Tuesday 10 July 2012

Answered Prayers

sunny, warm, temps 26 C

Beautiful day yesterday.  Exercised.  Cut flowers for the home - phlox, roses, lilies, lavender.  Played with Trudy.

Read the book....an Agatha Christie I can't remember reading.  'Crooked House'.  Christie is still my 'comfort' read.  I thought I'd read them all, then I realized I'd read all the poirots and Marples....but not the others.  So now am going back.  Very easy, very fun.  Very relaxing.

Am trying to disengage from the characters, but have to say, the home is still crowded as Armand, Jean-Guy, Clara, Myrna at al follow me around.  Still, good company.


In fact, as I finish each book, I look back on where the characters, and I, came from. Nine years ago! So I thought, to celebrate writing, THE END, for book 9 - and the paperback publication of A TRICK OF THE LIGHT, and the launch of THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY on August 28th - it would be fun to look back at the previous books....I've been thinking about STILL LIFE - where it all began. And I wanted to share with you an excerpt from early in the book:

“Every day for Lucy’s entire dog life Jane had sliced a banana for breakfast and had miraculously dropped one of the perfect disks on to the floor where it sat for an instant before being gobbled up. Every morning Lucy’s prayers were answered, confirming her belief that God was old and clumsy and smelt like roses and lived in the kitchen.”

Actually, as we approach the publication of THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY, I'll pull a quote, each week from the previous books. Next week - A FATAL GRACE/DEAD COLD. Enjoy!

10 comments:

Skeeter said...

I love that you're doing this. I lent my copy of A Fatal Grace to someone last February and it didn't come back. I know, "Neither a borrower or lender be." I really was upset about it and felt like one of my treasures was missing, so bad, in fact, that I bought a new copy!! Last week, the original came back. Don't know the lesson here -maybe something to do with Faith! I am so looking forward to The Beautiful Mystery and we will be back at Manoir Hovey in September and visit the Abbey (scene of the crime) as well.

lil Gluckstern said...

Reading your quote is like being there, and it reminds me of what enchanted me about your writing. Thank you so much for what you have given us. I'm waiting until August.

Anonymous said...

Louise, this was one of my favorite passages in "Still Life." As were several involving Henri in later books.

- a fellow dog lover

Beth said...

So tender. I loved it then, love it now.

I saw "Still Life" in Target, only one beautiful copy left. I stood there and patted it, feeling proud and proprietary and wished someone--anyone--would wander down the aisle so I could recommend it and make their life bigger and deeper.

xxx Beth

Terry L said...

That's cool! And Louise, as you have Agatha as your comfort read, Agatha had G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown as her's.

Agatha wrote, "Father Brown is one of the few figures in detective fiction who can be enjoyed for his own sake, whether you are a detective fan or not".

I believe we can say the same thing for the way you have crafted Inspector Gamache into a very real and likable human being, but also an introspective and tough dealing detective.

I'd hate to have Father Brown or Gamache hot on my trail as I wouldn't know that I was even a suspect until I was in irons. They don't lose cases.

Anonymous said...

I just finished Sara Gran's new mystery...very good. She should be a worthwhile competitor for future awards. Bob in Oak Park

Anonymous said...

So so late to comment on this extraordinary Gamache-driven series..late to the game but so glad I came. --Bury your Dead-- "..Thinking of joy?" Elizabeth whispered in Gamache's ear.. "..In a way, I suppose," said Gamache, and felt his chest constrict so fiercely he almost gasped.." Precisely the way I felt the first time a Louise Penny story dawned on me (much as Gamache's fractured conscience in this particular scene trip-hammered his heart). Ms. Penny, if you keep bringing me to my knees with your poignant tales of fragile human existence; all that attendant sweet-savagery, splayed like the loose heart of a Blue Flag flower in this Brave New World of yours..well then I may never get up off the floor. Trick of the Light next for me - trick of the light indeed, right?

Kaye Wilkinson Barley - Meanderings and Muses said...

oh my.

I do love this quote about Lucy. Harley always gets a piece of "dropped" banana and I can't tell you how often it's taken me back to Lucy. I find myself wondering just what Harley might be thinking. Actually, I think he's thinking how stingy he thinks we might be.

You, m'dear, have become one of my all-time favorite comfort reads ever. I can't imagine that ever changing. Thank you.

Anonymous said...

Have you read the Tommy and Tuppence novels of Christie? Talk about a "comfort" read!

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