Joy

There’s an interesting article in the Observer magazine today – Ode to Joy. It’s an exploration of the things that bring joy to people on a daily basis. Not the ephemeral, inner things, but the tangible – the ‘soft and fluffy’ stuff. The article talks about the joy brought about by colour, symmetry, beauty in the most frivolous of things. I think we are very good on Blip at focusing on what has  brought us joy in an ordinary day, even if it is something very simple. 

Joy to me is a brand new, recently published, hardback proper book, with a gorgeous cover and crisp white pages – to handle such a thing, with all its potential, is a joy to me. I suppose that a lot of that is remembering the times when possessing such a thing would have been totally beyond my pocket. And anyway there wouldn’t have been much point, as I would not have had the time to read it.

Now I indulge myself once a year as I follow the Man Booker Prize Longlist. 

Thirteen books (there’s one missing as it hasn’t been published yet, in case you’re counting). I’m almost halfway through and loving it. I’m finding books I would never have found otherwise and some wonderful writing.

When the longlist came out a few weeks ago, there was a shock went round those who follow such things (I am not the only one who does this daft thing of trying to read the whole list). Books that had been predicted to be on the list had been left off and there were books that many had not even heard of. We are all finding surprises – a few disappointing, but mainly good. A crime novel – poor. A graphic novel – good, but should it be there? And some excellent books that really make one think, ponder and maybe look at things in a different way.