Three very different books

How many times have I mentioned that I’m trying to downsize, get rid of stuff we no longer use/need/want, that we are trying to be economical in what we get because we need to lose what we’ve already got? How many times? Too many times is the answer – so why am I so weak-willed, forgetful, indifferent, that I bring more things into the house! One type of item in particular – books!

Today I had a great day out, visiting a favourite city, Bath and meeting a friend for a wander, bookshop, coffee, wander, bookshop, lunch, bookshop, coffee… etc. Why are bookshops so seductive? Why am I drawn in, why am I so weak-willed? Knowing I have a house full of books, shelves overflowing, piles on the floor, why do I somehow walk out of these shops with more?

• There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak: ‘In Victorian London, an extraordinary child is born on teh edge of the dirt-black Thames. When his brilliant memory earns him a spot as an apprentice at a printing press, teh word opens up far beyond the slums and across the sea. In 2014 in Turkey, Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris, waits to be baptised. The ceremony is cruelly interrupted,and soon she and her grandmother must journey across war-torn lands in the hope of reaching the sacred valley of their people. In 2019 in London, a broken-hearted Zaleekah, a hydrologist, moves to a houseboat on the Thames to escape the wreckage of her marriage – until an unexpected connection to her homeland changes everything. A dazzling feat of storytelling from one of the greatest writers of our time, one that spans centuries and continents, this is the story of one lost poem, two great rivers and three remarkable lives – all connected by a single drop of water.
• One Woman’s Year by Stella Martin Currey: Twenty pounds of plums waiting to be preserved in one way or another for the winter – could anything be more final! There is never a convenient time for fruit bottling, jut as there is never a convenient time for having a baby or tidying the larder. There are so many exacting processes to be gone through before you can view the deep purple, the white, the tomato-red or the golden fruits in bright rows on your shelves, There are bottles to wash and dry, the clips and bands to sort and sterilise, the fruit to be prepared and washed, and after the bottling is complete there is the period of testing, before you can put the bottles in to the store cupboard. We all preserved fruit and vegetables with such energy during the war that a reaction has set in against this summer pursuit. in the war, if we did not bottle fruit we just had none during the winter. Now with frozen produce available, the process is less urgent.
• Sound Tracks – A Musical detective Story by Graeme Lawson – In exploring the historical traces humankind has left of our music-making, Graeme Lawson captures the full scope of the ingenuity and passion that we have brought to this mysterious universal and vital impulse. You’ll encounter instruments you never knew existed and find yourself humming the songs of the Bronze Age… A thrilling journey into the sonic richness of human experience. (Philip Ball)

Three very different books – so where shall I start!!