May - Diaries and Letters

[Stina]

There are good fiction and nonfiction options, and the book doesn't have to be composed entirely of diary entries and/or correspondence.

[Angela]

In case anyone needs an easy suggestion, I read "84 Charing Cross Road" this year, which is delightful, and is all letters. :-)

(and there is always Dracula)

[Cheryl]

84 Charing Cross Road is delightful.

Not gonna do Dracula.

I would add the recommendation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society if there is a single book lover who hasn't read it yet.

Or the novella I just read, Address Unknown, which is not nearly as cheerful, but also revolves around WWII

[Stina]

Angela wrote: "In case anyone needs an easy suggestion, I read "84 Charing Cross Road" this year, which is delightful, and is all letters. :-)

(and there is always Dracula)"

I do have a copy of 84, Charing Cross Road, so maybe I'll read that. I also have Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters, so that is a possibility.

I really enjoyed the first 2/3 of Dracula, but then I felt it got really bogged down and I had to really push myself to finish it.

[Cheryl]

Cannot recommend 84, Charing Cross Road more highly -- it can be read in a few hours.

Ella Minnow Pea also gets very high marks from me and is also a pretty quick read.

[Jacqie]

I just read To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey. It's fiction; letters and journals back and forth from a man exploring the Alaskan interior and his wife back in Washington Territory. It's got some of the exploring man-vs-nature stuff and a woman-finding-her-strength plot too.

[Angela]

If you are wanting something a bit on the horror side of things for May - I read We Need to Talk About Kevin which is all letters - though it doesn't really feel like letters if that makes any sense. Not an upbeat story (school shooter is the theme) it is a pretty good book (the movie is not as good in my opinion)

[Cheryl]

We Need to Talk About Kevin is grim and difficult and as hard to put down as it is to look away from a trainwreck.

[Andy]

I have just read A Victorian Poacher: the journals of James Hawker. Edited from his hand-written manuscript snd retaining his idiosyncratic capitalisation, it has anecdote, nature-writing and also politics as Hawker was involved in local school boards and acutely aware of social inequality - indeed poverty first led him to go poaching.

[Stina]

I'll definitely be reading Diary of a Young Naturalist, as it is in my BookTube Prize judging group this round. I may also try to get to Don’t Read This! The Private Diary of Piper Pastore, which I picked up at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe last month.

[Angela]

This will take longer than the month, but https://draculadaily.substack.com/about is sending out Dracula in emails that match the day it happened in the book. It started today, but you can still sign up (and catch previous emails on the archive) --

In case anyone is interested (I just read that Jonathan Harker is on his way to meet with Dracula this morning :-)

[Amy]

I went to Libby and typed in "epistolary" just to see what came up. (I wanted to read 84 Charing Cross Road, but I don't have a physical copy and the only version in my library is in Spanish, and I'm sure I couldn't pull that off). So I checked out several that seemed kind of fun or interesting. Hey Harry, Hey Matilda was the first one I read. It was not really my cup of tea.

I still have the others I checked out, so I may have more, if I finish them before the month is over.

[Cheryl]

The only thing on Mt TBR that fit the bill was The War Journal of Major Damon "Rocky" Gause. An interesting combination of War story and survival story.

[Jacqie]

Here's a quick, light read about food and friendship. Just finished "Love and Saffron" by Kim Fay. It's about two women who become pen pals in the 60's on the west coast of the USA. It was sweet and could also be a "lift your spirits" read.

[Angela]

I read the Griffin and Sabine trilogy - it is a tale told in postcards and letters - it is a beautiful trilogy, and the story is .. interesting.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[Amy]

I also read Dear Committee Members, which I found much more enjoyable than my first read! Recommended for those in academia.

[Stina]

I did read Diary of a Young Naturalist and hope to have my BookTube Prize Quarterfinals vlog posted soon. I also finished The Turn of the Key, which is a sort of update of The Turn of the Screw. I have some quibbles, but I enjoyed it and will probably read more from Ruth Ware.