LINK-UP | IT’S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

 

Well, somehow I’ve gone from struggling to get through a single book over weeks to zooming through a record amount in no time at all! I suppose it’s the intoxicating feeling of being able to read anything I want after four months of prize reading (not that I didn’t enjoy the prize reading – it’s always my favourite part of the year – but at the end there’s always this rush of excitement to pick up anything and everything I want!). Whatever the reason, buckle up, because this is a longer post than usual!

Just Shelved

               

I’ve been meaning to try Frank Derrick for ages. I had a physical copy but then unhauled it as I also had it on audio. Good decision on the whole, as it was a better listening experience I think. It was alright, but didn’t really wow me. Sorrow and Bliss I picked up after hearing some chatter about it earlier in the year. I started it and LOVED it – it’s so funny despite the serious topics it covers – and then got about midway and started to feel the balloon deflating significantly. Which is to be expected as the progression of the story does get more serious (though still with moments of humour throughout), but still made it a little harder to pick up. I did finish it though, and while there were a few things I didn’t love, it is definitely a great read overall and I enjoyed the balance of light and dark. I read a list of books about book clubs, and The Jane Austen Society was on there. I’d never heard of it, so I looked it up and discovered that the audiobook is narrated by Richard Armitage, whose voice I really enjoy, so I decided to give it a try. It was good (the narration was, of course, fantastic), and definitely had the bookish themes I was looking for, but didn’t connect with me the way something like The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society did. I finally got to Kendi’s newest book, How to Raise an Antiracist. As with all of his work it was thought provoking, deeply personal, and yet also deals with much larger issues. It had some interesting perspectives on the importance of discussing racism with all children from a young age and ongoing, which was really interesting to learn more about.

 

     

I love Judith Kerr’s kids’ books – they’re firm favourites with my kid – but hadn’t realised she had written a series of chapter books. I came across this one and decided to give it a go (I think it was in this Miranda Mills video she recorded with her mum). It’s an autiobiographical account of a young girl and her family who are forced to flee Germany just as Hitler comes into power and then move a few times before finally settling in England. This book gets them as far as moving to England, and mostly focuses on what it felt like to aclimatize to new places and cultures and languages. Beautifully written and a great middle grade book. I’ve had The Bookshop on the Corner on my shelf for literally years at this point, and have picked it up a couple of times but never made it very far. I finally got the audiobook and made it through in a day, I think. It’s cute, romantic, bookish, not overly realistic or believable, not a ton of depth for several of the characters, but enjoyable if you’re into light romance with a bookish connection.

This was a lot of books for me in a week! I’m feeling quite chuffed with myself, as it’s been a bit of a slow reading year so far!

 

Currently Reading

 

               

I’m loving The Enchanted Hour. So far it’s all about the importance of reading to children and some of the author’s favourite kids books she read with her own children. Very much speaks to where I’m at and what I value as a parent! I’m reading The Bookshop on the Shore as it’s a sequel to The Bookshop On the Corner, which I just finished. It’s okay so far, but could go either way. I’ve read Excellent Women before, along with many other Pym novels, but it’s been decades and at this point I don’t remember them. I don’t know if I’ll make it through – I have tried to re-read her books many times and never successfully – but we’ll see. I picked up a small book of Langston Hughes’ poetry as I’ve always meant to read his work and haven’t. I’ve only read a few so far, but they’re very powerful and I am really glad I finally decided to try his work. I’m not usually a poetry reader, however, so I’m not really in a good position to discuss it. All I can say is I’m getting a lot out of it!

 

Up Next

 

           

And of course I’ll likely not read any of these next, but end up stumbling across something totally different! You know me.

 

That’s it for me this week! What about you guys? Have you read any of these? What did you think? What are you reading now?

---

A weekly post that encourages bloggers to share what they have read in the past week, what they’re currently reading and books they’ve recently added to their TBRs. Originally started by Sheila at Book Journey, it is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.