21!

 

There we are, past the threshold of a new year. 

Best wishes to you all! 

I don't want to be too optimistic but 21 has been my lucky number for quite some time... It comes to me in the lucky places, as a calling or a reminder of happier times, as a sign some force is watching over me... It's hard to explain. But it resonates with, let's put it this way.

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I haven't written much here in December, it was a terribly tiring month my end, up until the 20th, when the border between the United (or more, like, dis-uniting?) Kingdom and France was closed. I had to cancel my plans to travel "home", if it is ever a home to me ever, not that I feel this way... 

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Since the 21st of December, day of the Winter Solstice, a pause has begun. And I still live in this bubble of alone time, completed through walks with friends, filled with books and films about books!

The latest have involved some stories from Jane Austen, Charles Dickens and the Brontë Sisters, books by Elif Shafak and Don Miguel Ruiz.

Here is one:

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: 

The story a London writer who survived WWII, unlike her parents, and becomes obsessed with a new stories when she starts corresponding with a man from the island of Guernsey. Despite the success of her recent release, she decides to write about the island's secret Book Club formed during the occupation of Guernsey by the Nazis.

Trailer: 

Anecdote: the harbour scenes have been filmed in Bristol, "my" city...

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Another great story about how books change outlives:

The Invisible Woman

Ralph Feinnes was the director and star of The Invisible Woman, with Felicity Jones as a co-star.

Here they tell The Guardian how Charles Dickens's affair with Ellen Ternan inspired the writing -€“ and why they don't view this relationship, between an older man and a teenager, as predatory:

It was "infatuation that became a huge love", Fiennes explained, despite the age and power imbalance. A love that totally transformed both of the characters and most probably inspired Dickens' strength and understanding for the writing of his novel Great Expectations. 

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Thanks for these comforting stories.

TBC...