At last an update!
57. Circus of the Damned (An Anita Blake Novel) by Laurell K.Hamilton.
Third in this urban fantasy series. Vampires, animators, werewolves; I’m liking the characters and it’s all quite good fun. I seem to always need some easy reading at this time of year and fantasy is still my go-to genre. It is thanks to this thread that I am finding good options!
58. A Tale for Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.
This has been on my Kindle for over a year now. And I really enjoyed it! Told from the point of view of two characters. The first is Nao, a Japanese teenager, who has been uprooted from a lovely life in America when her dad loses his job as a computer programmer and they move back to Japan, where she has problems integrating back into Japanese culture. I thought the book portrayed her teenage turmoil well. She turns to her great grandmother, who is a Buddhist nun, and investigates the letters of her uncle who died as a kamikaze fighter in the last weeks of World War Two. Nao’s story is told in the first person, in the form of letters to an unknown recipient. The second character is Ruth. Ruth is middle-aged, a writer and lives on a small remote island of Canada with her husband and finds these letters one day washed up on the beach. And so begins the reflection of her own life.
I loved the reflections on each stage of life: modern day teenager, young soldier, struggling unemployed father, middle aged Ruth, wise elderly great grandmother and on Japanese culture. I enjoyed her way of writing, found the characters engaging and find myself reflecting on my own life. There is even some quantum physics which really just makes my head hurt! A lovely end of year read.
Currently listening to East West Street, winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford prize for non-fiction.
Turnofthescrew - I read half of The Blind Assassin this year and gave up. It was just so miserable. It’ll be a while before I try any more Margaret Attwood.
Glitter, I’ve added Sunbolt to my list!