Reading for December 2020

 

"Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat," etc (she sings, very badly indeed.)

I can hardly believe that the holiday season is just around the corner and here we are at the first of December already. What a bonkers year it has been and will continue to be for a while yet. However, here in England we are being given a restrictions holiday for a few days which we are all grateful for.

This month my list of books that I hope to read will be shorter than usual as I usually treat myself to a long read over the holidays which consequently means that I am not able to read so many individual books. Without any further ado, here is my list.

* * *

London by Edward Ruthurford - this is the long novel that I plan on reading. At just under 1300 pages in the edition that I have, I am not sure how much else I will get to read.

The Woman of the Wolf and Other Stories by Renee Vivien

Snow Blind by Ragnar Jonasson

Dark Water by Elizabeth Lowry

East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood

The Dollmaker by Nina Allen

The Dark Angel by Nina Allen

Books to Finish

The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser

Brilliant Careers - The Virago Book of 20th Century Fiction

I picked up this little beauty in a second hand bookshop for the princely cost of £1.00.

My husband and I (apologies if I sound like the Queen) were having a few days away in beautiful Herefordshire which is in the southwest of the England. Short of a tornado we experienced every kind of weather. We had snow, rain, wind, sunshine and the flooding in that part of the country was very bad. The roads were clear but there were flooded fields for as far as the eye can see.

Anyway, during one of our days there I came across this book. It is edited by Ali Smith, Kasia Boddy and Sarah Wood. It highlights one Virago publication for each year of the twentieth century; starting in 1901 with My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin and finishes in the year 2000 with From Midrash on Happiness by Grace Paley. Each featured book tells us about the author alongside an extract which was chosen to represent chronologically an extract from each year of the twentieth century.

I would dearly love to read every novel that is detailed in this book - a huge undertaking amongst all the other books that I would like to read. To that end I have purchased a copy of the 1901 book My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin - what better place to start then at the beginning. Realistically, I shall probably only read some of them and of those books I will be posting a review.

Unfortunately, it seems this book is currently out of print but there are second hand copies available. Or if you would like to see a list of the titles of the novels that are featured in this book then please let me know.

Keep well, keep safe and happy reading.