What Are You Currently Reading?

[Abigail]

You remind me that I’ve been meaning to read Old Filth—thank you!

I’m currently rereading The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne. Lots of interesting tidbits about Austen and some overinterpretation.

[Mary]

Oh yay! It was totally an unexpected find and proving to be so enjoyable .. I've not read any Jane Austen interpretations since university. I remember how keen some critics were, to dissect every single detail . But this looks interesting!

[Abigail]

Byrne’s book and Mullan’s What Matters in Jane Austen (sorry, book links not working on my iPad right now, that feature comes and goes) are two of my favorite books about Jane Austen’s life and works. Byrne’s is more about her life and how her life informed her work; Mullan’s is more about interpreting the novels but is very insightful.

[Mary]

Oh I'll have to look them up..

[Janice]

Abigail wrote: "I love Middlemarch but it’s a real commitment!

Currently reading our October group read, Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner, and falling in love with it all over again! Beautif..."

It is, but I am in a group in which we are reading it in parts over 6 months that started in September.

[Janice]

I am rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

[CindySR]

Janice wrote: "I am rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte."

I want to do that for my first read of 2023.

Right now I'm reading Horse
and I have a new favorite author Geraldine Brooks

[Abigail]

Finally getting started on Elizabeth Taylor’s The Soul of Kindness.

[Janice]

CindySR wrote: "Janice wrote: "I am rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte."

I want to do that for my first read of 2023.

Right now I'm reading Horse
and I have a new favorite au..."

Oh, you should read it! And don't you just love when you discover a new favourite author! :)

[Janice]

I am also reading The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar for my real-life book club at my local library.

[CindySR]

Janice wrote: "I am also reading The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar for my real-life book club at my local library."
I read that and it was amazing!

[Abigail]

Finished The Stone of Chastity by Margery Sharp, an amusing English farce from 1940, and am going to read another Rumer Godden: An Episode of Sparrows.

[Jan]

Farewell to the East End by Jennifer Worth. It is the last Call the Midwife book. The first is the best. Lots of stories that do not involve her, or midwifery. Stories about people she did not know. The first book in the series is the best.

[Janice]

CindySR wrote: "Janice wrote: "I am also reading The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar for my real-life book club at my local library."
I read that and it was amazing!"

I am almost finished reading it and love it too! It sure is eye-opening to the plight of refugees and their struggles and travels.

[Abigail]

Reading in tandem Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy and The Moon-Spinners by Mary Stewart.

[Janice]

I am resuming my rereading of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.

[Mary]

I'm reading "Marking Time" by Elizabeth Jane Howard ; the 2nd in the Cazelet series. It's not capturing me immediately as did the first book, " The Light Years" . I'm sure it'll improve..

[Jan]

Anne of Green Gables

[Abigail]

Just finished Britannia Mews by Margery Sharp and doing a quick reread of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston for another reading group.

[Janice]

Jan wrote: "Anne of Green Gables"

I just love Anne! <3

[Abigail]

Finished Wessex Tales by Thomas Hardy and Old Filth by Jane Gardam; now on to Javier Zamora’s memoir Solito.

[Mary]

Finished The Fortnight In September by RD Sheriff: loved it but found it quite sad. Of course, we all interpret literature differently .
Now back to Elizabeth Taylor's short story collection ; The Devastating Boys.

[Abigail]

Solito was wonderful but gutting and the next book I read—Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin—was also great but also very intense. Am taking a little escapist break before getting to Life among the Savages and reading What Angels Fear by C. S. Harris, the first in the St. Cyr Regency mystery series.

[Jan]

The Girl with the Louding Voice

[Abigail]

Finished Life Among the Savages and am starting Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King.

[Abigail]

I loved Back to the Garden and then read a so-so Austenesque novel, The Luxury of Silence: A Variation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.

[Dee❤️]

I am Reading Villette by Charlotte Bronte

[Abigail]

I loved Villette when I was a teenager! For a long time it was my favorite Brontë novel.

[Dee❤️]

I am reading it for first time... My fav. Bronte novel is Jane Eyre, though I read it long ago... It was and still is fav Bronte novel 😁

[Mary]

I’m currently reading a book by favourite author , Monica Dickens , “Marianna”

[Abigail]

Reading Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin. Love the sense of humor!

[Mary]

Oh love Edmund Crispin: haven't read him for years though .Must make him my next ...

[Abigail]

There’s a buddy read going on in January in the Reading the Detectives group if you want to join. (The group is devoted to Golden Age detective authors.)

[Dee❤️]

Me.... want to join

[Abigail]

Here’s the group: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/....

[Janice]

The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg for my in-person book club.

[Abigail]

Yoked with a Lamb by Molly Clavering for the Retro Reads book group here on Goodreads.

[Janice]

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

[Mary]

I’m currently reading Dorothy Whipple’s “Someone at a distance”.. it’s so very good . I’m galloping through it and planning to read more of her books..

[Abigail]

Read but did not enjoy Towers in the Mist byElizabeth Goudge and now reading Fifth Business by Robertson Davies.

[Nicole]

I’m currently reading Babel by R.F. Kuang and I’m really enjoying it so far.

[Charlene]

I am going to buddy read with my mom The Christie Affair. I started it last night.

[Janice]

I am still reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen as well as The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

[Charlene]

I just listened to the reel that Jane Austen house put out of Captain Wentworth’s letter to Anne and thinking I should be reading that book on Valentine’s Day.

[Abigail]

Finished Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng lately and now reading The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor.

[Janice]

I finished rereading Middlemarch (parts 7 and 8) by George Eliot yesterday and started American Dirt by Jeanine Cumins as well as listening to The Little House in the Fairy Wood by Ethel Cook Eliot and still reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen.

[Abigail]

That’s a busy reading schedule, Janice! Congrats on finishing Middlemarch—I always felt it would be a more powerful story if it stopped after Dorothea finally understood Casaubon.

[Jan]

Charlene wrote: "I just listened to the reel that Jane Austen house put out of Captain Wentworth’s letter to Anne and thinking I should be reading that book on Valentine’s Day."

That letter would be a wonderful Valentine's Day read.

[Kathleen]

I agree with you and Jan, Charlene. Persuasion would be the perfect Valentine's Day read!

Hope you enjoyed Middlemarch, Janice.

As far as women's classics, I finished Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont recently and it went straight to my favorites shelf. I've just started Parable of the Sower, and can tell I'll be falling easily into it.

[Janice]

Abigail wrote: "That’s a busy reading schedule, Janice! Congrats on finishing Middlemarch—I always felt it would be a more powerful story if it stopped after Dorothea finally understood Casaubon."

Thank you for the congratulations but I did have six months to read Middlemarch. It is but I don't read/listen to every book every day so that makes it manageable. :) I was supposed to have listened to The Little House in the Fairy Wood in January but I am trying a new thing this year in that the books I didn't listen to in their month I will listen to when I have a chance even if it's many months later. :)