Style

S brought back the books I'd ordered from Waterstones to be delivered to his mum's, and when I unpacked them I was struck by three bright, beautifully designed covers. It's vanishingly rare to see literary fiction in France with such appealing covers. Usually they are completely plain. These are just asking to be picked up! Mind you, they are all books I am looking forward to reading anyway.

The Andrew Miller one is my choice for this month's book group. I've never read him before, but both my sisters raved about this, so I thought it was worth a try. Having sent Samantha Harvey's The Western Wind packing (meh, curate's-eggish), I'm racing through this. No clever tricks, a compelling story, and great period atmosphere. As for the Alan Garner, I'll read anything he writes. And the Linda Grant looks completely different from her usual type of novel.

Community gym this evening was once again very bracing! And now to pick up my book again ...