Tuesday 16 May 2023

Holiday Reading

 Finally I've read two books which languished on the "must-read" list for ages. The first I picked up at the NT bookshop when we took Liz and the girls to the Easter Trail at Sheringham, the second was on the mobile library van last week.
Go set a watchman - this is Harper Lee's sequel to "To kill a mockingbird". TKAM is a book I have loved for over half a century, and think the film with Gregory Peck is a wonderful adaptation. This book tells how Scout [Jean Louise] now grown, and living in New York, returns to Maycomb for a visit. Her brother Jem died a while before, and everything has changed. 
I found the book unsettling and vaguely depressing. She realises that Atticus, the father she idolised in her childhood, is not the man she thought he was. And attitudes seem to have changed in the town - not for the better, in her view. 
Yes, it is perceptive, in the description of how someone realises that the person she has known and loved all her life has apparently developed some bad beliefs. Jean Louise is so conflicted, and feels an outsider. 
Maybe the book is a true reflection of attitudes in Alabama back then. But I did not enjoy it. I found myself struggling to finish it  so only**
Maggie O Darrell's Hamnet  won the 2020 prize for women's fiction. I couldn't put this down. The first explains that in 1596, a boy called Hamnet died in Stratford Upon Avon, aged 11, and four years later his father wrote a play.
[Hamlet/Hamnet were interchangeable spellings]
This is a very clever take based on these known facts - in which Maggie writes the back story ... She uses other facts I already knew about the bard [his wife was older then him, his mother was called Mary, his father a Glover, and in his will he leaves his "2nd best bed" to his widow] This was a worthy prizewinner, I rate it *****.  I found it a gripping read - and it certainly took my mind off my injuries!

Thank you for all the kind words yesterday. Much of the day was spent with the NHS. I am so grateful for all the excellent treatment received.  Things are improving slowly. 



20 comments:

  1. I avoided the Harper Lee book as the reviews were so mixed,and it kooks like I might continue to do so, based on your review. Hamnet was a book club choice a year or so ago; I started reading it but couldn't bear the feel of the cover! So had to stop! I couldn't work out if I wanted to read it ; the writing is amazing but so... so 'full'!

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    1. This copy of Hamnet is in a plastic library sleeve - but appears quite"textured" underneath. The story is one where you start knowing he is going to die, so it's not a shock when it happens - but I had to keep reading to find out about the others in the family.

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  2. Just discovered I missed your accident post. Hope you are feeling lots better now .
    I'm going to order Hamnet - have read the HL already, can't remember what I thought of it!.

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    1. Making slow progress. Mentally feeling brighter even if mouth still very sore. I think you will enjoy Hamnet, Sue.

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  3. TKAM is one of those classics I've never read or know anything about. I really should. Maybe I'll give the sequel a miss though. I might borrow Hamnet from my MiL.x

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    1. TKAM is a wonderfully evocative book written from a child's point of view. The sequel just didn't work for me. Borrow Hamnet, and enjoy it!

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  4. I do hope you are over the shock of your fall, although no doubt you are still in a lot of discomfort. Reading does help a bit to take our minds off things doesn't it ... as long as you can concentrate.

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  5. “Go Set a Watchman” was actually Harper Lee’s first book. The publisher didn’t like it but suggested that the story of what happened in Scout’s childhood would make a more interesting book, so she wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird”. I agree with your comments. “Go Set a Watchman” is a depressing book and it totally changes the character of Atticus. I really didn’t like the book and wish I’d never read it. I recommend to anyone who liked “To Kill a Mockingbird “ that they do NOT read “Go Set a Watchman”. I would have given it a one star rating (and only because you can’t give a zero).

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    1. Thank you for all this information. Yes it DOES change the character of Atticus, and not in a nice way. Quite encouraged to realise others feel the same

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  6. Thanks for the heads up about TKAM I'll avoid it, sounds a bit upsetting. An accident has been mentioned in the comments, sorry missed that post - love and prayers x
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. Yes, the accident was Sunday -2 days later I'm healing up slowly and steadily. Thanks for ❤️&πŸ™

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  7. Oh, I LOVE to read, too! Am off to the library today. :)
    Am glad you're feeing better.

    Hugs!

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  8. My opinions of the two books concur with yours. Hope you are healing well and managing to enjoy your holiday. Catriona

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    1. Thanks Catriona. Glad you agree about theπŸ“š. Holiday getting back on track!

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  9. Glad to hear there is some improvement. I find the rawness of the experience begins to ease, once through the subsequent treatment. I do hope the rest of your holiday will make up for it. I don't fancy the sequel to TKAM. "Hamnet" sounds like a great book for a holiday, when you have time to read and read, without guilt about unfinished chores! πŸ˜€

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  10. Thank you for the kind words - I'm over the "trauma" I think, just healing slowly now!

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  11. Just read about your accident, and I'm sorry. I hope you will feel better soon, love Isabel

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  12. Thanks Isabel. It was scary at the time but things are slowly improving.

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