books do furnish a mind

[rosamicula]

Like ivory_goddess I have decided to record all the books I read this year. I read a great deal - even more now I'm an idle invalid - so I suspect that I will record rather than review most of them.

One of my Christmas gifts to myself was a boxed set of Daphne du Maurier novels. I started with the cheerlessly titled I'll never be young again. It was her

Comments

[ms_siobhan]

I had Rebecca on my shelf for ages before taking it down and dusting it off, once I'd started it I couldn't put it down. Fabulous stuff. Must read more by her and Julius sounds like a good place to start.

[strange_complex]

Like ivory_goddess I have decided to actually record all the books I read this year

I think I will join you both. I found when trying to fill in the 2006 end-of-year meme that I could barely remember anything I'd read last year. And your intention to "record rather than review" is the right way to go, I feel - I'll never record any at all if I feel I have to write a full, 'proper' review for every book.

[nisaba]

I love du Maurier, least what I've read of her so far, which is the obvious Rebecca, My Cousin Rachel, and The Scapegoat.

It was intersting re-reading Rebecca again recently, not having read it since I was in my early 20s. Then, I felt so sorry for the main character, really empathised with her, and hated Rebecca. Nowadays I just want to deck her and tell her to stop being such a piece of wet lettuce. It doesn't help that she reminds me of a friend of mine who had the same attitude to her boyfriend; tiptoeing around anything that might upset him, even if she didn't know why, just basically being a puppy dog trying desperately to make her master happy. To be fair to the main character, she realises this, a little, in that she notices that Maxim treats her like a loyal dog, but she doesn't realise that her own behaviour is contributing to that. Irritated me no end all through the book.

[jen_sandwich]

thank you for the lovely card! i'm going to send you some mail by the way, possibly next week.

[rosamicula]

Ooh that's so exciting.