Charlotte's garden of reading in 2024 #2

Hi, I'm Charlotte, based in the north of England. I like to read (like all of us here, I'm sure) and enjoy using the categories to try and nudge my reading along a bit out of the usual tracks.

The lovely beech tree in our back garden became unsafe last year, and has been dramatically chopped back to just a trunk. I'll be trying some new things in the garden to make the most of greater sunlight, and I've ordered a garden journal to try and track my successes (and the plants that don't make it).

After a pretty awful 2023, with lots of related grief-based and comfort reading, I'm looking forward to trying to get back with a bit more focus to my TBR pile in 2024. I'm going to track the books that come into the house (with some trepidation) as well as those that get donated on, as part of an ongoing project of clearing out. I usually end up buying books for the book groups I'm in - I'm going to try and avoid that this year. I'm not sure how successful that's likely to be!

Other than that, I'm recycling categories from last year:
Familiar Faces
New to me
Prizewinners
Women in translation
Graphic novels / manga
African Writers
History / Memoirs
Reading my own books
Plus books bought / books given away

Currently reading by category:
Familiar Faces
New to me My Cousin Rachel
Prizewinners The Forward book of Poetry 2024
Women in translation
Graphic novels / manga N/A
African Writers House of Stone
History / Memoirs
Reading my own books A Woman Is No Man

Familiar Faces
I've got foxglove seedlings I planted a couple of months ago, hoping they will survive to be successful in 2024


1. How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with it (fantasy)
2. Two Masquerades and a Major (romance)
3.The Vaster Wilds (Historical fiction)
4. Double or Nothing (romance)
5. The Bookseller of Inverness (Historical fiction)
6. Normal Rules Don't Apply (short stories)
7. Strictly Business (romance fiction)
8. Strictly Pleasure (ditto)
9. The Wake-Up Call (romcom)
10. Chenneville (Historical fiction)
11. Held (lit fiction)
11. The Fall back plan (romcom)
12. Julia (literary fiction)

New to me (authors I've not read before)

I do like it when the first bulbs come up.
1. The Pit (crime fiction)
2. Girlhood (poetry)
3. Persephone in bloom (romance fiction)
4. Devil's Breath (crime fiction)
5. The Invisible Web (crime fiction in translation)
6. Reykjavik (crime fiction in translation)
7. The Lazarus Solution (crime fiction in translation)
8. Wound (autofiction, in translation)
9. The Tattoo Murder Case (crime fiction in translation)
10. Love in the time of serial killers (romcom)
11. The Dead Romantics (romance/ magical realism)
12. River East River West (literary fiction)
13. In Defence of the Act (ditto)
14. Death in the Blood (journalism / politics)
15. Returning to Reims (memoir / theory)
16. Nightbloom (literary fiction)
17. The Blue Beautiful World (speculative fiction)
18. The Maiden (Historical fiction)

Prizewinners (and nominees)

If I was going to give a prize to anything in my garden, I think it might be this miniature apple tree. If anyone has any unusual apple recipes, I'd love to hear them.

1. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store (Pretty sure James McBride has a few awards on his shelf!)
2. The Treasure of the Spanish Civil War French original won Boccace Prize
3. Cahokia Jazz Author won the Costa First Novel Award, the RSL Ondaatje Prize and the Desmond Elliot Prize and was shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, the Rathbones Folio Prize.
4. River East River West (Women's Prize longlist)
5. In Defence of the Act (Women's Prize longlist)
6. The Years (Nobel)
7. Nightbloom (Women's Prize longlist)
8. The Blue Beautiful World (ditto)
9. Enter Ghost (ditto)
10. The Maiden (ditto)
11. Wifedom (Women's Prize for NF longlist)

Women in translation


1. What you are looking for is in the library (fiction, Japanese)
2. The Postcard (autofiction, French)
3. Deep Dark Blue (crime fiction, German - Switzerland)
4. Almond (YA, Korean)
5. Wound (Autofiction, Russian)
6. The Years (Memoir / history, French)

Graphic novels / manga
I love the vivid colour of these geranium


1. Hungry Ghost (YA)
2. Monica (horror?)
3. Insomniacs After School 2 (manga, YA)
4. Asadora 6 (manga)
5. Aya: Claws Come Out (GN)
6. Tsubaki Chou: Lonely Planet 6
7. Disaster Dates and Lucky Escapes

African Writers
This kniphofia did not last long in the garden. I think too damp. But maybe this year?


1. So Distant from my Life (Burkina Faso)
2. Season of Migration to the North (Sudan)

To read from my shelves in this category:
The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera
The First Woman
Palace Walk
The Cry of Winnie Mandela
Three Strong Women
Going Down River Road
Beyond The Rice Fields
Season of Crimson Blossoms
Segu
Tales of the Metric System
This Mournable Body
House of Stone

History / Memoirs / Politics
I love these sweet peas. They smell amazing.

1. Still Pictures (essays / memoir / photography)
2. Shakespeare's Book (books about books)
3. Black Spartacus Biography
4. Some People Need Killing Memoir
5. Death in the Blood (Journalism / politics / history of medicine/ memoir)
6. The Years (Memoir / French history)
7. Wifedom (Memoir / feminism / literary history)

Reading my own books
Plus books bought / books given away

My own books read:
1. Still Pictures
2. Insomniacs After School 2
3. So Distant from my Life
4. Losing the Dead
5. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country memoir
6. Dinosaurs fiction
7. The Love of Singular Men fiction in translation
8. The Treasure of the Spanish Civil War fiction in translation
9. Returning to Reims (memoir)
10 . The Years (history / memoir)
11. The Neverending Quest for the Other Shore (poetry/ Women in translation)
12. Season of Migration to the North

Books bought:
January
Insomniacs After School 2 (manga) Blackwells
The Forward Prize 2024 (Poetry anthology) Blackwells
About Uncle Peirene subscription
Diary of an Invasion Bakewell buy

Tate Bookshop: Exhibition catalogue

Fell off the wagon at the LRB Bookshop

The Treasure of the Spanish Civil War
A Shining
Greek Lessons
A Strange Woman
Returning to Reims
Look We Have Coming to Dover
A Book Untitled
Merle, a Novella

February
And via the Minnesota History Society -
Survival Schools Julie L. Davis
Mothers United Andrea Dyrness
American Indians and the American Dream Kasey R. Keeler
Seven Aunts Staci Lola Drouillard
Reading Autobiography Now Sidonie Smith

Oxfam bookshop
Memoirs of Hadrian
Madwoman
Wrecked
The Lost Children Archives
Chinatown

The Maiden (Women's Prize longlist)
Wifedom (Women's Prize NF

Books given away:
Dinosaurs
The Love of Singular Men
Losing the Dead
A German Requiem
March: 3 bags worth (but I didn't track them: user error)

Read in January: 28

1. How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with it
2. Two Masquerades and a Major (romance)
3. Still Pictures
4. Hungry Ghost
5. The Wrong Person to Ask
6. Instacrush
7. Monica
8. Vaster Wilds
9. The Pit (crime, New to me)
10. Insomniacs After School 2

11. Strictly for Now
12. Shakespeare's Book
13. Girlhood
14. Persephone in Bloom
15. The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
16. Double or Nothing
17. The Bookseller of Inverness
18. Asadora 6
19. Normal Rules Don't Apply
20. The Final Curtain

21. So Distant from my Life
22. Strictly Business
23. Strictly Pleasure
24. Devil's Breath
25. Black Spartacus
26. The Wake-up Call
27. Iron Lake
28. Strictly Not Yours

Library books read: 12

February 23 (51)

1. Losing the Dead
2. Aya: claws out
3. Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country
4. For Butter or Worse
5. Dinosaurs
6. A Man and his cat vol 2
7. Tom Lake
8. The Love of Singular Men
9. The Postcard
10. With you forever

11. Deep Dark Blue
12. The Treasure of the Spanish Civil War
13. Plot Twist
14. Cahokia Jazz
15. The Soldier (Windham)
16. The Invisible Web
17. Tsubaki Chou: Lonely Planet 6
18. Superstar: snowbound
19. Almond
20. Reykjavik

21. The Lazarus Solution
22. Disaster Dates and Lucky Escapes
23. Some People Need Killing

Library books read 10

March 24 (75)

1. Wound
2. The Tattoo Murder Case
3. Chenneville
4. If you hate me
5. Just don't fall
6. Love in the time of serial killers
7. The Dead Romantics
8. Held
9. River East River West
10. In Defence of the Act

11. Death in the Blood
12. Returning to Reims
13. Walk of Shame
14. The Years
15. Nightbloom
15. The Fall back plan
16. Julia
17. Wild Ride
18. Restless Dolly Maunder
19. Until thy Wrath be Past
20. Vengeance is Mine

21. And Then She Fell
22. The Vulnerables
23. The Neverending Quest for the Other Shore
24. The 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster

Library books read: 16

April 18 (93)

1. Season of Migration to the North
2. Dear Roomie
3. Lady Violet Pays a Call
4. Clinch
5. Disturbing His Peace
6. The Blue Beautiful World
7. Enter Ghost
8. The Maiden
9. Wifedom
10. With Love from Cold World

11. The Home Child
12. Soldier Sailor
14. A Side Character's Love Story
15. Canadian Boyfriend
16. Mrs Gulliver
17. Bad Blood
18. Brotherless Night

Library books read this month 6

Favourites from last year:
Prizewinners The Unseen (I think mostly because I heard the author speak at an online bookclub event.)
New to me authors Brown Girls (I love the collective voice approach she used - reminded me of Julie Otsuka.
Women in translation Ma is Scared (felt like a privilege to see into a community through these stories)
Reading my own books A Fortunate Woman (a fascinating, kind of, follow up to A fortunate man, highlighting the wonder that is the NHS).
Graphic Novels: Ducks: two years in the oil sands (not a light read, by any means, but shows what the format can do in terms of memoir).
History / Memoir Red Memory a book about the Chinese cultural revolution and how it still reverberates today and I Love Russia, journalism about Russia today. I covet a paper copy for both books.

I'm going to try and read the fiction longlist again this year



The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord (requested from the library)
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot (reserved)
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee (requested from the library) and ordered a copy of the pbk out in April
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (requested from the library)
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright Read
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Don't fancy the topic of this one, will probably wait until it makes the shortlist.
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (will try a kindle sample)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (asked the library to buy) (they haven't: ordered the hardback, but bookshop reports low in stock)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (requested from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (requested from the library)
In Defense of the Act by Effie Black (will try a kindle sample)
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure (requested pre list announcement - go me!)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (requested from the library)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - now ordered my own paperback
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie (have this from the library reservation shelf.)

Happy new thread Charlotte. Love all the flower pictures. It is very visually GREAT over here with lots of wonderful reading ideas. !

Happy new thread. YOu've started off the year well! I hope you feel better soon.

Hapy new one, Charlotte.

Happy new thread

Happy New Thread, Charlotte! You are doing really well with the Women's Prize Long list . You are fortunate that your library has so many of the books. My library has five of them, and I've put in a purchase request for two, Enter Ghost and Brotherless Night. My library only allows you to put in two purchase requests per week, which I guess is reasonable.

Happy new thread and best of luck reading the women's longlist, Charlotte.

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

Happy New Thread, Charlotte. I'll be waiting for the short list but will be interested in your thoughts on all the books.

>11 mdoris: It's a good job for the photos, as apart from some daffodils (I cheated and bought some that were about to flower) it's just buds and leaves outside at the moment. I feel like I've been picking up dead leaves for months!

>12 BLBera: Thanks Beth. I signed up for a free short programme at the work gym (through work's occupational health). I'm hoping it might help avoid some of the back issues. I'm on the market for multi-vitamins, if anyone has any recommendations...

>13 katiekrug: Thanks Katie. I have been mostly lurking on your thread.

>14 lowelibrary: Thanks April. I can't find your thread to return the visit, I'm sorry. I feel like I've lost the knack of LT threads, I'm not sure if it's my phone or something I'm doing differently!

>15 vancouverdeb: Thanks Deborah. I should probably point out that my library does say "no" when a) there is no money left in the budget and b) when their supplier can't get hold of it. Plus they will also ask me sometimes if I want to pay £14 for a loan from somewhere else (generally, no thank you, but I appreciate the offer...).

>16 Familyhistorian: Thanks Meg. It's good to aim high, I keep getting told, so...

>17 FAMeulstee: I'll do my best, Betty. Some of them definitely sound more appealing than others at the moment. I am usually surprised by at least one book that sounded like it wouldn't work for me from the blurb and ended up as amazing.

I finished Chenneville the night before last. I really loved News of the World but Enemy Women which I picked up because of News of the World just didn't quite hit the spot. So wasn't sure which way this would take me, but was hopeful based on the reviews.

In a week when I was feeling like my battery had run out of charge, this was really compelling. I felt caught up in John's account, as he recovered from a near-fatal wound at the end of the Civil War, and then heard some terrible news about his family. What follows is a travel narrative from Missouri to Texas, and I was completely absorbed in it.

...he watched from under a verandah roof at Beason's landing while shivering men fought with the soaked hemp rope over the Colorado. All the surface of that widening river was torn with raindrops as big as field peas. He listened to the talk of others also waiting. They spoke of little things, things that mattered. The death of a baby from fever, that Jameson's mare had come home herself after being stolen, that a man had come who read aloud from newspapers gathered from the entire world over, including stories of polar explorers and sinking ships in the Atlantic Ocean, that there was coffee and sugar for sale in San Felipe.

Happy new thread, Charlotte!

Happy new thread. Hopefully the garden will start blooming soon. What with all the rain, it had better start doing something. My massed ranks of hellebores are putting on a fine show. I;d take credit if I actually did anything to them, but they seem to take care of themselves!

I am so glad Chenneville worked for you, Charlotte. I was wondering if the post Civil War time period would work as well for people outside the United States.

I’ve added Chenneville to my list.

>20 charl08:, >23 BLBera: Charlotte so glad that you found Chenneville absorbing especially on a week with low battery charge and yes to Beth. I am outside the U.S. and loved the book finding it such a travelogue in nature and a quest for justice.

I have many daffs coming out right now but they have to be tough as there are high winds , buckets of rain and even snow last week. i do love daffs though!

Happy new thread! I've been enjoying looking at the teeny tiny leaf and flower buds appearing in the garden, and I'm looking forward to the colour I'll get later in the year.

>19 charl08: I am here if you want to visit.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/356669

Happy New Thread, Charlotte! I added Chenneville to my WL, too.

>18 dudes22: Thanks Betty, sorry I missed you there.

>21 MissWatson: Thanks Birgit

>22 Helenliz: Thanks Helen. It's been so wet here, I'm impressed the garden hasn't washed away.

>23 BLBera: I did quite a bit of US history at uni but I think even if you don't know any post-war context I think so many of the themes about conflict and grief are contemporary again, if not universal.

>24 hailelib: Hope you like it!

>25 mdoris: >26 mdoris: I love daffodils too. I think the garden is too wet for too long for the bulbs to like it long term.

>27 Jackie_K: Yes, I'm enjoying the green shoots and the winter bloomers.

>28 lowelibrary: Thanks, I will visit (ed to add: have visited!).

>29 MissBrangwen: Hope you like it Mirjam.

>20 charl08: News of the World as long been on my pile, so I wont read the latest until I have got to that Charlotte, but glad it was a hit.

>32 Caroline_McElwee: Ooh, you have a treat to come there then Caroline. A lovely read.

I am making progress with the Women's Prize List, but not that fast. I spent so much time trying to get into Wolf Hall , to page 365 or something. I did finish Nightbloom last night and for me it was a 4 star read , good, but not great. Certainly worth reading. I am about 25 pages into Restless Dolly Maunder right now. I am enjoying it and I think it will be another good read. Sorry about the hassles you are having with Enter Ghost, the e- copy from your library. That's so disappointing. I have put a purchase request for that one to my library , so fingers crossed. It doesn't come out here until mid April in paper back . So I'll wait and see.

>34 vancouverdeb: Sounds good Deborah. I am annoyed about the Hammad formatting as I was enjoying the content. I think for me better to wait for a paper copy.

I am still feeling low energy/ fatigue so am going to try and get a Dr appointment again.

Dead Romantics
Magical realism (MC sees dead people) plus romance equals a very readable book I was delighted to find in my library's borrowbox e-book collection. Mostly set in a charming small town with a quirky family who run the local funeral parlour. Think Fun Home without the angst. The book is liberally sprinkled with references to other romance authors, so may add to your wishlist. Unfortunately I realised "the twist" about half way through, otherwise I think I'd have liked it even more.

I also read Love in the Time of Serial Killers which I simultaneously enjoyed and was annoyed by the (entirely minor role in the story) depiction of academic job acquisition. I am prepared to admit this is unlikely to bother anyone else!

I've also been reading (but haven't finished)Return to Reims which I'm liking except the bits where the author feels the need to shift into academic theory gear. I'm definitely here for the memoir side of his writing, about leaving his working class background and moving to Paris. I've been reading Annie Ernaux's The Years in small chunks at work during lunchbreaks, and Eribon keeps referring to her descriptions, which is a nice link.

In the women's prize longlist reading, I think this had been a casualty of the fatigue. I'm a couple of chapters into River East River West, and have an online copy of In Defence of the Act, but that's it really.

In Defence of the Act sounds like a dark read, I think. I'm not sure if I will get to that one. Maybe if it makes the short list. Sorry that you are feeling that huge fatigue, and I hope your doctor can figure out something that works for you. My library has ordered a paper copy of Enter Ghost, so I am happy about that. When it will get to me, I'm not sure. I did finish Restless Dolly Maunder and did a bit of a review, and I'm just going to start on The Wren , The Wren.

I'm glad Dead Romantics was so readable for you. That is a always a good feeling!

Well, I am about 75 pages into The Wren, The Wren and not liking it much at all. I'll try to push on with it.

I'm quite enjoying River East, River West so far.

>36 vancouverdeb: >37 vancouverdeb: I hope the Enright improved for you.
I was so impressed with how she did the young woman's voice, but I found her a nicer character to hear from as the book progressed.

Thanks for the good health wishes . Healthwise, I described my symptoms and they've given me HRT, so I'm hoping this will be the "miracle cure" some people seem to find it to be (I know not foe everyone. I am rather keen for some hope just now! ) Either that or I'm going to have to find some previously unidentified stores of motivation just to keep going with the day to day. I have ordered a copy of the Hammad. I collect stamp cards at the local indy bookshop and I am hoping this will be the book where I actually remember to use them to claim my discount!

>38 elkiedee: Ooh, I've just finished that one.

Update re my women's prize for fiction longlist reading.

Read:
I normally order the ones Ive read, but I like these three about the same. Not swept away, but good reads.
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright



The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord (requested from the library)
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot (reserved)
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee (requested from the library) and ordered a copy of the pbk out in April
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (I have this from the library)
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Don't fancy the topic of this one, will probably wait until it makes the shortlist.
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (will try a kindle sample)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (asked the library to buy) (they haven't: ordered the hardback, but bookshop reports low in stock)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have this from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (requested from the library)
In Defense of the Act by Effie Black (reading on Libby)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (have this from the library)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - now ordered my own paperback
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie (have this from the library reservation shelf.)

I feel that way about my Women's Prize read, Charlotte. Good, some very good, but not swept away by anything yet. I'm a little past the half way point in The Wren, The Wren and I think it is going to my least liked of the Longlist that I have read.

Here are my ranking so far.

Western Lane
Nightbloom
Restless Dolly Maunder

All three are 4 star reads for me, so not much difference.

I have River East, River West and Brotherless Night. I'll get to them soonish.

I think my next read I will take a break from the Longlist and read some fun Scandicrime.

I hope the HRT works. Getting a discount or a free book will be lovely!

River East River West

On the women's prize longlist, and a first novel.

It's a dual narrative, one centred on a Chinese man and the daughter of an American single mum living (struggling) in Shanghai. The teenager's narrative makes it seem (at first) like a conventional coming of age story, but ultimately that development also seems to be as much about a significant move to maturity and understanding for her parents too. The story jumps over decades so you get a sense of the rapid change families lived through. I really liked the contrast of this context to the teenager's experiences in class of official communist narratives, group exercises and exam prep in the midst of the economic boom (2008).

"How long are you here for?" the girl asked when she returned with a new glass of rum and Coke for Alva.
"Four nights."
"Where from?"
"Shanghai."
The girl nodded. "We get a lot of guests from Shanghai. But you are not Chinese?"
"I'm half Chinese." Except in Mandarin there was no good way to say this. The closest thing was: I am half a Chinese person.

Do I want it to be shortlisted? I didn't "love" it, but think it would be a worthy "shortlistee" (I just made that word up, I think!).

>41 vancouverdeb: I do love a voucher and a discount, and I like supporting this indy shop. My only bugbear is they don't open late, which means I've got to wait until Saturdays to pick up books!

I also think I might pick up something else next. Not sure what!

Held
This is a very original, episodic novel, with beautiful writing. Some sections really connected with me. There's a heartbreaking section about a portrait photographer after WW1, living with his memories and injuries. So I loved particular parts, but as a coherent story it didn't pull together for me. I think I might try again when it comes out in paperback and I can read it in one go on holiday with more focus.

There are so many ways the dead show us they are with us. Sometimes they stay deliberately absent, in order to prove themselves by returning. Sometimes they stay close and then leave in order to prove they were with us. Sometimes they bring a stag to a graveyard, a cardinal to a fence, a song on the wireless as soon as you turn it on. Sometimes they bring a snowfall.

>42 charl08:, >43 charl08: Great comments. I am about 50 pages into Enter Ghost and it is good so far. We'll see. I do have a physical copy, which I am glad of after reading your comments on the e-reader copy.

>44 BLBera: Thanks Beth.

I've started reading Death in the Blood which is making me *so* angry. Possibly not the most relaxing reading.

The paperback of Enter Ghost is having supply issues, despite being due out this week... frustrating!

Trying to have a bit of a clear out of the bookshelves. Like pulling teeth! Nice to have a bit more space though.

In Defence of the Act
(Women's Prize longlist)
First person narrative of a scientist who researches a strange phenomenon in a particular kind of post-menopausal spider: some of them kill themselves by eating their own legs

This turns out to be a sidenote really: the focus here is on *why* Jessica is so interested in suicide. The narrative jumps around in time so we're aware something very bad is going to happen, and it does.

.. people who grow up surrounded by chaos and fear are more likely to..... suffer cancer, heart disease, and auto-immune disorders. Maybe you think of course they're more likely to be unhealthy if they're more depressed and they're drinking more? Well no. Because these scientists have shown that when you stress out young mice, they go on to have screwed up minds and bodies, and that certainly isn't because they spend too much time in the pub.

I would be surprised if this one makes it through to the shortlist, just because it doesn't seem very "literary". Packs a punch.

Death in the Blood
This is one of two books written by journalists involved in uncovering the contaminated blood scandal in the UK. In short, thousands of people died (and continue to die) as the result of this. From the book, it becomes clear that this was almost entirely avoidable. In the 1970s, had money been spent as promised, the UK would have been self-sufficient in blood products and not had to import from US commercial companies reliant on prisoners and other desperate donators.

Several things made things worse, including doctors apparently thinking they could treat haemophiliac patients like guinea pigs, ignoring the evidence of people getting sick, of available heat treatments and even unbelievably when even the US banned untreated blood, the NHS continued to buy it.

Successive governments tried to pretend that they hadn't had the means to avoid the issue (and trying to make the surviving patients go away with a badly-run support fund). The book is full of heartbreaking stories of lives affected by this scandal. It opens with the accounts of former students at a college for children with disabilities, which included children with haemophilia. Almost all were infected with hepatitis, many with HIV. Surviving students are left to recount witnessing their friends die young.

The intransigence of the UK Government is difficult to understand. Perversely, commercial imports were more expensive than UK products, since the price included payment to donors and profit for the companies. If Westminster and Whitehall had decided to shoulder the upfront costs of producing enough home-grown blood product, perhaps they would have saved money and lives in the long run.

In a rare newspaper interview on the contaminated blood scandal in 2015, Cash* told me: 'One doesn't always want to be a prophet of doom, but I questioned whether we knew enough about what we were doing.

Despite an inquiry, its not clear of the final support families affected by this will be able to access.
https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/england-infected-blood-support-scheme

The author is fond of tabloid-style descriptions at times ("heart of gold", "immaculate home") but this seems pretty petty of me to mention given their commitment to this story.

*One of the doctors that did call for the NHS to change policies re imported blood.

>48 charl08: I had never heard of this, Charlotte. How scary!

>47 charl08: Not sure about this one. It hasn't been calling my name, so I probably won't search for it unless it goes on the SL.

>49 BLBera: Yes, not something the UK want to shout about. Although the contaminated blood was also an issue elsewhere (eg Ireland) the book argues we were particularly crap at supporting those affected.

>50 BLBera: I was glad I read it, just as it didn't seem like something I normally would - and I do like that aspect of the longlist.

>39 charl08: The HRT was a game changer for me and really made me question why I had been so reluctant to try it. If it doesn't do the trick for you, please go back and push them to find out what's going on.

Thanks for these short reviews of the longlisted books. My goal (so far unrealized) is to not fall for lists and to read in a more spontaneous way, so you're helping me by narrowing down the list into books I am truly interested in.

>47 charl08: I'm not sure if I am going to read In Defence of The Act or not, Charlotte. I'm not keen on reading a book about suicide. We lost Dave's brother to suicide when Bob as in his early 40's. He left behind a note on his computer saying he neither the will nor the financial means to continue living. He rarely communicated with the family, so it was quite unexpected. He was also somewhat paranoid, and clearly was suffering with depression, and in talking to Dave's dad afterwards, I would guess schizophrenia as well. I always knew Bob as a kind, quiet person, possibly a bit eccentric. So it's a topic that maybe hits to close to home for me.

It does not sound like Death in Blood was any more cheerful, maybe less so!

I did finish The Wren, The Wren and put a review on my thread. I'm am glad to have started some scandicrime, The Prey. What's a little murder among friends?

>52 RidgewayGirl: Thanks Kay. I think awareness is a lot better at the moment as there has been a lot more public discussion of the impact of menopause. I'm hopeful it makes a difference for me.

In terms of lists - I like to have a reason to read new books that I might not otherwise pick up. You are very good at finding new writers and different books, so I could imagine lists might be a distraction.

>53 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, I can see why you might want to pass on this one. It's a tough subject and the novel doesn't shy away from it.

Death in the Blood did make me angry but looked at from another perspective: it's a story about small groups getting together and using group activism to lobby government. There's also the role of the press, which effectively forced the government to admit what had happened. Although that doesn't bring anyone back, of course. Two of the politicians involved were looking to change the way people affected by cases of government malpractice could complain. The idea is to introduce a public representative role, a person who would be responsible for chasing cases so that the families didn't have to do things alone.
I'm not sure that's got very far with all the political change we've had recently.

Hope you enjoy your scandicrime.

Returning to Reims
I finished this last night, but it's been on my wishlist since 2018. It's billed as a memoir but I'd term it more memoir with added academic theory. I found the theoretical bits mostly unengaging, but the straight memoir bits were compelling. He describes his estrangement from his father, his father's death and then his reconnection with his mother.

Following this, memories of growing up in a working class family that didn't understand his desire to stay in school, excel and go to university. Eribon turns this account into a reflection on his identity as a gay working class man, trying to work out both how these identities interacted, how his 'transformation' away from the working class community in Reims to a journalist, writer and finally Professor in Paris took place, and at what cost.

>48 charl08: That sounds like an excellent book. We have a close family member with haemophilia who - thank God - wasn't affected by the infected blood scandal, but easily could have been. The way those poor people have been treated over the years is horrific.

>55 charl08: I have Returning to Reims at the shelves. Frank has read it, liked the theoretical bits better than you did. I might get to it one day.

>56 Jackie_K: It is awful. I was just listening on the radio news to how this is now just one of three big compensation claim the government is facing. It doesn't make me hopeful about the chance for meaningful restitution.

>57 FAMeulstee: I'm glad Frank enjoyed it. I'd guess I'm in the minority given its bestseller status!

>40 charl08: I'm waiting for the shortlist.

Everyone I know who has had a lurgy said the energy drain goes on for a while.

I wonder whether the covid vaccines changed the make-up of our immune system, as longer lurgy's and drained energy has been common since.

That sounds very sensible Caroline. I do enjoy "the chase" of trying to get hold of as many books as I can. I'm still, ridiculously, planning to read the longlist across kindle, my own books (if it ever arrives at the bookshop), library books, ebooks from work....
So far the meds seem to be helping with the exhaustion, so idk. I've gone back to just being tired!

Things are starting to look a bit more promising in the garden.

Glad you're feeling less tired.
Love the flower pics. My hellebores are putting on a brave show.

>60 charl08: Love the photos! Primula are big favourites for me.

Beautiful flowers, Charlotte, and great photos of them. I was out walking yesterday and enjoyed seeing the flowers in bloom here too.

>60 charl08: Beautiful flowers Charlotte.

Thanks Helen, Mary, Caroline and Deborah. I just got a notice that some of the plants I ordered are on the way.

Some witch grass: https://www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/panicum-capillare-sparkling-fountain/classi...

And I'm going to cheat with lettuce seedlings as well. Although I'm going tonhave to work out how to protect them from the pigeons who seem to be visiting the garden a lot at the moment.

I finished some books:
Walk of Shame
A steamy (what I would term) hockey-adjacent romance, part of the series set in the fictional Harbor Lights community.

The Years
I've been reading this on and off for months, I really loved it and took it into work as I could pick it up at lunchtime and read a few pages and do the same thing a couple of days later. What Ernaux achieved with this book is remarkable. She covers a lifetime's worth of French history from her own "ordinary" perspective. All is important, so the impact and awareness of national and international events are recounted as are her own choices, including her ambitions to write and her divorce and subsequent relationships. Each section is framed by a description of a photo of herself as she ages, accompanied by family. This device seems to enable her to look back on the past and acknowledge the changing meaning of some of the events and experiences she has recounted.

In a Dorothea Tanning painting she saw in a show three years before in Paris, a bare chested woman stands before a row of doors that stand ajar. The title was Birthday. She thinks this painting represents her life and that she is inside it, as she was once inside Gone with the Wind. Jane Eyre, and later Nausea. with every book she reads. To the Lighthouse, Rezvani's Any-lumière, she wonders if she could write her life in that way too.

She is visited by fleeting images of her parents in the small Normandy town, her mother taking off her work coat to go to evening prayer, her father coming up from the garden with a spade over his shoulder, a slow-moving world that continues to exist, more surreal than a film and far removed from the world in which she lives, modern and cultivated, forward-moving - towards what is difficult to say.

Between what happens in the world and what happens to her, there is no point of convergence. They are two parallel series: one abstract, all information no sooner received than forgotten, the other all static shots.

NightBloom
Women's Prize longlist.
Initially this seemed a familiar narrative, the story of a child growing up in (insert African country here) and then moving to the US. I was reminded particularly of Americanah as Akorfa started her pre-med degree, Medie is exploring similar territory here.
For me this took a long time to become a story that held my attention. I liked how the author explored adult friendships, and the tensions over choices that seemed bearable as students but can abruptly or gradually lead to the end of those relationships. However, the narrative shifts to Selasi half way through and the book was much richer for it. Akorfor and Selasi's reconnection in crisis in Accra was a satisfying end to what could have otherwise been quite a depressing read

Some days we went to Osu and joined the crowds to walk up and down Oxford Street and window-shop. When we tired, we stopped for food, always paid for by Akorfa, at one of the fast-food restaurants, and sometimes her friends joined us. And how those friends of hers looked at them- selves! As if only their eyes had opened in this world and the rest of us could not see where we were going. Showing off with their ready-made dresses, sri sri sri English, mobile phones, and long hair. One of them even had the audacity to open her mouth and say that Ho was a village, and Akorfa could not even correct her properly.

Recommended.

My fiction longlist update:



The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord (requested from the library)
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot (started on libby ebooks)
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee (requested from the library) and ordered a copy of the pbk out in April
Restless Dolly Maunder by Kate Grenville (I have a copy from library)
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Don't fancy the topic of this one, will probably wait until it makes the shortlist.
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (asked the library to buy) (they haven't: ordered the hardback, but bookshop reports low in stock)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (requested from the library)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (started the hard copy from the library)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - now ordered my own paperback

Read
Would like to see on the shortlist:
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read

I wouldn't shortlist
In Defense of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright

It's tough call so far for me, what might make the shortlist, Charlotte, as I detailed on my thread. Nothing is saying " short list me " as yet, though I have liked Nightbloom, Western Lane and Restless Dolly Maunder very much. Not so much The Wren , The Wren. I plan to read more from the short list soon, so then maybe something will jump out at me more. I'd be fine with Nightbloom, Western Lane or Restless Dolly Maunder making the shortlist. Like you, I would not shortlist The Wren , The Wren. I think my favourite of what I have read so far is Western Lane. I have River East , River West and Brotherless Night on hand to read, and I am waiting on copies from the library for Ordinary Human Failings and the library has ordered Enter Ghost but when it will actually get to the library, I'm not sure. I confess Sailor , Soldier is arriving today from amazon ca because my library only has it in e format and Canadian Libraries only support Kobo's and I have Kindle. I have also ordered some time ago The Maiden and in week or two expect it will arrive from the UK.

I did put a purchase request for Soldier , Sailor into my library, but I guess since they have in e book format, they are not purchasing it as a physical book.

I think my library has And Then She Fell and perhaps also 8 Lives of a Trickster but so far I have not put holds on those, as I have plenty of books on hand at the moment and they don't seem to be in demand at my library.

>60 charl08: I do love hellebores. Yours is lovely.

>66 charl08: The Years is an extraordinary book. I've picked up a novella by Ernaux, but haven't started it. I've also made note of Nightbloom -- I'm trying to be judicious in what longlist books I read, but this sounds great.

>68 vancouverdeb: Maybe they should include a bookmark for the publisher saying "shortlist me!" I haven't got very far since I last posted, I had a pretty relaxed weekend of skipping between books not finishing much.

>69 RidgewayGirl: I have some white hellebores too, but they're nowhere near as dramatic.

I was trying to have a ruthless anti-saving non-fiction books policy, as I've run out of space, but Annie Ernaux made me wonder if I should have a memoir exclusion clause. (It's also been abandoned as when I tried to clear the NF I found loads I couldn't bear to chuck either, so...)

Julia
Sandra Newman retells 1984, but from the perspective of Julia rather than Winston. There's lots of detail here, from the everyday lives of workers below Smith. Julia's life makes clear Smith had it quite nicely, actually. Julia's co-workers are forced to live in hostels and participate in bizarre campaigns with bizarre names, from the chastity walks (where Julia finds somewhere she can have sex with Winston) to the enforced artificial insemination, black market trading in chocolate and other goods. It reminded me of Margaret Atwood, and in keeping with Orwell preserves the nods to bonkers-level Stalinism with some additional reflections on what happens to the 'little-people' in every apparent 'emancipatory' state change.

Then there was the absurdity of O'Brien feigning to take Winston's answers seriously, when Winston had no capacity to do the least of these things. Never mind espionage; even to get a job as a dock worker was beyond his powers. He was an office clerk who cowered from rats. He couldn't even buy his own black-market goods! Murder, blackmail, suicide - he hadn't the foggiest conception what these words really meant. It made her conscious, as she'd never been before, that thoughtcrime was nothing to do with crime. It wasn't even a prelude to real crime.

And for this, he was to be condemned? One might as well execute a boy of six for saying he would like to be a pirate.

“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store,” by contrast, found its success in large part through support from bookstores, McLean said. The novel was chosen as the best book of 2023 by both Barnes & Noble and Amazon, and was supported by independent stores, as well. And then there’s the strength of the novel itself, which is a story of justice, love and community that has resonated with readers.....

James McBride on his recent success:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/23/books/booksupdate/james-mcbride-heaven-and-ea...

>70 charl08: I was wondering about this one, Charlotte. I was thinking I should reread 1984 and then take on Wifedom and Julia. Maybe it will happen.

>72 BLBera: I was tempted by Julia too, but like you I think I would need to reread 1984 first, and to be honest I'd rather read Orwell's Roses.

>73 Jackie_K: Oh, that's another one I would like to read.

Many of the Book-tubers predicted Julia would have been on the Women's Prize for Fiction, but it wasn't . It sounds interesting but a bit depressing, like 1984 . My copy of The Maiden arrived in the mail today, which was nice, and Enter Ghost is in transit to me at the library.

Meanwhile I'm enjoying some great Scandcrime, The Prey.

Hi Charlotte!

I don't follow any prizes, but I thought of you a few days ago - I was in London and visited the Waterstones at Trafalgar Square, and I recognized all the titles in one display from your thread, so I realized it must be a display of the Women's Prize for Fiction :-)

>72 BLBera: I don't think you need to reread 1984.
But that might just be because I didn't bother.

>73 Jackie_K: >74 BLBera: I also want to read Orwell's Roses.

>75 vancouverdeb: I would have voted for it: it's a gripping novel. I also have The Maiden to read.

>76 MissBrangwen: That's so nice of you to say. I don't think I've been to that one. The Gower St has an amazing history collection, dangerous! Hope you had a fun break.

My fction longlist update:



The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord (I have from the library)
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot (started on libby ebooks)
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee (requested from the library) and ordered a copy of the pbk out in April
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Don't fancy the topic of this one, will probably wait until it makes the shortlist.
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (asked the library to buy) (they haven't: ordered the hardback, but bookshop reports low in stock)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (bought my own copy)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (started the hard copy from the library)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - now ordered my own paperback

Read
Would like to see on the shortlist:
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read

Not on my shortlist
In Defense of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville

>65 charl08: Love the witch grass Charlotte.

>66 charl08: The Years is definitely due a reread.

Thanks for the update on your Women's Long List reading, Charlotte. I think I will have to read more from the list to decide what should make the short list. Personally, I did not like The Wren , The Wren, so fine with me to not see it on the shortlist. I do think Western Lane would be fine on the shortlist , but I felt like Nightbloom and Restless Dolly Maunder were more or less on par with each other, with Nightbloom being the slightly better read. I hope you have a lovely Easter Weekend.

>60 charl08: Gorgeous garden photos!

I've been enjoying your reviews of the Women's Prize long list. I've not read anything on the list yet but River East, River West sounds really interesting and I also want to read And Then She Fell, as I loved Alicia Elliott's collection of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground.

Wifedom (on the Women's Prize for non-fiction longlist) is 99p on Kindle today. I'm glad to have read it from the library first but happy to have a Kindle copy to keep.

>83 Jackie_K: It was on kobo for 99p yesterday so I snapped it up too! I mean, it would have been rude not to.

>79 Caroline_McElwee: I'm still waiting for the seedlings, although maybe that's a good thing, as I checked the frost list and apparently I'm supposed to wait for another couple of weeks until this area is 'safe' to plant. Well, safe-ish.

>80 vancouverdeb: Your approach sounds very sensible Deborah. I have rather jumped the gun. Some more came in at the library so I have a few more to add to the list.

>81 mathgirl40: I hadn't come across her essays, thank you for sharing the title. I'll have a look. I had mixed feelings about her novel, but glad I persevered.

>82 elkiedee: >83 Jackie_K: Thanks for posting. I have picked up a copy.

I finished some more books

17. Wild Ride
This continued a hockey romance series I have on autobuy. The dog shelter was a central plot setting here. On particularly frustrating days at work (and probably fuelled by all the dog-adopting / training reality tv I've consumed recently) I imagine this would be a nice career change. I suspect the lack of smello-vision in books and TV is a key factor in this day dream.

18. Restless Dolly Maunder

Because it was long past the moment when it would have been normal for Jim to say, How about we get married, Dolly? It was coming to her that he wasn't going to say anything like that. Not today, not tomorrow.

As far as she could see, being Catholic or Protestant wasn't such a big thing. Church was just what you did once a week. You said the prayers and you sang the hymns and then afterwards you stood outside the church having a good old gasbag. The C of Es like the Maunders stood outside their church and the RCs like the Murphys stood outside theirs, and then for the rest of the week you were just all in together. You bought your flour from their shop, you all went to school together, and it was only on Sundays that there was any difference that you could see.

But if a person was a Catholic it was the first thing you'd be told about them, as if it mattered.

I've read a few by Kate Grenville, and was a bit surprised at the apparently straightforward approach taken here - her earlier books seemed a lot more complex. In the afterword she explains that Dolly's story is her grandmother's life, fictionalised to fill in the details Grenville never knew.
Dolly's rather ordinary life makes sense as a kind of everywomen figure in the period, forced to run the home due to the absence of other choices. At the end of the book she also acknowledges the absences (aboriginal, predominantly), justifying them as historically accurate for the time. I think I would have been more impressed had she managed to embed these difficult questions in the novel itself.

19. Until thy Wrath be Past
I went to add this to LT a couple of chapters in, only to realise I'd read this scandicrime back in 2019. As I remembered *nothing*, I kept reading. No memory of it whatsoever. A missing young person's case in an isolated Swedish community turns out to be murder with long historical roots linked to the community's involvement in WW2.

As a key part of the book was the murdered young woman visiting the characters, I found it a bit too 'woo woo' for me, I think because I prefer my crime fiction to be literal rather than mystic.

20. Vengeance is Mine (women in translation)
A relatively short novel, just over 200 pages, but not for me, and difficult to finish.

Told in a long stream of consciousness, it feels like it never pauses for breath. The main character is asked to take on the case of a woman who has killed her children. The husband, who asks her to take the case, reminds her of a rich boy she met when she was a child. But she's not sure if it's the same person (and never asks). Outside of work, she has an odd relationship with an ex-partner, who asks her to look after his child. She also has a fraught relationship with her housekeeper, an illegal immigrant who is relying on her to get legal status to stay in France.
The book never seemed to go anywhere, and I was left completely confused as to what I was supposed to take from the novel (beyond that the main character made me want to shake her).

21. And Then She Fell
One of the women's prize longlist, from Canada. I am not a fan of fiction about psychosis, I think it rarely works. I'm also not great with magical realism (although I really appreciated hearing recently from an academic who talked about reading it as a non-western response to narrative traditions). That said, about three quarters of the way in, the novel flipped and from a relentlessly grim account that seemed like it could only end one way, some more hope appeared. Alongside the main narrative, chapters alternate with the central character's writing about a creation myth:

The stuff about Mature Flowers's dad is pretty heavily editorialized compared to most versions of the Creation Story I've heard. In most versions, he's not even her dad but her uncle. He does show up, tell her to marry the Ancient, then leave. But most other storytellers don't dwell on why he's doing this or what its effects on Mature Flowers are. They also don't talk about Mature Flowers going back to the Great Tree to try to talk to her father again. I made that part up. Instead, Mature Flowers unquestioningly does everything that's asked of her. Not that different from Jesus's mom, Mary, now that I think about it. Maybe that's another stamp Christianity has left on our people's minds and stories. Maybe it says some- thing about the agency afforded women in colonized spaces- even women specifically tasked with birthing revolution and new worlds, like Mary and Mature Flowers. Maybe it's a "coincidence."

22. The Vulnerables (familiar faces)
I really like Nunez's writing. This novel made me laugh out loud - here she's an author asked to come up with questions for a book group.

Imagine that you are the main character: How would you have behaved differently from her/him/them?

If you could ask the author one question, what would it be?

I give it a go:

Which of the characters in the book would you like most to go to bed with? How do you imagine sex with that person would be?

Rewrite the novel in your own words. Explain why your version is superior.

Draw a mustache on the author photo. Would you have liked the book better if it had been written by a man?

Although a pandemic novel, it seemed similar to her previous choice of setting around a more personal loss. I'm choosing not to look to closely at the autofiction question. I also liked the 'student question' - someone who asked her (novel character) if she made anything up!

23. The Neverending Quest for the Other Shore
This is one that I started reading with great ambition last year, thinking that the dual language printing would help me do some french reading. However, it turns out that a narrative poem about early African sea expeditions mostly involves new vocabulary that isn't terribly helpful in a wider context.
Still interesting, but not an author I'd rush to pick up again.

24. The 8 Lives of a Century-old Trickster
Another novel that has been longlisted Women's prize for fiction, this time by a South Korean author. I think this is my favourite of those I've read so far. The 'Trickster' of the title is a nursing home resident with a life encompassing war, the political divide between the two Koreas, and much more. I am being deliberately vague as I think the discovery of those 'lives' and how they interconnect is half the joy of the book.

And poison wasn't a stranger to me not at all. It was a face in a crowd, familiar, shooting me a furtive smile. Or a little sentinel, keeping guard on my pocket full of dark secrets. With you, I've already toppled two men, she whispered, into my ear. Yes, it was she, not he, for it was, they say, a feminine way of doing it: underhand and insidious, therefore never a manly enough means. For me, it was the only conceivable method, as helpless as I had been, stripped of choices and dignity. When the hands that ought to protect you come to strangle your life out of you, you feel no shame in turning to the only set of teeth you're left with. Poison, for the love of God, was true democracy: it didn't discriminate - it would get you, rich or poor, Communist or capitalist, woman or man.

So in terms of the women's prize:
8 books to go on the longlist.

Read
Would like to see on the shortlist:
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot

Not on my shortlist
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville

I am reading and really liking And Then She Fell, Charlotte. 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster is one I would like to read, but so far it's not available in my library. You are zipping right along with the Women's Prize books.

Thanks for the quote from The Vulnerables; the book discussion questions are pretty funny.

>86 charl08: and >88 charl08: For UK readers, The Vulnerables and Western Lane (listed for Booker and Women's Prize) are also among the 99p offers this month.

I have a Netgalley of 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster but used to keep seeing it on the new book display at one of my libraries for a while. Will have to place a reservation at some point but probably when I've read at least 2 of my 3 latest collected reservations.

I also found Greta & Valdin on display when I last visited the library.

>86 charl08: I like the provocative potential author questions.
Making impressive progress through the shortlist. I once had a plan to read the winners... maybe next year!

Catching up after a week away, Charlotte, a lot to read here!

Love your spring photos, always good when colors come back in the garden.
Glad to see you enjoyed The Years by Annie Ernaux, I loved it.
I might want to read The Vulnerables. I liked her previous book The Friend.

Wow! Great progress on the The Women's LongList prize, Charlotte. I hope to start Enter Ghost, though it is already getting late this evening. I have 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster in transit from a hold at the library, so I hope I can some solid reading time in soon. I hope you had a good Easter Weekend.

>89 BLBera: I have looked at Alicia Elliott's non-fiction book online and am thinking I might read that. I tend to do better with NF on this topic than fiction.

>90 elkiedee: >91 elkiedee: Hope you can fit in the Trickster amongst all those reservations, I really liked that one.

>92 Helenliz: They made me laugh, Helen. The book as a whole was so observant, rather bleakly funny. All those weird things people did during lockdown, it brought it back.

>93 FAMeulstee: I must take some more pictures, there is quite a bit more life there now. Although not a lot more colour (other than green!) I am a bit stuck because of my tennis elbow. I want to be planting but I'm not very good at using my left arm.

The Ernaux was marvellous. I must try and read more by her.

>94 vancouverdeb: Enter Ghost still hasn't turned up at the bookshop. Although that's not the bookseller's fault, I just looked up the publication date for the paperback and it's not until the 6th!

I decided to take a break from the women's prize, and read some other stuff.

1. Season of Migration to the North
This was one I was weirdly convinced I'd read, but I think I must have mixed it up with So Long a Letter which it definitely isn't. The narrator returns to his home town following study for a PhD in the UK. He meets a man who presents himself to the community as a former businessman from Khartoum. It turns out he is much more than this. A fascinating book, but it felt very much of its time: women are 'othered' throughout the narrative, men are the only ones with access to education. The Sudanese community in the book is trying to work out the difference that independence has brought, and if there are any benefits for those outside the elite. Short, and worth a read if you're interested in this period of African history.

2. Dear Roomie
Another one in this hockey series.

3. Lady Violet Pays a Call
I liked this, but I did feel it was misnamed, and could more accurately be subtitled ...but not until right at the end. If you've read the rest of the series, it did feel like a incredibly impressive bit of plot fixing so that a love triangle could be given a 'happy' resolution.

Women's prize reading continues -

The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord (I'm about 100 pages in. I was expecting it to be incomprehensible as someone reviewed it saying it was part of an SF series, but it's fine so far).
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Have resisted this one so far
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (still not got this)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (bought my own copy, have started. Set in Edinburgh, which is always a plus for me)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (started the hard copy from the library)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - now ordered my own paperback, due on the 6th April.,

I'm adding 8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster to the ever-growing wish list, too. It sounds very interesting.

I hope your arm is better soon (I don't know anything about tennis elbow, so I don't know how long it usually takes).

>97 charl08: You are lucky that all of the books are available, Charlotte. I am almost done with And Then She Fell, and then have Ordinary Human Failings from the library. So far I have really liked all the books I have read and wouldn't mind seeing any of them on the short list.

>98 MissBrangwen: Yes, I think writers from South Korea are having a moment.
(Or more likely, I've only just noticed some great authors!)
I suspect my arm would have recovered sooner had I not been unable to resist the call of the garden on Saturday. Even when I'm telling myself not to pick things up with my right hand, I'm still doing that automatically half the time.

>99 BLBera: Yes, definitely fortunate. I'm exercising patience RN as the bookshop has just phoned to say the Hammad is available, but I can't get there until Saturday... I'll try and finish the library ones though first so that they're back in circulation.

Sadly, the librarian told me this morning that they've had to put up ILL fees, so I'll have to be a bit more careful about what I request 'off catalogue'.

You are doing so well with the Women's Prize Longlist, Charlotte. I'm about 1/2 way through Enter Ghost and I'm not loving it. I picked up 8 Lives of a Century Old Trickster from the library today, so that is probably my next read. I have had Ordinary Human Failings on hold at the library , but it was due March 26 and still has not been returned to the library. I hope maybe the person is on holidays rather than has lost the book but I guess time will tell. Not too long until we have the Short List announcement.

>101 vancouverdeb: Sorry you're not loving Enter Ghost - I had just felt like I was caught by it and then got so frustrated with the clicking into boxes in the kindle edition each time the text shifted to a playscript format. Hope the Trickster copy returns safely to the library!

I finished Clinch which was, as advertised, very noir noir. I didn't object to this - it seemed appropriate given the context of 1930s Stockholm which was all over grim in this re-telling (poverty, freezing temperatures, anti-LGBT policies plus neo-nazis on the police force). However I wasn't entirely convinced by the story-telling, so might not pick up the next one. There seemed to be a few pieces missing in terms of the decisions made by the main character. The level of detail was impressive though: despite having only visited Stockholm once, Harry Kvist's wanderings reminded me how much I enjoyed my visit (and in terms of the seamier side of things, how much had passed me by!)

If anyone else has read this, I'd love to know if the crime solving confusion was just me missing a vital clue (it's happened before: skim readers not-so-anonymous) or if this was a sense of the book others also had.

>100 charl08: Boo to an increase in ILL fees.
I was in the library returning a couple of books when there was a delivery. The ladies in the library searched through the box for anything for me, knowing that I usually have something on reserve. Aphra Behn is now on the tbr pile.

I'll post this on a couple of threads, I'm looking for ideas of poetry,readings etc that feature bells &/or bellringing.
Any ideas, throw them my way.
Thanks

Well, I finished Enter Ghost. Another dud, in my opinion , Charlotte. I haven't written a review or comments yet. Onwards and upwards, I suppose. I'm planning to read Ordinary Human Failings next.

>104 Helenliz: Hope you find some good ones Helen. I've forgotten the exact amount of years you are celebrating with the bells this year- is this for a linked event?

>105 vancouverdeb: Oh, I'm enjoying Enter Ghost now that I have the paper copy. The digital one I had access to was no good for me.

I am trying to read my TLS a bit more effectively (should I give up the subscription?)

Mary Dearborn's biography of Carson McCullers is reviewed but doesn't tempt me.
I had no idea of the Bookmarked series - writers writing about significant books.
https://www.igpub.com/category/titles/bookmarked/

Am looking forward to reading James the retelling of Huckleberry Finn. Missing Persons, or my Grandmother's Secrets is a memoir of a London-Irish childhood that appeals.

https://www.the-tls.co.uk/

>107 charl08: I have, and have read the Middlemarch one, and will certainly acquire a few more Charlotte.

>108 Caroline_McElwee: That sounds like a vote of confidence. I'm not sure which books I was hoping they would include, but none of the ones listed on the publisher's site appealed enough to jump into my wishlist.

I'm enjoying your comments about the Women's Prize longlist. I agree that Western Lane is fantastic. I've added River East, River West to my list. I have been next in line for Ordinary Human Failings for several weeks and, upon looking at the library website, it seems the person who currently has it out is several weeks overdue. I guess this is what happens when there are no late fees.

>106 charl08: yup. Our 100th anniversary. We are having a carol service at the end of the year and we thinking that we'd mix some readings into the carols. Only I'd rather it want just the same ones everyone knows. Getting some ideas though.

>110 RidgewayGirl: Thanks Kay. Am I allowed to ask about your own writing project? Or have I misunderstood that?

>111 Helenliz: 100 years is impressive. My mum used to do bell ringing, hazards of being the vicar's daughter (she said it was brilliant for developing your arm muscles. But maybe she was pulling my leg.)

Women's prize reading continues, I finished The Blue Beautiful World by Karen Lord. I liked this, although I'm not really sure about genre - have seen it referred to as speculative fiction. We're in a flooded Earth where most of the older centres of power are on their last legs (or under water). A powerful music star is looking to expand his business empire, but his staff are attacked using otherworldly technology. But who are the aliens, and have they been here all along? Loads of ideas about how first contact might happen, future technologies and alien interactions. Imperialism and colonialism are (explicitly) the focus here, but from this new perspective for those in the story. The downside of enjoying this one is I have to go back and find the others in the series, so my TBR grows again.

A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Have resisted this one so far
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (still not got this)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have from the library)
The Maiden by Kate Foster (bought my own copy, have started. Set in Edinburgh, which is always a plus for me)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (returned the hard copy from the library as someone else requested it before I could finish it!)
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad (online copy via the library) - picked up my own paperback at the weekend, enjoying getting back to the story.

7 books to go on the longlist, but of those I've read ny preferences are:

Would like to see on the shortlist:
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot
The Blue Beautiful World (I now have too many on my shortlist though!)

Not on my shortlist
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville

>112 charl08: she's not all wrong. While it is technique, there is a certain amount of arm and shoulder strength going on. My fitbit thinks ringing is exercise, sometimes it thinks I am swimming.

Totally impressed with your progress on The Women's Prize Longlist!! And there will be no bell ringing here -- I cant' have sore shoulders when I am trying to do the nunchucks for my TKD test. LOL

>112 charl08: Impressive, Charlotte. I would like to see Enter Ghost on the short list. It works for me on so many levels. I will watch for your comments.

>113 Helenliz: During lockdown when I was back working on the hospital ward, my fitbit thought that I was cycling, usually around the time that I was washing/showering patients. I've no idea what I was doing to make it think that, but it happened quite a lot!

>113 Helenliz: When I (briefly) had a fancy monitoring watch, it had lots of different exercise mode options. I wonder if there is one for bell ringing?!

>114 Berly: Thanks Kim. I'm impressed with your ability to fit everything in. Did the teenage mutant ninja turtles have nunchucks? Or am I thinking of something else?

>115 BLBera: It almost makes me want to go and see Hamlet, Beth. If there was a shorter version (or a guaranteed comfortable seat with toilet breaks...)

>116 Jackie_K: I bet that was a workout though, right? Thank you, as well.

>118 charl08: Oh goodness yes, I was always exhausted by the end of the morning! Who needs the gym?!

>117 charl08: LOL! I didn't know and had to research it....

>119 Jackie_K: Ha! Saved yourself a fortune there.

>120 Berly: Ah, my wasted youth...

>112 charl08: Absolutely I do not. I'm trying to avoid lists this year, and so your thoughtful comments about your own reading are allowing me to whittle down the list to a few books that really call to me. The problem, of course, is that there are several great awards with long and shortlists and I am only one person with only two eyeballs.

>122 RidgewayGirl: Apologies for my mix up there.
The only two eyeballs thing is an issue. (She says, having just ordered another book because Helen recommended it. I had a £10 voucher from the bookshop burning a hole in my pocket.)

>123 charl08: in Helen's defence, she did offer her copy. >;-)

>117 charl08: I'm tempted by the production of Hamlet by The Lord Chamberlain's Men this summer. It's one of the two I did at school, and I retain an affection for it.

>116 Jackie_K: I'm not sure how good the algorithm is. It regularly thinks I'm on an elliptical trainer when I'm walking into town. Which strikes me as odd, as I'm a massive heel striker, so there must be loads of impact when I walk.

>117 charl08: nope, no ringing options (I did check). >:-)

My fitbit thinks I am on an elliptical too, Helen, when I am out walking. I think it is because it is flat around here. If I go into Vancouver where there are hills , my fit bit can pick up on the fact that I am walking. When I go to the dentist , it thinks I am sleeping. I wish!

I really loved Ordinary Human Failings, Charlotte. I hope you do too. I just started The Maiden which seems to be very interesting.

I think just Western Lane and Ordinary Human Failings are on my shortlist so far, though Nightbloom was very good too. Not on my short list are Enter Ghost, The Wren, The Wren and I don't think Restless Dolly Maunder is on my short list either, though I did enjoy it.

>124 Helenliz: She did offer her copy, yes. Er, I mean thank you for offering your copy.

I did Othello and The Merchant of Venice in sixth form. I'm not convinced I'd want to sit through Othello again but I would MoV. Maybe if my back improves sitting at the theatre for 3 hours won't seem so much like an ordeal rather than something to look forward to!

>125 vancouverdeb: I've not got to Ordinary Human Failings yet Deborah - looking forward to picking it up.

I've still not managed to fix my elbow, reading on the phone is not always easy / comfortable at the moment. As a result I might see if I can get a paperback instead. Although not long to go now until the shortlist - should I wait? (24th April)

Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
This felt very timely, reading as the news headlines are dominated by events in Israel/Palestine. I initially picked up an online copy of the novel and I wouldn't recommend this - sections are told in the form of playscript, and each time the formatting changed to this, a click through box appeared that I had to scroll through, then exit, then open the next box. Not great for (my) immersive reading experience. So I waited for the paperback to come out and bought a copy.

The book is centred on a performance of Hamlet, so the text of the novel is interlaced with the text of Hamlet, not a play I am familiar with. I wondered if that might affect how I enjoyed the book, but I didn't feel it was a barrier. Sonia, a British woman with Palestinian roots returns to visit her sister, an academic in Israel, after a brutal break up. She is persuaded to join a production of Hamlet that initially appears doomed in the face of difficulties from celebrity casting to funding. In following the play from the perspective of Sonia as an outsider (she has not returned to the family home since she was a child), Hammad is able to explore a range of perspectives and responses to being Palestinian. As rehearsals continue Sonia becomes curious about her father's trajectory as a protestor and then emigrant. She becomes close enough to her sister to ask about being an academic in an Israeli institution. The various cast members' experiences in working on the play (and the life histories they bring to their work) are unpeeled, from the pop star heading for the freedoms of Dubai (but taking his mother) to the retired-age senior actor who remembers the heyday of Palestinian protest theatre.
Some of Sonia's navel gazing about her lost relationship and potential new one got a bit annoying in this context, but very human, of course.

I loved the small details Sonia witnesses in the course of her visit:

A tent across the square housed a group of men sitting with placards, protesting in support of a hunger strike. Above them, Palestine flag bunting hung between the buildings, and the lamp posts were covered with stickers advertising the boycott movement. Haneen once compared Palestine to an exposed part of an electronic network, where someone has cut the rubber coating with a knife to show the wires and currents underneath. She probably didn't say that exactly, but that was the image she had brought into my mind. That this place revealed something about the whole world. I looked in through the window of a bakery where three guys were dropping hot rounds of bread onto a conveyer belt.

I was gripped by the final section of the book as the play is finally staged, and struck by how relevant the title became in this context.
I'd be surprised if this isn't shortlisted.

>127 charl08: OK, you got me with that one. It was an open door, I admit...

Great comments/ review on Enter Ghost , even if it did not work for me , Charlotte . Sure, wait for the paper back format of Ordinary Human Failings . I think it will be on the shortlist , but not long now until the short list is announced . I purchased a copy - hard cover of Ordinary Human Failings, but that is because it has gone missing at my library.

>127 charl08: >128 Helenliz: And me, too! It sounds fascinating.

>127 charl08: Great comments, Charlotte. I was also riveted by Enter Ghost. I notice your shortlist has about 8 books? :) Really, I would be happy to see any of the ones I've read on the shortlist.

>128 Helenliz: Yes, I am sure that mine won't have been the only positive review by a long way.

>129 vancouverdeb: I requested Ordinary Human Failings at the library, but they're still on order so I'm not anticipating anything immediately.

>130 MissBrangwen: I would imagine it will get widely translated - I'd hope so, certainly.

>131 BLBera: Yes, my shortlist is not particularly short!
I think I might not finish any more just now, as I am reading Wifedom from the non-fiction list and its just brilliant. I really like how she discusses the way Orweĺl's wife's contribution was obscured (not least by Orwell himself).

I am not reading any more just now because a bunch of holds from the library arrived, and since there are long waiting lists, I have to read them, or wait several months to get them again. Wifedom is on my WL for sure.

>133 BLBera: Ah yes. Someone else has requested Soldier Sailor so I have to read it now or not at all. I hate that feeling of having to read a book.

I finished The Maiden and Wifedom. I enjoyed The Maiden but I would be surprised if it gets shortlisted for the fiction prize. Good historical fiction but it took a while to warm up and the 1600s Edinburgh detail wasn't quite enough to carry what was, ultimately, a rather straightforward narrative. I thought the romance on the escape was a bit of a mood swerve into romantic fiction. It didn't seem to fit.

Wifedom

'Killed in action'. She wonders whether the obituaries have been run through her Ministry, the Department of Euphemism. There has been time; it is well over a week since he died. Is there a special division for obituaries? In a crypt perhaps? Or the basement?

Anna Funder sets out to rescue Eileen Orwell, George's first wife, from the silences of the historical narrative. The lack of sources mean she has to spend a lot of time talking about where she was written out. It's fascinating, nonetheless. It made me want to read more about the issue around the dodgy writer's personal life /work separation. Orwell doesn't come out well from this, and nor do his biographers. Eileen emerges as a complex figure, contributing much to Orwell's life and his writing. Not least her experience in censorship offices, her ability to edit and critique his work, to act as intercessor between him and the world. The section on how she was practically written out of Homage to Catalonia entirely was eye-opening.

I don't always like NF where the writer's personal life is central to the book, but here it made sense. Funder's own experience of writing and gendered work sharing speaks to her reading of Eileen's choices. Or lack of them. And ultimately I think, why we still need this kind of analysis, why it matters.

I pretend I am equal when I am chopping vegetables/organising the counsellor or the hospital or the solicitor/de-griming the fridge. Actually, I mind none of it. This is my real life, with my real loves. I know that when I'm old I'll envy my younger self her busyness, her purpose, her big-hearted whirligig life. But still, the distribution of labour is hard to make equal, because so much of it is hard to see, wrapped up in the definition of what it is to be me. Pretending I am not subject to modern versions of the same forces Eileen was, by 'practising acceptance' or 'just getting on with it', is a kind of lived insanity: to pretend to be liberated from the work while doing it.

Over the years of writing this, almost every woman I spoke to nodded, laughed, rolled her eyes and had stories of her own that popped out as we stood in the corridor at work or school, in the shopping or COVID-testing queue.

Women's prize reading:

Would like to see on the shortlist:
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
Enter Ghost Isabel Hammad
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot

Not on my shortlist
The Blue Beautiful World
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville
The Maiden

Still to read:
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Have resisted this one so far
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (still not got this)
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy (I have from the library)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (I have an ebook copy)

You are doing so well with your Women's Fiction Longlist reading, Charlotte. I just finished The Maiden and I really loved it - a rollicking good story, I thought. But perhaps not Women's Fiction Short list material. I think I may read something not from the Womens Longlist next.

>82 elkiedee: I've heard nothing but good things about this. Off to put it on my WL!

>137 vancouverdeb: Not my favourite, but a good read I thought.

>138 Tess_W: It's brilliant, hope lots of people find a copy.

I've been lurking, Charlotte, but haven't had much to say. So just a "hello" from me :)

Thanks for visiting, Katie.

Gosh, it's windy here. From my place near the French windows I can see the clouds racing along. (It's so nice to still have some light outside at 7pm.!)

Book group is meeting later this week at work and I am embarrassed to admit that I remember almost nothing of the chosen book, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. I liked it, but beyond that, little remains.

'I sorry, I sorry, I sorry!' you chanted, tears sprouting from your eyes. As I administered a good sound dressing down, it was sympathy as much as anything that rose in my chest. Oh Sailor, I thought, the little size of you. This is what it feels like when everything goes wrong, and by your own hand. When you are caught, cornered, the one to blame, when you discover something in your nature that you did not know was there and which you do not like. You know what, though? Confusion, shame, resentment, regret: it's my area. Don't panic. Sit tight. I can help you with this.

I finished Soldier, Sailor a book I had to force myself to pick up, but by about half way through absolutely loved it and just raced to the end. I found the voice of the narrator, an Irish mum telling her young son about his early childhood, really compelling. The early section is grim, full of the desperation of insomnia coupled with a baby's inability to explain why they are crying.
As the desperation of sleep-deprivation recedes, the narrator's memories and reflections on motherhood are increasingly humorous. They're also sharp, about her husband's complete lack of awareness of what she's going through home alone with the baby, and her own failures and close calls.

I hung up, powered off the phone, dropped it into the maw of the nappy bag and zipped it shut like I could disappear the whole shameful mess down there. I bundled you back into the buggy and hurried away from the scene of the crime. So much of parenting is about getting away with it.

I can't see this getting shortlisted, there's too much humour- but I kind of wish it would be.

Would like to see on the shortlist:
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
Enter Ghost Isabel Hammad
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

Not on my shortlist but I still like them!
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot
The Blue Beautiful World Karen Lord
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville
The Maiden Kate Foster

Still to read:
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Have resisted this one so far
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (still not got this)
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (I have an ebook copy)

Charlotte you are doing so well with the longlist books! Amazing!

>143 mdoris: Thanks Mary. I've enjoyed the longlist this year, nothing I haven't wanted to finish. Hoping the last four books fit this pattern too!

>142 charl08: Impressive. I am looking forward to the ones I haven't read yet.

>142 charl08: Wow! Impressive reading of the Women's Longlist, Charlotte. I have read 7 so far, but have not created a review for The Maiden yet. I hope to get to at least one more on the Longlist, most likely Brotherless Night. I'm glad you are enjoying the Longlist .

>145 BLBera: Me too! The range as much as anything has been really strong this year I think.

>146 vancouverdeb: Hi Deborah, thank you. Right back at you. I'm a little way into Brotherless Night and the title has started to make sense.

14. A Side Character's Love Story vol 17 (Manga/ GN)
I love how gentle this manga series is. The central characters have moved a long way from vol 1 but they are surrounded by others with similar queries and worries.

15. Canadian Boyfriend (familiar faces - authors I've read before)
A romance novel that takes the idea of a teenage imaginary boyfriend and runs with it. I thought the 'near-the-end-relationship-challenge' was a bit of a non-issue really, but otherwise a sweet read, people dealing with tough stuff able to do some moving on. So on that basis, an author I'd read again.

16. Mrs Gulliver (familiar faces)
One I picked up in Waterstones on a recent visit and couldn't resist. I've enjoyed some of Valerie Martin's previous novels (but had no idea she had written so many!)

Set on a fictional island with legalised prostitution, the narrator owns a classy bordello on a quiet street. At the start of the novel she takes on a young blind woman, Carita, who has fallen on hard times due to a financial collapse. We learn how she came to the work herself - it's all very matter of fact (less boring than the typing pool and better paid than waitressing, then a step into management). The tone of the book is probably captured about half way through where she admits that her name is made up. She called herself Lila Gulliver with the idea of a wife left at home by Defoe's character. Carita is powerfully charismatic, and compels the narrative into unexpected directions, despite her apparent weakness compared to the interventions of an idealistic young man, his coked up friend and a mob boss (or two). And Lila herself.

I found the book very readable (and read it one sitting) but I'm not sure how much I'll remember of it next year. (Although I am starting to wonder just how many books I can remember in a year's time!!)

Mrs. Gulliver sounds interesting. I've liked both novels by Martin that I've read.

>149 katiekrug: Hi Katie, I'd be keen to hear what you make of it. It was a complete impulse buy for me, I'd heard nothing about it before picking it up. Worked out well!

>127 charl08: You got me with this Charlotte, as I'm a big fan of Hamlet, I've seen 12+ productions, including 2 in Japanese, which were stunning, though you need to know the story quite well of course.

>151 Caroline_McElwee: That's amazing Caroline- more than 12! Which was your favourite?

>152 charl08: Very tricky Charlotte. It was maybe made most accessible when Jeremy Northam did it, he was cast as Laertes, but when Ian Charleson became too ill to perform, he took the role of Hamlet. I think he just wanted to get through it without messing up, so didn't impose an 'interpretation' and it really sang.

Daniel Day Lewis was extraordinary, but it gave him a mental break down due to his own complex relationship with his father. He has never returned to the stage, and only done maybe 3 films since and has retired as an actor (may be still working as a cobbler though).

Both Japanese productions were amazing. In the first Hamlet and Ophelia were played by the same actor. When he played Ophelia, his voice was higher and his kimono sleeves flicked up and a fan produced. Skilled when the two characters were talking to each other.

Despite being a favourite actor, Alan Rickman's Hamlet disappointed a bit.

Those sound like very memorable performances, Caroline. And what significant actors, too. I was at school with two big Ken Branagh fans, they had seen him at Stratford in the 1990s. I must admit the impressiveness of this passed me by at the time. (I don't think I even asked how they got there, not a simple - or cheap- trip from Liverpool if you're too young to drive!)

(ETA I have no memory of what he was playing either, so this is very tangential, sorry!)

I finished a crime novel as I wanted a break from the prize lists. Bad Blood may be in competition for the furthest point in a series I've ever started - book 20 of this Alaska set adventure. There was an awful lot of back story to feed into the "new" story, and I felt like it was a bit weighed down by that. But the nature descriptions made for a great ad for Alaskan nature tours (if not small town life!)

For once, I will admit I should have started at book one.

>155 charl08: That author was also a local journalist, and I really enjoyed her Alaska Traveler: Dispatches from America's Last Frontier, which is a collection of her newspaper articles. It really made me want to visit Alaska!

>155 charl08: I didn't start this series from the beginning either although I may have started earlier than you did. I love the setting.

>154 charl08: Actually I saw KB as Hamlet too, in Birmingham, directed by Derek Jacobi. I saw him quite a bit when he ran his Renaissance Theatre Company in the 80s. My sister and I where talking about how great theatre was in that decade, and much less expensive. We were at the South Bank all the time. I lived in South London then, so the commute was much shorter. National Theatre, BFI, Festival Hall.

>156 Jackie_K: I didn't know that, sounds like a good read. My dad used to love a programme about building cabins in remote places featuring Alaska - I'll ask him if he'd like this one.

>157 BLBera: It does sound very remote. As I was reading about the reliance on small planes I realised it probably wouldn't be a place I'd enjoy getting to!

>158 Caroline_McElwee: I don't get to the theatre much now at all. When I worked in Central London in my twenties I sometimes managed to take advantage of the cheap tickets for young people. A great initiative, but I had so little spare cash after rent and travel even then I was pretty limited.

I'm tempted by The Lord Chamberlain's Men who are putting Hamlet on this summer.
I saw a production when I was 15/16, all modern dress and virtually no stage furniture. No idea who was in it, it would have been 1987/8 and in London. Sorry for the vagueness!

>160 Helenliz: Hope you can make it Helen, sounds good.

I finished Brotherless Night and had to adjust my shortlist.

I think I would like to see on the shortlist:
8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster by Mirinae Lee
Enter Ghost Isabel Hammad
River East, River West by Aube Ray Lescure
Brotherless Night by V.V. Ganeshanathan (I have an ebook copy)
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo Read
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy

Not on my shortlist but I still like them!
And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliot
Nightbloom by Peace Adzo Medie
The Blue Beautiful World Karen Lord
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
The Wren, The Wren Anne Enright
Restless Dolly Maunder Kate Grenville
The Maiden Kate Foster

Still to read:
A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams Have resisted this one so far
Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Nolan (have on libby)
Hangman by Maya Binyam (still not got this)

Brotherless Night
I thought this was really powerful, and interesting to read a 'traditional' historical novel after the Booker winning magical realist approach to Sri Lanka's recent past.

The narrator is Sashi, a young woman who we know from the very start of the novel has left Sri Lanka and is living in New York in 2009. Back in the 1980s, she studies to get into med school, and then moves to Colombo when she fails her exams. She is caught up in anti-Tamil riots and loses her eldest brother when he goes out to try and find a way for them to get home. Thousands are displaced from the city and the novel becomes about the consequences of that violence, and how violence breeds more and more violence, with young men recruited to the (many) anti-government terrorist/ freedom fighter groups. Including her brothers.
What I liked about this novel was how real Sashi's choices felt, sometimes no choices at all, sometimes impossible to weigh up in terms of the possible consequences. She is involved in the 'movement' without really wanting to be, but wanting to make a difference to other civillians struggling with the consequences of the ongoing conflict. Her medical training gives her access to areas that women might otherwise not be able to enter on 'equal' grounds, and the novel engages with this too, the particular consequences of war for women (sexual violence).

This reminded me of Aminatta Forna's book The Memory of Love, in the way that it portrayed medics just trying to keep going in the midst of what would once have seemed to be unimaginable destruction and misery. Having shown the 'normal' country pre-conflict, the collapse seems even more startling.

In May 1987, at what should have been the middle of my second year of medical school, the military launched Operation Liberation, and eight thousand troops advanced on the Jaffna peninsula. The government air- dropped pamphlets telling us to shelter in churches and temples. I went to check on my parents and Aran. Appa had come home desperate to see us and now was stuck in Jaffna. "Who is going to come to save us?" I asked. "I don't think anyone is," Aran replied.

As one reviewer on the book page commented, it's hard to read this without thinking about I/P right now. Or Ukraine.

Visited New Brighton - another lighthouse

>163 charl08: not sure I can cope with the idea of events in my lifetime being "historical" fiction. That's still the recent past.
We went to a museum of rural life on on occasion, with grandma. She expressed similar dismay that she'd used one of those, that couldn't be history. We laughed at the time, now I think she might have had a point!

Great review of Brotherless Night, Charlotte. I hope to start it tomorrow and then on Wednesday we get the short list . I can’t wait to see what is on it . From the 7 I have read from the Longlist, I hope Western Lane and Ordinary Human Failings are on the short list .

>165 Helenliz: That reminds me of the term "contemporary history" which I could never get my head round. One or the other!

>166 vancouverdeb: I've just picked up Ordinary Human Failings. Not sure I'll get very far, it was a long day at work today.

4 out of 6 isn't too bad...


https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/24/womens-prize-for-fiction-shortlist...

I thought it was announced later today . I am surprised by the inclusion of Restless Dolly Maunder, and I am little sad that Western Lane and Ordinary Human Failings. Charlotte, great prediction!

>168 charl08: Great predictions, Charlotte. I'm looking forward to the remaining books on the list.

>169 vancouverdeb: The early morning announcement surprised me too Deborah! I'm still surprised by Dolly Maunder, perhaps hearing more from the judges will help make sense of their choice.

>170 BLBera: I was amazed to get 4 this time, although I thought it was a good list this year. Lots of interesting books I wouldn't have otherwise picked up.

I've got to the bit in Ordinary Human Failings where the drunk brother loses his job in the restaurant. Or at least, I assume he's going to lose his job. I had to put the book down as I could just see it coming...

Just ordered a copy of Top 10 Porto and trying to restrain my excitement.

Are you going to Porto, Charlotte? I am jealous!

Guess where's on my list?
https://www.livrarialello.pt/

>173 charl08: Colour me not surprised. I'm jealous, btw.

>173 charl08: My husband and I had the pleasure of visiting Portugal and the Livraria Lello & Irmão a few years ago. Apparently this bookstore featured somehow in one of the Harry Potter films? In any case, it was mobbed with tourists. We had to buy a ticket to get in (the cost of which could be applied to any books you purchased—apparently a lot of the tourists weren’t there for the books). It was worth it, though. It truly is one of the most beautiful bookstores I’v ever seen.

>163 charl08: Definitely going on my WL.

>174 Helenliz: I was going to post about the tickets, but >175 Charon07: has covered it. I just wanted to go for the beautiful shop, so the HP connection was news to me. I do like the idea of exchanging my ticket for a book!

>176 Tess_W: Hope you like it!