Sinclair Lewis, Main Street, Frances Spalding, The Real And The Romantic: English Art Between Two World Wars

 I struggled, with Main Street, although that might be partly because I bought a cheap unwieldy copy that was difficult to hold and read. It was very thought provoking though, particularly concerning the shortness of american small-town culture. It is such a stable, conservative, entrenched thing that it is strange to think that at it's height in the 50s there would still be people living in the town that had come as settlers to a hard-scrabble, remote life under the threat of attack from Indians. the main thrust of the novel is about one woman's quest to modernise, liberalise and beautify the small town she has ended up in, and how she is thwarted by the innate conservatism of the townspeople. in the end she comes to appreciate some of their values, or at least tolerate them. I'm not doing it justice, and the book is at its best giving wry satirical comments on small-town life. 'The Real And The Romantic' I ready like a book at university, skimming through sections that I didn't find interesting. I don't know w a whole lot about art, like poetry and classical music I just seem to be missing that part of my soul that can be elevated by such things. I like the landscapes of Ravilious though, and the response of the artists to the horrors of WWI by retreating into bucolic idylls in their art interests me. In the meantime, we paid off our mortgage on Friday, which feels like a burden lifted. We are free now and if sensible will be able to save up a lot more for a rainy day. we're in a much better position than most financially, but with everything that is happening it is difficult not to worry and I selfishly want to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of my life.