We love hearing about what you’re reading for our regular Hit of the Lits chart, and once a month we also give you a chance to see what we’ve been reading over the past month. It’s a chance to get to know each other, in the most literary way, and to get some reading suggestions as you go.
It’s time to hear from your admin team, and see what books we’ve all loved, and not over the past month. Let us know what you’re reading too in the comments!
Thom
Musui’s Story. An autobiography written by a low ranking Samurai in the mid 1800’s. We tend to think of Samurai as noble warriors full of honour and courage. Musui’s biography shows that not all were like that. His story is full of fighting, drinking, visiting brothels, and general over indulgence. It’s very amusing and an interesting look at the more human side of such a legendary class.
Jacqui
February has been all about Autumn by Ali Smith and The Sellout by Paul Beatty, both novels have political messages that are really relevant in the current climate. They are also both very funny, as long as you’re not averse to some dark humour.
I also read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer. It’s written as a series of letters, which took me a while to get into, but once I had, I flew through it and was so disappointed when it ended. It’s made me want to read more about the Channel Islands and their part in the history of the war.
Kath
I started the month with Traitor to the Throne. I read the first book in the trilogy, Rebel of the Sands, last month and had a signed copy of the second. It’s a pretty hefty read but thoroughly enjoyable, and turning out to be the best YA fantasy series I’ve read for a while. I can’t wait for the third and final installment, which I have on good authority (directly from the author, face to face) is already at the editing stage.
After two YA books in a row, I fancied something a bit less light when the bookshop called me to say my copy of Mischling was in stock. It’s about twins at ‘Mengele’s Zoo’ in Auschwitz. I’ve only read the first few chapters so far and it switches from one twin to the other. Already I can see that the writing is ‘All the Light You Cannot See’ beautiful, and I know it’s going to tear my heart right out and stamp all over it.
Shan
I finished the Miss Peregrine Trilogy and while I enjoyed it, I didn’t really love it. A nice enough series of books that held my attention but just don’t have me clamouring for the next three that have been promised. I actually began to get irritated by the references to the photos and felt they almost interrupted my reading.
I’ve just read Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls; what a truly beautiful little book. I had seen it mentioned so many times that I finally bought it an read it in a sitting and a half. I can see why so many of you enjoyed it. Next on my TBR is Mischling.
Rosie
This month I have had the bug for poetry so have abandoned fiction for John Donne’s collection of poems. I re-discovered his works as I was attempting to do some Spring cleaning and came across my old A Level English Literature books. The pages are still full of my old annotations which is lovely to see! It seems I appreciate his romantic verse a little more as I am older and… wiser…
We hope you have a good reading month!
UK Readers Have Almost Doubled the Amount of Time They Spend Reading Since Lockdown Began
15 times the ‘Don’t Have A Bookmark?’ meme went too far
Silent Book Clubs For Introverted Readers
The UK Chooses its Top 50 Books
