Bouncing

The rain was fairly bouncing this morning. We had thunder, lightning and torrential rain – it went on most of the morning. Now it is dry, sunny, hot and humid.
 
A few books I have been reading

Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
A 2012 thriller that was apparently very popular. I would never choose this sort of book, but I wanted something to read on the plane back from the US and saw this at Chicago Airport. I enjoyed the first half and it was certainly the ideal book for a flight. But I struggled to finish it when I got home.
 
Helen Macdonald – H is for Hawk
A beautiful book telling how the writer became a falconer and at the same time struggled with the grief after her father’s death.
 
Julie Orringer – The Invisible Bridge
This was chosen for our village book group and we all agreed that we enjoyed the book, but thought it was far too long. A love story set against the background of Hungary and Paris during the War. Passionate, heart-breaking, powerful.
 
Iris Murdoch – A Fairly Honourable Defeat
Read for a lecture in Newcastle, it allowed me to revisit a book I hadn’t read since the 70s, when I read a lot of Iris Murdoch. A dark comedy of errors, I think it is one of her best. Strange that a book we would have considered a ‘modern’ novel when it was published in 1970 can now be regarded as ‘historical’.
 
Charlotte Bronte – Villette
I have written about this previously. Takes a bit of reading, but I now think it is brilliant and far better than Jane Eyre. She was way ahead of her time in terms of writing style and ideas. What could she have done if she had only lived a bit longer.