told and "big as it is you'll not want it to end". Here goes then... To Paradise. More: Check out this link for more details about the book.

  A time for every purpose... Some current readings, suggesting stirrings of spring?

Title: Mudlarking Lost and Found on the River Thames Author: Lara Maiklem Publisher: Bloomsbury. 2019 ISBN: 976-1-4088-8921-3 I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel that I have learnt so much from it about the Thames and its impact on history down the centuries. I particularly liked the writing style. Each chapter, focussing on a location along the river's course, begins with a literary extract describing those who make their living on and from the Thames. The author provides historical details in a very accessible way, supplementing them with her own deductions, hypotheses and intuitions; along the way she shares with us some of her personal biography connecting that to the places she visits. She had a particular connection with her precious Greenwich where she had lived for 13 years.  She also introduces us to some of her mudlark friends who come across as a friendly supportive group of like-minded individuals. I started reading the hardback edition and when I spotted that it w...

  The writer and social commentator, Joan Didion has left us for good on 23 December 2021. It is perhaps fitting that not long before Christmas she goes Slouching Towards Bethlehem, the title of her first work of non-fiction. The Year of Magical Thinking is an astonishing work - remarkable insights into bereavement.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories for December by Ian Sansom. My intention was to read just one story a day for the month; to get me in the mood for Christmas. The stories however are so captivating that I found myself reading on and so finished them after about a week. They instil a mix of emotions: sympathy, humour, sadness and vulnerability. Despite the quick read some of these vignettes have found their sticking place and the simple everyday situations he writes about resonate with personal memories of feelings, thoughts and actions. So although ostensibly these accounts relate to the end of year festive season they also speak to the human situation and the business of getting on with life. They therefore would be immensely readable in other months of the year. I have to mention one story in particular, Down By The River for 23 December.  It's one of the longer pieces in the volume and oddly when I started reading it I had recently just watched two fil...

The Inseparables: The newly discovered novel   Simone de Beauvoir - Author Translated by Lauren Elkin Introduction by Deborah Levy     Afterword by Sylvie le Bon de Beauvoir     Publisher Random House  UK,Vintage     Publication 2 September 2021     ISBN: 978-1784877002   “ They  called us the inseparables”   Lasting friendships that were formed in early childhood are a fascination for me.  What is it that brings individuals together, keeps them together and makes them inseparable ?  And for me, as an avid Francophile, add to that the “mystery” of why a novel by French writer Simone de Beauvoir should come to light years after the celebrated author’s death then I’m hooked.   Format   I had joined the member community at  NetGalley , requested and was sent a pre-publication copy of The Inseparables .  Long time  aware of, but new to reading de Beauvoir, I was grateful for the introduction ...

  Walking along the shoreline at Crawfordsburn Country Park I spotted something unusual - Cored limpet shells suspended from tree branches. I cannot work out how they got there. But I can think of some questions. Were the innards of the shells scavenged by sea birds and did they get at the flesh by piercing the crests? But if they did why are the holes so large and even? Large beaked birds needing room to swallow. Or did the sea sculpt the hole with its abrasive ebb and flow?  Scooping out the weakest part of the shell, where the limpet had no strength to hold? And were the shells collected by children or beach-combing adults to be suspended from the branches in an act of creativity? They do look pretty. Maybe it's a coast-liner rag-tree type custom. The hanging of a shell to make a wish or ask for favour. I'll be on the lookout for cored shells when next there and for a suitable branch on which to hang them. And make a creative wish.