Books and matters medical

I have been rather busy over the last few days because my OH has just had an operation - a Nissen Fundoplication. Do not Google it if you are squeamish! It's a cure for acid reflux basically but the after effects are probably more than most of us would care to experience. He has to be on a virtually completely liquid diet for the next couple of months though he can manage things like rice pudding if he eats small amounts - and I mean small - less than a dessert spoonful at a time.

Eventually he will be able to eat a more normal diet but may never be able to eat bread again. He has done well so far as he had the operation last Saturday and came out on Monday. He was expected to stay in about 5 days because of his serious lung problems and his diabetes but is recovering much better than was expected.

Books

Trollope by Victoria Glendinning - a comprehensive biography of the author which makes many references to his books and really brought the man to life for me.

Here Come the Girls by Milly Johnson - an enjoyable romp of a book which was a very welcome read at the weekend. Four friends go on a cruise. It changes all their lives - for the better.

Gently Through the Mill by Alan Hunter - the fifth book in the Gently series. 1950s crime in a flour mill with Gently involved because the body is that of a petty London villain.

Ellie Andrews has Second Thoughts by Ruth Sabberton - Again an enjoyable light read with Ellie reminiscing on her wedding day. The reader does not know exactly who she is marrying or whether the marriage will go ahead until the last few pages.

Current Reading

Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey - the classic novel about Richard III. Still good even when you know some of the text off by heart!

The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy - I'm still reading this in small chunks which you might think would cause a problem trying to remember what has gone on. I must have read the books many times back in the 1970s because I'm finding I have no problem recalling the story line.

The Perfect Hero by Victoria Connelly - Kay moves to Lyme Regis and opens a B&B. Her first guests are some of the actors involved in a new film production of Jane Austen's Persuasion.

More books . . .

I have just started this: Ruth Saberton - Katy Carter Wants a Hero. The author made headlines in some quarters by putting the manuscript through Richard and Judy's door at their holiday home. Fortunately they loved it and the rest, as they say, is history. It is chick lit but with masses of humour. The dinner party and the lobster which causes Katy to lose her home and her fiance is brilliant and laugh out loud funny. I'm about 100pages in and so far it is really good.

I have also started Philip Pullman's The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ. It is a simple imaginative retelling of the Gospel story. Jesus and Christ are twins with Jesus being the out going one who preaches and Christ the quiet one who takes down his words. Whether it will annoy or inspire is hard to say. I'm finding it interesting though modern use of language - in my opinion - does not compare with the resonance of the King James Bible.

I've read a few pages of Kal Bonner's Climbing a Ladder Backwards which Anne Brooke did not enjoy. I think it is going to be a little tedious - not because of the Instant Messaging aspect of it but because every joke appears to be somewhat overwritten. I keep wanting to go through it with a red pen crossing out the superfluous words which make it overdone. I will persevere if only because I like the stripy socks on the cover.

Still reading Polly Toynbee's Hard Work - I shall never call myself poor again.

I am nothing if not eclectic in my reading