What I'm reading ...

I have started The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley, my next book club book. Here’s the blurb:

Three unhappy characters, Jess Oakroyd, Miss Trant and Inigo Jollifant flee from their old lives to seek adventure on the open road. Fate brings them together and into the presence of a broken-down theatrical touring company. Throwing caution to the winds they save the group and set off on an unforgettable tour of the pavilions and provincial theatres of England.
First published in 1929 in a time of deepening economic gloom and worldwide political unrest The Good Companions won The James Tate Black Memorial Prize for fiction, caught the public’s imagination and became a publishing phenomenon. Vigorous, optimistic and at times supremely comic it is also an exploration of English life, reaching deep into the decaying towns, dingy seaside lodging houses, market fairs and fading traditions of the 1920s. An England Priestley knew better than any other author of his day.

Not Dead Enough - by Peter James

As expected, this book delivered. The story is typical of the author’s style - complex, with lots of detail and no shortage of surprises. I will admit that I figured out the most likely explanation for some of the mysterious happenings quite early on, but this did not ruin the story at all. I kept turning the pages as the book became more unputdownable.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Not Dead Enough by Peter James. I am becoming a bit addicted to this series. Not great literature, but a good, page-turning read, which is what I needed just now. Here's the blurb:

On the night Brian Bishop murdered his wife he was sixty miles away, asleep in bed at the time. At least that's the way it looks to Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, who is called in to investigate the kinky slaying of beautiful socialite, Katie Bishop.
Roy Grace soon starts coming to the conclusion that Bishop has performed the apparently impossible feat of being in two places at once. Has someone stolen his identity or is he simply a very clever liar?
As Roy Grace digs deeper behind the façade of the Bishops' outwardly respectable lives, it becomes clear that everything is not at all as it first seemed. Then he digs just a little too far, and suddenly the fragile stability of his own troubled world is facing destruction . . .

Mating in Captivity - by Esther Perel

This book was something of a “curate’s egg” - it was good in parts. Overall, I found it rather disorganized and never quite felt that I knew in what direction it was going. I rather expected an analysis of “the problem”, some instruction on how to overcome it and some reports on success stories. Instead, it is a very broad look at the issues and challenges with longer term relationships, with hints on how they might be optimized. I expected an instruction manual; I got some inspirational reading. So, all was not lost.