April Reads – and looking forward to May

April got off to a really good start reading wise – with two weeks holiday from work during which I managed a lovely London book shopping trip. So therefore I have managed to read thirteen books during April – a little above my average.

Looking down the list of books I read, I realise what a good month it has been. Two Persephone books which were particularly memorable, then I was delighted to discover E F Benson, someone I really should have read before. I also discovered the mystery stories of Francis Durbidge – another writer it seems I have been a bit slow about. I loved the classic clubs sync read – Their Eyes were watching God – a really powerful and affecting American classic. Thanks to Ragdoll books Evelyn Waugh month – I had a good excuse for taking Vile Bodies off the shelf it was a pure joy – hilarious stuff – only the third Waugh novel I have read, now I want to read more. A review copy of The Perfume Collector was April’s big surprise, a light easy read, which I hadn’t probably expected much off – but which I thoroughly enjoyed. Lastly Kathleen Jamie’s lovely lyrical essays rounded off a great bookish month.
This was the full list.

34 Hostages to Fortune (1933) Elizabeth Cambridge (F) April
35 Sense and Sensibility (1811) Jane Austen (F)
36 Queen Lucia (1920) E F Benson (F)
37 Vile Bodies (1930) Evelyn Waugh (F)
38 No Surrender (1911) Constance Maud (F)
39 The Other Man (1958) Francis Durbridge (F)
40. The Swan in the Evening (1967) Rosamond Lehmann (NF)
41. Miss Mapp (1922) E F Benson (F)
42 Amity & Sorrow (2013) Peggy Riley (F)
43 Their Eyes were watching God (1937) Zora Neale Hurston (F)
44 The Perfume Collector (2013) Kathleen Tessaro (F)
45 A Glass of Blessings (1958) Barbara Pym (F)
46 Findings (2005) Kathleen Jamie (NF)

During May I will be reading only books written by authors born in May – for my birthday reading month. My actual birthday is the 13th – a date I share with Daphne Du Maurier. I found I already had about five books on my TBR that fitted the bill – these have now been added to with a few book purchases and free kindle downloads. The truth is – I now have far too many books to choose from – this may need to become an annual event.
I have these authors picked out to read during May – I may not get to them all, there were of course some I have left off the list as I didn’t have books by them and didn’t want to buy any more.
Graham Swift – 4th May The Sweet Shop Owner
Gaston Leroux – 6th May The Mystery of the Yellow room
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala 7th May ‘A Love song for India: Tales from East and West’on my kindle, A Backward Place and The Householder –( loaned to me by Liz)
Pat Barker 8th May Liza’s England, Life Class and Toby’s Room on Kindle
Daphne Du Maurier 13th May – Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel
L Frank Baum 15th May – downloaded free kindle book of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Arthur Conan Doyle 22nd May – I own all the Holmes books in a box set – I fancy re-reading The Sign of Four as I can’t remember it.
Alan Hollinghurst 26th May – The Folding Star
Arnold Bennett  27th May – Hilda Lessways – a free Kindle book –
I am really looking forward to getting stuck into some of these – I’m just sorry I won’t have time for all of them in one month.

Read Full Post »

April reads

 

I have managed to read 13 books during April, this is largely due to 2 weeks holiday from work, and the fact that the books were, in the main, fairly small. I notice that three of the books on my to be read soon list for April remain unread, although one of them is my current read. I allowed myself to become distracted by some books that were not on the list – something I do all the time. Only one non-fiction this month – I just wasn’t in the mood for non-fiction – and now as I find myself contemplating what I will read in May, and I feel the same reluctance to add non-fiction to the list.

So in April I read.

35 Starlight (1968) Stella Gibbons (F)
36 A Map of Glass (2006) Jane Urquhart (F)
37 Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther (1907) Elizabeth Von Arnim (F)
38 Ethan Frome (1911) Edith Wharton (F)
39 Bid me to live (1960) H.D (F)
40 A Wreath of Roses (1949) Elizabeth Taylor (F)
41 To War With Whitaker (1994) Countess Ranfurly (NF)
42 I Capture the Castle (1948) Dodie Smith (F)
43 The Blush (1958) Elizabeth Taylor (F)
44 Anatomy of a Disappearance (2011) Hisham Matar (F)
45 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) Muriel Spark (F
46 Burmese Days (1935) George Orwell (F)
47 Landed (2010) Tim Pears (F)

 

My special mentions for this month then are:

 

1. Starlight – Stella Gibbons – a charming bitter-sweet novel from the author of Cold Comfort farm

2. The Blush – Elizabeth Taylor – wonderful short stories – by one of my favourite authors.

3 Ethan Frome – Edith Wharton – a beautifully poignant tragic little novella

4 Burmese Days – George Orwell – a sad story and bitter critique of Colonialism

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

April Reads

Normal
0

false
false
false

EN-GB
X-NONE
X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0cm;
mso-para-margin-right:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0cm;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
table.MsoTableGrid
{mso-style-name:”Table Grid”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-priority:59;
mso-style-unhide:no;
border:solid windowtext 1.0pt;
mso-border-alt:solid windowtext .5pt;
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-border-insideh:.5pt solid windowtext;
mso-border-insidev:.5pt solid windowtext;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}

32 The Green Knight (1993)	Iris Murdoch (F)
33 Black Dog (2001)	Stephen Booth (F)
34 Another Country (1962)	James Baldwin (F)
35 Agatha Raisin, Love lies liquor (2006)	M C Beaton (F)
36 Up and Down stairs (2009)	Jeremy Musson (NF)
37 A Loyal Character Dancer (2002)	Qiu Xiaolong (F)
38 Trespass (2010)	Rose Tremain (F)
39 The winds of Heaven (1955)	Monica Dickens (F)
40 Birds, Beasts and Relatives (1969)	Gerald Durrell (NF)
41 Beauty  (2009)	Raphael Selbourne (F)
42 Cold in the Earth (1992)	Ann Granger (F)

11 books read this month. Quite a mix really and as always some which deserve special mention.

1. The Winds of Heaven – Monica Dickens – absolutely georgeous novel – published by the divine Persephone – wonderful and beautiful books

2 Beauty — Raphael Selbourne – a brilliant gritty urban tale, set in Wolverhampton.

3 Birds, Beasts and Relatives – Gerald Durrell – hilarious sequal to his famous memoir My Family and other animals.
 
4 Black Dog – Stephen Booth – an introduction for me to a new mystery series set in the Peak district.

Read Full Post »

April reads

31 The Secret lives of Somerset Maugham	Selina Hastings (NF)
32 Bookplate special	Lorna Barrett (F)
33 Absent in the Spring	Mary Westmacott (F)
34 Corduroy Mansions	Alexander McCall Smith (F)
35 The Behaviour of moths	Poppy Adams (F)
36 Fat Pig Diet	Michael Winner (NF)
37 Death in Ecstasy	Ngaio Marsh (F)
38 A Handful of Dust	Evelyn Waugh (F)
39 The Rules of Engagement	Anita Brookner (F)
40 Twenty Years at St Hilary’s	Bernard Walke (NF)
41 The Blessing	Nancy Mitford (F)
42 Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham	M C Beaton (F)

I seem to be slowing down in my old age : ) at the end of April last year I had reached 44 books, which was fewer than the year before.  I wonder what it is that is different in my life.  Oh well – some good reads this month special mention must go to the Somerset Maugham biog – very good very thorough, and pretty big too. Also A Handful of Dust unforgettable but horrid, loved ASM’s Corduroy Mansions, and Anita Brookner is always wonderful, discovery of Mary Westmacott – Agatha Christies’s other self was also a joy.

Read Full Post »

April Reads

33 The tall Pine Polka	Lorna Landvik F
34.Plain Tales from the Raj	Charles Allen NF
35 The Eternal City	Domenica De Rosa F
36 Miss Buncle’s Book	DE Stevenson F
37 Judicial Whispers	Caro Fraser F
38 The Queen’s Fool	Philippa Gregory F
39 The Spare room	Helen Garner F
40 An Area of Darkness	V S Naipaul NF
41 Bonjour Tristesse	Francoise Sagan F
42 Bookmarked for Death	Lorna Barrett F
43 The Sweet Dove Died	Barbara Pym F
44 The Wise Virgins	Leonard Woolf F

Read Full Post »

April reads

37 The Bell Iris Murdoch
38 Purple Hibiscuis Chamamanda Ngozi Adichie
39 Brown Owl’s Guide to life Kate Harrison
40 Elephants Can Remember Agatha Christie
41 Crampton Hodnet Barbara Pym
42 Footsteps in The Sand Sarah Challis
43 Out to Canaan Jan Karon
44 A letter Of Mary Laurie R King
45 Doreen Barbara Noble
46 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri
47 The Home-Maker Dorothy Canfield Fisher
48 Last Orders Graham Swift
49 Village Diary Miss Read

Read Full Post »