Reading

Having a little mini-holiday at the moment, just for a week, so I've been reading non-stop (apart from gardening). Two recommended books:

The Asylum by John Harwood is one for Vic-lit fans. If you like Sarah Waters and Wilkie Collins you'd probably enjoy this. It's more Gothic than Sarah, but very plotty just like Collins. Mistaken identity, betrayal, dark pasts, a lost will, insanity, spooky old buildings and a little hint of lesbianism make this a worthy entrant on the Vic-lit list. Not the best I've read, but certainly not the worst either.

 I've just started Ailsa Piper's Sinning across Spain, but it seems promising. Piper decided to walk across Spain on the old Moorish road, the Mozarabe, from Granada to Santiago de Compostella, and hit upon the novel idea of financing the trek by carrying people's sins for money, and to drop the sins off at the shrine of St James. Apparently this was something done in medieval times by poor people who wanted to go on pilgrimage but had no money. Whether this is theologically possible or morally reprehensible (shouldn't people carry their own sins?) are questions she address thoughtfully. Sin isn't a concept you hear talked about much these days, so it's interesting to read the sorts of things people consider to be sinful. My big sin is probably sloth; I am a lazy, lazy person and tomorrow is always soon enough for the completion of any task, particularly if it's an unpleasant one. Lots of things to think about in this book. 

   I have to go now, and get off my slothful behind to go and throw paper balls around the living room for Thomas' playtime. It's raining and cold again, so no outdoors run this evening.