For Loiseau

[mint]

Loiseau, I have been thinking of you the last few days.  The reason?

I have just finished a book whose story takes place in Bruges, Paris and London and I know you are familiar with all three places.  Must tell you briefly how I came to be reading the book.  That I happened upon the book at all is a bit of a happy coincidence.

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a C of E church fete to buy chutney, Christmas cards, CDs and books (yes, you CAN find such events in Dordogneshire).  As the books were 50 centimes each, I selected a few for Christmas reading.  So, I began with An Avenue of Stone by Pamela Hansford Johnson.  I'd never heard of this author before but OH remembers her well from her broadcasts and writings as a music critic.  Incidentally, she is a bit of an authority on Proust so my interest was well and truly spiked!

Having finished that book, I realised that it was the second book in a trilogy and I immediately went on the internet to search for the other two books.  The first of the trilogy, Too Dear for my Possessing is the book that might appeal to you for the reasons cited above and I thought it would be a book that could give you great enjoyment.

As an aside, I find it curious how differently I read French and English books.  With French romans, I gallop through as fast as I can to see how the story develops.  With English ones, I pause and reflect, admire or pick holes with the style of writing, get irked by mistakes that any average proof reader should have noticed and generally don't care much about the story line!  Since living in France and I dare say having more time on my hands, I read for excellence in writing and enjoy the words, sentences, paragraphs as a legitimate pleasure in itself.

Don't worry, this author writes with fluency and apparently effortlessly and takes you through from first page to last at a good pace but does not leave you other than completely satisfied at the end.

[Loiseau]

Ooo, mint, thank you for that recommendation! I am between good books at the moment, so I might grab it for the

Kindle.

I know what you mean about pausing sometimes when reading an English book; sometimes I have re-read a paragraph or two for the beautiful construction. :-)