July has been a funny old month, a heatwave in Britain, high temperatures that began in June, weeks of no rain, then finally some very welcome, heavy rain right at the end of the month. July is always tiring for those of us who work in schools, and July proved to be a tiring, slow reading month.
Thank you to those of you who regularly read, and interact with me here and on Twitter – during these really tiring weeks it has been a real struggle to keep the blog going.
Most of the books I chose as you can see from the photograph were very slight volumes, I seem to gravitate towards small books when I’m tired, because I get irritated very quickly, so when I am only managing thirty or forty pages a day – I tend to avoid large books. I also read three of July’s books on my kindle – it is much kinder to tired eyes.
There is one notable exception in the photo – The Collected Stories of Muriel Spark – I have cheated in including it – because I have only read a little over 260 pages of the almost 600 – what I have read is wonderful. I hope the same volume will appear in next month’s picture too. I would love to get the whole volume finished – but I do have rather a lot planned for my August reading, so I may not squeeze it all in. I have already reviewed five short stories from that volume – which I absolutely loved, and highly recommend them, if you haven’t read Muriel Spark’s short fiction.
I began the month reading Jane Gardam’s The Queen of the Tambourine, a quirky, one sided, epistolary novel with an unforgettable narrator.
The War on Women by Sue Lloyd-Roberts, one of those invisible kindle books, was my book group choice – and despite being very readable. And containing many important stories, it proved a tough read. We all found it quite unremittingly hopeless.
Loving and Giving by Molly Keane was probably my stand out read of the month. Keane’s final novel – it shows great maturity and has a killer twist right at the end.
The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davis on my kindle was something of a slow burn – the book was perhaps a little longer than I had expected. Overall, I really enjoyed the novel, though my enjoyment was affected by bad mood/tiredness. There is a wonderful sense of place in a novel in which belonging, and nationalism are important themes.
June’s offering from the Asymptote book club was the novella The Tidings of the Trees by Wolfgang Hilbig – which I have seen described as a prose poem. Hilbig’s prose is beautiful, full of meaning and metaphor.
Excellent Intentions by Richard Hull was a great lazy weekend read, a golden age style mystery from the British Library. Hull tells his story rather differently, beginning with a court case, where someone is on trail for murder. Only the reader doesn’t know who.
Heartburn by Nora Ephron is a light bright, breath of fresh air. Based on the story of Ephron’s second marriage, it is every bit as sharp as it is funny.
July’s Asymptote book club book is I didn’t Talk by Brazilian novelist Beatriz Bracher it tells the story of a man, retiring as a university professor. Still haunted by what happened in 1970, when he and his brother-in-law were arrested and tortured. No one at the time was sure whether he talked. I hope to review later this week or early next.
My plans for August are simple – though the list of what I want to read seems to grow daily. I continue of course with my A Century of Books which is going well – and I shall be reading books for two challenges: All Virago All August and Women in Translation month – which I blogged about recently.
I’m currently reading Open the Door by Catherine Carswell – an old green virago book which I was saving until I had finished school for the summer and could immerse myself in. Alongside that of course I am continuing with those Muriel Spark stories for #ReadingMuriel2018.
How was your July for books? What was your favourite reads?
And whatever you’re reading in August whether it is at home, or on the beach, happy reading to you.
