New things!
Miraculously I've learned how to do headlines.
I have not spent the last nearly three weeks doing that, but really having a pretty shitty time. It continues, but exit strategies are being formulated as I write...
Have just noticed that my last blog entry said that I would complete this more often. Oops. I will try harder to complete this more often. Then I might manage it.
I've not really been doing very much over the last few weeks. It just feels as though I've been working and sleeping, with the odd bit of reading on the train in the bits in between. I've just bought "To Love and Be Wise" by Josephine Tey (which I'm hoping I don't already have on my shelves; I sometimes do). I'd forgotten how much I like her books and how nicely written they are.
I'm not sure that I really understand the concept of "well-written" though. Lots of books are described as well-written, but what does that actually mean? I think that perhaps I am conservative (with small c) when I consider that what I like is a book with a plot, characters, and which is satisfying to read. By satisfying, I think I mean which I can read easily; not in a "cat sat on the mat" way, but without serious consideration being given to every word. Because I think if you have to give serious consideration to every word, some of the story of the book escapes a little, and that must surely be what it is for?
Have just read "How to lose friends and alienate people" by Toby Young. Very good, with slightly worryingly erudite footnotes. I recommend.
Must go back to "Lord of the Rings" before "The Two Towers" is released at the cinema, in a purely reminding me sort of a sense. I like to read books again before I see them, then I can know what has been left out, and come to a considered view about whether it needed to be!
