This month I've discovered that I can actually manage to follow audiobooks while knitting, and rather enjoy them too! There's a part of me that still doesn't quite believe they count as reading, even though I'd happily confirm that they absolutely did for someone else who wasn't sure, so I'm trying to overrule that and am including books I listen to here as well as hardcopies whose pages I turn!
As last month, books which I'm counting towards one of the prompts for the 52 book club have that included in square brackets after the comments.
Water Ways by Jasper Winn
This was my Secret Squirrel gift at work, from someone who has clearly noted my love of kayaking and being on the water! It's all about England's canals, explored by the author during his year as Writer in Residence for the Canal and Rivers Trust - I was going to say it's a history of the canals, but it's more than that as he also describes his own travels, and the encounters he has on the way with members of the boating community. Having grown up in mid-Cheshire, it was lovely to see occasional mentions of places familiar to me - the Anderton Lift and Barnton tunnel, in particular. Very readable, beautifully written, and makes me want to buy a touring kayak and just get out there!
Castle in the Air by Diana Wynne Jones (audiobook)
Howl's Moving Castle has been one of my favourite books since I first read it nearly forty years ago. Despite that, and the fact that I bought the sequels for my daugher, I'd never read them. But having discovered how much I enjoyed having an audiobook on while driving, I decided to give this one a try. It was an abridged version, I'm sure, as it was only 3 hours, so at some point soon when I can face grovelling around on the floor under the spare desk in my garden office, I'll dig out the hard copy and read it in full.
It's a nicely crafted story - I spent most of it wondering if it really was a sequel to Howl, but all became clear eventually. It's not going to replace Howl in my affections, but it's definitely enjoyable and I'd recommend it. I'm looking forward to reading House of Many Ways now, too.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
I wasn't sure how much I'd like this, but it was absolutely fantastic. Adunni is a fourteen year old girl who wants to learn so that she can become a teacher and help the girls in her small Nigerian village to have better futures. When her father sells her to an old man as his third wife, all her hopes and dreams are shattered. Following tragedy in her new home, Adunni is sold as domestic help to a wealthy woman in Lagos. Throughout the story, Adunni is desperate to fight against the exploitation of girls and women, to find her 'louding' voice so that she can speak out against the injustices she sees, and help to change the society she lives in to improve the lives of other girls like herself.
Utterly compellling - I was rooting for Adunni and cared about her from very early on. The twists and turns of her life, and the impossible choices she had to make kept me wanting to read on to see how she would cope, and how, or even if, she would achieve her dream. VERY strongly recommended!
[28. A yellow spine]
Community Board by Tara Conklin (audiobook)
This was a fairly random pick from what was available from my library, but not either a children's book or crime! Darcy Clipper, a 29-year-old woman, retreats back to her parent's home when her marriage falls apart, and proceeds to have a self-indulgent strop for several months. She eventually manages to look beyond herself, and gets involved in the local community, sort of. I don't know if I didn't like the book, the narrator, or both, but I found Darcy to be irritatingly self-centred and frankly rather unappealing as a main character. Some of the side characters seemed quite pleasant and considerably more interesting, but I just couldn't see why they wanted to bring her into their social circles!
The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore (audiobook)
This was far more enjoyable than the previous audiobook! Sloane, a quiet librarian, is the only member of staff not terrified by the gruff and grumpy Arthur McLachlan. When he doesn't show up at the library for a few days, Darcy decides to see if he needs help. Along with his nosy neighbour, they start to care for him - whether he wants it or not! - and along the line set up a book club.
This was a relaxing story of friendship, community, loneliness, and the power of caring. And books, of course! It's told from five different perspectives, which added interest and helped to describe the various characters' backstories without them having to have implausible conversations.
[7. At least four different POV]
No Place for a Lady: Tales of Adventurous Women Travellers by Barbara Hodgson
This is a rather brief romp through the history of women explorers, mainly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It clearly demonstrates that there were women who were determined to break out of the usual societal constraints in order to explore the world beyond the usual borders.
I found it a bit confusing that the various sections are not treated entirely chronologically, but the accounts of women visiting a particular region jump around the timeline at times. That aside, it was interesting and well written, and would serve as a good introduction to more reading on the subject. It seems to me like a very readable literature review, pointing at large numbers of primary sources, and summarising very briefly the many significant journeys taken by these women.
[39. Nonfiction recommended by someone rlse]
Comments