Thanks to everyone who voted in my June Lucky Dip poll. The voting was heavily in favour of Our Souls At Night by Kent Haruf so this has now been added to my “to read” queue.

But now it’s time for another poll. Don’t these months roll around quickly????

From the TBR Book Jar this month I’ve randomly picked out

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

So many bloggers recommended this to me after I described how much I enjoyed A Gentleman in Moscow. Rules of Civility is Towles’s first novel in which he captures the spirit of New York society in the late 1930s. It seems to have elements of a rags to riches story though what really attracted me to the book was its Jazz Age setting. I’ve only recently read Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson which brings to life the clubs and nightlife of London’s Soho district so it might be fun to compare both books.

Elmet by Fiona Mozley

This debut novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2017, is a short novel about a family living on the outskirts of society. Brother and sister Daniel and Cathy live with their father (a famed bare-knuckle boxer) in a house they built with their bare hands near a railway line. Their self-sufficiency is threatened by people from nearby communities who view the family as a threat.

The World That Was Ours by Hilda Bernstein

Bernstein and her husband were campaigners against apartheid in 1960s South Africa. Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein was charged with sabotage along with Nelson Mandela and fifteen other leaders of the African National Congress in 1963 — he was one only two people to be acquitted. Fearing for their lives, they escaped the country, a journey that was hugely risky and with no guarantee of success. This memoir gives a personal account of life in South Africa and its inequalities.

And the vote goes to …….

Which of these three books I read is going to be up to you! Cast your vote for one of these three books in this poll

14 responses to “TBR Book Jar Lucky Dip — July 2024”

  1. What a great way to choose books! 😀

    1. It really works for me – stops me spending hours dithering about what to read next

  2. RULES OF CIVILITY is the only one of the three I’ve read. It’s a good novel–but A Gentleman in Moscow is a brilliant novel. Still, I think you’ll enjoy it.

    1. It will have to wait until another day Kim – I got a Japanese novella instead

  3. Oooh! I (selfishly) vote for Rules Of Civility, because I’ve had that on my shelf for YEARS and haven’t picked it up yet and I want some motivation to do so 😅

    1. Strange how some books just linger on the shelves

  4. I’ve gone for Rules of Civility, not particularly memorable but a very pleasant piece of escapism.

    1. So many people have recommended it to me I thought it would be more than just escapism

  5. I didn’t know there was a sequel.

  6. What?! Only one vote for Elmet???!!
    Rules of Civility is fun, but Elmet will steal your heart.

    1. Have you voted yet? Elmet is up to two now

  7. Teresa Chatterton Avatar
    Teresa Chatterton

    Rules of Civility is fantastic! But haven’t read the other two. Enjoy whichever is chosen for you.

  8. Well, I’ve read the first two, quite a long time ago, and remember neither very much. So I’ll go for the Hilda Bernstein.

  9. I really enjoyed Rules of Civility so much that I rushed out to my local Indie book shop and purchased his latest Table for Two to follow Evelyn’s story. I am hoping to get to this soon from my ever growing TBR.

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