Monday, November 24, 2014

What I'm Reading This Week, Thankfully


Here’s a summary of last week’s reading adventures: Suicide, Murder, Divorce. Way to ring in the holiday season! My book club read Veronika Decides to Die, and I wrote about why it was a good “discussion book.” I read The Restless Sleep for Nonfiction November and found that I’m still restless for a satisfying nonfiction crime book.  And just yesterday I finished David Nicholls' Us, which was not exactly the romantic comedy I thought it would be (but it was maybe something better). A review on that is forthcoming. 


So I knocked off two books from last week’s leaning stack of books. This week is Thanksgiving, so I’m not sure how much reading I’ll get done. But here’s my ambitious pile, with a few new additions:


You’ll notice that there’s a book whose spine is reversed. That’s because I don’t want you to know that I’m reading it yet. It has to be a secret! My book club has a book exchange every December, and I’m thinking that this will be the one I’ll give (if it lives up to the great reviews). I’ve also put Hilary Mantel’s An Experiment in Love in the stack, because I received it at the exchange two years ago and still haven’t read it.


Here’s the synopsis from Powells:

It was the year after Chappaquiddick, and all spring Carmel McBain had watery dreams about the disaster. Now she, Karina, and Julianne were escaping the dreary English countryside for a London University hall of residence. Interspersing accounts of her current position as a university student with recollections of her childhood and an ever difficult relationship with her longtime schoolmate Karina, Carmel reflects on a generation of girls desiring the power of men, but fearful of abandoning what is expected and proper. When these bright but confused young women land in late 1960s London, they are confronted with a slew of new preoccupations--sex, politics, food, and fertility--and a pointless grotesque tragedy of their own.

That’s it for now. Please let me know what you’re reading, too. Hint: leave a comment!


(It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Book Journey)

8 comments:

westmetromommy said...

Hmm, I've never heard of the Hilary Mantel book. I'll be interested to read what you think of it!

jennifer said...

I'm very curious, too!

shelleyrae @ book'd out said...

Us is still on my tbr pile, I'm curious about the Mantel title too. Her others aren't my taste but this one could be.

Have a great reading week,

Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

Not Scott said...

Just about finished with Lila by Marilynne Robinson then I may return to a couple of Mary McCarthy books on Florence and Venice that I was reading while in Italy. I also purchased a couple of Orhan Pamuk books at a charity sale this weekend along with The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Of course, I also have a stack of magazines and Boris Vian's "Les Ecumes des Jours" which I am struggling to read in French. But then again, I struggle to read anything when it is in French. That's probably why I don't do it very much.

jennifer said...

Yeah -- it seems different than Wolf Hall, etc. Though I suppose it's still "historical fiction."

jennifer said...

How's Lila? You'll see that I still have that in my stack as well. I feel like I need to revisit the previous two before I read it.

Unknown said...

You have some great titles and I hope to see you around my blog

Katelynn
www.literarychameleon.blogspot.com

jennifer said...

Thank you! I will definitely check out your blog.