The Content Reader

Back again. This time not with a book review. The reading is going slow. For the moment I am reading The Hourglass Factory  by Lucy Ribchester. It is a historical novel set in the beginning of the 20th century. Trapeze artists disappearing and then there are the suffragettes. More about this later. I am on my way to Sweden again, so planning my packing. Most things that will go from here have already been transported. Now we are starting looking at what we have in the attic! Yes, I guess you know what that means. Many things that has been hidden up there since we moved in 18 years ago. Since both me an my husband had reached a rather mature age by the time we decided that it might be a good idea to move in together, we had both collected a few personal stuff along the way. My husband is more of a squirrel than I am, so I am afraid he has a few more boxes to take care of,  but there are a few for me too. One pile of memorabilia To open these boxes was really a trip down...

I have read many raving reviews about this book, so it was with a little bit of caution that I started reading. Well, I did not have to worry. This is just a wonderful book, a fascinating story and so many wise thoughts all through the book. It just shows that it is never to late to do something about your life, and when you least expect it, you grow to heights you could never have imagined. Harold is retired and when we meet him, he and his wife do not seem to speak too much to each other. His wife Maureen, seems to spend her life cleaning the house and thinking of their grown-up son. One morning their life change forever when Harold receives a postcard from a former, female colleague, Queenie Hennessy. She has cancer and she is writing to say her farewells. The letter starts a process in Harold. He writes a polite reply and sets of to post it right away. Circumstances takes him to the nearest letter box, but he is hesitant to post it. He continues to the next one, and next one....

My mother got this book as a birthday present from her sister and lent it to me. My mother is 82 years old, and although she still lives at home with my father, she can relate to a lot of things in the book, and she really loved it.  As it says in the title, Hendrik Groen is 83¼ years old. He lives in an old people’s home in Amsterdam. He is a nice, caring, helpful and pleasant person who does not make a lot of noise in the world. He decides to change his attitude and become more tough and speak out about matters he thinks are wrong. Not to totally go outside himself, he decides to be obnoxious in secret and write a diary for one year. Here he can write whatever he likes. He can be as true as he likes, no one will read it but himself. It is the story of being old in an old peoples’ home. About friendship and love at the end of life. Just because you are old does not mean you have to give up everything, right? You have the right to think what you like about politicians, life in...

I read Kate Morton's The House at Riverton  some years ago and really loved it. I am fascinated with old houses and the possible secrets they hold. I discovered I have two books of hers on my shelves, so started out with  The Distant Hours.  What a read, just what I love. The personal stories of the characters keep you enthralled all through the book. Little by little the story of their lives come alive before you, and mostly,  it is not what it seems. The novel starts with a life changing event. Edie, is a young woman working as editor in small publishing firm. She has just broken up with her boyfriend, without telling anyone. She know her mother will be disappointed in her. When she goes for her regular visits to her parents to eat dinner, her estranged relationship with her mother will change forever. While there, her mother receives a letter sent 60 years ago. Her mother, always keeping her feelings in control, gets very emotional over the letter, without expla...

If you have followed this blog, you might have noticed that I am very fond of biographies. Especially, of people, or families, which stand out due to their personalities, and maybe, eccentricities. This book has it all. The Garmans were nine siblings, and this biography is mainly about four of them; Mary, Kathleen, Douglas and Lorna. They turned their world and surroundings upside down with their wild and bohemian life in the beginning of the 20th century. They took lovers, and/or married them, created with their pure energy, the inspiration for many an artist. They were part of the Bloomsbury set between the wars, and knew them all; writer Vita Sackville-West who had a love affair with Mary, although she was married to poet Roy Campbell; sculpture Jacob Epstein, lover of Kathleen for many years until they married when his wife died; the poet Laurie Lee, painter Lucian Freud and many more. They lived their lives as they wanted without thinking about conventions. ”The valued nat...

It was a while since I wrote something on this blog. Life has been very busy the last couple of weeks. I have spent them in Sweden, decorating our own and our son's new flats. A lot of driving here an there, looking for suitable furniture, carrying, unpacking, putting together etc etc. I feel quite exhausted. My son's flat is now in order so that feels good. Ours are slowly coming together. We are still waiting for the furniture we have ordered; a new luxurious bed, a sofa and a dining table. I think we still have to wait a few weeks. On Monday I head back to Brussels and have to take care of a house and garden  which need care as well. It never ends it seems. The worst part? It takes away my time for reading and blogging! The beginning of my library. Although it will not be enough, you have to start somewhere! I have missed you all out there, although I have managed to follow your blog posts. I see you are up to a lot of things and I am happy for all of you. Hope I wil...