April 2020 Reading Round Up
Posted 1st May 2020
Category: Round-Ups Genres: N/A
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As discussed last week, I have a number of books on the go, so it’s not surprising that I finished very little this month; beyond a small reading slump that has coincided with the onset of rain (I’d been reading mostly outside) reading a number at once means I’m in right about in the middle of a few.
In unrelated news, I watched My Fair Lady on bluray yesterday and it was like I’d never seen it before. If it’s a film you enjoy, I very much recommend the bluray – it makes the theatrical aspect far more obvious and somehow brings more clarity to the slightly ambiguous (wholly ambiguous?) ending. It was like it was released yesterday.
The Books
Non-Fiction
Dan Richards: Outpost – The author travels to various buildings and locations around the globe that are isolated, seeking to discover why they draw us, and what their various roles in creativity are. Good stuff; some of it is unexpected but that does round it off well.
Fiction
Caroline Lea: The Glass Woman – A young woman in 1600s Iceland agrees to marry the leader of another settlement so that her mother will always have money, but the man seems to hide a secret, and they say he killed his wife. This one creeps up on you – the story goes along fairly steadily for a long time, with some Brontë/Du Maurier aspects before turning into something rather spectacular; it’s a well-written, haunting, last several chapters.
No thoughts of favourites; I’m looking at reading in terms of enjoyment – did I enjoy my reading, as an interest? Yes. The variety definitely helped and my laid back attitude to it all did, too. Looking forward, I’m going to continue as I have been [pauses typing as a massive booming firework goes off and after a shock I realise it’s 8pm on a Thursday in UK lockdown], just perhaps not add any more books to it until at least one is finished…
Due to our present situation, I’d like to note that Nicola Cornick’s The Forgotten Sister (link goes to my review) was released yesterday. On 14th May, Nicholas Royle’s Mother: Memoir, will be released (he wrote An English Guide To Birdwatching – awesome literary fiction with a lot of meta content). Finally in late May, Isla Morley’s The Last Blue will be published.
What kind(s) of stories are you drawn to at the moment?
May 1, 2020, 4:40 pm
I put the Glass Woman on my reading list, sounds like an interesting, and maybe, scary read. Added Outpost as well. Love old buildings. My fantasy starts working about the people who built them, who lived there.
I saw My Fair Lady many years ago. Yes, would be nice to see again.
Take care and stay safe!
May 4, 2020, 12:56 pm
Ooh, The Glass Woman sounds good! I can’t find a throughline in the stories I’ve been drawn to recently. I haven’t been reading very much, but what I have been reading has just been all over the place. I miss the library (she said mournfully).
Also I am SO excited for you that you watched My Fair Lady for the first time. Isn’t it great? I’m so pleased you liked it! Though I confess that because I hate Henry Higgins and I want a better life for Eliza, I turn it off after they have that scene at his mother’s house and she walks out very grandly. That’s the ending of my heart.
May 5, 2020, 6:32 pm
Charlie, I have been finding myself drawn to books that help me escape to somewhere else, like the comical fantasy, Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett and the moving historical-fiction Jane Seymour, The Haunted Queen by Alison Weir.
I hope we get more sunshine so we can both enjoy more reading in the garden, Take care and happy reading!
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May 1, 2020, 1:42 am
I’ve just finished reading Nicola Cornick’s House of Shadows tonight. It’s the second of her books that I’ve really enjoyed, so I’ll have to check out The Forgotten Sister.