Ok, so – as the handful of people who follow this blog will
have probably figured out, something has happened. My wife and I are now the
proud owners of an adorable little girl. As a result, my reading hours have
gone down and my blogging hours have disappeared completely to be replaced by
troubled nights and long staring contests with my daughter in the hope of a
smile in return.
The week my wife went into labour, I decided that it was a
good time to start reading Flaubert. Needless to say, I don’t think I have made
the most of the passages that I read between contractions during the 72-hour labour.
And after that it took me (unsurprisingly) a rather long time to finish the
book as I learned to change nappies and to share my tiny little flat with a
tiny little human being (and not-so-tiny grandparents for more than a month).
What I remember about this book is hazy, interesting
chapters at the start before Emma actually appears, relatively boring ones as
she quickly discovers the boredom of her own married life, and an ending that left
me really quite satisfied (I wouldn’t use the word “happy” given what actually
happens) and made me re-evaluate the strength of her character.
But the bottom line of all this is that I am back. Well.
Sort of.
