Earthlings was the first book to really fuck me up since.... since the rat scene in 1984. I still have it in my house purely because I feel conflicted about putting it in anyone else's path!
Hahahaha. I would pass it on to ‘the brave’ out there. When you mentioned the rat scene in 1984 at first I thought ‘bloody hell was Leena reading American Psycho in 1984’. Obvs you meant the classic. But the rat scene in American Psycho is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever read and has scarred my brain.
Awww thanks. I thought it was great. Very much looking forward to Sula which I am planning on reading soon. Hope you enjoy the channel and stick around 😃
Awww thanks Kathleen. We were talking about me being more relaxed this year, amazing what leaving a role/project you really really weren’t enjoying 4 days a week can do 🤣
I’ve added mcglue as that sounds intriguing. I enjoyed the binding last month which was a book that was pretty mesmerising and was one i wanted to start reading all over again. Island of missing trees was my favourite though, magical and lyrical as only Elif shafik can do. Just started bass rock for my February prompt! Thank you as always for the great wrap up.
I have read The Bluest Eye and you really surprised me with your review. You talk about it in such a way that really makes me want to possibly take another look at that book again.
Glad you have had such a great start to 2023 reading. I'm going to give Toni Morrison another go but a physical book this time. Love Sayaka Murata books too. Like you I have also had a great start to the year and read eleven fabulous books in Jan. A mixture of novellas and chunky reads. Thanks for the recommendation of Rizzio by Denise Mina dark but great. Lets hope Feb will be as good.🌷🌷🌷🌷
Ooh twinning on the number of books we read in January. How fab. Wonder if we will again this month. So pleased you had a fab start to the year reading wise and thrilled you liked Rizzio.
I sadly ended up DNFing The Great Circle and giving it away, I was enjoying it but every so often was thinking ‘so what?’ at certain points and then put it down and just left it. Glad you loved it. I know my mum did too.
I loved your summary of Earthlings, it was completely bonkers 😂 My favourite books in Jan were Vladimir and Our Wives Under the Sea. I'm defo adding The Redemption of Galen Pike to my tbr now
It was lovely to hear your January reading experience. I'm glad the year started well for you. No one writes like Morrison. I am sure you will love Sula. I have been reading her chronologically over the last 3 years. In the 1st year, I read 5 of her books, but since then, I have been sipping her work. I am on her last 2 books and hope to get to them this month. I then plan to read a couple of essay collections on her work & reread her books. So much depth in them. Some January favourites: 'Boulder ' by Eva Baltasar, 'The Wall' by Marlen Haushofer , 'Your Ad Should Go Hete' by Oksana Zabuzhko & 'Eggshell Skull ' by Bri Lee.
Was such a good start to 2023 for me. Really thrilled with it. Boulder is a book I’m really really keen to get to and I have The Wall on my shelves too. Sounds like you read some corkers in January too.
What a fabulous start to your reading year! Now I definitely want to read The Other Half. Favorite read of January was Mother’s Boy by Patrick Gale (my January Savidge prompt no less). I also had to reread Jane Eyre for a book club I moderate and loved it, much more so than when I first read it ages ago. Can’t wait for your project reveal at the end of February. Such a tease! But not too much of one.
Hahahaha. You and a certain book club all know what it is. I am already waiting for the mini breakdown. Hahaha. I really liked Jane Eyre when I read it in my early 30’s. I wasn’t expecting to. No idea why!
I read A Line Made By Walking, but I thinkkk I finished it in February, and really liked it, so thank youuu for that, bc I’d never heard of it until I watched one of your videos 💚
Thank you, Simon!🌷I’m definitely going to read The New Life. One of my January reads was Maurice by E.M. Forster and I think Tom Crewe’s novel will be the perfect complement to it. One of my most impressive January reads was Open Water. What a great book! I also listened to the compilation on spotify of the music tracks mentioned in the novel, while I was reading it, and absolutely loved this total immersion. I’m now looking forward to Caleb Azumah Nelson’s new novel, Small Worlds.😊📚
There is actually a spin off from Maurice that came out last year and looks amazing. Alec by William Di Canzio. There’s also a book called Greenland by David Santos Donaldson that is about E.M Forsters relationship with an Egyptian man which also sounds amazing.
I loved the Other Half and the interaction between the two detectives was really excellent and witty. For sure I would read a second of this series. Think I would enjoy The New Life. Probably should have a look at some of these as we have come to believe that my father in law was actually a closeted homosexual. Which makes us very sad. So I've ordered that one. We shall see. Great wrap up. Gave me a fair bit to think about. It was a good reading month for me and I'm glad yours was as good or maybe even better.
So pleased you enjoyed The Other Half too. I’ll be excitedly waiting for the next one when it comes. I can’t even imagine what it must be like for people who can’t be even partly true to who they are. It’s still hard sometimes to be fully myself in certain situations so to imagine keeping all your true self hidden, ugh it is hard to even contemplate.
what a fabulous start to your reading year...you have inspired me! I'm currently reading River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer and I read A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe that I picked up at the airport on my way back to Vancouver (from Scotland) and it was a pure delight! I'm looking forward to hearing about your February reads 📚
Thanks, Simon. I really like the focus on how reading makes one feel. "A corking start." Stats are interesting, but I'd rather read one or two books in a month that are meaningful to me rather than a dozen that make me shrug. If I used phrases like "A corking start" I would use that phrase to describe my January as well. I read "Convenience Store Woman" last year and that was my introduction to Sayaka Murata. I wasn't expecting much, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. A bit on the fluffy side, but sometimes one needs a bit of fluffiness. Your statement about Daisy Jones: "I literally devoured it."-- I feel old-fashioned when I still want literally to mean literally. Literally. The first work I think about that describes queer rural life is the short story "Brokeback Mountain" which may not be at all what you are looking for. Perhaps I've stated this before, but it holds true. My favorite read in January was "The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida."
Oooh I really liked Seven Moons. Glad you did too. I’ve never read Brokeback Mountain, seen the film but never read the book so maybe that’s one I should head to. I am so glad that you had a corking start to your 2023 reading too! Ps. I can’t literally start eating books, imagine the carnage that could cause.
Some great reads! I really want to read some of Toni Morrison’s work. I love TJR - my next read will be Malibu Rising. Highlights of Jan were Our Wives Under The Sea, Calypso & A Slow Fire Burning 😊
I just started The New Life today on audio, and that first scene😮...glad I had already dropped my kid off at school! I'm intrigued to continue. I've heard great things. Have you read TJR's The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo? If not, you should get to that one soon.
Hahahaha. It’s quite the opening scene that isn’t it. Hope you enjoy the rest. Evelyn Hugo is on my TBR I might save it till last of that quartet as everyone loves it so much and take Malibu Rising on a very sunny beach holiday next month.
Favorite Reads for January were The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and other stories by Carson McCullers and Chestnut Street, short stories by Maeve Binchy. Started reading The Night Ship by Jess Kidd, Happy Almost Valentine's Day, love you.😍
Earthlings is one of my fave books but I completely get why the ending can be so polarising!! I personally love that Murata is daring enough to take the plot to such weird, dark and extreme places!! I also read The Bluest Eye in January and fell in love with Morrison’s writing 🙌🏾 Although I wasn’t quite expecting how dark some of the themes explored would be!! Excited to pick up Sula later this year too ☺️
I’m very excited for all the Morrison ahead. Very. I thought Earthings was great. I love a bonkers ending and loved this one… it did take away some of the impact of the earlier parts for me though.
It’s not often that those of us without children have to stop what we are doing due to a child having a tantrum. Too funny. Strangely I also read 11 books in January. My favourites were Legends and Lattes, and The Woman In the Library.
Bit of a tangent, but the little you said about Harbour instantly sent my mind to the real story of Linda Hazzrd and two of her patients, Claire and Dorothea Williamson. Interesting, if tragic, tale about dieting. I think I am going to pick up Daisy Jones and The Six after your chat about it. Hope your sinuses are behaving and you get a break from feeling rough!
These sinuses honestly. They get better then worse, better then worse. I’ve talked about them too much though. The Linda Hazzard story hopefully didn’t end up as tragic and horrific as Chloe’s sisters in Harbour. I’ll say no more because of spoilers.
I love TJR and I’m bereft I’ve now read all her books - Forever, Interrupted was one of my favourites in January, along with My Name is Lucy Barton. I’m loving the Savidge prompts btw. Just read my February book 📚
My favourite read of the year was my first read of the year, Sunbathing by Isobel Beech. Aussie which we know you love. (You can try booktopia if you’re not buying from readings still) There is a trigger warning at the front of the book. But it’s a beautiful, subtle novella about grief and friendship and finding stillness in rural life in Italy. It’s made me reflect on how I do the mundane tasks and is just a divine piece of writing. 🌼☀️
Dear Simon! I tried to follow You on Goodreads but unfortunately I can't do it :( I really enjoy Your videos and looking at Your comments or rating would be really helpful in making decisions what to expect before reading something new :) I'm usually reading thrillers but trying to add something new to my TBR list :) thank You for Your work, You seem to be such a warm person!
I have left goodreads I’m afraid Anna. I have joined StoryGraph (and ethically much better site) but am private on there as have to read a lot of secret books for work and prize judging. Thank you for your lovely comment. Hope you keep enjoying the channel.
I loved Honeybee by Craig Silvey. It’s a YA read but is the most beautiful book. I’m late to the party with this one (as usual) but if you haven’t read it, do yourself a favour!
It's lovely to hear how reading by whim has re-invigorated your reading. I hope to be in a similar place with my reading this year too. Happy Reading 😃🌈📚
Many times I've read a blurb and it has had nothing to do with the actual themes of the book. Blurbs are written to sell books, not to describe them. I have ordered the Tom Crewe, it sounds awesome.
Blurbs should describe the book though or it’s a little misleading and can end up with some disappointment, like with Anne and I last month, which could put someone of an author or even an imprint/publisher. It’s crazy. Hope you enjoy Tom Crewe when it arrives.
Have you read The Secret Life of Albert Entwhistle? It is tooth rottenly sweet. Best books in January We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves The Book of Form and Emptiness Daisy Jones and the Six. Have you read The Sleeping Car Porter ? It’s on my TBR for February. Still listening to Deluge by Stephen Markley A Fine Balance ☘️👋🍀📚☕️📕📖
I feel like I'm the only one that doesn't get along with Taylor Jenkins Reid's writing. I know everyone loves her but I've tried three and I just can't get into them. I can't see where the hype comes from. Obviously this a a personal opinion and I'm in the minority, I just felt the need to vent.
We can’t all love all the same writers that would be super boring. I would say just celebrate the ones you do and don’t focus too much on the ones you don’t, or you’ll only make yourself cross. Ha.
My favorite read for January was Six of Crows and my least favorite was Her Majesty’s Secret Coven. very disappointed by this book. Bad language, sos so plot and very YA ish.
Oh that’s a shame. Her Majesty’s Secret Coven was one of my absolute favourites of last year. Camp witchy fun full of action and friendship and with some very progressive and much needed topics for discussion.
