Today has been a very long day. We're having my daughter's room decorated and I managed to luck out this morning, not only finding a carpet I liked at a good price but also arranging to have it fitted before Christmas. I'm really pleased that we're so close to having her room done - she's 14 mths now and all her little friends had their nurseries ready for when they were born. Then at lunchtime I ventured into Exeter with my mum and nan, leaving Monkey with her dad, determined to finish off my Crimbo present shopping. It's amazing, mum and nan normally start the trip saying they don't want to be out for too long, they're not up to hours of shopping but by the end I'm the one begging to be allowed to go home. I must be getting old, by the time I was dropped off at home my legs had gone stiff from all the walking.
While we were out Nan and I got talking about books and about our personal tastes. I will read pretty much anything (my mum tells me as a kid if she wanted to do a big shop and she didn't have anything to amuse me she'd just thrust any old leaflet in my hands and I'd be happy as larry, that must have been the start of it) I love a good comedy, find period pieces fascinating, have read more crime thrillers than I probably ought, but what I really enjoy are books based around major historical or newsworthy events abroad, be they real accounts or fictional. My nan on the other hand only really likes books based in the UK, ideally based during or shortly after WWII. She says she likes them because she can relate to the characters, places and events. I, on the other hand, like to read about places and events I don't know about. It's unlikely I'll visit China or Africa (other than the bits up North I've already done) but I love to read about them. I've been meaning to add The Up-Country Man by Kenneth Ryland to my TBR list, it looks right up my street, and was going to add more Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to my collection until I realised they were price fixed, and more expensive for a kindle edition than the paperback (which I have no space for)
I was wondering whether the same sort of divide in taste is true of other people, is this a reflection of the way in which the world has become ever smaller and more accessible to people of my age, and information about other places more freely available, where my nan and her generation wouldn't have had the range of opportunities, and so less interest in other countries or is it just pure personal preference?
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