unearthed | Lighthousekeeping

I discovered a new Winterson last week, picked up a few lines written from a blog quoting out of Lighthousekeeping and soon after, headed to Shelter, three down from work. There's always at least a copy of Oranges waiting amongst the 'W's for a new reader. As it happened, I was in luck.

I've had Sexing The Cherry waiting in the wings for a while. I can't remember when or where I found it, sometime in the last three years. But Lighthousekeeping, the quotes I read compelled me to start now. Standing in the shop, I leafed through it, finding its weight amongst the words; that kind of 'affirming gravity' with which she writes. The style which won me over entirely when I first finished Oranges nine years ago: 'As it is, I can't settle...' I flipped to the back page. Exactly what you shouldn't do, but still.

And there it was:

I'll call you, and we'll light a fire, and drink some wine, and recognise each other in the place that is ours. Don't wait. Don't tell the story later.
Life is so short. This stretch of sea and sand, this walk on the shore, before the tide covers everything we have done.
I love you.
The three most difficult words in the world.
But what else can I say?

~ Winterson, Jeanette. Lighthousekeeping. Harper Perennial: London, 2004.

There will be others I'm sure, which nestle their way into my mind, which speak directly to me. Once I return and start again from the beginning. But for now, that will do.