Wow! Where did January go?I'm still trying to catch my breath from Christmas and New Year and you're telling me I've missed a whole month of It's Monday! What Am I Reading? posts?!?!
How did that happen?
As it turns out, quite easily actually.
Between holidays, new shifts/different hours at work, weekends away, visitors and nights out, my old Sunday night/Monday morning blogging schedule has flown the coop!
But as of this week our normal family schedule resumes with the start of the new school year. I'm hoping it also means that I can reclaim Sunday evenings for blogging.
My resolution for this year is to keep thing simple on my blog.
If you want to know what I've been blogging about for the past month (or the past week), please fell free to scroll down or check the blog archive on the left hand side.
Or check out my other blog, Four Seasons if you'd like to see some of the holiday snaps (I promise, no boring family pics of people you don't know - lots of beach, mountains & city snaps instead!)
This post (& future posts) will simply focus on what I'm reading this week and any other blogging related news for the week (like readalongs).
So, what am I reading this week?
The Gathering by Anne Enright:
A moving, evocative portrait of a large Irish family and a shot of
fresh blood into the
Irish literary tradition, combining the lyricism of
the old with the shock of the new.
The nine surviving children of the
Hegarty clan are gathering in Dublin for the wake of their
wayward
brother, Liam, drowned in the sea. His sister, Veronica, collects the
body and
keeps the dead man company, guarding the secret she shares with
him—something that happened
in their grandmother’s house in the winter
of 1968. As Enright traces the line of betrayal and
redemption through
three generations her distinctive intelligence twists the world a
fraction
and gives it back to us in a new and unforgettable light. The Gathering
is a daring, witty, and
insightful family epic, clarified through Anne
Enright’s unblinking eye. It is a novel
about love and disappointment,
about how memories warp and secrets fester, and how fate
is written in
the body, not in the stars.
The Gathering won the 2007 Booker Prize for Literature. It has also been sitting on my TBR pile for over three years. One of my aims this year is to conquer, or at least subdue my TBR pile!
Which is very, very difficult when I work an Indy bookshop and have ready access to many lovely, tempting ARC's. As the children's buyer, I also feel compelled to keep up with all the new teen/YA/junior fiction/picture book releases.
To keep from being totally overwhelmed I now only read those that really interest me or grab me. Life's to short to read a book I'm not enjoying.
To start my teen/YA year off with an Australian AND Indian women writers twist, I have started Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean edited by Kirsty Murray, Payal Dhar & Anita Roy.
Be transported into
dystopian cities and other-worldly societies. Be amazed and beguiled by a
nursery story with a reverse twist, a futuristic take on TV cooking
shows, a playscript with tentacles - and more, much more. Plunge in and
enjoy!
A collection of sci-fi and fantasy writing, including six graphic stories, showcasing twenty stellar writers and artists from India and Australia: Isobelle Carmody, Kate Constable, Penni Russon, Margo Lanagan, Mandy Ord, to mention only a few.
A collection of sci-fi and fantasy writing, including six graphic stories, showcasing twenty stellar writers and artists from India and Australia: Isobelle Carmody, Kate Constable, Penni Russon, Margo Lanagan, Mandy Ord, to mention only a few.
This week will also see the final discussion post & twitter chat for the North and South readalong on Saturday and/or Sunday (depending on your time zone).
But now it's time for our annual family outing to the NRMA CARnivale in the city.Vintage cars, caravans, buses and trucks have become our Australia Day thing to do....rain, hail or shine! (Can you believe it's raining & cool in Sydney today after the soaring summer temps of yesterday?)
Check out my other blog, Four Seasons next Saturday for a snapshot of our day out.
So, for now, what are you reading this week?
I like your pledge to keep things simple (on the blogging front). I'm hoping for the same thing!
ReplyDeleteDeb
Have a fab time! sounds like I'd be going to the CARnivale as well if I was there :)
ReplyDeleteI hear you on the wealth of choice when you're working a bookstore - enjoy your selections...
I agree... where did January go??? Eat the Sky, Drink the Ocean looks good!
ReplyDeleteThis weekend I have been immersed in Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver [a great book] and I am almost done -- and on deck for this upcoming week is the new book by Michel Faber, called The Book of Strange New Things. I can hardly wait to get into it, he is such a fabulously good author.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I noticed in your posting -- Margo Lanagan, an author I truly love. I have searched all over for her new book but it is not available anywhere, here in Canada. Yet.
I've never read any Faber, but I do have The Book of Strange New Things on my radar.
DeleteI hang my head in shame and admit that I have never read any Lanagan...but I will be getting to her story in Eat the Sky soon :-)
Hope you're able to keep it simple with blogging. This is the first time I've linked up this year, too. Life gets so hectic before, during and after the holidays! Enjoy your reads this week. :)
ReplyDeleteBrooke at http://www.brookeblogs.com
I'm looking forward to routine was the kids go back to school this week :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your reads,
Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out
I'm with you on January disappearing too fast - I think that's a sign that we are all getting older though - I read somewhere that the older you are, the quicker time flies.
ReplyDeleteEmma
I would love to get a copy of Eat the Sky..., it features some fantastic authors - and that cover is gorgeous! Also love the Enright cover, it's great when books are like pieces of artwork in and of themselves. :) But it does sound like quite a heavy book, that one.
ReplyDeleteCARnivale sounds awesome! Hope you have a great week, Brona.
I have no idea where January could've gone! I swear it only just started yesterday and this is already it's last week! I have decided that for my blog I'm just going to stick to what is fun and what I can do, rather than force myself to post something every day! 'The Gathering' sounds really intriguing, but I'm a sci-fi nerd, so 'Eat the Sky' would have to be it for me! Thanks for sharing :) I hope you have a great week and enjoy the CARnivale!
ReplyDeleteMy Monday post
Juli @ Universe in Words
Yes I don't know where we can have put January... But it does seem to have gone. Looks like you've got two great books this week. I must say that I'm annoyed at not having heard of Eat the Sky. I see it's a new release I'll have to watch out for it, it sounds intriguing. I must admit to never having read Margo Managuan either. For shame. This week I'm just starting Still Alice, for some reason I feel absolutely compelled to read it before the movie comes out.
ReplyDeleteI've looked at Still Alice a few times, but Mr Books mother died of dementia a few years back - there's a part of me that wants to know what it's like from Alice's point of view but there's a bigger part of me shying away from that knowledge.
DeleteI'll wait for your review instead :-)
I can see how it would be very difficult from an overly close perspective. Noone in my family has demented yet (not formally), so for me it's more of a clinical curiosity. I'm only just starting off really. It's readable so far. Whispers of things to come.
DeleteI've had a copy of The Gathering on my shelf for a few years, too. Enright's writing is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI've been underlining beautiful, significant lines all the way through so far. I also love her biting, sarcastic Irish humour :-)
DeleteI agree, January has gone by so fast! I also hope to reduce my TBR pile this year, as well as update my blog more regularly. Never heard of The Gathering before, but it sounds interesting so will have to look into it further. Happy reading!
ReplyDelete'The Gathering' sounds great. Seems I have to add it to my list of books to read in the future. As you I am trying to cut down on my TBR shelves, so they would have to take priority. But when reading about a good book, I just want to read it right away. I am current reading, and hoping to finish tonight (awaiting the very late games here in Europe from Australian Open!) An Echo in the Bones, Diana Gabaldon's book no 7 of the Outlander series.
ReplyDeleteI've only watched a few games of this year's Open myself - work and social stuff has got in the way this year. And Federer got knocked out early, so my interest waned !
DeleteWhat do you think of The Gathering so far? I've heard mixed things about it, but given it won the Booker prize I imagine there is something good about it :-)
ReplyDeleteSo far I'm loving it. But I love books that deal with time, memory & family secrets so I felt fairly safe starting it :-)
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