26-ish books in 2021

[MercedesDeMonteChristo]

Thought I’d kick start the new thread for this year.

I’m starting with Outlander by Diana Gabalon and reading Anna Karenina Tolstoy one chapter a day, so expect to finish September sometime - I’m on chapter 4.

Oh good reports about The Nightingale then. Thanks! Hopefully it won’t take me too long.

wanderlove Behind the Scenes at the Museum is one of my all-time favourites.
I love everything KA writes (except Transcription).

1. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

I raced through this book, quite an easy read. A black man is falsely accused of raping a white woman and sent to prison for 12 years having being married for under 2 years. The book switches perspective between the husband, wife and their mutual friend. I don’t want to give away any spoilers as to what happens but it’s worth a read. As it delved more into the marriage I (as a white Brit living in the US) was a bit disappointed it felt like it went more into the relationship than into race struggles that are so pertinent but having finished it I realised that my racial privilege made me not quite appreciate the nuances of that until it was over. It did make me think on a more subconscious level about the impact of race had on the story and I think it will stay with me longer than I thought it would during the reading of it, if that makes sense!!!

I’m also reading this year Toksvig’s Almanac each morning so won’t be done until the end of the year but highly recommend it so far as a lovely way to start your day

I am so tempted by the Almamac. Mostly because Amazon listed Lady Murasaki as one of the women in the book and I read a book about her and her book The Tale of Genji years ago.

Re. Kate Atkinson - I’m a great fan but hated Life After Life for being so relentlessly bleak.

For those of you enjoying Bridgerton, can I recommend the Poldark books by Winston Graham? So much better than the TV series. I am probably biased as I’m Cornish and love the depictions of our history and landscapes but they are just the most wonderfully written family saga. Far better than Georgette Heyer in my opinion, although I enjoy her too. I read all 12 in about a year and was totally wrapped up in their world.

Finished number 2. The Christmas Killer by Alex Pine. This was another book I got for xmas. I liked the concept of the book but just don't think it was very well written. There seemed to be a lot of over explaining and dialogue that wasn't needed. A bit like someone needing the last word. I would of given up but I had to find out who the murderer was

I have read the first two Poldark books, but haven’t got to the rest.

I read The Nightingale last year too - it’s fairly hefty but it sucked me in so I ended reading it pretty quickly as I couldn’t put it down. Def one of my top books last year.

If you liked The Nightingale have you read The Alice Network?

I’ve ground to a halt. I am back in school and I’m on my knees. It’s all I can do to read to my kids and then crawl into bed. I am managing to keep up with my chapter of War and Peace but that’s it, I’m falling asleep by the end of that!
It’s not that school is hideous,I’ve only got seven children with me. But they range from the brightest kid in Year 6 to the child in Year 3 with severe learning difficulties and trying to keep them all motivated and on track when they have all been set different work is exhausting! Yesterday I played two full on football games and today it was an hour of dodgeball, to break up the learning. At least I’ll be fit.. but reading isn’t happening!
I’ve not read the Nightingale though, looks interesting.

I would love to join too. I’ve just ordered seven books which should set me up for a few months. They include a couple by Kurt Vonnegut, Bel Canto, Three Hours, and Where the Crawdads sing.
I have just re-read Urban Grimshaw and the Shed Crew, a harrowing true story about a bunch of feral kids in Leeds.

@JiltedJohnsJulie no I haven’t but I have heard about it. I directed a non fiction book about the woman who ran the biggest French resistance network in WW2 called Madame Fourcade’s Secret War and highly recommended that for further reading too.

Thanks for the rec, I’ll check it our

@babybythesea Thank you for what you're doing with the kids. It's such a rubbish time.
I'm a community nurse and while we don't have same pressures as hospital staff work is so stressful. The virus is like wildfire in the area that I'm working. We never know what we're going to find when we get to a patients house . People are not sticking to the rules. I'm not sleeping due to anxiety but find reading helps calm my mind and helps me forget about the day.
I'm lucky that I don't work full time but on days off I'm homeschooling my two boys one is 11 and the other is 8. Teaching is definitely not for me. I'm just doing my best to stop them falling behind

1. Hamnet - Maggie O’Farrell.

I loved this. This is my academic field - my MA is in Shakespeare and education which I studied for in Stratford - and I put off reading this for a while, but my best friend bought me the beautiful Waterstone’s special edition for Christmas so I gave it a go. Absolutely brilliant. Historically spot on whilst also blending in enough characterisation and fictional detail to make it a really gripping read. Based around the death of William Shakespeare’s only son in 1596, this is not Shakespeare’s story at all, or even Hamnet’s really - it is Anne Hathaway’s story (or Agnes, as she is here) and deals with her life from childhood until the early 1600s. Very evocative portrayal of everyday life at the time. I recommend this whether you have an interest in Shakespeare or not.

1. Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson

Read this to DD (7) who absolutely adored it. I didn’t read the Moomins myself as a child so it’s lovely to be discovering these characters alongside her. I have several English teacher colleagues who are avid Moomin fans and I’ve never really understood why but I do now. Beautifully written and funny. Thinking that I might read some of her adult fiction now - has anyone read The Summer Book?

I’ve got Mrs Benson’s Beetle by Rachel Joyce on the go as my audiobook. Going to read some non-fiction next - My Garden World by Monty Don.

@Chickoletta I dream of the MA in Shakespeare Studies at The Globe, but I already have an MA and am doing a PhD and I started all my studies as an adult and I can just imagine DH’s face if I said I wanted to do another MA.

@babybythesea that sounds so tough. Also really appreciate it. I wonder if there is something really straightforward, simple storyline with short chapters that might help. I always turn to Santa Montefiore when I struggle because it usually doesn’t matter if I fall asleep etc (or a reread of Austen). But getting through War and Peace is a huge achievement.

3. The Hard Way - Lee Child
Nice easy Jack Reacher which I finished off in two days. This one featured a kidnapping and takes Reacher to the UK which makes a nice change from the usual US setting. I only recently found out Lee Child is British, I'd always just assumed he was American.

@HoundOfTheBasketballs I like Lee Child too. I read an interview in magazine with him awhile back. He didn't have an easy upbringing and had a difficult relationship with his Mother.

@MercedesDeMonteChristo - mine is in Shakespeare and Education from The Shakespeare Institute (part of Birmingham University) in Stratford. It was a taught MA which meant remote learning (when it was still in its infancy) and glorious weeks/weekends at the Institute and with RSC Education. I did it whilst teaching and with two young children so it was hard work but completely wonderful and very relevant to my day job! I have written a proposal for my PhD but just can’t justify the time or expense at the moment. The Globe course does look wonderful.

@Chickoletta The Summer Book was one of my favourites as a teen..

To be honest, the Globe course is just local, though I do like the content. I’ve come across the Birmingham one before and it looks fantastic. I didn’t go back to uni for my BA until 28 - but in a weird sort of way I found it made me a better parent/employee because it gave me such purpose. I know that makes me sound like a bit of a tw*t.

Another Shakespeare buff here but more performative (I directed theatre for a decade before moving and having to segue and I miss it so much), I trained as an AD at the Globe and got to sit in on the one to one sessions the actors have with Giles Block who directed Mark Rylance as Hamlet in 2000 there and he is an absolute master of text. I would love to do that MA!

2: A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier

Violet, a spinster, wants to forge a different life for herself in the 1930s and achieves this by stumbling across a brodery group (needlepoint) at Winchester cathedral. The life she discovers around the cathedral has far reaching consequences for her future, unlike the drab little existence looking after her mother that was her destiny.

@Curlyshabtree I absolutely loved Bel Canto!
@babybythesea goodness that sounds hard. Just remember that reading shouldn’t be a chore so don’t beat yourself up if you don’t manage it.
@Chickoletta I have read the Summer Book and really enjoyed it, but you might like it better in Summer iykwim.

Reading Hamnet now. It is wonderful.

The last Shakespeare I went to see was The Tempest with Ralph Fiennes. I remember feeling a little underwhelmed by it but I can’t remember why.

@Kobanidaughters - how exciting to have worked with Giles Block. His book Speaking the Speech is brilliant. My best Shakespearean name drop is that I did several workshops with Cicely Berry before she moved away from Stratford. She was in her 80s then, brilliant and obnoxious in equal measure!

@Wildernesstips - I did wonder whether that was the case. Will save The Summer Book for a sunlounger - if I ever get to one this year!