The Twelve, August 2024

 

Five books were completed in July.

Remote Sympathy by Catherine Chidgey

This was incredibly good,  and I'd recommend it. I passed it to Bert after I'd read it.

How They Broke Britain by James O'Brien

If you know James, you know James. He was hard on  Jeremy Corbyn who must have found himself in unholy company.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver

I enjoyed this less than other books by Kingsolver.  The heroine was more than slightly annoying. Still, I did learn a lot about Mojave culture.

The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor

Lucy Gault reminded me, a little, of Elsie Dinsmore with her scrupulousity and pig-headedness. Thankfully William Trevor is a much better writer than Elsie's creator, so I enjoyed Lucy's story very much. Passed it to Hannah.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds In This Strange World by Elif Shafak

At first, I wondered if I could get into a novel that introduced its main character, a prostitute dumped in a trash can, after she had been murdered. It might have been brutal but it was marvellous. It's my first book by Shafak but it won't be the last. Passed on to Hannah.

Incidentally, it was the cover of 10 Minutes that first appealed. Which just goes to show that covers do matter.If it is done right even the blurb can be part of the design.

Books added to The Twelve. 

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard

The Emigrants By W.G. Sebald

The Colony by Audrey Magee

Of these, I expect to enjoy McCann, am already irritated by some of the characters in The Colony which may well be the point.

The Reading List

How long is it since I started reading multiple books? I need to look this up. Thankfully it will have been recorded in Nelly's Garden.

[checks blog]

Aha! I first mentioned it EXACTLY five years ago. This is why I blog.

On Friday, March 08, 2019, I posted this, 

For several months now I've been reading 10-12 books simultaneously. I was inspired to do this by Will Self, who in answer to the question,

What are you reading currently?

Replied, 

Before I read digitally, I’d be reading perhaps 10 books simultaneously – but now I read as many as 50 at once...

I still don't read digitally and I've never went as far as fifty books. That would be beyond me. Also, I.ve never read Will Self. So far, never felt the need.

I have kept a list of most of the books I've read this past five years and it numbers 199 which does not seem a lot. Forty books a year. At that rate if I live to be 90 (which I'd quite like to) I'll only be able to read another 800 books. Some of those will be re-reads and some still to be written. 

My current favourite reads are The Bee Sting and The Age of Innocence. 

All-time favourites Louise Kennedy - Trespasses and Claire Keegan - Foster. Recent favourites Wally Lamb - I Know This Much Is True and Barbara Kingsover - Demon Copperhead. 

My Monday

There were a lot of people and dogs in this house over the weekend so, when I heard that I would not be expected to do anything or go anywhere today, I was pleased. Maybe catch up on my reading?

Despite all the extra dogs and people on Saturday and Sunday I managed to finish two books.  Saturday's last chapters was Paul Lynch, Prophet Song and on Sunday morning, while Jazzer deep-cleaned my kitchen, I returned to bed and read the final pages of Demon Copperhead. I've been alternating those two for the last week. The Paul Lynch was an unsettling read but, in the end, worth it. Demon Copperhead was hugely enjoyable. It will be Zoe's next, then Bert, then Bilrus who really disliked Prophet Song. I know he'll like the Kingsolver as he once said that John Steinbeck's East of Eden was the best novel he'd ever read.

I am still doing that 12 books at a time thing so the Lynch was replaced by Beryl Bainbridge's According to Queeney and the Kingsolver by another Kingsolver, Animal Dreams. I expect to find them both good.

As it happened I did not read much today (so far). Instead, I cleaned floors. Unbelievable how much filth seven dogs, ten people and two sprogs can tramp into a house and Jazzer's deep clean did not make it to the floors. Then we watched an episode of Kin and another of The Way. Inbetween times I drank a lot of tea and followed Vancouver Brother's flight from Van to Puerto Vallarta on flightradar. They* are within minutes of landing and I believe they'll make it safely to the ground.** 

At the Dark Hedges. Photo by Zoe

*Vancouver Brother's pronouns are he/him not they/them. He is travelling with his beloved.   

**I woke this morning having just dreamed that I heard Vancouver brother calling my name. This unsettled me and I became convinced that this meant he was in some kind of trouble. I messaged him some time later and he replied that he was OK, sitting on a plane and heading to Mexico.