June 2018 Reading Round Up
Posted 2nd July 2018
Category: Round-Ups Genres: N/A
6 Comments
It’s 28c here. We’ve had only a couple of minutes of light rain, once, this past month, and on a sunny weekend if there’s no trip out planned then I like to be reading outside. Suffice to say I’ve been reading quite a bit.
All books are works of fiction.
The Books
Laura Pearson: Missing Pieces – When Phoebe dies, aged three, the resulting grief has a massive impact on her four surviving family members. A very good book that looks at different modes of grieving and the way communication and support is paramount.
Marian Keyes: The Break – When Amy’s father-in-law dies, her husband tells her he needs a break from their marriage, a several months-long trip where he will be free… but he’ll return after that. This is a long book but there’s a fair amount of other commentary going on and Keyes ensures her characters work through their issues.
Nicola Cornick: The Lady And The Laird – Lucy writes erotic letters for her brother’s friends when they require help wooing the women in their lives, but when her brother asks for her help she doesn’t realise that she’s throwing a spanner in the works for the wedding of the man she kissed many years ago and he must marry in order to gain his inheritance. Very good regency romance, full of communication and low on angst.
Patrick Gale: A Place Called Winter – Sent on from an asylum to a treatment/retreat centre, Harry must look into his hazy memories to work out why he is no longer on his pioneer-era Canadian farm. It’s tough to sum up this book in one sentence – it’s an epic turn-of-the-century novel about a man whose affair with another man is discovered, and he must leave his family in order to not be exposed.
Valeria Luiselli: Faces In The Crowd – A translator in Mexico chronicles her own life, her past and her work, and writes a book about a Latin American poet for whom she has ghostwritten some translations. As confusing as it sounds, this is a book in a book in a book, but has a lot of interesting literary elements to enjoy.
I enjoyed everything I read this month. The Pearson was the best on a personal level because her book is set in Southampton and that was a lot of fun to read through. Literary-wise, the Cornick was good for its use of communication and perfect balance of conflict and general story, and the Gale reminded me, in atmosphere, of Anna Hope’s work – the wonderful historical story full of important detail with great characters to match.
I’m currently reading Ben Okri’s The Famished Road and Özgür Mumcu’s The Peace Machine, and then I have some review copies to get to. Hoping to keep my annual trend of many books in July going this year, too.
What are you reading?
July 2, 2018, 9:45 pm
I like the idea of a Regency romance where the characters communicate with one another. I’ll definitely have a look at that.
It’s been too hot to sit in the garden and read much before 6.00 pm, so that’s when I’ve been getting out there. Another two weeks to go, apparently.
July 4, 2018, 5:41 pm
Two of her favourite films; The Lady Vanishes (Mr T), Pretty Woman (me).
A great selection of books, I really must read more Patrick Gale books.
July 6, 2018, 9:24 pm
Charlies, sounds like you have been doing some lovely reading in your garden. I am currently reading the swashbuckling Sandokan, The Pirates of Malaysia by Emilio Salgari and historical fiction Eleanor of Aquitaine by Christopher Nicole. Happy reading in July!
July 7, 2018, 11:19 pm
Reading in your garden sounds lovely! It’s been very hot alternating with very rainy here, so I’ve been doing a lot of reading in my library gazing out the window at weather I’m glad not to be out in. :p I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction that I checked out a really long time ago and didn’t read in time and now I have to read it all very fast or it’ll be overdue.
6 Comments
Comments closed
July 2, 2018, 5:49 pm
Happy July!