Still. At least I can write and read as I wait for my home
to be torn apart and put back together (such joy).
With writing, I’m at the bitty stage. A bit like all the
preparation you need to do for decoration (to stick with a theme). All the choosing
and buying of stuff. Going back cos you forgot the right sort of glasspaper
(not sure of the metaphorical value of that, but there you go). And then
stripping everything down to the bare bones.
As for reading, that is also back to basics in a fashion. I am
replacing all my worn out and falling apart Ursula Le Guin books and re-reading
most of them as they arrive. It is an education (or re-education). Not least
because some of these books are out of print and I’m scouring the world
(courtesy of that interweb thingy) looking for pristine copies. They have to
last me the rest of my life and whilst I am happy to have second hand copies of
some things, these I want new.
It was a blow to realise that a writer of such talent should
have work that is out of print in an era when no book need ever be out of
print, but not altogether a surprise. It is that sort of a time.
And as I get older, I was thinking about what will happen to
my books when I’m gone. I’d hate to think they ended up in bins or the
collections I have built up over the decades are dispersed. Although I don’t
suppose I’ll be unduly worried.
And on that cheerful note… I’ll buzz off.
Books read in June
Brazen Tongue – Gladys Mitchell
Enderby’s Dark Lady – Anthony Burgess
Dead Men’s Morris – Gladys Mitchell
The Abominables – Eva Ibbotson
The Grand Banks Café – Georges Simenon [new tr]
Rocannon’s World – Ursula K Le Guin
The Wind’s Twelve Quarters – Ursula K Le Guin
Hangman’s Curfew – Gladys Mitchell
Planet Of Exile – Ursula K Le Guin
The Compass Rose – Ursula K Le Guin
Buffalo Gals & Other Animal Presences – Ursula K Le Guin
City Of Illusions – Ursula K Le Guin
The Eye Of The Heron – Ursula K Le Guin
