Simply..entertained....

4/6/2020

I have spent most of the day reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn who knows how to tell a good story! I have really taken to this daft couple and their rash adventure.. Poignant and laugh-out-loud funny, I've not been so entertained by a book for ages. (Thank you Cath!)

Lots of normally avid readers are saying they are not reading during lockdown. They are finding it difficult to focus, or just can't find the right book, or are too distracted by the news.

What's your experience? And have you any recommendations?

I think I may be burning some midnight oil with this one...

It's oriental poppy time.

18 Comments

Mary

4/6/2020 02:56:54 pm

LOL. The Salt Path is one of the ones I bought at Topping Books when we were in Edinburgh together in January.

Must admit I have not been reading as much as usual (3-4 books a week)...find myself not always interested in books twas sure I'd like or completely giving up on others. This, too, will pass.

Freda

4/6/2020 03:11:43 pm

Imagine that! And doesn’t it seem like YEARS ago Mary? Have you read it?

Gwendoline

5/6/2020 01:46:30 am

Focus is a problem for me at the mo' and I'm finding intense fiction quite impossible so I'm concentrating on non-fiction. Have recently been able to stick with, and enjoy, "Wintering" by Katherine May, "The Well-Gardened Mind" by Sue Stuart-Smith and "Gathering Moss" by Robin Kimmerer. Hmmm perhaps a theme is emerging.

Freda

5/6/2020 03:25:16 am

I will look these up and see if I can figure out what your theme is Gwendoline! Thank you so much.

Freda

5/6/2020 03:30:21 am

Hmmm - the natural world , the world of the mind, the interaction between the two? Very much the theme of The Salt Path and very apt for our times?

Grace

5/6/2020 04:07:00 am

I have managed to read more than usual during lockdown. It's helped me to find some calm and has been a refuge from what's going on in the outside world. I have enjoyed The hand that first held mine (Maggie O'Farrell), Tulip Fever (Deborah Moggach - a reread), My Life with Picasso (Françoise Gilot) and The Music Shop (Rachel Joyce). I am currently reading The Narrow Land (Christine Dwyer Hickey) which was maybe a recommendation from someone who commented here. I've just realised that there might be a bit of a theme going on there too ...

Gwendoline

5/6/2020 04:48:13 am

Isn't it intriguing how these things can sneak up on us?

F!reda

5/6/2020 01:16:40 pm

I have only read My Life With Picasso from this list so thank you Grace - a few more to explore. What is your theme?

Grace

5/6/2020 11:43:06 pm

The Arts

PennyL

5/6/2020 07:45:46 am

I love ‘The Salt Path’. What an inspiring couple. I felt like anything is possible after I’d read it.
I’ve been rereading comfort books during lockdown, Miss Read, Lilian Beckwith, the odd detective novel. I have found it much more difficult to get on with anything properly since the English lockdown was eased. I am spending far too much time and energy feeling angry with the Tories about all their mishandling of it and playing around with the truth, than is good for me. I must try to get back to a balanced situation of what is within my circle of influence ,and what is outside it!

Freda

5/6/2020 01:21:46 pm

Their resilience and capacity for sheer hard work are inspiring aren't they? I think easing of lockdown is going to be harder than straight lockdown - there will be controversy over every step and all four nations doing different things! Hopefully reading will help us find that balance PennyL. Lovely to see you here,

Laura Lamb

5/6/2020 10:49:11 am

What a brilliant book, I devoured it in about 3 days!

Freda

5/6/2020 01:22:49 pm

Glad you liked it too. It was a real page turner.

cathy

5/6/2020 01:07:03 pm

I've been reading just as much, if not more during this lock down. I read a mix of fiction & nonfiction. I've just started the new biography of Nancy Pelosi by Mollie Ball & am enjoying it. I put The Salt Path on reserve at the library but it might be a while before I get it....it's on it's way to another reader first, then quarantine for 4 days before coming to me.

Freda

5/6/2020 01:24:31 pm

She is an impressive woman that Nancy Pelosi! I hadn't thought about books going into quarantine too...

Elizabeth

5/6/2020 01:56:42 pm

Yes I loved The Salt Path, a book I will want to keep and perhaps reread. An inspirational couple and a true story of something positive coming out of a really dire situation. Have done little reading but very much enjoyed Ali Smith's season sequence, especially the last one Spring. Want to re read the first three before Summer arrives.

Freda -

5/6/2020 02:43:33 pm

Hi Elizabeth - summer is pretty close although today feels quite wintry with a gale and rain and the woodburner lit! Happy reading.

Freda

5/6/2020 02:47:03 pm

Are those Hockney paintings on Ali Smith covers?!

Simply..entertained....

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