Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.
The rules are simple:
Each Tuesday, Jana assigns a new topic. Create your own Top Ten list that fits that topic – putting your unique spin on it if you want.
Everyone is welcome to join but please link back to That Artsy Reader Girl in your own Top Ten Tuesday post.
Add your name to the Linky widget on that day’s post so that everyone can check out other bloggers’ lists.
Or if you don’t have a blog, just post your answers as a comment.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is a freebie on the theme of Indie: publishers, bookshops, authors or whatever we choose. My list contains ten of my favourite independent publishers along with examples of books they’ve published which I’ve enjoyed. Links from the publisher’s name will take you to their website. Click on the book titles to read my reviews.
Wednesday – As always #WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.
Saturday – I joined other gardeners for #SixonSaturday sharing six things from my garden this week. The first Saturday of the month means it’s time for another #6Degrees of Separation. My chain took me from Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams to Lost Property by Helen Paris.
New on my shelves
Two books that couldn’t be more different. The first a book club pick, the second a book on the Booker Prize longlist…
Italy, 1957: The summer of innocence Amongst the lemon trees, Rafaella Parisi impatiently waits for the summer visitors to arrive in her small fishing village on the coast of Puglia. She may be dating Fon Giannelli, but there is one person she longs to see: Cosimo – son of the wealthy Franchetti family.
1958: The summer everything changes After a devastating accident at the lavish Franchetti villa, Rafa makes a vow that changes the course of all their futures…
1961: The summer they meet again When Rafa and Cosi’s worlds collide, Rafa faces an agonizing choice. Is she willing to risk the life she has for the future she once dreamed of?
The Disappearers is Marlon James’s triumphant return to the Jamaica of A Brief History of Seven Killings – a place of heat and chaos, and of danger for anyone outside the heteronormal.
So when eight gay men meet for the first time, in Kingston in 1988, answering the casting call for an openly queer play, they are already taking a big risk. But that is nothing compared to what rains down on them when a mob descends on one of their rehearsals.
By the end of this night, one man is dead, all are injured, and two subsequently disappear. As the survivors heal, each man finds he must confront the bigotry and homophobia that the attack laid bare. Some try to forget; some embrace their rage; and some simply vanish – but all are forever scarred.
As one of the victims puts it, ‘there’s a difference between when something ends and when something stops’. And this story won’t stop until both the disappearers and the perpetrators have been tracked, along trails both hot and cold, and an ending reached.
Epic and intimate, violent and forgiving, The Disappearers is a tour de force which only Marlon James could have written – both an unflinching portrait of the hatred and shame faced by gay men in a society which refuses to accept them, and a deeply human story of acceptance and insight.
What I’m currently reading
I’m reading The Newer Worldby Sebastian Barry from my NetGalley shelf and Miss Veal and Miss Ham by Vicki Heywood, a book purchased after hearing the author speak at Winchester Books Festival in April.
Look out for…
Book Review: Farewell to Eden by Sebastian Faulks
Book Review: Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson
Book Review: A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan
What Cathy Read Next... 