Friday, June 16, 2006

The Postman Never Rings Twice


He never even knocks once so I just have to be alert for thudding noises or, more often than not, wait till I get home from work and hope that any packages left on my doorstep don't decide to wander off with a passerby.

I digress.... this morning THE BOOK OF PROPER NAMES by Amelie Northomb arrived. You know some rich and famous people have personal shoppers, well I have something better than that ... I have a personal book advisor. She is DOVEGREYREADER who works her subliminal charms upon me. Years ago I always had my head in a book, or two, or three but now whether it is the pressure of work, family life, old age, the call of fibre or my addiction to online groups and blogs I hardly seem to read at all. When I do read, however, it is quite often something that DGR has floated into my brain. She is responsible for my current book THE AWAKENING by Kate Chopin and of course my decision to dip my toe into the waters of Amelie Nothomb. Not that it is all one-sided. I do credit myself with introducing her to the delights of the American Jewish author, Chaim Potok and if anyone reading this has not encountered him then I urge you to seek him out soon.

Meanwhile, back with Mlle Nothomb's book. I couldn't resist starting and I have already read 3 pages. It is such a slim volume and so easy to read that I suspect I may allow Ms Chopin's book to slumber a while till THE BOOK OF PROPER NAMES (originally published in French as ROBERT DES NOMS PROPRES) is devoured.

In an interview,in French, Amelie Northumb says "Je pense que si je peux amener les gens à lire, c'est la plus belle mission que je pourrais avoir sur terre." Loosely translated: I think that if I am able to lead people to reading then it is the best thing that I can do on this earth.

1 comment:

dovegreyreader said...

Oh I'm very impressed crafty and isn't it good to read a book in a day? I'm about to settle down to some Amelie myself this evening, The Character of Rain.
As for Chaim Potok I am eternally grateful to you for dropping his name into my ear and will doubtless blog the man soon, perhaps you could retrospectively? I'd love to know your thoughts.
Meanwhile I've spent the afternoon thinking Ruth would love this as I've been clearing up my sewing hovel and taking photos of odd things like tins of buttons and bits of quilts.There's something appearing on the blog tomorrow that only you may understand, it was sheer madness and it cost me £40!