Outlander by Diana Galbaldon

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Adjectives escape me but just let me say that I found the outlandish premise, plot, language and characters entertaining. I suppose if you had to put it in a genre, maybe bodice ripper would be apropos. There’s some wonderful story telling here with a delightful sense of humor.

“He didn’t’ speak further, but relaxed a bit under my hands when he realized that it wasn’t going to hurt. I felt an odd sense of intimacy with this young Scottish stranger, due in part, I thought to the dreadful story he had just told me, and in part to our long ride through the dark, pressed together in drowsy silence. I had not slept with many men other than my husband, but I had noticed before that to sleep, actually sleep with someone did give this sense of intimacy, as though your dreams had flowed out of you to mingle with his and fold you both in a blanket of unconscious knowing. A throwback of some kind, I thought. In older, more primitive times (like these? Asked another part of my mind), it was an act of trust to sleep in the presence of another person. If the trust was mutual, simple sleep could bring you closer together than the joining of bodies.”

“I leaned back on my elbows and basked in the warming spring sun. There was a curious peace in this day, a sense of things working quietly in their proper courses, nothing minding the upsets and turmoils of human concerns. Perhaps it was the peace that one always finds outdoors, far enough away from building and clatter. Maybe it was the result of gardening, that quiet sense of pleasure in touching growing things, the satisfaction of helping them thrive. Perhaps just the relief of finally having found work to do, rather than rattling around the castle feeling out of place, conspicuous as an inkblot on parchment.”

I loved the banter between the two main characters. Their relationship rang true. With a feisty heroine like Claire and a romantic hero like Jamie there were a lot of sparks flying. I was troubled by the adultery though.

And could somebody explain to me how Claire roused Jamie in the end? That part I just didn’t understand.

Book Review

SO during our skiing holiday I was locked in a room with only one book. It was Stephen Covey's The 7 habits of Highly Effective People. Once again I am probably the last person on the planet to have read this popular book.

"natural laws cannot be broken. It is impossible for us to break the law. We can only break outselves against the law.'"

How many times have I seen this with fitness and nutrition? People trying to coerce their body into doing something it is incapable of. So much better to work with you body's natural laws to coax it into doing what you want it to, to the best of it's ability. I also got two more of his books. After reading 'First things first', I keep asking myself, 'am I trading doing something good for doing something better?'

I find it depressing that these books expounding boyscout virtues had to be written at all. Don't people already know this stuff?