Book group main course

My blip today was quite an easy choice thanks to the posts of my fellow book group blippers:

The table setting in Ridgeback13's kitchen by LauraMuir
The first course by Ridgeback13 and ArcLight
The pudding by Winsford

So here is the main course: delicious chicken Rendang.

Our book this month was by Absolutely forever by Rose Tremain. I loved it. The first couple of lines hooked me instantly: 

"When I was fifteen, I told my mother that I was in love with a boy called Simon Hurst, 'Nobody falls in love at your age. What they get are crushes on people. You've just manufactured a little crush on Simon'". 

This is just the kind of exchange that I could imagine between my granny and Mummy hazelh 70 years ago - or Mummy hazelh and me 46 years ago!

The novel is very well written, and really funny in places, even though some of the main themes are rather depressing: unrequited love, death, and the low ambitions of the main character (which I forgave given her upbringing). The book reminded me somewhat of I capture the castle (one of my all-time favourite books), especially in terms of the characterisation. It was also interesting to me that the object of the main character's affections ended up in Paris after failing to get into his first choice University. It looks like he took the same course on French civilisation that I studied in Paris in 1982.

The book group meeting was - as ever - lots of fun. The conversations were lively, wide-ranging (and loud), and included plotting to celebrate our decade together in the new year. Bumping into LauraMuir at the station on my way up the road to Ridgeback13's house, and accompanying her back there again afterwards, gave bonus time for chatting à deux.

Earlier in the day I exercised, then worked, sharing the news of the acceptance of our journal paper on audience engagement with the Lorna Lloyd Diary of the war podcast series in a blog post. 

I also popped down to Tiso after lunch to buy a new pair of walking shoes.

Exercise today: 1 hour on the exercise bike; swim (60 lengths); walking (21,105 steps).