I don't get a lot of reading time lately but now that the little matching pair have been moved into their own room, I'm managing to turn a few pages each night before bed. I'm working my way through a bit of a backlog so I'll admit there's not much point putting the word out there to borrow from my pals. However, I did recently borrow a book from a friend - one that was on the list - and it was a thoroughly enjoyable read (and one that handled the bitsy three-pages-a-night treatment that I could afford it).
One of my mums' group pals was, until recently, a publicist with a big publisher, and one of their clients was Colm Toibin. His last book Brooklyn got lots of publicity when he was out here for the Sydney Writers' Festival earlier this year. My friend met him and said he was just lovely. And then she lent me the book.
It starts in a small Irish town in the '50s and follows the main character, Eilis, to Brooklyn where a job has been found for her in a department store. She is tentative at first, but soon sinks into her new life and the opportunities it can offer her. When she has to return home following a family death, she struggles to decide where she really wants to be and must make a heart-wrenching decision.
It's a beautiful book and has all the things I need in my reading list these days - a great story, likeable characters, beautifully written but nothing tooooooooo challenging, and something that lets me put it down and pick it up a zillion times without losing the thread. And now I have to add Toibin's latest book The Empty Family to my list.
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