January in review

So often, January feels like a really long month – and this year with lockdown 3 in the UK and some not very nice weather it has certainly not felt very short. From here on in, every day is a day closer to spring – I prefer spring to summer – so I am watching for signs.

I am hoping that January has set the tone for the rest of my 2021 reading – it has not been a bad month at all. Ten books read – which is slightly up on my average of the last couple of years – and quite a nice variety of books read – admittedly all fiction, except for a few essays in the back of one of the books.

I still have four of January’s books to review – but clicking on the title will take you to the review if I have written it at this point.

My January book group read was my first book of the year. The hugely popular and quite hyped Where the Crawdads Sing (2018) by Delia Owens. I really enjoyed it – a couple of tiny things irritated me but not enough to spoil what was a thoroughly engrossing read, and it led to a good book group discussion.

Another kindle read, If Morning Ever Comes (1964) by Anne Tyler for Liz’s read-a-long which I am hoping to dip in and out of. Her first novel – and one I thought was really excellent.

O, the Brave Music (1943) by Dorothy Evelyn Smith was the last of the British Library women writers series I had to read. What an excellent series it has turned out to be and this coming of age novel was a real joy.

It was the centenary of Patricia Highsmith’s birth earlier this month, and I chose The Blunderer (1954) to start my Patricia Highsmith reading of 2021 – I am hoping to squeeze in three of four others over the year. It is certainly a good one, and one in which Highsmith shows her uncanny ability to play with the reader’s sympathies and attitudes to her characters.

Lies of Silence (1990) by Brian Moore for another centenary – Cathy at 746 books is hosting a yearlong read-a-long, it is another challenge I shall dip in and out of. This was a very different novel to the first Moore I read a couple of years ago – but so good, tense, and compelling, exploring the moral choices of people caught up in The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Dissipatio H.G. (1977) by Guido Morselli. The first book from my renewed Asymptote book club subscription – took me a little outside of my comfort zone. A lot to admire in this novel – though the narrator’s complex philosophical thoughts are sometimes hard to follow.

The Living is Easy (1948) by Dorothy West, an old VMC I have had tbr for ages. I read two other Dorothy West books a couple of years ago and loved them. I was saving this one, as there are no more books by Dorothy West to read. This is a portrait of a vibrant woman whose drive for social respectability eclipses almost everything else. She isn’t a very likeable character, although I warmed to her a little as the novel neared the end. A brilliant novel if you don’t mind an unlikeable character.

A Persephone novel I had meant to read in December but didn’t get round to – Expiation (1929) by Elizabeth von Arnin. This is another wonderful novel by von Arnim, forgotten for decades until Persephone brought it back. It’s about the close minded cruelty and prudishness of the middle classes and is full of von Arnim’s wry observances and humour.

 Non Combatants and others (1916) by Rose Macaulay – The novel Non Combatants and others make up the majority of this book – an anti-war novel written during the Great War. The last sixty pages or so are made up of some of Rose Macaulay’s journalism and essays and a short story all dating from between 1916 and 1945.

Having felt really fed up in the last week, Mrs Tim Flies Home (1952) by D E Stevenson was just the kind of gentle read I needed to round off the month. Hester Christie is a pleasure to spend time with. This is the fourth and final Mrs Tim book – but I do have other D E Stevenson books to read.

So, that was January.

Looking ahead to February, I have just started reading my next book group choice on my kindle – Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi. I also would like to read The Feast of Lupercal by Brian Moore for Cathy’s Brian Moore read-a-long.  Karen at Kaggsy’s bookish ramblings and Lizzy at Lizzysiddal are hosting #ReadIndies during February. Three of the books I have from January still to write about can count toward that as they will be reviewed in February – a Persephone book, a Handheld Press book and a Dean Street press – in addition to which I have loads of books by independent publishers on my bookshelves and on my kindle – so I will definitely be joining in with more Indies depending on where my mood takes me. The picture below just a indication of what I might choose to read – these are all calling to me at the moment – but my reading mood is nothing if not fickle.

So, tell me what wonderful things did you read in January? and what are your reading plans for February?