The Book Post – May

The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice I’ve skipped April. ‘What happened to April?’ I hear you ask… well, now, there’s a story. (Speaking of which, apologies for not getting through and reading and commenting and all those other good bloggy etiquette things to do… I’ll be better in June… I promise…)

Seriously though, it began to feel weird writing about what I’d read in, say April, when the post was being published almost 3 weeks after the month ended.

So, this, dear reader, is a catch-up. It’s not what I read in April, or what I’ve read so far in May, it’s what I’ve read since we last caught up and talked about books. And yes, there is a lot of books, but it’s almost 2 months’ worth…

New (to me) series…

I’m pretty sure it was Deb who first put me onto Elly Griffith’s Dr Ruth Galloway series…and I’m loving it.

The last book I read – The Dying Fall – I inhaled on a return flight to Sydney last week. I should have used the time to write, but, well, I had exit row seats which meant my bags had to be up top, and, well, it seemed like such an effort to get my laptop out and put it away again and… you get the idea.

Anyways, that will be it for now as I need to wait for the reservations in the library to come in.

I’ve told you before about Julia Chapman’s Dales Detective series, well, there’s an earlier series she wrote – as Julia Stagg – set in the French Pyrenees – and it’s fabulous too. I’m currently reading the last one now.

New in a series…

Speaking of Julia Chapman and the Dales Detective agency, the latest in that series is finally out. I’d accidentally preordered the audio version, but loved it. A fantabulous rounding out of Samson and Delilah’s (yes, I still cringe at that) story with all the quirky characters playing their parts beautifully. This was definitely my April read of the month.

I’m not sure if this is the last book in the series – Chapman has tied everything up so well it could be – and I’m not sure where else she can take the characters, but I’ve loved this series so much I cashed in some points in the reward and recognition scheme we have at work for Booktopia vouchers and have bought the series in paperback to reread some time.

New on NetGalley

I got an advance copy of this one from Net Galley for review purposes. While I’ve rated it 4 stars, it’s probably somewhere closer to 3.75 as I struggled a tad with the start. I suspect this was because it’s not that long since we read Jane Austen’s Emma in book club and this is a modern retelling of that novel. Once I put that aside I did, however, end up enjoying this sparkly romp set in New York.

Book Club Reads

In book club we finished Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway.

The former I loved loved loved and the latter, while I can’t say I enjoyed it, I “got”…if you know what I mean.

Dickens brings scenes to life in such a way that it’s almost visceral – you’re there in that misty churchyard with the convict and his clinking chains, and you can smell the decaying remnants of Miss Havisham’s bridal tables and the stench of market London… it’s as if you’re standing beside him watching it all unfold.

Anyways, we all loved it.

Our traditional end-of-book club bake was apple and cinnamon scones. If you want to know why I chose that – and, of course, get the recipe – you’ll find the post here.

As for Mrs Dalloway, the opinions weren’t quite so unanimous, but it prompted more discussion than we’ve had in many meetings.

With no chapters and, quite frankly, weird punctuation, this is a difficult book to read and with day job life being as it is I don’t have the brain capacity to deal with that. Instead I listened to the Audible version narrated by Juliet Stevenson and it brought it alive for me. While I can’t say I enjoyed it, in many ways it spoke to me and I suspect will be a book that stays with me for a long time. In fact I find myself liking it more in hindsight…or appreciating it more…

Because it’ll be a couple of months before we can get together again there’ll be no baking for this book (although I might just sneak in a bake in honour of it).

Next, we’re heading down the rabbit hole with Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Non Fiction

I tried to tell Grant about this while we were walking one morning. About how Humble, who lived on a farm in Wales, had bought a sheepdog pup she wanted to train up as a working dog and how that had taken her on a journey to find out how wolves had evolved into domestic dogs who worked with us in partnership. I get that his attention span sometimes isn’t great but all he heard was sheepdog, Wales, and wolves and wanted to know why there were wolves in Wales and what that had to do with sheepdogs. Heavy sigh.

Anyways, this was a fabulous read (or, in my case, listen) and I learnt so much about the domestication and evolution of the breeds, the astounding things dogs do and are capable of doing, and how even though they share much of the same DNA these days the differences between wolves and dogs is similar to how we’ve evolved from chimps. Fascinating stuff and a must-read for any dog lover.

Oh, and as an aside, apparently a small pack of wolves has been introduced into Wales.

Cookbooks

Check out this post for more on these…

Your turn…

Deb, Donna, Sue, and I would love you to share what you’ve been reading…the linky is below.

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