At the moment I am
reading As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, By Laurie Lee. It is the second in his autobiographical trilogy, the first being Cider with Rosie and the third A Moment of War.
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning sees him leaving his Gloucestershire home at the age of 19 to walk to London. It is the mid 1930s. Then, knowing one Spanish phrase he decides to travel to Spain. For a year he walks through a country which is on the verge of civil war. It is full of vivid
descriptions such as:- ‘Around its rocky site curled the track of the
Douro, a leathery arm of wrinkled mud, laced down the middle with a vein of
green water………’
I first read the book
many years ago and it is a pleasure to be reading it again. I find it is taking me longer to read than my
usual reading fodder though, probably on account of the many descriptive
passages. It is not a book that can be
hurried.
Sometimes I love to linger in good description. It's not about getting to the end of the story; it's about enjoying the journey!
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice way to put it and the journey analogy definitely applies to this book!
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