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October
Hello, everyone.
Hope you all had a lovely summer with time to do plenty of reading.
I spent much of mine writing in my air-conditioned office but did manage
to get a bit of tan in the afternoons, although I’m still the palest person in
Spain. But yes, I too managed to
fit in time for reading. I
couldn’t imagine not having at least one book on the go.
I’m a member of a book group here in
Spain and for that I read When We were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro.
Banks, the protagonist, is reputed to be a fine detective, although we
see little of his work in this novel. His
life is blighted by the disappearance of his parents when he was a small boy
living in Shanghai. The novel is
all about how he, as a grown man, is dependent upon his memories as a child to
solve the crime. I found the style
of writing difficult to come to grips with as the first person narration is
talking of what took place in the past and the time shifts sometimes become
confusing. My interest developed as
I began to get to grips with the story but it descended rather into melodrama at
the end.
The Empress Orchid
by Anchee Min gives a fascinating picture of life in China in the early part of
last century. Based on real
historical events the story tells of the political tricks and manoeuvres Orchid
has to employ as she develops from concubine to empress. I enjoyed the book even though at times
felt less sympathy for her than I should, and thought the story got a bit lost
amongst all the detail. This novel
falls short, I thought, in that it gives only a small portion of her life, not
her entire life story which is probably far more interesting.
Holidays
Yes, even writers have them.
At least on this one I wasn’t taking the lap top or doing any library
talks. In September, David and I
went on a touring holiday of France, which was great fun. We began by meeting up with Kerith, who used to work at my
agent’s office and now runs a second-hand book stall on various markets around
Montpellier. We met her in Clermont
l’Herault for lunch. Here she is
at work on her stall.
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She also does Bedarieux, Marseillan Ville and Lodev, so look out for her if you’re in that region. Of course, as so often happens when we go to France, the heavens opened the day we arrived and we had torrential rain, so our first purchase was an umbrella. Fortunately, by the time we’d reached the Dordogne a few days later the sun was out again and we spent a couple of days with more friends before heading up to the Charente Maritime where we enjoyed some time catching up with an old college friend of mine. She writes lovely romances for My Weekly Story Library under the name Karen Abbot, so look out for her too.
Apart from meeting up with old
friends, the best part of the holiday was enjoying the fabulous scenery, so
green and fresh after the barrenness of our part of Spain.
I’m a sucker for French Chateaux and anything vaguely historical.
We enjoyed a fascinating visit exploring the cité in Carcassonne.
I expected to see the crusaders appear at any moment.
We also visited the prehistoric caves at Lasceaux. A facsimile, admittedly, since the original is now closed,
but absolutely amazing! We ended
our tour with a few days in St Jean de Luz, a vibrant seaside resort close to
Biarritz. Then it was over the
magnificent Pyrenees, heading south through the vast splendour of Spain, staying
at a couple of paradors en route. These are government run hotels which are,
without exception, absolutely first class and generally situated in historic
buildings such as castles or monastries.
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