Daily Archive

So I didn’t write a post last week because I hadn’t really been reading very much and I had also been a bit unwell and travelling (though luckily not too much overlap between those two things). This week has been quite a bit better, in that I actually got some stuff finished, largely due to a long train journey from Edinburgh to London where I (mostly) managed to avoid staring out of the window at the passing countryside and finished a chunky novel.

But there have also been medical appointments (which will run into next week too) which are a feature of having a chronic condition and you would think would lend themselves to further reading opportunities but unfortunately I get too anxious and unsettled and find myself occupied by Twitter instead. So all I had to show for it all was a selection of snarky tweets and a bruised hand from an unfortunately difficult blood test. I do not give blood up easily (insert the obligatory Scottish joke here) and I’ve been trying to convince everyone I was actually in a fight. A surprising number of my friends seem willing to believe that of me which is a bit alarming 🙂

So last Sunday I took a run at and finished A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (magnificent), and followed it up with the new Sarah Lotz horror novel, a book of Nick Hornby columns from The Believer magazine, and the last two of the eight Byrne and Balzano detective novels by Richard Montanari which I have devoured over the past 5 weeks. This is unusual for me as I like to pace myself when reading a series, but these were just too enjoyable to put down and exactly what I needed when finding reading difficult.

Or at least I thought I was finding reading difficult but I have still managed to read 11 books in May, though to be fair 6 of those were the Montanaris. The downside of all the stuff I’ve mentioned above is that I now have a tidy stack of reviews to write next week.

I have lost count of the number of books bought this month (that’s the joy of the Kindle app, they are invisible to anyone else but also a little bit harder to keep track of myself) though clearly my interest in murder continues.

I’m currently reading a second volume of Hornby and I have dipped into White Apples by Jonathan Carroll; there are only 3 weeks left in the Once Upon a Time Challenge and I haven’t read anything for it yet.

Not sure what the coming week will be like; more medical appointments definitely but I’m mostly working at home, so will try to see what I can squeeze in around the day job.