June reading

It has been three months since I last wrote about the books that I am reading! What used to be a monthly feature on this blog is now a quarterly.... if at all.

In March, I just started listening to Melanie Reid's "The world I fell out of" It is the brutally honest, sad, funny and extremely touching memoir of Melanie Reid, whom you might know from her weekly column "Spinal Column". I can't at this very moment remember the newspaper/magazine this is published in but be sure to google it. Melanie broke her neck in a riding accident in 2010, which left her paralysed from the neck down. In the book, she tells of her accident, the realisation that all was not well, her long stay in the spinal rehabilitation ward and finally her return home. You should listen to her interview on Woman's Hour in March this year at the very least. The audio version is narrated by Melanie Reid herself.

I finally finished Helen Taylor's "The backstreets of purgatory".  I must have started this around Christmas. I found it almost unbearable. It is set in Glasgow and in a life long past, the author and I crossed paths. A win win situation I thought but I was wrong. I rarely give up on a book but with this one, I came close. I have linked the title to the Goodreads page for the book if you fancy finding out more.

I read quite a few crime novels, entertaining and enjoyable at the time of reading but now, the memory is a bit vague.

• "The boy in the headlights" by Samuel Bjørk (book 3 in the Mia Kruger series). For those who enjoy tales of horrible serial killers
• "The Katharina Code" by Jørn Lier Horst (an inspector William Wisting book). A gentler sort of crime novel, more grounded in reality than the above. 
• "Lies sleeping" by Ben Aaronovitch (book 7 in the Peter Grant series). This is best read in sequence, confusing otherwise. The "other" magical police force in London in action once more. I only keep reading these books because I want to know what happens to Lesley (I am not telling).

These two crime novels I enjoyed immensely: "Missing, presumed" and "Persons unknown", both by Susie Steiner. I really liked the lead detective in these books. She is so utterly normal, it is a joy to follow her life and investigations. The investigations appear almost secondary to life, which is an interesting take on writing crime fiction. I think you'd enjoy it. 

For book group, we read "The cone gatherers" by Robin Jenkins. This is a set text at Scottish schools. It is a really rather sad story but it is quite beautifully written, simple and without fanfare. The blurb sums it up quite well: 

Set on an estate in Scotland, it is about a gamekeeper's descent into madness and two cone gatherers in the forest. It is about class issues, unexplained goodness and badness.

Our next book group read was "Everything Under" by Daisy Johnson. I am not sure if I enjoyed the actual story but I did enjoy the writing. It is a somewhat weird modern take on the Oedipus myth. I have to say, I find the actual myth more interesting than this modern take. I have to link you to the blurb because I only remember the weird bits just now. 

I was excited to see that Christopher Brookmyre had a new book out: "Fallen Angel". I love this author. He writes the Jack Parlabane (investigative reporter) series but he is also responsible for some utterly surreal fiction (Pandemonium and Bedlam for example), science fiction cum crime (Places in the darkness) and some other standalone books and shorter crime series. I don't think there is single Brookmyre book that I didn't like. Narration is always great, always with proper Scottish accents. Anyway, Fallen Angel. This is the tale of the Temple family (a former actress, a famous professor and three grown up children and a few side kicks), a family full of dark and dirty secrets. Some of the characters are profoundly unpleasant, others grow on you. None is immediately likeable, except maybe the baby, who plays a very minor role. Why did I enjoy it you ask yourself. I just couldn't stop, that's why. 

I needed a bit of of a science fiction fix and chose "Infinite" by Jeremy Robinson. It is mostly set on a faster than light spaceship. Fear not, there are no weird aliens, just people like you and I (almost) and an array of artificial intelligences. I really enjoyed it and I found myself surprised a few times along the way. If you are interested in artificial intelligence, this books is for you.

I listened again to Matt Haig's "How to stop time". I read this before but I wanted to listen to the Italian narration to brush up my language skills. I set the playback speed to 0.75x to get used to the Italian narration. I rather enjoyed the drawn out vowels and left it like this even after I was immersed in the story and happy with my understanding.

At the moment, I am listening to "Io non ho paura" by Niccolò Ammaniti. This is a beautifully written book. I am trying not to bite my nails, it is so heartstoppingly beautiful and terrifying at the same time. It has been translated, the English title is "I am not scared". If you follow the link, I think the first review by Lori gives a good synopsis without giving anything away.

What are you all reading? 

Thanks for visiting xx