15 February, and some book notes

Just finished Rose Tremaine’s The Road Home. Though I’d been aware of her name, it didn’t occur to me to read anything she’d written until I was rummaging through an Amazon list of paperbacks. It makes me wonder whether the hordes of Eastern European workers in Britain these days all have similar stories, memories and dreams. And whether they all experience the trials and triumphs of Tremaine’s hero, Lev. Another I picked out of the Amazon list was Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, which I enjoyed more for its epigrams and paradoxes than for its dark supernatural subject. Just for fun, I also ordered the Sebastian Faulks James Bond novel, Devil May Care, which I thought perfectly caught Fleming’s lightweight and self-conscious style, as well as his gift for turning out a far-fetched plot and a romping good read. Sorry about all the adjectives! Also in the last parcel of books was Alan Bennett’s Untold Stories, to which title, in parts, I have to reply ‘Pity you changed your mind’. His account of his early years and the characters in his family was charming in places, grindingly miserable in others. I was less interested in his analyses of his own works, and frankly don’t care a whole lot about all the honours he’s been offered and refused. His diary extracts were often fun to read, though. I think I’d advise someone thinking of reading it to do so in instalments, interspersed with other reading. Otherwise it becomes a bit of a litany of grumpiness, and a repetitive one at that. A bit like my blog, really, I suppose.

I have to report an unimpressive St Valentine’s Day lunch at the Rose Revived: the meal was disappointing and the service slack. And their idea of a tiny drop of Tabasco in the tomato juice does not tally with ours. We’d to send them back and substitute a jug of iced water. We made up for it at dinner time, when Martyn did a fine array of vegetables and Yorkshire puddings, and I grilled some lamb steaks that had been marinated for a few hours in honey, lemon juice, mustard, quince jelly and some seasoning.

It’s such a joy to see the days lengthening again. The sun is shining today, which also improves one’s view of the world, figuratively as well as literally. It has been quite frosty overnight, however, so if I do any sowing, I’ll need to fill the seed trays and bring them into the conservatory for a while first.