Between the shafts again.

So today I sat through my hours in the shop waiting for time to pass, doing crosswords and sudoku, wishing I had a book to read. At Bristol airport I paid the horrendous full price for Steig Larsson's 'The Girl Who Played with Fire' and finally found out what a number of my customers had been telling me before I went away - that this Scandinavian wrote great crime fiction. I've just ordered the earlier book in the Millenium trilogy at a much more modest price knowing, sadly, that I won't be doing the author out of any royalties because he died before he could know just what a hit they were to become. There wasn't much time to read whilst I was away so his story kept me going each night until the return journey when I had to borrow a P.D.James from the hotel shelves. It seemed tame stuff in comparison. The characters became real people for me. I'm half in love with Blomkvist the male protagonist and fond, growing fonder of the difficult, brilliant, Lisbeth Salander. I don't think it matters at all that I have read the second first.

But, for the moment, no book to read so I automatically filled in clues and reflected on the past couple of weeks. Other things have happened beside the family celebrations, karting and the Flambard experience. For instance daughter No. 2 was not part of the cull of 100 that Penguin has been forced to make. Very fortunate for her but sad for colleagues who have to 'reapply for their jobs.' This seems to be the soft option (for whom?) Not immediate redundancy but competition for the decreasing number of positions available. Rather like musical chairs only much less fun.

I've also seen two really good recently (fairly recently... recently for me..) released films. Firstly,'The Reader' in which Kate Winslet, of whom I always expect much, was brilliant and made me proud. It should have been grim to watch, and was, but also touching and tender. Surprising in the circumstances. If I'd known in advance about the woman she portrayed I wouldn't have believed that possible.

Then Woody Allen's 'Vicky Cristina Barcelona' which I loved too. I've never rated Penelope Cruz much - she might be terrific in the Spanish films she's made but I haven't seen them and she hasn't been more than an interesting face in the US roles IMO. In this she was perfect. Evidently she enjoyed being quite mad. The story line was thought-provoking. Two women with widely differing ideals of love, the one who opts for passion and romance (which can only continue to exist when the connection is unfulfilled) seems finally to be the stronger as she has accepted pain to be a companion of her chosen way, whilst the other sees boredom and regret ahead of her on the path but takes it anyway from a lack of courage.

I saw quite a lot of myself in both and had some more of those 'if I could lead my life again' moments throughout! The passion route does demand a more open mind than I have had, along with the aforementioned courage, but also more discernment. If a partner exhibits fondness for someone dull then that should be a warning!

Maybe Hollywood isn't so completely dumb after all. Those two seemed as good as any of the foreign films I've seen.

The day also brought in a 1942 copy of Mein Kampf half-inched by the good lady's husband from Germany during the war. It has an all-black slipcase which makes it look very portentous. In English it would be easy to sell but in German - not so sure.