Daily Archive

I did actually manage to finish a book this week although it was another very busy time at work and I’ve ended most days in a bit of a heap on the sofa. But I was enticed into finishing The Ninth Life of Louis Drax and have already published my review so yay for me!

This afternoon I also read a standalone short story, The Kiss by Kim Curran with whom (full disclosure) I have occasional Twitter interactions. It’s a lovely story and you should check it out (written especially for a previous Valentine’s day I believe).

Challenges

My tally for the TBR Double Dog stands at nine books so far. And although it’s not actually a challenge I am taking part in the Cornflower Book Group’s April read which is Jane Eyre, a novel which *gasp* I have never read, always preferring Anne and Emily over Charlotte. But it’s about time I gave it a go, I think, I just need to plan the reading out carefully so I don’t get overwhelmed and/or bored and/or left behind by everyone else (I have previous form in this regard, see my first attempt to read Wolf Hall).

In progress

My current reads are as always shown on the blog sidebar; I am currently immersed (and hoping to finish this weekend) The Death House by Sarah Pinborough in uncorrected proof as it doesn’t actually get published until 26 February. It is very good indeed.

The Jonathan Strange Update

The least said about this the better…..

New books

The book buying embargo is still holding but two books came into the house this week, technically not breaking the terms. One is Jane Eyre which I already own in physical form but have been entirely unable to locate so I bought an inexpensive e-book version for ease of reading. The other is Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar which I got as part of the ticket package for attending the Bloomsbury Institute conversation with her about the book in March. My conscience is clear 🙂

Climbing up the TBR pile

A couple of books we already have in the stacks came to my attention this week and have made their way to the top of Mount TBR:

• The Invisible Circus by Jennifer Egan, because the author EJ Swift (her blog is here and I had the pleasure of meeting her recently) was recommending it on Twitter and it’s one of the few of Egan’s work I haven’t read – previous reviews are here, here and here;
• Again on Twitter I saw a reference to the Internet of Things which mentioned that the inevitable outcome had already been identified by Philip K Dick in 1969 in his novel Ubik, so of course that had to come off the shelves as well; and
• the Book God has been encouraging me to read the books by Max Allan Collins, and suggested I might start with Bye Bye, Baby which is all about the death of Marilyn Monroe (I have a soft spot for her) – not sure about this, I need to be in the right mood for hardboiled…..

Hope everyone has a great reading week!