Elkiedee Tries Again - Reads, Reviews and Rants for 2021

I'm Luci. I come from Leeds in the North of England originally but have lived in exile in and around Tottenham, North London for nearly half my life now.

I live with my partner and two sons, now 13 and 11 (nearly 12! Gulp!) and the house is literally overflowing with books. No, I've not read all of them yet. Yes, I might reread some of them again. What about it? What are walls for if not attaching shelves to them. What are shelves for?

I used to list my reading and write mini reviews, I still record it on Librarything but haven't had a thread here for a few years. I may or may not update this one but I'm just posting here so I can come back and post if I feel like it.

Welcome back!

Lovely surprise to see you making a thread, Luci.

We have plenty in common - West Yorkshire heritage and a house over flowing with books.

Welcome back! I hope to do more in 2021 too. Maybe we'll both be more present in this group in the coming year.

Welcome back! Happy 2021 reading!

Hi, I have been on and off LT this year, but as usual hope to be on more next year. Hence, I star your thread with high hopes of many future visits!

Best wishes for a better 2021!

I hope you will - come back - I see the many books you add as Want To Read on Goodreads and wonder what you have thought of them.

Hoping you do come back - you always have interesting things to say. I have enjoyed reading your comments around the threads, and you have actually hit me with a few book bullets this year ( on Charlotte's thread).

Happy New year Luci, good to see you about.

>8 CDVicarage: Most of them are probably still Want to Read, Kerry - only read 46 books this year! Most of those I did get to were quite good.

I always read less at the times when other people probably manage to read more, and that's certainly been the case this year.

Happy reading in 2021, Luci!

And keep up with my friends here, Luci. Have a great 2021.

Happy New Year Luci!

Happy New Year Luci.

Welcome back! Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, bookish 2021.

happy New Year, Luci. We have so many books in common! Now if I could only read them all...

Don't disappear on me, Luci, after raising my spirits by your new year thread.

Have a lovely weekend.

See you are at the readathon with 8 books on the go. We West Yorkshire exiles are all the same.

Also noticed that you are reading The Nickel Boys. Just finished it and I hope it hits the spot with you as much as it did for me.

Yes, I've only just started it so it will take a while to finish properly though.

Books finished in 2021 - Part 1

1. 14.01.21 Flannery O'Connor, Complete Stories 4.0
2. 15.01.21 Emylia Hall, The Thousand Lights Hotel 4.1
3. 20.01.21 Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 3.6
4. 24.01.21 Babita Sharma, The Corner Shop 4.2
5. 25.01.21 Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip 4.2
6. 01.02.21 Lindsey Davis, Poseidon's Gold 4.2
7. 03.02.21 Lara Feigel The Bitter Taste of Victory 3.8
8. 12.02.21 Sita Brahmachari, Tender Earth 4.1
9. 15.02.21 Elly Griffiths, The Night Hawks 4.0
10. 19.02.21 Penelope Lively, Pack of Cards 3.6
11. 20.02.21 Jane Smiley, Golden Age 4.1
12. 21.02.21 Laura McVeigh, Under the Almond Tree 4.2
13. 22.02,21 Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys 4.5
14. 26.02.21 Rachel Hore, A Beautiful Spy 3.9
15. 26.02.21 Kerry Hudson, Lowborn: Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns 4.2

Current reading as of 25.01.21

Lindsey Davis, Poseidon's Gold
Lara Feigel The Bitter Taste of Victory
Sita Brahmachari, Tender Earth
Penelope Lively, Pack of Cards
Laura McVeigh, Under the Almond Tree
Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys
Jane Smiley, Golden Age
Beth O'Leary, The Road Trip

Books finished in 2021 - Part 2

16. 27.02.21 Lissa Evans, V for Victory 4.2
17. 01.03.21 Dorothy Whipple, Young Anne 4.2
18. 01.03.21 Sydney Taylor, All-of-a-Kind-Family Downtown 4.1
19. 04.03.21 Anne Enright, Yesterday's Weather 3.8
20. 09.03.21 Anthony Quinn, London, Burning 4.1
21. 09.03.21 Peter Lovesey, The Tooth Tattoo 4.0
22 10.03.21 Ellen Wiles, The Invisible Crowd 4.0
23. 12.03.21 Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half 4.6
24. 16.03.21 Susanna Jones, The Missing Person's Guide to Love 3.4
25. 16.03.21 Anne Tyler, Clock Dance 4.1
26. 20.03.21 Cathy Cassidy, Looking Glass Girl 3.9
27. 21.03.21 Rachel Holmes, Eleanor Marx: A Life 4.9
28. 25.03.31 Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Daughters of Night 4.2
29. 26.03.31 Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein 4.2
30. 26.03.31 Amy Hempel, The Dog of the Marriage 4.1

Nice to see you post, Luci.

>19 PaulCranswick: and >23 elkiedee: Thanks Paul! Not much of a post, but it's been good to get back to some good reading. I found The NIckel Boys very powerful, particularly as there's every reason to think that the experiences of the fictional characters were based on reality, and that's just what has been told/found out. What about the kids who didn't get to tell anyone their stories.

>25 elkiedee: Even though it was a powerful work of fiction, Luci, it did also shine a light on several terrible issues - how the system failed young black suspects and the abusive reform school programmes.

Current reading as of 8 March 2021

Anthony Quinn, London, Burning
Peter Lovesey, The Tooth Tattoo
Ellen Wiles, The Invisible Crowd
Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half
Anne Tyler, Clock Dance
Rachel Holmes, Eleanor Marx: A Life
Susanna Jones, The Missing Person's Guide to Love
Cathy Cassidy, Looking Glass Girl
Amy Hempel, The Dog of the Marriage

The Women's Prize longlist is due to be announced later today. I like this one because it seems to have library service recognition so getting longlisted or shortlisted makes it more likely that libraries will buy books, as happens for the Booker Prize.

When I look at older Booker Prize long and shortlists it's amazing how white those lists are compared to what they've become.

Am fiddling around to get touchstones to work better.

Nicked from Charlotte (Charl08)'a thread, now on another LT group, an award I dn't heard of before for books by BAME writers who live in the UK.

Jhalak Prize Longlist
https://www.jhalakprize.com/the-prize

Have you read any of these? Any on your radar?

Romalyn Ante, Antiemetic for Homesickness (Chatto & Windus)

Catherine Cho, Inferno: A Memoir (Bloomsbury Circus)

Afshan D’Souza-Lodhi, re: desire (Burning Eye Books)

Caleb Femi, Poor (Penguin)

Kiran Millwood Hargrave, The Mercies (Picador) *

Tammye Huf, A More Perfect Union (Myriad Editions)

Rachel Long, My Darling From the Lions (Picador)

Deirdre Mask, The Address Book (Profile Books) **

Katy Massey, Are We Home Yet? (jacaranda)

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, The First Woman (Oneworld Publications) *

Paul Mendez, Rainbow Milk (Dialogue Books) **

Stephanie Scott, What’s Left of Me Is Yours (W&N)

* Bought on Kindle, to read
** Have Netgalley earc, to read

The prize started in 2017, and previous shortlisted books have included several that I have read, including books by Gary Younge and Aminatta Forna, and more that I have bought or acquired.

Last year, 2020, there is lalso a Children and Young Adults' prize list, which I'm definitely going to look at both for books I want to read and for present ideas.

My parents split up around the time I was born and went on to have children from their second marriages so I have a brother and sister with the same dad, and a brother and sister with the same mum. My stepmother is Chinese. My sister with the same mum is married to a man whose dad was Nigerian, mum is white Canadian. And although my partner and I are white and born in England, I'm really keen for varied reading ideas for my own kids too.

So, here's this year's list:

Atinuke & Onyinye Iwu, Too Small Tola (Walker Books)

Nii Ayikwei Parkes & Avril Filomeno, The GA Picture Alphabet (Kane Series)

Nizrana Farook - The Girl Who Stole an Elephant (Nosy Crow Ltd)

Kereen Getten - When Life Gives You Mangoes (Pushkin Children's Books)

Emma Hill, Baby Girl (self-published)

Danielle Jawondo - And the Stars Were Burning Brightly (Simon & Schuster)

Catherine Johnson, Queen of Freedom (Pushkin Children's Books)

Hiba Noor Khan & Laura Chamberlain - The Little War Cat (Macmillan Children's Books)

Patrice Lawrence, Eight Pieces of Silva (Hodder Children's Books)

Bali Rai, Mohinder’s War (Bloomsbury Education)

Margaret Sturton, A Fox Called Herbert (Andersen Press)

Alex Wheatle, Cane Warriors (Andersen Press)

Really glad to find your thread!

I'm looking forward to the women's prize announcement. Always interesting new books.

The Women's Prize longlist is out! Just found an email - so here it is:

This year's Chair is Bernardine Evaristo

Because of You by Dawn French

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

Consent by Annabel Lyon

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones **

Luster by Raven Leilani

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke *

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers *

Summer by Ali Smith

The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig * ** READ December 2020 4.5*

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett * CURRENTLY READING March 2021

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller **

* Kindle purchase
** Netgalley

I enjoyed The Golden Rule very much (Netgalley and then Kindle Daily Deal purchase) and am currently finding The Vanishing Half (Kindle offer) quite compelling.

Wonky touchstones seem to be a bit better. I think I've got them for my 22 books read so far this year, current reading and many of the prize longlist books.

>33 elkiedee: That is a strange list, Luci.

Dawn French, really?

I think I was once sent a copy of one of Dawn French's Oh Dear Silvia to read as part of a process for selecting a list for the Melissa Nathan awards for romantic comedy. It was ok. It probably wouldn't have been my choice as a prize winner, even for chick/hen lit, but the Women's Prize has generally been more mixed on the highbrow/lowbrow scale.

I do quite like Dawn French and have some of her other books for Kindle. If Because of You comes up on offer at some point I might well get it, but I imagine I'll prioritise reading some of the others first.

>36 elkiedee: Oh I like her on TV, Luci, but I am not sure how wonderful a novelist is the Vicar of Dibley?

Current reading on Monday 15 March at 9.30 pm

Laura Shepherd-Robinson, Daughters of Night
Susanna Jones, The Missing Person's Guide to Love
Anne Tyler, Clock Dance
Rachel Holmes, Eleanor Marx: a Life
Cathy Cassidy, Looking Glass Girl
Amy Hempel, The Dog of the Marriage
Janine Beacham, Hounds and Hauntings
Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein
Alix E Harrow, The Once and Future Witches

I finished reading an excellent biography of Eleanor Marx, the youngest of Karl and Jenny Marx's three daughters, by Rachel Holmes. Fascinating, educational, often very entertaining, although I think I did stall a bit at the end because I was dreading the very sad later parts of her story.

So far I've finished reading 30 books, after a slow start with #1 in mid January - 5 books in January, 11 in February, 14 in March. I expect to finish one more this month.

This year, as other years, I'm aiming to
- read some books I'm meant to review, and actually returning to writing some reviews would be great too - most of these are either Netgalley or the Amazon Vine program (I requested far too many books while I was in that scheme!)
- read some of my huge library book pile - I now have 9 books waiting to be returned - a big , including one I finished just after Christmas - one of my libraries has reopened again in the last week but was locked down for ages
- read some of my purchases and other acquisitions, many on Kindle (usually on offer, mostly between 99p and £2 but I've occasionally splashed out when I had vouchers, or been extravagant) but also some secondhand or from charity shops and a few new dead tree purchases
- I may also read/reread books I've owned for a very long time, including children's and YA books

Review books - 9 - 6 Netgalley and 3 Amazon Vine

Library books - Have read 8 (and acquired 2 of these on Kindle, both on offer)

Own collection: 2 hardbacks, 6 paperbacks, 6 Kindle books (one also requested on Netgalley)

I'm about to finish Vine book #4

Breakdown of owned reads by recorded year of acquisition - this will be the date of a Kindle purchase or previously recorded acquisition on LT. However, this includes a book that I downloaded on Netgalley in 2019 and bought in 2020, 4 that I borrowed from a library possibly some time before buying my own copy. There are also a couple that I might have owned in paperback but not recorded on LT before buying on Kindle.

1992 - 1
2010 - 1
2012 - 2
2014 - 2
2016 - 2
2017 - 2
2018 - 2
2019 - 2
2020 - 4
2021 - 1

Current reading as of 28.03.21

Claire Fuller, Unsettled Ground N, R, W21
Janine Beacham, Hounds and Hauntings V, R
Alix E Harrow, The Once and Future Witches N, K, R
Abir Mukherjee, A Rising Man K
Joanna Moorhead, The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington L
Rebecca Pawel, Death of a Nationalist P, RR
Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass K, O

I am also planning to start:

Marianne Wiggins, Bet They'll Miss Us When We're Gone P acq 2012
Ciara Geraghty, This is Now V, K, R acq 2016

N - Netgalley
V - Vine
R - Review book
L - Library book
P - paperback
R - reread
O - previously bought in other formats - I own the His Dark Materials trilogy on cassette, of course I have nothing to play the tapes on now. And I bought the books in paperback - though this wasn't wasted because I was able to dig them out for Danny when he got interested in them
W21 - Women's Prize for Fiction longlist 2021

By genre
1 biography (with a family memoir element as the author and subject are related
2 contemporary novels
1 short story collection
1 fantasy novel - YA
2 fantasy historical novels - one for children
2 historical crime novels (1920s India, 1930s Spain)

Books finished in 2021 - Part 3

31. 28.03.21 Janine Beacham, Hounds and Hauntings 4.2
32. 03.04.21 Claire Fuller, Unsettled Ground 4.7
33. 03.04.21 Joanna Moorhead, The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington 4.2
34. 04.04.21 Alix E Harrow, The Once and Future Witches 4.7
35. 06.04.21 Abir Mukherjee, A Rising Man 4.1
36. 09.04.21 Margery Sharp, Cluny Brown 4.5
37. 10.04.21 Rebecca Pawel, Death of a Nationalist 4.4
38. 12.04.21 Marianne Wiggins, Bet They'll Miss Us When We're Gone 4.0
39. 16.04.21 Claudia Renton, Those Wild Wyndhams 4.1
40. 16.04.21 Philip Pullman, The Amber Spyglass 4.2
41. 18.04.21 Barbara Comyns, Sisters by a River 4.1
42. 20.04.21 Ciara Geraghty, This is Now 4.2
43. 24.04.21 Ambrose Parry, The Way of All Flesh 4.5
44. 25.04.21 J Courtney Sullivan, Friends and Strangers 4.2
45. 26.04.21 Polly Samson, The Kindness 4.0

Another breakdown of the 31 books read so far

27 by women, 4 by men

Writer from country - only 3 books are set in or about a different country from the one the writer lives/lived in.
UK 20 all but one English writers I think, must read some books set in Wales and Scotland - one is about post WWII Germany. Kerry Hudson grew up in Scotland and England.
Northern Ireland 1 (set in Afghanistan and on a train)
Irish Republic 1
US 8
Australia 1 (set in UK)

African American 2
Indian British 2
Jewish, born in Germany and moved to US as a child with her family 1

The Invisible Crowd is about an Eritrean asylum seeker in the UK
Under the Almond Tree is about a young Afghan woman in Afghanistan and on a long journey
The Bitter Taste of Victory is an account of a group of writers and others, several originally from Germany themselves but now US citizens/representatives, in post war Berlin, others from the US and UK.

4 non fiction, 27 fiction
non-fiction - two memoirs, one biography, one group biography

Fiction
4 short story collections
10 contemporary
6 historical - ancient Rome, London in 18th century, 1930s, 1940s and 1979
6 mixed - dual time period or other historical elements, one mixes historical and near future
1 future

>38 elkiedee: I thought Frankissstein was fun Luci. I saw Winterson performing some of it, at the time I was reading it too, so afterwards heard her voice as I read.

I've been meaning to read the Eleanor Marx biog for a while. I'm currently reading the new Elizabeth Barrett Browning biog Two-Way Mirror.

It's taken me a while to read the Eleanor Marx biography - before I found a copy in a Muswell Hill charity shop (wow!) I'd had it out of the library for some time. It wasn't a quick or light read but it is excellent, and much of it is very enjoyable, apart from the very upsetting chapters towards the end. She was involved in so much.

I always have several books on the go but am trying ttis year to get to some of the more heavy duty non fiction - literary biographies and history books - that I've had out of the library or among my own collection for years. Also possibly some rereads but I have so many such books TBR.

Frankissstein was very interesting, and reminded me that one of my many non fiction TBR books as mentioned above is Romantic Outlaws, about Mary Shelley and her mother Mary Wollstonecraft.

Thank you for your comments on the Eleanor Marx bio. I have this on the shelf, but put it down and haven't picked it up again after not really getting very far with it. It was fascinating though, as much for Marx as a family person rather than as a disembodied theorist. I do want to pick it up again: maybe the easter break will give me the nudge (not to mention energy) I need.

>47 elkiedee: Romantic Outlaws is most excellent. I really liked how it switched back and forth between mother and daughter so that you could see their lives in comparison at the same ages.

Women's Prize for Fiction longlist updates

Update 2 August 2021

Because of You by Dawn French *

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi

Consent by Annabel Lyon

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters **

Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan ***

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones * **

Luster by Raven Leilani

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood *

Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon *

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke *

Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers * READ APRIL/MAY 2021 4.5*

Summer by Ali Smith

The Golden Rule by Amanda Craig * ** READ December 2020 4.5*

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett * READ March 2021 4.5*

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller ** READ March/April 2021 4.5*

Since I first posted the list I've finished one, read another and discovered I have another Netgalley TBR probably from a few months ago.

Because of You and Nothing But Blue Sky came up as Kindle Daily Deals.

02.08.21 How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House is a Kindle deal on Amazon this month (August).

I have borrowed Exciting Times from the library. I want to borrow the other books that I haven't bought or got a Netgalley of at some point, but I have so many books out of the library just now and other books competing for my attention, not to mention books I still want to read from previous years' long and short lists and from other award lists, that this will be a medium to long term reading ambition!

The Patricia Lockwood book is also longlisted for the Booker Prize this year, along of course with other books I'd like to read!

Have you read or are you reading the books on the Women's Prize Longlist this year?

https://www.librarything.com/list/43006/all/2021-Womens-Prize-for-Fiction-Longli...

>51 elkiedee: Struggling to find many of them in the shops here, Luci, but I have got three on the shelves:
Burnt Sugar, Consent and the book by Lockwood. Be surprised if any of those win because it seems that the smart money is on Gyasi or Bennett.

How many have you read so far and which have made a good impression?

Have a great weekend.

>52 PaulCranswick: I've read 3 and have started a 4th. I really enjoyed and/or was impressed by The Golden Rule, The Vanishing Half and Unsettled Ground - of those, I think TVH and UG are more likely to be shortlisted.

I'm now starting Small Pleasures - I've liked the other books by Claire Chambers that I've read so far. I'm hoping that the listing and profile to this author might prompt a reprint of her first novel, which I am sure I read but probably borrowed from a library/Kindle deals on some of her subsequent books (though I do have some on Kindle and some in paperback already). It's a historical novel set in the mid 20th century - I know lots of people think historical novels have to be set a long time ago or before the author was born but I don't agree. I've read books written more recently but set in the 1980s and you can see how much some things have changed (though the issue of giving first person narrators and central protagonists more modern attitudes than is likely or plausible remains.

2021 Women's Prize for Fiction Shortlist:

from Stylist magazine:

So, without further ado, here’s the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 shortlist:

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
How The One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

Speaking about the work that went into selecting the final six books for the shortlist, Evaristo, who led the judging panel, said the group were sad to cut “so many exceptional books,” but were proud to present the final selection.

“With this shortlist, we are excited to present a gloriously varied and thematically rich exploration of women’s fiction at its finest,” she said. “These novels will take the reader from a rural Britain left behind to the underbelly of a community in Barbados; from inside the hectic performance of social media to inside a family beset by addiction and oppression; from a tale of racial hierarchy in America to a mind-expanding tale of altered perceptions.”

My own comment:

I've read three books for the longlist and guessed correctly that two would make the shortlist, and I'm really happy to see them there. If I'd tried to guess from the others without having read them, I think I would have predicted Piranesi and Transcendent Kingdom too!

Accidental ramble posted on a readathon thread which I thought I'd share on here as well.

A lot of my reading this weekend was books about two women writers who in many ways couldn't be more different, but they throw up a lot of thoughts about women's writing and creative lives.

I finished reading Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile by Adelle Stripe is a novel based very much on the real life of Andrea Dunbar, a working class playwright in Bradford who died terribly young at 29. I found this interesting and engaging but very sad. There is much about how working class girls were and are still treated at school, about how young women are treated as they grow up and go to work or not, relationships within the family and with men, having children. One of her plays was turned into a film, Rita, Sue and Bob Too, but the ending was very much altered by the male film maker, and a lot of the changes were about, oh no the man can't come out of this so badly at the end, that's not funny or amusing or entertaining and no one will want to watch it. Also raises lots of issues around how writers who don't come from the same background as most others can experience things. Where does representation become exploitation, etc?

By contrast, Molly Keane came from a very posh and privileged Anglo-Irish background, a class of people becoming an anachronism in their own lifetimes after most of Ireland became independent and after WWII (the two world wars and other changes in the period also changed things a bit for people of this class in England, Scotland and Wales - there is quite a lot of fiction and some non-fiction about that too.

In this world of people brought up to expect a very privileged lifestyle it was sometimes a challenge to support those expectations, especially for women who were unmarried or widowed like Molly Keane. Her daughter's biography/memoir is quite interesting on the conflict she had between the social expectations she had been brought up with for women of her class/milieu, and which in many ways she completely shared, and her writing. Sometimes she seemed to present it as a need to write for money. This biography does rathar contradict the (Virago) publisher biography of Molly Keane that she gave up writing for many years after her husband Bobbie died suddenly and really quite young (I think he was still in his 30s at the time). I'd always thought the publication dates of some of her work suggest that story is a bit of a myth, as she wrote several novels and plays after Bobbie Keane's death and before the hiatus. I think that like several other women who had a much later revival, she went through a period when her work was seen as irrelevant and out of fashion. I am so glad to have grown up at a point when Virago and others were saying reading older novels beyond the recognised canon, and describing very different lives and societies than your own even in the same country, can be fun/interesting/worth doing etc. Being a writer didn't fit with the expectations that she had been brought up with, though at various points in her life it did help bring in an income to support some of the lifestyle.

Books finished in 2021 - Part 4

46. 29.04.21 Sydney Taylor, Ella-of-All-of-a-Kind Family 4.0
47. 29.04.21 Cathy Rentzenbrenk, Dear Reader: The Comfort and Joy of Books 4,2
48. 29.04.21 Elizabeth Fremantle, Watch the Lady 4.2
49. 03.05.21 Philip Kerr, A German Requiem 4.0
50. 03.05.21 Sigrid Nunez, The Friend 4.1
51. 08.05.21 Emma Stonex, The Lamplighters 4.1
52. 10.05.21 Adelle Stripe, Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile 4.2
53. 10.05.21 Sally Phipps, Molly Keane: A Life 4.0
54. 12.05.21 Robin Sloan, Ajax Penumbra: 1969 3.9
55. 14,05.21 Clare Chambers, Small Pleasures 4.4
56. 19.05.21 Hisham Matar, The Return 3.9
57. 22.05.21 Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond 4.1
58. 23.05.21 Sarah Moss, Summerwater 3.9
59. 26.05.21 Liz Moore, The Words of Every Song 4.2
60. 29.05.21 Rosemary Dinnage, Alone! Alone! Lives of Some Outsider Women 3.6

I read 46 books last year - this year I finished book #46 on 29 April - and 49 in 2009 - this year I finished book #49 on 3 May.

Another award longlist taken from someone else's blogpost

The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2021 Longlist

Amnesty by Aravind Adiga, see Lisa's review on her blog - on my own Kindle TBR
The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott on Lisa's TBR
At the Edge of the Solid World by Daniel Davis Wood
Our Shadows by Gail Jones
Infinite Splendours by Sofie Laguna
The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey see Lisa's review
The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay
Lucky's by Andrew Pippos
Stone Sky Gold Mountain by Mirandi Riwoe, on LH's TBR
The Fifth Season by Philip Salom, see LH's review
Song of the Crocodile by Nardi Simpson, on LH's TBR
The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts - now in my paperback TBR

I found this on Lisa Hill's ANZ LitLovers LitBlog as today I seem to be in reading book blogs mode (rather than books). Lisa's not very impressed with the list or the failure to longlist Richard Flanagan's latest book, but I will probably find out more about some of these, though I don't imagine all of them will be easy to find to borrow or buy cheaply here.

Other blogposts I've been looking at today -

heaven-ali (LT VMC group)
Adventures in reading, running and working from home (Liz, LT VMC group)
Fiction Fan

>58 elkiedee: What is the Longlist for, Luci? Miles Franklin?

ETA I went to check and it is for the Miles Franklin. Interesting that Amnesty is there which I have on the shelves but surely Adiga is Indian not Australian?

>61 elkiedee: Yes, I wondered a bit about Aravind Adiga but apparently his family emigrated to Sydney when he was a teenager, and Amnesty is set there. He took his Secondary School Leaving Certificate in India but he apparently also attended high school in Australia, before later studying in the US.

From Wikipedia, the award is for "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". So that does suggest why Adviga's other books woudn't qualify and why he's not really seen as an Australian author, but this book presumably fits the criteria. I have 3 or 4 books including Amnesty TBR but think I've only read one novel and have one or two others by Gail Jones.

Google also threw up a headline about the award judges passing over big names in favour of new talent, although there are more established names on the list.

My personal view on this is that for any award there are always eligible books that I really love and that deserve to be considered, but that encouraging other writers too has to be a good thing, and that overlooking the big beast writers whoever those may be be considered to be might sometimes be necessary. Wouldn't it could be dull if we could all predict accurately a selection process? This one might challenge people to guess what will get shortlisted but.... The blogpost I saw was also critical of the themes she saw as preferred by the judges, but I couldn't see that they were that restrictive or weird.

Books read in 2021, Part 5

61. 31.05.21 George Orwell, Why I Write: Essay 4,0
62. 31.05.21 Patrick Gale, Three Decades of Stories 4.2
63. 06.06.21 Louise Welsh, Death is a Welcome Guest 4.2
64. 07.06.21 Rosa Guy, Bird at My Window 3.9
65. 12.06.21 Paula McLain, When the Stars Go Dark 4.2
66. 15.06.21 Matt Haig, The Midnight Library 3.4
67. 16.06.21 Deborah Levy, Things I Don't Want to Know 4.0
68. 17.06.21 Ann Patchett, The Dutch House 4.4
69. 19.06.21 Patrick McGrath, Last Days in Cleaver Square 4.2
70. 28.06.21 Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust 3.9
71. 28.06.21 Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy 4.5
72. 03.07.21 Helen Cox, Murder by the Minster 3.3
73. 08.07.21 Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet 4.0
74. 09.07.21 Carol Shields, Collected Stories 4.1
75. 11.07.21 Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta 4.2

I just caught sight of another award list - the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, for a book with a strong sense of place. Judging panel is Chair Baroness Lola Young of Hornsey, Helen Mort and Adam Rutherford.

Winner: Ruth Gilligan, The Butchers (Atlantic) *

Other shortlisted books
Louise Hare, This Lovely City (HQ) *
Adam Mars-Jones, Box Hill (Fitzcarraldo Editions)
Nina Mingya Powles, Magnolia 木蘭 (Nine Arches Press)
James Rebanks, English Pastoral (Allen Lane)
Francesca Wade, Square Haunting (Faber & Faber) *

The rest of the longlist
James Boyce, Imperial Mud (Icon Books)
Michael Crawley, Out of Thin Air (Bloomsbury Sport)
Catherine Fletcher, The Beauty and the Terror (Bodley Head)
Michelle Gallen, Big Girl, Small Town (John Murray)
Caroline O’Donoghue, Scenes of a Graphic Nature (Virago) *
Gareth E. Rees, Unofficial Britain (Elliott & Thompson)
Monique Roffey, The Mermaid of Black Conch (Peepal Tree Press) *

* Kindle TBR (currently 5 books)

>61 elkiedee: I think Adiga has dual nationality and obviously qualifies although I do struggle to think of him as an Aussie author TBH.

There seemed to be some debate as to whether Flanagan allows his name/books to be put forward for the Miles Franklin award considering previous perceived slights. No idea but I bought his book which does seem an unusual subject matter.

I also noticed that there is another literary prize in Australia - The Victoria Governor's Award - or something like that (I'm not going off to check the exact name) and I noticed that Flanagan was shortlisted for that one but didn't win. I also bought Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas which won that prize last year. Both books look worthy of interest.

>62 elkiedee: / >63 elkiedee: The Ondaatje Prize is one I do keep an eye on too but I am not too familiar with this year's winner. Nice to see Adam Mars-Jones there - I wonder whether his latest book is the usual chunkster?

Current reading as of 01.06.21

Paula McLain, When the Stars Go Dark N, R downloaded 2021
Louise Welsh, Death is a Welcome Guest K acquired 2016
Rosa Guy, Bird at My Window P acquired 2018
Ann Patchett, The Dutch House K, LL acquired 2019
Penny Vincenza, A Question of Trust V, R, K, acquired 2017
Matt Haig, The Midnight Library CL 2021, K acquired 2021
Ruta Sepetys, Out of the Easy CL Y
Carol Shields, Collected Stories CL Y
Deborah Levy, Things I Don't Want to Know CL 2021

Plan to start: The Children of Jocasta K acquired 2018

On 01.07.21, still reading:
Carol Shields, Collected Stories
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta, so I did finish the other 8 books in June.

N - Netgalley
V - Amazon Vine
R - for review
P or H - owned in paperback or hardback
LL - past library loan
CL - current library loan
CL Y - current library loan borrowed more than a year ago.

I have quite a few that I've taken in, had discharged or done it myself on self-service machines, and then borrowed again and renewed. Plus Camden Libraries had extended all loans a number of times, until yesterday, so 1 June 2021 was my first visit to a Camden branch since 16 March 2021. Islington still isn't charging fines for overdue books - I don't think Camden is either yet but I decided it was time to make the trip. I even returned 4 books and only borrowed 1 new one - this doesn't sound that much but as Islington has free reservations and Mike normally works in the central library building (not in the library) I've ended up borrowing thereof shiny new books that are in demand. I also have a mystery reservations stalker - I wonder if this is a member of library staff - because several times I've requested a book that might have been collecting dust for years, and when it comes up as awaiting collection someone else has asked for it. And at the moment waiting reservations are all in brown paper bags so you can't see other users' requested books and go ooh, that looks interesting!

>63 elkiedee: Well, the library could help with those of the list that I wanted to read. Phew.
I really liked Square Haunting, and thought Magnolia was well done. I can see why it would win attention linked to location. The author wrote most of the poems on an exchange trip to China, and much of the book is circling around what exactly (she thinks) 'her' culture might be (she's from New Zealand, but of Chinese heritage).

I have Square Haunting TBR.

Thanks for the information about Magnolia - that sounds interesting. I have a lot of family in New Zealand, as my mum's parents were both Irish-Kiwis from large families. We also have a lot of China connections in the family. Also, I'm always interested in books about people/families of migrant background.

>55 elkiedee: sounds interesting! I like the idea of reading Black Teeth having only recently finished White Teeth :)

>68 LovingLit: Well obviously Black Teeth must eventually follow White Teeth!

>68 LovingLit: Haha! What did you think of White Teeth?

Current reading at 08.06.21

Paula McLain, When the Stars Go Dark
Ann Patchett, The Dutch House
Matt Haig, The Midnight Library
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust
Deborah Levy, Things I Don't Want to Know
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy
Carol Shields, Collected Stories
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta

Plan to start:

Ellen Wilkinson, The Division Bell Mystery
Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars

Current reading as of 20.06.21

Helen Cox Murder by the Minster R, N, K
Penny Vincenzi, A Question of Trust R, V, K
Rupa Sepetys, Out of the Easy L
Carol Shields, Collected Stories L
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta K
Ellen Wilkinson, The Division Bell Mystery P, K
Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars L, K
Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet L
Francesca Wade, Square Haunting L, K

Next to start:
Lyndsay Faye, Seven for a Secret R, V

R - Review copy
N - Netgalley
V - Vine

L - Library loan

P - Owned print book
K - Kindle purchase

Current reading as of 01.07.21

Helen Cox, Murder by the Minster R, N, K
Carol Shields, Collected Stories L
Peter Robinson, Not Dark Yet L
Natalie Haynes, The Children of Jocasta K
Ellen Wilkinson, The Division Bell Mystery P, K
Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars L, K
Francesca Wade, Square Haunting L, K
Lyndsay Faye, Seven For a Secret R, v

03.07.21

Finished:
Helen Cox, Murder By the Minster 03.07.21

Started:
Michelle Magorian, Goodnight Mister Tom 02.07.21
Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck and Other Stories 02.07.21
Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman 03.07.21

R - Review copy
N - Netgalley
V - Vine

L - Library loan

P - Owned print book
K - Kindle purchase

Page Count July 2021

Day Month
01.07.21 24 24
02.07.21 96 120
03.07.21 165 285
04.07.21 138 433
05.07.21 173 606
06.07.21 146 752
07.07.21 127 879
08.07.21 150 1029
09.07.21 39 1068
10.07.21 11 1079

Since then, I haven't kept a record and this looks quite low. I think I've picked up pace a bit in the last few days.

I've read 11 books so far this month and am not sure whether or not I'll finish another this month, but that takes me to 82.

So perhaps 100 by the end of September, and slightly more than I've managed for a few years by the end of 2021. I know how many books I read and the titles every year since 2009 - 49 in 2009, more than 300 for a couple of years, then over 200 for a couple more, then 100+ up to and including 2019, and just 46 in 2020.

>70 elkiedee: White Teeth was a long and luxurious read :) It was on audio, so was my main encouragement to go on walks.

Spotted on Charlotte's thread, from the Guardian newspaper:

The Booker prize 2021 longlist

A Passage North by Anuk Arudpragasam (Sri Lankan)

Second Place by Rachel Cusk (British/Canadian)

The Promise by Damon Galgut (South African)

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris (American)

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (British)

An Island by Karen Jennings (South African)

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson (Canadian)

* No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood (American)

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (British/Somali)

Bewilderment by Richard Powers (American)

China Room by Sunjeev Sahota (British)

** Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead (American)

* Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford (British)

* My Kindle TBR
** Current library loans TBR

I've previously read quite a lot of books by Rachel Cusk, two by Kazuo Ishiguro and one each I think by Maggie Shipstead, Sanjeev Sahota and Francis Spufford (a non fiction book). Rachel Cusk is just slightly older than me and she's someone whose books I normally wishlist and borrow/buy when I see that a new one has come out. I'm surprised that she's described as Canadian, as she always seems like a very English writer - she was born in Saskatoon but moved back her with her British parents at 7. I have Patricia Lockwood's memoir and various books by Nadifa Mohamed, Richard Powers, Damon Galgut and Mary Lawson TBR.

I've just renewed Great Circle for 3 weeks from today before anyone else reserves it.

Reading at the beginning of August 2021

Current reading as of 1 August 2021 (now yesterday)

Kaitlyn Greenidge, Libertie - R, N
Paula Byrne, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym - L - FINISHED 01.08.21
Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds - L
Lyndsay Faye, Seven for a Secret - R, V
Michelle Magorian, Goodnight Mister Tom - K
Margery Sharp, The Eye of Love - P
David Downing, Wedding Station - K
Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl - L
Sinead Gleeson (ed), The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers - L
Lee Horsley, Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction - L

Next to start - to be confirmed : Francis Spufford, Golden Hill - K - but this might change!

Key
L - library book
R - review book - will probably be N (Netgalley) or V (Amazon Vine)
K, P or H - book I own, not one I obtained as a review book, in Kindle, paperback or hardback
I have a complicated system aiming to mix things up a little in terms of source of books (library, review, Kindle and dead tree books I own) and also types of books because I have so many books TBR in all categories that there are some I don't get to, for example serious non fiction which has endnotes and footnotes and so looks as if it's going to be a bit of a challenge and/or take a lot of time to read, and collections of short stories.

>58 elkiedee: I found a copy of a book from the Miles Franklin award longlist, The Inland Sea by Madeleine Watts, in a charity shop, excellent condition paperback, interesting blurb, just 50p. I knew I'd seen the title on a list somewhere but couldn't remember where. A few Australian and New Zealand books get published by UK publishers or have distribution here, but we do have a significant Antipodean population so occasionally things turn up in charity shops.

I was sad but not totally surprised to finally learn yesterday what I'd been wondering for a while - that someone who stopped writing a while ago had died in 2019 "after a long illness". I knew she was born in 1934 so I had wondered about both death and the kind of illnesses that, sadly, silence some writers.

Marianne Macdonald wrote some other books as well, and was apparently first published as an infant prodigy, well, a 16 year old, but she was best known for her amateur sleuth novels about an antiquarian bookseller in Islington, Dido Hoare (she is the daughter of a Classics Professor). The first 6 were published in paperback and the final 2 by a publisher which sells more to libraries. Some of them are available in Kindle. Titles include Ghost Walk and Death's Autograph.

She was from Montreal, Canada and was at university there but I think she had also studied at Oxford. She married an academic and spent the rest of her life in the UK, for some years in Muswell Hill, just a few miles from me. I actually met her at least 15 years ago through a mutual friend, and we both attended some crime fiction conventions, including Bouchercon in Toronto in 2004.

At one point she was writing and might have published one book in a new planned crime series, a bit more hardboiled perhaps than the relatively cosy Dido Hoare books. But then she vanished, and I've been wondering what happened, and looking her up. Our mutual friend Barbara Franchi had sadly died in 2009. I discovered a blog page about missing mystery writers where others were asking. But I also found a very brief obituary from the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail

I've also discovered very recently that a couple of other writers of crime novels died a few years ago.

Dianne Day died in 2013, but I only found out quite recently, though I had wondered about her. She wrote a series about Fremont Jones in early 20th century San Francisco - the series starts against a backdrop of the 1906 earthquake or its immediate aftermath. Fremont has moved away from her family in Boston to establish a level of independence not normally expected of women of her class. I have all the books in the series but think I still have two I've not yet read. Later she joined an email reading/discussion group on yahoogroups called 4_MysteryAddicts and posted as Ava Dianne Day. (I still receive the emails but haven't been very active since at least 2007 and haven't posted at all there for several years).

Sandra West Prowell died in August 2015 aged 71. She wrote a publsihed series of 3 books about Phoebe Sigal, a PI in Billings, Montana, which I really enjoyed when I read them. I found out through a blogpost by Lise McClendon, another crime writer who had been a good friend, but apparently Prowell had cut herself off from writer friends and possibly other friends for her last few years. Lise McClendon says it had taken her more than a year to learn from her daughter that SWP had died.

It makes me sad to learn that people who were very active in various online or real life reading and writing communities had become cut off (for whatever reason) before they died.

It's a funny feeling when people we didn't know in RL, but feel we knew in other ways, die. I recall feeling wary of LT for a while after one of our members died, as I felt that if in RL was too hard to face death, why would I subject myself to the deaths of online friends. Eventually I reconciled things and remembered that it's better to have loved and lost, etc etc.

I've used and made friends on quite a lot of different online groups over the last 20+ years and on some of them we've lost quite a few people that I know of, including some people that we met in real life. On this group I particularly remember two. RebeccaNYC read and posted about quite a few of Victor Serge's books. Janet (JanetinLondon) only lived a couple of miles away and I kept hoping to go and meet her but her treatment for leukaemia left her with no immunities and very susceptible to infection - finally in 2011 we had a small meetup in central London, where Janet was staying in hospital and a few of us met her in a cafe over the road from the hospital before heading off to meet others and go on a little bookshop crawl. Then in January 2012 her husband posted the sad news that Janet had died (only in her 50s too).

I miss so many people but am glad to have had the chance to meet them on or offline.

>83 elkiedee: I remember Janet (inLondon) too. It was so touching that husband came onto her thread to give the sad news and to thank people for their support etc.
I often think about doing a trip around the US visiting wth LT friends! It is such a wonderful group, and like you, I have met a few in RL as well.

>83 elkiedee: I'm very glad that I met Rebecca (rebeccanyc) on a New Year's Day in Manhattan several years ago. Book Culture, an independent bookshop on West 112th St between Tom's, the restaurant made famous by its frequent appearances on Seinfeld, and the equally famous Cathedral of St John the Divine, has (or had) a New Year's Day sale in which everything in the store was discounted by 20%, and I bought 40-50+ books, shamelessly encouraged by Rebecca, who I frequently referred to as my "book sister" in Club Read, as she was the single greatest influence on my reading habits. We met there just before the bookshop opened, had a nice lengthy lunch in a nearby French restaurant on Cathedral Parkway as we discussed the set up of a quarterly thread we were co-hosting in the Reading Globally, and parted. She was an absolutely lovely person, very easy to talk to although shy and reserved, with a soft voice and a gentle manner. I miss her dearly.

Janet (JanetinLondon) and I had made several plans to meet when I was in London, but each time they were scuttled by her immunocompromised state.

I had also made plans to meet Pat (phebj) in Paris several years ago, during my first trip to Barcelona. I had planned to take a Eurostar train from London to Paris, spend a day or two in her company, and then take a SNCF (French Railways) train from there to Barcelona. Unfortunately there was a major and extremely disruptive SNCF strike that lasted for several days, which caused the cancellation of my SNCF train, and RER (Paris suburban) trains were also cancelled, so getting into and out of Paris was a complete nightmare, as Pat recounted. I decided to fly from London to Barcelona, with the thought that we could meet up again in the near future. Sadly, her breast cancer returned with a vengeance a few months later, and she died shortly afterward.

I have kept Rebecca, Janet and Pat as friends in LibraryThing, as I can't bring myself to let them go.

>84 LovingLit: I would love to meet you someday, Megan!

I don't remove online friends here or on FB/anywhere else for being dead. I've removed some FB friends who were spammers and annoyed me in other ways, mostly with no idea who they were. Some pages have been changed to in memory pages.

The children's author Jill Murphy, writer and illustrator of The Worst Witch series and Whatever Next has died of cancer aged 72.

>85 kidzdoc: & >86 elkiedee: Enjoyed Darryl's wistful anecdotes about three of our dear friends who are sadly no longer with us. Rebecca's book recommendations and thoughtful reviews were a highlight for me.

I must also mention Ellie (mirrordrum) whose humanity and sense of fun was infectious - she called me her Peacock Prince and I miss her regular presence in the group terribly.

Like you both I will not be removing friends from my account and sort of see it as a memorial or homage to their memory to still keep them as friends in the group. Somehow it would feel wrong otherwise.

Have a lovely weekend, Luci.

Books read in 2021, Part 6

76. 15.07.21 Ellen Wilkinson, The Division Bell Mystery 3,4
77. 16.07.21 Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman 4.6
78. 20.07.21 Elizabeth McCracken, Thunderstruck and Other Stories 4.2
79. 22.07.21 Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars 4.6
80. 22.07.21 Francesca Wade, Square Haunting 4.5
81. 23.07.21 Lucy Kellaway, Re-Educated 3.9
82. 25.07.21 Natasha Brown, Assembly 3.4
83. 01.08.21 Paula Byrne, The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym 4.2
84. 08.08.21 Kristin Hannah, The Four Winds 4.4
85. 09.08.21 Kaitlyn Greenidge, Libertie 4.0
86. 10.08.21 Lyndsay Faye, Seven For a Secret 4.0
87. 16.08.21 Zakiya Dalila Harris, The Other Black Girl 4.1
88. 16.08.21 Michelle Magorian, Goodnight Mister Tom 4.7
89. 17.08.21 Margery Sharp, The Eye of Love 4.2
90. 20.08.21 Tanya Pearson, Why Marianne Faithfull Matters 4.1

Books read in 2021, Part 7

91. 21.08.21 Ann Cleeves, The Heron's Cry 4.1
92. 22.08.21 Lee Horsley, Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction 3.9
93. 22.08.21 David Downing, Wedding Station 4.2
94. 25.08.21 Sinead Gleeson (editor), The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers 4,1
95. 26.08.21 Francis Spufford, Golden Hill 4.2
96. 28.08.21 Lara Feigel, The Group 3,3
97. 29.08.21 Dawnie Walton, The Final Revival of Opal & Nev 4.3
98. 29.08.21 Peter Lovesey, Remaindered 4.0
99. 31.08.21 Deborah Levy, Black Vodka 4.2
100. 31.08.21 Joanna Nadin, The Talk of Pram Town 4.1
101. 01.09.21 Ruth Eastham, The Messenger Bird 3.6
102. 03.09.21 Ruth Thomas, The Home Corner 4.1
103.
104.
105.

Some of us have claimed for years that our overflowing bookshelves, boxes and piles on the floor/elsewhere are just preparing for the worldwide book famine. Just listening to the radio, the UK publishing industry is experiencing paper shortages. Gulp! This might be a real Thing.

>91 elkiedee: NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!!!!!!!

Has the paper shortage stopped you posting, Luci?!

Not being very well probably has.

>94 elkiedee: Oh, I am sorry to hear that you haven't been well, Luci. Get well soon dear lady.

Books read in 2021, Part 8

106.

120.

Books read in 2021, Part 9

121.

127.

132.

135.

FINISHED IN OCTOBER

Rebecca Pawel, Law of Return Own collection, paperback
Historical crime novel set in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, #2 in series

Anne Bogel, I'd Rather Be Reading Own collection, Kindle
Reading memoir, short and fun

Katherine Rundell, Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise Own collection, tiny hardback
Short essay by a writer of children's books, about her enjoyment of reading as a child, why she still likes reading children's books, and so should we all.

Willy Vlautin, The Night Always Comes Library ebook loan, have also listened to the first couple of chapters on a library e-audiobook
Short, noirish novel about a woman in her 30s who has been juggling several jobs, studying accounting at community college and being a carer, and saving to buy the rented home she shares with her brother with learning difficulties and her mum. But her mum has other ideas. Willy Vlautin is an excellent writer but this isn't exactly cheerful reading.

Christopher Duggan, Fascist Voices - #8 Library, paperback
history drawing on private diaries
History book about the thoughts and private diaries of people in Italy under Mussolini, over his 20+ years in power from the early 1920s to the collapse of the Fascist regime during WWII. This is a study of how supporters of the regime wrote about their thoughts over this period. Christopher Duggan was an academic historian who sadly died a few years ago, in his late 50s.

Philip Pullman, Lyra's Oxford - #11 - library small hardback, YA
standalone short story published as beautiful small hardback, about Lyra, after the His Dark Materials trilogy and before the two The Book of Dust books - I'm read/reread His Dark Materials and have heard parts of the two BoD books on the radio, but was very dissatisfied with the ending of #2. So I am waiting to see whether the author completes the second trilogy properly before reading it in unabridged form.

Maggie Shipstead, Great Circle - Own collection, Kindle
3rd novel, Booker Prize shortlist 2021
Initially borrowed from the library as I really enjoyed the author's second novel, before it was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Bought as Kindle Daily Deal in August.
Dual narrative novel, with the main story being a historical one about an American woman who loves to fly planes, but with a contemporary story about a young actress who has been offered the part of Marian Graves in a biopic. I really enjoyed the whole book of nearly 600 pages, and don't agree that it's too long, The modern story is less significant than Marian's story but I quite like the dual narrative and the way it's framed. I enjoyed the contrast and I think the questions of how much someone's life can or will be understood later are really interesting.

Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway - Netgalley ebook for review
3rd novel (author has also written some shorter stories and novellas), historical novel
1950s, US - A young man, Emmet, has been released form a short reform school sentence after his father's death, and returns to his family home on a farm in small town Nebraska, intending to collect his 8 year old brother Billy and leave town to start a new life somewhere else. An excellent read - I liked this more than I liked his 2nd novel A Gentleman in Moscow and as much or more as his first, Rules of Civilty. Lots of twists and turns in this. I wonder if the author will write more about Emmet and Billy's future, as the end of the novel left me wondering if there might be a sequel.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, Malibu Rising Shiny new library hardback
set mainly in the early 1980s with some backstory.
Nina Riva is having a party at her house. A story of a group of siblings at a turning point in their lives with some decisions to make. Quite a lightweight book, but entertaining.

Frances Brody, A Snapshot of Murder
originally form Netgalley fir review, but acquired own collection paperback from a bargain bookshop and I read this
historical crime, set mostly in my home county West Yorkshire, #10 in Kate Shackleton series
1928: Kate is part of the Headingley Photographic Society and goes on a planned trip to Haworth, where the Bronte family home, a parsonage, is becoming a museum. This book isn't that strong on plot but I really enjoy this series for Kate as a character and very much for the settings - this is very much set in places where I lived in Leeds (many years after the setting of the novel - Kate and her friend Carine both live somewhere between my first home (Woodhouse), my second home (south Headingley) and the house where my dad lived for 13 years (north east Headingley) with his second wife and my sister and brother. We used to go to Haworth a few miles north west of Leeds quite often with visitors.

Frances Brody, Kate Shackleton's First Case Included with novel in Netgalley for review and own paperback
Prequel novella, which turned out to be 74 pages at the back of A Snapshot of Murder.
1921: Kate is a 30 year old war widow. She is visiting Harrogate, a spa town north of Leeds, with a slightly younger actress friend, and they go to Betty's Tea Rooms, a real place that still exists, one of a small chain - 4 branches that I know of (another is in Ilkley where my mum lived at the end of her life, and her husband still does). I was amused that Kate finds the posh Edwardian tea rooms old fashioned a whole century ago. Again, I loved this for the settings as much as th

FINISHED THIS WEEK

Lucy Mangan, Are We Having Fun Yet? Netgalley, to review - FINISHED 28.10.21, reviewed 29.10.21
First novel by a journalist who has published several non fiction books. A sort of diary of all the day to day hassles of juggling work and family life and all the challenges which come up day to day. What I call henlit (chicks become hens when they grow up), quite amusing but not as good as the best of her journalism, her memoir of chidhood reading, Bookworm and other non fiction.

editor Sinead Gleeson, The Glass Shore, library hardback - FINISHED 29.10.21
An anthology of short stories by Northern Irish women, 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, Catholic, Protestant, nationalist, unionist, not interested, some of the women (and some of the authors have moved away from Ireland. A lot of really interesting stories here, including one about the poet Alice Milligan.

CURRENT READING:

Sally Rooney, Beautiful World, Where Are You? Shiny new library hardback
3rd novel, the characters are quiite similar to the ones in her first two books but a little bit older, turning 30. Really enjoying so far.l

Mary Lawson, A Town Called Solace Own collection, Kindle, previous library ebook loan
4th novel, first I've read by her, Booker longlist - small town in northern Ontario, a small group of people who live near to each other going through quite difficult times in their lives. A family whose older daughter has run away from home, including a younger girl who is looking out for her sister to come home and trying to look after the neigbhour's cat and her home, an elderly woman in hospital remembering her life and the people who mattered to her, and a man who lived in Solace as a child and has come back. Excellent read so far.

Nadifa Mohamed, The Fortune Men Library loan, shiny new hardback
I read the description of this one when it was longlisted for the Booker Prize and knew that it was one that I really wanted to read.
Historical fiction based on true story, post WWII Tiger Bay, Cardiff - the docks area, a multiracial working class community long before Windrush. Again, really good so far. I have a really good current reading pile at the moment. I'm a generous rater but I think this selection is well above average quality.

Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies Was library loan US trade paperback, now own collection in same edition as I found a copy in a charity shop near one of the libraries I use a couple of weeks ago. It has been reissued in a more affordable edition but this was quite hard to find - I saw a PBS documentary about Latin American immigrants to the US and Julia Alvarez was one. I've previously read How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.
Historical fiction, set in Dominica during the Trujillo regime, a group of sisters grow up from childhood to adulthood, and learn about the politics of their country and the regime. Framed through an older woman looking back on her life and those of her sisters and parents.

Elaine di Rollo, A Proper Education for Girls Own collection, paperback
Historical fiction, set in 19th century Scotland and colonial India, at the time of the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Twin sisters dealing with repressive Victorian societies in different ways, one at home with her father in Scotland, one in India as a missionary bride following a scandal which has brought shame to her father. Entertaining and witty so far.

Charlotte Gordon, Romantic Outlaws Netgalley, to review, but reading paperback borrowed from library as it's a huge and detailed biography with illustrations and endnotes
Biography of two writing women, Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Shelley. I've wanted to read this for ages - extracts on Radio 4 Book of the Week made it osund really good and both women had interesting lives to read about. I don't know much about Charlotte Gordon but she is clearly writing from a feminist perspective with a real interest in the politics and lives of her subjects in the context of the times when they lived - late 18th century and the 19th century,

K M Peyton, Snowfall Own collection, paperback
YA historical novel - I read and loved many of K M Peyton's historical and contemporary YA books as a kid - and since, I first bought a copy of this as a present for my sister , hoping to borrow it when she'd read it (as I did with my mum) Only it was a huge hit with my sister and all her friends were in the queue to read it first. So I was excited to find my OWN copy in a charity shop a few years ago. A young woman takes the chance to join a friend's skiing trip to Switzerland, hoping to avoid dealing with a would-be husband she doesn't really want and to escape her repressive home. But she and her friend have to concoct a cover story about respectable hosts to stay with and a chaperon. Intriguing so far

Ruth Jones, Never Greener Amazon Vine for review, but have also bought as a Kindle Daily Deal and am reading the Kindle edition.
1st novel by actor and screenwriter Ruth Jones, probably better known as one of the two co-writers of the Gavin and Stacey series and creation of/acting the brilliant Nessa in that series.
An actress goes back to her old primary school where she has been invited as a guest speaker etc for the kids there, and is shocked to meet up again with a man who broke her heart some years ago. All I've read so far, promising henlit type read.

Lucy Caldwell, Intimacies Library ebook loan
2nd short story collection by a Northern Irish woman who now lives in London. I've read one of her several novels and have others and an earlier short story collection TBR. This is a 2021 publication I think, and it includes the BBC Short Story Award winner All the People Were Mean and Bad. I think there's a reservation on this book so I won't be able to renew, and if I know I won't finish I will probably prioritise the award winner and place a hold on it when it goes back. But there is a chance I can read this fairly fast as it's very short, perhaps 120 pages in print/Kindle format. Libby/Overdrive and Borrowbox ebooks show a much higher page count than in other formats as I'm reading them on my Iphone - I don't know whether this varies on screens of different sizes,

Sigrid Nunez, What are You Going Through
Short reflective novel on illness and death. I'm not sure I'm finding it a very interesting read, one that I could easily have read at the wrong time but fits in with my current mood of remembering my mum (who died on 13 October just over 5 years ago) and other family and friends, lost a while ago and more recently,

>99 elkiedee: Hugely impressive current reading pile, Luci. My own is a bit cumbersome too and I am trying to find a way to make sense of it and finish what is ongoing by the month end.

>98 elkiedee: I was among the number that thought Great Circle good but in need of a bit of excision!

The Booker Prize winner is to be announced on Wednesday 3 November, 10 days away.

Have you read or are you currently reading any of the books on the list?
What do you have in your TBR piles and which other books do you want to read, buy or borrow?
Which would you recommend?
Which book do you think will win?
Who would you like to see win the prize this year?
Any other thoughts?

2021 Booker Prize for Fiction longlist

The shortlist

A Passage North - Anuk Arudpragasam
The Promise - Damon Galgut
No One is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
The Fortune Men - Nadifa Mohamed
Bewilderment - Richard Powers
Great Circle - Maggie Shipstead

Rest of the longlist

A Town Called Solace - Mary Lawson
Second Place - Rachel Cusk
The Sweetness of Water - Nathan Harris
Klara and the Sun - Kazuo Ishiguro
China Room - Sunjeev Sahota
An Island - Karen Jennings
Light Perpetual - Francis Spufford

>101 elkiedee: I have all the shortlist but none of the longlist that wasn't shortlisted.

Read two and really liked them both:

Great Circle and The Fortune Men. Struggle to choose between them but if pushed I would select the rest. I have read bits of three of the other four and so far expect to like both Galgut and Arudpragasam but not Lockwood. Richard Powers book I haven't started yet.

Would like to cram reading them before the winner is announced but let's see.

>98 elkiedee: Some great reading there, Luci! I am currently reading The Lincoln Highway and either already have the shortlist books or have them on order.

I've created an LT list for books that I hope to get hold of some time soon, probably in the New Year. It was the Radio 4 Book of the Week last week - books that get that are usually newly published or just about about to be. There's a chance to add info so I mention if books have been serialised. I see if the library has a copy normally, and if they don't the library I use most has an online suggestions form, and they've bought about 8 newish books I've suggested. Also, all but one of them have had other reservations placed while I had them out on loan - and some really obscure books that probably hadn't been borrowed for years to. I wonder if there's someone working there going ooh, that looks interesting....

https://www.librarything.com/list/43268/all/Maybe-Next-Year-Books-to-Look-Forwar....

Yesterday, 28 Octobert 2021

I finished reading Lucy Mangan, Are We Having Fun Yet?, a new out this month book, via Netgalley. This is what I call henlit, a year in the life of a woman who lives in south London suburbia with her two kids and barrister (attorney) husband, works part time and with days working from home for a charity, and deals with regular domestic crisis, the school parent teacher association and news from her friends. It's told in the form of a year's diary entries. Readable and sometimes quite funny, quite lightweight, less Jane Austen and literary refernces than Bridget Jones, but yes, I quite enjoyed it.

Now reading another Netgalley, rather different tone, Sigrid Nunez, What Are You Going Through, published last year. A woman visits a sick thread, listens to an academic lecture about how humans have brought destruction to the planet. This was publsihed during the pandemic but presumably written just before, oddly prescient, and while it's not laugh out loud funny there is some dry wit and some wry smiles.

Razorblade Tears might or might not be my next Netgalley read.

Listening to a serialisation of an early VI Warshawski novel by Sara Paretsky on Radio 4 extra, Deadlock and I may or may not play Bejeweled Blitz, read a bit more of The Glass Shore, an anthology of short stories by Northern Irish women writers. This is a really strong collection of work, borrowed from the library. I particularly like Martina Devlin's story about the poet and writer Alice Milligan as an elderly woman. Would love my own copy of this and her other anthology, The Long Gaze Back and I think I'm going to suggest a few other in print books for acquisition to the library in dead tree or ebook form. I'm also reading a collection of short stories by Lucy Caldwell - one story appears in both books.

>105 elkiedee: The Glass Shore sounds interesting to me, but I know I have no hope at all of my local library getting in a copy. I am wondering if I can get a copy through Book Depository.

Thanks for the mention, Luci, and have a wonderful weekend!

The Glass Shore is a wonderful anthology, and The Long Gaze Back - stories by Irish women from the same anthologist was quite good too. But it's very frustrating finding out how many anthologies simply aren't available from any library. Sinead Gleeson has edited a couple more short story anthologies, and I would also like to read Being Various edited by Belfast novelist and short story writer Lucy Caldwell, who urged on and had a story in both the Gleeson collections I've read, and whose own second short story collection Intimacies I'm currently reading. Single author collections can also be quite hard to find - I enjoyed a 2014 collection by Elizabeth McCracken and am now after her new one, The Souvenir Museum.

I am looking forward to Ann Patchett's essays These Precious Days as I enjoyed an earlier volume of her essays Luci.

>108 Caroline_McElwee: still need to read that earlier volume too - I have a copy on my Kindle.

FINISHED IN NOVEMBER:

Mary Lawson, A Town Called Solace = 01.11.21

CURRENTLY READING

Harriet Evans, The Beloved Girls=
Nadifa Mohamed, The Fortune Men
Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies - SHARED READ - #1
Elaine di Rollo, A Proper Education for Girls
Charlotte Gordon, Romantic Outlaws
K M Peyton, Snowfall
Ruth Jones, Never Greener
Lucy Caldwell, Intimacies: Eleven More Stories

NEXT UP

Tahmima Amam, The Startup Wife
Jessica Fellowes, Bright Young Dead
Library book to be chosen

>107 elkiedee: I was able to snag a copy of The Glass Shore through ABE Books. It is not here yet, but I hope to have it soon.

Have a wonderful week, Luci!

>110 elkiedee:: I hope you enjoy at least some of the stories, Stasia.

>112 elkiedee: Thanks, Luci. I hope so too!

One of my favourite places to come and get ideas on what to read, Luci.

>114 PaulCranswick: As if you're short of books to read! But thank you.

I really liked the Nunez that I've read, but not sure I'm in a place to read about the pandemic yet.

I am a fan of Lucy Mangan, but hadn't realised she'd written a novel. Thank you!

The Nunez book isn't about the pandemic - think it's written during but set BCV. But the first person narrator/character has a friend with terminal cancer and it's a book that could easily be wrong place, wrong time. It worked for me now.

The Mangan novel was new out in October (I've had it a bit longer). Someone else on Mumsnet has read it I've posted a review on Netgalley and Amazon, and an abbreviated version for Twitter, for whcih I got a thank you from Lucy Mangan. Will stick it on the LT page at some point but I've just made a 34 point to do list so I have other pressing matters. It is very much about a middle class mum in South London suburbia and very domestic, and I'd probably see if your library can and will get it.

>117 elkiedee: The library has found a copy of Mangan's book, so will be pleased to give it a go. How nice that your review was quoted and retweeted.

Guardian article and awards shortlists - for the Costa awards

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/nov/23/costa-prize-2021-shortlists-highli...

Costa awards shortlists were announced on Tuesday 22 November.

The overall winner (and I think the category winners) are announced on 21 November

The 2021 shortlists in full

First novel

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking)
The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore (Granta)
Fault Lines by Emily Itami (Phoenix)
The Stranding by Kate Sawyer (Coronet)

Novel

Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller (Fig Tree)
The High House by Jessie Greengrass (Swift Press)
The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (Viking)
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak (Viking)

Biography

Consumed: A Sister’s Story by Arifa Akbar (Sceptre)
The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest by Ed Caesar (Viking)
Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston (Viking)
Free: Coming of Age at the End of History by Lea Ypi (Allen Lane)

Poetry award

All the Names Given by Raymond Antrobus (Picador)
A Blood Condition by Kayo Chingonyi (Chatto & Windus)
Eat or We Both Starve by Victoria Kennefick (Carcanet Press)
The Kids by Hannah Lowe (Bloodaxe Books)

Children’s

Maggie Blue and the Dark World by Anna Goodall (Guppy Books)
The Crossing by Manjeet Mann (Penguin)
The Midnight Guardians by Ross Montgomery (Walker Books)
The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh by Helen Rutter (Scholastic UK)

Books read in 2021, Part 10

136.
137.
138.

145.
146. 05.12.21 Gabriela Garcia, Of Women and Salt

150.

December reading as of 6 December 2021

Gabriela Garcia, Of Women and Salt - finished 05.12.21

CURRENTLY READING

Louise Erdrich, The Sentence
Elly Griffiths, The Midnight Hour
Selina Todd, Snakes and Ladders: The Great British Social Mobility Myth
Zadie Smith, Grand Union
Jessica Fellowes, Bright Young Dead
Jacqueline Woodson, Red at the Bone
Jeremy Mercer, Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs
Jennifer Donnelly, Stepsister
Katherine Heiny, Standard Deviation

NEXT UP:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Notes on Grief
Evie Wyld, The Bass Rock
and/or
Nancy Spain, Poison for Teacher

>121 elkiedee: good to see you representing for those of us who must read more (way more) than one book at a time!

I hope 2022 is a year with special moments Luci.

I had a long walk today to the vaccine centre and was reflecting that it was the anniversary of Joe Strummer's death in 2002:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN7iEFVLf5c

And another recent anniversary of the loss of a storyteller in music, on 18 December 2000, killed by a speedboat:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfvVslecjwI

Apart from both dying far too young and suddenly, both told so many stories in the songs they wrote and/or sang,

>119 elkiedee: Thanks for posting, Luci. Unfortunately for me, my local library only has 2 of the books on the list. I own The Fortune Men and hope to get to it soon.

Happy Christmas to you and yours!

Or in other words: Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Have a lovely holiday, Luci.

>121 elkiedee: The Selina Todd sounds good, I still have one of her books on the shelf to read though, so should probably read that first.

I would like to read the Erdrich - I've requested it via the library system just now, thanks for the nudge.

>131 charl08: It's not as if Selina Todd's books are a fiction series. I have one of her books on my Kindle and a paperback ARC of her book about Shelagh Delaney, found in a charity shop a couple of months ago. That particular charity shop gets some brilliant donations and is generally very reasonable by north London charity shop standards - most books £1 to £1.50, a few shiny new hardbacks for £2. The Archway branch of the same chain would charge £2.75 for most of the paperbacks and up to £5 for the others! Finsbury Park is cheaper, Crouch End is probably also pricier, but Harringay has had so many of the best non fiction finds, plus at one point we amassed an extraordinary collection of small tiger and other big cat cuddlies, mostly carried off by my younger son Conor.

Forget your stresses and strains
As the old year wanes;
All that now remains
Is to bring you good cheer
With wine, liquor or beer
And wish you a special new year.

Happy New Year, Luci.

Books read in 2021, Part 11

151.

152.

153.

154.

155.

156.

Total books and works finished in 2021: 156

LT lists and my 2021 reading

101 LT users have tracked some or all of their reading in 2021 here
https://www.librarything.com/list/42790/all/Books-Read-in-2021

My list to start keeping track of my Netgalley reads - books I've read and TBR, even a couple that I've actually reviewed - a work in progress. Other Netgalley users are welcome to create their own lists here
https://www.librarything.com/list/43007/all/Netgalley-Reads

My list to start keeping track of my Amazon Vine reads - books I've read and TBR, some that I've actually reviewed - a work in progress. Other Amazon Vine participants are welcome to create their own lists here
https://www.librarything.com/list/42898/all/Vine-Reads