I read A Month in the Country for a few reason. Firstly, to get me out of a reading slump. Secondly, to read something that was perhaps a little more hopeful than many of the books I've been reading lately. Thirdly, to read something English. J. L. Carr's novel fulfilled all three of those objectives, and more. It's a short novella, about an August in a Yorkshire village in 1920. A WWI veteran is tasked with uncovering a medieval mural in the parish church, but his exploration of the art, artist, local people, and the countryside end up providing him with much more than a job. At times healing, hopeful, an wistful, and at other times, sad, mournful, and complex, I found this book to be really enjoyable, and beautiful, without being crushingly sad like many classic novels can be. 

It makes you want to move to a village up north and assimilate into a simpler life and time.