Books

My sister in law and I exchange books from time to time.

This is particularly good as I often find that I settle into a routine with regard to what I buy.

Recently she lent me “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, which showed Kabul through the eyes of a young boy and again as an adult returning from the United States of America. It also showed redemptive love.

I found it a very powerful, moving book.

This last time, I have struggled through Rhett Butler’s People (an authorised sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.. I find it hard to understand why this was an authorised sequel as there was so little new material and what there was was not a patch on the original – particularly the ending was a major let down.

I have just finished Light by Margaret Elphinstone set on a tiny island off the Isle of Man in the early 19th Century, about what happens to a (somewhat unconventional) family manning the light when the surveyors come to measure up for an up-to-date light to be installed – by the famous Stevenson family. It was absolutely fascinating.

Also included was The View from Castle Rock by an elderly Canadian researching her family history back to the Ettrick valley and the time of The Ettrick Shepherd. She paints a vivid picture of life at that time in Scotland and for the new immigrants in Canada.

Next came the Testament of Gideon Mack, a minister with no faith, an unfaithful husband. It tells of his testament left after he fell (presumably to his death) into a gorge, but was rescued someone he began to believe was Devil himself.

Now I am reading Whitethorn Woods by Maeve Binchy, which was given to me by The Best Sister in the World. This author has written many books set in Roman Catholic Ireland. They are gentle books showing always how people’s lives intertwine.

Now for some of my own books!