I have had a good reading month, completing about fifteen books. Unfortunately I haven’t had much time for review writing and so am a bit behind. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up over the next few weeks, but the good news is that I’ve read a few real gems.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in September

The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks

Absent – Betool Khedairi

The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern

Hen’s Teeth – Manda Scott

The Last Hundred Days  – Patrick McGuinness

Half Blood Blues – Esi Edugyan

Caribou Island – David Vann

Titus Awakes – Maeve Gilmore and Mervyn Peake

 

What else have I been doing?

My eldest son returned to school at the beginning of the month so I spent most of September entertaining my youngest son. I discovered that looking after one child is far harder than two and so I’ve been volunteering to look after other children, just so they entertain each other. We had a lot of fun swimming, walking in the woods and sampling all the local playgrounds, but then last week he went to school for the first time.

So far he has just been doing half days, but he is loving it. On Monday he goes full-time, so I’m looking forward to getting a lot of extra free-time.

 

I was also lucky enough to be invited to attend Vintage Books’ 21st Birthday Party in central London. It was a lovely evening and I saw lots of famous authors (who I was too scared to talk too!). I did get to meet a few of the publishers and I had a very nice chat with Kim from Reading Matters.

Plans for October

I’ll be joining in Amy’s Nigerian Independence Day Reading Project by posting a review of Things Fall Apart.

I’m gathering together as many German books as I can for Lizzy and Caroline’s German Literature Month.

I also plan to read a few of the following books:

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

The Sound of Gravity by Joe Simpson

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott

Villain by Shuichi Yoshida

The Human Bobby by Gabe Rotter

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Galore by Michael Crummey

I hope you have a wonderful October!

August Summary

My August reading has been dominated by the Booker long list. I only have two more left to try and am looking forward to finishing them and writing a brief summary for you. The Booker reading has reduced my overall reading enjoyment for the month, but I’m still pleased I made the effort to try them all – I wouldn’t have discovered the wonderful, A Cupboard Full of Coats, without it.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in August

A Cupboard Full of Coats by Yvvette Edwards 

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah 

The Housekeeper and The Professor – Yoko Ogawa 

The Twin – Gerbrand Bakker 

The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt 

The Proof of Love – Catherine Hall 

The Testament of Jessie Lamb – Jane Rogers 

The Sense of an Ending – Julian Barnes 

Titus Alone – Mervyn Peake 

Two Abandoned Bookers: Derby Day by DJ Taylor and Far to Go by Alison Pick

What else have I been doing?

August has been a very busy month for me. My boys have been off school and so I’ve been entertaining them locally and on a camping trip in Yorkshire.

 

I have also been celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary. My husband and I enjoyed a luxurious few days without the children in Whatley Manor, including the best meal we’ve ever eaten. An expensive treat!

Ayla continues to grow. She now weighs 20kg and is starting to loose her puppy fluff. She can now look handsome as well as cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plans for September

I will be continuing my Gormenghast read-along with the fourth book in the series, Titus Awakes.

I will be trying The Stranger’s Child and The Last Hundred Days, the last two books of the Booker long list and will let you know my thoughts on the rest.

I also hope to finally have the time to finish the wonderful Shantaram. I am loving every word, but it is a long, heavy book and I’ve struggled to find enough time to read it comfortably (ie. not travelling, in the bath etc!)

I also hope to read the following books:

Caribou Island by David Vann

Everything You Know by Zoe Heller

How to Forget by Marcus Brill

Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

The Fat Years by Chan Koonchung

Hen’s Teeth by Manda Scott

My youngest son starts school at the end of September (time flies!) so I’ll have much more free time then. Hopefully this will mean I’ll be able to research a few more interesting topics for you – let me know if there is anything in particular that you’d like me to investigate.

I hope you all have a wonderful September!

 

July has been a slow reading month for me. There were a couple of weeks when I struggled to read anything and I only made my way through Gormenghast because I was hosting the read-along and didn’t want to get behind.

On a positive note, I enjoyed everything I read and am happy to recommend all of these books.

Book of the Month

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Books Reviewed in July

Gormenghast – Mervyn Peake 

The Afterparty – Leo Benedictus 

The Radleys – Matt Haig 

Speed of Dark – Elizabeth Moon 

The Forgotten Waltz – Anne Enright 
 

What else have I been doing?

I didn’t have much time for reading as looking after my new puppy has been exhausting. Things are improving as she gets older, but I’m looking forward to the day when she sleeps all the way through the night. She is now 12 weeks old and has tripled in weight since we got her a month ago. As you can see she is now so big I can barely pick her up.

The school holidays have started and so I am now spending each day entertaining my two boys. We’ve had a lot of fun so far. The highlight being my youngest son’s 4th birthday. We took him to the new Peppa Pig Land at Paulton Park. Here he is enjoying George’s dinosaur ride.

Yesterday I organised a pirate birthday party for him. I think you can tell from their expressions that they enjoyed themselves!

Plans for August

I should have a little bit more time for reading in August, but I don’t expect to get through that many books. I’m planning to try all of the books on the Booker long list, but haven’t had much luck with them so far (I’ve given up on another two in the last few days). I’ve now moved onto The Sisters Brothers and am enjoying it so far. Hopefully I’ve just saved all the best ones until last.

I’m also going to finish the last in the Gormenghast trilogy, Titus Alone. I’ve read about 100 pages so far and am enjoying it, but it isn’t in the same league as the previous books.

I’m sure that will be enough to keep me busy, but I’ll try to throw in the odd non-Booker book to keep a bit of variety.

I hope you have a wonderful Summer!

My June reading has been dominated by Titus Groan, the first book in The Gormenghast Trilogy. It has become one of my all-time favourite books and so I am looking forward to seeing what happens in the rest of the series.

I have also been reading Shantaram and can see that becoming a favourite too. Working through these chunksters means that I don’t have that much time for other books, but I’m not going to apologise – I love it and recommend that you try reading them too!

Book of the Month

 

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Books Reviewed in June

Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake 

Night Waking – Sarah Moss 

Pure – Andrew Miller 

Rendezvous – Esther Verhoef 

A Visit from the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan 

Visitation – Jenny Erpenbeck 

The Possessed – Elif Batuman 

Plans for July

I am looking forward to the Booker long list announcement on 26th July. I’m currently trying to decide which books I think will be selected and I’ll reveal my prediction in a couple of weeks’ time.

Shantaram and the Gormenghast Read-along will continue to dominate my reading this month. The length of these books means that I am being drawn towards shorter, lighter books in the rest of my reading time. I’m going to be very busy looking after my new puppy and my two boys over the Summer holidays and so I’m not going to even think about what other books I might squeeze in this month – I’m just going to see what catches my eye!

Have a wonderful July!

May was a slow month reading-wise. This was mainly caused by reading several average books in a row. I didn’t want to inundate you with negative reviews so will spread them out over the coming weeks. The good news is that my run of unenjoyable books seems to have come to an end – first with the wonderful  Anatomy of a Disappearance and then with Night Waking (review coming soon). I’ll keep my fingers crossed that my June reading will be more to my liking.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in May

Anatomy of a Disappearance – Hisham Matar 

The Illumination – Kevin Brockmeier 

Piercing – Ryu Murakami 

Empire of the Sun – JG Ballard 

Monster Love by Carol Topolski 

The Periodic Table – Primo Levi 

Pigeon English – Stephen Kelman 

The Whisperer – Donato Carrisi 

King of the Badgers – Philip Hensher 

Plans for June

Gormenghast

My Gormenghast read-along starts at the beginning of June and I’m really looking forward to discussing it all with you. I have to admit that I couldn’t wait and read the first 50 pages over the weekend. The first few pages were hard going, but after about 5 pages I was hooked. The imagery is fantastic and it is quickly becoming one of the most atmospheric books I’ve ever read. It isn’t too late to join in. I’m sure your library has a copy – go and grab it and read along with us!

I’m hoping to get several guest posts from Gormenghast fans who have a deeper insight into the book than me – it should be really interesting.

Shantaram

I don’t do a read-along for months and then suddenly two come along at once! I have been wanting to read Shantaram for ages and so couldn’t resist when I saw Aths from Reading on a Rainy Day  and Helen from Helen’s Book Blog were planning to read it.

These two chunksters will occupy the majority of my reading time for the next few months, so I won’t be able to read as many other books as usual. The good news is that I have a backlog of six books that I haven’t reviewed yet so hopefully I’ll be able to continue reviewing books at the same pace as usual.

In between the read-alongs I also hope to read some of these books:

Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
When the Killing’s Done by TC Boyle
The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

Have a wonderful June!