What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

I just finished A Town Called Solace. Really enjoyed it. At its heart it's a study of trauma, but handled with a lovely light touch and just the right amount of humour.

No idea what I'm going to read next. Cormac McCarthy's The Orchard Keeper is the only thing left in my TBR pile but I'm not really sure I'm in the humour for Cormac...

The Day that Never Comes, second book in the Dublin Trilogy by Caimh McDonnell

One of those books that has you chuckling away and explaining what you are laughing at makes you sound like a true weirdo :-)

Just started a short story collection I got for Christmas called Liberation Day. It's... interesting.

Read "Alone in Berlin" earlier last year, totally blew me away.

Only a Game? by Eamon Dunphy.

Excellent so far.

Returning Light by Robert Harris.

The memoirs of someone who worked on Skellig Micheal for 30 years. Quite poetic and plenty of flowery language. It was not really what I was expecting from it so far.

Barbery, Muriel - The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Just finished American Psycho. Not sure if it’s good or not!! The violence gets boring after a while and cartoonish in some ways. But without the violence and the reputation it gives the book would it be worth reading? Probably not.

The best chapter for me was one with no violence and described a phone call where characters are trying to decide where to go for dinner. I’ll probably give it a go again in a few months to see if I appreciate it more.

Prussian Blue - Philip Kerr.

Up to the usual high standard of the series - Will be sad to get to the last book.

Subterranean Sappers: A History of 177 Tunnelling Company RE From 1915 to 1919 by Iain McHenry

A fascinating read on the often forgotten vital role and contribution tunnelling companies played during The Great War. The majority of the men that comprised these companies were not soldiers by trade but from mining communities that answered their countries call. I had the pleasure of being on a WW1 Battlefield tour led by said author and he is a very knowledgeable man.

’Geek Love’ by Katherine Dunn. It’s about a carnie family in a travelling circus. The parents purposely try to have kids with deformities to put into the show.

Decent book, drags a bit at the start but once it gets going it’s very good.

Bones and All by Camille DeAngleis. Saw the film the other week and mentioned to my boyfriend that I'd like to read the book so he bought it for me 😀

Just finished ‘They’ by Kay Dick. An interesting one, it’s like a series of vignettes, from an unknown narrator, with a disturbing undercurrent throughout.

A group only referred to as “they” are taking over the UK, stifling artist and personal freedom. Things get progressively worse as it goes on.

The book has a subtitle of ‘A Sequence of Unease’ and it, most definitely, has that. If I’m honest, my only gripe is that the book is way too short.

I’m thinking of loading up a box or 2 of my books and dropping them off at the charity shop, or else off a bridge.the ones I can’t seem to finish.

Phones have us ruined. I was always a complete and utter bookworm but even I struggle to get into anything lately. I've started leaving my phone in another room when I sit down to read lately and it's made a huge difference.

Finished a book called Survivors by the English/Australian author, Jane Harper. It's the fourth book of hers I read and plan on reading her fifth, I enjoyed all of them and if you're into crime fiction I definitely recommend her.

I'm rereading The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. It's beautifully written and while it's a sad story it's got lots of funny parts. I always liked the film with Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand but the book is miles better.

I have tons of books to get through but came across this one a few weeks ago and decided it was time to revisit it, there's a reason I kept my battered old second hand paperback (80p in a charity shop in Galway circa 1997).

I opened a book and in I strode

Now nobody can find me.

I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,

My town and my world behind me.

I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring,

I’ve swallowed the magic potion.

I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king

And dived in a bottomless ocean.

I opened a book and made some friends.

I shared their tears and laughter

And followed their road with its bumps and bends

To the happily ever after.

I finished my book and out I came.

The cloak can no longer hide me.

My chair and my house are just the same,

But I have a book inside me.

Julia Donaldson

‘Come Closer’ by Sara Gran. Another short one.

A sort of psychological horror, a woman possessed by a demon and all told from her perspective so there’s gaps to be filled in by the reader for some blackouts. Decent and easy to read.

Next up will be ‘To Say Nothing of the Dog’ by Connie Willis, I think.

Finished end of watch by Stephen king last in the Mr Mercedes series of books really enjoyable read