So no, I'm not one to criticise people's book choices. What I find odd, and simply can't comprehend, is people who don't read fiction. Maybe I'm a story addict, but I feel really uncomfortable if I don't have a book on the go. I know several people who don't read, and most of them are pretty sharp customers. But what do they have on their shelves? And where do they go to escape from everyday life for a few minutes, or to experience someone else's life? What do they do in bed before falling asleep? OK, don't answer than last question. But I would feel bereft and believe my life would be the poorer if I weren't a reader. The only bad thing about being a reader is the knowledge that you'll never have enough time to read everything you'd like to. But I'll have to learn to live with that.
In the meantime, make me some recommendations. I've finished the BBC Big Read, and my dad gave me a list of his recommendations but I fear that seems rather unapproachable. Perhaps when I retire - I might be clever enough by then to attempt that. But what should I be reading now? On my "to be read" shelf I currently have:
- Mudbound
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (these first two are both for a book group)
- David Starkey's first volume biography of Henry VIII
- 2 Stephen Fry novels
- Several Henning Mankells - the next few in the Wallander series
- A Partisan's Daughter by Louise de Berniere
- Pigtopia by Kitty Fitzgerald
- A Pennorth of Poison (about a woman in the 1600s who murdered her husband - and she was a Worlock, which I am too. Or was, before I was a Rann)
Oh bloody hell - that BBC Big Read link contains the Top 200, and I've only read the Top 100. Time to create another spreadsheet!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment