Reading into Spring

Memoir of an Irish Guard, for which I was ghost writer, is now published and it looks fantastic. I'm so pleased with how the project has turned out.

I have also had the opportunity to read some fabulous books in the past months, both fiction and non-fiction. Just finished The Re-origin of Species by Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt. What a wonderful read. Kornfeldt has done things I could only ever dream of as she followed various scientific efforts in de-extinction around the world, including spending time in Siberia. What a job!

Prior to this I read Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag. I've read several of Hoag's books over the years and always enjoyed these crime thrillers. This one was very different and more a victim story than a crime solving story and was a good exploration into the human mind and spirit. I enjoyed it but probably wouldn't rush to read another of hers - since I still have nine books on my bedside table...

And there must be something about winter as continuing the 'cold' theme I've just started another Louise Penny novel, Dead Cold. I'm only one chapter in but I'm already hooked - as usual.

So many books, so little time...

Anticipation

The last few months have been, to say the least, difficult. My father was diagnosed with lung cancer and I found myself in Melbourne for five days, accompanying him for surgery to remove a part of his right lung. This story has a happy ending in that he has now been cleared of the cancer and doesn't need to see the surgeon for six months. That's the good news.

The bad news is we had to cancel half of our overseas holiday which was to begin a week ago. This necessitated cancelling flights, a cruise and accommodation and negotiating with the travel insurance company for a substantial refund. Because my father is now on the mend, and amazingly so for his age, we are planning to depart next Thursday for the second half of our holiday. And we can't wait!

I have spent hours accompanying my father to medical appointments, tests, specialists and hospitals, here in Launceston, in Hobart and also in Melbourne. And now I am attending to his needs at home. I have also hosted visitors from the mainland and in between transcribed 150,000 words of a World War II memoir for a client; much of this was typed on an old manual typewriter in the late 1950s and several chapters were hand-written, and almost impossible to read.

Because of all of this I have done none of my own writing. As a result I have been feeling totally disconnected from my great passion and hope to remedy the situation over the next few weeks; this blog is a start.

What hasn't suffered is my reading, and in fact I have done more than usual. On my side of the bed is a small bookcase full of novels and non-fiction works I have purchased from markets, book fairs and second-hand stores. In the past few weeks I have read a number of them, all amazingly good, including two by Louise Penny (detective fiction); The Cruellest Month and The Murder Stone and two by Daniel Silva (espionage thriller); The Secret Servant and The Defector. And in between I continue to read, digest and enjoy An Introduction to Zoology: investigating the animal world by Joseph T Springer and Dennis Holley.

I have more Penny and Silva to read, along with several by Jo Nesbo and another by Sophie Hannah. And I have just begun a wonderful non-fiction book by Marilyn Johnson entitled Lives in Ruins: archaeologists and the seductive lure of human rubble.

Its just as well we have books to read, books in which we can become engrossed, books that teach and inspire us, and books that can take us away from our everyday lives, just for a while.