Oct 2022 what are you reading today?

[ShinglesThinBonesWhiskersBunions]

I've just started reading The Blacktongue Thief.

I'm listening to Hold Back The Stars on Borrow Box.

I read 100% on Kindle. I am new to audio books. It is great to listen when carrying out mundane tasks, makes me feel productive.

What are you reading today?

I’ve just finished a really good book called “Everyone is still alive” by Cathy Rentzenbrink. Couldn’t put it down. So I’ve just downloaded 3 more of hers! I’m starting with “The last act of love” which is about her own brother who had an horrific accident and was left in a vegetative state.

Re-reading Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym. I have a house full of books, so have decided to do a lot of re-reading before I buy any more.

Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki. It's about 3 sisters growing up in a small Greek village and is wonderfully written.

Once I finish that, I have promised myself that I will take one from the "bought but not read" pile which is currently a mix of easy reads and more heavy weight tomes. This may sound strange but it feels to me like the weather is still too mild for anything too taxing. I like to get stuck into a weightier book when the weather is cold and miserable and calls for a blanket and a cuppa. So it will probably be the easy reads (think Marian Keyes etc) first.

I’m currently reading A Change of Climate by Hilary Mantel. Really enjoying it.

I’ve been trying to read Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah but I’ve had to put it down. It was just too cloying. I couldn’t overlook how repetitive it was. Yes the mum is unloving and Russian and has blue eyes. Repeat. Yes it’s cold. Repeat. Yes one of the characters is scared to put on weight so frantically runs and watched what she eats. Repeat. And I only got 18% in (kindle). I’m disappointed as it was recommended on a book group I’m in on Facebook and also came up in a goodreads lists I’ve read quite a bit off. I was looking forward to it

1979 - val mcdermid. Waiting patiently on a new Stuart Macbride

American Dirt

The Mirror and the Light, Hilary Mantel.

My parents bought me the hardback for Christmas when it came out but I didn’t read it because we know how it ends, but I couldn’t bring myself to finish his story.

Anyway, now feels like the right time.

I have winter reading as well! And they do seem to be on the heavier side! I also like my mysteries to be in the darker side and prefer my historical fiction this time of year as well, although I will read it other times as well.

I'm currently reading The Party by Elizabeth Day and I am quite enjoying it, the problem is I also listen to her podcasts quite a lot and so I keep hearing it in her voice, which is making it harder to engage with it. I can force myself to hear another voice once I realise though and it seems like it will be worth the effort

I will read anything, I like a bit of popcorn type reading. Sometimes I like a series.

I'm finding The Blacktongue Thief hard to get into. It was really rated in my reading group It might because I have two books on the go?

I've currently got 4 on the go which is really unlike me!

I started The Book Thief but decided that it was too important a book to read at the moment when I'm so distracted by 1000 other things. I've put it aside to save for the Christmas holidays when we're going away and I'll be able to lose myself in it.

So then I started an odd book called One Night, Malkovitch by Ayelet Gundar Goshen. It's translated from the Hebrew, about 2 men who sail to Europe to marry two women, I think to escape Nazi Germany? Bit hazy on the details. There's a magic element to it too.

Then I got a note from the library to say The Octopus Man by Jasper Gibson was waiting for me. Hooray! Been wanting to read it for ages so I picked it up and very naughtily started it straight away. I meant to just read the first page but found myself almost a third of the way through. Loving it so far.

And I've got The Magpie Murders on audiobook at the gym. Really enjoying it but wish I was reading it so I could flick back and remind myself who's who. I don't like audio books as much as paper books.

How are you finding it @Secretboringsister ? I've heard mixed reviews.

@PrunellaMcTat Good Morning! Thanks for asking. I hated the first 10 pages but I was at this point committed and I can say I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s very good.

I have a few pages of The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell to go then I'm going to start The Vegetarian by Han Kang.

I've finally started reading my late parents' collection of Dorothy Dunnett books - Lymond book 1. Amazing detail, you feel you are right there in 16th century Scotland. Lymond himself is a bit of a twat so far though - hopefully he will become less annoying as the plot reveals itself.

ChateauDiaries, I finished The Mirror and the Light days before Hilary Mantel's death and I still had an emotional hangover from it, which made the sad news all the harder to take.

The Cement Garden by Ian McEwan . Its not a cosy book. Not sure what to think of it yet.

I should read The Mirror and the Light as have read the other 2, I guess i was worried it wouldn't live up to the 1st 2.

Ian McEwan's early short stories are also slightly macabre. He has now decided he is A Great British Writer. and is extremely irritating.

The Feast by Margaret Kennedy.

It's good but I'm such a slow reader, I just pootle along with it. My imaginary self is a much faster reader and gets through a book a week.

I think you might have to be the right age to read Ian McEwen's early stories. I read them in my early 20s, which is the right age. Older and you start to pick holes.

I don't think Ian McEwan had left school when I was in my early twenties, and I was too busy having babies to read anything but The Guardian.

I was part way through it for the second time when I heard she had died. Made it worse and I was dragging my feet to the end 💔

I'm reading The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnet.

It's very funny so far.

I’m reading Joan, a fictional re-telling of Joan of Arc. Quite enjoying it.

@PrunellaMcTat i really enjoyed American Dirt. It’s very sobering to think of the hardships and the struggles people go through, especially when you see photos of the train they ride on. Reminds me of a Stacey Dooley programme (worth watching) about Mexican immigrants into .

The book is considered controversial because its written by a non-Mexican. However, I rarely take note of the author so wouldn’t know their Nationality, or in some cases their sex(eg unisex names such so Alex, or only initials used) .

American dirt

I'm reading Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh at bedtime. It's okay but don't think I'd rush out to read another of his books.

I've got the new Marple short story collection in the car as an audiobook via Borrowbox. A range of stories from modern authors recreating Miss Marple murder mysteries. A mixed bag - a couple have been really good but the current one is set in New York and it's not holding my attention fully.

Finally read 'Wuthering Heights' which was amazing. And then a less heavy weight but equally disturbing 'Lullaby'