March has been a pretty good reading month all in all for me – although I have slowed right down again the last few days. A key reading challenge during March is Read Ireland month and this year I only managed three and really could have done much better, but the three I read were really excellent.
In other news March has seen me accepting an offer on my house and having my offer accepted on a flat about three miles away, in an area I once lived before. My only hope is that everything goes smoothly, still early days.
So, anyway despite house selling distractions in March I managed to read nine and a bit books – the bit will go into April’s round up.
For read Ireland month I started the month with The Children of Dynmouth by William Trevor. An absolutely brilliant novel, with a truly malevolent teenage character at the centre of it. Set in a fictional Dorset seaside town, William Trevor’s sense of place, attention to detail and character study make this my favourite of Trevor’s novels I have read to date.
I think it has become a tradition for me to read a Molly Keane novel for Read Ireland month – this year it was Time After Time one of Keane’s later novels. It concerns a visitor to the home of four elderly, squabbling siblings. It is a subtle, sophisticated novel – something of a slow burn in the beginning but well worth the time spent with it.
I reviewed The Visitor by Maeve Brennan alongside the Molly Keane novel as they shared some similar themes. At just over 100 pages it is a very slight little book, but here not a word is wasted. It takes real skill to produce something this good in so few pages. A writer I shall be reading again when I can.
The first of my kindle reads in March was The Clock Winder by Anne Tyler for Liz’s read-a-long. This was definitely a slow burn novel for me, at first I was underwhelmed by it – but thinking back on it later, I was reminded of so many good things about it. Tyler writes families so well and she manages to make them so real, the reader becomes completely involved with them.
I was fortunate enough to win a copy of The Peacock by Isabel Bodgan from V&Q books thanks to Lizzy Siddal a few weeks ago. I read it straight away as it looked like exactly what I was in the mood for – it was. An absolute gem, quirky, funny, and hard to believe it was originally written in German, the humour often feeling very British.
My second novel in translation of the month and my second kindle read was Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg. Translated from Polish it is a coming of age novel, the narrator a young girl growing up in an agricultural community during the communist years of the 1980s.
It seemed so long since I read anything by Margaret Kennedy that I pulled one of my two Vintage Kennedy editions from the shelf. Together and Apart is the story of a divorce essentially. Kennedy depicts brilliantly the effects the separation, divorce and remarriage of Betsy and Alec Canning have on their family and friends. It is surprisingly compelling, I absolutely loved it. A full review will appear in due course.
Thank Heaven Fasting by E M Delafield came next, a novel in which Delafield depicts a young woman’s launch into society, the desperate search for a husband that was expected at that time. Delafield is very perceptive here, shining a light on some absurd practices and showing once again how for women at this time, options were limited, and really in this society how for many women finding an acceptable husband was a kind of salvation.
There is quite a bit that is a little grim in The Glass Cell by Patricia Highsmith, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. The first hundred and twenty pages or so are taken up with the main character Phillip’s imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit. Some of those prison experiences are pretty bad. Following his release, jealousy, suspicion, and the manipulation of him by another character take over his life. As ever Highsmith plays with the reader’s sympathies and knows just when to twist the knife.
Since finishing The Glass Cell, I have been reading The Years by Virginia Woolf but am only about a third of the way through it, two or three very slow reading days responsible for me not making a lot of progress with it. Anyway, that can be my first April book when the time comes.
April is already here; the Easter weekend approaches though with it comes some very un-spring like weather here in the UK we have been told. I hope it’s short lived I really want to return to sitting in the garden with a book after work. After, The Years I must read my book group book Maya Angelou’s I know Why the Caged Bird Sings, I first read it more than thirty years ago – it will be interesting to read it alongside the group. After that Karen and Simon’s 1936 club gets underway. I don’t have as many unread books as I had thought for this year – a couple of kindle reads; A Harp in Lowndes Square by Rachel Ferguson and The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White both look promising as the only other one I have; None Turn Back by Storm Jameson is the third in the Mirror in Darkness series and I have only read the first book (years ago too).
How was your March for books? I love to know what you have been reading and what your plans for April are.
Happy reading.
My heavens, what a busy and productive reading month, especially considering your real estate transactions (I was doing something somewhat similar last year and became so traumatized my reading practically stopped). I’m behind in my blog reading these days, but I really must check out your review of Brennan’s The Visitor. I finally got around to reading it last spring (I’d had my copy for years) and absolutely I loved it. As you say, very spare but not a word wasted. Such an interesting writer and hard to believe her work went through a period of eclipse.
William Trevor is a favorite of mine (I began reading his work with Felicia’s Journey, which is the novel I liked the best); I think I missed Children of Dynmouth, however, so I definitely need to check it out. Molly Keane is another favorite, although it’s been many years since I raced through her novels, which I found very addictive. As for your others — all unfamiliar to me and all very interesting. More entries on my TBR list!
Moving is a big stress for me, but it has to be done. Things take so long that I don’t expect to be moving for ages. Glad to have inspired you to read the William Trevor. Hope you enjoy it.
Thanks so much for taking part in Reading Ireland Month Ali, I do hope everything progresses smoothly with your new house x
Thank you, the move itself will be ages away I think. Read Ireland month was brilliant again well done.
You did really well with Reading Ireland I thought, esp having all the house/flat stuff to worry about! I had a good reading month, I need to check the TBR for 1936 books next although I have three review books and two Anne Tylers to read first … I just received the latest AT and it’s SO SMALL which has upset me a bit. Less to read in December, I suppose!
Yes, looking forward to the 1936 club. That new Anne Tyler sounds interesting, didn’t realise it was so small.
I had just finished talking to my daughter about I know why the caged bird sings as she’s reading it for the first time when I turned to your review – what a coincidence! I like your idea of reading a specific author for a challenge, I never manage to organise myself but if I follow your idea it would make it a whole lot easier, thanks!
Really looking forward to reading I Know Why the Caged Bird sings. Such a long time since I read it it will be like reading it for the first time.
Goodness, not sure how you managed to read so much when you’ve had house selling and buying shenanigans going on as well. Wishing you the very best with the move!
Thank you, I expect the move itself will be ages away yet.
Loved your wrap up! I’ve been so discombobulated I haven’t done much planning or, indeed, read much in ages. But my review queue is staggering, as I’ve come back to freelancing.
I read three books in March: a new work of memoir/lit crit by Vivian Gornick (Unfinished Business, about re-reading), bio aimed at Plath’s suicide (Death and Life of Sylvia Plath), and travel writings of American novelist/journalist Russell Banks. Largely underwhelmed by all, not without highlights.
Working on a Willa Cather project in advance of a possible June visit to her former home in Nebraska, slow reads of Ulysses and Nicholas Nickleby, and so many others! Bought at least a dozen books this month, critic Michiko Kakutani’s book about recommended books, the new Ishiguro, etc.
Reading is on an upturn, thank goodness.
Thank you. Your reading sounds fascinating, as does the Willa Cather project. I have loved her books.
Golly you’ve accomplished a lot in just one month. I managed only one book for Ireland reading month (finishing it on the very last day of the month so haven’t done a review) and sadly only one book for Wales Reading Month.
Hope the house sale and the apartment purchase go through OK. Do solicitors still insist on doing everything by snail mail these days. That frustrated the hell out of me when we did our last house purchase….
Thank you. I find the whole process overwhelming. I think more things will happen electronically now, so that might be easier, still slow though I expect.
It makes it so hard to plan doesn’t it.
Sending you best wishes for a smooth and trauma-free move no matter how long it takes. You did have some great reads in March, I hope April is as satisfying on the reading front.
Thank you. I have two work free weeks now, so hopefully some good reading time. 😊
I think that’s a really good reading month, Ali, particularly as you have all the distractions of the move to deal with! I hope you get some rest and reading over the easter break and I’ll look forward to your thoughts on The Years. I had a pretty good March and am currently reading some Nabokov short stories for 1936 which are stunningly good!
Yes it was quite a good month for books in the end. Looking forward to the 1936 club too.
All the best with your new home. I’ve been busy with lots of things this past month so a bit of a reading slump but hope to get going again in April. Reading Marilyn Robinson’s Gilead at the moment. It’s slow but I’m enjoying it.
Thank you. Gilead is the only Marilynne Robinson that I have read to date. I have two more tbr. She’s an excellent writer.
So many wonderful books!
Yes, some lovely ones.
Very much looking forward to hearing more about that Margaret Kennedy. I recall Jane recommending it to me a few years ago as being quite close in style to some of Elizabeth Taylor’s novels, so I’ll be interested to hear if you feel the same…
Ah right, yes I can sort of see that. I have read a few of her novels and this one is really well nuanced.
My March reading was slower than I would have wished, Ali – In fact the whole month flew by in a bit of grey blur for me. I finished three very good books though and my favourite has to be the sparkling turn-of-the-century classic A Room With a View by E.M. Forster.
I hope the selling of your house and the move to a new flat goes well, and take care and happy reading in April. 🙂
Ooh Room With a View is a wonderful novel. So glad you enjoyed your recent read of it. Happy April reading to you too.
Thank you, Ali 😊