Of Recommended Reading

Although Howards End is on the Landing may not be entering my best-loved books list, one of the things Susan Hill has done for me is bring to my attention a few books or authors which I had never come across before, and which I'm now looking forward to trying. One of these is The Paper House by Carlos Maria Dominguez.

It is a small book of only just over 100 pages, including illustrations by Peter Sis, but despite its tiny stature it sounds like it is going to pack quite a punch. The inside jacket tells us that it is a 'fable about the power of literature to steer our destinies', and it is a fantastical book about the joys and the dangers of obsessive bibliophilia. It arrived in the post today, and I am looking forward to reading it even more after Savidge Reads' recent review of it.

Also awaiting me in my college pigeon hole was another title to add to my new Barbara Pym collection, which I am eager to increase after enjoying Some Tame Gazelle and Excellent Women so much. Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to further my acquaintance with Pym when I asked for suggestions recently, and especially to Merenia, who particularly recommended this latest buy: Crampton Hodnet.

This sounds right up my street: how could I resist a Pym novel which is actually set in Oxford?! I shall be sharing my thoughts on these books just as soon as I read them, and I can't wait to try both of these new additions to my shelves (I can see my new bookshelf filling up rather speedily...), although they will have to wait for a while. I am no further with Stone's Fall than I was yesterday, and it too will have to lie mainly unread until after the weekend: I have a friend from Cambridge staying with me until Sunday, and as I haven't seen her since February, we have a lot of catching up to do, and a variety of pleasant activities planned in which to do it!

I must get to bed now, as along with all the meals, exhibitions, and general frivolities we have planned for the next few days, my friend and I both have to be at the library in the morning, for a couple of hours at least! On the subject of bed, I sign off today with some of Sir W's musings from his 1600 essay 'Of Sleepe':

'This Sleepe is to me in the nature that Dung is to Ground, it makes the soyle of my Apprehension more solid, and tough; it makes it not so light, and pleasant, and I am glad of it, for I finde my selfe too much subiect to a verball quicknesse'.

Of Combatting Colds

Apologies for the lack of posting, but I'm rather Under The Weather at present. Although I seem to be keeping the dreaded Swine Flu at bay, I have succumbed to a rather nasty cold. This has left me with a voice that comes and goes (and always comes at a rather lower pitch than usual), and an inclination to do little more than curl up with a cup of hot water with honey and lemon and a blanket. And a good book, of course: at the moment, I'm enjoying Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. This is the only the second Pym I've read; by fluke, my first was actually her first published novel -- Some Tame Gazelle -- and it turns out that Excellent Women is her second, as well as mine. I'm very pleased to have finally read some Pym, and will be posting some more about her once I'm more myself. In the meantime, if anyone has any recommendations for any particular Pym favourites, I'd love to hear them!

I've also been snuggling up beneath the bedclothes (hurray for wireless internet!) with my laptop to continue working my way through The Wire. I'm about half way through the final season now and already becoming sad at the thought that it's nearly all over. Alongside this I've been enjoying the fact that True Blood has just come to 4oD. I wouldn't normally say I'm one for vampire dramas, but I'd had it recommended by several friends, and I must admit I'm already gripped: it's a tad melodramatic perhaps (well, it is about vampires I suppose...), but it's funny, incredibly sexy, and totally addictive. Oh, and it has the best title sequence I've seen for a while (these are getting so good now -- the one to the divine Mad Men is another personal favourite).

Right, for now, I think I might just make myself another cup of tea, make sure the tissues are within reach, and retreat to my comfort reading again until I am feeling slightly more human myself! It is perhaps fortunate in such circumstances that I can say with Sir W (in his 1600 essay 'Of Fame') that as long as I can remember,

'my occupation hath been vehemently bookish'.