No longer afraid of Virginia Woolf!

I  have, at last, discovered Virgina Woolf. Wandering among the books in the Book Tent at Edinburgh International Book Festival, as one does, I found a slim volume called A Room of One's Own' and took it to peruse with my coffee. It did not take long to decide to buy it, indeed I am hooked! I've read chapter one 3 times with delight and am about to embark on chapter two. One can feel, see, taste her experience as she describes it - chuckle at her dry humour!
Now for Chapter two

Revisiting Narnia

'Reading Rowan Williams on CS Lewis is like watching two old friends in animated discussion of great, powerful themes.' says Tom Wright. 'But what really counts is that, as with the two on the Emmaus road, we constantly sense a third presence, that of the Lion who will not let us rest in our own little self-deceits but who constantly challenges us to discover the larger joys of his new creation.'
I didn't really need this commendation to get me to read this book- I was already opening the pages eagerly. I thought I knew the stories; I've read them many times and given away so many copies to others, yet reading Williams made me realise how much I had missed. It is so easy to hear or read and think you have really listened and understood. We hear Scripture stories we think we have heard it all before and continue on our ways without realising we have missed something important that God is showing us. In the same way I can see a great painting or an Ikon like the famous Rublev picture of Abraham's three visitors and appreciate it quite superficially--. It is only when one comes along who has studied and meditated deeply that I begin to appreciate what I have missed.
So it is in this book as Williams  opens up not only the Lion's world but also that of C S Lewis. I shall read now with much deeper attention and find myself humbled and challenged on my pilgrimage.
I loved Monica Capoferri's illustrations too.

Back to the Book Festival- Politics to Poetry

I think I've been to the International Book Festival here every year since it started. In that time it has grown in size and importance and now has hundreds of authors speaking at events throughout every day for 3 weeks and with adult and childrens events running side by  side there is a huge choice, but by the time I have been through the programme to tick those events which look interesting the most popular are already booked. Indeed when the public booking opens the first day it is held in the International Conference Centre to have space to deal with the queue of people anxious to get tickets. So now I select a variety of speakers/topics of well kenned names, or topics which look interesting from politics to poetry, philosophy to economics and the environment, plus fiction and crime novels-especially those  based in and around Edinburgh.
If some event is booked up one may get a ticket on the day,- as I did to meet John Simpson. The first time we had expected to hear him a few years back the BBC whisked him to some important 'do' in Johannesburg. This time we were more fortunate; he had just flown in from Kabul and was about to take off to Iraq and talked easily about his life in journalism, his relationship with the BBC and his adventures along the way in answer to questions. It was a fascinating hour.
I have enjoyed Salley Vickers books though (as often happens) I still like the first I read -Miss Garnett's Angel- best. This year she read from her latest book Dancing Backwards and discussed her approach to writing. I also went to hear AL Kennedy reading from and discussing her latest work too but this was a different world altogether and one I do not want to enter. A.S Byatt's latest is The Children's Book which is interesting. It was an award-winning called I think Possession.

For me this Festival is educational. It is great to go and hear people at the forefront of their profession talking enthusiastically about their latest book. I heard two world famous speakers -one Economist the other a 'joyful, inpirational Naturalist'- whose names were unfamiliar to me.
The Economist was Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize Winner and erstwhile Chief Economist at the World Bank. whose latest book FREEFALL free markets and the sinking of the Global Economy is described as 'devastating and inspiring'. I can't pretend I understood enough to comment ( though the signed copy of the book is on my 'to read' pile) but he was friendly and approachable person and will no doubt offer wise advice in the Scottish context-
The other new name is in a very different field. Sir John Lister-Kaye is one of Britain's best known naturalists and conservationists. He and his wife run the world -famous Aigas Field Centre in the Scottish Highlands and the more I heard I long to visit there. The books were beautiful but please do visit the website!