Monday Book Update

I'm still on the Christmas knitting schedule, still busy sorting the stash, still discovering lots of things I want to knit right now, all at once.

But I've been reading. I finished City of Dark Hearts by James Conan, which I quite liked. It was interesting and unusual but a little bit wordy for my taste. I'd try another one of their's though. Then for a bit of a break from crime I read Annie Proulx's Fine Just the Way It Is. A collection of her Wyoming Stories. As with all short story collections there were some that worked better than others and I always find by the end that a bit too much of the writer comes through if you read them all back to back. For that reason I try not to read two books by the same author one after another. Short stories have the same problem but of course intensified in that way that stories are. Anyway you (or at least I) don't read Proulx for plot or for landscape but for her wonderful characters and this collection is absolutely littered with them. She has such a knack of making her people come alive off the page. I wish I could do that.

I'm now reading The Wine of Angels by Phil Rickman. I've not read any of his before but this one is for my crime reading group (topic - eclesiastic crime) so I thought I'd give him a go. I have to say I was a bit dubious - religion is not really my thing and the main character is a vicar (actually she's a priest-in-charge, but no-one listens to that). However I'm loving it, can't put it down. In fact I've been snuggled up all afternoon (on my day off) with it on the sofa. What better way to spent a grim, wet rainy afternoon than with a cup of hot chocolate and a great crime novel. Next book for reading group is The Name of the Rose, so a bit of a change in style there methinks.

I need to bring you all up to date with Bubba's progress. He's totally recovered from his op now and we have to thank the lovely Gayle from K9 Hydro in Aston for his speedy rehabilitation. We can't recommend her services enough - she really knows what she's doing and she so obviously loves dogs. Bubba took a real shine to Gayle - she's the only person outside the family that he will shout at and he took great delight every session in running into the building and shouting as loudly as he could. Gayle says Bubba was the best swimmer she'd ever had - but I bet she says that to all the dogs! Anyway, thanks Gayle for all your help and support and for giving us back our beautiful, bouncy retriever.