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’m reading ‘part of your world’ and it is just what the doctor ordered after that last pile of depressing crap I just read. I’m loving it, it’s so funny.

I meant to post a picture. I don’t know why but anyway 😁

I've just finished The Gathering Storm by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles. I was looking forward to it because it got such good reviews on Goodreads and so many people rave about her books. I was disappointed - too many lack lustre, one dimensional characters with little to tell them apart.

Personally I found The Mirror & The Light my least favourite of the 3, i felt it was overly long, the middle of the story especially but still brilliant all the same, i felt exactly the same i just didn't want to finish it and face the end of Crumb, Hilary Mantel wrote him as such a likeable character. I was very fond of Uncle Norfolk too ☺️

I loved Brooklyn didn't know there was a follow up book so will check that out. Enjoy every word of TMATL 😉 have you watched the BBC series of it? If not it will help ease the grief after you finish the book - book bereavement is a real thing ☺️

I have just read two nice easy reads: Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng.
Enjoyed them both. I have now have A Confederacy of Dunces and I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings on the go. Two very different reads!

I've just this instant finished "Tipping the Velvet" by Sarah Waters. I found it a bit boring.

Next up is "Burial Rites" I think.

Recently started The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones.

I had been struggling with some of the terms used by the First Nation character but have done some googling which has made it a lot easier if anyone else reads it.

I’m stuck with a biography of Napoleon for a while. Terrifically interesting but 800 pages so I need to get through it.

What is it called please and who is the author?

It’s Napoleon the Great by Andrew Robert’s. It’s quite old actually, it came out in 2014, I started reading it then but got bogged down and abandoned it somewhere around 1796 or so. Have picked it up again as I’ve just read A Place of Greater Safety and a history of the Revolution and it follows on naturally. Had to start from the beginning again.

Thanks. Who wrote A History of the revolution please? And is the second by Hilary Mantel?

I'm just about to start The Silence Factory by Bridget Collins and can't wait. She writes such beautiful prose. Always atmospheric and darkly brooding. Perfect for an Autumnal read.

The Oxford History of the French Revolution is by William Doyle, and yes, A Place of Greater Safety is Hilary Mantel. I loved it by the middle/ end but it was hard to get into at first.

Well, this is awkward by Esther Walker (Times journalist, wife of Giles Coren, blogger). I only bought it because I enjoy her columns and sub stacks. It’s ok but she reviews a lot of books and I just can’t imagine she’d read this herself.

I've just finished The Art of A Lie by Laura Shepherd Robinson. I really loved it. A proper page turner.

Just finished the Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald. Really good. I read it having watched the film starring Emily Mortimer - also great. Will definitely read more of hers.

Next - the Vanishing Half.

Another Part of the Wood by Beryl Bainbridge. I love her books. They often read like a tv play. This was from 1968. A good read but not jolly or cosy.

Just came back from holiday where the other physical books I'd brought with me I wasn't in the mood for.

I was in the middle of reading The Whalebone Theatre. I gave up on it I'm afraid. So much of it to like but not enough was happening. And not enough revelation of character. Lots of promise but I just felt like I was constantly on the verge of it taking off. And it just didn't really. I was on page 260 or whatever and I just thought I will scream if I read another 300 pages and nothing changes. I was disappointed after the races I'd read.

So downloaded Swimming Home by Deborah Levy. Just started but distracted by lots of things now I'm home.

Raves not races.

I'm reading "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent at the moment as recommended on another MN thread.

I love it. It's atmospheric, dark and foreboding.

Up next might be "The Bone People" by Kerrie Hulme.

Shogun by James Clavell. Very long but very readable, never a dull moment. And I'm struck that he writes very good female characters, which is something I always appreciate in male writers.

Just finished The Handmaid's Tale. I didnt watch the TV show, but this bored me to death.

Now I'm about to start Roseanna by Jowall and Wahloo

I like history books, mainly. I'm currently reading Women Who Ruled the World: 5000 Years of Female Monarchy by Elizabeth Norton, which is wonderful. It's all about female kings and reigning queens and is full of women I knew nothing about.

Next, I'm going to read her Lives of Tudor Women as I've liked her new one so much.

love this book, one of my top 10 ever!

Absolutely loved Burial Rites. Beautifully written.

I've just finished 'The Marriage Portrait' by Maggie O'Farrell, which I really enjoyed. Now reading 'The Square of Sevens' by Laura Shepherd Robinson. I recently read 'The Art of a Lie' by her and it was great. TSOS is fab so far.

I finished the Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I found it hard work.

Raced through the Sea Gate (couldn't sleep last night)

Now on to The Copper Promise