What I just finished reading
I’ve had a run of crime fiction lately with She Who Was No More by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac for the 1954 Club followed by Pesticide, by Kim Hays, the first title in a police procedural series set in Switzerland.
What I’m reading now
It’s Zola Addiction Month hosted by Fanda@ClassicLit which has given me a much-needed nudge to return to Zola’s Rougon-Macquet series. I’ve been reading these off and on for about 20 years but haven’t got even half way through yet.
Son Excellence Eugène Rougon is the sixth book to be published in this series though the recommended reading order puts it in second place. If this had been my first experience of Zola I’m not sure I’d be in a great hurry to read much more of his work. The writing is as good as ever, aided by superb translation by Brian Nelson. But the focus on the political world made it a bit harder to get into initially.
My other current read is a complete contrast. Mrs England by Stacy Halls follows a children’s nurse who takes a job looking after the offspring of a Yorkshire mill owner and his wife. The longer she stays with the family, the more evident it becomes that something is not right about Mrs England and the relationship with her husband. There are elements of the Gothic in this story which touches on issues of control and power within a marriage. It’s an entertaining read.
What I’ll read next
One book that will definitely be on my reading list in May is Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. This was selected as our next book club read just a couple of days before it was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. I’m hoping it will be a significant improvement on this month’s book — The Drowned City by K J Maitland — which I had to abandon because it was stuffed with unnecessary historical information and overloaded with adjectives.
Other books in contention to be read soon are Devotion by Hannah Kent, a copy of which I collected from the library today, and The Promise by Damon Galmut, winner of the Booker Award in 2021.
That’s about the extent of my “plans” for the next few weeks.
Now tell me, What are your reading plans
What I’m reading is in support of WWW Wednesday hosted by Sam at Taking On a World of Words. WWW Wednesday is actually a weekly meme but I choose to do it just once a month.