Her entry begins:
I have recently bought a kindle. Still, there’s nothing like a real book, paper and all. The best books to read are one that have been read before. I enjoy seeing where pages have been thumbed and crinkled. I feel it connects me with previous readers. Though dog-ears I find hard to forgive.Learn more about the book and author at Frances Osborne's website.
For all that, I move around a lot and my kindle enables me to carry several books with me. I do however then find it easier to commit a cardinal sin of reading more than one book at once. The jury is still out on whether that ‘channel-flitting’ makes reading less-engrossing. Anyway, if I hear about a book – or a real tome lands on my desk – I can’t resist dipping into it straight away. So my kindle is in a pile of books on the floor by my bed.
Let’s take a look. At the bottom is Pure by Andrew Miller. I love historical fiction that takes you into the detail of the past – you feel you are learning history as well as enjoying the psychology of the story. Pure is the fictional account of the eighteenth-century removal of a cemetery from central Paris to the catacombs. It is told from the point of view of Jean-Baptiste Barratte, a young man from outside Paris who is being given the chance to prove himself to the government. But, apart from the story, partly driven along by the gruesomesness of the task, it was Miller’s...[read on]
Osborne was born in London and studied philosophy and modern languages at Oxford University. Her other books include Lilla’s Feast and The Bolter, a San Francisco Chronicle's Book of the Year and No.1 bestseller in the UK.
The Page 99 Test: The Bolter.
The Page 69 Test: Park Lane.
My Book, The Movie: Park Lane.
Writers Read: Frances Osborne.
--Marshal Zeringue
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