This year, I thought I’d manage at least a post a week, but no. I’ve been reading, reading, reading – as usual – but not writing about it. Especially lately. We’re 27 weeks into the year, but I’ve only posted 12 times. “Must do better!” I tell myself…but I have valid excuses. The magical trip to Japan. Then, then a bad bout of Covid, followed by a death in the family and an unexpected 2 weeks in a hotel in Adelaide.
I will get my groove back, but let’s be realistic; I have no hope of catching up in any way, shape or form. So here is a helpfully categorised list of my reading from the beginning of June. The Old Familiars are perhaps over-represented, but they’re on my Kindle. And what the hell, is it wrong to seek comfort in trying times?
Comforting Old Familiars
Sense and Sensibility
Persuasion
Emma
by Jane Austen
Jane and Prudence
Some Tame Gazelle
A Glass of Blessings
No Fond Return of Love
Excellent Women
by Barbara Pym
Intriguing (or do I mean just strange?) Japanese Fiction
The Kagawa Food Detectives by Hishashi Kashiwai
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Distressing Non-Fiction
Stasiland by Anna Funder
The Age of Diagnosis by Suzanne O’Sullivan
You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the History of War by Elizabeth Becker
and finally, a wonderful and deserving and…
Utterly Beautiful Booker Prize Winner
Orbital by Samantha Harvey