Monday Reads Update
Nov 21
Another week is passing by. I find I am losing steam in my interest in reading. I end up reading a few chapters here and there, and don’t feel pressure to speed through any books I have on the go at the moment.
I started reading The Alice Network by Kate Quinn a few years ago when it was a book club pick at my neighbourhood. I only read 100 pages then. This weekend, I started where I had stopped, and I don’t seem to have lost anything by not going back to the beginning of the novel.
It follows Charlie St. Clair as she travels through Europe during the aftermath of WWII. She is trying to find her cousin Rose who has disappeared during the war. She gets training as a spy with Eve as her instructor. Eve served in WWI and has demons that haunt her, although she continues to give instructions to a younger generation of spies. I am now close to the halfway mark of the novel.
I also started Master of Poisons by Andrea Hairston. It is YA Science Fiction and Fantasy who follows a range of characters as they live in a world where the desert has enormous power in the lives of the people who live there. There is magic and sorcery, as well as political intrigue. The writing is lyrical when describing the natural world. I have read around 50 pages and do not know if I will finish it before it is due back at the library.
I have a few other things I am busy with this week. I may or may not talk about them here. Until next time, happy reading!
Monday Reads Update
Nov 14
It is Monday again. That means it is time for another Monday Reads Update. Hope you had a good weekend wherever you are. I have a few books to talk about.
I am nearly to the end of The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. It is a mystery set at a remote estate in Scotland. Reading the book recalls other stories set at remote estates, such as The Secret Garden and Jane Eyre. The story follows Rowan, a childcare worker, who gets a job as a nanny. She meets the couple near the start of the story, but for the most part, it is her and the three young children she must look after. There is also the groundskeeper Jack Grant. He seems to be a reliable and helpful person. Something is strange about the house, such as the strange sounds in the night. The house is a mix of Victorian architecture and the latest computer-operated technology. I found most of the story to be a quiet easy-going mystery, with the scary parts to seem like they are all in Rowan’s head, although there are clues to suggest that someone or something is causing the frightful incidents to occur.
I also started reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. After the first story, I am immediately pulled back to a story I remember from childhood. After so much time has passed, it is easy to forget the little details from a children’s story. While reading the story, I find myself immersed back into a familiar territory that is slightly altered by time as an adult reading the story many years later.
Another book I started this past weekend is Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner. I have had the book for awhile. Only now am I getting around to it after finding out there will be a miniseries that will start showing this week. It is about Toby Fleishman a middle-aged man who is a doctor. He is divorced, has parental responsibility with his ex-wife, while also trying to date. Then his former girlfriend from years ago appears again and the reader gets a glimpse of her life as well. I have read about 40 pages, so there is still more of the story to delve into. I will report back once I know more.
That’s it for now and happy reading!
Monday Reads Update
Nov 7
After a month of spooky stories, you would think I would get tired of them. It is the first Monday of November, and I am continuing my reading, and finding out about authors I had not read before.
The Ghost Clause by Howard Norman is my library book pick of the week. The story follows Simon Inescort who has become a ghost. Set in Vermont, the reader meets the widow Lorca Pell, and the newlyweds she sells their property to. It appears to be quiet haunting and mystery tale that is good to read on a cold day while staying indoors.
I will try to remember to report back once I had read the book.
A book I made progress on this week was De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage. It is a work from 2006. The author is a finalist for the Giller Prize for his short story collection, Stray Dogs, which will be announced later tonight. Published during a time of war in the Middle East, reading the story recalls the creative output from Hollywood. De Niro’s Game does read like an action movie. I have read 1/3 of the book, and plan to return to it.
I also completed one novella this past weekend. That book is Burning Roses by S.L. Huang. The story follows the brave warrior Rosa, and the adventures she goes through, as well as being held accountable for the crimes she commits. It was a fast-paced fantasy with LGBTQIA+ representation, and does delve into questions of morality when carrying out acts of violence, whether there is just cause or not.
That is it for me for this week. Happy reading!
Monday Reads Update
Oct 31
Happy Halloween. Hope you enjoyed your weekend.
I started my Nonfiction November picks early. I read the first section of Emerging Africa by Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, which gives a brief overview of world politics and systems that have developed in the last century or so, providing context for how Africa has changed in that time. Published in 2014, the writing still sounds fresh and relevant 8 years later. I can see myself reading the rest of the book on my weekends as I do not feel the urgency in reading the entire book in one or two sittings. I haven’t read enough to give a fuller analysis than that.
I also made progress on reading another book that I have been meaning to get around to. That book is The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. The story follows Rowan, a childcare worker who applies for a new job as a nanny. She travels to a remote estate to meet her new employers and finds herself immediately drawn into their luxurious lifestyle and the house they live in which is a mix of modern and Victorian architecture. There is something about the house that is strange on top of the technological advances her employers have outfitted the house with.
So far, I have found my reading to be fairly productive, although I could have made more time in getting more pages read. That’s it for this week’s post. Happy reading until you hear from me again.
Nonfiction November TBR
It is already the last Friday before November. Time to put together a TBR for the new month.
Here are a few titles I have in mind. They are not necessarily books published this year. There are older ones, which might be outdated.
I have selected 4 books from my collection that are for Nonfiction November. It is reading initiative started by Olive at @abookolive to encourage the reading of more nonfiction.
Book Titles:
Emerging Africa by Kingsley Chiedu
Penguin Books, 2014
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride
Riverhead Books, 2006
In Search of A Better World by Payam Akhavan
House of Anansi, 2017
Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry
by Rollie Pemberton
McClelland & Stewart, 2022
I have fiction titles I would like to read in November, but I will save those for another time.