What I've read this month (May)

Two trips away, to Wiltshire and then camping in Hastings, plus an illness has meant that blogging hasn't been a priority this month. To be honest I'm giving myself a little break, over two years of regular posting has left me feeling burnt out, and as I began to see it more as a chore than a hobby, the quality of the content was suffering. 

I'm going to Istanbul on Thursday, so my hiatus is going to carry on for at least another week. Hopefully when I return I'll have the time and motivation to start posting regularly again. 

Anyway, here's what I've read this month-    

1. Robin Hobb, Golden Fool
2. Therese Anne Fowler, Z; A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald
3. Chibunda Onuzo The Spider King's Daughter
4. Lauline  Paull, The Bees 
5. Rene Denfeld The Enchanted 
6. Anthony Doer All the Light we Cannot See (I was 2 chapters from the end when this was mistakenly taken back to the library) 

There wasn't a dud among this month's books. The weakest was The Spider King's Daughter, and that was still readable. it's sparse writing style just meant it was slightly confusing sometimes about what was going on, but it was still interesting. I know very little about Lagos, so it was good to find out more more about the city and Nigerian culture. 

Most of these books are deserving of a full blog post to themselves. The Bees - who would have thought that a novel about a hive would be so gripping? Yes it is about actual bees, but it is so much more than that,  it is a dystopian novel about oppressive regimes and power structures. I was cheering on Flora 717 just as hard as I did Katniss or Offred. 

picture source

The Enchanted is almost Kafkaian. A novel set on death row, it is psychological tract on criminal responsibility, mitigation and the American justice system. Odd, but provoking. 

I devoured Z in a day. If you haven't got a holiday book sorted yet, you may want to add this to your pile. A fictionalised account of Zelda Fitzgerald, the 1920's 'It girl' married to one of America's most famous classic writers, F. Scott. The real Zelda was complex, infuriating and glamorous, and this characterisation shines just as bright.

All the Light we Cannot See would probably be my monthly top pick - but alas due to a mix up I haven't finished it yet- so it may well have a poor ending! I'm betting it doesn't though. Books about World War II are available in abundance, but rarely are they this good, or this original. Once I've got it back from the library (I'm 9th in the queue) I promise to do a full review. 

Actually - once I got down to it, writing this blog was fun, I'm still going to take a break but I'll be back before you know it! xxx

library haul

It was my birthday on the 8th, and as well as doing lots of other lovely things, one thing I was also keen to do was visit the big library in town. Usually I just go to my local, which is round the corner from house, but the selection has been poor recently, and because of the occasion I thought I should do it probably.

Some people might be a bit dismissive about looking forward to a birthday visit to the library, but for me its the little things that make the day enjoyable.

Anyway, here's what I picked up:-

1. The Spider King's Daughter, Chibundu Onuzo. A story of star-crossed lovers in Lagos. Abike Johnson lives a privileged life, but an encounter with a street hawker changes her life when they strike up a tentative romance.

2. Silver, Scott Cairns. When a young woman has to identify her dead father's body, she uncovers a shocking secret that makes her question her own identity. The blurb on the back makes me thing think this novel will cover trans issues- but I could be wrong. I'm not sure how I'll get on with reading this one- in this edition the pages are incredibly white- which can cause me difficulties because of my dyslexia, it would be a shame to miss out on a potentially good story for this reason though.

3. Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson. I want to give Winterson more of a chance after really enjoying Weight. This is a love story, and a meditation on the body.

4. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler. A fictional account of the worlds first flapper and her author husband  

5. Grimm Tales, Philip Pullman. Love fairy-tales, love Philip Pullman.

wish list

I've just come back from a mini-break to Wiltshire- so expect some photos of some historical properties and pretty gardens coming up in the next few days.

Whenever I National Trust property I always make sure to pop into their secondhand bookshops, as they do paperback for 50p and hardbacks for £1.50, which is incredibly good value. There wasn't anything that grabbed my fancy this time though, so I'm currently at a bit of a loss of something to read.

I do have a rather extensive wish list however.....

picture source

what I've read this month (April)

Sorry I've been m.i.a again this month, I've just been extremely tired. I have managed to get a fair amount of reading done;- 

1. Chris Abani, Song for Night
2. Charlaine Harris, Dead Ever After 
3. Irvine Welsh- Sex Lives of Siamese Twins
4. George R.R Martin, A Clash of Kings (re-read)
5. Laila Ibrahim, Yellow Crocus 
6. Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive (memoir) 
7. Susanna Kaysen, Girl Interrupted (memoir)  

I read the bulk of my bumper library haul, but just couldn't get into In Praise Of Hatred and I haven't even started The Kingdom of Bones. I'm a couple of chapters into The Seven Sisters, and so far so good, the reason I haven't progressed further with it is because it's rather chunky. Far too heavy to be carting around on my commute. 

Anyway, out of the books I have finished this month, Yellow Crocus is the shinning star. A powerful historical novel told from the perceptive of a wet nurse and her charge. I completely wore myself out as I stayed up half the night to finish it. Highly recommend. My mum loved it too. 

Song for Night  is an interesting one, a tiny novella but every word has a big impact. Inspired by Dante's Inferno, it is the story of a child solider who wakes up to find himself alone after a bomb blast. There is so many horrific things about this story, the nameless boy has had his vocal cords severed, so he won't cry out and forewarn the enemy, but it is also beautifully written. This juxtaposition makes for a memorable novel. 

I also read two memoirs about mental health. Girl Interrupted is closer to a novel, and Reasons to Stay Alive more like a manual, so they are not directly comparable. Both however are inspiring and honest accounts of mental health and recovery.  

library haul

I usually go to my local library, and although it is fanatically convenient it is also rather small, so I've found the shelves rather inspiring recently. So whilst I was in the town centre I was in town I popped into the main library and got a little bit carried away.......

1. Stephen Gallagher, The Kingdom of Bones 
2. Chris Abani, Song for the Night 
3. Irvine Welsh, The Sex Lives of Siamese Twins 
4. Matt Haig, Reasons to Stay Alive 
5. Lucinda Riley, The Seven Sisters 
6. Charlaine Harris, Dead Ever After  
7. Khaled Khalifa, In Praise of Hatred 

Bank Holiday plans sorted! I'm going to eat those Easter egg and read, read, read.

what I've read this month (March)

Time for my monthly round up:-

1. Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip 
2. Kitty Hart-Moxon, Return to Auschwitz  (non-fiction)
3. Jackie Collins, Sinners 
4. Mary Roach, Stiff  (non-fiction)
5. George R.R Martin Game of Thrones (re-read)
6. Paula Hawkins, The Girl on a Train 

mini review under the cut:-

library haul

Quite a small haul compared to my usual standards, but I only really popped in quickly to pick up some books that I'd reserved:-

1. Save Me the Waltz, Zelda Fitzgerald - I've been waiting for this book for so long! I think I ordered it in the summer of last year, or maybe even before that. F.Scott gets all the glory in the Fitzgerald family, but apparently he not only used Zelda as a muse but also stole ideas from her. After reading Flappers by Judith Mackrell I became really intrigued about Zelda, she was the 'it girl' of her generation, and I want to see if she had any substance. Save Me the Waltz is about a glamorous aspiring ballerina. 
2. Stiff, Mary Roach - I read Gulp at the end of last year and found it to be equal parts disgusting and fascinating, this time Roach is taking a humorous and curious look at cadavers. From those who donate their bodies to medical science, to cannibalism to dead bodies used as crash test dummies, this promises to be just a grossly fascinating. 
3. Sinners, Jackie Collins - I might be a little bit too ashamed to read this one on the tube. It is described on the back as a 'jungle of lust and perversity, greed and ambition'. I'm hoping its going to be just as fabulously trashy as Valley of the Dolls. 

badass women in literature (part 2)

Read part 1 here 

More inspiring ladies from literature...

World Book Day

picture source

Happy world book day! Sadly, I'm far too old to receive world book tokens, but I still remember dressing up when I was at primary school, I went as Red Riding Hood. I've just seen some rather depressing news that a lad in Manchester was sent home from school for his 50 Shades of Gray costume. He's only 11, so I have no idea what his mum was thinking.

If you are small enough to receive tokens I've got a couple of suggestions of where to spend them:-

what I've read this month (February)

The shortest month of the year caught me by surprise and I forgot to post my monthly round up on the last day of February, so here it is:

1. Margaret Atwood, Stone Mattress
2. Bernadette Barton, Stripped
3. Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet (re-read)
4. Vikas Swarup, Q&A
5. C. J Sansom, Lamentation 
6. Jennifer McVeigh, The Fever Tree
7. Jacqueline Susann, The Valley of the Dolls
8. Xiaolu Guo, A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers  

I still want to review a couple of these books, but I've been so disorganised recently. Still, I did manage to get reviews up of both the best and the worst of this month reads. The Fever Tree was my favourite, for it's cinematic and engaging love story. Stripped was the poorest as it need to be more academical rigorous and less repetitive.

Another highlight of the month was The Valley of the Dolls a cult-classic about the entertainment industry this book is the good type of trash. Published in 1966 is has surprisingly stood the test of time, and could criticism of Hollywood could easily be applicable for today.

Though not the worst book, perhaps the most disappointing was Q&A, as I had high expectations because I love the film adaptation (Slumdog Millionaire). The novel didn't have the same emotional pull on me as the film, and there were parts that were so poorly written they became dull.

Stone Mattress is written by my hands down favourite author, and though I enjoyed aspects of this short story collection, my dislike towards the medium stopped this from being crowned this months winner.

Tipping the Velvet was a re-read. I've mentioned my love for Sarah Waters before, her novels are so vivid, she really manages to capture a sense of time and place in her historic novels. If you've not read any of her books you really should give her a try, Fingersmith is my personal top pick.

I read a fair bit of historical fiction this month, Tipping the Velvet, Lamentation and The Fever Tree - it's one of my favourite genres so it was really lovely to have a bit of a binge on it.

what I've read this month (January)

First round-up posts of the year - feels like the blog has got off to a slow start. I haven't posted as much as I intended, nor read as much as I expected.

But, here is a list of what I have read:-
1. Madeline Miller, Song of Achilles (re-read, review here)
2. Lee Child, Never Go Back
3. Steven Saylor, Roma 
4. Tom Rob Smith, Child 44
5. J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone  (re-read)
6. Warren FitzGerald, The Go Away Bird 

The worst novel of the month was undoubtedly Never Go Back racist, sexist and formulaic. I highly suggest you skip this, and read one of the earlier books in the Jack Reacher series.

Of course, I had to read Harry Potter after visiting the studio tour, I'm going to put up some more pictures from my visit next week. I also started the year by re-reading my another one of my favourite books of all time The Song of Achilles, I feel emotionally moved by this beautiful love story every time I read it.

Out of the new (to me) books I read, Child 44 was the best, but to be honest it was out of a rather weak bunch. I found out recently it's going to be turned into a film, and it is part of a series of books. I doubt I'm going to read any of the others though, because it's strength was that it introduced me to a period of Russian history I'm ignorant about, and it would probably be a better idea just to read some non-fiction about this period.

wishlist

Though I far far too many unread books on my shelves at the moment, I'm always browsing books shops and the internet for my next purchase. Here's what on my current wishlist:

1. Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner 

This one sounds really unusual, it's about a totalitarian state, determined to beat it's enemies in the race to the moon. They thing that really grabbed me, is that it is narrated by a young dyslexic boy, this could either work really well- or be a complete disaster.

2. The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr I. Solzenitsyn 

After reading Child 44 I've come to the conclusion that I'm ignorant about the Soviet Union. This is a memoir of the authors experience in a gulag (prison labour camp) for criticising Stalin on a postcard. For reviews, it sound like a pretty harrowing read, but I think its important that these historic events are recorded and widely read.

3. Nervous System: The Story of a Novelist Who Lost His Mind, Jan Lars Jensen 

Another memoir, this time about mental illness. I noticed a trend recently for more fiction and biographies discussing mental health (for example  The Shock of the Fall) which I think is a really positive thing, as it's still such a taboo.


4. The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins 

There's so much buzz about this one, it's going to be the next literary phenomenon and is being touted as the next Gone Girl, so I need to read it before I'm left out.

What do you think of my choices? Have you read any of them?

library haul

Although I've currently got heaps of unread books on my shelves, I really didn't fancy reading any of them. Instead, I picked up an old faithful Song of Achilles, which is one of my favourite books of all time. 

To get me out of a reading slump I took a trip to my local library and gathered the following:-

My Top Ten Books of the Year 2014

Happy new year everyone! Personally, I'm not fussed about new year, it's nice to have the time off work, but I've got a thing about looking at people while counting - I just find it awkward.

Anyway, as promised in my post yesterday I've put together a countdown of my top 10 books of the year. It was so difficult to come up with this list, firstly to cull the list from 103 to 10, then put them in some kind of order. The closer to number one it got, the harder the decision process was, the final 4 are pretty much all on equal billing.

drum roll please......

A Year in Books

It's new years eve today (obviously) so I'm going to reflect on my year in books.

By my count I've read a grand total of 103 books this year, the reviews for which can be found in either my review tag, my year in books tag or on my alphabetised list page. 

Under the jump is a general sort of breakdown of the books I've read, plus the worst 5 reads of the year. Not sure if this post will be of any interest to anyone, other than me, but I had fun looking back and considering what I've read this year.

If your a bibliophile I highly recommend recording (either on blog form, or just in a notebook) what you've read.  

what I've read this month (December)

Another short list this month, I haven't read as much as I expected over Christmas.

1. Lyndsay Faye, Dust and Shadow
2. Mary Roach, Gulp (non-fiction)
3. Karen Joy Fowler, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves   

I also started a couple of books J by Howard Jacobson and Exodus: Immigration and Multiculturalism in the 21st Century, Paul Collier and another Man Booker - To Rise Again at a Decent Hour. I'm probably going to polish them all off next both.

I found it a real struggle to get into a book this month, I felt quite apathetic about reading, plus I was short on time. The three books I did read however, were all rather good. Glup was my favourite, an unusual choice seeing as it is a non-fiction book about digestion.

currently reading

I'm not going to be bloging over Christmas- I'm going to be busy making merry. So here's a quick update of what I'm currently reading:-

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
This seems like a Christmas appropriate novel, it's all about dysfunctional families. Rosemary's father has used her childhood as an experiment, her half-sister vanished and she hasn't spoken to her brother in 10 years.

I've just started this, and it looks good. I'm finding it far more engaging than J  by Howard Jacobson (another man booker prize short-listed novel).


Also if you're a literature fan and entertaining family this year you really need to try Ex Libris, We played it last year, and it was hysterical. You're given the basic plot outline of some classic fiction, then everyone has to write down your attempt at the first or last line. Then all the lines are read out anonymously, (including the real line of the book) and everyone casts a vote about which they think is the real sentence.

I've explained this in a really muddled way- but trust me it's brilliant! You can see how creative your friends/family are. Some of the entries are so bad they're funny, and there is a smug satisfaction if you successfully manage to convince others that you can write like Jane Austen or Siegfried Sassoon.

Time for Tea

Another good idea for a Christmas present is to treat a loved one to a spot of tea somewhere special. You could make an event of it, or do it as part of a day trip or shopping expedition.

Here are a couple of places I'd recommend in London and the south:-

present ideas for readers

I've got a slightly smug face on as I've only got one Christmas present left to buy, but if you're struggling to think of something to buy for the reader in your family I've got some ideas.

List under the jump:-

what I've read this month (November)

This post should have gone up yesterday, but I was out and about. This month I've read a grand total of two books:-

1. Patrick Rothfus, The Wise Man's Fear 
2. Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North 

The Narrow Road was this years' Man Booker winner, but as you can see by my review I wasn't blown away by it. 

The Wise Man's Fear is the second book in a fantasy series I'm intending to work my way through. My review of the first book can be read here.  This one is more of the same really, a solid fantasy epic, that is sometimes formulaic but nevertheless entertaining. 

I've started several books this month, but have yet to finish them. On a morning I'm just picking up whatever is to hand and whatever can fit in my bag, so it has meant my reading this month has been bitty. 

Hopefully I'm going to be more organised this month, and be able to read more and blog more regularly.