May was the month in which I decided to part company with Angela Thirkell and her Barsetshire Chronicles series. I know she’s much loved by readers for her humorous depiction of English village life between the wars. But they’re not to my taste.

There are thirty books in this series.I read the first one — High Rising — ten years ago and thought then, that would be my first and last. While browsing my bookshelves earlier this month I discovered I had two more by her. So I gave them a go, thinking that maybe the passage of time would have softened my reaction.

It was not to be. Pomfret Towers (Book 6) and Growing Up (Book 12) were just as irritating as the first book. I wanted wit and what I got was a light, frothy comedy. Both books have now gone to a charity bookshop.

I fared much better with Against the Loveless World by Susan Abulhawa. It’s a fictional account of a Palestinian woman held in solitary confinement in an Israeli prison as a terrorist. She recalls her dreams of falling in love, raising children, and possibly opening her own beauty salon. Instead world events make her a nomad and then an activist.

It’s a thought-provoking novel, particularly in the context of the current conflict in the Middle East.

Much lighter fare came in the form of The Maid by Nita Prose. The plot — where a naive maid in a leading hotel solves the mystery about a wealthy guest found dead in his suite — is far fetched . The characterisation of the maid however, made this a lot more readable.

The Year of Living Less by Cait Flanders

The early sections were interesting but the book became too much of an autobiography and less about how to reduce consumption.

Future Plans??

I’m off on a road trip around Eire in a few days which should give me a chance to read more than I manage to do at home.

I’m taking Quartet by Jean Rhys (my Classics Club spin book); Communion by Jon Doyle (my recent TBR Book jar pick) and East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

If I get through all of those I can fall back on the 50 or so books in the Kindle app on my iPad. And if none of those suit my mood, rumour has it they have a few bookshops in Eire……