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Hi Friends! How’s your week been? I’ve been on a brief holiday; Scotland, and Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. I couldn’t possibly say which I enjoyed more (for fear of insulting my family). Here’s something: when you drive up to Scotland, there’s a little sign on the side of the road that says something like Och Aye, You’re Noo Entering Scotland and then you know that at that precise moment you’ve left England and everything is different now. Fivers have Nan Shepherd on them, bakeries have coconut macaroons in them, cows have fringes, all that good stuff. Almost everything is better. Somehow, the front cover of Tom Lake was the same as that signpost on the road. I went past it and everything was better. Tom Lake is my first Ann Patchett novel and now I feel the sweet satisfaction of knowing there are so many more of her books I can get to. And she’s still writing them, because Tom Lake is her most recent. Perhaps it isn’t even her best?! Fortuitous for me if true!
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