What I'm reading ...

I have started Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. It is time for fiction again and, having enjoyed Ordinary People, I look forward to this book. Here’s the blurb:

Frances is twenty-one years old, cool-headed and observant. A student in Dublin and an aspiring writer, at night she performs spoken word with her best friend Bobbi, who used to be her girlfriend. When they are interviewed and then befriended by Melissa, a well-known journalist who is married to Nick, an actor, they enter a world of beautiful houses, raucous dinner parties and holidays in Provence, beginning a complex ménage-à-quatre. But when Frances and Nick get unexpectedly closer, the sharply witty and emotion-averse Frances is forced to honestly confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time.

Humans - by Brandon Stanton

This book was such a pleasure to read. Every story was interesting; some were very moving in positive and negative ways. The beautiful pictures complemented the text perfectly.

I am not about to go back to “real” books - my Kindle is so much more convenient - but this book was worth putting myself out for. The author has two other similar books; I look forward to getting both in due course.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Humans by Brandon Stanton. I was somewhat familiar with Humans of New York, so I was very pleased when some good friends gave me this book as a retirement present earlier in the year. Having read almost exclusively on Kindle for the last decade, it is a little odd to handle a “real” book, but, as it is lavishly illustrated, this is the right medium. Here’s the blurb:

Brandon Stanton’s Humans is a book that connects readers as global citizens at a time when erecting more borders is the order of the day. It shows us the entire world, one story at a time . . .

Brandon Stanton’s Humans – his most moving and compelling book to date – shows us the world. After five years of traveling the globe, the creator of Humans of New York brings people from all parts of the world into a conversation with readers. He ignores borders, chronicles lives and shows us the faces of the world as he saw them. His travels took him from London, Paris and Rome to Iraq, Dubai, Ukraine, Pakistan, Jordan, Uganda, Vietnam, Israel and every other place in between. His interviews go deeper than before. His chronicling of peoples’ lives shows the experience of a writer who has traveled widely and thought deeply about the state of our world.

Including hundreds of photos and stories of the people he met and talked with in over forty countries, Humans is classic Brandon Stanton – a full colour illustrated book that includes many photos and stories never seen before. For the first time for a HONY title, Humans will contain several of the essays Brandon’s posted online which have been read, loved and enthusiastically shared by his followers.

Commonwealth - by Ann Patchett

This was a very pleasing read. Although it is about just two families, their various relationships are quite complex, which, along with the multiple timelines, kept me on my toes. The author has a great ability to paint pictures in words and uses metaphor with a very light touch - you don’t notice that there’s been one until you stop to think about it. The ending of the book is slightly abrupt, but short of waiting until everyone is dead, I cannot think how it could have been done better. I would think that all the interesting stuff has happened. I was caught out by seeing how many pages were left, but didn’t notice that this included “end matter”. I look forward to reading more of this author’s work.