14 August 2015

Sophie's summer reading

I confess I am an avid, if eclectic reader. I do use books, not kindles or tablets, I like the satisfaction of finishing them and handing them onto friends - if I've enjoyed them - and most of them end up in charity books, as our house isn't big enough to cope with all the books I read.

This is a selection from books I've read this July and going into early August. A very select few remain in the house. Here's a selection of some of the books I've read this summer, it's not exhaustive. The list is the ones that have stayed with me - in my head - as opposed to having left me the minute I finished the book.

Some of the books read by Sophie this summer.

Let me know of books you've enjoyed and if you've read any on this list what you've thought of them. I'm a member of two book clubs so that adds to the variety of the books. They are in no particular order, just the order I remembered them in.

The Rector's Daughter - FM Mayor - missed opportunities

Fatherland - Robert Harris (brilliant writer, also recently read an Officer and a Spy in that one kept having to remember it was based on real life - truth was definitely stranger than fiction.

Virginia Woolf in Manhatten - Maggie Gee (concept of Virginia Woolf in 21st century New York)

Amy Snow - Tracy Rees (Richard and Judy's first winner for finding new writers)

Kingmaker - Toby Clements - very readable novel based on the war of the roses having lived near Tewkesbury for 18 years of my life and now in Yorkshire, particular interest. 1st in a series

My Family and other Animals - Gerald Durrell - time to reread an old family favourite

2 of the Cherub series - teenage spy series, lent by our son on holiday when I'd miscalculated how many books I'd read by a factor of 3 - interesting to see what he has been reading

Rafa my story by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin (another one lent by our son)

The Architect's apprentice - Elif Shafak (novel based on Turkey with intrigues and power struggles by the most widely read women novelist in Turkey )

The Angels' Game - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (from the author of Shadow of the Wind)

In a Summer Season - Elizabeth Taylor (never really got into this writer, but keep being lent books by her from various sources)

Dominion - CJ Sampson (similar concept to Fatherland but different result)

Daring Greatly - Brene Brown (read this as a result of a recommendation from Ximena Del Castro as part of our Time for Tea series - the importance of being vulnerable).

Nathaniel's Nutmeg - Giles Milton (So glad that I'm a spice merchant now and not then)

Nora Webster - Colm Toibin - widow refinding herself after her husband's death

Summer books 2015 read by Sophie