The year in books: November

Well, better late than never I suppose!

My book for November is going to be We Are All Made of Glue by Marina Lewycka.

I needed a new book to read and this was at the top of the pile that doesn't quite fit on the bookcase.  I should spend more time reading the books I have rather than buying more.  Even if they do only work out as 33.333333p each from our favourite charity shop warehouse.  I realised when I started to read it that it's signed.  I always wonder about names and inscriptions in second hand books - who are these people, who gave them the book, why did they give it away?

After a September full of travel and time off, I had a feeling October would feature fewer books, and I was right - there really has been a dearth of reading going on round here.

I didn't have a book for October - nothing took my fancy.  So I chose at random All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, which I'd picked from visiting Mum a while ago.  She didn't like it, and turns out I didn't either.  Elf and Yoli are sisters, Yoli an author going through another divorce and Elf a famous concert pianist who keeps trying to commit suicide.  It was well written, I enjoyed the first third or so, but then I was a bit tired of everyone and it struggled to keep my attention.  I probably would have enjoyed it more had I read it in fewer sittings, though.

I had dinner with a colleague early on in October and she took me to her local Oxfam bookshop.  I don't usually buy books from Oxfam bookshops as I tend to find they're quite expensive compared with other charity shops selling books in similar conditions. But this branch was quite the exception and I came away with this beautiful copy of Ann Veronica by H.G. Wells.

Not one to judge a book by its cover, I did love this cover.  It reads as newspaper articles, with the blurb being a separate article and it's quite clever.  Ann Veronica, living in the early 20th century, wants independence, freedom and to study science, not stay at home with her father and aunt.  When her father forbids her from going to a dance, she moves to London to live alone and start her life there.  She meets people who are fighting for women's rights and other 'modern' things.  The book kept my attention very well for the first 100 or so pages, but then began to slow down a bit.  Enjoyable overall and I hadn't realised that H.G. Wells had written books that very much are not science fiction.

Joining in with Laura.