Today I wasn’t feeling well, so, since it was a Snow Day, I indulged in a rare treat: I retreated to bed with a good book after the morning chores were done. I spent much of the day reading The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson.
The book is set in Austria and in England, in the years just prior to WWII, is historical fiction/drama/romance, and is loosely autobiographical. I won’t tell you the story, but will tell you:
- The book reminded me, in many ways of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Like Austen, Ibbotson doesn’t spell out everything for the reader. Rather, she paints a detailed picture of each character, and then allows the reader to form an opinion of them.
- The author’s vocabulary, sentence structure, attention to detail, and historical detail are amazing. I used to fancy that I have a good vocabulary, but I am humbled. 🙂
- I am sad the book is over. Having peeked into the many lives Ibbotson described, I long to know more about these people.
Because I enjoyed The Morning Gift so much, I then read an interview of the author posted at BookSense.com.
To those of you bloggers who aspire to write a book, another interesting fact is that Eva Ibbotson was forty years old before she began her prolific, award-winning career as an author.
I am always looking for a good read. Is this a book you’d OK for young ladies to read? Gotta look out for some good books for K as well.
You were sick, so was I. I had a relapse of the illness I had last weekend. This one didn’t keep me from church this time, but it sure hit me hard on Monday. Moving slowly these days. Not doing much. Very bored. I’m reading Rebecca by Du Maurier and it is in tiny print that my aching eyes can’t read all that much of it before my eyes are blurry. It is all I can do to read to C and NOT fall asleep. So, here’s to feeling better. See you soon.
Sounds very good! Too bad my library doesn’t have it. Hmmm…maybe they have an interlibrary loan system of some kind.
Say, you have three people reading your blog right now 😛
You sure are getting a lot more traffic these days!