Investing time in self

Literal ola! from the Canary Islands. Silence here has been long in the writing, but rest assured I am still keeping an eye on what everyone is up to. Lots been happening here requiring a shake up of routines; lots to share. Today however I have hopped on to share a little win.

My faithful old kindle keeps me right in telling me that yesterday I finished a book of such epic magnitude it predicted a 31 hour reading time (ok, to gloat I did it in 30 hours, 20 minutes).

The “book” in question (I will explain the inverted commas shortly) is, The Count of Monte Cristo by French author, Alexandre Dumas. Born in Northern France in 1802, Dumas was raised by a single mum and received very little formal schooling. Instead, his talent was said to be honed via his love of reading, which led him on to starting out as a 19th century blogger of sorts; writing essays and travel journals. Then (as you do) he progressed on to this, and other classics, including The Three Musketeers and The Man in the Iron Mask. If only he knew that over 300 movies have been made thanks to his imagination.

The reason why I inverted the reference to “book” above is due to Monsieur Dumas also being akin to a 19th century purveyor of Netflix and chill. Each of the 117 chapters chronicling the life and times of Monte Cristo was serialised in a periodic publication for readers to savour, as opposed to devour – like I did. Hence the length. I chose to read this novel style but I love the idea of taking an episodic approach.

I am a certified Francofile; I’m brushing off my lingo skills and recently returned to Paris for a short sojourn. Pour moi, therefore, this book was a wonder! It had me on the high seas, in the fashionable circles of salon era Paris, in the depths of despair, laughing, wiping away tears and ultimately bereft when I flipped over the final page to be 100% completed. I was even googling cargo ship travel last night. There is just something about the lure of the ocean for me…

I’m now on to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which I have wanted to read for a while, but I am yearning again for the ocean of the 18th and 19th century pioneers. I have been recommended Joseph Conrad and so I shall look into that.

It is hard to imagine any better investment of (free) time for me than reading. Must make sure to move!!!