In which I battle the effects of study-brain

The two months since I updated here have been two months in which I read nothing of any interest at all. Yes, it's cheating to skip posting just because my reading is boring, but srlsy. It really has been very boring.

Last week I read a whole book and enjoyed it, for the first time since about December. It was Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier. I started reading it because it was there, was able to keep reading it because the prose was nice and simple, and kept on until the end because the plot was nice and engaging. Not too complex. None of that dreadful modern cynicism. A strong sense of place and time, and a small, detailed setting painted with plenty of colour both make for an absorbing read.

The relationships between characters are conveyed entirely by the observations and internal monologue of housemaid Griet, ostensibly the girl in the painting. This gives the book a sense of ethereally detached calm, at the same time as allowing the reader to sympathise intensely with Griet's troubles. She closely analyses the behaviours of all those around her, but offers very little interpretation for her own actions, letting herself remain as enigmatic as the painting bearing her face.

A film could only have spoiled this. The stupidity of Hollywood is never-ending.