I’m very aware that I haven’t posted since last Thursday which is a long time for me. But there has been so much going on – we’re in December and suddenly Christmas rears its head and I’m behind with everything because November was even busier for me. So I shall fill the gap by telling you about some of my incoming books to read. From the top:
– Quartet in Autumn by Barbara Pym. I’ve yet to read any of hers, and got this one through ReaditSwapit. I’m sure I’ll love it.
– Nation by Terry Pratchett. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a Discworld fan, but many say this is different and I shall try it.
– The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. This is our book group read for Christmas – amazingly I didn’t have it on the shelves. I plumped for the Oxford Classics edition as I like the picture on the front. I enjoyed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher last year, whose star case influenced Collins, so am really looking forward to reading it.
– An Education by Lynn Barber. The clips and trailers I’ve seen for the film have been wonderful, but I prefer to read the books first if I can, so DVD to follow for this one.
– Evermore by Alyson Noel. No vampires, but another dark teen novel that’s getting a lot of notice. One of my Amazon Vine picks.
– Rupture by Simon Lelic. A crime novel in which a young police detective gets obsessed by trying to find out why a teacher walked into a school and shot three pupils. Sounds disturbing! Another Amazon Vine pick.
– Selective Memory by veteran columnist Katherine Whitehorn. Found this in a charity shop and I think it’ll read wonderfully as an older counterpoint to the Barber above.
– The Battle of the Sun by Jeanette Winterson. I enjoyed her novel Tanglewreck, written for older children earlier this year, and this is a sort of standalone sequel, in that it shares some characters. Hope it’s as quirky as the other one.
– The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw. This is a beautiful book with a gorgeous cover and silvered page edges. A modern fairy tale about a girl who is turning to glass. Can’t wait – Everyone I know who’s already read it loved it.
– and finally, Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link. Kimbofo reviewed this book of magical short stories here and I couldn’t resist – it sounds wonderful.
I hope that I’ll get around to reading at least some of these books this month, and having time to write about them… and there are also those posts we all do featuring our books of the year to start thinking about… and seeing how I did against my New Year’s Reading Resolutions to check out too… so even if I don’t have time to write up books read, I’ve got plenty to talk about. See you soon!
Oh what a lovely list. I am desperate to get my hands on a copy of The Girl With The Glass Feet but still havent managed to! I will at some point. I have Pretty Monsters on the TBR and think that I will be reading that in the not too distant future.What a lovely haul!
Simon – Put the Girl with the glass feet on your Christmas list. I've heard nothing but good about it and it's been nominated for the Costa first novel award. It also turns out that Ali Shaw is a 'he' – I'd kind of assumed it was written by a woman, so doubly intriguing, as you don't often see modern fairy tales written by men.
I managed to get a copy of Quartet in Autumn recently too. I haven't read any Pym either, so will be interested to see what it is like.I haven't heard about The Girl with Glass feet before but it sounds lovely. I look forward to your review.Great selection!
I,m always happy to see a pile of someone's new books!The Moonstone is great fun, willdly implausible and with some great characters. An Education was a stylish and enjoyable film, so I'll be interested to hear about the book.And I love Winterson's work- I just listened to her talk about her new book on the BBC- the link is http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/openbook if you're interested.
Thanks Jackie & Sarah. I've decided – Girl with the glass feet is next, then the Moonstone. Review copies will have to wait!
Some terrific books there by the looks of it!Can't wait to hear what you think of Pretty Monsters (thanks for the link to my review).I like the sound of the Girl with the Glass Feet.
PS>> Just gone to look up Girl with Glass Feet on Amazon — hardcover is all out of stock and the paperback edition takes an extra two days to deliver. So, it looks like it's so popular even Amazon can't keep enough of it in stock! A good sign, no?
I'm up to chapter 4 and I'm hooked already. Being set in an isolated community it's reminding me of 'The Shipping News' with an added fantasy element just starting to appear. Lovely and strange.