Books Again At Last

There are times when I can quite easily read three or four books a week and enjoy every single one. The past few months I haven't really been able to read much at all. There always is so much to do and so much to think about that I just haven't been able to settle down to anything much.

Last Friday I actually read two books though, and loved both. I had started Peter Ackroyd's new book "The Fall of Troy", about an archeologist and his wife working on an excavation in Turkey, supposedly of Troy. The archeology is a good background for the way the relationship between the two is portrayed, and for the way it develops. It reminded me a little of "First Light", the novel that made me a fan of Ackroyd's.

Then I read a book by a Belgian novelist called Kristien Hemmerechts, about two sisters growing up. A strange and slightly unnerving book, but intriguing and beautifully written. I love her books because she is always pretty straightforward but poetic at the same time. There is great insight in her work.

Sunday I finished my reading weekend with another Dutch book, the one that recently won one of our country's major literary awards. I'm not too sure about that one, because I really like the premise, the way the book is set up and the feelings in there, but at the same time I'm not sure that it really works.