I give up

I have been away for a week in Hades, oops I mean Ontario; it was just as hot and humid and filled with traffic as I imagine Hades to be!!!

I tried and tried to get interested in the Sons of Fortune but I just can't. So far I have managed about 11 chapters and only got that far with the book circle in mind, otherwise I wouldn't have persisted even that far. Do I really want to waste my time reading this book? I am sure it appeals to some people but I suspect it is just an attempt by Archer to pay his lawyers' bills, and I don't see that it is very well written.

So what have I read/am I reading instead? I re-read My family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. Laugh out loud funny that is and great insight into Lawrence's character!!

What else...hmm...oh yes, I read The Sunday Philosophy Clubby Alexander McCall Smith. Nice book, not quite as charming as his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, but easy and enjoyable. Isabel Dalhousie is a lovely quirky main character but I did feel she seemed older than her supposed age in her forties. It is worth the read just for the philosophical questions raised and has all kinds of erudite references which are a real test of and addition to one's general knowledge. I learned for example that Tycho Brahe died of a burst bladder after a bout of beer drinking. You would have to know who Tycho Brahe was to find this interesting.

Otherwise I am dipping into Bookworms a collection of writings about reading edited by Laura Furman & Elinore Standard. Just very nice little pieces by such worthies as Emily Dickenson, Flaubert, James Joyce and others less well known which you can pick and choose from, not too long, so just right for bed-time reading.