Everyone’s buying these Spanish strawberries at the moment. Plump and tasty, they evoke summer and sunshine.

Speaking of Spain, I’m going next week. I bought myself some summer sandals for the occasion before realizing that I could probably buy them in Spain for a lot cheaper. Spain enjoys the same quality of life as France – higher even, some people say – for half the price. Throw in abundant sunshine, beaches galore, magnificent fruits and vegetables, fish, wine and everything else (art and culture), it seems like a good place to visit (or live.) When I return, I’ll post some photos.

I’m flying Easyjet, an airline that I really like. I need books, I said to myself. I’m old fashioned, I guess, and take actual books with me when I travel. So I purchased two that I’ve been wanting to read for a long time: Fingersmith, a historical crime novel set in Victorian-era Britain by Sarah Waters, and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell:

As relevant now as when it was first published (1854), Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South skilfully weaves a compelling love story into a clash between the pursuit of profit and humanitarian ideals. When her father leaves the Church in a crisis of conscience, Margaret Hale is uprooted from her comfortable home in Hampshire to move with her family to the North of England. Initially repulsed by the ugliness of her new surroundings in the industrial town of Milton, Margaret becomes aware of the poverty and suffering of local mill workers and develops a passionate sense of social justice. This is intensified by her tempestuous relationship with the mill-owner and self-made man John Thornton, as their fierce opposition over his treatment of his employees masks a deeper attraction. In North and South Gaskell skilfully fused individual feeling with social concern, and in Margaret Hale created one of the most original heroines of Victorian literature. (from Penguin)

Do I ever read French novels, in French? The answer, sadly, is no.