A very long time ago (I was 10 years old) I first discovered The Hobbit and remember reading it over the Christmas holiday. The following summer I got hold of a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. Comments may have been made that it was not suitable for an 11-year-old and I remember someone saying "oh just leave her, she won't finish it". But of course, I did and quickly followed up with the other two books. I never really enjoyed The Two Towers - all those battle scenes just blended into one, but I persevered with The Return of the King.
Since then I have re-read the entire trilogy nearly every year - the first two during the summer holiday and the third at Christmas.
In October 2018 I was idly flicking around the TV and found the Sky dramatisation of Deborah Harkness's "Discovery of Witches". I only looked at the first episode for the glorious shots of Oxford and Venice, both places I love and have not been to for many years. Never having bothered with the "vampire and witchy" genre which seems to have taken up so much airtime over the past few years I was not very invested in the basic story.
Until I was.
Hooked,
Down. The. Rabbit. Hole,
Enthralled by Harkness's writing which is a class act. She is a professor at USC, teaching medieval history and the history of science. At its most fundamental this is a love story with shades of Romeo and Juliet (and a nod to The Bard as book two is set in 1590). These books have now sold millions, the trilogy became four with 5 & 6 in the works.
This epic tale has become my annual read since 2018 but for some reason always takes place in the Autumn. My first 'copy' was in Kindle form but this year I've treated myself to new paperbacks and the very tenuous 'van connection' is that they will go with me when I'm out and about.
The first is 'only' 688 pages and I am trying to ration myself to less than 100 pages per day to make the journey last, but it's hard, damn hard! The Kindle version contained 1,760 pages in the first three books - more than The Hobbit and LotR combined - whoops. 😉
Does anyone else have a special book they return to year after year?
