What I just finished reading
June marked the beginning of #20booksofsummer so most of the books I’ve been reading lately are from my list.
The most recent read was Mr Mac and Me by Emma Freud, a book I came across because of a recommendation by Susan at mylifeinbooks (at least I think that’s who alerted me to the novel). It features an unusual relationship between the artist Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the young son of a publican in a village on the Suffolk coast.
It’s a touching book about the power of art to forge friendships.
What I’m reading now
I’ve read two novels by Jon McGregor — Reservoir 13 and Lean, Fall, Stand — and both were superb. I’m now halfway through his debut novel If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things which is a quite remarkable narrative about the lives of residents of a quiet London street . We encounter them over the course of a single day, discovering their dreams and hopes for the future, and also their fears.
I’ve just started My Turn To Make The Tea by Monica Dickens about a rookie reporter on a small provincial newspaper. She yearns to handle more demanding stories than village fetes and social events but how can she prove this to her editor? I’m loving the snarky comments about the parochial nature of this newspaper where the editor ignores major stories because they are not on his patch
What I’ll read next
Is it time to get stuck into treachery, jealousy and passion via Cousin Bette by Honoré de Balzac? Or should I embark on my first experience of José Saramango with his tale of landless peasants in Raised From The Ground?
I also have Kindred by Octavia Butler which is the next book club choice, and the classics club spin result has delivered me an author from Barbados. So I’m spoiled for choice. I fully suspect that when the time comes to pick my next read it will be something I haven’t even mentioned here…..
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.
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