What I'm reading ...

I have started My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes. I needed some lighter reading and I am sure, from past experience of this author, that this book will fit the bill. Here’s the blurb:

Anna has just lost her taste for the Big Apple…

She has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that?

Anna, it turns out.

Trading a minor midlife crisis for a major life event, she switches the skyscrapers of Manhattan for the tiny Irish town of Maumtully (population 1,217), helping old friends Brigit and Colm set up a luxury coastal retreat.

Tougher than it sounds. Newflash: the locals hate the idea. So much so, there have been threats – and violence.

Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry. There’s no ugliness she hasn’t seen. No wrinkle she can’t smooth over.

There’s just one fly in the ointment – old flame Joey Armstrong.

He’s going to be her wingman.

Never mind their chequered history. Never mind what might have been.

Because no matter how far you go, your mistakes will still be waiting for you . . .

A History of the World in 47 Borders - by Jonn Elledge

I was right in my assumption that I would learn stuff from this book; I did learn a lot. So many aspects of history - both large scale things and small details - are associated with borders. A profound observation is how few borders are “natural” - like rivers or shorelines; a very large majority are totally man-made, often by people just looking at a map and drawing a line.

The book is very detailed, so it took me a time to read. However, it is well-written and easy to read, with comfortable length chapters and a very relaxed writing style - no pompous academic language!

At the end, I am left with the feeling that so many of the world’s problems were [and are] caused by borders that result at least in a sense of “other” and at worst conflict. We would be so much better off if we could all just be citizens of Planet Earth.