I’ve had a stressful few months, but things are beginning to fall into place and I’m starting to read again. We’ve found a beautiful old house in Worcestershire and now have to wait patiently until we find a buyer for our current property – when I’m sure everything will become manic again!
I’ve not had enough reviews to do a monthly summary for a while, so this collection goes back a few months. Hopefully it will remind you how amazing Home is Burning by Dan Marshall is. It hasn’t received the attention it deserves, but if you like powerful, emotional books that aren’t afraid to be brutally honest then you need to get hold of a copy!
Home is Burning by Dan Marshall 
Death and Mr Pickwick by Stephen Jarvis 
Counting Sheep by Philip Walling
News From Nowhere by William Morris
Neurotribes by Steve Silberman
The Getting of Wisdom by Henry (Ethel) Handel Richardson 
The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge 
The Mountain Shadow by Gregory David Roberts 
Plans for March
I’m not going to make ambitious plans, but I hope to catch up with my reviewing by giving brief thoughts on these books:
Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld
When the Floods Came by Clare Morrall
I then hope to read most of these, some of which I’ve already started:
The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
Stork Mountain by Miroslav Penkov
The Best Thing That Can Happen To A Croissant by Pablo Tusset
I hope that you’ve had a lovely February!
12 replies on “Recent Summary and Plans for March”
Meatspace has been on my list for a while. He’s a funny guy.
Tanya, Yes, his book is very similar in tone to his tweets. If you enjoy his tweets, you’ll love Meatspace 🙂
Wow, new Evie Wyld, and I still haven’t managed to read her first two! I should try to remedy that soon….
Priscilla, This is Evie Wyld’s first graphic novel – very different from her other books and only takes an hour to read – perhaps you should sneak it onto the front of your list so you can say you’ve read her!!
I have yet to read Evie Wyld, but one of her earlier books is on a book group list for April so it’s good to know that if I get the bug there will be a new one to look forward to. The Clare Morrall is also on my list as she is a local author and I like to support her. Don’t forget to let me know when you’ve moved. There is a very nice tea shop in Alcester that I think would be a good meeting place.
Alex, I look forward to seeing what you think of Evie Wyld – I bet it makes a great book group discussion. Tea in Alcester sounds great – I look forward to it!!
Sorry things have been stressful. I hope they continue to get better. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words.
I must get around to reading Clare Morrall’s new book as I thoroughly enjoyed her first three books but haven’t read her since.
That’s great that you’ve found your ideal house – fingers crossed it all works out for you.
I’ve had a manic couple of months too (I have a ridiculous amount of work to get through before mid-April with the children’s book I’m currently illustrating) which has seriously impacted the amount of reading I’m getting through. I’ve only read five novels so far in 2016, with the stand-out being Elizabeth Strout’s beautiful new book ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’, possibly my favourite of hers to date. I also very much enjoyed David Malouf’s 1975 debut novel, ‘Johnno’.
I’ve still been getting through as many short stories as usual as I have time set aside for reading stories first thing in the morning and have in the past couple of months read some wonderful collections by Rohinton Mistry (I’d had ‘Tales From Forozsha Baag’ sitting unread on my shelf for twenty years!), Lily Tuck, Marisa Silver, Suzanne Rivecca and Joyce Carol Oates.
Hope you find time for more reading before everything becomes manic again!
David, I haven’t tried ‘My Name is Lucy Barton’ yet, but I’m sure it will be on the Baileys longlist next week, so I should probably give it a try before then. Glad to hear you enjoyed it so much.
I’m afraid the Morrall isn’t up to her usual standard. Her debut, Astonishing Splashes of Colour’, was the best by a long way. If you have only read her first three then I recommend reading ‘After the Bombing’ over her new one.
Good luck with the final stages of your illustrations!
Moving house! Strikes terror in my heart – particularly the selling part! Our last experience was pretty bruising (19 years ago) and I know we’re going to have to downsize in the next decade. I want a fairy godmother to wave her wand and just move me! Good luck with your move. I bet it will be better than mine.
Evie Wyld … didn’t know she had another out.
Good luck with the sale of your house and on finding a new place. Moving is exciting but,stressful.