What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
I’m listening to:-
Huda and Me – H Hayek. A surprise find on the abc listen app. A ‘fun’ tale about a couple of migrant children who ‘run away’ to find their parents in Lebanon. Yes, it’s probably classed as a children’s book but that hasn’t stopped the smiles on my face. A big big plus is that the narrator – Jean Bachoura – speaks clearly.
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At the moment I’m reading:-.. – .
well I was until a short while ago – the head and eyes are feeling much better so I’ll be back to it soon (and hopefully reading/commenting on blogs)
The Sleeping and the Dead – Ann Cleeves (2001).
Reprinted or (as mentioned in the foreword) ‘re-launched’ in 2022 to celebrate the author’s milestone anniversary with her publisher.
The Sleeping and the Dead is a tense psychological crime thriller from CWA Gold Dagger award-winning writer, Ann Cleeves. source
* Detective Peter Porteous is called to Cranwell Lake where the body of a teenager has been discovered. After trawling through the missing persons files, he deduces that the corpse is Michael Grey, an enigmatic and secretive young man who was reported missing by his foster parents in 1972.
I often wonder about genre descriptions – described as a psychological crime thriller (explained) I’m eager to find out what it’s all about. To me the first few chapters are just setting the scene, very slowly, a little cozy like, almost Midsummer Murderish but I’m sure they’ll change as pages get turned .
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Tea is so intoxicating – Mary Essex (pen name of Ursula Bloom) 1950
* I shall turn this into a tea-house, with lunches if requested, and shall serve pleasant meals in the orchard,” announced David, “and with my penchant for cooking I ought to make a fortune.
“Oh dear!” said Germayne.
An ‘off the shelf’ library pick purely for its title. Can tea be intoxicating??.
It sounded like fun and so far is just that. I’m not sure it would appeal to a much younger person – set in the early to first half of the 20th century the writing is delicious, so humorous and descriptive with characters, settings and attitudes definitely ‘of that time’. Perhaps not their ‘type’ but people of my parent’s time.
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I recently finished:-
The Bottle Imp – Robert Louis Stevenson (1891)
(This was a suggestion in last month’s comments – Found in the Gutenberg Project’s copy of Island Night’s Entertainments (summaries), short enough at 15,000 words to qualify as a Novella. Did you know there’s a yearly ‘challenge’ Novellas in November for those readers who celebrate short reads?).
An interesting little tale – be careful what you wish for, it might turn out to not be what you want, it could surprise you in many ways!
The Year I met you – Cecilia Ahern (2014)
Jasmine loves two things: her sister and her work. And when her work is taken away she has no idea who she is.
We meet Jasmine – who has been fired and put on ‘gardening leave’. . . still on the company payroll but unable to look for another position for 12 months.
During that time she talks to – in her mind as well as in real life – Heather her sister, Matt her neighbour, Kevin her ‘cousin’, her father, his new wife Leilah and their young daughter Zara as well as Monday (yes that’s his name – he was born on a Monday!) a ‘headhunter’ who approaches her with a job in mind.
There are others she talks to, sharing her thoughts and feelings with – and, oh, does she talk. . . On and on in great long sentences and huge great paragraphs. I almost gave up at one time but did finish – wondering what on earth was that all about🤔😊.
The Midnight Library – Matt Haig (2020)
Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived
Still Waters 