[issybird]

More:

'You remember Oklahoma?'
'Yes. We saw it when we were engaged.' Extraordinary to think of it, the dashing blond boy he had been.

Not initially did she discuss her reading with anyone, least of all in public, knowing that such a late-flowering enthusiasm, however, worthwhile, might expose her to ridicule. It would be the same, she thought, if she had developed a passion for God, or dahlias. At her age, people thought, why bother? To her, though, noting could have been more serious, and she felt about reading what some writers felt about writing: that it was impossible not to do it and that at this late stage of her life she had been chosen to read as others were chosen to write.