nocto

Jon McGregor's next book will very probably be on my "buy instantly in hardback the second it comes out" list.

I loved this - it took me a while to get with the flow of the language as it's written in a very poetic style and it can be hard to grasp what's going on. Except that is kind of the point. The only book in ages that I've immediately flipped back and started at page one again after reaching the last page. I didn't read it all again, and I don't think I entirely figured out the story - but it was magical all the same.

Borrowed.

I really feel like I'm just reading this series because it's there rather than because I enjoy it these days. But I seem to keep reading it any how and I'm pretty certain I'll still be here turning the pages when Z rolls around. This had a better plot than I was expecting and a less repetitive nature than some of the others that have come before it. Not bad really.

Borrowed.

I've had this audiobook knocking around for so long and listened to it in such small segments that it feels like it's been more soap opera than novel. The Archers transplanted to middle class Oxford, the trials and tribulations over a few months of the Peppin's family life: mostly Ezra and Sheena and their relationship with the eldest of their three children, teenager Blaise. I think I spent longer getting through it than the timespan it covered. It's difficult to think of it as a whole novel with a coherent plot but the ending seemed out of kilter with the rest of it - maybe it wouldn't have been if I'd read it at a reasonable pace.

Point of interest: mentions of Ezra's childhood come up from time to time, he went to one of my almae matres: Devizes School. A most odd thing to find in a book!

Borrowed.