To counteract the heaviness of Kristin's story, I've been reading some lighter books: The Unselected Letters of Emma M. Lion and a vintage murder mystery called When Last I Died by Gladys Mitchell. I also enjoyed Pink Sugar by O. Douglas, cozy domestic fiction by a favorite author.
Another antidote to the stressful reading, was watching the first 10 episodes of season one of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir on YouTube. We also watched the first two episodes of All Creatures Great and Small. I've practically given up on PBS since several of the "safe" shows we tried to watch last year (Poirot, Father Brown, Miss Marple) were full of PC garbage, but All Creatures seems to be staying true to the spirit of the books so far.
Anybody else start the year by attacking your TBR list? Read anything that you recommend? Any thoughts on Kristin Lavransdatter?
Blessings,
5 comments:
I love Kristin and have read it twice. Here is more of what I thought:
https://gretchenjoanna.com/2010/07/16/kristin-lavransdatter/
But I do know what you mean about the pain of it! The third time I set out to read it was at a time in my life where I had enough of my own troubles to burden me, and I could not read more than the first book.
It's good we can have many sorts of Book Friends to accompany us no matter what our mood or current needs!
I have Kristin Lavransdatter in a to be read pile. I recently read another book by the same author, Gunnar's Daughter. The later book is not a long story. It too is sad.
I had never heard of Kristin Lavransdatter until you mentioned it recently. It doesn't sound like anything I'd be interested in unless I had some reason to explore Norwegian literature.
I've completed two books on my TBR list, one a new biography of Elisabeth Elliot published last year (so it hasn't been on my list for long, but it's one I wanted to get to right away this year). I wrote about my reading for this month at the end of my January post: https://barbaraleeharper.com/2021/01/28/january-reflections-2/.
I've recorded the first two episodes of All Creatures but haven't watched them yet. My husband isn't interested in them, so I am trying to save them for sometime when he's not home--or asleep. :-) I've been working through the Lark Rise to Candleford series while riding my exercise bike. They have an occasional superstitious story line or a conflict with "country ways" that some in the village consider pagan. But overall it's more like Little House in the Hamlet.
I read the first book of Kristin Lavransdatter and didn't care for it. Way too sad and full of bad choices. I couldn't read the last two of the trilogy.
I know exactly what you mean, Marie! I was so depressed by the actions of the protagonists. I only persisted because of the comments of the Lit Life group about redemption in book three. We'll see!
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