Wine talks. Everyone knows that. Look around you.
Blackberry Wine, Joanne Harris
*****
I bought this book at a charity shop just before leaving for France, and read it during the first three weeks. I was staying in a small untouristy village and when I found the story turning on another small French village and its future – draw tourists or perish – I started to live in the book, unable to put it down. I finished it at 4am on the morning of my last day, reading it to the end to cure my insomnia. (It didn’t.) My bag was already packed, already too full, so I placed the book on the shelves with several other English language novels; it seems this flat is only ever let to English speakers.
I liked Harris’s tricky point of view – it’s the bottle of wine that narrates the story.
I have never been able to read, while either on a plane journey or on holiday.. I buy a book every time before boarding and I always bring it back unopened so to speak.. really strange even when the flight is boring..
The problem I have with reading on long flights is that they dim the lights when it’s not mealtime! I don’t like to turn on the overhead light because it distracts everyone else. But on the subject of reading, I know you read Terry Brooks’s books – but perhaps only at home…