What's on my Bookshelf - September

Excitedly, I listened to the new Horowitz Hawthorne book, A Twist of a Knife. This series is delightful in the true sense of the word. It's funny, laugh out loud at times and so clever. I am very grateful there are more on the way. If you haven't read them, there are four now. All brilliantly entertaining, and easy reading crime to boot. They are also excellent on Audible. I have an absolute crush on the brain of this guy. This series is fabulous. I've already started harassing the excellent author on the next one, which he informs me is already underway....

I just finished this book by Dick Gregory. It is an interesting memoir, a real eye opener on the poverty in America and the mistreatment and complexity of segregation. By complexity I mean the way a rich or successful person could still be a star and admired/friends with white people but then not allowed in the venue for the team dinner etc. Not implying it was a complex issue that was somehow right in any way. He also at one point discusses the different racism in the North and the South, and that in the North it was there but disguised as something else. In the South you knew where you stood. Some really powerful words in there and well worth the read. It also comes up in this podcast which was how I found it. The book is in political from the inside view, as Dick Gregory was protesting with Meager Evers and down in Birmingham with the Civil Rights movement but it is also a life story of a poor boy who became one of the most beloved comedians in America. I will be tracking down his other books.

In the Gifts of Reading, this Muriel Spark book kept getting mentioned as books given as gifts by authors. So I gifted it to myself. Ha!. So far so good but not as funny as Symposium. Will discuss further when I finish it.

I read Little Weirds, which is at time exactly what the title says. At other times, really great poetic little anecdotes. I'm not sure if I recommend this or not. I think I do but maybe borrow from the library...

For book club we did Plum which is not something I would normally read but I am glad it was picked. I didn't love it, and I think it was actually two book ideas which would have worked better as different books. I did find the brain damage 'fog' point of view of the protagonist very interesting and well done. Again not sure I'd recommend but I did hear this interview and most of my book club seemed to really enjoy it.

Lastly, I finished John Banville's Snow, which is crime but a throw back to that sort of Darkness at Pemberly style and expertly written. There is a trigger warning (from me) on child abuse and I have to say it was done so masterfully it really made me feel disgusted (with that kind of physical revulsion that you feel creeping up your spine). I found it very disturbing and it sort of comes out of nowhere in terms of the rest of the style of the book. I am keen to read the Banville book I've had on my shelf for 30 years but never bothered to read so far...

So that's been my month's reading - what's on your bookshelf at the moment? (It should be what's on your bedside table, because there's plenty on my bookshelf that's been there for decades, still unread.)

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