Well considering it is 2 months since I last did one of these posts (30th July) you'd think I would have lots of books to write about. Sadly I only have 4!
I was reading Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood back then and I really enjoyed it. It's a collection of short stories.
This starts with 3 stories involving Tig and Nell. The first covers the aftermath of an accident at home requiring Tig to drive himself and their daughter to A & E and Nell coming home to a scene of blood and no one home. It moves on to ponder how things have changed while they are undertaking a First Aid course.
Next we read about John and Francois, two very different men who become friends in France and Tig and Nell’s involvement with them. (Renting a house.) And the third story in this initial section details the demise of Nell’s cat Smudgie and her rewriting of Tennyson’s Morte D’Arthur to fit the dead cat scenario. Although it’s actually more about the passing of Tig.
My Evil Mother This story is about a woman and her Mother who may or may not be a witch and their troubled relationship. Coming full circle to the daughter becoming a Mother herself.
The Dead Interview is an account of an interview with the late George Orwell which is very cleverly done and references his works.
Impatient Griselda is about an alien being telling a story to a group of earthlings and contrasting their differences.
Bad Teeth is a about two friends Csilla and Lynne. Csilla is a seasoned liar and insists that Lynne had an affair with a Newman Small who had bad teeth. Csilla couldn’t understand how Lynne could go with someone with such bad teeth. Lynne is convinced the affair did not happen. Which it hadn’t. Csilla just likes to make mischief but despite all that they remain friends.
Death by Clamshell is the narration by Hypatia of Alexandria of her death by clamshells which is quite graphic. It’s portrayed as being told to someone in the present time.
Freeforall Is set in the future when a sexually transmitted disease has swept through the world and people have adapted by keeping uncontaminated women and men apart until a marriage between a couple is arranged so that uncontaminated children can be born and humans continue.
Freeforalls were prisons for affected people. Supplies were dropped in but the inhabitants were left to themselves.
Metempsychosis (or the journey of the soul) This is the story of the soul of a snail coming to inhabit the body of a young woman and the ensuing battle between the two souls to co-exist.
Airborne: A Symposium This is about a meeting of 3 older women who are trying to set up a scheme for empowering more women creatives. Airborne is the name of the book written by one of them. Probably the story I liked least.
Tig and Nell:
A Dusty Lunch
In this story Nell reminisces about Tig’s Father – the Jolly Old Brigadier who served in WW2. Nell is going through his things and comes across poems written while he was away at war.
The poems are poignant and this story resonated with me as my Dad fought in WW2 and he would never talk about it.
Widows – This comprises 2 letters that Nell (now widowed) writes in response to a letter from a friend asking how she is. One is a detailed version of how she really is and what widowhood entails. The second which she will send is a sanitised version and bright and breezy.
Wooden Box – this story is about Nell coming to terms with widowhood and going through things at their cottage.
Old Babes in the wood continues Nell’s journey through grief as she visits the family cabin by a lake with her sister.
I found myself making notes about each of the stories as it was a book group read and I wanted to be able to remember them for when we discussed it. I hadn’t realised that Atwood had written so much, including books for children. The stories of Nell and Tig could easily have been a volume on their own with all the other stories, many of which are truly weird, being a separate volume. Atwood certainly has a vivid and diverse imagination.
The next book I read for the same book group was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Not a book I would choose so I did find it a bit of a slog. Adichie is certainly a talented writer and the subject matter - the war in Nigeria when Biafra wanted to become a nation in its own right - was dark. It did give me a better understanding of what went on though. I can remember seeing pictures of the starving Biafran children on TV but I was too young at the time to really understand what was going on. The British Commonwealth has a lot to answer to.
I decided to read something that met a prompt for the 52 Book Club challenge next - Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps.
Gloria has a learning disability. She's nineteen, and there's nothing to do except wander the local parks, look for friendship and keep out of trouble - or go round Jack's. Jack needs Gloria's company, but he's unpredictable and angry at the world. After an act of violence, their friendship has to end. Now Gloria's on her own. But when she hears Jack's out of prison, her whole world is turned upside-down. Heart-breaking and beautiful, Gloria Don't Speak is an insightful portrait of a woman dealing with vulnerability, violence - and the desire for connection.
I didn't really enjoy this one although as I said it ticked the prompt "Author related to another Author" as Lucy is the sister of Peter who wrote "Show me the Bodies" which was about the Grenfell Tower disaster. It was interesting in that it was set in the area where I used to live so many of the places were familiar and Lucy and Peter went to the same schools as my kids but this was definitely no masterpiece in my opinion.
This starts with 3 stories involving Tig and Nell. The first covers the aftermath of an accident at home requiring Tig to drive himself and their daughter to A & E and Nell coming home to a scene of blood and no one home. It moves on to ponder how things have changed while they are undertaking a First Aid course.
Next we read about John and Francois, two very different men who become friends in France and Tig and Nell’s involvement with them. (Renting a house.) And the third story in this initial section details the demise of Nell’s cat Smudgie and her rewriting of Tennyson’s Morte D’Arthur to fit the dead cat scenario. Although it’s actually more about the passing of Tig.
My Evil Mother This story is about a woman and her Mother who may or may not be a witch and their troubled relationship. Coming full circle to the daughter becoming a Mother herself.
The Dead Interview is an account of an interview with the late George Orwell which is very cleverly done and references his works.
Impatient Griselda is about an alien being telling a story to a group of earthlings and contrasting their differences.
Bad Teeth is a about two friends Csilla and Lynne. Csilla is a seasoned liar and insists that Lynne had an affair with a Newman Small who had bad teeth. Csilla couldn’t understand how Lynne could go with someone with such bad teeth. Lynne is convinced the affair did not happen. Which it hadn’t. Csilla just likes to make mischief but despite all that they remain friends.
Death by Clamshell is the narration by Hypatia of Alexandria of her death by clamshells which is quite graphic. It’s portrayed as being told to someone in the present time.
Freeforall Is set in the future when a sexually transmitted disease has swept through the world and people have adapted by keeping uncontaminated women and men apart until a marriage between a couple is arranged so that uncontaminated children can be born and humans continue.
Freeforalls were prisons for affected people. Supplies were dropped in but the inhabitants were left to themselves.
Metempsychosis (or the journey of the soul) This is the story of the soul of a snail coming to inhabit the body of a young woman and the ensuing battle between the two souls to co-exist.
Airborne: A Symposium This is about a meeting of 3 older women who are trying to set up a scheme for empowering more women creatives. Airborne is the name of the book written by one of them. Probably the story I liked least.
Tig and Nell:
A Dusty Lunch
In this story Nell reminisces about Tig’s Father – the Jolly Old Brigadier who served in WW2. Nell is going through his things and comes across poems written while he was away at war.
The poems are poignant and this story resonated with me as my Dad fought in WW2 and he would never talk about it.
Widows – This comprises 2 letters that Nell (now widowed) writes in response to a letter from a friend asking how she is. One is a detailed version of how she really is and what widowhood entails. The second which she will send is a sanitised version and bright and breezy.
Wooden Box – this story is about Nell coming to terms with widowhood and going through things at their cottage.
Old Babes in the wood continues Nell’s journey through grief as she visits the family cabin by a lake with her sister.
I found myself making notes about each of the stories as it was a book group read and I wanted to be able to remember them for when we discussed it. I hadn’t realised that Atwood had written so much, including books for children. The stories of Nell and Tig could easily have been a volume on their own with all the other stories, many of which are truly weird, being a separate volume. Atwood certainly has a vivid and diverse imagination.
The next book I read for the same book group was Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Not a book I would choose so I did find it a bit of a slog. Adichie is certainly a talented writer and the subject matter - the war in Nigeria when Biafra wanted to become a nation in its own right - was dark. It did give me a better understanding of what went on though. I can remember seeing pictures of the starving Biafran children on TV but I was too young at the time to really understand what was going on. The British Commonwealth has a lot to answer to.
I decided to read something that met a prompt for the 52 Book Club challenge next - Gloria Don't Speak by Lucy Apps.
Gloria has a learning disability. She's nineteen, and there's nothing to do except wander the local parks, look for friendship and keep out of trouble - or go round Jack's. Jack needs Gloria's company, but he's unpredictable and angry at the world. After an act of violence, their friendship has to end. Now Gloria's on her own. But when she hears Jack's out of prison, her whole world is turned upside-down. Heart-breaking and beautiful, Gloria Don't Speak is an insightful portrait of a woman dealing with vulnerability, violence - and the desire for connection.
I didn't really enjoy this one although as I said it ticked the prompt "Author related to another Author" as Lucy is the sister of Peter who wrote "Show me the Bodies" which was about the Grenfell Tower disaster. It was interesting in that it was set in the area where I used to live so many of the places were familiar and Lucy and Peter went to the same schools as my kids but this was definitely no masterpiece in my opinion.
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The final book that I've just finished was Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo.
Despite there being various links between the characters in this book it felt very disjointed to me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of too, none of which were particularly likeable. The lack of punctuation was also annoying at times. It was shortlisted for the “Women’s Prize for Fiction” in 2020 but I can’t honestly recommend it. It contains a lot of swearing and same sex relationships as well as transgender issues so it definitely wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Again this was a book group read which we will discuss next week.
I did skim a bit of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus as that was the Evening book group's read. I'd read it back in 2023 and loved it. It got a 5 star rating so I was happy to read it again but I didn't find the time to read it completely before our meet up. I'm hoping to find time to watch the TV series of it.
Despite there being various links between the characters in this book it felt very disjointed to me. There were a lot of characters to keep track of too, none of which were particularly likeable. The lack of punctuation was also annoying at times. It was shortlisted for the “Women’s Prize for Fiction” in 2020 but I can’t honestly recommend it. It contains a lot of swearing and same sex relationships as well as transgender issues so it definitely wouldn't be to everyone's taste. Again this was a book group read which we will discuss next week.
I did skim a bit of Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus as that was the Evening book group's read. I'd read it back in 2023 and loved it. It got a 5 star rating so I was happy to read it again but I didn't find the time to read it completely before our meet up. I'm hoping to find time to watch the TV series of it.
Currently I'm reading Before the Storm by Alex Gray. This is a crime thriller set in Glasgow and is part of a series that I've enjoyed reading in the past. It will tick a prompt for the 52 Book Club Challenge but it's a much easier read than some of the books I've been reading.
Regular readers here will know that I do like a challenge but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to complete the 52 Book Club Challenge this year - I'm quite behind and it's not always possible to slot the Book Group books into prompts. I'll see how far I manage to get but I might take a break from it next year and concentrate on reducing the pile of books by my bed! It's really hard to resist books in the local little libraries that are the sort of books I enjoy and I certainly can't visit any charity shops without coming out with a book or 2 (or maybe more) lol.
Have you read any good books lately? Shh don't tell me or I'll be looking out for those too.
Regular readers here will know that I do like a challenge but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to complete the 52 Book Club Challenge this year - I'm quite behind and it's not always possible to slot the Book Group books into prompts. I'll see how far I manage to get but I might take a break from it next year and concentrate on reducing the pile of books by my bed! It's really hard to resist books in the local little libraries that are the sort of books I enjoy and I certainly can't visit any charity shops without coming out with a book or 2 (or maybe more) lol.
Have you read any good books lately? Shh don't tell me or I'll be looking out for those too.
