A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr - A Book Review of Sorts

Paul Jameson
3 days ago
3 min read

Two years since I last wrote a piece for my blog.

One year since I last wrote anything.

But now I intend to return.

Today is January 25th, 2026, and I don't believe the world will ever be the same. Yesterday an ICU nurse was shot - nay, executed - in Minneapolis for trying to help two women. His name is Alex Pretti, just 37 years of age and quite clearly a good and innocent man. On January 7th, 2026, it was a wife and mother of three Renée Good who was murdered by ICE and the Trump Administration. This is just a small blog about books and writing but to say nothing, to not recognise two innocents killed would be wrong, and so for my part I say their names.

The world is in shock.

Mourning.

Fearful.

Please pause and enjoy the happiness you have, the people you love, and most of all be gentle with yourself and others. And so on that note, with pain in my heart, I return to a book review.

I stopped reading before I stopped writing. My brain wasn't coping even though my only activity was a cleaning job, but with the start of 2026 this role came to an end and I find room now to better breathe, heal, and return to things I enjoy. So last week this recluse went to the local library in Sandy and took out a novella. And the book I chose to read first was A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr.

I chose A Month in the Country simply because it was incredibly slender, in the shelves as a modern classic, and as I believed it wouldn't overwhelm me. Indeed my daughter laughed - in a nice way - when she saw how slim it was and how proud I was to be reading again. I will not lie, it was difficult. Two or three pages at first, a paragraph here and there, old brain muscles quickly exhausted and struggling to focus, but by the end I finished with a twenty page read. No mean feat for a crazy guy. And I loved it. The story follows a young man, a WWI veteran employed over just a single summer to reveal a medieval painting on a church wall. His is a story of reflection, of healing from the trauma of war, of love unrequited, and being happy in a wonderful moment of life without ever knowing it until much later. Such are memories and such is life. It is a story that is, or will be, applicable to us all.

A number of reviews on Goodreads don't like the book because of some of complexity. Carr writes with technical expertise around architecture, pigments, and medieval paintings, but there is no need to understand what he is saying as it simply sets tone and scene. Personally I like this sort of thing because I look it up and learn new things. Similarly he writes dialect, dialect even a Yorkshireman might struggle to read out loud, but again you don't need to understand what they're saying - only realise that even though speaking English you don't understand them. What is most important about this book is its message and that I felt - at the end - rang true.

Enjoy the good moments in life.

However fleeting.

Cherish them.

Memories.

Apt, perhaps, given the awful start to 2026.

Stay safe friends. Stay safe.

If there's a topic you'd like me to consider in a blog, a book you think I really need to read and review, or a TV Series you think I'd enjoy (and you'd like me to include it in my blog) drop me a line and let me know.

Finally.If you do buy my books.

Thank you.

And let me know what you think. Get in touch on Threads.

I'm always there; a writer, you see...