What I'm reading ...

I have started Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane. Time for non-fiction and this book is well thought of, so I will give it a go. Here’s the blurb:

In Underland, Robert Macfarlane takes us on a journey into the worlds beneath our feet. From the ice-blue depths of Greenland's glaciers, to the underground networks by which trees communicate, from Bronze Age burial chambers to the rock art of remote Arctic sea-caves, this is a deep-time voyage into the planet's past and future. Global in its geography, gripping in its voice and haunting in its implications, Underland is a work of huge range and power, and a remarkable new chapter in Macfarlane's long-term exploration of landscape and the human heart.

Conversations with Friends - by Sally Rooney

Overall, an enjoyable read. I always hope that, while reading a novel, that I will learn something. Seeing the world through the eyes of a twenty-something old Irish woman [the age of the author and the main protagonist] should fit the bill and I think that it did. I thought that all the main characters were well drawn, but I really did not warm to any of them. A lot of their behaviour seemed illogical and self-destructive [to me].

An odd thing about the book is that there are no speech marks - i.e. quotation marks around dialogue. This felt a bit uncomfortable. However, as I do not think that I ever got lost, there was clearly no ambiguity, so maybe the punctuation is redundant and I am just being old fashioned.