I got my reading mojo back recently and have read a lot in the last few weeks. This is mainly because we still haven’t sold our house, so we’re in a boring limbo which involves lots of cleaning and sitting around whilst people wander around our house. Hopefully someone will buy it soon so that we can move onto the next stage of our lives.
Books of the Month
There were two stand-out books this month:
- It’s All In Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan – a fascinating look at psychological illness.
- A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler – an atmospheric novella that shows how life changes for one man living in the Austrian mountains.
I highly recommend reading both of them!
Books reviewed in March/April
It’s All In Your Head by Suzanne O’Sullivan 
A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave 
Unravelling Oliver by Liz Nugent
The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by Stephen Collins
Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld, Illustrated by Joe Sumner
The Villa Rouge by Maggie Ross
His Whole Life by Elizabeth Hay 
Stork Mountain by Mirislav Penkov
The Best Thing That Can Happen to a Croissant by Pablo Tusset 
When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall
Plans For May
I’m hoping that I’ll continue to read regularly and plan to read/review most of the following books soon:
Walkabout by James Vance Marshall
Long Night of White Chickens by Francisco Goldman
The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan
The War Of The Worlds by HG Wells
Christ’s Entry into Brussels by Dimitri Verhulst
Marching Powder by Rusty Young
The House at the Edge of Night by Catherine Banner
I’ll also pick up a few random books from my shelves. Hopefully I’ll discover a gem or two. Have a wonderful May!
6 replies on “March/April Summary and Plans for May”
Yeah. In a dream world we would like to move, but I just hate moving… So, we will hold that off for the moment. lol I am glad your reading mojo is coming back!
Kailana, I hate moving too! Hopefully I can get it over with quickly! Have a great month!
I bought a copy of the Chris Cleave this morning on the strength of your review, Jackie, and am looking forward to reading it. I’m barely getting through any novels so far this year (if I get through two in a month I’ve done well!) due to a mountain of work leaving me with very little reading time.
The highlights of the past couple of months for me were Stan Barstow’s “A Kind of Loving” and Graham Swift’s “Mothering Sunday”. I also read a couple of Joyce Carol Oates books – “You Must Remember This” is one of her best, but I found “Black Water” very disappointing. Tessa Hadley’s “The Past” I’d have probably enjoyed more if I’d read it over three days instead of three weeks – it was good, but I didn’t love it.
I’m currently reading Barry Hines’s “A Kestrel for a Knave” (I seem to be developing a thing for 1960s Northern working class fiction!) and am thoroughly enjoying it.
Anyway, good luck with finding a buyer soon, and have a great May.
David, I’ll be interested to see what you make of Chris Cleave’s book. It wouldn’t be the first book I’d recommend for you as I suspect it isn’t literary enough for your tastes, but hopefully you’ll enjoy some aspects of it.
I loved ‘Kestrel For A Knave’. I should try some of his other books at some point – I’m a big fan of Northern fiction (old or new) too!
Hope you find some fantastic books to read in May!
I’ve been looking at the Chris Cleave book as it’s being pushed at work but the book jacket didn’t make it sound that interesting to me. However your review has! I will probably pick it up once I can make a dent in the giant pile that is my reading list.
I loved Walkabout. It’s especially good when describing the natural world of Australia, though the author never saw it first hand, I believe.
I also recommend watching the movie after you’ve read the book. It’s wonderful, too, and different enough from the book to bring a different view on the books themes.