My tardy relationship with books

I have given the title 'The Tardy Reader' to my blog as it best describes my relationship with reading. You will see in my previous posts that I have a reading history from school, but then there is a very large blank. I have never been much of a reader until this year when I discovered Amazon's synchronised audio facility.

Apart from reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier when I was ill in hospital for a week, my reading past is only just getting established, so hence I have used the word tardy in the name of my blog.

Due to my youngest daughter intending to study English Literature at university, I have found myself recently daring to read a few classics, as I am interested in what she is doing! My eldest studied music, so for a few years I was educated in choir music and composers and often now listen to composers such as Herbert Howells and Thomas Tallis who have found their way into my i-tunes library.

During this past summer I read Thomas Hardy, Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte novels, and I have discovered a real love of Virginia Woolf's writing. Who would have thought that I would have been reading these this time last year!

I feel that I read the Hardy novels in the wrong order, starting with one which I found a bit of a challenge. 'Two on a Tower' took me ages to finish, but I did enjoy the love story between Lady Constantine and Swithin St Cleeve. I had to look up a lot of the astronomical terms and various other words that I had not come across before. The second one that I read was' The Return of the Native' which I enjoyed more than the first. I found the story line more interesting and loved the characters. Eustacia is my new favourite girls name! Here is a link to my Goodreads review. The third one was 'The Mayor of Casterbridge', which I enjoyed equally as much as the second and my review for that one is here.

The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens took me quite a while to finish. I learnt about the barbaric use of the guillotine and until recently thought how lucky I was to live in such a civilised society,  the recent terror attacks in Paris however has reminded me how very precious a peaceful society is.

I was only able to finish Wuthering Heights, with the help of Patricia Routledge's audio recording. Her Yorkshire accent made the conversational text understandable. I did get in a bit of a muddle with the characters as Emily Bronte's clever story spans a few generations. I was given some very good advice recently about making notes of the characters and I would advise anyone who has not read this to draw out a family tree so as to not get in a muddle with who is who. I would read this again, it is brilliant!

I am giving classic literature a rest for a while but now that I have got a taste for it, I  have so much that I want to read. I am currently reading Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood, so I will write about that one in my next blog post.

A masterclass in blogging

My first introduction to blogging was during part of the Purbeck Literary festival in 2014, when I attended a course in Corfe Castle, Dorset. The friendly training session was led by Rachel Knowles.

Rachel has used her blogging expertise to produce a book 'A Perfect Match'  how very inspiring.

Another friend set herself a challenge, and set up a 100 happy days blog. This was also inspiring, and her personal development books: 'Celebr8Success' and the 'A-Z The Imposter Syndrome Guide'  are both available from her website Successful Women Training.

I was lucky enough to be able to take part in another course on blogging held at Max Gate recently. You can read my blog about Dorchester to find out more about who I met there.

Lynne, who ran that course, told us that she was inspired to set up a blog 10 years ago, after reading all of Margaret Atwood's novels. Thank goodness she mentioned an author that I was familiar with, after all I am a somewhat tardy reader, and finding myself on a literary course, I was a bit worried I may not fit in. Thankfully I did, and there people on the course with many different interests.

I read my first Atwood novel this summer, with the help of an audio version. I downloaded 'Alias Grace' almost by accident. I was going to Newcastle for the weekend and had started using the library's digital service: 'Overdrive'. Some of the titles that I wanted to reserve were not available, so this one found its way into my downloads! I loved it, so much and was absorbed and couldn't believe I had found something so good, just by accident.

During the summer I went on to enjoy 'The Blind Assassin' which was quite different and turned out to be 2 books in one, as it was cleverly written, about a woman who had written a book, and her sister.

Then I read 'The Handmaid's Tale', as my daughter told me it was her favourite book. Well that was completely different again, and I had to pinch myself when I realised I was reading a genre that I would never have chosen. It reminded me a bit of George Orwell's '1984' which I have remembered  that I also read at school.

When I read '1984' I could never have imagined that some of the futuristic ideas Orwell described, when he wrote it in1949 are now part of my every day life. The same thoughts struck me reading this novel, when Atwood described her characters, as having to wear wrist bands for personal identification. It is really thought provoking that Atwood's book written in1985 describes the use of technology that companies like Apple are now using regularly such as Apple pay.  You can read my 'Goodreads' review of ' The Handmaid's Tale' here, and as for Apple pay, I think that is wonderful, I can now buy my Marks and Spencer sandwich with my watch!

Which Margaret Atwood novel should I read next? I would love to hear your suggestions.