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Struugling. Derek p629 of 1177

DNF - need a family tree

Well written interesting story. I’m constantly looking for the family tree as the story jumps to different sections of the family.

Four things that lead to wisdom … sentences we learn to say and mean…
I don’t know. I need help. I’m sorry. I forget.

Rummaging through the cupboard like a wartime surgeon frantically searching for the right bandage, Peter swept aside Yogi tea and Harmony Herbal blend, though he hesitated for a second over chamomile. But no. Stay focused, he admonished himself. He knew it was there, that opiate of the Anglos. And his hand clutched the box just as the kettle whistled. Violent death demanded Earl Grey.

DNF

I didn’t like this at the beginning as I wasn’t sure where the story was going beyond exploring the exhaustion of burnout and miscommunication that comes with masking. The first person voice of the letters is a grief journal for her brother. I’ve just begun part 3 and am compelled to finish.

Much better. The diary is a grief journal.

History footnote Nikolai Petrov

Delightful observations as the verb ‘facilitate’ is accused of being tepid, not ‘manly’!!!

Hopeful… amidst the stories we treasure (family stories of self and others, literary canon) and the footsteps we retrace

Matching London today to the literary footsteps

Blown away by the description of the 1966 flood of the Arno - a line from history made real and unforgettable by Winman’s writing.

Loving the mudlark Tilda

Beautiful writing - draws you into as Claudine’s teen angst with a large helping of literary observational tone. I like her references so far - Asimov, Bradbury - and descriptions of her tilting world.

Addy once told me, ‘Don’t lose today.’ As in don’t hide behind yesterday or hold back from tomorrow. We are going to make this adventure Claude. If any two people can, it’s us.”

Slow start as I try to remember characters and plot convolutions from the first book. Then this: ... Ellingham was full of library lovers, and there was the feeling in the air that this was, perhaps, a bridge too far. You could be naked, you could scream and hang out on the roof, but you do not mess with the place with the books.

Brilliant holiday read.

Amazing beginning. The blurb and the cover didn’t grab me. Dystopian for younger readers. Ugh. But Ella’s voice grabbed me from the first sentence.

‘What do you think they are discussing?’
‘Married at First Sight?’
I nodded.
‘I remember intelligent TV,’ he said. ‘I’m sure you do too. BBC. Civilisation. Brideshead Revisited. What people watch now, it’s the last days of the Roman Empire. It’s the lead in the water.

It had made the front page of the newspaper. bio-scandal! The whole fiasco of the cruise ships and no policing, no ability to quarantine sick passengers and get medical help to them on board. The risk of an epidemic, if they were allowed into our hospitals. It wasn’t going to die down quickly.
Max had been quoted saying that, being an island, we needed biosecurity to be robust.

keeping a diary is meant to be about writing the high point and the low point of every day, and what made the low point bearable? You can’t write it all!’

A good heart is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun and not the moon, for it shines bright and never changes.’

“I wanted to tell her that being loved is a talent too, that it takes as much guts and as much work as loving; that some people, for whatever reason, never learn the knack.

Love it.
Ch 3 “the smell of the book came at me like a shout: an old elusive smell, damp and smoke and lemon ... I hate nostalgia, it’s laziness with prettier accessories, but every step hit me straight in the gut with something: ... (memories)

Finally getting into it.