Trains and Lovers / Wintering

 Trains and Lovers by Alexander McCall Smith

Four strangers meet on a train traveling from Edinburgh to London, and after a few pleasantries begin to talk about the part trains have played in their lives and relationships.  

Andrew is a young Scot who tells them about viewing an old painting in which a train caught both his attention and that of his female colleague. David, a quiet American, sees two men saying good-bye at a station and remembers with sadness a long-ago love of his own.

Hugh, English, once disembarked at the wrong station, was instantly attracted to a complete stranger on the platform and invited her to have dinner with him that very evening. Kay, returning from a trip to her father's birthplace in Scotland, is herself Australian and tells them the story of her parents falling in love while running a railway siding in the Outback.

The stories are uneven in length, I think I'm remembering that correctly. Some of the travelers are more inclined to talk than others, though it isn't always clear if some of their words are directed at their seatmates or are simply their own private thoughts.  

Alexander McCall Smith is gifted at making ordinary things and people interesting and he does that well here. I've always enjoyed his writing and the authentic characters he creates. Trains and Lovers is a stand alone novel, but I think I'll get into one of his series before too long, maybe the Corduroy Mansions books.

Wintering by Katherine May

Wintering is a self-help book that encourages us to embrace our "winters", those times when difficulties disconnect us from our normal work/life busyness and leave us feeling on the outside of things. That's a positive goal, and I probably should have gotten more out of it than I did, but I just couldn't get into it. I found it repetitive in spots, and was bored when she overworked certain points. I pushed myself to finish it for book club, but didn't find much in the way of fresh insight or anything more in it than what we all learn from simply living. She can be funny and there are a few good stories in there, but it wasn't enough to save this one for me.