What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list? Part 2

I've started If We Were Villains, M L Rio, which is obviously inspired by The Secret History - instead of Greek scholars we have Shakespeare students at an US liberal arts college. It gives a whole extra meaning to being typecast! I'll have to see how I get on ....

I’m reading The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan. I’ve previously read her Light A Candle Society, and Keeper of Lost Things and they are all really pretty good at keeping you turning the page. Enjoyable lighter books, and a clear love of language.

Interesting to see a mention of Lawrence Durrell as I'm thinking of reading his Alexandria Quartet because I keep coming across mentions of him and of Alexandria, so maybe the Universe is leading me there. But it's quite the commitment so I'm resisting for now...

I read 'Newbourne Park' by Jennifer Thorne to mark the start of spooky season. It's Saltburn, with werewolves. A very quick read and tremendous fun!

I'm now reading 'My Battle of Hastings' by Xiaolu Guo. She's a writer of Chinese origin who is living in Hastings and is preoccupied by the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, and is trying to get her head round various aspects of British life. It's sort of frustrating because she's factually wrong about some things (the location of certain places, the relations between places and people - for example, she says that Tsar Nicholas was Kaiser Wilhelm's brother, she announces several times 'everybody thinks' about some marginal point of view) but allows these to form her opinions. But it's interesting to see what she struggles with while attempting to fit in, and these misunderstandings are part of that. And none of us know what we don't know - it's an uncomfortable part of the human condition.

I'm also reading J B Priestley's 'English Journey' which is an interesting counterpoint. Written over 90 years ago, it's interesting to hear what's different and what's the same. It seems like the vibe of the places he visited in 1933 is, for the most part, just the same now as they were then, as far as I can compare with the places I have visited. I do hope that Rusty Lane in West Bromwich is less hellish than it was then though. I'm sure it must be. Maybe we're not going to hell in a handcart after all...

I've just finished The Dark Labyrinth, Lawrence Durrell, which fitted my current theme - before that it was Piranesi and Tales of the Greek Heroes. I admired the idea but was constantly aware that this was a male author of the mid-20th century - I have read many that fit that category.

Oh and I love Robert MacFarlane but agree about Is A River Alive! I started listening to Naomi Klein's new one about fighting back against billionaires who are just using up our resources without a care after I read an excerpt in the Guardian. Good so far but definitely one to listen to!

Tom Cox is great for nature writing. I prefer his non fiction to his fiction. I have just started the new one by Emilia Hart, The Sirens. I loved her first novel (Weyward) hut this one feels a bit predictable...
I have just spent the last of my birthday book tokens on May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry. Looks good and I broke my no hardbacks rule to get it so I hope it's an engaging read!

Thanks for that recommendation @Tortoishellcats, I read 'Wintering' by that author and liked it. Didn't even know there were others. I'll look forward to checking them out.

Try Katherine May. Her books are great.

I like the idea of reading about nature but I've struggled to find engaging writing. And Robert Macfarlane, in particular, I haven't got on with. I had better results with John Lewis-Stempel.

I've just finished 'Kolkhoz' by Emmanuel Carrerre, a work of non-fiction about his relationship with his mother. She was a formidable woman from a Russian-Georgian family that fled during the revolution with nothing. Unable to speak French until she was five, she rose to become the head of the Academie Francaise. But this is no hagiography, and her relationship with her son was tricky, especially when he wrote a book revealing the extent to which her father collaborated with the nazis in France. I found the whole thing excellent but my takeaway feeling about it was melancholy.

To dispel the melancholy, it's time for a re-read of Wodehouse's 'Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'.

@somewhereintheworld I’m really enjoying The Seven Sisters too… they’re easy reading but absorbing and the historical aspect is sometimes fascinating.

Currently reading Robert Macfarlane’s Is A River Alive and whilst it would usually be right up my street, I’m finding it very earnest and therefore hard to get into. I don’t know, maybe it’s the season, it’s getting dark, this feels like a summer book, and I just want to curl up with a story! It’s almost over-written. I think he’s had so much success with his style of writing that he’s over doing the description and I wish he’d be a bit more straightforward as I do actually love the subject.

War and Peace, which has been a summer project for me and which I should finish within the next couple of weeks.

I have also just finished re-reading all of the great Sarah Waters-another summer project and changed my favourite from, The Little Stranger to The Night Watch.

Next up will be, The Subversive Stitch (non-fiction), a re-read of The Diary of a Nobody and, Crooked Cross by Sally Carson. I already have the sequel, The Prisoner, on standby!

I'm halfway through Nesting. It's not exactly a relaxing read though; I'm simultaneously furious and heartbroken. I want to finish reading it, but I'm also terribly, terribly afraid it'll end just like in real life.

I’ve just finished Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent, really enjoyed it! Saw her speaking at Bloody Scotland and she was really entertaining (with Harriet Tyce and Andrea Mara, who were also great!) currently reading Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley, who’s written it as a Miss Marple continuation- really enjoying it, loving the setting!

next up will be Lost Lambs or Honey, both for book groups.

I am about half way through We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

Set in WWII, it follows the Kurcs, a Jewish/Polish family from 1939. You move quickly back and forth between parents, siblings and in-laws and for me it has both far too much going on, and yet not enough.

I downloaded it on BorrowBox as was looking for a historical fiction. If anyone has any good recommendations in this genre for when I've finished, I'd like to have them :)

Currently on holiday in the Balearics and reading Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry. Shades of Waiting for Godot and In Bruges (well 2 characters and an Irish connection) and a good read so far. Saw it in Waterstones Piccadilly and bought on a bit of a whim. I wasn’t expecting it be glamorous despite the title. And it’s not.

Mighf read The Go-Between next as I brought it with me. Or another of the short stories from Stories for Summer and Days by the Pool - British Library Women Writers. And I brought my kindle just in case 😊

i’ve had a run of a few four star reads, just finished Strangers’ by Belle Burden, read it today so a real page turner but i did at times find the extreme wealth and privilege hard to swallow. (Her dad leaving 40 million dollars of debt but this didn’t seem to affect any of the luxury properties they had access to etc) Also was a bit dubious about them popping back and forth to their holiday home during lockdown but Im probably just being bitter !
Im now going to give ‘Death at the sign of the Rook’ by Kate Atkinson another go. Couldn’t get into it before and she is usually a favourite author of mine.

The Fraud sounded very promising but was another let down for me.

I've been reading 'Girl on Girl' by Sophie Gilbert which has the sub-title 'How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves'. If that was its aim, it didn't really achieve it, but that didn't seem to be what the author had set out to do at all. It was more like a list of things that had not necessariy been good for women, with not much analysis.

I also read 'Fall' by John Peston, a biography of Robert Maxwell. I'm fascinated in how these blustering bullies find people to boss around.

Heading back to fiction now with the new Emily St John Mandel, 'Exit Party'.

I agree. It's like the author is telling you that they're about to give you the definitive view on something, and you need never read another word on the subject. Anyway, no-one's ever beating Lucretius who's got everythng covered in 'On the Nature of Things'.

I'm reading the Seven Sisters series by Lucinda Riley. I'm on the penultimate one now, entitled 'The Missing Sister'. I've loved the series. They're all like two books in one as they go back 100 years in each one. Would really recommend.

I’m very suspicious of anyone who writes a book starting with “On”. It screams pretentiousness. Susan Sontag ( just) gets away with it because of her huge intellect.

I've never taken to Zadie Smith. Feel bad for saying so becuase I feel like she's a writer I 'should' like but I've read 3 of her books and all left me cold.

DD had to read Animal Farm for English at school and I enjoyed re-reading it when she finished.