What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list? Part 2

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The original thread is nearly full: Page 40 | What are you currently reading, how do you feel about it, and what's next on the list? | Mumsnet

So, here's another one to keep us going!

Currently on holiday in the Balearics and reading Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry. Shades of Waiting for Godot and In Bruges (well 2 characters and an Irish connection) and a good read so far. Saw it in Waterstones Piccadilly and bought on a bit of a whim. I wasn’t expecting it be glamorous despite the title. And it’s not.

Mighf read The Go-Between next as I brought it with me. Or another of the short stories from Stories for Summer and Days by the Pool - British Library Women Writers. And I brought my kindle just in case 😊

I am about half way through We Were The Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter.

Set in WWII, it follows the Kurcs, a Jewish/Polish family from 1939. You move quickly back and forth between parents, siblings and in-laws and for me it has both far too much going on, and yet not enough.

I downloaded it on BorrowBox as was looking for a historical fiction. If anyone has any good recommendations in this genre for when I've finished, I'd like to have them :)

I’ve just finished Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent, really enjoyed it! Saw her speaking at Bloody Scotland and she was really entertaining (with Harriet Tyce and Andrea Mara, who were also great!) currently reading Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley, who’s written it as a Miss Marple continuation- really enjoying it, loving the setting!

next up will be Lost Lambs or Honey, both for book groups.

I'm halfway through Nesting. It's not exactly a relaxing read though; I'm simultaneously furious and heartbroken. I want to finish reading it, but I'm also terribly, terribly afraid it'll end just like in real life.

War and Peace, which has been a summer project for me and which I should finish within the next couple of weeks.

I have also just finished re-reading all of the great Sarah Waters-another summer project and changed my favourite from, The Little Stranger to The Night Watch.

Next up will be, The Subversive Stitch (non-fiction), a re-read of The Diary of a Nobody and, Crooked Cross by Sally Carson. I already have the sequel, The Prisoner, on standby!

@somewhereintheworld I’m really enjoying The Seven Sisters too… they’re easy reading but absorbing and the historical aspect is sometimes fascinating.

Currently reading Robert Macfarlane’s Is A River Alive and whilst it would usually be right up my street, I’m finding it very earnest and therefore hard to get into. I don’t know, maybe it’s the season, it’s getting dark, this feels like a summer book, and I just want to curl up with a story! It’s almost over-written. I think he’s had so much success with his style of writing that he’s over doing the description and I wish he’d be a bit more straightforward as I do actually love the subject.

I've just finished 'Kolkhoz' by Emmanuel Carrerre, a work of non-fiction about his relationship with his mother. She was a formidable woman from a Russian-Georgian family that fled during the revolution with nothing. Unable to speak French until she was five, she rose to become the head of the Academie Francaise. But this is no hagiography, and her relationship with her son was tricky, especially when he wrote a book revealing the extent to which her father collaborated with the nazis in France. I found the whole thing excellent but my takeaway feeling about it was melancholy.

To dispel the melancholy, it's time for a re-read of Wodehouse's 'Aunts Aren't Gentlemen'.

I like the idea of reading about nature but I've struggled to find engaging writing. And Robert Macfarlane, in particular, I haven't got on with. I had better results with John Lewis-Stempel.

Try Katherine May. Her books are great.

Thanks for that recommendation @Tortoishellcats, I read 'Wintering' by that author and liked it. Didn't even know there were others. I'll look forward to checking them out.

Tom Cox is great for nature writing. I prefer his non fiction to his fiction. I have just started the new one by Emilia Hart, The Sirens. I loved her first novel (Weyward) hut this one feels a bit predictable...
I have just spent the last of my birthday book tokens on May We Feed The King by Rebecca Perry. Looks good and I broke my no hardbacks rule to get it so I hope it's an engaging read!

Oh and I love Robert MacFarlane but agree about Is A River Alive! I started listening to Naomi Klein's new one about fighting back against billionaires who are just using up our resources without a care after I read an excerpt in the Guardian. Good so far but definitely one to listen to!

I've just finished The Dark Labyrinth, Lawrence Durrell, which fitted my current theme - before that it was Piranesi and Tales of the Greek Heroes. I admired the idea but was constantly aware that this was a male author of the mid-20th century - I have read many that fit that category.

Interesting to see a mention of Lawrence Durrell as I'm thinking of reading his Alexandria Quartet because I keep coming across mentions of him and of Alexandria, so maybe the Universe is leading me there. But it's quite the commitment so I'm resisting for now...

I read 'Newbourne Park' by Jennifer Thorne to mark the start of spooky season. It's Saltburn, with werewolves. A very quick read and tremendous fun!

I'm now reading 'My Battle of Hastings' by Xiaolu Guo. She's a writer of Chinese origin who is living in Hastings and is preoccupied by the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, and is trying to get her head round various aspects of British life. It's sort of frustrating because she's factually wrong about some things (the location of certain places, the relations between places and people - for example, she says that Tsar Nicholas was Kaiser Wilhelm's brother, she announces several times 'everybody thinks' about some marginal point of view) but allows these to form her opinions. But it's interesting to see what she struggles with while attempting to fit in, and these misunderstandings are part of that. And none of us know what we don't know - it's an uncomfortable part of the human condition.

I'm also reading J B Priestley's 'English Journey' which is an interesting counterpoint. Written over 90 years ago, it's interesting to hear what's different and what's the same. It seems like the vibe of the places he visited in 1933 is, for the most part, just the same now as they were then, as far as I can compare with the places I have visited. I do hope that Rusty Lane in West Bromwich is less hellish than it was then though. I'm sure it must be. Maybe we're not going to hell in a handcart after all...

I’m reading The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan. I’ve previously read her Light A Candle Society, and Keeper of Lost Things and they are all really pretty good at keeping you turning the page. Enjoyable lighter books, and a clear love of language.

I've not long finished rereading "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt. I must say I didn't enjoy it as much as first time around - very little actually happens

@LadyBlueberry I've just started rereading Sarah Waters. I've started with "The Little Stranger" and it's absolutely brilliant so far - great for autumn evenings.

Next up might be another Sarah Waters - I didn't really enjoy "Tipping the Velvet" or "Affinity" the first time around. So something else...

I've started If We Were Villains, M L Rio, which is obviously inspired by The Secret History - instead of Greek scholars we have Shakespeare students at an US liberal arts college. It gives a whole extra meaning to being typecast! I'll have to see how I get on ....

Carrere can be quite addictive, for me it’s the way he reveals very intimate aspects of his life with such directness, his vernacular is such a pleasure. I became quite obsessed with his Roman Russe and went to a book signing of his in London. I actually asked him if his mother had forgiven him for revealing his grandfather’s past and he said she’d eventually admitted he’d been right to do it. I was quite the groupie, can you tell? 🤣

I enjoyed Carrere's casual confessional approach, @TheGander. Given that the subject of Kolkhoz was his mother, the actual book about the grandfather is kind of glossed over fairly quickly. Not that it's not clear what happened, but just for a little while, I thought that, somehow, I might have missed a bit.

I read 'The Adversary' years ago and found it to be a great read. True also of 'V13', although it's also devastating. So maybe I'm on my way to being a Carrere groupie too! And I bet he rocks a nonchalant gallic scarf.

I don't want to put you off, @BrandiedAromatics , but lured by the 'Secret History' comparison, I read that last year. I mean, I finished it and everything so it wasn't completely awful, but I've rarely encountered a collecton of such annoying characters.

@pipistrelle Carrere’s willingness to disclose stuff and not be coy about it ( it seemed that back in the day authors would
be enraged by any suggestion that a plot idea was autobiographical, when it obviously was) is a big part of his appeal. Many French persons will have parents/ grandparents etc who collaborated with the Nazi occupation, very few talk about it let alone write about it. I must admit his frankness about sex is also a big part of his appeal for me, although I suspect that in his private life it could be quite dangerous to get close to him.

Just read Tidal Zone by Sarah Moss. V good , part domestic story part history of Coventry and part folk tale.

Next am going to reread Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee that I read at school. The edition i have is from 1974 and the bit in the front says that its a set text for US high school students. A whole 10 yrs before I read it for English literature O level.
It also said that Laurie Lee wrote every day from 10am till 4.30pm without a break .

“Faraday Country box set’ - Chris Keniston

Sorry folks, a bit more lowbrow then most of the suggestions. It’s a series of shortish books, in the Cowboy romance genre, whereby the six Faraday brothers meet their future wives. It’s quite Mills and boons-ish, and some of the stories are a bit same-y, but it’s well written, and heartwarming. Great for light relief.

@Silverbirchleaf It sounds like a literary version of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Minus One!

Funny you should say that, because that is referenced in the book, and the brothers and sister (the seventh sibling) are named alphabetically, starting with Adam. However, the husband wouldn’t allow his wife to use all the seven brothers’ names.