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 hated "White Teeth". I finished it but I found it formulaic.

"On Beauty" is perfectly readable but deals with a lot of the same themes as "White Teeth" so it feels like deja vu.

I don't rate Zadie Smith at all to be honest. Her latest book "The Fraud" was absolutely awful. I don't think her work is too clever for me. I think she's very over-rated.

I tried Donal Ryan's From a Low and Quiet Sea and gave up after the first story. I found his writing too laboured and 'clever'. Really disappointed.

I'm on the look out for my next fiction read.

"I don't think her work is too clever for me. I think she's very over-rated."

@IceIceBabyBump 😆. Yes you're probably right there. I was just reluctant to say that.

I LOVED this!

I loved this too! Wish it had been based on a true story as she was a bad-ass!

I’ve just finished reading The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. Fantastic book. Loved it & would definitely recommend. Took me a few chapters to get into but it was amazing by the end!

I'm on the verge of bailing, tbh. It's just dull. The characters don't interest me.
I'm going to a book signing/chat with Ruth Jones in a couple of weeks so I want to read a coupleore of hers before then. I've only read one before and enjoyed it.

I read Never Greener by Ruth Jones and wasn't too impressed so not bothered to look at any of her others

Reading The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. I have dipped into it previously but wanted to read it properly. It’s much more ‘raw’ than I remember and I like the narrator more on a second (thorough) reading. I have walked stretches of the South West Coast Path and liked her descriptions of it and the characters she met along the way.
Next on my list is ‘Butter’ (which I have started) - as it was bought for me by someone who generally has good taste in books and knows what I like.

I didn't like Never Greener at all, couldn't finish it, but I did like Love Untold. I'm just starting Us Three

@IceIceBabyBump I agree, she is a much better essayist imo.

@IceIceBabyBump
When you say you get books delivered, do you subscribe to book service or had you ordered them online?

Reading Room on the Sea by Andre Anciman. It has a good premise but is shit. No one actually talks like how he has people talking in it, particularly people who are practically strangers.

I meant that I ordered them online, I tend to get four at a time from WOB, roughly every month.

@IceIceBabyBump
I’ll look into that as I don’t want to use Amazon anymore.

Current: All Fours by Miranda July
feelings: Loving it, I love her style and quirky way of looking at the world. It’s the third of her books I’ve read in a row.
Next: Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo - comes highly recommended by a friend so I’m giving it a go.

I am purposely reading women authors currently. My reason? I’m a woman, I want to read more stuff I can connect with.

I'm reading the latest Reacher book, In Too Deep and it's appalling. Andrew Child cannot write. it's clunky and none of it rings true.
I don't know what Lee Child is thinking, letting his brother take over...it's not like he needs the money.

I’m a woman, I want to read more stuff I can connect with

Might be making huge assumptions about you and your stance. But there's a chapter in "Girl, Woman, Other" you might want to avoid 😬

I'd be keen to hear what women authors you've been reading. Like you, I try to read women's work as much as I can. I do, on the whole, find women authors more engaging too.

I couldn't get into All Fours. The use of "they" for the child wound me up as it didn't make grammatical sense.

I've not long finished Yellowface- it was ok. I loved it for the first 2/3, but thought it went off the boil a bit towards end.

Currently reading- The List of Suspicious Things, which I'm really enjoying.

You've reminded me that I lent The List of Suspicious Things to a friend to take on holiday. I was only about half way through when I lent it so I need to get it back!

I finished it this afternoon. I really liked it. It felt similar to the Problem with Sheep and Goats. I loved the main perspective from a tween/teen at events unfolding around her. And the depiction of West Yorkshire (that’s where I live!).

I absolutely hated All Fours, dreadful tosh

Loved Sunrise On The Reaping. Possibly the best Hunger Games book yet.

Just started Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. Really interesting premise, enjoying it so far.

Not sure what's next. Am on holiday so have made sure I've got lots to choose from.

I've just finished Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson, the 6th Jackson Brodie book. I've read all the others and really enjoyed them. It took me a while to get into this one - there are lots of characters and sub plots that chop and change and I found it hard to follow all the threads, but they did all tie together eventually. Kate's a very clever writer, I think I've just got used to some of the simpler psychological thrillers so struggled to adjust to something a bit more complex.

I am trying to read Pompeii by Robert Harris and really struggling to get into it but really want to like it.

I struggled with Conclave too (so watched the film which i loved). Maybe his books are not for me but I love history and really like the idea if his books

I loved two of his books, Precipice and Fatherland. But I haven’t been able to get into any of the others.