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Books I’ve been reading
Like many other habits, my reading slowed down quite a bit while I was in the US. I’ve been making goals on Goodreads each year to finish 100 books and I’ve been behind on that for most of the year. But I am just about caught up now.
I recently read My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan and I immensely enjoyed it. At first, it seemed to be a contemporary romantic comedy but about a third of the way through I discovered it was not quite the light read I expected. Also, it wasn’t an original story but one based on a script for a movie, I think. This one is about a young woman who gets a Rhodes Scholarship and goes to Oxford for a year while also working on an election campaign back home in the US.
I read The Venice Train by Georges Simenon very recently for Netgalley. I know of Simenon for his series of Maigret detective stories although I haven’t read any of his work before. This one turned out to be a psychological thriller of sorts. It has such good pacing that it has you on the edge of your seat much of the time. It’s about a man who leaves his family’s holiday in Venice to return to Paris by train. On the way back a stranger requests a favor that upends his life in the most negative of ways.
A non-fiction book that was quite good is Secrets of Women’s Healthy Ageing: Living Better, Living Longer by Cassandra Szoeke. The author is part of a long-term research study on women’s health here in Australia that has been running for thirty years. There are a number of important takeaways but for me, the most important one was to keep moving. It seems keeping active will affect most areas of life positively, from blood sugar to bone health to mental health. There’s a lot of interesting information with regard to research into women’s health too.
Also non-fiction is the memoir by Hannah Gadsby. I first read this as an ebook and then it was available as an audiobook so I checked that out and listened and it was quite good. There’s some pretty tough material in the book and Hannah narrates in a similar way to her comedy and it worked really well for me. I had listened to another memoir from another Australian comedian and it just didn’t sound quite right. I think I would have enjoyed reading more than listening. This one is done beautifully.
Lastly, I am currently rereading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. My parents had this book on their shelves and I read it probably during my teenage years. It really left a big impression at the time which has remained with me since. I decided enough years have passed that it’s definitely worth a revisit and I started reading it on ebook. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but I will note the beautiful language used to start the book. I don’t suppose I appreciated this so much at the time I first read it but it is really well written.
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Finally
It took a long time but I finally finished reading Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth by Wole Soyinka. It’s an interesting book because it’s all over the place for the better part of the first half, and then there’s a proper plot in the latter part of the book. I can see a bit of what the aim was for the writer but it really was way too long. I found the second half far better than the first half and found myself wanting to read more towards the end. Before that, the flow just wasn’t quite there. Overall I did like it but I don’t consider it a major success. I am glad I kept on with it, though, and now I feel a bit freer to request more books for review. I’m currently listening to an audiobook of A Narrow Door by Joanne Harris. It’s actually the third in a series and I’m fairly sure I read the first book many years ago. So far it’s very intriguing and I look forward to the twists and turns to reach the conclusion.
As a side note, I’ve added a link to the blog I started for book reviews on the sidebar. It’s been in a bit of a lull recently but I’m trying to get back into it again.
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Reading
I’ve mentioned here before that I read lots of books for Netgalley which provides advanced reader copies for new releases. Earlier this year I found I had reached over 20 books and it got to be a bit unwieldy for a while. Also, some requested books didn’t get sent until much later than the request was made and I had to fit those in too. I finally got to under ten books and now I’m down to three books and there are still four that I requested that I haven’t had answers on. One of them I requested in March and still haven’t heard back. Today is the release date. So far the only reviews for it seem to be from librarians so maybe they are the only ones to have access before release.
One of the books I am currently slogging through is a particularly long one from a Nigerian writer who was the first black winner of the Nobel prize in literature many years ago. I say slogging because it’s quite long and perhaps a bit too wordy. I have pondered whether to give it up and not finish but I feel obliged to carry on to some degree. There was a book about genes I read a while back that I had for many months but it was really tough to get through. I didn’t quite finish that one but I felt I had read enough to write a fair review on it.
I haven’t added too many books recently because I need a slow period for a little while. Unless a lot of really good books happen to turn up.
I have also started listening to audiobooks a lot more, mostly from the library. I find it works out well there because I can easily return it if it doesn’t work for me. The first book I listened to early this year was a sequel and that was tough. I don’t think it was the narrator but just the fact I already had preconceived notions from reading the first book and it clashed a bit. I found once I had read it for real, I was able to go back and listen again without too much issue. At the moment I am listening to two audiobooks. One is The Queen’s Gambit, which is a book that was turned into a series on Netflix. The Scientist and I had seen the first episode and it was good. At the same time, I ran across it in the library listing and put it on hold. So far I think the series is a bit better than the book for me. I find the narrator okay when she’s speaking for Beth, the girl in the story. And not too bad for a couple of female characters. But all the male ones sound very similar and often alike and they all sound kind of dumb and slow. I think some of these are supposed to be a southern accent but it doesn’t work for me. I still have half the book to go and only a few days left until it goes back so I don’t know if I will carry on or not. One thing I will note is the tv series doesn’t seem to have anyone with a southern accent despite mostly being set in Kentucky. Strange.
The second book I listened to was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab and it was just wonderful. Julia Whelan narrated and she really brought it all to life. I didn’t write a review when I finished but I plan to get an ebook and read it and will do a review then. I am curious as to whether I would have liked this as well had I read first it or not. I will never know for sure though since I am sure I will have the memory of the audiobook in mind while reading.
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Audiobooks
For almost my entire reading life, I’ve always read to myself. I have no recollection of ever having books read to me as a child. That’s not to say it didn’t happen but possibly once I learned to read it stopped happening. Or something along those lines.
The one exception on this was when I was in fourth grade and our English teacher read Charlotte’s Web out loud to our class in preparation for us to take a field trip to see the animated film. I don’t remember it that well aside from us sitting on a rug or something while she read. That was the only teacher who I recall doing that.
I didn’t go to kindergarten but once I was in first grade I was super-ready to read. I was in the top reading group from early on and stayed that way throughout my primary years. So again I read to myself and there was never any notion that I would be read to.
I few years ago I read The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker and I really adored it. I read it a couple of times and still go back and read parts occasionally. Barker just released a sequel this week, but it’s currently only on audiobook. I was quite torn because I want to know what happens next but I really prefer to read for myself.
I read books on Netgalley which provides advanced reader copies in exchange for reviews. Occasionally something good comes along and this time the audiobook for the sequel showed up. I went ahead and requested it and happily, I succeeded.
I’ve been listening for the past three days now. It’s really weird to listen to the book instead of reading it for myself. The worst part is I have my own imagined voices and images of the story and now I’ve got someone else inflicting a different version on me. Of course there’s no way around this but it makes for a totally new “reading” experience. I did find the first couple of chapters to be a bit rough and didn’t find the reader did so good of a job at differentiating characters voices. It’s gotten better as it’s gone on. What’s really funny is that one character has a longish name and it’s pronounced fully each time. But when I read for myself, I tend to create a mental shortcut while reading so as not to take up so much time. It’s really funny to keep hearing this long name spoken.
I’m only up to chapter ten and there’s a lot more to go. I am kind of getting into it a bit more now. Initially I was listening with earphones but last night I connected with a bluetooth speaker and just let it play continuously. I’ve also played it in the car but I find it gets stuck after each chapter ends. I think I listened to three or four last night without pause, so that set up seems to work okay for me. It says I’m about a quarter of the way through the book so progress is happening.
I really look forward to the ebook/print versions being released in June or July so I can read it again with my own personal voices and images. One thing that I do wonder about is whether this would have been an issue had this been the first book or a standalone story. I might have to try it out some time just to see.
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Reading habits
I seem to be back into a habit of reading books again. Not that I ever stopped but I’d been reading all sorts of mixed media and much of that was manga and webtoon titles. I’m still reading some of those but the manga types I like have been pretty much exhausted as far as what the library has and it felt like time to mix things up a bit anyway.
I’m currently reading lots of straight fiction, mostly romance, mostly light reading. I tend to give a miss to the Harlequin types. Some of what I am reading probably would be similar to chick-lit. But I also started reading more young adult titles too. It’s kind of a weird territory for me. It wasn’t around back when I was in the targeted age range so I mostly read adult novels once I reached my teens…probably before that.
Something I’ve noticed about the YA titles I’ve read are that they are fairly easy reads. Most I’ve finished in a few hours. Maybe it’s just luck of the draw. Of course there are books like the Harry Potter series that are longer reads but I haven’t found any like that lately.
One of the series I’ve read recently is a sort of Twilight wannabe series. It’s not terrible but not great either. I have only finished the first book of what seem to be three or four depending on how a prequel is counted. It deals with paranormal stuff and supposedly dark romance. I don’t know if the darkness is really that dark though and the romance isn’t written that well…but maybe it gets better in the second book. I read another book from a different series which also probably qualifies as a Twilight wannabe. I think I liked that better but I haven’t found the next books in the series to find out what happens next. I haven’t actually read the Twilight books but I am thinking about tackling them some time soon just so I can make comparisons. I know the series isn’t known for any great writing so I won’t be going in expecting much. I suppose it will give more context to all the pop culture references though and I might still enjoy it for what it is.
One of the reasons I’ve delved into YA romances is to compare them to the shoujo manga I’ve read. There are lots of tropes that show up in manga and I am already seeing how there’s some overlap in the YA books although without some of the more culturally Japanese tropes, of course. There’s definitely lots more available these days but I must admit to being disappointed at the way so many books represent romance with such negative behaviors in relationships. Too many girls are just too accepting of the guy doing things they shouldn’t. That’s not stopping me from reading but it does leave me wondering when the culture will change enough that it will be reflected in the literature. So far, I’ve not found much to hold up as particularly good…but it’s still early days in my reading.
I’m also reading books on my Kindle which works better late at night because I can read in bed for a while and just go to sleep. If I’m reading a physical book I need to get up and move to the bed and that often gets me awake again. Anyway, the ebooks are so much easier to carry. I get a lot of the books from the free books on Amazon but I also buy some when they are reduced price too.
Part of my intent in reading is to have a broader understanding of what’s out there in the literature since I do have aspirations of working in a library and probably a public library soon.