Reading matter

... is nothing if not varied. I noticed the colour coordination of the two books and the fact that the covers both featured tiles, and L'étameur des morts happened to be on top of them for graphic interest, so ... having thought I was going to have yet another blipless day, I grabbed the camera.

The book about contemplative photography was recommended by Kendall recently, and my blip mojo is so far gone I need all the help I can get. Let's hope this kickstarts it. I might have been more enthusiastic about the first assignment if it hadn't been raining though ...

The Lucia Berlin was a birthday present. I'm rationing it, one story at a time. And l'Etameur des Morts is a book I was given by some friends years ago. It's set in the Corbières so has local interest, but the story concerns a leaking lead coffin being transported by cart along country roads, accompanied by a policeman, the widow of the man in the coffin, and an étameur (tinsmith), required to patch the leaks. Très gai ! I can't remember much about it except the creepiness. Apparently every time R and A come and house sit, A starts reading it but has never finished it. So I'm considering rereading it to remind myself how it ends.

In "less than impressed by" reading matter, not featured in this photo, Sally Rooney's much-hyped Normal People (a book group choice). And I was a little disappointed with Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behaviour, even though she's a better writer than I suspect Rooney will ever be on this evidence.

PS do you notice anything about the spine of the French book as compared to the English ones?