Thursday, August 09, 2007

on your marks, get set

An unfriendly face greets us most mornings. Thankfully his intrusion is often sweetened by a handful of books. This morning he handed over one Special Delivery package (a kind Amazonian marketplace seller must have realised how impatient I am!) and muttered that there would be more along later. A couple of hours on and a red van plus man hands me 4 more parcels. Two are Bookmooches, which will remain on the To Be Read shelf until after the Booker quest. And three are further Booker longlist titles.

So now I have four, and I’m ready to go. I have to choose somewhere to start, so I am opting for The Gathering by Anne Enright. It seems a gentle place to begin. I see its an Irish family saga - is it just me or are there a lot of those about? Time to choose a bookmark, brew a cup of tea and turn the first page.

5 comments:

John Self said...

I'll be eager to know what you make of this one, jem. It got rave reviews if I remember right from the press, so I'll be keeping it toward the end of my Bookerthon, on the basis that I'd rather wade through a couple of turgid tomes (A.N. Wilson, anyone?) with something to look forward to at the end of it, than the other way around.

John Self said...

That's John Self by the way. For some reason just the "john" appears.

jem said...

I know what you mean about saving the best for last, I nearly started with 'The Gift of Rain' which looks quite hefty, but equally starting on something bad is quite demoralising. I try to alternate between challenges and lighter reliefs.

jo :: feather and thread said...

Wishing you pages and pages of good reading my kingfisher friend!! x

Stewart said...

Aargh! That photo is the first I've seen of The Gift Of Rain. Sounds good, but I'd rather something in a smaller size.