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Desordenado · 25/06/2026 12:57

Finished Bitter Orange, not sure how I got through it so quickly when I kept pausing to reread sentences and sometimes going back a few pages hunting for clues. I read very late into the night and while it was like being under a spell or hypnosis or in some dreamlike state, I was always conscious of the writing and how descriptive and transportive it was. Reading it in a hot stuffy room under the eaves of an old house might have helped. Huge thanks for the recommendation!

IceIceBabyBump · 25/06/2026 13:08

Desordenado · 24/06/2026 19:12

Thank you thank you, added all three to the to read pile in my kindle. I loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation so I’m looking forward to Eileen.

Not sure which to start with now I’ve finished Yesteryear. I don’t usually get through books quite so quickly but I couldn’t stop reading this one. Dark and funny plus a great mystery, and a thoroughly unlikeable and unreliable narrator. Bliss!

I think "Eileen" is miles better than "My Year of Rest and Relaxation"

If you like things that are unsettling and psychologically intense, "Eileen" is absolutely up there. It's brilliant. I might re-read soon actually.

OP posts:
IceIceBabyBump · 25/06/2026 13:10

I'm so pleased you enjoyed it.
This is perfect weather for it too - I read it over Christmas and it didn't quite land the same. I really wish I'd read it over summer to add to the intensity and claustrophobia.

"Unsettled Ground" by Claire Fuller is also very good in the same intense and unsettling way.

OP posts:
pippistrelle · Yesterday 09:42

Tortoishellcats · 23/06/2026 17:22

I've just read Castaway by Francesca De Tores, a novel about Alexander Selkirk. Really enjoyed it and thought it brilliantly written.
Next going to start Land by Maggie O'Farell. I usually love her books but OH has given up on it.

I've finished Cast Away now, and agree with @Tortoishellcats about how good it is. I found it very moving.

Now reading some non-fiction - 'Unsuitable' by Eleanor Medhurst, which is a history of lesbian fashion. It's quite interesting and, at times, thought provoking.

Eastie77Returns · Yesterday 17:26

Currently reading This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud about a French family forced to leave Algeria after the war and their lives in the decades following. I'm enjoying it but keen to finish as Yesteryear is next on my list and since everyone is raving about it and the massive plot twist I want to read it before I see a spoiler. I think I'm almost guaranteed to feel a bit let down by whatever the twist is after all this fuss😅

pippistrelle · Yesterday 18:37

Yesteryear is next on my list and since everyone is raving about it

Not everyone. I think its reception here (there's a thread about it) has been quite lukewarm. That might just be confirmation bias though.

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