Me On A Monday - May 2nd

Good Morning Everyone.  Another month's beginnings are upon us & it can either be very thrilling to think of another 31 fresh opportunities or another 31 days to get through.  I'm going with thrill & joy of 31 new beginnings for May.  

SOURCE: Internet (Pinterest)

I think most of us can agree that during the last two & a bit years, that many of us have done a lot of reading.  It was & always has been, a joy for me to sit & read for hours at a time.  I think that during the lockdowns, book recommendations exceeded even recipe sharing.

My biggest gratitude was that during the first few months of initial lockdowns, our library was readily available through an online system called Libby.  I am not normally an ebook reader, but when it was the only way to get my "hands on"  new to me books, I was thankful it was available.  Since most if not all things are now returning to open & come on in mind set, I have continued to read a few books as ebooks, mainly because it is the only way that many of the newer books are available.  That does not make me happy, but I am trying my best to be adaptable & smile through it.

In April, I mixed up my reading genre quite a bit.  I had decided back at the start of the year that my ideas for 2022 is to read some books that I missed out on as a child.  Recently on Lady Ella's blog, she reviewed a favourite childhood book of hers, The Railway Children.  The book was originally written in 1906 & has been reprinted several times & made into a movie;1970 & remade in 2000 & another revision for 2022.  I was able to get a solid copy of this book & read.  I had to remember when reading this book, that my mind & heart needed to be a child again.  It was a good read overall.  Next up are some Winnie The Pooh & Beatrix Potter books.

My latest new to me read, was recommended by an online (F/B) book club; Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form & Emptiness.   Ruth's opening is what caught my attention & desire to read more; 

 "A book must start somewhere.  One brave letter must volunteer to go first, laying itself on the line in an act of faith, from which a word takes heart & follows, drawing a sentence into its wake.  From there, a paragraph amasses & soon a page & the book is on its way, finding a voice, calling itself into being.  A book must start somewhere & this one starts here."

The book is about Benny Oh & his Mother, Annabelle's journey in coming to terms with the sudden & tragic death of Benny's Father, Annabelle's husband.  They both develop less than ideal methods of coping. Benny begins to hear the voices of things like his sneaker, a window & a broken ornament.  Annabelle develops hoarding as a way to protect herself.  Best character in the book is the Book-a-Talking, who narrates the story. I liked this book & will re-read it in the future. (what the window had to say, got me a little teary). 

I also re-read some of my (current) author's books, Louise Penny & the Chief Inspector Gamache books.  Thankfully I own the collection, so can pick up these any time my heart desires.  The latest Chief Inspector book is currently being written by Louise & not set for release until 2023!

Also read, The Younger Wife, which turned out to be a not horrible read, took me a while to get interested in the story & characters. 

Another read was Death at the Chateau Bremont, by M.L. Longworth.  This was the first in a series of murder mysteries taking place in Provence, France.  These books are the base of the latest TV murder series "Death in Provence"  starring Roger Allam of Inspector Thursday (Endeavour) fame.  This was/is one of those ebook reads for me.  I liked & have book 2 on order (another ebook).

I had previously talked about my other April reads, Where The Crawdads Sing &  Crown & Septure in an earlier Me On Monday post.

And I will leave you with another quote from The Book of Form & Emptiness: 

 "According to the capabilities of the reader, books have their own destinies .. "                    Walter Benjamin, Unpacking my library.