Library Checkout

I have always enjoyed Bookish Beck’s monthly Library Checkout, but it had never occurred to me to join in. Partly, I’ve been outfaced by the sheer number of volumes she manages to devour. But I’ve had a busy-for-me reading month, as well as a higher number than usual of ‘Nah, not for me’, so let’s get started.

Read

Adam Nicolson: The Sea is not Made of Water. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ A study of what – apart from water – fills the seas. At tides, at geology, at social history and philosophy. Frequently fascinating, informative and thought provoking, but for me, the whole thing didn’t quite hang together

Frances Quinn: The Smallest Man⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ The rags-to-riches story of Nat Davy, dwarf, who avoids being sold as a fairground attraction when his father, who wants rid of him, gets a better offer for him to be the plaything to Queen Charlotte in the court of Charles I. Nat is soon at the heart of the action in the hotbed of political and religious discontent which is Stuart England. An enjoyable and easy to race through account.

Jason Webb: The Anarchist Detective. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Mini-review forthcoming in October’s Six Degrees of Separation.

Roy Jacobsen: Eyes of the Rigel. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I chose this from the library on a whim, unaware that this was the last of a series of three. It didn’t matter. Ingrid, inhabitant of a small Norwegian island sets off to find her Russian lover and father of her child in the aftermath of WWII. A discomfiting but highly readable story about the aftermath of war, about collaboration, guilt.

Joe Shute: Forecast. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ A clear-sighted and readable account of how our seasons are no longer the four seasons we’ve traditionally recognised over the centuries, but are rapidly involving into something new, and difficult for wildlife and ourselves to adjust to. Shute has travelled the kingdom, delved into literature, folklore, plant and animal life, traditional industries, personal reminiscences, and even noted how language has changed in describing the weather. In among, he reflects upon the difficulties he and his wife have in conceiving a child: which might sound gratuitous, but isn’t, at all.

Alix Nathan: The Warlow Experiment. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Mini-review forthcoming in October’s Six Degrees of Separation.

John Green: The Anthropocene Reviewed. ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ I intended to dip in and out of these musings, developed from a podcast series about many different aspects of life on our planet. Instead, I read it from cover to cover, almost at a sitting. Green considers anything from the QWERTY keyboard to the Lascaux cave paintings, sunsets to teddy bears with his personal thoughts, anecdote, research, in a way which is at once engaging and amusing, as well as thought provoking.

Returned Unfinished

Garry Disher: Bitterwash Road. This is the gritty and well-told story of Hirsch, police whistle blower, demoted because of his actions and now the constable in a one-horse town in the Australian outback. The dialogue is slick and believable, the descriptions of characters, town life and the countryside evocative, the plot fast moving. This is a book that has everything. But after a few chapters, I’d had enough. Didn’t finish it.

Anne Griffin: Listening Still. I’d loved When all was Said, reviewed here. But a cosy two generation family with an undertaking business, two of whom can talk to the dead briefly, before they totally expire? Just …. nah.

Eugenia Rico: El Otoño Aleman: I seriously overestimated my reading stamina and abilities in Spanish. Back to basics!

Borrowed, and waiting their turn.

Alastair McIntosh: An Island Journey

Janice Galloway: The Trick is to Keep Breathing.

Ian Stephen: A Book of Death and Fish.

The Decameron Project: 29 New Stories from the Pandemic

Is this a typical month? Maybe not. There’s a higher proportion of non-fiction here than usual. Have you read anything from my pile? Tempted by anything?

Author: margaret21

I'm retired and living in North Yorkshire, where I walk as often as I can, write, volunteer, and travel as often as I can.

38 thoughts on “Library Checkout”

  4. Such a fascinating post ‘The Sea is not made of water’ sounds as though it should be an amazing read – and ‘Forecast’ sounds as though it is! That’s one for my christmas list; thank you, Margaret!

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    1. I thought Forecast was a fantastic read. The Nicolson almost was, though it was more scientific than I always found easy. But compared with his The Seabird’s Cry, which I loved, this was less successful.

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  5. I love the fact you don’t finish books. It took me years before I realised I really didn’t have to read to the bitter end. Nowadays if I am struggling to maintain any interest at any point that’s it. As you say, nah.

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    1. I know, Agnes, I’m a late convert to not finishing. And there’s still a nice distinction to be made between those books which are a slow burn, and worth giving a bit of time to, and others which just aren”t working.

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  6. All new to me. I’m tempted by the Green and Nicolson but especially by Shute; that one’s gone straight on the list. And I’m intrigued by those glimpses of your six degrees chain…

    (I’m really struggling with this month’s. As in trying to create a chain at all. There’s still hope!)

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    1. See my comments above to Emma. I think the Shute has your name on it for sure. My Six Degrees this month isn’t so much a chain as a fence. As you will see …

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  10. I always think of you as more of a nonfiction reader, but maybe that’s just because it’s where our tastes most often overlap. On the Green and Shute I agree with you wholeheartedly. Interesting to see your thoughts on the Nicolson — I’ve been assuming it will be too detailed for me so only plan to skim it. I agree with another commenter above: DNF reviews can be very instructive! I read The Trick Is to Keep Breathing a year or two ago and found it quite the ride. And A Book of Death and Fish? I have to look that up just for the title. Again, thank you for your support!

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  11. This is quite the list, most that I don’t know and some I want to look into for sure. I belong to two monthly book clubs which dictate some of my reads but I usually manage to fit in at least one more of my own. I’ve taken to reading at night on my pad – means I can fall asleep while reading without the bedside light still on.

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    1. Ah, I’m no good at reading on a tablet. Old fashioned me prefers a book. Book clubs are great for presenting you with books you might not otherwise have chosen, aren’t they? Happy reading!

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  13. Phew, well I think you can give Bookish Beck a run for her money – you seem to read just as much as she does from the library system!

    I tried The Warlow Experiment but couldn’t get further than half way – I found it dragged so much

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