Life must be filled up

Last Saturday, I called in at the library when I was in town and, as so often happens, came out without a book. I take my little notebook (see above) containing lists of authors I’m on the lookout for, but fail to find any of their books. I can only get books by ordering them specially or by a great piece of luck. For some perverse reason, I usually trust to luck. Perhaps I get more pleasure from a serendipitous discovery. Now I’ve found a new way to borrow books, via The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library. Since Amazon emails me every day with offers of items I don’t want to buy, such as plasma TVs, I don’t understand why I wasn’t alerted to this service. Here’s how it works. You return the book via Manage My Kindle. Just go to Your Kindle Library, find the borrowed book, click on ‘actions’ and ‘return this book’ is one of the options. Then you can borrow another. So what was the first book loan I tried?
(  Shrinking Violet by Karina Lickorish Quinn )

I’ve been wanting to read Countess Kate by Charlotte M Yonge for ages. I first met her in The Pillars of the House (wonderful book!) where she makes a brief appearance, but I didn’t understand who she was. I have a long shelf filled with books by CMY but as they are all the same edition and I hadn’t found a matching Kate, I missed out. Now I’ve been able to download the book to my Kindle, which has the added advantage of making the print a more suitable size for reading in bed. As CMY readers know, the small print in most volumes can be a drawback to enjoyment.

The first thing that struck me about Kate was how much like Katy Carr she is. Kate is tall and thin, impetuous; loves to read but is unhandy with needlework and other ladylike accomplishments. She likes to romp and to invent games and can’t keep a dress on for five minutes without getting it dirty or ripping it. Countess Kate was published in 1862, What Katy Did in 1872, so it is possible that Susan Coolidge had read the earlier book.
( Countess Kate )