Wednesday 29th July - Reading again

Hey, reading this post again I  thought I was being very dismissive of both Many Stewart and Miss Read . Well, maybe they aren't publishing Great Works of literature but they have still written more books than me , And l do keep reading them over again. Anyway, let's get back to the original post:

This one emerged from the dust as we sorted and sorted and sorted the shelves yesterday and today (another dozen books ready to go, and three or four more binned as too old/too tatty/too appalling to be inflicted on British Hearts - there are limits)


Bit of a fuzzy image, but the current book covers are even soppier than the stories within.

And yes, the baddy WAS the baddy, and the goody WAS the baddy, and it all ended happily ever after. I used to think of her books as a kind of valium. (I put the school stories by "Miss Read" in a similar category)

this might even have been the edition
that I read - was it my grandmother's?
Ah, memories...

I was given valium once, intravenously, about ten years ago now. I was about to have a my first ever right-heart-catheter, where they run a fine tube from a very personal part of the anatomy up into the right side of the heart, in my case to check the internal pressures. They checked my blood pressure in the normal way beforehand, and clearly I was showing some signs of stress. (I was bloody terrified, to be honest!) We (my Best Beloved was with me) knew something was up when they said, in ultra-calm tones, "Let's just try this machine over here, as this one doesn't seem to be working properly, ah, yes, I see. Yes. Thank you, and the Doctor will be along shortly to see you".

So, the Doctor very sensibly decided to start things off with a dose of valium, and then carry on with the catheter. An excellent idea. The effect was like drinking a large sherry on an empty stomach, and all my fears subsided.

Reading books by Mary Stewart is actually not at all like the effect of the valium that time. I can report that they don't cause wooziness, dizziness, total relaxation and freedom from all care. It's more like being slowly, and inevitably overcome by sleep. Perfect, if that's what you were wanting.

I was looking for the right word for the way these books cause sleep to happen - inveigle, lure, ensnare, etc etc. Now that the bookshelves are tidy, it was the work of seconds to locate my Thesaurus (a gift from my Uncle and Aunt "on the occasion of her confirmation, March 10 1973").

I managed to tear myself away from the Thesaurus after a while; one can get seriously lost in there. And the exact word I want is still just beyond my grasp.