What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list?

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale. I didnt watch the TV show, but this bored me to death.

Now I'm about to start Roseanna by Jowall and Wahloo

Shogun by James Clavell. Very long but very readable, never a dull moment. And I'm struck that he writes very good female characters, which is something I always appreciate in male writers.

Raves not races.

Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge. I love her books. They often read like a tv play. This was from 1968. A good read but not jolly or cosy.

Just came back from holiday where the other physical books I'd brought with me I wasn't in the mood for.

I was in the middle of reading The Whalebone Theatre. I gave up on it I'm afraid. So much of it to like but not enough was happening. And not enough revelation of character. Lots of promise but I just felt like I was constantly on the verge of it taking off. And it just didn't really. I was on page 260 or whatever and I just thought I will scream if I read another 300 pages and nothing changes. I was disappointed after the races I'd read.

So downloaded Swimming Home by Deborah Levy. Just started but distracted by lots of things now I'm home.

Just finished the Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. Really good. I read it having watched the film starring Emily Mortimer - also great. Will definitely read more of hers.

Next - the Vanishing Half.

I've just finished The Art of A Lie by Laura Shepherd Robinson. I really loved it. A proper page turner.

Well, this is awkward by Esther Walker (Times journalist, wife of Giles Coren, blogger). I only bought it because I enjoy her columns and sub stacks. It’s ok but she reviews a lot of books and I just can’t imagine she’d read this herself.

The Oxford History of the French Revolution is by William Doyle, and yes, A Place of Greater Safety is Hilary Mantel. I loved it by the middle/ end but it was hard to get into at first.

I'm just about to start The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins and can't wait. She writes such beautiful prose. Always atmospheric and darkly brooding. Perfect for an Autumnal read.

Thanks. Who wrote A History of the revolution please? And is the second by Hilary Mantel?

It’s Napoleon the Great by Andrew Robert’s. It’s quite old actually, it came out in 2014, I started reading it then but got bogged down and abandoned it somewhere around 1796 or so. Have picked it up again as I’ve just read A Place of Greater Safety and a history of the Revolution and it follows on naturally. Had to start from the beginning again.

What is it called please and who is the author?

I’m stuck with a biography of Napoleon for a while. Terrifically interesting but 800 pages so I need to get through it.

Recently started The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones.

I had been struggling with some of the terms used by the First Nation character but have done some googling which has made it a lot easier if anyone else reads it.

I have just read two nice easy reads: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
Enjoyed them both. I have now have A Confederacy of Dunces and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings on the go. Two very different reads!

Personally I found The Mirror & The Light my least favourite of the 3, i felt it was overly long, the middle of the story especially but still brilliant all the same, i felt exactly the same i just didn't want to finish it and face the end of Crumb, Hilary Mantel wrote him as such a likeable character. I was very fond of Uncle Norfolk too ☺️

I loved Brooklyn didn't know there was a follow up book so will check that out. Enjoy every word of TMATL 😉 have you watched the BBC series of it? If not it will help ease the grief after you finish the book - book bereavement is a real thing ☺️

I've just finished The Gathering Storm by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I was looking forward to it because it got such good reviews on Goodreads and so many people rave about her books. I was disappointed - too many lack lustre, one dimensional characters with little to tell them apart.

I meant to post a picture. I don’t know why but anyway 😁

I’m reading ‘part of your world’ and it is just what the doctor ordered after that last pile of depressing crap I just read. I’m loving it, it’s so funny.

Finished Bring up the Bodies. I’m currently on holiday and have just started The Mirror and the Light. Simultaneously looking forward to it and also dreading the end of the trilogy. Parts 1 & 2 were absolutely brilliant. It’s crazy that I obviously know the fate that’s going to befall the main character but as I’m reading I occasionally find myself thinking/hoping the outcome will be different!

In between these two books I read Long Island (Colm Tóbín) as it was a quick read and has been on my list for ages. I really enjoyed it but it’s been years since I read the first part to the story (Brooklyn) so had to quickly scan that book to remind myself of the original storyline. I hope there’s a part 3 to this as well!

I'm reading The Ladie Upstairs by Jessie Elland, (described as a fever dream of a novel, fuelled by sapphic femgore), I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

I’m currently reading Darkness in Zennor by Helen Dunmore. It’s her first book and I think the only one of hers I haven’t yet read, but although it’s really well written and I shall read it to the end, I’m not actually enjoying it as much as I was hoping I would. I think I just had such high expectations of it, but it is an early novel and she progressed so much as a writer I think.

My next book will have to be a lighter novel I think, maybe the David Nichols You Are Here, which is our next book club one.

I’m a huge historical fiction fan and although not a particularly high brow reader, believe I’m fairly intelligent. I don’t like book snobbery ☹️
I love the escapism of reading and read or listen to audiobooks as often as possible (every day).
Currently into Elizabeth Chadwick’s books and recently enjoyed her Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy.
I also enjoyed Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth trilogy. The longer the books the better!