19 June 2008

Get Reading

Remember a while ago I said I really really really wanted to start my Summer Reading campaign, and was over the moon delighted that the weather had taken a turn for the better and I would soon be spending whole days outside with piles of books and lashings of diet coke. Ah, those were the days of innocent excitement.

Rain, cloud, and a chill in the air weather seems like a never ending nightmare at the moment – especially at the frigging weekends, so for now, I must be content with in the bath or before bed reading…

I did finish that book I said I was going to start by Kate Harrison Brown Owls Guide to Life, and as expected I did enjoy it. Kate’s writing is really enjoyable, very gentle, very float-along, very easy to read in chunks without loosing the plot. I was a Brownie and hated every single minute of it, but the nostalgic elements of this book really did touch me, and I found myself laughing at a lot of reminders of those days. Lucy Collins is a bit shy and bit pushed about by life – especially by her mum and husband. When her mum dies, Lucy finds herself an orphan at 35 and is devastated. But having lived under the shadow of her mum’s disappointment for so long, she also finds herself free – and takes a long hard look at her life. Not only her mum, but also her grand and great-grandmother were Brown Owls, all leading figures in the Girl Guides, and Lucy finds herself drawing on some of those old values to change those things she is most unhappy about….unearthing long lost secrets and lies along the way.

I’m also half way through I Did a Bad Thing a debut chick noir novel by Linda Green that came out last year. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, but I am a bit bewildered that from what I can gather, the REALLY bad thing she did, was sleep with a work colleague and forget to vote… now, let’s be honest, is that really a REALLY bad thing… ??

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