Reading Time

Retirement is meant to be a time of leisure, somebody said that, but having started with plenty of reading time, books have taken a second , or third, place to crafts and the garden.
I'm in two bookclubs which helps, but still would like more hours each day.

Jamie Andrew:Life and Limb, how he lost his best friend, Jamie Fisher and all four limbs in a freak snow storm in the Alps, the one that caused the devastating avalanche near Chamonix in 1999. He takes you through the fatal expedition, near despair and finally almost-too-late rescue. His girlfriend and the other Jamie's father hear that only one of the lads has survived. He then goes through his amputations and rehabilitation, including prosthetic arms with built in ice-axes, I suspect his prosthetists regarded him as a wonderful challenge. Not in the least self-pitying, he’s an inspiration to anyone with difficulties or physical disability.

Panek:Seeing and Believing was recommended by someone on my Moons MOOC, about the invention of the telescope and its implications for our changing perspective of ourselves. It’s a bit rambling but good in places. Interesting for the enthusiast who doesn’t already know it all.Andrew Motion: In the Blood is a memoir of childhood, I hope just the first part of his autobiography. As you’d expect from an ex-poet laureate he’s good with words. Beautifully written with many descriptions of the countryside and his changing attitudes, it also rings an awful bell for anyone who’s been to boarding school. It starts at the sudden end of childhood when his mother suffers a severe head injury. We don’t find out what happens, although I can imagine.