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I’m currently reading The Bonfire Of Berlin by Helga Schneider. I read her other book, Let Me Go, whilst in Germany around twelve years ago, and adored it. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to source a copy of this!

I just finished Tove Jansson: Work and love biography by Tuula Karjalainen and it was fantastic!
Now I'm not sure if I should go back to Anna Karenina or start something else...
Happy reading everyone!

I loved that biography, Manika! I’m so pleased you did too. How are you finding ‘Anna Karenina�?

It was such a delight to read!
I really enjoyed the first part (the French edition is in two part), and I find very easy to read for a classic. For some reason I always had this feeling that Russian classics are very difficult but I am proven wrong by this one.
Yet when I put the book down I don't feel the need to pick it up again despite my enjoyment of it.
I've looked The Bonfire of Berlin and have to say that I'm intrigued.

I’m glad you’re having a good experience with it! I love Russian literature, but for some reason haven’t yet picked ‘Anna Karenina� up.

It’s quite a difficult read in terms of its content, but I’d highly recommend it!

Well you're giving me courage to tackle the second part because it is fun and I love reading it!

Fantastic! I might have to get my hands on a copy very soon.

I’m around a third of the way through Owl Sense, which is absolutely fascinating.

I'm still slowly reading Go, Went, Gone, which unfortunately isn't gelling with me yet.

I have also just started listening to Akala's book Natives: Race and Class in the Ruins of Empire. It deals with the intersections of race and class in contemporary Britain and I'm especially interested in it for its focus on education.

I’m just about to start ´¡»åè±ô±ð by Leila Slimani. I very much enjoyed The Perfect Nanny, and am expecting good things.

Kirsty wrote: "I’m just about to start ´¡»åè±ô±ð by Leila Slimani. I very much enjoyed The Perfect Nanny, and am expecting good things."

Ooooh I've been very interested in The Perfect Nanny/Lullaby. I'll have to pick it up soon!

It's great! I read it on our flight back from Toronto last year, and it creeped me out quite a bit when they turned the lights down on the plane...

Katie wrote: "I'm still slowly reading Go, Went, Gone, which unfortunately isn't gelling with me yet.

I have also just started listening to Akala's book [book:Natives: Race and Class in the Ruin..."


Natives by Akala sounds so interesting, how are you finding it so far?

I'm currently around halfway through The Bookshop That Floated Away by Sarah Henshaw, and around a quarter of the way through Kingdom of Olives and Ash: Writers Confront the Occupation, edited by Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman. I rarely have more than one book on the go, but the latter is proving a little heavy-going, and I'm reading two or three essays from it each day alongside other books.

Well good luck with Kingdom of Olives and Ash, true also for me, even when I am quite engrossed in a book if it is a bit heavy-going it does help to have something else on the go so I will not feel like i am suffocating.

Yes, it does seem to offer a bit of a breather, doesn't it? Have you picked Anna Karenina back up yet?

I have a few books that I'm currently reading, Marilla of Green Gables which is lovely so far, Sarah McCoy is definitely bringing the spirit of L.M. Montgomery. As well as The Cruel Prince, I've been enjoying the few fae books that I've been reading lately. I've also recently started Sisters by a River, but so for just the introduction. Tonight I'll finish up the last 20 pages of A Bear Called Paddington Collector’s Edition.

What lovely choices, Carrie! I adore Paddington. You’ve also reminded me that I have yet to read the Green Gables series; I may well do that, and revisit the couple of other Montgomerys which I’ve read to date.

Anne Shirley has always been my favorite literary character and the Green Gables series is one of my all time favorites, so when I found out that Marilla's story being told I was excited and worried but it is wonderful so far. I hope when you do read Anne she'll quickly become a life long friend.

I’m so pleased to hear that! I purchased Montgomery’s complete works on my Kindle last night, so will definitely be starting soon!

Kirsty wrote: "Yes, it does seem to offer a bit of a breather, doesn't it? Have you picked Anna Karenina back up yet?"

Yes I have! And I am very much enjoying it as everytime I pick up but I am also listening to Michelle Obama Becoming and i am more drawn to it.
#readerproblems

Fantastic; I must make an effort to pick both of them up soon!

I’ve just finished The Nanny by Gilly Macmillan, which was a very readable thriller; the only downside was that I managed to guess every single one of the twists... I’m just about to start Jill by Philip Larkin.

I’m currently reading Viral by Helen Fitzgerald.

I started reading The Perfect Nanny last night and I think if I had started earlier in the day I would have probably finished it in a sitting, before today is over I will have that one done I think. Also reading Splintered, the MC is the great-great-great-granddaughter of Alice Liddle, of Alice in Wonderland I'm little over 30 pages in and I think I will enjoy it. Her mother is in an asylum and she fears that will be her fate as maddness of Wonderland seems to take ahold of her. In audio I'm listing to Fated not a woman author but very amusing.

Oh yes I've also been going through The Golden Treasury of Poetry, it's from my childhood. A book of my mothers, I believe from her childhood, and it has been sometime since I have look through the pages of this book. The words but more the illustrations are warming my memories.

Yasmine wrote: "Katie wrote: "I'm still slowly reading Go, Went, Gone, which unfortunately isn't gelling with me yet.

I have also just started listening to Akala's book [book:Natives: Race and Cla..."

Sorry for taking a while to reply Yasmine - I really enjoyed it. It was a great mix of fact and own experiences. I really recommend it, especially if you are interested in race and class within the context of education.

Carrie wrote: "I started reading The Perfect Nanny last night and I think if I had started earlier in the day I would have probably finished it in a sitting, before today is over I will have that ..."

How did you find The Perfect Nanny, Carrie?

I'm around halfway through Lying in Bed, a short story collection by Polly Samson. I'm quite enjoying it.

Kirsty wrote: "Carrie wrote: "I started reading The Perfect Nanny last night and I think if I had started earlier in the day I would have probably finished it in a sitting, before today is over I ..."

It was great, I just wish there was more of it. I wanted to know more about Louise.

Now reading Once Upon a River and it is definitely a curl up with something warm and lose ones self kind of book.

I just finished reading an excellent Irish adoption memoir written by Caitriona Palmer An Affair with My Mother: A Story of Adoption, Secrecy and Love who not only tells her story and the continued secrecy around her existence, but delves into the institutional containment of women and children in Ireland, how church and state colluded to make women responsible for the moral digressions of their community, swept away and passed on their babies and put the unlucky women to work in the Magdalen laundries.

I wrote brief notes upon finishing it, notes written in shock it has to be said.
/review/show...

And now, having had time to cool down and reflect on it more calmly, I've written a more extensive review on my blog, Word by Word

I’m so pleased you enjoyed it, Carrie! I’m intrigued by ‘Once Upon a River�, as I adored ‘The Thirteenth Tale�. It surprised me that I couldn’t bring myself to finish ‘Bellman and Black� though, so I’m a little conflicted about picking it up. I shall await your review.

Great review, Claire; that sounds like a hard-hitting and difficult read.

I’m reading A World of Love by Elizabeth Bowen, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.

I'm reading Paradise and Elsewhere by Kathy Page, for our author of the month and I'm On Dublin Street by Samantha Young

I hope you're enjoying both of them, Carrie! I have started my Sybille Bedford choice, but don't really feel like it at the moment, so I may well pick something else instead.

I’m just starting Tangerine by Christine Mangan.

That looks good, I have added it to my tbr. I'm reading Bloodfever for another group challenge and will be starting either The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock or The Lost Girls of Paris later on today. I will be reading both as they I are due back to the library but which one first I'm not sure.

I've been in a bit of a reading slump for the past few weeks, so I'm reading some of the upcoming book club books which I'm very excited for. I'm around a quarter of the way through both Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings by Shirley Jackson, and The Escape Room by Megan Goldin. I don't tend to read more than one book at once, but the Jackson was a little heavy for me to hold up in bed, so I had to find something on my Kindle.

I've been a very bad reader so far this year. Every book I have attempted to read I have DNF'd, for a variety of reasons.
Hopefully I can finish Bedford's book and build some sort of reading momentum.

That’s such a shame; I hope you get back on track soon!

I'm almost finished, The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock and I'm having mixed thoughts on it. The characters are not likable. I more pity them then like them. Mind you I still have slightly over 100 pages left to read and I very well might change my mind once the book is over.

Kirsty wrote: "That’s such a shame; I hope you get back on track soon!"

Thanks Kirsty.

I had the same thoughts with the book, Carrie. I did find the story quite interesting though,

No problem, Terry.

I'm about halfway through Carmen Maria Machado's Her Body and Other Parties. I have mixed feelings about it so far.

I’m around a third of the way through Spring by Ali Smith. Unsurprisingly, I absolutely love it so far.

I'm reading 3 books a A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and it's going to be heartbreaking and haunting I think once it is finished. Also The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza, I enjoy a good thriller. As well as Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones for a bingo team challenge in another group.

Carrie wrote: "I'm reading 3 books a A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and it's going to be heartbreaking and haunting I think once it is finished. Also [book:The Girl in the Ice|282..."

A Monster call is indeed heartbreaking and haunting however there is hope at the end. Happy reading.

I'm around a third of the way through Mother Island by Bethan Roberts. I'm not completely gripped, but I am intrigued.

I’ve just started Carol by Patricia Highsmith.

I've been picking at Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens by Marieke Nijkamp It's a short story collection by a various authors. So far they have been very enjoyable.

That sounds like a wonderful, and very important, collection. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

I'm about a third of the way through Diary of an Ordinary Woman by Margaret Forster, and I'm loving it so far.

I'm about halfway through the audiobook of Lanny by Max Porter, which I'm loving so far.