New Best Writer

I have found a new best writer. You know how when I discover a writer I have to read EVERYTHING else they have written until I find a not so good apple in the barrell of their oeuvre? Well, last week, on holiday, I discovered Marina Lewycka. I have been aware of her as a writer ever since she claimed a best seller with a novel called 'A History of Tractors in the Ukraine' or some such title. (I ought to know because I've just ordered it from Amazon along with her second novel 'Two Fields' or something; again, I ought to know, but my memory is on shut down - it was first day back at school today after all.)

Anyway, the book I took on holiday was called, 'We Are All Made of Glue.' And this I remember for certain because it was a stonker of a read. I read it in under 24 hours, and finished just in time to join in with Andy, Richard and Sian in a drunken game of 'Who's in the Hat?' which I was best at because I was the only sober participant. It was one of those books that I'd put off reading for no other reason than it had 'glue' in the title; it had been sitting on my pile of books to read for AGES, sandwiched between a book on bees and a biography of Beatrix Potter. I flung it in the suitcase thinking I would have to read it as we'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere with little else to do. Once on hols I kicked off my reading with a book called 'Snobs' by Julian Fellowes, which was mildly entertaining in that it made me snort with amusement once. Then I skipped through an unknown chick-lit by an unknown writer which was banal in the extreme and made me snort with rage that SHE got published whereas I haven't (thus so far).

And so I made it to Marina's offering. Aah! Now THAT'S how to write! A plot just this side of the weirdo wall as to be believable, characters that were well-defined, colourful and sometimes fascinatingly disgusting. The narrative rolled along at just the right place. There was an ease of style that made writing look, well, so easy.

An all-round excellent read. I am a convert.

So I wait agog for my Amazon parcel, that should arrive in time for a weekend of decadent reading of a double dose of Marina Lewycka. In fact, I am going to have to plan the weekend very carefully. The allotment will need tending - the potatoes will probably need a first earthing up - and there is Part Three of Andy and Denise Go Bee-Keeping on Sunday. Also, I have a shed-load of summer bulbs to get into the ground and another shed-load of seeds to plant in the greenhouse which I STILL haven't cleaned out from last season.

PLUS I am on a mission to get us as close to being a vegetarian household as possible so need some time to experiment with recipes that will prevent Andy from feeling deprived of the eating of dead flesh. This is also on the back of last week's holiday when Andy and I had another of our 'we-need-to-be-more-healthy' anxiety moments. And the almost rescue of the little lost lamb.

It's good to find new things, try new things, learn new things. Marina Lewycka, vegetarianism, bee-keeping. They certainly keep one on one's toes.