Books, life the universe

Saturday 22 January 2011

My madeleine moment . . .

I bought a Marks & Spencer's coffee Swiss roll the other day and I decided a few minutes ago to have a piece of it - together with a cup of coffee. When I took the first bite I was immediately transported to evenings in the early 1970s. Once again I was sitting talking to my fellow blogger - Norn - and drinking coffee and eating coffee Swiss roll. I was also reminded of watching the BBC's adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Palliser novels with Susan Hampshire as Glencora Palliser and Philip Latham as Plantagenet Palliser. Of such moments are memories made.

Books

Several Patricia Wentworth crime novels - The Watersplash, Grey Mask, Vanishing Point all featuring the inimitable Miss Maud Silver.

Gone Away by Hazel Holt - the first of her Mrs Malory crime series

A Paramedic's Diary by Stuart Grey - his experiences on the streets of London among the drunks the drug addicts, the genuinely ill and the time wasters. Fascinating reading if you like that sort of thing.

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande - how he helped to introduce checklists to the medical world and how they are used in other professions. A fascinating look at how simple things can simplify the most complex processes and help prevent mistakes happening.

Cruise Ship SOS by Ben Macfarlane - about his experiences as a doctor on a cruise ship. The book should come with a health - or wealth - warning - as I now quite fancy going on a cruise - something I've never really considered before.

Currently reading

Patricia Wentworth - Lonesome Road - I've only just started this so can't really say much about it yet.

M C Beaton - Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death - the first in the Agatha Raisin series. I've read it before but enjoy re-reading these stories.

John Galsworthy - I'm still reading The Forsyte Saga - nearly at the end of the third volume - To Let - with everyone trying to keep the details of the Irene/Soames scandal from the ears of his daughter, Fleur.

I'm also dipping into Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time.

3 comments:

NAM said...

You won't be surprised to know that as soon as I read the words 'Marks & Spencer's coffee swiss roll', I also remembered talking while we ate some with coffee!

While we're on the food memories I also remember making trifle with caramel-glazed grapes as decoration, your share of which had to be consumed en route to Norwich station...

Jilly said...

Funnily enough whenever I make a trifle - usually out of a box made by Birds - I remember those caramel-glazed grapes - and the journey to Norwich station!

NAM said...

Clearly iconic, then. And to think I've never made them since!