Good long reads...

I am STILL reading A Glastonbury Romance by John Cowper Powys and I am STILL in love.

(Crow on the Hill has an entertaining post about long books)

I love the way Cowper Powys writes - he makes me look at the world a little differently. If I'm starting to feel jaded, if the strains of running the bookshop/small children/brilliant people dying without warning etc become a little too much to take there's always (for over 1000 pages anyway!) this other world to escape into for a while.

Last night I was eating Japanese food at the cafe over the road after work. I was by myself. I had no book or paper. I was feeling glum. Then I started to listen to the conversation of two women who were sitting behind me. I have no idea who they were or even what they looked like (I left without peeking). Their conversation was completely mundane. But it was also beautiful. Two people, sharing little observations about family life and friends, the world - whatever. Just an ordinary boring conversation - but beautiful because of it.

That's what Cowper Powys does for me. He slows things down. He reminds me of the way things really are...slow, complex, messy, human...and beautiful.