Not _quite_ as good as Mrs. Miniver, mostly because there's less of a "story" to it. Other than that, it's just as lovely - same sort of interesting viewpoints on lots of things, from traveling a familiar road by car to transferring addresses to a new addressbook. All trivial, all familiar (ok, the last might not be so familiar - nowadays we accumulate addresses without bothering too cull, far too often), all expressing things I've thought without being able to put words to them. Very enjoyable and will definitely be reread. ( )

Wonderfully stylish set of essays by Ms. Struther (pen-name of Joyce Maxtone Grahame) who is best known as the creator of Mrs. Miniver. If you dislike the film, don't be put off reading this - Struther seems to be capable of writing enjoyably about almost anything. In one case she simply describes what she can see from the window of her cottage while laid up recovering from flu (the section of this about the lambs, with its sting in the tail, is priceless). Most of the pieces are purely humorous, but the last, written during the Spanish Civil War, is quite touching. Highly recommendable. ( )