What I'm reading ...

I have started Untamed: Stop Pleasing, Start Living by Glennon Doyle. Time for non-fiction again and this book came recommended and looked interesting. Here’s the blurb:

Part inspiration, part memoir, Untamed explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet the expectations of the world, and instead dare to listen to and trust in the voice deep inside us. From the beloved New York Times bestselling author, speaker and activist Glennon Doyle.

For many years, Glennon Doyle denied her discontent. Then, while speaking at a conference, she looked at a woman across the room and fell instantly in love. Three words flooded her mind: There. She. Is. At first, Glennon assumed these words came to her from on high but soon she realised they had come to her from within. This was the voice she had buried beneath decades of numbing addictions and social conditioning. Glennon decided to let go of the world's expectations of her and reclaim her true untamed self.

Soulful and uproarious, forceful and tender, Untamed is both an intimate memoir and a galvanising wake-up call. It is the story of how one woman learned that a responsible mother is not one who slowly dies for her children, but one who shows them how to fully live. It is also the story of how each of us can begin to trust ourselves enough to set boundaries, make peace with our bodies, honour our anger and heartbreak, and unleash our truest, wildest instincts.

Truly Madly Guilty - by Liane Moriarty

Like most of this author’s work, this book is quite complex, with many intertwined threads. We are given the immediate hint that something dramatic occurred at a BBQ party. For a couple of hundred pages, we don’t know what the incident actually was, but we learn about the lead up to it and implications afterwards. Once we do know what happened, we gradually learn more nuances of the event and see them from different points of view. The twists and surprises continue right up until the end.

All in all, a great read that will attract me back to the author’s books. 

What I'm reading ...

I have started Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty. This is a favourite author of mine, as she has a great power to keep me turning the pages, tempting me with a glimpse of the next chapter but one. And there are always interesting twists and surprises. I have hear her writing described as formulaic, but I don’t care as I enjoy the result. Here’s the blurb:

Six responsible adults, two best friends - and one day that changes everything.

'This is a story which begins with a barbecue in the suburbs. . .'

By the end of it a lifelong friendship will be in tatters, a marriage on the rocks and an innocent bystander dead.

In just one evening six lives will change for ever . . .

This Much is True - by Miriam Margolyes

I enjoy autobiographies and memoirs, but I am always on the lookout for ghost-writing - I want to hear the genuine voice. In the case of this book, I was left in no doubt that the author is writing from the heart. There is a great honesty to the writing - no hole barred! It made me smile a lot, but also gave me pause for thought. I even took a cooking tip [making matzo flour to fry fish] from a self-confessed non-cook! All in all, a great read. 

What I'm reading ...

I have started This Much is True by Miriam Margolyes. Back to non-fiction, but I think that this will make good holiday reading. Here’s the blurb:

BAFTA-winning actor, voice of everything from Monkey to the Cadbury's Caramel Rabbit, creator of a myriad of unforgettable characters from Lady Whiteadder to Professor Sprout, MIRIAM MARGOLYES, OBE, is the nation's favourite (and naughtiest) treasure. Now, at the age of 80, she has finally decided to tell her extraordinary life story - and it's well worth the wait.

Find out how being conceived in an air-raid gave her curly hair; what pranks led to her being known as the naughtiest girl Oxford High School ever had; how she ended up posing nude for Augustus John as a teenager; why Bob Monkhouse was the best (male) kiss she's ever had; and what happened next after Warren Beatty asked 'Do you fuck?'

From declaring her love to Vanessa Redgrave to being told to be quiet by the Queen, this book is packed with brilliant, hilarious stories. With a cast list stretching from Scorsese to Streisand, a cross-dressing Leonardo di Caprio to Isaiah Berlin, This Much Is True is as warm and honest, as full of life and surprises, as its inimitable author.

The Nickel Boys - by Colson Whitehead

The good things that I’d heard about this author were correct. Although it is fiction, the book is based upon reports about a real reform school. The story is well paced and the descriptions of the world of the main protagonists are vivid. There is a surprise twist at the end, which bears out my policy of “always read the Epilogue”.

What I'm reading ...

I have started The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I have heard good things about this author, so I have high hopes. I normally alternate between fiction and nonfiction, but I am on holiday, so a change seems reasonable. Here’s the blurb:

Elwood Curtis has taken the words of Dr Martin Luther King to heart: he is as good as anyone. Abandoned by his parents, brought up by his loving, strict and clear-sighted grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But given the time and the place, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy his future, and so Elwood arrives at The Nickel Academy, which claims to provide 'physical, intellectual and moral training' which will equip its inmates to become 'honorable and honest men'.

In reality, the Nickel Academy is a chamber of horrors, where physical, emotional and sexual abuse is rife, where corrupt officials and tradesmen do a brisk trade in supplies intended for the school, and where any boy who resists is likely to disappear 'out back'. Stunned to find himself in this vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold on to Dr King's ringing assertion, 'Throw us in jail, and we will still love you.' But Elwood's fellow inmate and new friend Turner thinks Elwood is naive and worse; the world is crooked, and the only way to survive is to emulate the cruelty and cynicism of their oppressors.

The tension between Elwood's idealism and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision which will have decades-long repercussions.

Based on the history of a real reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped and destroyed the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative by a great American novelist whose work is essential to understanding the current reality of the United States.

Where the Crawdads Sing - by Delia Owens

It seems that the recommendations for this book were spot on. It is beautifully written, with vivid descriptions of people, places, wildlife etc. At the same time the story has a strong pace that kept me turning the pages. I believe that this is the author’s only work of fiction to date. I have hopes for the future.

What I'm reading ...

I have started Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. I have been recommended this book by a number of people and moved to read it by the prospect of seeing the new film adaptation. Here’s the blurb:

For years, rumors of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life - until the unthinkable happens.

Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood - by Jasper Rees

I always like biographies (and autobiographies), but they vary so much in quality and honesty. Biographies are often less well researched and can paint a distorted view of their subject. This book seemed to be written with integrity on the basis of some very solid research. 

I am not a fast reader, so this long book took a while, but it kept me turning the pages. The strongest impression was that VW was a very different and more complex character than her public persona appeared. Even though I knew the book was not going to have a happy ending, I found it more emotional than I might have expected.

A tiny reservation was that I felt that the book could use a little more editing. I saw a couple of typos and there are a few facts/events that we are told about more than once for no clear reason.