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#BookReport for August

A pretty good reading month. Our Evenings was my favourite, honourable mentions for Everyone and Everything and Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont.

The memoirs of David Winn, English in every way but his appearance, covering the period from the 1960s to the present as he navigates life as the son of a single mother, as a scholarship boy at a posh boarding school, as a student at Oxford, as an working actor and, always, as both biracial & gay. It is beautifully written, slow but engrossing & a thoughtful portrait of the changing times. I loved it.

Last nights #FridayHappyReadingHour … it turned into a busy evening later , but I did relax and have a glass of vino earlier. White wine , and Pringles, and still reading Our Evenings for Bookclub. I find it‘s a book I can‘t read quickly. It‘s a lovely book so far.

Starting for Bookclub. We‘ve been told to read it in a slow and relaxed way, savouring it. I think the wine will help with that 👍🏻😁

Was very happy with my scores from the Little Free Library on the way to ballet last night. The 2 kids books are super cute and I didn‘t get to see the tagged author at the Sydney Writer‘s Festival this year so this book was a very pleasant surprise. It was pointe class last night and my big toe nail is dying making everything extra painful however I don‘t look as though I‘m in pain in the video. Ah the ballet illusion! 💛

Just finished this sitting in the precious winter sun. What a wonderful story. David tells us of his life in the 60s to Covid times. It seems to me a life well lived . The writing is beautiful. Set in England it also chronicles changing attitudes to gay people and dark skinned people. I heard the author on the radio and. Knew I wanted to read this book. I also loved his book The Line Of Beauty. Both ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hollinghurst, the gay author, is a beautiful, elegant, paced writer. And this audiobook is read perfectly. But, whoa, slow. David Winn has many layers of separation between his single mother home, half-Burmese appearance, gay sexuality, and those of wealthy, elite-school classmates. The book keeps going through his 1970‘s acting career, many relationships, and on to covid. A little too much too slowly for this listener. But I liked the style.

I‘ve been picking away at this since Dec 27. I‘m sort of mostly done, but just wanted to share what I‘m actively listening to.

This is my first Hollinghurst, so I‘m just learning what an elegant prose writer he is. Everything is beautiful. It‘s also really long, patient and slow. The life a gay actor on an Oxford scholarship.

This book started strong but completely fizzled out 40% in. I bailed at 60%—life‘s too short for boring books, and I‘ve hit my limit on privileged, elite British society.