The Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov Russia With a great literary history and tradition, Russia is a country rich in story telling, plays, poetry and political philosophy. I thought long and hard about which author to choose, after all there are so many great writers, but as this is a voyage of discovery I… Continue reading Book thirteen
Another great day for a run! Well, it’s my birthday so I was going to run no matter the conditions! Temperature was ok for shorts again and I decided to push myself a bit more than usual and ran 25 kms/ 15.5 miles. At an average pace of 6:03/km it took me just over two… Continue reading Run eleven
Dream stuff David Malouf Australia I love short stories; I used to buy up any collection I could come across…Hemingway, Maugham, Carver. Now, I am not quite ready to put Malouf on this same pedestal but he has put together a solid collection of stories. Family and isolation are recurring themes in this… Continue reading Book twelve
As bad as January started off, I have to say the second half of the month has been almost spring like! Did my Monday mountain run up the famous Bastille fort of Grenoble and carried on to Mt Jalla a rocky outcrop a few hundred meters (very steep) above. I did the loop up to… Continue reading Run ten
Portrait in Sepia Isabel Allende Chile Another great book that I was lucky enough to stumble into! Portrait in Sepia is a coming of age story for the main character as well as her home country. Both heroine and homeland face difficult growing pains and the need to make tough choices that lead to… Continue reading Book eleven
I am so glad I don’t live in Washington DC anymore! While friends and family are in lockdown mode dealing with snowmageddon 2016, I got out for a 21K run in the sun!! Shorts even! 😉 Blue sky, nice temperature, no rain, snow or wind; it was perfect! Really love these long distance runs. … Continue reading Run nine
The island of the day before Umberto Eco Italy Oh you know, it’s the old 17th c story of a man shipwrecked in the pacific, who whilst floating on a board bumps into another ship at anchor. Said 17th c hero proceeds to lift himself unto this new ship to discover it is full… Continue reading Book ten
Perfect day for a run! No rain! No snow! Mild (ish) temperature. Went up past the Bastille to Mt Jalla, doing the loop from the pere gras restaurant to Mt Jalla twice. Passed a guy on his mountain bike on the first leg up to the summit (always fun), poor guy was struggling I think… Continue reading Run eight
Another chilly run in Grenoble today! Just above freezing but NO rain for once, the cold at least gets me running a little faster to warm up. A north wind has been blowing and that is keeping the temperature low; need to get a warmer base layer at the store, don’t want to get sick… Continue reading Run seven
Too Loud a Solitude Bohumil Hrabal Czech Republic A lover of books, though to some a simpleton, our hero faces a Sisyphean task each day for 35 years as a compactor of wastepaper. He toils away his life crushing paper and books of all sort into a hydraulic press, that beats and pulses… Continue reading Book nine
Running of the books 