Tell me the last book you read and what you thought of it

[Ididivfama]

I just finished Such a fun age, by Kiley Reid. I’d say it was pretty good. It was readable and I got into it, I was curious. I liked how it touched on race relations in a different way. I disliked all the characters though, but I guess that makes them more realistic. Would pass it on but probably not read again.

Who’s next?

The Satsuma Complex - Bob Mortimer. Daft in parts but enjoyed the story. I can see it being a film or two-part drama. Other half listened to it as an audio book on holiday after I had read it and he really enjoyed it.

Davis Grubb The Night of the Hunter. Honest to god one of the most suspenseful, insightful and beautiful books I’ve read. But absolutely heart in your mouth frightening at points

Struwwelpeter by H. Hoffmann and I can absolutely see why it is a children's classic. Reminiscent of the stories I read as a child.

Book is a stretch though. If you take your time and enjoy the illustrations then it can be read in 15 minutes (my edition had around 27 pages or so).

The other book I'm just finishing is The 39 Steps by J. Buchan. An easy fun enough read. It was aimed at adults but really I could picture myself in a corner of the library reading it as a kid. A bit of a penny thriller perhaps? Maybe a small step above ;-)

@CatOnAHotShedRoof You may enjoy ‘Lady in Waiting’ by Lady Glenconner. It focuses on her life, upbringing and marriage, very privileged, including her friendship with the royals. Despite having money and a comfortable life, it wasn’t all rosy, though, and she talks about the good, bad and ugly.

Just finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and loved everything about it! Wonderful.

Thanks, @Riverlee I read it a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. She's such an interesting person. I think I saw somewhere that she's written a second part to her memoirs.

Denise Mina; The Long Drop, based on Scottish serial killer Peter Manuel

Read that recently, was very good.

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

Reporter investigates a story of an immaculate birth in London. It was a nice read, and likeable characters.

Drive your plow over the bones of the dead. Brilliant book, one of those where you finish it as quickly as possible and have to lie down afterwards to process.

Still life by Louise Penny. I needed a new detective series. It was enjoyable although I had guessed the killer quite early on.

Agreed!

All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny.
I'd never heard of her until about a month ago, then I got one of her books out of the library and just finished number 6.
I love a good police/ whodunnit, and these are about a man called Armand Gamache who lives in rural Quebec and has been head of the Surete there. The stories are spread over many years and cover different periods of his life, and I'll be sad when I've got through them all, as I feel as though I know him and his family and friends really well now.

I'm reading the Red Rising series. Pretty compelling. Themes of injustice, oppression, rebellion, identity, loyalty versus trust, betrayal, when do ends justify means etc. With hints of the classics thrown in. Interesting bit of sci fi.

Demon Copperhead was my last book too. I read it for my bookclub.

For the first part, I couldn't see past the David Copperfield links which was quite distracting. I knew that Demon's mum was the modern counterpoint of David's Mum who wasn't a drug addict and didn't give birth on the floor when she was in a complete state and did visit his father's grave with young David. I felt quite protective of the original character.

It came alive for me as a novel in its own right in the later part when it got into the way people in the Appalachians had been treated historically, the hillbilly caricatures and the causes and effects of the opioid crisis.

I ended up really enjoying it.

The Ocean at the end of the lane. By Neil Gaiman. Fantasy, witches and scary things.
Wasn't what I was expecting but it fascinated me. Told through the eyes of a 6 year old boy.

Just started The L Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks, and while I'm enjoying it a lot and it's fabulously well written I can't help seeing it as an updated fairy story. Heroine gets kicked out of nice comfortable home for a social transgression and embarks on her journey/quest which will be squalid and difficult, but she can't help improving and reforming everyone she meets and transforming their lives - and everyone she meets falls over themselves to help her out. Every cliche is there - the squalid house, the social outcasts (John and Toby, black and Jewish respectively), the nasty shopkeepers, the grasping landlady, the elderly spinster in reduced circumstances (but gamely making the best of it) and the tart with a heart.

The back page blurb says that 'self-respect is worth fighting for' but the heroine seems to have enough of that to start with. TBH in some parts it does feel like she's deliberately making her life difficult when there's no need to punish herself.

Am I reading this all wrong?

After the Party by Cressida Connolly. Set in England just before and during WW2.
But a different angle than the usual.

Well written and very thought provoking.

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O'Farrell; after someone mentioned it on here. I was on holiday last week and it was good holiday reading. From a sample size of 2 (!) of her books, I'm not really satisfied with her endings. They are all a bit too "nice".

However, the book I'd read previously, The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor, a real "oh my god this is why I love reading!" and was one of the best books I'd read in ages so a hard act to follow.

I've just downloaded it on audible after listening to an interview with Barbara Kingsolver.

Demon copperhead for me too - I don't think I've ever actually read David Copperfield but I really got into this one, one of those books that I picked up every spare moment.

I just read The Trees by Percival Everett for my book club. It was not at all the sort of book I usually read but I could not put it down. It was fantastic.

I've just finished Thinking On My Feet by Kate Humble. Not a novel, but some descriptions of her walks over the course of a year, plus some thoughts about the benefits of walking and time she's spent with other walkers. One in particular stood out to me- a psychotherapist who conducts his appointments with people while walking (usually in a park in New York)
I have enjoyed her writing, and some very evocative descriptions of weather, scenery, her dogs and the life she lives.
She very clearly lives a privileged life that would not be shared by many readers, and so I suspect not everyone would like it, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. Didn’t love it. I loved Life after Life but wasn’t keen on Shrines of Gaiety . I have a few more of hers sitting but am giving her a break now.

Very Cold People by Sarah Manguso. It's unusual, short, quite tense. I really enjoyed it.