Tuesday, 14 October 2025

Tuesday bits and pieces!





Having re-read and thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful book by R.C. Sherriff, ( which has also taken me a fortnight in October to complete!) , I was contemplating what to read next.  

Next in line was supposed to be ‘On the Road’ by Jack Kerouac and then ‘ The Return of the Native’ by Thomas Hardy. But in truth I enjoyed ‘A Fortnight in September’ so much that I decided to read another book by R.C. Sherriff, ‘Greengates’. I read it a few years ago and it’s been on my bookshelf for some time, (along with a number of other Persephone books!) 

I have so many books from which to choose…(we’ve always been a book loving family) and with time in the garden becoming less as the colder weather sets in, I’m trying to get into good reading habits. 






What I really enjoy about the writing of  R.C Sherriff, is the simplicity of it. He seems to have this knack of writing so well about ordinary things.  And ‘A Fortnight in September’ for me, is a wonderful piece of writing that highlights a world that is now gone…and probably gone forever. It’s a superb journey, back to the 1930s.

‘Greengates’ from what I remember, is a story about retirement and all that it brings…and many of us who blog, have certainly been there. And retirement hits us all in different ways! Of course, the characters in ‘Greengates’ move house after living in the same house for forty years.…and that’s all I’m going to say for now. Whether it turns out to be as this poster, taken from the Persephone books website, remains to be seen.





And so moving on, to present day.  

As a contrast to the reds in the garden, here is an offering of the yellows and oranges . Most of these are still hanging on!








And as I wandered around, at the weekend, this Ivy caught my eyes:




What colours! 


Finally, something that we thoroughly enjoyed this week is this:




‘Riot Women’ takes you through a variety of emotions! At times you find yourself sobbing and at others you find yourself laughing out loud. I think it’s absolutely brilliant but then I also enjoyed ‘Happy Valley’ and ‘ Gentleman Jack’, …all were written by the talented Sally Wainwright. I highly recommend it! 







 

6 comments:

  1. Hello,
    I have just discovered your blog.
    Autumn really does seem to be the best season for rekindling one's reading habits. The Spring and Summer just seem far too busy to dive into a book. I shall look forward to returning to your posts.

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  2. I read 'The Fortnight in September' and found it strangely depressing. It's beautifully written, but there's a sadness in each of the older adult characters and a sense of regret and lack of fulfilment. I had read 'Journey's End' just before, which was unbearably sad. Now I'm reading a clutch of free 'Cosy murder mysteries' which are undemanding, formulaic and faintly predictable and send me off to sleep in bed each night. Must try harder and stretch the brain a little more . . .

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    1. Thanks. I didn’t really find it depressing but more slightly sad, as the chance of a proper family holiday in the future, for Mr and Mrs Stevens, was lessening; I could identify with that and how the next step would be the children leaving home, which does leave a gaping hole in family life! ( However, that should also be celebrated rather than mourned!)
      Also the guest house becoming more and more run down made one feel quite sad for the owner, who was obviously finding it harder. And you could sense that she was lonely. But I loved the style of the writing and I certainly felt that I was enjoying the holiday with the family.

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  3. You highlight here one of life’s greatest dilemmas for those who enjoy reading. That is to say, should one return to re-read books previously enjoyed or should one in fact, on account of limited time available (and with so much to read), embark on something new?

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    1. Thank you for your comment.
      I think that’s it’s fine to re read a book. It can give you a better understanding; it can help you to see things from a different perspective; it can help you to, maybe, realise and understand certain details or subtleties that you might’ve missed the first time around and, actually, it can give comfort too. Also, I think that if you re read a book at different times of your life, it can affect you differently, depending on your life experiences. Finally, I think that if you thoroughly enjoy something then what better reason than to enjoy it again. As for the time element, I guess that my answer to that would be, ‘Make the time!’…but, obviously, I do understand where you are coming from.

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  4. Both of those Persephone books are in my collection and are also two of my favourites.

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Thank you for taking the time to comment! ;-)