Shirley Hazzard--The Great Fire

 I cannot--without spending a long time--write an outline of the story told in the Hazzard book. What I can say is that Hazzard's language is amazing. To tempt anybody to read this book, I will quote a blurb from the cover written by Anita Shreve.

"The Great Fire is a brilliant, brave, and sublimely written novel that allows the literate reader the consolation of having touched infinity...it is among the most transcendent works I've ever had the pleasure of reading."

It is long book, and there is a great deal of exploration of not exactly sub-plots, but much scene-setting, much back-story..and if it were not for the brilliance of the writing--even when for several pages one might ask 'why do we need all this'--there was often the temptation to skip.

So back to the Library it goes this afternoon. 

A lovely autumn day in Washington, with the trees at their best. Biden's election seems certain, and in spite of the Covid crisis (US deaths at 235,000) there is a sense that things are going to get better....

 It has been so long since I looked at the blog, and when I read it today I was quite impressed by the quality of the writing. And since I last posted about a book, I have read dozens--but if I tried to remember them, I would get lost--remembering only a few.

We are in the middle of a pandemic--stuck inside a lot of the time, little or no contact with friends and relations, no chance to travel, no theatres, no concerts--nothing involving other people. Joan and I have each other, and unlike what we read about strains on relationships during the Covid crisis, we seem to be able to keep on excellent terms wirh each other and provide each other with the emotional support we need.

So I will begin again..better to be writing something than playing sudoku or doing the Guardian crossword. Tomorrow I will finish a long novel by Shirley Hazzard and write a bit about it.