The Mock Turtle

I finished The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell yesterday. It was pretty good though I was prepared for one more twist than it had.

Now onto The Cows by Dawn O’Porter.

You can tell I’m on holiday, I’ve finished The Cows already. It was really good.

I LOVED The Paper Palace.

Just chatting to myself, reading ALL the books. The Magician’s Assistant was very good. I was worried something awful would happen in it for a while. I’d like to read something that doesn’t allude to childhood/domestic abuse in any form.

I read Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn. It was enjoyable enough but not great. Then I read Death of a Painter. I know this was written by the husband of a Turtle, so I would not be mentioning it unless I enjoyed it. I did very much, it was quite different and the characters were engaging (even the not so nice ones). I will now get the second book.

I am in the middle of The Paper Palace and enjoying that very much too

I couldn't get on with The Paper Palace. I had a kindle edition that was all over the place so I just gave up.

I am plodding through Prep. I’m a bit bored now so hoping to finish it today.

sally maclennane wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:04 pm I really liked that, Pip. I am reading Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford, its about 5 children killed in a bombing, during the Blitz, but it imagines how their lives would have turned out if they'd lived. It took me a bit to get into but now I really like it.

I've finally finished this (it took me ages!) and really didn't get on with it overall. It just felt very disjointed to me and the individual stories didn't really hang together - I thought they would intertwine much more. There were a couple of parts I really did enjoy and thought I was getting into it, but then it would jump about again.

I've just finished Cat Lady by Dawn O'Porter. I'm not going to read any more of her books , I just don't like her writing.

I gave up with Dawn O'Porter. I didn't like her style either.

I'm currently on Six Days in Leningrad by Paulina Simons which is about her research for The Bronze Horseman et al. I'm really enjoying it. Before that I read an incredible book of short stories: You Have A Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead. I didn't like the first one and almost gave up but I'm so glad I didn't at the rest of them blew me away. Fantasic stuff.

I also quite enjoyed Family of Liars but not as much as the first novel, primarily because I knew where it was going.

I just finished The Mermaid of Black Conch and despite it really sounding like my kind of thing, I didn’t love it.

Flora Poste wrote: ↑Sat Jul 16, 2022 4:11 pm

sally maclennane wrote: ↑Mon Apr 18, 2022 5:04 pm I really liked that, Pip. I am reading Light Perpetual by Francis Spufford, its about 5 children killed in a bombing, during the Blitz, but it imagines how their lives would have turned out if they'd lived. It took me a bit to get into but now I really like it.

I've finally finished this (it took me ages!) and really didn't get on with it overall. It just felt very disjointed to me and the individual stories didn't really hang together - I thought they would intertwine much more. There were a couple of parts I really did enjoy and thought I was getting into it, but then it would jump about again.

I know what you mean, it was a bit disjointed.

I have just finished another Val McDermid, the last in that series. I liked having a whole series to work through, she has a new book out in August (different series). I'm probably just going to wait for the new Chris Brookmyre book to come out next week as i have a backlog of Guardian magazines that I keep saying I'm going to read

I finished the second Thursday Murder Club and much preferred it to the first.

Now I'm reading Heatwave, appropriately. It's translated from the French, I can almost argue that reading it counts as CPD.

sally maclennane wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 3:30 pm I finished Commonwealth today and really enjoyed it. I loved Franny, she was such a good character.

I've just downloaded this from the library .


I still feel slightly traumatised from reading A Fine Balance

lazzbo wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 12:58 pm Now I'm reading Heatwave, appropriately. It's translated from the French, I can almost argue that reading it counts as CPD.

Is it weird reading the translation? I read a few English books in French years ago and it's quite interesting thinking about what the original text must have been and how much they adapt beyond simple translations.

I didn't last long with the Guardian magazines, and have downloaded Dirt Town by Haley Scrivenor, a crime novel set in Australia. It's a bit Jane Harper-ish but not quite as good. Still very enjoyable though.

I finished the Paper Palace and did love it - is the ending meant to be ambiguous or am I missing something obvious.

It's meant to be ambiguous/ you imbue it with whatever works for you, I think.

Thanks Ella, that makes me feel like I didn't miss anything

I’ve just finished Fallen Angel by Chris Brookmyre, and it was another classic of his. I love how odd characters from other novels pop up.