Hello friends. I’m finally following through on posting more than once a month. Huzzah! And this is my first edition of ‘Notes from the Library,’ where I share my thoughts on the books I’ve read recently. Last year wasn’t a great reading year for me. I read about half what I normally would. But spending most of the year pregnant meant I spent most of the year falling asleep a third of the way through a page. It’s been so lovely to dive back into reading with such gusto. I’m doing a lot of walking too (I’m nearly out of The Shire) which means lots of time for listening to audiobooks.
Here are some of the books I’ve finished recently.
Please note that I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and links to their website (clearly marked with a *), should you make a purchase, will put some pennies in my pocket. This is not my motivator for recommending books. Any books I recommend or wax lyrical about are genuine recommendations. Thanking you kindly ✌️
In Defence of Witches* by Mona Chollet
Totally my fault, but this book wasn’t what I was expecting - didn’t read the subheading. For shame. I thought I was reading a history of witches, which I should have realised has been done many times over. But what I was actually reading was a really well researched and engaging non-fiction about the persecution of modern day women. Mona uses historical examples to compare the charges held against women today - the childless, the aging, the independent woman. I didn’t agree with everything Mona wrote, my hackles always rise with negativity towards medicalised birth, but I was nodding along to so much of this. Particularly the section on women’s choice to have children and how this affects their working life. I would like to buy a personal copy to highlight. Highly recommended.
Briefly, A Delicious Life* by Nell Stevens
I feel like ‘ghost narrator’ is probably a whole subgenre that I've missed out on, but I really enjoyed this gentle historical fiction narrated by a teenage ghost. Our ghost Blanca, who has haunted a monastery in Mallorca for 400 years, watches the comings and goings of the village and monitors her descendants. But she takes a particular interest in newcomer George and her unique persona and family circumstances. The omnipresent narrator is really well used to show the present lives of George and her family, as well as the teenager's own sad story and demise. The village in Mallorca is really well realised, I can almost smell the squashed oranges. One of those occasions where judging a book by its cover definitely paid off.
Vladimir* by Julia May Jones
Oh Vladimir. Sexy, sultry Vladimir. You were so nearly perfect. Our unnamed narrator is horny, unlikeable, obsessive, did I say horny? And best of all, she’s middle aged, in an open marriage and, to make it all the more fun, has questionable boundaries. I loved Vladimir’s exploration of middle aged sexual desire and I’m so glad we’re living in an age of unlikeable (horny) female narrators. This was such a perfect character study, not just of our narrator, but also her husband and the (actually kinda scarce) titular character. But THAT ending. I just couldn’t get over it. WHY!? Please, if someone has read this book, tell me why that ending is in anyway fitting so I can give this 5 stars. Because until the last few pages I thought this was fantastic!
Death of a Bookseller* by Alice Slater
This really is a grotty little book. At times it gave me American Psycho vibes and I felt like I needed a wash. Roach is a bookseller obsessed with true crime. She curates her true crime section with obscure self-published titles and keeps a stash out back to read on her breaks. Laura, Roach's fellow bookseller, has her own ties to true crime, and what starts as a longing to be friends soon develops into an unhealthy obsession with the star of the bookselling team. I did have concerns that the book was trying to paint all true crime fans as obsessive weirdos. But I think Alice offers good commentary on society's obsession with true crime and how often the victims are forgotten in the narrative. Alice's writing is deliciously disgusting and is narrated really well on audio. I found Roach's over familiarity and desperation to befriend Laura, which ultimately descends into stalking really well done. The ending was a little disappointing, but overall I thought this book was disturbingly enjoyable and a fantastic debut.
Review originally published in The Bookcast Bulletin.