A Year in Books - June

I managed to maintain the pace of my reading in May and read three more books from the huge pile by my bed, plus part of another two.  As a consequence the pile is starting to go down, much to my satisfaction.  I finished Stuart Maconie's book 'Adventures on the High Teas - The Search for Middle England' which I thoroughly enjoyed and then I succumbed to the delights of this Joanne Harris book that I'd not read before.

When I first started reading this book it took a while to get into it.  The story centred around the happenings current and historical at an old fee-paying school for boys, an old grudge and the subsequent scandals that were brought about as a consequence.  The book was written from the perspective of two of the characters and chapters alternated between their particular thoughts, reminiscences and points of view.  One was a long serving school master, an ex-pupil whose loyalty to the school was unflinching, the other was the grudge holder, protagonist and inflictor of the all the forthcoming woe that was to be unleashed on the school.

To begin with this book was a slow burner, which suited me well, as I was able to pick it up and put it down as time allowed.  By the time I got to the last third of the book, however, it was virtually unputdownable. (Sorry, I know this isn't a proper word, but describes aptly the experience).  With her usual expertise Joanna Harris wove a fantastic web of a story, which even to the last page kept you reading and marvelling at her expert story telling skills, always with a twist in the tale.  It was a slightly more sinister plot than some others of hers that I've read, and being set in England, as opposed to France, it had a very different feel to it, but was nevertheless a great read that I would have no hesitation in recommending to others.  I've got a couple of other books of hers waiting to be read and it has reignited my love of her writing, so expect to hear more about the others in the near future.

Following on from this book, I decided to change tack and go for something much lighter, which is when I picked up this book by Stephanie Calman, a Telegraph columnist and whose 'Confessions of a Bad Mother' I had read and enjoyed a few years ago.

This was quite a quick read, I managed to finish it within a week.  It had short chapters, was light-hearted, humorous and quite an enjoyable read.  She poses the question 'What does it mean to be grown up? (or not) and proceeds to consider how quite often children behave in a more mature fashion than adults themselves.  It's written in a wonderfully witty and self-deprecating style, with lots of anecdotes about family life, both as an adult and a child and examples of how she and others have been reduced to less than grown up behaviour.  I enjoyed reading this book. 

The final book I picked up and read in May was this book by Helena Frith Powell.

I've previously read a book written by this author called 'Two Lipsticks and a Lover', the subject of which was French women, their style, lifestyle and philosophies on many aspects of daily life.  It was a very interesting read.   For this book, although she lives in France, she travels to Italy to find out about Italian women, but whilst there decides that she wants to write a book about her father whom she had lost touch with and her search for her Italian roots.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  The author's observations were acute, well written and offered a window into the Italian psyche.  I probably should have saved this for later in the year, as we are visiting southern Italy for our summer holiday this year and it would have tied in nicely with that trip. 

Turning to June, for several months of this project, I realise that I have tended to read books by authors with whom I am already quite familiar.  In a departure from this practice, for June and July I am deliberately choosing to read books by authors I have not read before.  The first book I will be reading, which I started at the weekend, is this one that I borrowed from the Little Free Library down the road.  I've had it a good while and need to return it so that others can read it too.  The plot revolves around the world of Melody Brown whose house and all it's belongings bar one, were totally destroyed by fire when she was 9 years old.  At the same point her memory of the previous nine years of her life is erased from her mind after she passes out having inhaled smoke from the fire.  Years later and an unexpected event changes her life and begins to unlock the secrets of her childhood.

I was completely drawn in by the synopsis on the cover of this book and within the first few chapters I have been sucked into this read.  Many of the chapters are very short, just a few pages long, so it is incredibly hard to put down as you think, I'll just read another one and another and another.  I'm enjoying it very much so far.

Following this, I will be reading this book by Stephen Clarke about life in France and how not to buy a French property.  Reviewed as a Bryson-esque look at life en France.

Finally, if I manage to read the others listed I will be reading this book by Plum Sykes, a contributing editor to American Vogue and author of Berdorf Blondes.

Joining in with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees in her Year in Books challenge to read a book a month for a year.