Reader versus book

I've just finished reading Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. Fantastic. Also fantastically heavy. At 771 pages, my hardback copy definitely qualifies for the doorstop/bar of gold/brick category of books. It joins fellow heavyweights Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall (650 pages) and Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate (855 pages) on my bookshelves. These I'm yet to finish, not least thanks to their sheer bulk. 

Reading large tomes is by necessity an at-home-only pleasure; as I found out through experience, The Goldfinch is not a book to lug around on a train. That can be frustrating with a book so compelling, so gripping, that you just want to keep reading in any spare snatch of time you can find.  

Yet there's something wonderful about the lure of a book that you have to rush home for, whose words and characters are only available in one place. It's the antidote to the Kindle. The untransportable book. You have to make the effort to read it, to set aside time at home to immerse yourself in its world.

Some of those resolutions

New Year's Resolution time again.


Back in 2012, I resolved, if that's the right word in this instance, to get better at Scrabble. Still working on that one. 

Last year, the list included: 

1) Stop being a compulsive book buyer. Done, more or less. I've used my local library a lot more and only bought the really necessary books. Necessary, I say. That resolution went hand in hand with a vow to finish all the unread books in my house. That's still work in progress. 

2) Learn to do front crawl properly. Check! 

3) Blog more often. Erm, variable. 

4) Savour the outdoors. Yes, although the current rain isn't doing much to help that. 

5) Be more adventurous. I haven't tried sashimi, but have had a taste of steak tartare (so much better than I expected), and have climbed a mountain! And visited both Africa and Australia for the first time. I think that counts as adventurous.


So, what is 2014 going to bring? Well, I'm not one for making too many resolutions, especially ones which seem to encourage you to give up things, but here are three, hopefully which will all add something worthwhile to day-to-day life :


1. Start practising the piano again.


As an enthusiastic amateur pianist, I used to practise a couple of hours a day. And practised properly, rather than just playing through stuff every so often. Then I started a full-time job and somehow my time at the piano dwindled... But when I was in Italy back in May, I started playing again every day – just for an hour, but an hour of working on music in detail. Beethoven and Chopin. It was all very Room with a View. Once I got back to work, I stopped again. Time to get back to it!


2. Spend more time near the sea.

The wonderful sound of waves, the tang of salt in the air. Oh I've missed the sea this year, somehow only managing to spend a few short minutes in its company. This year: some clifftop walks, some boat trips, and some time lounging in the sun with the sea nearby are all on my to-do list.


3. Savour the outdoors.

OK. This is a cheat as I made roughly the same resolution last year. But in the spirit of living a richer life (however do-good-er that sounds) I want to carry on keeping my eyes open to this country's wildlife, and try to learn a bit more about it.