Tag: Monthly update

Lockdown and social distancing measures continue here in the UK due to the coronavirus, albeit slightly relaxed since Monday 1st June. For example, last week my sister was able to come over and sit in the garden with me and my husband, suitably socially distanced of course. And in week or so’s time, we have the enticing prospect of being once again able to enjoy the simple pleasure of browsing in a bookshop, although it will be a case of look, don’t touch unless you’re going to buy.

Whether it was down to the good weather, the motivation of blog tour deadlines or lack of other distractions, I read fifteen books in May, including some I awarded five stars. Below are my five favourite. Links from the title will take you to my review. (You can find details of all the books I’ve read so far in 2020 here with links to my reviews.)

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First up is A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth by Daniel Mason, a collection of short stories subtly linked by recurring themes. I loved his novel The Winter Soldier and I thought this book was just as wonderful. Published by Mantle on 14th May, I described it as “a tour de force of imagination and one of the most absorbing and satisfying short story collections I’ve ever read”.

My next pick is a historical crime mystery, one of my favourite genres. Published on 2nd April by Corvus, The Saracen’s Mark is the third in S.W. Perry’s Jackdaw Mysteries series set in Elizabethan London. With its well-crafted plot, lashings of period detail and colourful cast of characters, it will appeal to fans of C J Sansom’s Shardlake series or Rory Clements’ John Shakespeare series.

Staying with historical fiction but of an entirely different kind is When We Fall by Carolyn Kirby, published by No Exit Press on 7th May to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day.  Based on the Katyn Massacre of 1940, the book is a moving story of three lives forever altered by one fatal choice.

Next up is a memoir whose title One Hundred Miracles: Music, Auschwitz, Survival and Love aptly summarises this emotional but inspiring book.  Written by Zuzana Ruzicková with Wendy Holden, it describes how Zuzana survived two Nazi concentration camps and went on to become a renowned harpsichordist.

My last pick is something completely different. An Engineered Injustice by William L. Myers, Jr. is the second book in his Philadelphia Legal series. It’s a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller. I’ve also read the third book in the series, A Killer’s Alibi, and a fourth book, A Criminal Justice, was published recently.

What were your favourite books you read in May? Have you read any of my picks?

 

With the lockdown and social distancing measures continuing in the UK due to the coronavirus, books are a welcome distraction. I read fourteen books in April (yes, I was rather surprised by that number as well) and below are my five favourite. Links from the titles will take you to my review.

Oh, for brighter times ahead when we can once again enjoy simple pleasures such as visiting an actual bookshop (like the one pictured right). You remember those, don’t you? Where you could pick up the books and look at them, chat to fellow book lovers browsing the shelves…

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First up is The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay, one of the books on the shortlist for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2020. The author’s debut novel, it tells the story of Shalini, a young woman from Bangalore, who travels to a remote Himalayan village in the troubled northern region of Kashmir in search of a charming Kashmiri salesman who used to visit her childhood home. The book explores the unintended consequences of actions on others, in Shalini’s case, manifested in a quite devastating way.

Talking of literary prizes, my next pick is A Thousand Moons by Sebastian Barry, the follow-up to Days Without End which won The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction in 2017. Published by Faber & Faber on 19th March, it continues the story of John Cole and Thomas McNulty but told from the point of view of Winona, the orphaned Indian girl they adopted. I loved the distinctive and engaging narrative voice the author created for Winona and her resolve to take control of her life, drawing on the legacy of her mother and her Lakota heritage,

On to historical crime and The Figure in the Photograph by Kevin Sullivan, which was published by Allison & Busby on 23rd April. It’s set predominantly in Glasgow at the end of the 19th century, which the author vividly brings to life. A young man who has developed a pioneering photographic  technique is drawn into the search for a serial killer who is stalking the crowded streets and tenements of the city.

Next a book by an author who has become a firm favourite of book bloggers and other readers alike –  I Am Dust by Louise Beech. Published by Orenda Books on 16th April, I described it as a skilfully crafted combination of crime mystery and ghost story. To whet your appetite still further, it’s set in a theatre.

Lastly, a book which has received a lot of attention – and praise – from readers, literary critics and which  is also on the shortlist for The Women’s Prize for Fiction – Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell. The book draws on the author’s abiding fascination with the little-known story behind Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, and is a poignant portrait of a marriage, a family and the impact on both of the loss of a child.

What were your favourite books you read in April? Have you read any of my picks?

You can find details of all the books I’ve read so far in 2020 here with links to my reviews.