Maternal wisdom…

Been a slow,

beginning of the week,

at the bookshop,

I’ve managed to finish two books.

I’ve started and finished,

Utz by Bruce Chatwin,

a novel about a collector,

of Meissen porcelain,

in Czechoslovakia,

during the communist reign.

An odd, short and engrossing,

novel.

Chatwin is much more,

famous,

for his travel and anthropological books,

On Pantagonia,

Songlines,

and all.

This novel,

Utz(the name of the main character)

deals,

in a humourous way with,

the obsession to collect,

and,

much more subtly,

with the real meaning of freedom,

of the mind,

how one can be truly,

free,

inside a totalitarian regime,

and,

less so,

in a,

supposedly democratic one.

As someone who was an avid,

collector himself,

and,

someone who worked in auction houses,

and,

knew many collectors,

as well as being an avid traveller,

Chatwin,

brings insight and experience,

as well as a keen sense of,

observation to this novel,

a little gem,

not for everyone I’m sure,

but,

an interesting look at Prague,

in a pre Havel period,

a couple of hours,

well spent.

The other novel I read is,

Slow River by Nicola Griffith,

a British writer,

good book,

complex themes,

ecological consequences,

abuse,

identity,

family,

not easy to wrap up,

a good read,

set in,

the not too distant future,

a Nebula Award winner.

Sci-Fi isn’t usually my thing,

but,

this I liked.

Took me a while to get,

‘into’ it,

but, once I did,

I wanted to know,

and I cared.

What would happen,

and,

about,

the characters.

If I don’t care about the characters,

like or dislike,

it’s very difficult for me,

to immerse myself in a book.

Both these novels had,

people,

I cared about,

at their center,

and,

both allowed me to pass,

the long hours,

of waiting for customers.

I like a book to distract me,

take me away,

and,

make me think.

When I was a child,

pretty young,

seven, eight,

not quite sure,

my mom told me,

‘When you read, you are never bored’

of course,

she was right.

Reading cures and prevents,

boredom,

and,

I always have a book lying by,

the side of the bed,

in fact,

most of the time it’s lying,

right next to me,

in bed.

🙂

Do You?

Happy Halloween.

Later girls,

BB