At ...

... work, catching up with an old love.

Not a really sweaty one, trust me, because the lady in question doesn't know me, and besides that she has a rather gay love-life.

It is, of course, Jeanette Winterson.

Every once in a while I stumble onto her website, http://www.jeanettewinterson.com, and I marvel at how pretty it is and how relaxing a presence on this here world wide web.

She'll have a new book out soon and I'm bound to read it as I have done (nearly) everything she's put out there since Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit. I admire her language. It's poetry in a prose form and it works really well. I shall not proclaim to understand everything she writes, though I try, but it is a rich experience in language, stories and ideas.

I may not always agree with her, for instance when she writes about Harry Potter or about Disney's Hercules, and I may not even always really like her, when she's particularly preachy (maybe something in her upbringing?), or a bit too smug, or tells us how to live ... but I will say this:

The Woman Can WRITE.

I would urge people to read some of her work. It's worth the 'effort'.