summer reading

The August bank holiday is behind us, schools go back this week, and the shops are starting to sell Christmas cards (I know).  All can only add up to one thing: autumn is upon us.

I didn't do a whole lot with the summer, but I did do a little reading.  Would you like me to share what I read with you?  (Hint: the correct answer here is "yes").

I started reading "Mennonite in a Little Black Dress" by Rhoda Janzen back in the spring, but there was a long hiatus while I sat and stared at the wall during the immediate aftermath of A leaving.  I'm so glad that I picked it up again, it's a wonderfully witty and honest read.

I have never read any of Joyce Carol Oates' work before, but I read a review of her latest book "A Widow's Story" and just had to read it.  It's honest and raw and beautifully written - and emotionally draining.

I really needed something light-hearted after that so I chose "Confessions of a GP" by Benjamin Daniels. It was as amusing but also details some of the frustrations faced by those working in the NHS, so was sort of a busman's holiday.

Next up were also emotionally draining but in different ways to each other.  Practically every third person on the bus was reading "When God was a Rabbit" by Sarah Winman this summer, so I joined the herd.  And bought "Between Shades of Grey" by Ruta Sepetys at the same time (you've got to love Waterstones' deals)

I really, really needed light and fluffy afterwards and I got exactly that in "Round the World in 80 Dates" by Jennifer Cox (charity shop find at £1 - would have been rude not to) and "A Tiny Bit Marvellous" by Dawn French.  (Although this does have a bit of a disturbing subplot).

A few years ago, while I was visiting my friend Too in the West Country, I found the first of a series of locally-set books and have made a bit of a tradition of buying each new one here.  For me personally the main appeal of the series is that it is set in a town I love and have come to know fairly well.  And they are quite fun to read.  This summer's title is "In a Small Town" (by Debby Fowler).

I read "Life After Forty" by Dora Heldt while sunning myself on holiday.  The main character is a woman of a certain age dealing with the aftermath of a relationship breakdown.  Can't think why I was drawn to it... :-)  Even though the blurb nods at  "Bridget Jones' Diary" (apparently it is impossible to review any book about a single woman without doing so), this book is nothing like the other.  It is an absorbing story and I finished it in a day, so I had to delve into the delights that is an hotel book exchange, which is where I found a couple of thrillers to take down to the beach for the rest of the holiday.  "Therapy" by Sebastian Fitzek and "What to do When Someone Dies" by Nicci French.

And currently?  Why, currently I am reading "Life From Scratch" by our very own Melissa Ford.

day 14: a non-fiction book

"The R0ses of No M@n's Land" by Lyn MacDonald. I read this first in 1989 and I remember being so absorbed in it that I missed my Tube stop and found myself at the end of the line. I had to put the book away for the return journey so that I didn't spend the entire evening travelling the District Line from one end to the other.

It's an amazing, vivid, moving, wrenching report of keeping soldiers alive on the front line during the First World War. It makes you feel uncomfortably like you are at a field hospital in Flanders or France as you read it.

30 day journal day 13: a fictional book

I'm not sure how today's item differs from day 4 (your favourite book) so I have decided to take the Desert Isl@nd Discs approach and choose the one I would get most out of for the greatest length of time. It has to be the complete novels of J@ne Auste.n.

recommended reading

A little while ago, B recommended this book for the way it deals with grief. I got all excited because I bought and read a copy years ago when my BFF died. I turned the flat upside down in my hunt for it to no avail, but I did uncover this, which I bought after we lost Starchild.

I can't believe I had forgotten it because I found it to be incredibly sensitive, moving, helpful. It is rather UK-centric as well, in its practical advice, but the experiences other women share within the book made me feel like perhaps I wasn't lost in the wilderness all alone. (I found this book before I found the online ALI community).

Anyway, I recommend it.

my favourite book

There is no way I can pick one favourite book.

Or five favourite books.

Or fifty.

So I'm cheating (again) and listing the three books I've re-read most often.

The H@ppy Pris0ner by M0nica Dicken.s
The Br0ntes Went to W0olw0rths by Rachel Fergus0n
Persuasi0n by J@ne Aust.en

I'm not a very modern girl, me...