Back to blogging
(February 2, 2008)


It's been a while but I'm back. Life, well perhaps I should say health can suddenly send your life off on a different path for a while, especially when you are no longer a young one. I did learn that major surgery really does have major consequences for life and as willing as you are mentally to get back into the swing of things, your body can gang up on you and force you to a more reasonable pace.

So here I am a couple of months later, back at work, finally pretty much caught up on things that awaited my return and the decks almost in order again - so it's time to catch up here as well.

Two months with very limited computer time meant books for me. I read lots! Did you know that the average Canadian adult will only read one book per year? That fact astounded me. Over the holiday period - being unable to participate - I read 12 novels and a number of other smaller pieces for a total of 18 books. So I guess some of you are off the hook for a while.

I found that my fondness for 18th century British writing has not diminished and my grandmother's love of all things related to World War Two rubbed off on me.

One author, not a big blockbuster name, Peter Behrens caught my imagination and delivered a number of delightful hours with his novel, The Law of Dreams. Set in blight-ridden Ireland his story of a young man's journey to stay alive and find himself was exquisite. Sentences that were so descriptive and engaging that I too felt as though I were about to tumble over from hunger.

 

An Irish descendant myself, I was fascinated by the struggle of the poor landless Irish peasant of the day. I'd read the history but this book brought everything home to me about what it means to not have a home or a place of your own, let alone a bite to eat.

 

That the hero's travels end for us in Montreal, as he side-stepped the quarantine of Ils aux grues, brings full circle what I'd learned from living in Montreal, a city whose founders include many Irish who'd managed to escape and struggled to survive and prosper. Hardship can be relative... but it's always hard.

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