THIS WEEK I AM READING... 29 AUGUST 2016
This Blog series should really be titled 'Travels of a Book Slut' on account of the fact that I have been binge reading for the last month or so, and haven't blogged any of it. I am unrepentant, but I do have a colossal book hangover, so this will be a whistle stop tour...
First up, The Muse by Jessie Burton. This is my first encounter with Jessie Burton and it worked out well. I had seen the hype about The Miniaturistwhen it came out, but what put me off was the title - one of those terribly fashionable noun-as-titles... However, I really should have turned down the inner snob and just started reading, as it was terrific. I liked it so much, in fact, that I binged on Jessie Burton and read both books back to back... Both books are really good examples of my favourite genre - the timeslip story that has someone trying to solve a mystery of some kind. I could quite happily read more of these, so I will be looking out for Jessie Burton's next endeavours. She is also a girl after my own heart - writer, ex-actor, does her own audio book narration, and general all round creative type.
Next up was The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, by Maggie O'Farrel. I had been stop-starting with Maggie O'Farrel, adamant I was going to like her, but couldn't find the way in, but this one I loved. In short, it's the story of a woman who realises she has a great aunt she never knew about, who has been shut up in a mental health facility since her early adult hood, but to say anymore might involve spoilers. I would definitely recommend it.
This week I have gone back to an old favourite - Elizabeth Gilbert and The Signature of All Things. I love her approach to creativity, and her all round human-ness. She's beautiful, and this is her first novel in a number of years. It's got me hooked from the get-go, which is always a good sign....
THIS WEEK I AM ALSO READING...02 JULY 2016
This next one is a fictional memoir... A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan.
THIS WEEK I AM READING... 02 JULY 2016
Continuing my apparent voracious reading appetites at the moment, this week I am reading another two books - one at a time does not feel enough!
First up is The Joyce Girl by Annabel Abbs. It is the fictional rendering of a real story - that of the daughter of James Joyce, Lucia, a talented dancer in her twenties during the 1920s in Paris. This one is of deep interest to me at the moment, as it is a fictional rendering of real life stories... Lucya Joyce, who falls in love with the young Samuel Becket, whilst struggling to balance loyalties in her family between her very intense relationship with her father, and her rocky relationship with her mother.... And ending up in therapy in Switzerland with the pioneering Carl Jung. I am hoping this one cannot fail to please, although it is a little slow to start, but I will persevere! At the moment, I am interested in the space where fact meets fiction, and how to paint over the cracks...