My latest batch of Mercantile books are due today – I asked to keep them for a month, since I thought I’d read more during the tennis tournament. Didn’t happen!
So the last couple of days, I’ve been scanning. Had one called The Irish Way: A Walk through Ireland’s Past and Present, by Robert Emmett Ginna – I figure he had an Irish mother and Italian father – and his mother named him after the Irish patriot. But his book never grabbed me – more like a catalog than a love story. And for me, Ireland is always a love story.
Then I had picked up a Paul Theroux about traveling around Britain, called the Kingdom by the Sea. His work is often full of irony – which I wasn’t really in the mood for – so I read the chapters about Wales and Cornwall, 2 of the 3 Celtic countries in Britain (Scotland being the other – Northern Ireland to me is just Ireland), and then just put it aside.
Lastly, I had A Year in the World by Frances Mayes, she of Under the Tuscan Sun fame. That one was wonderful, full of the warmth of freshly prepared food in a marvelous old house. This book is good. Just not enough for me right now.
I’m off to the marvelous old Mercantile to return them – and see what else is on the shelves!