Summer has arrived in earnest (40C last week) and I have mostly been in the mood for light, entertaining books. Below you can see, what I have been reading recently.
What are you currently reading?
When I searched for character-driven crime fiction, Tana French popped up all the time. My expectations to her books have thus been sky high, which is probably why it has taken me so long to finally pick up one of them. I am barely 20% into The Likeness. The plot has a far-fetched premise and the audiobook is 21 hours long. But so far I am LOVING it!
What did you recently finish reading?
Robin Ince’s musings about being curious reminded me, why I love science so much. Some chapters were more interesting than others. Personally, I preferred the more hardcore science chapters, but overall the book was surprisingly enjoyable.
As mentioned ages ago, when the Women’s Prize longlist was announced, I intended to read a few books from the list. Louise Erdrich’s The Sentence was amongst those, which caught my eye. More will follow in a separate post, but I can reveal it wasn’t as successful as last year, where I discovered several new favourites.
What do you think you’ll read next?
As usual, I have no idea. But these are some of the options:
I’ve only heard good things about Julie Otsuka’s The Swimmers focusing on a group of recreational swimmers. One of those is Alice who is slowly losing her memory and we hear about the relationship between her and her daughter. Sounds like a book for me.
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is a bestselling Korean feminist novel filled with facts and statistics backing up the message. It has been causing a stir in Korea and has also gained some international recognition. I am hoping it will give me some insight into Korean society and I can’t wait to pick it up.
I am seriously in the mood for crime fiction at the moment, so there is a good chance my next read will be a recent acquisition, Saturday Requiem. It’s one of the last books in Nicci French’s Frieda Klein series, which I’ve been meaning to try for a while.
That was my bookish update for now. Hope you are all well, enjoying the summer and reading some good books. Maybe you have even been on holiday to a lovely location?
I know my blog has been on the quiet side recently (understatement of the year?). Going forward I will make an effort to check in a bit more frequently, although I probably won’t get back to my previous schedule. *See you* soon!
WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.
Lovely to see you posting again hope you’re okay?
Thanks so much Nicki. I am fine, but have been busy with other things. Hopefully, I can start posting a bit more regularly again. 🙂
Lovely to see your post!
Glad to hear you are enjoying lighter summer reading. It’s the opposite here, cold and wet, so perfect for heavier reading under a blanket.
Thanks Rose, it’s good to be back! There were a few of us daydreaming about snow and ice last week…. 40C in London isn’t much fun, very few houses have aircon. How cold does it get where you are? Do you get any snow?
It doesn’t sound as if London houses are built for heat. Glad your temperatures have cooled down now.
Tomorrow is a 0 degree Celsius start to the day and will be around 12 degrees during the day. My area of Melbourne is coastal, low and flat, so we don’t get snow. Some of the higher areas do get snow (or sleet) occasionally but it is an exciting event when it happens and would usually make the news 🙂
It sounds similar to London, we rarely get snow (which is lucky, because it seems like the whole city comes to a stop whenever there is a minor snowfall). On balance, I quite like the mild winters – snow is pretty, but highly impractical…
An interesting range of books! The Likeness looks good.
Have a great week
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2022/07/27/www-wednesday-currently-reading-finished-reading-reading-next-7/
Thanks, I am continuing to enjoy The Likeness, although it is a very long book.
I get inspired by literary prize longlists as well although I more often end up buying the books than actually getting around to reading them!
My WWW https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.com/2022/07/27/wwwwednesday-27th-july-2022/
Ah well, it’s never too late to pick them up. What I like about prize longlists is that I may find books, I wouldn’t have heard of otherwise. Last year, I found some great ones that way.
Most literary prize lists contain books I’ve never heard of, even in genres I read!
Same here!
I read A Mind To Murder recently. It’s a mystery by P.D. James. It’s pretty good. Have you read any of her books?
I have. 🙂 Actually, I am big fan of the Adam Dalgliesh series, although I don’t think A Mind to Murder is one of her best.
From your list, the only one I’ve read is the Robin Ince. This non-scientist really enjoyed it, but two science-y friends hated it. I think they don’t really understand people like me who need a leg up when it comes to understanding science.
I think, it’s often the case that more science-minded people are against philosophy and definitely don’t appreciate random musings, which aren’t logically structured or 100% facts based. I am one of the (maybe rare) people, who love science AND philosophy. Even if science has taken over a lot, I still believe philosophy has its place, science can’t explain everything (not yet anyway). Maybe the Robin Ince book shouldn’t be marketed as popular science, it’s a personal account of the topic of being curious about the world around you.
Hehe, that was a long reply, but I am always passionate about everything which relates to science or philosophy.
No, thank you for this thoughtful response. Yes, Ince is a joker, but always with a purpose, and inspiring curiosity.
I quite like him – The Infinite Monkey Cage is my favourite podcast, it’s so fun (and educational).
I loved the Frieda Klein series! In fact, I am a fan of Nicci French.
Enjoy your week and your books, and here’s MY WWW POST
That is good to hear! I really look forward to try one of their books! 🙂
You’re dangerous. Now I have to add all these to my “to read” list which is already too long.
I am so sorry (no, not really 😉 ) – Don’t we all have “to read” lists, which are way too long?
I love the Frieda Klein series and am dying to get back to it. Enjoy everything, Stargazer💜
It seems to be quite a popular series, I don’t know why I haven’t tried it yet. Thanks Jonetta!
You have good list though I haven’t read anyone / well shared thanks 😊 now I am reading a short story book ” Love of Rain” by Pritilata Nandi.
Ah really, I don’t read short stories very often, I hope you are enjoying it!
Yes very much 🥰
Lovely to see you posting again! I absolutely want to pick up the Robin Ince book. Have a wonderful week!
Thanks so much! The Robin Ince book was very readable. I listened to it on audio narrated by the author, which I would recommend. Have a wonderful week too!
Welcome back! At least, looks like you are reading fun books! I haven’t tried Tana French yet!!
Thanks! 😀 I have been reading fun books recently, which is perfect for the summer. I won’t recommend Tana French, before I’ve actually finished the book, but I am continuing to enjoy it.
Love seeing what you’ve been up to reading, stargazer. I haven’t had the best of luck with the Women’s Prize list this year myself. I still need to try Tana and Nicci French’s books! Now I have google and see if they are related?! A co-authorship maybe? Hope you are enjoying every bit of summer.
I didn’t even notice that there are two books written by a French in my post. No idea if they are related, but doubt it. Nicci French is indeed a co-authorship. Too bad about the Women’s Prize, hopefully next year will be better!
I found that they aren’t related. I don’t know why I never checked before!
Aha, thanks for checking!
Glad your posting has returned — though summer is always wayyy too busy for me to find time to do it. And I’m like the only person on earth who hasn’t tried Tana French’s slow-burn mysteries yet, but I still think I will eventually. someday Hope you like it. I really want to check out The Swimmers soon … if you start it – let us know what you think. Have a great week.
Ah really, I find that work slows down during the summer and I have more time for reading and posting. I did enjoy the Tana French book, although it was too long for my taste. But I will certainly continue with the series. Will post about The Swimmers when I’ve read it. Have a great week too!
It’s great to hear from you around here again! Your craving for crime fiction suddenly makes me want to try more of them out. Tana French is an author I’ve heard good things about quite often. Hope you have a blast with that story, despite the far-fetched premise! 😀
Thanks Lashaan, it’s good to be back. I think crime fiction will always remain a stable part of my reading no matter how experimental I get. And I will definitely continue with Tana French, it was a great story, although too long.