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I‘ve loved or really liked almost all of the other books I‘ve read by Cusk, but this didn‘t quite make it for me. Sadly. I felt kept at a distance, & that might have been intentional

At university Micheal is invited home to one of his friends, Adam, for the weekend. Adam‘s family seems so perfect. Years later, married & with a kid Micheal visits Adam‘s family again, to help with the lambing. Adam‘s family may not be as perfect as he once thought

A well-written literary novel about women, love, resilience and loss. Ruth, who was raised by a single mother and is one herself, feels like a failed mother to Eleanor who also becomes a single mother. Ruth ends up raising Eleanor's daughter Lily due to Eleanor's drug addiction. The title is clever in its double meaning.

#12Booksof2024

I read a lot in December due to time off work. Most of my favorites I‘ve already posted about for challenges. I want to highlight this title because I love Kunzru as an author. It didn‘t delve into the fantastical like others from him but it‘s still a crazy story. I appreciated Kunzru‘s intelligence and questioning of reality-why we value what we value. In large part, it‘s about art; what isn‘t art; how society commodifies art.

It was absolutely lovely to end off 2024 with this book, one of my favourites for the whole year. Ruth steps in and takes responsibility for her granddaughter Lily, as her daughter Eleanor is a drug addict. This is such a gentle story of a woman leading a hard life, who keeps going and offers the best of herself to her granddaughter. Beautiful and heartbreaking and a rare book that brought me to tears.

August was another disappointing month reading-wise, so while an honourable mention goes to one of my two September reads, The Cat Who Caught a Killer, for being a bit of fun, my choice for #12Booksof2024 goes to this November read, a delightful 1950s period piece.

#Day8
#12Booksin2024
@Andrew65

#12BooksOf2024 July

This collection of quirky characters read with the #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub was a lot of fun and is my pick for July.

#12Booksof2024

The #FurrowedMiddlebrowClub pick in July was a delightful surprise for me. If the rest of Fair‘s works are as sly and humorous as this one, I may have found a new favorite author!

A fun, fizzy comedy of manners about a young, married woman in late-60s London and the two other men who are pursuing her. There's not much of a plot here, to be honest, but that's just fine. Sometimes a story is just a delivery vehicle for witty observations and dialogue, and this book has got both in spades. I shall forever more refer to gout as "one of the great horizontal diseases". ?

#WhereAreYouMonday

This last week of 2024 I‘m bouncing between late 1920s London and a village in Sussex reading Margery Sharp‘s debut novel.

#OutWithTheOldInWithTheNew
#YearEnd

Thanks for the last #20in4 readathon of 2024 @Andrew65 ! My plan is to finish these two books by the 31st. I‘m still thinking about what to start on the 1st, but I love the feeling of a clean slate and I have a number of Litsy reading group January commitments as possibilities to pick up first.