Eyes, Exams and Excellence

I've managed to misplace my glasses this evening, so am currently looking blearily at the computer screen and hoping that I don't get a headache... throughout my life I've had quite a talent for losing things in small spaces, and though I know the glasses must be in quite a limited area, they are proving good hiders.

In more exciting news - Colin aka The Carbon Copy has passed the first lot of actuarial exams! Told him he would. They're quite tricky to pass (and 'pass' is the best you can do), so well done to him. I *almost* understand what he does now...

Oo, since writing the above, my glasses have turned up under a pile of things on my desk; a pile I'm sure I looked through at least twice.

It's Thursday, so I'm going to do Booking Through Thursday, but haven't much to say to a very difficult question:

Think about your favorite authors, your favorite books . . . what is it about them that makes you love them above all the other authors you’ve read? The stories? The characters? The way they appear to relish the taste of words on the tongue? The way they’re unafraid to show the nitty-gritty of life? How they sweep you off to a new, distant place? What is it about those books and authors that makes them resonate with you in ways that other, perfectly good books and authors do not?

Well! For a start, my favourite authors and books... what can tie together Miss Hargreaves and The Diary of a Provincial Lady and Mrs. Dalloway and Sense and Sensibility? Even having a look through the 50 Books (or how many I've got to so far) in the left-hand column... no, not a lot they have in common. They share a few absences - none of my favourites are Issue-led books, or gritty. They're about characters, and a good/witty/evocative/beautiful use of language. Characters and language. That's all I can come up with. Hmm. Maybe you'll have better luck?