C.S. Farrelly, The Shepherd's Calculus (2017)
U. Le Guin, Tales from Earthsea (2001)
D. Smith, Former People (2012)
Bit of a thin month, after September's triumphant march through the Booker shortlist (even if the judges didn't agree). For most of it, I thought I was going to give my third BOTM in a year to Ursula Le Guin, because it was a nice collection. Then I read Morris on Spain, the first half of which I loved. It's always fascinating reading about Spain because of the rapidity of the shifts of political perspective. This, written in the 1960s and revised in the 70s, is obviously dated, but all the more interesting for it. It's a brilliant evocation of the history and that period of emergence of modern Spain in those decades. It was particularly poignant to read against the backdrop of the current constitutional mess. And this quotation - about forgiveness - may be one of my lifetime favourites.
