This update comes to you via the brain fog of a winter cold. There is precious little sign of it being “the season to be merry” in the BookerTalk household right now with both of us competing to win the coughing and sniffling heats.
Fortunately for you there are no sound effects to accompany this update on my reading life in November.
It was a good month with two books read for #NovNov.
Cities without Palms by Tarek Eltayer. This one helped me tick of another country in my Adventures in African Literature project. It follows a young man who leaves the Sudan in the hope of finding work that can protect his family from the effects of famine and disease.
Near Distance by Hanna Stoltenberg An interesting study about the gulf in understanding between a mother and daughter.
i also read two books read from my Classics Club, taking my total so far to 19. Only 31 more to go…..
No Highway by Nevil Shute Set in the post war era when passenger air travel began to take off (excuse the pun), Shute uses his expertise in aviation engineering to imagine a terrifying scenario. The safety of a newly launched transatlantic plane is called into question by a man that no one in the British establishment treats seriously. If Mr Honey can’t persuade them his tests are valid, many lives could be lost.
Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (review to follow soonish) was surprisingly entertaining. Surprising because when I read it more than 10 years ago I thought it insubstantial. A series of sketches about some spinsters in a village, following the minutiae of their lives. On further reading though I found it had more to say about the predicament of women in the 19th century who are in precarious financial and social circumstances.
I also caught up with the latest episode in the Louse Penny series featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Quebec Sûreté. The Black Wolf is a follow up to last year’s The Grey Wolf with a plotline that delves into the world of political intrigue. It’s highly improbable unfortunately so will be my last encounter with this series.
By TBR went down fractionally. For the second month in a row I didn’t buy anything new but I did succumb to temptations on the library shelves. Oh well….
Future Plans??
My library reservation of Seascraper by Benjamin Wood has finally materialised. Too late sadly for me to join the readalong as part of #NovNov but I’ll still enjoy it. After that I’m leaning towards The Dream by Emile Zola and the second title in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles. But you all know how fickle I am so I could end up going in an entirely different direction.
We're all friends here. Come and join the conversation