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.

Don’t read 1984 at night.

Currently reading The Count of Monte Cristo, which is really gripping and also huge, but I’m not sure what I’m going to read after that.

Who is the author of Feeling? I also have a collection of 1970s sci fi from my teens, all by men.

(Currently reading Conviction by Denise Mina, very good, and last read the Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz, very quirky).

I’ve just this morning finished A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson, after finding it slow going to start with I then fell in love with it, I was rooting for so many of the characters and have been left feeling quite cross by the ending. But it also makes sense and feels right, and I can’t really think of a more appropriate way for it to have ended. I’ll be thinking about it for a while yet, which is the mark of a good book.

I can’t face another novel straight away so I’m going to read The Dirt on Clean by Katherine Ashenburg, which is a history of sanitation.

Why? Is it super creepy? I love creepy reads in bed on autumn nights. I'm weird.

Oh sorry, I was talking about Kindred still, I just meant "how I am feeling about it!" - I was copying the format that some of the earlier posters on the thread were doing!

I think I’d describe it as chilling. Without providing spoilers, it’s probably the one book that actually made me feel icy inside - and that’s when I was reading it sitting on a sofa next to my mum on a warm afternoon.

Currently reading The Push by Ashley Audrain. It's for a book group otherwise I would have given up. I have found it very disturbing although it is well written. Next book will be The King's Evil by Andrew Taylor. It's one of a series of mysteries set in 17th century London
I didn't like My Brilliant Friend. I found it dull and flat.

Currently reading. Secret Hours by Mick Herron

Feeling: It is really good spy thriller
But requires concentration. Sometimes need to reread paragraphs to make sure I understand.

Next up: the adele parks one for mumsnet bookgroup

CURRENTLY

Shy Creatures by Claire Chambers. Absolutely loving it so far.

Not sure what I'll go for next! This is good for some inspiration!!

Someone mentioned Count of Monte Cristo - my DH is reading it and it's keeping him engaged.

I’d never have thought of it but someone recommended it to me, and they were absolutely right.

Dahlia Travers or Dahlia Lively? Or the flower?

Currently reading: I have two books on the go (I try to read one fiction and one non-fiction). My fiction book is Douglas Adams Hitchhiker series. My non-fiction book is a biography of William Morris.

How I'm feeling about them: I'm kicking myself for not discovering Adams earlier. He's fantastic. Imagine P. G. Wodehouse crossed with Carl Sagan. I revere Wodehouse, and it doesn't surprise me to learn that Adams worshipped him as well. You see the influence everywhere. My plan is to work my way through everything Adams wrote. I'm also enjoying the William Morris biography. Such a fascinating man – I'm a sucker for the Victorian aesthetes, especially Wilde and Morris, and also the paintings of Waterhouse and Burne Jones.

What's next: God knows. There are so many books I want to read. In fact, I've got a pile next to me as I type. If I stick to the fiction/non-fiction rule it will probably be the novel Point Counter Point, by Aldous Huxley, which I read when I was young and always meant to re-read, or Brideshead Revisited. I'm a huge Waugh fan, and have read a lot of his stuff, but never got round to his most famous book. As for non-fiction, probably another biography. I have always meant to read Claire Tomalin's biography of Thomas Hardy. Or I might read Peter Ackroyd's book on William Blake.

I have just this afternoon finished The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chan.

I was a bit disappointed by it. It’s a bit of history I didn’t know much about. Whilst much of the book is harrowing, it did become obvious that the writer was particularly invested (in fact she sadly took her own life some years after writing it) and it didn’t really delve as much into the whys, as much as it did into the “Japan is evil” narrative. Not that Japan didn’t commit atrocities but it did feel a bit like a personal crusade more than a historical non fiction book.

Next is going to be The Secret Diary of an Arranged Marriage. Quite a change! But I feel like something a bit more lighthearted.

Currently about to finish Alice Winn’s In Memoriam and sobbing my way through a box of tissues. Beautifully written and haunting characters. Am planning to read Du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel as I last read it as a teen and it feels like a good Autumn read.

I'm about 3 paragraphs in to The Geneva Trap by Stella Rimington.

Next on the list will be Animal Farm by George Orwell, which I haven't read for getting on for 50 years and it's about time!

Did you finish it? I'm not sure I want to, but also I do.

@FuckoffeeBeforeCoffee

I did finish it yes but it's a long time ago and I can't remember the end

I’m a third into ‘This is where I leave you’ by Jonathan Tropper. It’s a rare instance of reading a book after I saw the film and I’m actually really enjoying it.

I’ve had a bit of a slow reading year this year. Not sure what’s next, I’ve got so many unread books. It might be Miss Kim Knows. I’m going in holiday on Friday so lots of reading planned.

Currently Reading: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Feeling: Sort of meh, I'm enjoying it but nothing much is actually happening?

Next Up: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Borrowed from SIL but it feels quite thick so not sure how long it will take to get through

Currently

The vanishing of class 3b

Feeling

Like it's pretty slow going but I need to finish it to find the outcome.

Next

The 3rd Thursday Murder Club book

The Burning by Jane Casey. It's the first on the series and though I find first person stories a bit annoying, I adapted and enjoyed the read.

i will read more of the series.

it was recommended to me by Lindsey from the SEFiles podcast. im marking time until the next Strike book drops

not sure what to read next - possibly The Maid of the Silver Sea by John Oxenham. Prepping!

I've started The Miniaturist

Need to read some books on my kindle which I seem to be hoarding

Currently: also reading Strange Sally Diamond @FuckThePoPo

Feeling: started yesterday but it seems a quick read & I'm enjoying it so far. Only about quarter way through but as an Irish person who lives in a small town it's interesting to me.

Next: The Covenant of Water - recommended by a friend. I've bought it already and it's a big book so looking forward to it.

Just finished Bell Jar which I loved.

Currently- Anne Karenina on audible. My summer challenge.
Also reading Lincoln Highway which I am already loving.

Next- not sure but lots of good suggestions here. May re-read 1984.

Love the thought of the start of a new book but when choosing the next book I am a bit like that person who looks at the menu for ages, thinks I am ordering pasta the whole time and make a last minute swerve to something completely different. I often read the first sentence to see if we click at that moment in time.

Just finished an essay (in book form) by Susan Sontag called Regarding the Pain of Others. It discusses viewing, mostly photographic, but also paintings and televisual images, of war and the aftermath of terrorist atrocities, with reference to different historical events. Its main theme seems to be whether we become inured to the atrocities. It was written in 2003 and so presumably is largely in response to 9/11 and lots of mentions of the wars in Yugoslavia.

It certainly provoked lots of thought and I mused upon the events in history since then. And how we now consume these images today. The essay having been written before the ubiquity of smartphones and the proliferation of social media.

Anyway, I haven't decided what to read yet. Probably something longer; character based, historical fiction to get stuck into.

The above book was sent to me and not directly chosen by me.