Book number 15 of 2019. This looks set to be a hidden gem.

#queerreads #lgbt #lesbianliterature #litsy #littens #lgbtlittens #ellenklages #coffeeandbooks

"People, especially people like this hard-assed proto-Republican son of a bitch right here, often assumed that liberalism was easy. That "Be nice" was a passive, default position. Man, Jesus thinks, how wrong can you be?"

#benice #goodreads #readingchallenge #bibliophile #tomholt #johnniven #saturdayreading #litsy

"Stories of imagination tend to upset those without one"
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Today marks the day we lost the inimitable Sir Terry Pratchett. This part of the shelf is like a book shrine in his honour ?

I've smashed through loads of reading this weekend, but I've just realised I started The Bell Jar in 2016 and never got around to finishing it. So today I'm attempting to get back into it. Next up will also be The Ego Trick which I think I bought in 2016...clearly 2016 was a bad reading year! 🤔

"When you're scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave"

And now on to Shirley Jackson. Already I'm loving this story.

Two quotes struck me in the last few pages of We by Yevgeny Zamyatin:

"A person is like a novel: Up to the very last page you don't know how it's going to end. Otherwise, there'd be no point in reading...."

"Children are the only bold philosophers. And bold philosophers will always be children."

#postapocalyptic #littens #yevgenyzamyatin

Getting through the last half of We today...

I have finally got my book group book in the mail...I now have just over a week to get through 600 pages. I'm not optimistic but so far the book is pretty good!

I've nearly finished Halloween Party by Agatha Christie: next up will be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

#halloweenreading #halloweenparty #frankenstein #maryshelley #horrornovel #readingchallenge

I'm so excited about my month of Halloween reading 👻🎃 #littens #halloween #agathachristie #frankenstein #susanhill

"Dad, as is tolerably well known, is omnipotent and can do anything."

Set at the outskirts of the breakout of world war 2, it tells the story of social misfit George Harvey Bone and his constant battle between his love for beautiful but untouchable Netta and his resentment and hatred of her and everything she represents. George is blighted by periods where his mind "clicks" in and out of "dead" moods. Exacerbated by drinking to excess, you're taken on a fly on the wall journey into his unravelling.

It's been a long week at work so I'm looking forward to some reading time this weekend

I liked the history elements in the book. Some of it was fictionalised but it was really interesting overall! Good murder mystery too.

This turned out to be a great serial killer thriller!

Finally getting into this book I bought ages ago! Yay for reading days!

"It was a little before nine o'clock, the sun was setting into a bank of smoky violet cloud and I had lost my way. I reversed the car in a gateway and drove back half a mile to the fingerpost."

I got fifty pages into this and just could not do it anymore. A DNF for me. I hate quitting on books, but life is too short to be bored.

"you are who you are, and then people project onto you some notion they have"

I'm finally starting this for September book group. My first attempt at reading a Western. So far so good!

Sunday reading - I borrowed this from my local library yesterday and couldn't wait to start, even though I have more than enough books on the go.

"He could not understand how people arrived at the extreme of waging war over things that could not be touched with the hand"

I have fallen in love with this book! Incredibly well written, the story carries you through absolutely effortlessly. Magical and emotional and exciting and humorous all rolled into one. There is so much rich history packed into the pages, that it's easy to visualise every second.

I found myself laughing out loud at this book . The story was really well plotted and written as well. I'll no doubt look out for more of his books.

Ever since I was little my mother had told me, if you don‘t know something, go to the library and look it up. (The Strange Library)

I'm hopefully signing up to volunteer at one of my local libraries later this week - I can't wait 😻

"you must make your whole life in the two nights that are given to you; that living as we do now you must concentrate all of that which you should always have into the short time that you can have it"

"The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel"

#neuromancer #littens #scifi #dystopian

I'm having a break from For Whom the Bell Tolls to finally get into My Friend Dahmer. I'm loving it so far 😻

This was slightly predictable in parts but at the same time it really kept me reading and second guessing, wondering if I was being led down the garden path. Definitely worth a read and starts to explore some pertinent issues.

It's nearly 11pm, I need to work tomorrow but I just got to a really good part in Little Fires Everywhere! I've also made some good progress with For Whom the Bell Tolls (pictured).

It's a bit of a reading day for me, seeing as I haven't made much of a dent in this for book group. #caturday #hemingway #littens #saturday

This is by far one of my favourite books ever. I'm hooked on the adaptation too! 😻 #thehandmaidstale #margaretatwood

I've just started this today for a more modern read than Dubliners. So far I'm loving it

My book haul from today. I only went in for For Whom the Bell Tolls which is June's book group read, but they had Buy 1 Get 1 Half Price so ya know...

Book mail arrived just in time for the weekend. I've been dying to read this 🤓 #bookmail #weekendreading

"Cats will amusingly tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a tin opener that can be operated with a paw" (Terry Pratchett)

"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" (Dr Maya Angelou). The world lost the inimitable Maya 4 years ago today.

I tried to read A Suitable Boy several years ago and I got a third through it and quit. So I was excited when my book group tackled it earlier this year and I finally made it all the way through and loved it! Next chunky books on the list: the last half of Infinite Jest, Ulysses and Moby Dick. #chunksteryouread

#Littens are over here talking about #shortestclassicyouread and I've just posted the longest classic I (so far) failed to finish to my #Instagram 🤣 The shortest classic I read is Uncle Vanya at 49 pages. Though technically a play! The next shortest was The Yellow Wallpaper at 64.

I don't always enjoy short story collections, but this was so incredibly written. The style of writing carries you through and it's easy to get lost in the histories that are told. The characters are engaging and you can't help but connect with them.

I've been getting into some more of The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen while waiting for my hair dye to do its job tonight. I don't always enjoy short story collections but I love how every story is completely different and unique.

I've been dipping in and out of Wyrd Sisters for weeks now, I will get around to finishing it soon! It's unusual for me not to race through a Terry Pratchett. I've just been a bit indecisive with what I feel like reading recently. The other two are what I am also reading.

"She had become a prematurely old, wide woman, with two enormous moles like witch's nipples on her face; and she lived within an invisible fortress of her own making, an ironclad citadel of traditions and certainties."

This whole passage in Midnight's Children was pretty amusing ?

I'm taking part in the week-long birth year Readalong on Instagram and my 1981 book is Midnight's Children, which I am so far loving! It's quirky and fantastical and eclectic. #midnightschildren #salmanrushdie #readalong

I've been neglecting reading this week because I am so tired! But I've finally managed another story from Dubliners for my book group read this month. I'm still not sure what I think of it.

"Most of what matters in our lives takes place in our absence"

I've decided to jump into Midnight's Children tonight as part of the #birthyearreadalong challenge on Instagram. My year is 1981. There's not much chance I'm going to finish the whole book inside the week the challenge runs but I'm hoping to make a good start!

There's a lot of police procedural information which I found interesting, however if you're not into it the book could drag in parts. The crime descriptions are very graphic at points, so it is not for the faint hearted. Some great scene setting throughout, descriptions of places are really evocative. Aside from some editing points for continuity and flow, I would definitely recommend this as a good page turner for die-hard crime fiction fans.

Shelfie Sunday reminds me I need to get a wriggle on and do some more reading. I've only read 3 on this shelf!

"When he raised his hand, his reflection raised its hand, and when he touched his face, the reflection did the same, and when he traced the curve of his cheek and the line of his jaw, so, too, did the mirror image. Why, then, did he not recognise himself? And why did he see right through himself to the dark street outside?"