After my big pile of books and great plans for holiday reading, the only book I did manage to finish was The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley!
On the plane on the way there I excitedly asked Anna what books she had brought along with her. Pre-children one of the highlights of a holiday for me was the swapping of books around the pool. She looked at me and laughed. She'd said the same thing to Chris and he'd just laughed and said "With three children how much reading are we going to be doing?" and so they hadn't packed any books, not a single one! I was aghast!
But it's true, we were so busy having lots of child friendly fun, there wasn't time for much reading bar a flip through some of the beautiful home and design magazines in the chateau. But a day isn't a day for me without a good read at the end of it so I did enjoy my Mary Wesley. Books set in London during the wars really do it for me, I love the atmosphere and the sense of living for the day that came with the uncertainty and not knowing what the future held. I love the fact that even with the fear, the atrocities and the huge losses people experienced, the war liberated so many people, especially women, to do things they never would have dreamed of before. The Camomile Lawn made me think a lot of Sarah Water's book The Night Watch in this respect. My edition had a really interesting forward by Victoria Glendinning - I didn't realise that Mary didn't have any of her books published until she was in her 70's! Fabulous holiday reading, a few more of hers will be in my bag the next time we go away.
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3 comments:
I must confess I was in awe of you when you shared your reading list. I wondered what I was doing wrong that all I manage is my suggestion, a Vanity Fair! I'm pleased that it's now not just me that gets little quiet time on holidays, in years to come we'll remember these years when our teenagers don't even want to come on holidays with us and the books don't seem company enough.
I haven't read a Mary Wesley book in years - I must dig one out - I loved them! I am a big fan of Sarah Waters too, although Night Watch has been my least favourite of hers. I started Slam by Nick Hornby today, which is great so far.
In a few years you'll get your holiday reading time back. My two are 8 and 5 now and on our holiday last month, they each read more books than me!
Poor L. Like you, to me it doesn't seem like a real holiday unless there's lots of reading time. Before I leave for my holiday I get anxious, wondering whether I have packed enough books. I usually try to allow a book a day. This last holiday in the Hunter Valley (6 days) I got through one potboiler (Louise Bagshawe), 2 thrillers/crime (Harlan Coben & Lee Child), 1 travel (La Vie Parisienne) and 1 popular "literary" (The Kite Runner).
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