Tag: Summary

July was a fun month for me. It was dominated by preparations for my youngest son’s 6th birthday party which we did in our garden and our deck that we just finished using materials from Trex decking so it was all ready for this day. He wanted a Star Wars theme and I went a bit overboard by making Jedi robes and light sabers for all 15 children (+ 2 for me and my husband!). I hadn’t done any sewing for 10 years so it was a steep learning curve, but it was worth the effort as they all had a fantastic time. Here is my husband doing some Jedi training in our garden:

On the book front things were a bit more average. Only Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach really stood out. Its messages about our online relationships were so relevant to modern society and it raised some interesting questions about suicide. I really hope it becomes the best seller that it deserves to be.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in July

Kiss Me First by Lottie Moggach 

The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs 

Mortality by Christopher Hitchens 

Heaven and Hell by Jón Kalman Stefánsson 

Absolution by Patrick Flanery 

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates 

Death of an Ancient King by Laurent Gaudé 

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida 

Did not finish: Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi, The Childhood of Jesus Christ by JM Coetzee, TransAtlantic by Colum McCann

Plans for August

August will follow two distinct themes for me: Bookers and Icelandic fiction. I plan to try as many of the Booker longlist as I can get my hands on, but priority will be given to Icelandic fiction, which I will read almost exclusively during my two week trip around the country. I hope to read most of these books:

Fish Can Sing by Halldor Laxness

The Sorrow of Angels by Jón Kalman Stefánsson

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

Names for the Sea by Sarah Moss

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

The View on the Way Down by Rebecca Wait

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

A Man In Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Blog posting may be sporadic over the next few weeks as I will be spending a lot of time with my boys. We have some fun days out planned, several nights away, and our holiday to Iceland. I’ll try to schedule some posts in advance, but be prepared for a few quiet spells.

I hope you have a wonderful August!

May has been a busy month reading-wise. The slim list below hides the massive number of pages I’ve actually read. I’ve nearly finished  The Noonday Demon, which is 1000 pages long, and both Encounter with Tiber (656 pages) and A Tale for the Time Being (400 pages) were long reads. I plan to continue reading chunksters as I tend to enjoy them more.

Book of the Month

 This piece of science fiction felt extremely realistic. It combined Buzz Aldrin’s experiences in space with his knowledge of shuttle technology to produce a compelling insight into the future, showing what might happen if humans came into contact with alien life. It isn’t perfect, but the ideas will stay with me for a long time. 

Books reviewed in May:

Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes 

The Son by Michel Rostain 

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki 

The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima 

The Engagement by Chloe Hooper 

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen 

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra 

Did not finish: Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley, Ferney by James Long, Intrusion by Ken Macleod

Plans for June

I have no firm plans, but hope to read most of these books: 

The Dinner by Herman Koch

The Blue Fox by Sjón

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner

Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston

My Notorious Life by Madame X by Kate Manning

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

A Man In Love by Karl Ove Knausgaard

We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer

Death of an Ancient King by Laurent Gaudé

Have you read any of these? Which did you enjoy most?

Have a wonderful June!

April has been a month of two halves for me. I read some amazing books (including two five star reads that I’ll tell you about soon), but I also abandoned a greater number than usual. I think the outstanding books helped to make everything else seem poor in comparison. The number of abandoned books also accounts for the low number of reviews this month. Hopefully I’ll complete more books in May.

Book of the Month

At the beginning of the month I gave Honour by Elif Shafak 4.5 stars. I loved reading it, but I have to admit that it hasn’t had the lasting impact I expected it to. For this reason Magda becomes my book of the month. It isn’t a happy read, but I loved its power and encourage you to try it if you like darker reads.

Reviews posted in April:

Magda by Meike Ziervogel 

Honour by Elif Shafak 

The Merry-Go-Round in the Sea by Randolph Stow 

Soufflé by Asli Perker 

Moondust by Andrew Smith 

First Novel by Nicholas Royle 

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver 

DNF: Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner, Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, Marks of Identity by Juan Goytisolo, The People of Forever are Not Afraid by Shani Boianjiu, How Should a Person Be? by Sheila Heti and The Innocents by Francesca Segal

Plans for May

I’m in the unusual position of having no plans for May. I plan to read randomly from my shelves, but the books calling to me at the moment include:

The Uninvited by Liz Jensen
The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon
The Son by Michel Rostain
Encounter with Tiber by Buzz Aldrin
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
The Dinner by Herman Koch

I hope you have a great month!