What are you reading today?

The Siege by Helen Dunmore.

Urmston lots of the places in Lagos that are mentioned in your book are familiar to me from our time living there. It was very odd to read about them!

And I loved ‘The Siege’ SueDonim it made me very acutely aware of just how fortunate we really are and how much we whinge and take things for granted. That novel stayed on my mind for ages afterwards when I read it many years ago. I found it heartbreaking.

Just finished The Catcher in the Rye, that was my classic for 2021 (trying to read 1 a year). Didn’t enjoy it at all; I’m sure it was good in its time.
Will be starting Love and Other Words, hopefully a bit more interesting/entertaining.

I’m having a ‘new reads’ rest at the moment, so I’m re-reading some books by Jude Deveraux and Judith McNaught. I’m starting with Paradise, then Perfect.
If I don’t enjoy them as much this time round, they’ll go to the charity shop.

Windswept and Interesting by Billy Connelly.

I’m finding it quite sad and he’s brutally honest about his childhood. I’ve read books that have been written about him before, but this is the first book he’s written himself.

His love for his sister though shines through the book and his description of the neighbours who showed him kindness and helped him feel safe had me in tears.

It’s raw in parts of course, as he is raw, but he paints a picture of a scared wee boy who grew into a man that never really got over the loss of his mother.

I’m half way through it.

Half way through ‘Any Human Heart’ William Boyd. I am enjoying it but it’s a long read, 500 pages and small font ?

I want to read that Granniesunite thank you.

I've just started Where the Crawdads Sing . It's a library book so I'd better get a move on with it , abandon the ironing !

I’m rereading Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. I find myself laughing out loud at some of his descriptions of British towns and the people he meets as he travels along “The Bryson Line” from south to north Britain I last read this book about five years ago but it’s my Reading Group book and I’m enjoying it again.

My daughter has just read The Siege, Urmston and I said I thought I had, too. When I looked at it, though, it was obvious that I hadn’t read it, because it’s such a distinctive story, you couldn’t really muddle it up with any other novel.

Truly SueDonim for ages afterwards I didn’t want to waste anything even a sliver of soap. It felt so wrong somehow.

Just started Driving Over Lemons written by Chris Stewart a former musician. I saw him on a Rick Stein cookery programme a few years ago. Its about a family making a life in a remote part of southern Spain.

I'm on the second chapter of The Incendium Plot by A. D. Swanton. It's a murder mystery set in Elizabeathen times. It has started off well, and I'm enjoying it.
I like a historical novel.

Discovering the River Tamar by John Neale. Very interesting as we live close to the Tamar. It was a Christmas present.
Also reading Fallen Angels by Val Wood.

To kill a mocking bird by Harper Lee.

About to start The Couple from No9 Claire Douglas

tiredoldwoman

I've just started Where the Crawdads Sing . It's a library book so I'd better get a move on with it , abandon the ironing !

Best book I read last year !

I am reading A beautiful spy, Rachel Hore , and quite enjoying it.

The Last House on Needless Street. I wish I wasn’t, as I’m not enjoying it at all. But it’s my reading group book, so I feel I’ve got to finish it. I’ll be interested to see what the others think.

I agree with you on The Catcher in the Rye, pea007!

Just finished the second Richard Osman which was a Christmas present and starting 'The Penguin Sessions' which was recommended to me and looks delightful.

Educated by Tara Westover is my current read, although I have a stack of unfinished books by my bed ? My concentration isn’t what it was since developing heart failure so I no longer avidly devour books sadly.
It’s a fascinating read so far, a very difficult and different childhood.

‘The Gilded Age in New York City 1870 - 1910’ by Ester Crain.
It arrived yesterday. Lovely coffee table book about a fascinating, greedy, opulent, depraved period.

I don’t read fiction any more.
I’ve gone right off it, no idea why!

The Sunday papers and 'Men of Honour: Trafalgar and the Making of the English Hero', by Adam Nicolson.

Personaly, I did not enjoy the first of the 'Thursday Murder Club' books, so will not be reading the second, but as it was lent to me by someone who loved it.........

I’ve just finished Frank Herbert’s Dune. A long read.

'Frontline' by Dr Hilary Jones. It's supposed to be about WW1 and the Spanish Flu. I'm more than half way through and there's been no mention of the Spanish flu yet. It's a bit disappointing all round actually, too much about the fighting for my liking and too many characters who don't seem to develop . As much as I admire Dr Hilary I think he should stick to medical matters! Not bad for a first novel though.

I'm another one reading Miriam Margolyes. Jogging so many memories of the 60s and 70s.