Reading

 I'm a slow reader because I tend to read only at night before going to sleep -- just a few minutes. Some books I've finished recently:

The House Near Paris by Drue Tartiere

The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan

It's been a while since I finished The House Near Paris, but I enjoyed it very much. My mother shoved this book on me well before she died and insisted I read it. I'm glad she did. It's a true story of an American woman in France during WW2 and her brave work in helping people escape the Nazis in her town.

The Ivy Tree was typical Mary Stewart: romantic, lovely. Not her most amazing, but typical. I like a little Mary Stewart occasionally as a break from other books.

I expected to adore Theo of Golden because it seemed everyone else did. But again, my unusual reading preferences made it a ho-hum book for me. It was okay. I finished it. I found Theo endearing, but the story a bit too fairytale perhaps. And the one scene of violence in the square by the fountain I found extraneous and pointless. Theo's death could have been accomplished in a dozen different ways without that scene. Just my opinion.

Becoming Mrs. Lewis was a surprise; at first I didn't like the idea of a novelist attributing all these thoughts, emotions, and personal words to people like C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman. I was offended for them, rather Who does she think she is? However, I stuck with it and later grew to enjoy the story. The more romantic parts toward the very end were a bit sappy and awkward, but otherwise I felt it was a well-told tale. 

Going to see the movie The Odyssey recently prompted me to pull out a copy of Homer's epic and read it again. I'm finishing Book II. I would recommend the movie, unless you're a purist who cannot abide anything that's not true to the book. It was well-done by a director who clearly loved Homer's work. There were omissions and additions, as you'd expect. I will now enjoy the book.

I have run out of Josephine Tey books to read, and this is a sad place to be. Her books stick with me and I think of them often, especially The Franchise Affair. I need to find more Ngaio Marsh mysteries, and maybe some Ellis Peters. I do not like running out of books!