Reading as a cheap hobby

Coxy11

I finished Fox Evil by Minette Walters - it was okay, I quite liked her writing style and some of the characters were well-written.  

Have now started  The Handsome Man’s Deluxe Cafe by Alexander McCall Smith. I won a HB version at a WI raffle so only cost me £1. So far so good. 

Coxy11

I'm on a roll(!) - finished The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe and now on A Bird in the Hand by Ann Cleeves which by all accounts is her first novel. There is a short intro by her saying she took some time out from her job and moved to a remote Scottish island to write it. Her and her DH were the only inhabitants - can you imagine!!!

So far so good 

Blackcats

I really like Ann Cleeves' books.  I'm currently reading through the Vera series and enjoying them.

I just read The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley which was our Reading Group book.  I don't think I would have chosen it myself and probably wouldn't have finished it if it wasn't a book group choice.  Overall it wasn't a popular book with the group but I think it was ok,

Coxy11

Have finished the Ann Cleeve book - it was her first and she wrote an authors note at the beginning to say she didn't  structure some of it well. It was okay but did bang on about bird watching A LOT. 

Now onto book 4 of Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series The Vows of Silence which I'm very much enjoying. I'm also commuting again 3 days a week. Only a 20 minute train ride but enough to get a couple of chapters in.

Brie

Most the way through "We'll Prescribe you a Cat" by Syou Ishida.  Japanese book but in the English translation.  It's a few short stories about the healing powers of having a cat.  Not my normal sort of read but was bought this by a friend who enjoyed it and thought I'd like it too as we both like cats.  It's interesting in the way people reacting to how a cat interferes with their lives leads to them learning more about themselves.  If you are in to self reflection and would like to dip in and out of a book, reading one story and not going back to another for a while this might be a good pick.  

Wednesday2000

I finally finished my 6th book of the year. Act 3: The Art of Growing Older. 

Blackcats

I am reading Educated byTara Westover.  It's the story of Tara's unconventional upbringing in a family that are as disconnected from society as they can possibly be.  Her birth wasn't registered, no medical care, no schooling.  It's a fascinating tale but I find her parents' attitude shocking.  I have to remind myself that it's a present day story not Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons,
a good read if you are looking for something a bit different.

Coxy11

I’ve finished the Vows of Silence by Susan Hill and now onto How to be Human by Ruby Wax. Picked it up for free from the village pub book library. 

Savvy_Sue

Our Shared Reading Group has been tackling "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr - astonishing! Although I was slightly frustrated by the narrative hopping backwards and forwards in time - I kept having to skip back to the start of a chapter to see what date it was, and then back to the previous chapter to see when that was, and so on. 

Also polished off a 44 Scotland Street (Alexander McCall Smith) and a short George RR Martin book called Nightflyers, which I would NOT recommend! Trying to describe it to DH, we are both fans of his Game of Thrones series, I said "Think The Red Wedding, all the way through." 

Wednesday2000

I just bought the kindle edition of a book I read about on FB so that will be next up to read. The Swedish Art of Ageing Well - Margareta Magnusson. I read her other book about Swedish Death Cleaning.