There is something about reading as you watch the sun set. What else was I to do but sit, watch the sunset, and read. So, there I was sitting, sipping a White Lady, seeing that everyone I’d invited was a bit delayed. After all I had already done the hard part of juicing lemons and mixing up some sugar syrup. That could have been it, and just another faltering start to the book, but as I seem incapable of organising drinks with any sense of detail, I had a bit of time to kill before people turned up and I thought I might as well make myself a drink. I enjoyed it so much that the next evening, when I had some friends coming over for drinks, I dipped back into Justine. Having finished my novel before Bedwyn (the train had a technical hitch so had a little rest just after Newbury, giving me plenty of reading time), I ended up reading Esprit de Corps for the rest of the journey. I then saw a copy of Mr Durrell’s Esprit de Corps, which is a collection of narrative sketches from Durrell’s time in the diplomatic Corps. First of all, I was getting a train from London back to university in Exeter and knowing that for the claim that it is only a 2-hour train, it can be more like 3, I felt I should take a second book as well as the novel I was currently reading.Īs I already was stretching the limits of my bag, I wanted a very slim book that would slot into a coat pocket. The thing that spurred me into properly picking up Justine, was a nice blend of situations. In a way it was the complexity of the plot and the intricate, almost filigree nature, of the prose that meant I kept picking it up but never reading more than a handful of pages. I think I bought a copy of The Alexandria Quartet, after getting hooked on the TV series The Durrell’s (loosely based on Gerald Durrell’s Corfu Trilogy), but did not ever get more than a few pages in for some time. I cannot actually remember when I started reading Justine. Before getting into my memories, I feel it is worth clarifying that I am not talking about the novel by the Marquis de Sade, although I’m sure that would provide many interesting memories to explore. This time I am reminiscing on Lawrence Durrell’s Justine.

As the second of my Books by Memory series this is a rather tangential book review that uses memory to approach a book, rather than focusing in a more analytical way.

Justine book durrell