Well another March over, vanished over the horizon along with the hares. I know it’s an owl not a hare in the photograph; poetic license. Hopefully departing March will take the torrential rain with it. Except now we are into April showers!
I’m afraid Dylan Thomas fell off the end of my #Dewithon challenge this year and I intended to read a second book for Read Ireland month which didn’t happen either. But thinking positively, I shall look at what I did read.
Photo of Suki Looking Disgruntled
The various trials and tribulations of the King during his time as Prince of Wales (ie most of his life) was the subject of Charles the King and Wales by Huw Thomas which I enjoyed, but for the fact there was not a single mention of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Next came ghost stories aplenty from the land of song, with Delyth Badder and Mark Norman’s study of the folklore of Wales, with particular emphasis on scary spooks – entitled not unreasonably, Ghosts in Welsh Folklore. I enjoyed this book but thought some might find the academic tone a little dry.
Crossing the centuries and the water to Ireland I ventured into the lives of the impecunious aristos of Maria Edgworth’s Castle Rackrent. This was my only book for #ReadIrelandMonth. I downloaded William Trevor’s The Silence in the Garden onto my kindle for this challenge but haven’t read it yet.
Finally, I rounded off my reading for Wales month with a selection of excellent short stories from Parthian Books edited by Steven Lovatt An Open Door. I recommended this for anyone interested in the effect of travel on Welsh perspectives. Or is that the effect of Welsh perspectives on travel?
Going forward into Spring (haha) reading, I discovered Mary Lawson on my bookshelf. Not the author herself of course, but her novel A Town Called Solace which I must in the past have bought and forgotten about because when I asked Mr. Rune if I could borrow it to read, he looked at me as if I was mad and said it wasn’t his book and he hadn’t heard of it. I will be posting my review of this poignant novel shortly. Spoiler alert: on the strength of having enjoyed this book, I bought two more by the same author Road Ends and The Other Side of the Bridge. I’d be interested to hear from anyone else who has read or intends to read this author.
Rummaging on a shelf at the local bookstore I was delighted to find a little book by Helena Attlee Lev’s Violin: An Italian Adventure (Penguin, 2021) which chronicles the travels of a woman who falls in love with the idea of researching the history of Lev’s violin. Her search takes her to Cremona, Italy the home of all the great violin makers including Amati and Stradivari, as well as Russia in her hunt for clues as to the background of this much loved violin. She hopes to prove the true value of a violin she has been informed is ‘worthless’.
Finally, my little Spring pile of goodies includes Kate Adie: The Autobiography, memoirs of the famous war reporter. Plus more book related fiction which is everywhere at the moment, The Bookbinder of Jericho by Pip Williams.
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