What are you reading now?

[Stanfordian]

Bob Mortimer autobiography 'And Away...'

[Pianorak]

Lucy Worsley: Jane Austen at Home: A Biography. Very well researched and a very enjoyable read.

[gradus]

Still Trollope-ing on, this time with Dr Thorne.

[Mal]

Ulysses - still going, with lots of (needed) help from Sam Slote. I'm not allowing myself any Trollope, or any other novelist, until I finish.

[ChandlersFord]

Ulysses - still going, with lots of (needed) help from Sam Slote. I'm not allowing myself any Trollope, or any other novelist, until I finish.

I read it in August, while I was recovering from COVID and nursing a perforated ear-drum. An interesting experience ....

[kernelbogey]

I've begun rereading Patrick O'Brian's 19 Aubrey/Maturin novels, which I have read at least once, some already twice. A comfort read, in that the authentic descriptions of naval life in the 'Napoleonic Wars'*, and of the relationship between Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Maturin are well done; while I don't necessarily remember what happens in each book.

* (Inverted commas because O'Brian uses author's licence to stretch the time frame in order to accommodate all his stories.)

[Historian]

I've begun rereading Patrick O'Brian's 19 Aubrey/Maturin novels, which I have read at least once, some already twice. A comfort read, in that the authentic descriptions of naval life in the 'Napoleonic Wars'*, and of the relationship between Aubrey and his friend and surgeon Maturin are well done; while I don't necessarily remember what happens in each book.

* (Inverted commas because O'Brian uses author's licence to stretch the time frame in order to accommodate all his stories.)

Envious: I always seem to remember everything if I re-read (although that's probably an illusion). May come back to them one day, but grateful for all of them. Mostly based on actual incidents/history as well. They do form a wonderful study of a relationship as well as being a good story.

Just finished Angus Wilson 'Hemlock and After' (1953). Wasn't sure at first but very much enjoyed it. Will keep on with him.

[Historian]

And just before that Arnold Bennett's 'The Old Wives' Tale' which someone else mentioned some way down the thread I seem to remember. Think he has turned up in the unfashionable books (?) thread: well worth reading, as was 'Anna of the Five Towns'.

[gradus]

And just before that Arnold Bennett's 'The Old Wives' Tale' which someone else mentioned some way down the thread I seem to remember. Think he has turned up in the unfashionable books (?) thread: well worth reading, as was 'Anna of the Five Towns'.

Arnold Bennett enthusiast reporting for duty. Two good reads to which I'd add Clayhanger.

[Historian]

Arnold Bennett enthusiast reporting for duty. Two good reads to which I'd add Clayhanger.

Thank you for that further recommendation: will add it to the 'forthcoming' list.

[Pulcinella]

Kate Atkinson: Behind the scenes at the museum

York's Big City Read 2022: 5000 copies given away free through the libraries.
I could have sworn I'd read it before, but no.

[french frank]

A curiosity. Straw without Bricks: I visit Soviet Russia by EM Delafield, pub 1937. I doubt anyone here will be acquainted with the never-out-of-print Diary of a Provincial Lady, the twee semi-fictional journal of a genteel upper middle-class lady living with her family in rural Devon. I like the Wiki detail that on moving to Devon: "At the initial meeting of the Kentisbeare Women's Institute, Delafield was unanimously elected president [of course she was], and remained so until she died.' .

I picked up a copy of Straw without Bricks for 25p, and the first and possibly only edition being something of a rarity, it's apparently now worth £40. Delafield (Mrs Dashwood) was persuaded - against her inclinations - by her publisher to visit Russia and work there for six months in 1936. Improbably she lived and worked on a collective farm.

[Padraig]

A curiosity. Straw without Bricks: I visit Soviet Russia by EM Delafield, pub 1937.

I bet you find it unexpectedly good, f f.

I'm reading Middlemarch, as if for the first time.

For John Banville admirers (Richard B?) there's a piece in today's Observer Review: Books.

[gradus]

Climbing Mount Improbable by Prof Dawkins, not sure I'm sufficiently evolved to understand it all, but fascinating nonetheless.

[RichardB]

For John Banville admirers (Richard B?) there's a piece in today's Observer Review: Books.

Thanks Padraig but my beady eye caught that one this morning! Banville is always a mischievous interviewee, and this conversation is no exception.

I just finished a recent novel by an author I hadn't previously heard of: Chris Beckett (no relation). It's called Tomorrow, and it's one of the most original pieces of fiction I've read for a while, up there with other recent and more generally acclaimed favourites like Susanna Clarke's Piranesi, Madeline Miller's Circe and Ishiguro's Klara and the Sun.