Through a Cottage Window, Shipley, Sussex by Charles Ginner
This is a slightly ironic post title since, thanks to the glorious weather we had yesterday, I haven’t actually done that much reading this weekend. But I am happily dipping in and out of things in between my outdoor adventures (and sometimes during) so I thought I’d share a bit of what is making me happy this weekend.
I’ve been busy catching up on magazine and newspaper articles (perfect short reading) and really enjoyed the following:
They Just Want to Meet the Nice People – inspired by the musical “Come From Away” (which in turn is inspired by what happened when international flights were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland on September 11th), theatre-goers are booking trips to Newfoundland in search of the kindness and community-spirit depicted in the show. Which, in Newfoundland, is frankly never too hard to find.
In Solitude What Happiness? – is loneliness the last taboo?
Fifty Ways to Avoid Readying Your Garden for Spring – now that the freakish dump of snow we received last week has finally melted and I can see my garden again I need help thinking of ways to avoid working in it.
The Misunderstood Byzantine Princess and Her Magnum Opus – really interesting piece about Anna Komnene and a recent reassessment of her place in Byzantine history
The Reason Why Comfort Food is No Longer Comforting – exploring why processed foods, though designed to make us feel comforted with their blend of salt, sugar, and fat, never actually hit the spot.
Bookwise, I am adoring The Fear and the Freedom by Keith Lowe, a history of how the Second World War helped shape the modern world. It’s thoughtful and entertaining and extraordinarily wide-ranging. And if I hadn’t already thought Lowe was brilliant he would have earned my undying devotion for the very first section of the book, which challenges the reader to reconsider all the archetypes we’ve been presented with (heroes, villains, victims) and think more deeply and in a more informed way.
However, it’s a rather serious topic and doesn’t suit all moods so I’ve been alternating it with some lighter reading. I breezed through Jenny Colgan’s new novel, The Endless Beach, and finished it convinced that all the romantic pairings are doomed to give the women involved the maximum possible emotional stress. Not a particularly satisfying end, to be honest.
What is far more satisfying has been the arrival of The Year of Less by Cait Flanders. Flanders is a Canadian writer whose adventures in personal finance I have been following on her blog for several years now (this is the sort of exciting thing I do to feed the professional financial planner side of me you rarely see on this blog). After having gotten a hold of her debt, she challenged herself to be more mindful of her casual spending by implementing a year-long shopping ban. This book is a chronicle of that year but also a memoir of how she got to that place in her life. I picked it up from the library yesterday afternoon, strolled over to a nearby park bench, and immediately started reading. It’s not a how-to guide, rather it’s a very personal account of one woman’s relationship with her money and her spending habits. And it’s good (which explains why it has been recommended by the NY Times and Vogue).
Finally, I have Four Gardens by Margery Sharp all ready to go. I’ve read the beautiful prologue and can’t wait to get further into this lovely-sounding novel.
And that’s it for me now! Off to enjoy another day. Happy Sunday, everyone.
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The Captive Reader 
Last week you had snow, this week you can sit on a park bench and read?
A happy Sunday to you too. You have more of it left than I do. I’ve been alternating the “cosy crime” of Auntie Poldi with more Banffy (still book 2 of the trilogy).
Yep! The snow was definitely the freak weather. Now we are back to normal spring temperatures (it was about 7 degrees celsius yesterday) with spring flowers everywhere.
I loved the New York Times article about Come From Away. I can only hope that Gander will continue to be so hospitable with such and influx of tourism!
It’s such a nice piece, isn’t it? And I’d like to think Gander will remain essentially itself. After all, they used to have movie stars and international celebrities passing through all the time when the airport was a stop for trans-Atlantic flights and that didn’t change them. I doubt passionate musical fans will either.
I am a big Jenny Colgan fan, but I haven’t gotten to this one yet. That’s a bit disappointing to hear about the end, but I’m still going to pick it up anyway.
If you liked The Summer Seaside Kitchen (aka The Cafe by the Sea), you’ll probably still like this. I just remain unconvinced by the central romantic pairing and now by the additional secondary romance. However, romance is not the focus of the book so it wasn’t a huge issue for me, just a little frustrating. I think my favourite of Colgan’s books are still her early ones, like Amanda’s Wedding and Where Have All the Boys Gone?.
Glad you loved The Fear and the Freedom by Keith Lowe. I sooooo need to read this book. I loved Savage Continent.
You are going to love it, I know!