Reading Lately, Feb-Mar 2018

You might remember that in February I didn’t manage a reading round up because I was so busy writing a post in honour of World Book Day, so this month I have a bumper round up for you – gold star if you stick it out to the end 🙂 .

The last few weeks have been full of romance, adventure, intrigue and female fall-outs. At least between the dust jackets that is – in comparison my own life is always rather tame!

My to-read pile is also steadily growing and my husband remarked lately that our home was starting to resemble a second hand bookshop. Thankfully, I love second hand bookshops 😉 . That said I do really need to start whittling down that pile!

Anyway, back to what I have actually been reading, and way back at the start of February I was enthralled by Thirteen Reasons Why. Jay Asher’s story of  teenage suicide and the terrifying impact of bullying is so well written and fast paced that it never loses its grip on you – in fact, I read it in little more than a weekend. Almost immediately after finishing it my husband and I started the (equally gripping) Netflix adaption. Even at this stage in the year, I know this book is going to make it into my top ten for 2018 – just read!

Next up in February was I Found You by Lisa Jewell, another page-turner about a woman who comes across a man who has lost his memory on her local beach. Add to the mix a 20-year old mystery and a woman whose new husband has disappeared, and you have the makings of a good ‘un. This was my first read from Lisa Jewell and I already have another of her offerings lined up in my to-read pile for Spring.

I must have been very much in thriller mode in February, as my third book for the month, Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan was also full of intrigue, twists and turns. It tells the story of an Agony Aunt who starts receiving letters from a girl who disappeared many years previously, and it’s not long before links appear with another more recent case. Thrillers and crime aren’t actually my usual genre (funnily enough based on February 😉 ) but I really enjoyed this one. If you usually like this type of novel I dare say you might enjoy it too 🙂 .

By March I was ready for something completely different, and How to Stop Time by Matt Haig was a fabulous departure from the darker stuff of the previous month. It’s a quirky and uplifting story about a man who ages at an incredibly slow rate compared to other humans. It’s one of those books people seem to either love, or just can’t get into.  I fell very much into the former category and I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something thought-provoking and fresh.

My penultimate book for March was Faking Friends by Jane Fallon, a stomper of a read if you’re looking for something indulgent, light and fun. It’s all about a woman who finds out her fiance is having an affair with her best friend and sets out to exact revenge upon them. When I read that Jane Fallon once worked as a producer on one of my all-time favourite shows This Life I knew this book was going to be very, very good.

My last book for the month was On Writing, by Stephen King.  I’d been meaning to read this for ages as it’s the one that always comes up in interviews when writers are asked about books on the craft of writing books. As the cover says, it’s part (very interesting) memoir and part instruction manual for the budding writer. I really enjoyed it and the advice is very practical – less of the grand, vague statements about writing and more of the back-to-basics stuff.

So that’s it for another month, hope you’ve enjoyed it and perhaps found some reading inspiration. I’ll be back soon with another roundup. In the meantime, I have a date with a rather large reading pile…

Gx

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