I have just managed to get La Grande Illusion Michel Barnier's secret diary of Brexit. It is honest and fascinating and I still can't decide whether I have buyer's remorse over it all or whether it was going to happen anyway. A dictionary is recommended if, like me, you are relying on schoolboy French. If not, the English language version is due in September.
My English teacher in second year of secondary school had known Josephine Tey personally, and enthused over her books. This somehow gave me the impression that her chief literary attribute had been to have been a friend of Miss G. Even Daughter of Time didn't convince me that her books were worth reading.
I have just read Brat Farrar on my brother's recommendation and enjoyed it immensely. My brother has several of her books, and I'm looking forward to working my way through them.
My brother had a different English teacher. As is the way with siblings, I think that it's "not fair" that he didn't have to plough through Tey at school, and he thinks that it's "not fair" that I got to be two degrees of separation from Tey.
Feeling very bleary today because I sat up late last night to finish Snuff, by Terry Pratchett. It's the one with the goblins, and the discussions over whether they count as another sentient Discworld species or are vermin. Commander Vimes is investigating a murder of one of the goblins, and uncovering something darker. There's also an exciting riverboat chase.
I'm halfway through The Timeless Land by Eleanor Dark. Originally published in 1941, it is an early attempt to tell the experience of the first European settlement in Australia from both white (British) and black (aboriginal) perspectives. Though a novel , it is based on extensive research, drawing on the white's journals and diaries, tales told to the whites by the few the first Aboriginals to be taken into the settlement, notably Bennelong, and early anthropological research. (For those unfamiliar with Australian history, I should say that this first settlement was in 1788, and as a jail far away from England.) The book is lengthy but readable.
As lighter reading while I work my way through The Timeless Land, I have read a quirky Korean novel (in translation), picked up as a random selection from our local public library: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun. It is comparatively short but captivating, and well described by the blurb as "dark comedy" and "surreal satire".
James Rebanks - English Pastorale. Beautifully and touchingly written about a farmer in the Lake District. It opened my eyes up to a new world. I love his writing!
I seem to have omitted to say that I've also recently read Matt Haig's "The Midnight Library" which was an enjoyable, quick, easy read with a few quite thought-provoking moments.
I'm still working my way through "Not In God's Name" and have just finished Jonathan Sacks' exposition on the story of Joseph which has given me a lot to think about.
I seem to have omitted to say that I've also recently read Matt Haig's "The Midnight Library" which was an enjoyable, quick, easy read with a few quite thought-provoking moments.
Oh yes, I’d like to read that.
Currently treating myself to a Catherine Fox reread. Just finished Acts and Omissions, can’t decide whether to continue to Unseen Things Above directly, or pause with something completely different first. Hmmm…
I've recently read Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt written about his time as a junior doctor in the NHS, definitely worth reading for its insights into how tough the job, written to highlight how little doctors are in it for the money when Jeremy Hunt was saying such stuff. Also laugh out loud funny in places.
Having finished with the final pagans (and the days when the ultimate in youthful rebellion was becoming a bishop), I've moved on to the Regency, Time Traveller's Guide To.
I've recently read Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt written about his time as a junior doctor in the NHS, definitely worth reading for its insights into how tough the job, written to highlight how little doctors are in it for the money when Jeremy Hunt was saying such stuff. Also laugh out loud funny in places.
I’ve not read the book, but MrJt9 and I were given tickets to his stage show based on it, back in the day when one could go to the theatre. It was very funny, and very moving. There’s one particularly traumatic story, which luckily I knew about in advance, so I was braced, or I think I’d have been sobbing.
The book after that is going to be My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing. I don't like thrillers, and this one looks gruesome, so it's going to be a challenge. I'm determined to do it, though.
We discussed My Lovely Wife in our book group this week and two of us hated it (one of them being me) and the three others found it intriguing so the discussion lasted a bit longer than I anticipated. Our next book is A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier which I've started and am enjoying so far.
Having concluded the Regency (you really want to stay out of the madhouses and the criminal justice system), I think a little light murder. I see top of the waiting pile is Ronald Knox The Footsteps at the Lock first pub. 1928.
Next library book read is Val McDermid's A Place of Execution, which is a standalone novel, set in the Peak District, in 1963, just after the first children, Pauline Reade and John Kilbride, disappeared, taken by the Moors Murderers (Myra Hindley and Ian Brady), as we know now. The third child, Keith Bennet, is snatched in June 1964 as part of the backdrop of the story. At this time murderers were still hung, capital punishment for murder not ending until 1965.
It's told as a journalist trying to write the story of another child disappearance by interviewing the policeman in charge of the case and others, 35 years later, in 1998. Lots of historical details of what it was like in the early 1960s, both in England and in the Peak District, which rang true.
There's a huge twist in this story, so I won't spoil it, but it had me reading it to 4am as I hit the twist, and I'm still pondering the denouement.
In unpacking my books after moving house I discovered that at sometime I had bought but never read Barbara Euphan Todd’s only adult novel “Miss Ranskill Comes Home”. It was republished this century by Persephone Books (no. 46). Thoroughly and highly recommended. The core premis is maybe a bit way out: Miss Ranskill has been literally marooned on a desert island for four years and returns to find herself in the middle of WW2. But it is funny and touching and makes you think about various things in a new way - or it did me.
I am reading, "The Passions of Ann Hutchinson," by Marilyn J. Westerkamp. Hutchinson was an extraordinary woman who arrived in Massachusetts in the early 1600s.
She became a leader among women, even delivering her own sermons. Not surprisingly the male powers that be found her outlandish, and she was banished as a heretic. It is giving me a new view of the Puritan society by her presence and disruption of the status quo.
I've recently read Adam Kay's This is Going to Hurt written about his time as a junior doctor in the NHS, definitely worth reading for its insights into how tough the job, written to highlight how little doctors are in it for the money when Jeremy Hunt was saying such stuff. Also laugh out loud funny in places.
I have a copy of this sitting on my shelf and really must get round to reading it. If you like thoughtful books on being a doctor then I really recommend Atul Gawande’s Complications, which discusses decision making and uncertainty. Very thoughtful reading though some of the issues can be sensitive. I was introduced to his writing via his book on dying, Being Mortal, which we refer to on one of the modules I teach.
I have just started reading Alexander Rose’s Kings of the North, about the Percy family in the medieval period. I saw it mentioned on a forum and was immediately attracted to reading an English history from a northern perspective. Percy is a name that crops up a lot in medieval and Tudor writings so I am keen to learn more about them.
I've nearly finished The Building of Jalna by Mazo de la Roche which I've been lent by a friend who thought I would enjoy it. First published in 1943 it's very much a novel of its time (read: old fashioned); it's the first of a long series of books about a family emigrating from the UK and setting up a new life in Canada and, I suspect, founding a family dynasty. I'm interested enough in the irritating characters to want to finish it but I won't be going out of my way to read any of the others.
I'm also rereading The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit, before revisiting The Story of the Amulet for the Ship's book group.
Just catching up with this thread. I was chatting to someone last week who mentioned her son wrote books. Turned out she was Matt Haig’s mum. She seemed rather surprised I’d heard of him, let alone read quite a few of his books. I enjoyed The Midnight Library. that @Nenya mentioned a while back, and which I read recently a lot.
I’m reading a Freeman Wills Croft. Enjoying working out who did it, but the characterisation is more or less non-exsistant.
When I first worked in a public library in the early 1970s we had loads of Mazo de la Roche in dull pink covers. They didn’t go out even then, and I was never tempted to pick one up.
Good heavens, haven’t heard of the Jalna books in 50+ years. Read Young Renny in 1964( in a bookshelf at home) & found the rest at the local library. A fascinating read for a 12-13 year old; wonder how I’s find them now that I’m not far off 70 in a much less parochial and conservative world.
I've ordered a copy of The Story of the Amulet from my favourite online bookshop and it's on backorder so I'm hoping it's going to arrive in time for an August reread - otherwise I'll be winging it on my memories and my rereads of the first two Psammead books. I could try the local library.
I had an inexplicable urge yesterday evening to start a reread of Philippa Gregory's Earthly Joys so I'm doing that alongside The Silk Road and The Phoenix and the Carpet.
I have it and have reread it. I had all three books in childhood in paperback but if I recall correctly my copy of the Amulet fell apart and was stuck together with sellotape and therefore ditched at some point.
It was the best of the 3; no wonder it wore out. My 1961 (paperback) copy was still around 35 years later. A bit sad that daughters( then 12 & 10) did not enjoy it. I still think of the headline “ Impertinent Miracle at British Museum” and someone asking Cyril whether the Queen of Babylon was Mrs Besant. Back in 1961 I had to look up Mrs Besant in the Britannica….
In an odd synchronicity - not planned - I have just finished "The Road Less Travelled" by Scott Peck (very good), nad next is a re-read of "Zen and the art of Motorcycle Maintenance" - which is also about a road being travelled, and also about growth - spiritual and personal.
Just finished How to Give up Plastic, by Will McCullum. It’s good - practical, positive, and straightforward. There’s no way I’ll be able to give up plastic altogether, but it’s encouraged me that I’m on the right lines in some of the things I’m already doing.
Now onto Unseen Things Above, as part of the great Catherine Fox re-read. Still want to be Gene, the Dean’s husband. I’d forgotten that Jonny Whittaker reappears in this one, I wonder if I’ll find him as irritating this time round…
Just finished Call Me Indian by Fred Sasakamoose. He chronicles his life from Residential school to the National Hockey League and beyond. For fans of the Vinyl Cafe, his collaborator was Meg Masters.
Now onto Unseen Things Above, as part of the great Catherine Fox re-read. Still want to be Gene, the Dean’s husband. I’d forgotten that Jonny Whittaker reappears in this one, I wonder if I’ll find him as irritating this time round…
The Johnny Whittaker reappearance was such a mystery to me because I read the Catherine Fox books out of order (Lindchester trilogy first, then went back and read her earlier books). In Unseen Things Above I was completely mystified by the brief appearance of this unnamed character who was only in it for (I think) one scene, yet whose presence in the story seemed so freighted with significance. It only made sense when I went back and read the earlier books and realized he was a call-back to that first trilogy.
I just finished The President's Daughter by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. It was a thrilling read, and quite the page turner. Some time last year I read The President is Missing by the same authors and really enjoyed the action and (what may be) inside information about the White House. The newer book was on my to read list, but Daughter-Unit read it and commanded me to "read it. Read it now!!!" So I did!
This was a well written story in my opinion. It gave me all the feels: anger at a few people, admiration for some others, and frustration and shock in quite a few places. There are a couple of scenes that are (to me) very distressing. In spite of the distress, I'm very glad I read it.
Now onto Unseen Things Above, as part of the great Catherine Fox re-read. Still want to be Gene, the Dean’s husband. I’d forgotten that Jonny Whittaker reappears in this one, I wonder if I’ll find him as irritating this time round…
The Johnny Whittaker reappearance was such a mystery to me because I read the Catherine Fox books out of order (Lindchester trilogy first, then went back and read her earlier books). In Unseen Things Above I was completely mystified by the brief appearance of this unnamed character who was only in it for (I think) one scene, yet whose presence in the story seemed so freighted with significance. It only made sense when I went back and read the earlier books and realized he was a call-back to that first trilogy.
Yes, I think I must have done likewise - read the Lindchester books first and then gone back to the others. I remember finding Whittaker a bit irritating in Unseen Things Above, and then I read the early books and found him really annoying.
Our next book is A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier which I've started and am enjoying so far.
We discussed this at book group last night and had all enjoyed it (pretty unheard of for our lot, there's usually a dissenter or two, or a Did Not Read). It was, incidentally, a lovely evening in the garden of one of the group who loves to entertain and the rest of us are delighted to oblige - much food was eaten, wine drunk, coffee and chocolates consumed.
Our next book is Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities which is, I think, one of the few of his that I haven't read so I'm looking forward to that. In his daily online Morning Prayer From Canterbury Cathedral the dean of Canterbury Cathedral was talking about the book only the other day (it was, apparently, first published on a day in July) and saying it's his favourite Dickens.
I've just finished James McBride's Deacon King Kong, about low level crime, drugs and mostly good people in the Brooklyn housing projects. He is a gripping writer and you can hear his characters speak, but we had differing reactions to it. My wife thought it was relaxing, easy to read and often funny. It is surely funny in places, but I found it emotionally draining and was exhausted when I finished it. Now I have to read more by him.
Comments
I have just read Brat Farrar on my brother's recommendation and enjoyed it immensely. My brother has several of her books, and I'm looking forward to working my way through them.
My brother had a different English teacher. As is the way with siblings, I think that it's "not fair" that he didn't have to plough through Tey at school, and he thinks that it's "not fair" that I got to be two degrees of separation from Tey.
As lighter reading while I work my way through The Timeless Land, I have read a quirky Korean novel (in translation), picked up as a random selection from our local public library: The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun. It is comparatively short but captivating, and well described by the blurb as "dark comedy" and "surreal satire".
An award winning book by John Major.
I'm still working my way through "Not In God's Name" and have just finished Jonathan Sacks' exposition on the story of Joseph which has given me a lot to think about.
Oh yes, I’d like to read that.
Currently treating myself to a Catherine Fox reread. Just finished Acts and Omissions, can’t decide whether to continue to Unseen Things Above directly, or pause with something completely different first. Hmmm…
I’ve not read the book, but MrJt9 and I were given tickets to his stage show based on it, back in the day when one could go to the theatre. It was very funny, and very moving. There’s one particularly traumatic story, which luckily I knew about in advance, so I was braced, or I think I’d have been sobbing.
It's told as a journalist trying to write the story of another child disappearance by interviewing the policeman in charge of the case and others, 35 years later, in 1998. Lots of historical details of what it was like in the early 1960s, both in England and in the Peak District, which rang true.
There's a huge twist in this story, so I won't spoil it, but it had me reading it to 4am as I hit the twist, and I'm still pondering the denouement.
She became a leader among women, even delivering her own sermons. Not surprisingly the male powers that be found her outlandish, and she was banished as a heretic. It is giving me a new view of the Puritan society by her presence and disruption of the status quo.
I have just started reading Alexander Rose’s Kings of the North, about the Percy family in the medieval period. I saw it mentioned on a forum and was immediately attracted to reading an English history from a northern perspective. Percy is a name that crops up a lot in medieval and Tudor writings so I am keen to learn more about them.
I'm also rereading The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit, before revisiting The Story of the Amulet for the Ship's book group.
I’m reading a Freeman Wills Croft. Enjoying working out who did it, but the characterisation is more or less non-exsistant.
When I first worked in a public library in the early 1970s we had loads of Mazo de la Roche in dull pink covers. They didn’t go out even then, and I was never tempted to pick one up.
I had an inexplicable urge yesterday evening to start a reread of Philippa Gregory's Earthly Joys so I'm doing that alongside The Silk Road and The Phoenix and the Carpet.
I have it and have reread it. I had all three books in childhood in paperback but if I recall correctly my copy of the Amulet fell apart and was stuck together with sellotape and therefore ditched at some point.
Now onto Unseen Things Above, as part of the great Catherine Fox re-read. Still want to be Gene, the Dean’s husband. I’d forgotten that Jonny Whittaker reappears in this one, I wonder if I’ll find him as irritating this time round…
The Johnny Whittaker reappearance was such a mystery to me because I read the Catherine Fox books out of order (Lindchester trilogy first, then went back and read her earlier books). In Unseen Things Above I was completely mystified by the brief appearance of this unnamed character who was only in it for (I think) one scene, yet whose presence in the story seemed so freighted with significance. It only made sense when I went back and read the earlier books and realized he was a call-back to that first trilogy.
This was a well written story in my opinion. It gave me all the feels: anger at a few people, admiration for some others, and frustration and shock in quite a few places. There are a couple of scenes that are (to me) very distressing. In spite of the distress, I'm very glad I read it.
Yes, I think I must have done likewise - read the Lindchester books first and then gone back to the others. I remember finding Whittaker a bit irritating in Unseen Things Above, and then I read the early books and found him really annoying.
Our next book is Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities which is, I think, one of the few of his that I haven't read so I'm looking forward to that. In his daily online Morning Prayer From Canterbury Cathedral the dean of Canterbury Cathedral was talking about the book only the other day (it was, apparently, first published on a day in July) and saying it's his favourite Dickens.