Nightstand reading

These two books have been by my bedside for a few months. They were buried below others but I vowed to not add another book to the pile until these were done. The Natalia Ginsburg I bought in 2017 at Fiumicino in Rome before the long flight back to Australia. It’s in Italian and I thought it would be a good way to keep up my skill in a language in which I am now comfortable conversing. Having read some Ginsburg books in English, I knew her style suited me. I discovered audiobooks in 2020 and am now listening to this book being read ‘ad alta voce’ - aloud- in Italian while I read the text. This is working better for me as I don’t have to stop and look up as many words. Seeing and hearing together help my comprehension.

The second book by Julia Baird seemed the right thing to read during a pandemic. It is very easy to dip in and read a chapter here and there, go away and chew on it, then come back for more when you need a shot of insight and hope. I’m not prone to sadness or depression but 2020 was a year that threw us all a few challenging moments and made us rethink our ‘normal’.