The one that didn't make it

Today I lost myself in books and bookish things. Sometimes one has to stop looking at the news and divert one's attention, although on International Women's Day it is hard not to have at the back of one's mind the women who are in such distress and facing unimaginable horrors.

On International Women's Day the Longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction is announced and at 9.30 this morning I was at the computer watching as the list was given out. And what a strange list. There were 7 books out of the 16 that no one had predicted and most people had never heard of. Interesting times. 

On the left of the picture are the only two of the list that I have. I have read and really like 'Great Circle' about the female pilot who flew at a time when very few other women were doing so and about the Hollywood starlet who many years later played her in a film. A good book, but very long.

I gave up with 'This One Sky Day' but it is loved by so many people that I must try it again. A surreal, astonishing book and again very long. 

On the right is the book that missed out - 'Still Life'. I have just finished reading this and really enjoyed it. It is set mainly in Florence and has links with 'A Room With a View', which I want to now return to. I know some people here have read it and I would recommend it. I think it is now out in paperback. I thought it might reach the Longlist, but it didn't. 

So, a day of watching reactions to the Longlist, ordering books (I spent a lot of money!) and reading. I did get washing out, but I do like hanging the washing out, so don't consider that to be a chore. 

And a beautiful double daffodil that has just opened up.