Whew, this is one ANGRY 😡 book!

It chronicles the end of an abusive marriage (not physical, verbal) from the POV of Jane, a wife and mother. It‘s told in a stream of consciousness style and I found myself breathless with fury while reading it (why did she even get together with him in the first place?!) but I couldn‘t put it down.

It‘s supposedly semi-autobiographical and I hope the ex-husband has read it.

This is a play-in book for #ToB.

Look what those lovely folks at #panmacmillan #picador sent me for Christmas - a veritable feast of #netgalley digital ARCs all coming out next year between February and August.

I already had Fair Play on NG, although not read it yet, and I‘ve seen Thirst Trap on at least one ‘2025 books‘ list, but the others are all new to me.

I also recently got Tilt and Audition on NG too, from a 2025 list posted by a Litten (I can‘t recall who!).

Another book from the #toblonglist that I like better than many / most that made the short-list. 🤷‍♀️

It follows 2 out of a family of 5 siblings from childhood to adulthood, and one of their children too. It was a fascinating look at the nature / nurture question and how things we do or things that happen to us as children can reverberate throughout our lives.

It‘s long, but worked well for me on audio.

It took me a while to get into this, from the #ToBlonglist. I hadn‘t read the blurb and assumed that the book was about the titular Lazarus Man, pulled out of the rubble of a collapsed NYC building after several days.

It turns out it‘s also about 3 other characters indirectly involved in the incident as well and, once I realised this, the narrative became less disjointed and I started to enjoy it.

It wouldn‘t make my shortlist though.

This has had mixed reviews but I liked it. It follows a young Black man as he works on the political campaign of a Black nominee.

I did have a couple of issues though - it was too obviously based on Obama‘s campaign which detracted from the MC‘s own story. Also, there was too much talk about religion and I lost interest / lost my way in those parts.

I‘m still glad I read it though.

#ToBlonglist

I loved this, and it‘s another perfect example of why I love the #ToBlonglist so much.

Yes, it‘s a bit weird, but in a good way. And it‘s so beautifully but sparsely written - about motherhood, grief, regret, love, loss and forgiveness.

It has a bit of a feel of Catherine Chidgey‘s ‘Pet‘ but with added magical realism, so if you liked that - read this!

And I‘m not a fan of magical realism at all but it totally works here.

Now *this* is why I love #ToB so much!

This is a book / author I‘d never heard of and wouldn‘t have thought of reading. I wasn‘t sure at the start - the dialogue felt stilted and the storyline a bit simplistic but I soon became completely engrossed.

A Hollywood screenwriter refuses to kills off his gay characters, and weird s*** starts to happen. There‘s body horror / psychological horror but also a warm heart to the story.

#ToB books picked up from the library yesterday. Two are on the shortlist - I‘m not overly enthused about the Link as I bailed on the only other one of hers that I tried ( and it‘s a chunkster) but it‘s a library book so 🤷‍♀️.

The tagged didn‘t make it onto the shortlist but it was waving at me 👋 from the new books shelf and I do like the sound of it, so couldn‘t really say no.

I had to buy this when I saw it a few months ago - a book about languages, and also about NYC?! ❤️

This is a fascinating account of 6 speakers of little-known, almost extinct, languages who all live and work in NYC, all well as a history of immigration to that city and diversity within it. It looks at grammar and language structure, alongside cultural histories.

Of course, I had to pair the book with my Strand bookmark!

I loved this. The MC, a poet, ends up in the ICU after a sudden, devastating, medical episode.

The medical bits were a tough read, and quite upsetting at times but still weirdly beautiful. The rest of the book was also full of beauty, as the MC reflected on music, art, love, poetry and dogs. ❤️

I highly recommend this, from the #toblonglist - it should have made the shortlist.

Well, this was weird…. A group of translators gather together to translate Irena Rey‘s latest work. They only refer to each other by their languages - this book is written by Spanish but translated by English and I struggled to follow who was narrating. The MC, whoever she was, was also incredibly immature and whingey, or was that as a result of English not liking Spanish?! And the ending? 🤯🤨

I‘m kind of glad I read it though.

#tobshortlist

I loved this collection of short stories from the #ToBlonglist.

I‘m not usually a fan of the genre but I appreciated that these were all beautifully written with proper endings. They‘re also linked to each other in some way, even by just a small object, which was lovely.

The whole book felt like a lively warm bath (even though 1 or 2 of the stories were sad / upsetting)

Definitely on my shortlist.

Beautiful writing in this book from the #TobLonglist but a very confusing timeline. It was very difficult to work out if you were in the past, present or future, and who was alive and who wasn‘t.

I guess that‘s the whole point and I gave up trying to figure it out and just went with it, but it still made for a rather confusing read. (As did the MC‘s wife being called Helen in the blurb, but Hannah throughout the book 🤔)

A light pick.

The books that I bought from the #ToBlonglist all arrived over the past few days. 😊 Plus, today, I got both books that I applied for on NetGalley, Lazarus Man and Model Home so I‘m thrilled about that!

Just need to find some time to read now - too much work as usual. Even audio isn‘t working - over 2 hours of driving a day but colleagues seem to think it‘s acceptable to ring for a ‘chat‘, as if I don‘t have 15 books to get through! 🙄

Thank you for the gift link @Chelsea.Poole - I love a list, although it‘s not good for my TBR!

Lots of the non-fiction I‘d never even heard of…. 🤔

And I‘m only part-way through two of these, Someone Like Us from the #ToBlonglist and Language City.

#ToBlonglist

Not for me. Charles, a robot, inexplicably murders his owner and sets off to find out why. I thought it might be an interesting comparison with Annie Bot but, after 3 hours of the 12.5 hour audiobook absolutely nothing has happened. It‘s very repetitive too, feeling like a child‘s story.

I get the idea that most humans have disappeared so maybe there are some interesting insights later but I‘m not hanging around to find out.

I liked the first two parts of this story, Lily and her son Nick, although it felt similar to a lot of other books.

Once it moved on to Mei and the science-fictiony/ gene therapy bit I started to lose interest. I don‘t think it went into enough depth to have any kind of impact on the story and the 3 sections felt very disjointed, as the 3 MCs plus Nick‘s Dad weren‘t communicating with each other.

Still a pick though.

#ToBlonglist

Give me a list and I go a little crazy…. 🤪

These are the books from the ToB longlist that I want to read and can hold of. I bought 8 😳 and the rest are through various library systems, digital or physical.

I also really want to read Colored Television but it‘s not cheap here, plus I‘ve put in requests on NetGalley for Model Home and Lazarus Man.

Send help….. 🤓🤪😳

This is going to have to be two posts…. Too many books to fit on one picture. 😬

These are the books on the ToB list that I already own and want to read.

Next, the rather extensive list of the other books from the longlist that I want to read.

Taking my cue from @BarbaraBB these are the ToB longlisted books that I‘ve read, in some kind of order of favourites first.

I also bailed on Glorious Exploits and hibernated Intermezzo as it wasn‘t working on audio. I‘m not going to buy it and I‘m currently on a VERY long waiting list at the library so not sure when I‘ll get to finish it.

Next I‘ll post the books that I want to read…

Sorry if I‘ve forgotten to tag anyone!

Audio-puzzling with a view!

I don‘t have a huge interest in Elvis or his life, but this was well-reviewed on here and was available on audio on BorrowBox so I thought I‘d give it a go, and I‘m so glad I did.

It‘s an unusual format, but really worked to tell Lisa Marie‘s (and Riley‘s) story. I learned so much about their lives, most of it heartbreakingly sad, but Riley took care to tell how great a mother Lisa Marie was.

I struggled to get into this at the start, the art world seemed rather impenetrable, filled with obnoxious, entitled people, mainly men. But then I realised that this is the whole point of the book and I ended up loving it almost* as much as I did Olga Dies Dreaming.

Anita is a rising star in the art world in 1985 when she is found dead. Raquel, a student of colour, feels out of her depth at Brown, until she meets an older very privileged ⬇️

Book 21 in the Kim Stone series, not in the database yet, out in the UK on 10th December.

Yes, it‘s as good as all the rest! If you love Kim you‘ll love this one and, if you‘ve never read any before, then you‘ve got a gripping, fabulous long series to start!

This time, someone is leaving cryptic clues for the team to follow, otherwise something terrible will happen…. And can the team actually work alongside Frost?!

Quite different to the other Ogawa books I‘ve read, this was very sweet and whimsical and not very ‘challenging‘ or complicated at all.

Tomoko, aged 12, is sent to live in her Uncle‘s opulent mansion, where she makes friends with her cousin Mina who is one year younger and in delicate health.

It did read like a children‘s book at times and I loved it whilst reading it, but it‘s immediately gone out of my mind since I finished it.

I picked this up at the Amnesty Bookshop in York, on tour with @MicheleinPhilly ☺️

Set in Yorkshire it follows Neef and Danny as they meet as teens, then grow up together. Neef has never had a dad and her Mum can barely look after herself. Danny‘s Mum died and his Dad (a Black man) is perceived as a trouble-maker, so you can imagine how their lives furl out.

It‘s a tough read and *isn‘t* like Normal People, as claimed on the blurb.

A rather disturbing read for me, but one that really made me think. Annie is a ‘cuddle bunny‘ AI robot living with Doug, a 34 year old man who has issues with Annie becoming auto-didactic and therefore more human like.

The juxtaposition of the sex scenes and Doug‘s abuse of Annie was really uncomfortable and the book raised questions about what it is to be human and what constitutes abuse.

I got the ARC of this ages ago but never got round to it so thank you @BarbaraBB for bumping it up my TBR.

I loved it (read it in 2 hours) but it was totally not as expected from the blurb. That suggests it‘s a ghost story with a recently-deceased Max watching his girlfriend Hannah, but that‘s only a very minor part of this utterly fascinating novel.

It‘s quite a tough read though, covering past trauma and abuse amongst other difficult topics.

I‘m so glad I picked this at Gladstone‘s during Blind Date With A Book - thanks Jess! @jhod

This is an autobiographical novel - the author herself was in and out of prison for sex work and other petty crimes and died aged just 29 in 1967.

It‘s definitely a French novel, with that curious dispassionate, distant, style that is so common but I felt sad for the MC in her emotionless, grubby world and I want to read the author‘s other (2) novels.

I started this on audio and struggled to connect so switched to physical. However, whilst I really enjoyed the book overall, I think the lack of human connection might have been the issue rather than audio.

Neither of the two male MCs was very relatable and there was too much distance between all of the stories - they sort of came together at the end but I didn‘t feel emotionally connected.

It would still have made my #booker shortlist.

Playing catch-up with reviews….

I really liked this novel, which did feel rather like a memoir at times, and it feels even more relevant now after the events of last week, being about undocumented migrants.

At times it was a little bit too ‘stream of consciousness‘ for me and I struggled to understand the relevance or tangent of Catalina‘s thoughts but, overall, a hard-hitting worthwhile read.

Thank you for gifting it to me @MicheleinPhilly 😘

Leaving this here for those who need it this week….

From today‘s Guardian newspaper in the UK, literary comfort novels that tell us ‘despite everything, it‘s going to be OK‘

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/nov/09/it-will-renew-your-faith-in-humani...

Any American Littens from our #europacollective (or anyone who loved this book!) feel like cheering themselves up with a trip out to see Anne Berest speak?

Actually, just noticed that 3 of the 4 are in NY, so not really much of a tour, but still…..

Great to see there‘s a new book coming out too.

#ToBwaiting

Great idea @BarbaraBB to post our thoughts on what might be on the ToB longlist, but very difficult to choose just 6!

I haven‘t read any of these but either own them or have access to them on a platform such as Everand (my library apps are not ‘weird‘ enough for the ToB! 🤪)

I‘ll also tag two below that I think should be on the list but probably too UK-based to be included.

I was a bit disappointed with this, because I loved Leave The World Behind. Brooke starts working for a billionaire who wants to give away all his money before he dies, but she starts to become more greedy for herself.

Brooke, and her mother, were both awful people but I quite like books with terrible characters and the book certainly made me think.

What nearly turned it into a so-so for me was the nothing ending - it just fizzled out.

Loved this collection of interlinked short stories about Palestinian families and their descendants, living in the US.

I agree @arlenefinnigan - it was sometimes difficult to follow the familial links between the stories on audio but it didn‘t detract from my overall appreciation of the book.

I finished this a couple of weeks ago, but only just realised I forgot to post a review. 🤦‍♀️

On a delayed Australian flight, an unremarkable lady stands up and starts telling all of the passengers how and when they‘re going to die.

I really couldn‘t see how Moriarty would bring this to a satisfactory conclusion but it ended up being far more than just satisfactory - fabulous if rather worrying in places!

Thank you for this gift, Holly! 😘

I got the ARC of this from #netgalley, long before it was published in August, but it had mixed reviews so I wasn‘t really tempted. It‘s recently been announced as being one of the BBC Between The Covers books so I picked it up, and absolutely loved it.

It‘s really devastating though so be warned, with some CW. Following 3 different people in different timescales, all linked by water, I loved how it all came together in the end.

I tried a few different books on my commute over the past few weeks that I just couldn‘t get on with on audio (Playground, Intermezzo etc) so I thought I‘d go with an ‘easier‘ listen.

This was going to be a so-so all of the way through because all of the twists were heavily signposted. But then they weren‘t. 😳 I didn‘t see THAT coming!

The female MC was so stupid though, and made terrible decisions, it drove me crackers. 🤪

Loved this, as I have loved all of Perrin‘s books. She writes melancholy stories so well.

I agree with you @BarbaraBB @TrishB - it‘s not quite as good as Fresh Water for Flowers, but what is?!

Thank you for gifting it to me Barbara! 😘

Oops, when I said Margo was my final review of the weekend, I didn‘t mean it! Finished this one yesterday and forgot to post it.

I loved Small Pleasures and this one lived up to it. Somehow, Chambers‘ characters aren‘t always particularly likeable but you still root for them.

I need to investigate more books by this author.

Final review of the weekend (for now - still have an hour and a half to go! 🤪) and another fabulous read.

I‘d seen so many fabulous reviews of this and I‘m so grateful to @Oryx for gifting it to me.

I haven‘t got a clue about OnlyFans, pro-wrestling and TikTok and there were far too many bodily fluids for my liking, but I loved Margo and Jinx.

I need to read more by this author.

Just finished this one this morning - recommended and gifted to me by @BarbaraBB - thank you! 😘

Cooper and his daughter Finch have been living in a remote Appalachian cabin for years, when a series of events threaten to shatter their careful sheltered existence.

Loved both Cooper and Finch (and even Scotland!). I have a question, though, for those who have read it already, in spoilers below.

My #bookhaul from our reading retreat at Gladstone‘s Library.

The bottom two are from Emma @Oryx

Catalina is a gift from @MicheleinPhilly and Forgotten on Sunday (which I‘ve just started) is a gift from @BarbaraBB .

The top one is my pick from our Blind Date with a Book swap - it sounded so intriguing from the clues that Jess @jhod had written, and even more so know I know what it is.

Haven‘t been posting from Gladstone‘s much - too busy reading! 🥰 I picked some fabulous books to bring - I‘ve loved them all.

I bought this a while ago and bumped it up the TBR list when I found out it‘s going to be on the BBC‘s Between The Covers.

Such a compelling read - I couldn‘t stop reading it. (Which wasn‘t a problem on a reading retreat! 🤪)

I much preferred it to We Begin At The End.

First book finished at Gladstone‘s reading retreat!

I loved this look at Ranita‘s life as she leaves prison, tries to get her life back on track, and tries to get her kids back.

Beautiful prose and more hopeful than I thought it might be.

Thank you for sending it to me! @Megabooks

I‘m absolutely loving this so far (at about 25% in) but I‘m also scared to keep reading it, as I get the feeling it‘s going to break my heart. 💔

@Megabooks

Loved this! Such a tense book, from both the POV of Cy Bellman who goes west to find mythical animals and even more so for his young daughter left behind in the care of Cy‘s sister.

I don‘t think I loved it as much as Clear, and I wasn‘t *entirely* sure about the very end but I definitely want to read more by this author.

Thanks for sending it to me @BarbaraBB 😘

Another excellent addition to Boyne‘s ‘Elements‘ series of books, this time about a plastic surgeon, dealing with burns victims.

Again, like Water and Earth, a very tough subject matter. I love how we get little hints and links to the other books in the series.

I still think the first book is my favourite, but they‘re all so good and I‘m already looking forward to Air, with an idea about which character it will be about.

Out 7th Nov (UK)

Odile is going through the vetting process to become a member of the Conseil, who decide whether people can travel out of their valley to other valleys beyond. This is speculative fiction, so the other valleys are twenty years ahead or twenty years behind.

I liked this, although I‘m glad I listened on audio, as many readers complained about the lack of “” in print.

I‘m also not sure if there were huge plot holes or if I‘m just a bit daft! 🤪

Thanks for the tag! @Mitch

1. The tagged book will be on my favourite list for 2024 as well as just for August.

2. I prefer paper books, but read all three types - they all have their place!

3. Probably literary fiction.

#wondrouswednesday