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

[IceIceBabyBump]

Currently:
I'm currently about half way through "Enter Ghost" by Isabella Hammad.

Feeling:
I've been working my way through the six books shortlisted for the Women's Prize and this is the last one. It's probably bottom of my list of those books. I haven't at all clicked with the characters and I'm finding it quite boring to be honest.

Next:
I've just had my next stack of four books delivered and I think I'll try George Orwell's "1984" next. I'm excited.

I love this thread. I like a lot of different genres and I’m reading the stormlight series from Brandon Sanderson. Currently on the 3rd book. I may have a break and read The Silent patient next for a change.

Oh gosh, Hamnet is making me cry. I don't think a book has ever done that before.

Currently: The proof of my innocence by Jonathan Coe

Feeling: Wasn't sure at first about the 'meta' structure (the story is told first in cosy crime style then as dark academia and finally as autofiction ) but it's carried out with great skill and works well. The time setting does make me feel pretty nostalgic for the 80's. It's illuminating about academia and the rise of the Tory hard right and also the sea change in British politics between the 70's and 80's and beyond. A murder mystery combined with intelligent and entertaining insights is keeping me hooked.

Next: Want to read Assembly by Natasha Brown but think I might first need to jump back into the next title in the Outlander series - a bit of complete escapism feels needed.

So I've put Stone's Fall to one side. I will come back to it but felt like I wanted to read something different for now.

I've just started Free by Lea Ypi which is a memoir about coming of age in the last days of communist Albania. I feel like reading something where I'll learn something or be made to think rather than straightforward entertainment iyswim. Because I'm listening to straight up entertainment on audible for when I do boring jobs and want contrast. Just started listening to The Trial by Rob Rinder.

I also had my birthday this week and went to a large Waterstones and bought some books which I really don't need as a birthday present to me. 🎁📚

Currently reading Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes.

Feeling: Moyes has written some cracking books over the years, but I fear this is not one of them. I'm about a third of the way through and I'm not empathising with Nisha, at all. She's a bit uf a cliché. I do identify more with Sam, and the amount of mental load she's undertaking, and I'm currently feeling very sorry for her husband, because, been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

Next: I have a few purchases from World of Books to get through but I think the next one might be In Memorium by Alice Winn. It's about two young men who fall in love before they are sent off to fight in the Second World War.

I am trying to get off my phone and TV streaming services to read more. My concentration is currently shot and my brain has been very much dumbed down by technology. I ised to read a book a week now it's one over two or three!

I'm now onto All the light we cannot see.

How I feel: I know it will be good, but I'm not yet desperate to pick it up. I'm on the Kindle for this and it tells me I'm 10% through, so maybe more time. I think I have a Hamnet hangover though, I'm definitely still thinking about that.

Next: Armadillo by William Boyd, need a physical book for the next one, and it's been sat on my shelf for about 20 years. Also suspect it will be less 'moving' which might be respite!

Currently reading Mrs Miniver by Jan Struther. DH bought me the Persephone edition for Christmas.

I love anything set between the wars and this has just the right element of depicting a comfortable middle class life with children away at boarding school/cared for by a nanny, servants to cook and clean the house, and lots of free time to travel etc. A whole world away from modern life. And yet, little worries about the growing threat of war creeping in.

And also reading A Thousand Feasts by Nigel Slater, which is just delightful.

Just finished After You'd Gone by Maggie O'Farrell, which is due to be re-released soon as it's been out 20 years I think. I read it when it first came out and I enjoyed it just as much again, though I probably picked a few holes in it more than I did originally - for a debut novel it's amazingly accomplished though.

I got halfway through Orbital by Samantha Harvey and although I can see it's beautifully written, I didn't find I really engaged with it at all. Need to try and finish it soon but just felt a bit underwhelmed. Sometimes that happens when something comes with a huge prize win attached, I find.

I've also just started on Ulysses by James Joyce, prompted by this thread. I also have it on audio book, so will see which goes best for me. The kindle edition was 99p, and the audiobook was on Borrow Box, so nothing much lost if I don't get anywhere. So far, I'm quite enjoying it, just going with the flow. Thinking I maybe need to read Portrait of the Artist again to get myself into it more as I know I loved that and was just put off Ulysses because of the length of it. I have more time now!

Another who tried Orbital, but couldn't get into it. Currently reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. Taken me years to get round to reading, but loving it. Atmospheric and disturbing.

I am reading Everything We Ever Wanted by Sara Shepard
It's good but not as good as I hoped

From recommendations on here, I'm now on to "Hamnet".

I'm enjoying it, but it's not as good as I was expecting based on MN rave reviews. It's well-written but I'm not finding it particularly 'deep'.
I'm finding all the characters quite one-dimensional, especially Agnes who actually irritates me intensely. She's really poorly developed and this is slightly ruining the book for me. I think I'd be enjoying it more if the characters, and especially Agnes, were more nuanced.

Im not sure what's up next. We're reading "The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus" next for book club. It looks so shit. Has anyone read it? Not sure if I can face it just yet 🤣

Have you seen the film? I don't think it's terribly similar; which is basically Americanised Britain in propaganda form. Radio 4 did a version much more similar iirc which is sometimes repeated on 4 Extra.

Orbital does seem very much a marmite book as seen on the thread on here.

I just looked to see if there was any Jan Struther available on audible (inspired to look by this thread). Thought it might be nice to listen to. There is only one item "Gas Masks". And, frustratingly, only 6 minutes long. Seems a bit random.

@DrivingThePlot I loved Mrs Miniver. A bit dated but a fantastic comfort read, in a way.

@everythingwillbeok I've never quite got over Suskind's Perfume, ita still on the shelf for a reread, an adorable little hardback.
Maybe I need that immersion.

Just finished Pat Barkers, long Voyage Home . I think it's me fed up of the genre. I've got Silas Grace on the go now.

I finished “The Fraud” by Zadie Smith yesterday and enjoyed it but not her best, her writing is so beautiful though and is a lot about people it’s always worth the time.

In contrast I have started “Tenement Kid” by Bobby Gillespie, which I expect to be some recollections of actions not thought about deeply and he is here by the Grace of God!

Just finished Sense and Sensibility. One of my favourties I think as I wasn't sure of the outcome right up until the last chapter

Now starting Paul Murray's Bee Sting which I'm really looking forward to.

My reading this year will be a mix of old and newer titles. I bought a box load of books late last year, assigned each a number and am selecting a new one randomly by picking a number from a bag. The suprise when I open up the paper to see which one I've picked is genuinely as much excitement as I get these days:)

My challenge this year is 24 books and I'm now on no.5 so will need to speed things up a bit. I've got a few shorter books still in the box so might just make it..

reading The Glutton, I'm enjoying her way with language and the characters, it's more of a fun read than one I'm connected to emotionally at the moment and I really want her to swing back to present day as I find the older version of the central character more enigmatic than his flashback self

Next up is Wavewalkers which is a bookclub pick

Just finished Landlines by Raynor Winn. Have concluded Moth does not have CBD as he would a. be dead by now and b. if there was a possibility he would be alive, he would be completely unable to do this much physical exercise.

I also think that whilst they may have walked bits of the paths mentioned, enough to perhaps confirm them in place x at time x, they did not do all of what she says they did.

Outlandish and unbelievable. As per three books now, if brutal physical exercise and the need for immense strength alleviated the man's symptoms, then why was he not doing more at home? The picture Winn paints of how he was at home versus how he was on their fictional walk from near Cape Wrath is simply unbelievable.

I've just started The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. If you've read either of his others you won't be surprised to know that it's a high-concept mystery. Well written and intriguing - I have to keep going just to find out what the devil is going on!

After having had an Agatha Christie binge recently (so addictive!) I need to be a bit more disciplined. So after LMEW it will have to be Not A Mystery, which is tough as I love a mystery.

Perhaps Sense and Sensibility to clear my head.

I really disliked the first Raynor Winn. It's dreadful for lots of reasons but mostly because it portrays walking the coastal path as a place of miserable people with problems to escape to rather than the friendly, everyday place that those who live nearby use everyday.

Wild, now that is a fantastic book about long distance walking, being a woman and living with adversity. The obsession with kit rang completely true. It's accuracy undermines Raynor's claims. When you carry your food and shelter you are obsessed.

Idk if people use amazon for checking out books recommended on here etc but I just looked at some and I was reminded how much I hate the stupid new AI "questions you might ask" bit (for want of a better description).

For eg I just looked up some Stuart Turton titles and the questions the questions included "is it suitable for travel?" And "are there any hidden surprises in the plot?" Is it just me that finds these AI generated things entirely tiresome? It puts me right off.

On second glance seems to be called Ask Rufus

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Close to Death by Anthony Horowitz, thoroughly enjoyable. Although a bit like Agatha Christie feel anyone could have done it.

Before that Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell. Good but dated / problematic in places.

Just finished Family Roundabout by Richmal Crompton, more known for the Just William series. It's a middle class family saga-two intertwined families- both headed up by very different matriarchs, It begins in 1920 and goes up to the outbreak of WW2. I enjoyed it. It's in the vein of Dorothy Whipple.

Just about to begin A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike which is on the Women's Prize shortlist. I don't really fancy it for some reason that I can't explain but I'm going to press on.