Found in translation

Today we had the first meeting of our book group and discussed Ann Patchett’s Bel canto - a wonderful novel which I was reading for the second time. It’s set in a hostage situation in a Latin American country (so I get my points for Passport to Latin America) - but that sums it up wrongly. Great sweeping themes of love and language and communication and lifelong learning - crystallised in tiny details such as chewed plaits, diced onions, stitches and opera scores. We love Gen, the modest translator who becomes the lynchpin of the whole situation. We were an all-female gathering so we’d love to know what any male readers out there think of the book?

This evening I have been writing an email to a very old friend - a fabulous Frenchwoman who dated an uncle of mine when I was barely 5 or 6 years old. I haven’t been in touch with her for literally decades, but I have always credited her with developing my language skills - she gave me French picture books and wrote out all the vocab, sat with me reading and talking. I still have all those books about 20 house moves later - they are very precious and meaningful to me.

Words are good things to spend time on, and are best shared with others.