The painting above is by Anna Gardell-Ericson, a Swedish artist from the 19th Century who painted nature. I found her through europeana, a website dedicated to the digital heritage of Europe which includes art, as well as books, films and music. The picture personifies my new approach to reading which is a conversion to Non-Fiction.
The past few weeks I’ve been feeling under the weather and I’ve also had Covid so my reading and blogging have become sporadic. Feeling unwell can change your perspective and I couldn’t seem to read fiction. This is remarkable because fiction has been a great passion of mine for many years and a great comfort but now it’s non-fiction which is becoming more appealing. Last year I tried to read some non-fiction, a historical biography about King George III’s daughters but my concentration wasn’t there. Before that I read a couple of histories, the literary Square Haunting by Francesca Wade and a social history of debutante’s in England during World War II and their contribution to the war effort, amongst some other Non-Fiction works. But overall fiction was my go to. Now it’s the opposite: Non-Fiction is gaining favour.
I’ve been wanting to read Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley but I never felt inspired at it is Non-Fiction after all. But a funny thing happened: I love it. I’m about 9 chapters in but it’s fascinating and interesting. Lucy Worsley is a historian and uses admirable research in putting together a picture of Jane Austen’s life, from her parents starting life in Steventon to Jane’s upbringing, siblings and relatives and other goings on. The book is a bit under 400 pages and I tend to read about 2 chapters per day so it’s a bit slow going but I think I’ll try to increase my reading time to read it in 2 to 3 weeks time.
Before this I was reading a Jenny Colgan novel about an English woman with a small child who goes up to Scotland, for a job looking after some children at an old house, and running a mobile book shop. Although I got through most of it I gave up in the end because it was inplausible and silly. I don’t think Chick Lit is for me anymore. Previously, I also read Miss Mole by E. H. Young about an eccentric housekeeper taking charge of a Rector’s family. I’ll update you about how Jane Austen at Home is going – I’m really pleased I’m enjoying it.
Readable 