I've been a little under the weather this weekend... but it hasn't been all bad. Since I'm usually a very busy sort of person, feeling unwell yesterday had a certain upside. I spent the whole day in my nightgown, in bed READING! Actually, it was kind of pleasant.
My neighbour and good friend Joanne lent me her copy of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. It's number one on all kinds of bestseller lists. Though I usually read YA novels, this one is written for adults. I LOVED IT. The whole book is letters and it is set in the post-war years in Guernsey, a British island occupied by the Nazis during World War II. The book is sad and funny and wise and a lot about books and reading. In fact, it is books that help a group of friends and neighbours keep their spirits up during the Nazi occupation and in the immediate post-war years. I have always found that books have a medicinal effect, as this one did for me yesterday. Here's one line I really liked, and as you'll see, it's definitely about books: "Perhaps there is some sort of secret homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers." What a delightful thought, no?!
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Hi Monique!
I had some family time this past weekend over Passover and I thought of you when my uncle told us the following - he has a friend who's a writer and before submitting anything to his editor, this friend adds in some mistakes for the editor, so the editor can find them and correct them and feel glad that there is something to correct, and then won't change anything else that the writer doesn't want to change. Good trick huh?
Goodness, that sounds like a tricky writer, Rachel. Hope you don't give my students any evil ideas -- such as adding more mistakes just to keep us teachers on our toes. (On the other hand, if they put it extra mistakes, they'd get lower grades!) Always nice to hear from you. Happy belated Passover. When do you go to Scotland?
Best from me