After reading Adichie’s book Zikora yesterday, I looked for another book of short stories. A long time ago, I found a book by Rosamunde Pilcher called The Shell Seekers. Since then, I have looked for more of Pilcher’s books every time I visited Booksale until I found more books of hers. I have read eighteen of her books so far with two books of short stories entitled Flowers In The Rain And Other Stories and The Blue Bedroom And Other Stories. Hallelujah! I found another short story book of hers with several well-known authors that I am reading now. It’s entitled A Place Like Home. What I like about short stories is that they are so easy to read and you won’t get bored reading compared to a long novel.
I first encountered Rosamunde Pilcher upon the recommendation of a friend whom I met at a book club several years ago. I got curious because for a guy to rave about one particular author or book, she really must be good. So I looked for a copy of The Shell Seekers, one of her well-known and much-loved books. I was hooked and from then on, I tried to look for more of her books every time I got the chance to visit Booksale. Her stories are not your run of the mill love stories. They speak of family relationships, heartbreak, friendships, betrayals, forgiveness and love. Once you start reading her books, you get to absorb the characters like they are your next-door neighbors or your favorite cousin or your beloved brother or sister. And seeing her describe Cornwall and Scotland with such beauty and grace makes you long to go there and see the snow-capped vistas and azure skies, it makes you stay at the beach all day long and just look at the water and go home with the thought of a nice hot cup of tea and fish and chips prepared by a loyal housekeeper who treats you as a long-lost daughter. It makes you even curious how a Biro pen looks like because the character you’ve read won’t have no other except a Biro. It makes you long to buy rose-scented soaps and lavender bubble baths and stay relaxed for an hour or two immersed in warm and scented water and wrap yourself with pretty thick bath towels afterward. You think of the first chill of autumn and the countryside awashed with pretty flowers. Short of saying, I want to live in Scotland and get to explore Porthkerris despite the rains and the cold. I want to see the silver hues of the raindrops on a cold and chilly morning. Such are what you can imagine, just reading her books.
Reading is such a thrill. I got so much time on my hands at the moment because I am done gardening and my appointment with my hematologist is next month yet.
Dreams And Escapes 