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I recently finished a wonderful award winning historical novel called Zuleikha by Guzel Yakhina, translated from Russian into English about the life of a woman who is sent into exile to a Russian labour camp (gulag). What made it all the more interesting is that it was inspired by memories of the author's grandmother and that it is a story of a woman whose life is improved by the experience.

My review of Zuleikha here:
/review/show...

After that, my new read makes me feel like I'm on holiday, it's Patricia Sands Drawing Lessons set in Arles, Provence, the town where Van Gogh painted hundreds of his most colourful paintings.

Zuleikha sounds fantastic, and your review is great. I wonder how it's slipped under my radar! I've added Drawing Lessons to my list too.

Kirsty wrote: "Zuleikha sounds fantastic, and your review is great. I wonder how it's slipped under my radar! I've added Drawing Lessons to my list too."

Thank you Kirsty, it was a wonderful read and I hope that will become more widely read and discussed. And Drawing Lessons is a wonderful reprieve, Patricia Sands writes wonderful books about people coming together, her first novel The Bridge Clubwas an amazing read based on a true story and quite a cliffhanger at the end as this group of women friends come together to revisit the past and support one woman's future predicament.

Another added to the TBR list! The Bridge Club sounds so immersive, and is just the thing I’ve been looking to read of late.

Currently flying through Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. I feel like I don't fist nordic/viking stories enough.

I’d recommend the Icelandic Sagas if you want to pick up something with similar themes, Carrie.

I’m just about to start Transcription by Kate Atkinson, which is one of my most anticipated books of the year. I’m also around halfway through the audiobook of Lanny by Max Porter.

Kirsty wrote: "I’d recommend the Icelandic Sagas if you want to pick up something with similar themes, Carrie.

I’m just about to start Transcription by Kate Atkinson, which is one of my most anti..."

I'll see what I can find, thank you.

You're very welcome.

I'm about to start Needlework by Deirdre Sullivan. I don't read much young adult literature, but it sounded quite different, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Currently reading, White Hot by Ilona Andrews, I hate these covers, it gives the wrong impression of the books. The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: 14 Amazing Authors Tell the Tales by Chris Van Allsburg which is actually a selection of stories by various authors based on the art work of Harris Burdick. I'm reading our book of the month Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto and listening to an audio of Beauty Queens by Libba Bray, which is much better then I originally thought it would be.

I started Hala Alyan's -Salt Houses- yesterday and am not sure how to assign it an appropriate country. The author's parents were living in Kuwait when her mother became pregnant. Her mother had a Lebanese passport and her father had Palestinian papers. She was born in the U.S. while her mother was visiting family in Illinois. They returned to Kuwait, where the author lived until the invasion by Iraq. The family moved briefly to Syria then emigrated to the U.S. She is listed as a Palestinian-American writer.

Kuwait or the U.S. would be the most likely countries, but I am considering creating a separate category of my around-the-world reads, one for diaspora authors who have been displaced.

Any thoughts?

That’s quite a difficult one to categorise! I like your idea of a new category for displaced authors; it seems particularly fitting in this case.

I’m currently reading How to Paint a Dead Man by Sarah Hall, and am absolutely loving it.

I've just started Nick Hunt's Where the Wild Winds Are: Walking Europe's Winds from the Pennines to Provence, which I'm enjoying thus far.

Kirsty, How to Paint a Dead Man is one of my favourite books, I really hope you keep on loving it :)

I’m so pleased to hear that! It was fantastic; so breathtaking.

I'm about a quarter into The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He writes so passionately about books and authors, and so truthful. If you haven't read this book I suggested you add it to your tbr.

It is creepy and haunting.

Carrie wrote: "I'm about a quarter into The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He writes so passionately about books and authors, and so truthful. If you haven't read this book I su..."

Carrie, this has been on my radar for a while, but I keep waffling. I have read that it is pretty dark. Could you please tell me how dark it is and in what ways it is dark? I have also heard that it is pretty darned wonderful.

I hope you enjoy it, Carrie! I read it a very long time ago, and absolutely loved it.

I'm about to start the novel Gardens in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko. She's an author I discovered this year, though one well-known to American readers.

I started by reading her memoir The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir about her life in an old ranch house outside Tucson, her menagerie of animals, birdlife, lizards and the rattlesnakes that take refuge beneath (and sometimes within) her home. She brings the natural environment to life and makes you interested in her habit of picking up turquoise stones on her walks.

I followed that up by reading the novel she is most well-known for Ceremony and then a slim collection of latters between her and the Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Wright, The Delicacy and Strength of Lace: Letters Between Leslie Marmon Silko and James Wright.

And I still have an essay collection and a book of prose and poetry to read. Love her work.

She sounds fascinating, Claire! I’ll have to look out for her work.

I’ve just started Those Who Walk Away by Patricia Highsmith.

I've almost finished Matthew Hollis' illuminating biography Now All Roads Lead To France, about the poet Edward Thomas' last years.

I just finished Kirsty Logan’s early short story collection entitled The Psychology of Animals Swallowed Alive: Love Stories. I found it both strange and quirky, and very atmospheric. A short book, and a highly recommended one.

Karen wrote: "Carrie wrote: "I'm about a quarter into The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He writes so passionately about books and authors, and so truthful. If you haven't read..."

It's dark and has a sinister feeling but more like in the atmosphere, think a autumn evening with a low lying fog. There is death and other things that will be a plot twist and spoiler if I tell you.

I started reading In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta A. Ahmed last night and it sucked me in from the start.

That sounds fantastic, Carrie; I’ll have to look it up.

I’ve finally started our March author pick three months later, and am reading Jigsaw: An Unsentimental Education by Sybille Bedford. I’m only around 50 pages in, but I’m enjoying it so far.

I've ordered Spring from the library. It should come soon. I look forward to reading it and re-reading the first two books in the series.

Oh, fantastic! I adored it (as I do all of Smith’s work). Looking forward to hearing your thoughts, Terry. I think I might reread all of the books when the full quartet is out.

Carrie wrote: "Karen wrote: "Carrie wrote: "I'm about a quarter into The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. He writes so passionately about books and authors, and so truthful. If yo..."

Carrie, thank you. I am now moving it to my "To Read" list.

I’ve just started our group read for July, The Bone People by Keri Hulme.

I’m around a quarter of the way through The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I’ve had it on my TBR for some time, but have put off reading it because of its length. I’m enjoying it so far.

I'm currently reading Turning: Lessons from Swimming Berlin's Lakes by Jessica J. Lee. I’m so into non-fiction at the moment!

I just finished reading the other day a book I think you might like Kirsty, Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. It takes place over the course of a year after 2 sisters have been kidnapped. Each chapter focusing on different characters but they are all connected in some form or other with what has happened. Also currently reading At the Wolf's Table by Rosella Postorino. It's about this woman who along with 9 other women have been selected to be Hitler's food tasters, so far it is extremely good.

Thank you for the recommendation! I have the book on my to-read list, and will see if I can get it from the library when I move. I hope you enjoy At the Wolf’s Table; it sounds fascinating too.

I’ve just finished If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. I really enjoyed it, and found it far more gritty than his other works.

I started reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgensternin the wee hours of yesterday morning.

Kirsty wrote: "I’ve just finished If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. I really enjoyed it, and found it far more gritty than his other works."

That looks interesting, I just added it to my mountain

I adore The Night Circus! I hope you’re enjoying it. The Baldwin is well worth a read.

I’m around sixty pages in to The Testament of Gideon Mack. It’s not a bad book by any means, but it hasn’t pulled me in at all so far.

I really enjoyed Beale Street too. I've just started Transit by Anna Seghers, a book I suggested for my bookclub, partly because it's set in Marseille, our local big city, and inspired by the true life experiences of the author, a young German woman who fled her own country in the 1940's and transited through Marseille to find refuge in Mexico before being able to return to her home town, country.

I’ve had my eye on Transit for a while, Claire, and look forward to seeing what you think of it.

I’m almost halfway through Tell Me Who We Were by Kate McQuade, a series of interlinked short stories. Her writing is beautiful.

I'm around halfway through Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell. I have laughed aloud numerous times already.

I'm currently reading Little Bandaged Days by Kyra Wilder, which is brooding and unsettling so far. I'm feeling very absorbed by it.

I'm currently reading Introducing Mordecai Richler's the Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by George Woodcock. It is so far a very thorough and interesting analysis of that work.

Currently reading: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell and You by Caroline Kepnes

What a great mixture of books!

Thanks, Kirsty! Loving black beauty, loved the film of it as well. I didn’t know You was a book since it’s a tv show on Netflix, but hopefully it’s just as good.

I’m so pleased you’re enjoying Black Beauty! I read it when I was quite young, and for some reason have never revisited it even though I remember really enjoying it (and crying a lot over one of the scenes!). Perhaps it’s time to pick it back up again!

I really enjoyed You on Netflix, and I’m intrigued to see what you make of the book.

It’s very interesting how it’s written in the perspective of the horse, it makes it more emotional I guess. Yeah, I loved the show as well, I’ll definitely let you know whether the book is any good :)

Currently reading and should be done shortly Tree Girl by T.A. Barron. I love children's fantasy.

Thanks Georgia! If you enjoy it, I’ve just seen that my library has a copy, so I’ll be able to read it soon.

I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Carrie.

I’m about three quarters of the way through Adam Nicolson’s The Seabird's Cry: The Lives and Loves of the Planet's Great Ocean Voyagers, which is absolutely fascinating.