My copy of The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating arrived yesterday. I have read five chapters. It is deliciously simple and Zen and brilliant. I've already learned a lot about snails - the next time the plants in the garden are munched I may be more benevolent towards the muncher. The author, so far, rather glosses over the details of her own life, perhaps this will change, but I like this distancing mechanism. I am housebound today, in and out of bed, I overdid it on Monday and now my shins feel caned, exquisite pain in my ankles. This is what happens when I walk too much.
I have come across a reference (in this comments thread) to The State of Me and its absence of quotation marks in dialogue, and have done so a few times. Some find the missing marks a little confusing and think it is to reflect the brain fog of ME. It was not my intention but interesting that readers have felt this. I never use quote marks, that is just my style, it is probaby an energy-saving device and also I don't like the way they clutter the page. There are however quote marks in my story in the 50 Stories for Pakistan anthology (which has now raised £500 for the Red Cross!!!), this was to have uniformity in the book, and even that felt odd for me, at first, though I am totally fine with it, in this instance.
Am going to blow my own trumpet a bit: a lovely reader who enjoyed the novel and follows my blog wrote to me today and thanked me again, in bold(!), for achieving in your work what purely factual books on ME can't accomplish. She quoted an extract from The State of Me - amidst quotes from other books - and it took me a moment to recognise my own words. That made me smile.
Needless to say, I am on another mini-break from Wolf Hall (it's truly become a love-hate relationship, I hope it doesn't end in tears), the Elisabeth Tova Bailey is a welcome diversion. And I think everyone who is bedbound should have a snail.
I have come across a reference (in this comments thread) to The State of Me and its absence of quotation marks in dialogue, and have done so a few times. Some find the missing marks a little confusing and think it is to reflect the brain fog of ME. It was not my intention but interesting that readers have felt this. I never use quote marks, that is just my style, it is probaby an energy-saving device and also I don't like the way they clutter the page. There are however quote marks in my story in the 50 Stories for Pakistan anthology (which has now raised £500 for the Red Cross!!!), this was to have uniformity in the book, and even that felt odd for me, at first, though I am totally fine with it, in this instance.
Am going to blow my own trumpet a bit: a lovely reader who enjoyed the novel and follows my blog wrote to me today and thanked me again, in bold(!), for achieving in your work what purely factual books on ME can't accomplish. She quoted an extract from The State of Me - amidst quotes from other books - and it took me a moment to recognise my own words. That made me smile.
Needless to say, I am on another mini-break from Wolf Hall (it's truly become a love-hate relationship, I hope it doesn't end in tears), the Elisabeth Tova Bailey is a welcome diversion. And I think everyone who is bedbound should have a snail.
