Looking on the bright side

Right, no more moaning. I'm Living Life to the Full, which is an online therapy course someone on mumsnet told me about. Well at least I am listening to the man telling me endlessly about how my life is going to be changed, and impatiently wanting to get to the bit where he starts to change it.

Well at least if I am bed-bound I can do some reading, right? I'm going to try, though thanks to this illness, reading books makes my head spin.

I am in the middle of my reading for litfest, which I'm really enjoying this year. I've already finished a few, but today I'm starting on Janice Galloway's Clara, which I am really looking forward to.

The last one I read was Rachel Cusk's Arlington Park, the first pages of which are stunning. I'd say that they were like a film, except that they are better than that - they depict rain over a city in a way that computer-generated imagery just couldn't reach.

It is the story of the day in the life of several woman in a southern English suburb, as they negotiate their day (or the fall-out of the previous day) with children, husbands, and the soulless friendships of other women.

I did find the book beautiful. I had read somewhere that the feminism in it was dated but I don't really know that that's the case. I think it's that we want it to be dated, and we want to think that things have moved on, and that sexist businessmen and selfish husbands don't exist anymore. There are spots of heavy-handedness but in the end, the writing is just gorgeous, I loved the detail of it, and the female characters are fantastically drawn. To make you want to read the inner thoughts of a character that you don't even like, as she gets drunk? That takes talent.

Anyhow, onto Clara. After all, it's not a short book.