nocto

I definitely like Penelope Fitzgerald's style - I'm never quite sure where things are going to go next. This one is about Florence Green's attempt to bring a bookshop to a late 1950s market town. Short on pages but rambling on story. A little strange all around, but enjoyable.

BookMooched.

I was just thinking about what I thought of this book, and of PD James in general, and before writing it down I thought I'd have a quick look at what I said last time I read one of her books. That was nearly four years ago but, somewhat unsurprisingly, I was thinking practically exactly the same things this time, it's hardly worth writing it out again!

Nice setting for this one though, also unsurprising given the title!

Borrowed.

A copy of this book is available on BookMooch.

I think I ought to start keeping track of all the Miranda's I find in books. There are many more of them in fiction than there are in real life.

The Miranda in this book is the eighteen year old daughter of the protagonist, and I confess that I thought the book might be a bit of a tough read when the jacket copy told me that this Miranda got killed in a sailing accident. Tough just because of the naming coincidence with my daughter rather than just because of the death of a child. All Forster's books seem to revolve around death one way or another so by now I was expecting that to be the theme.

The family here aren't recovering very well from the bereavement, the children are finding it easier to cope with than the parents, and it's the shifts in the relationships between the family members that make it really interesting reading.

Purchased on 1st January 2008.

Last year’s book roundup.

I read 77 books in 2007, which was plenty and more than I’d expected to get through. Only 7 books were non fiction, but that’s about the ratio I like, and I read ten out of the thirteen books on the Booker Prize longlist which I really enjoyed doing.

I bought only 14 of the books I read, 12 of them in 2007 (the only 12 books I bought in 2007) and 2 left over from 2006. I did discover BookMooch though and have acquired a few books from there, mostly those are going back on BookMooch when I’m finished with them so they aren’t taking up house space. I’ve been clearing out lots of paperback books that I’m not going to read again and plan to carry on doing that during 2008.