charles barrow's writing

Last week, in the company of dear friends, I was lucky enough to visit two beautiful English gardens, blooming in the June sunshine. Luckier still these gardens were attached to two different, very slightly 'stately', homes, once owned by two wonderful women writers. The first was Monk's House, in Sussex. A 17th century retreat, once owned by Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard. The few rooms in the house that we were allowed to walk through were gloomy, and atmospheric, and fascinating. But the room of real interest was Virginia's writing room. It was in a large summer house, set apart from the main house, further down the garden, amongst fruit trees and cottage garden borders. Unfortunately visitors weren't allowed to enter the room, but could gaze into it through large windows set in three sides of the building. The room was full of items that had once belonged to Virginia, and were arranged around the room, and on the desk, as if the room was still in use and...

I thought it time for a reading update, as I haven't done one of these for a while. Real Life by Brandon Taylor. If you've read my second December '23 post, you'll know that this is the library book that I'm reading. It lives in the library. I don't check it out. I have to go to the library to sit and read it. It's a challenge I set myself, late last year. Visit the library more often, and sit in there to actually read a book. I'm currently up to page 212 in Real Life. I'm, low key, enjoying it. Obviously spreading my reading of a book over such a long period, five months and counting, and only reading small chunks of it at a time, has affected how I consume it and retain details of the story. I'm not sure I'd do this again, unless it is with a non-fiction book. I think that would work better. Let Us Now Praise Famous Gardens by Vita Sackville-West. I recently read this small book that I'd owned for a while and hadn't got around to. I...