Books can be an escape from the real world as well as a reminder of it. The books I recommend here will enlighten, frighten and enthral. My love of reading has encouraged me to start a book club on Instagram. What does that mean? To be honest, it just means I review a book on Instagram stories. I am trying to get more used to chatting on stories. I think I am still a bit stilted and ‘teacherish’!
Some of you may remember that I did review books here on the blog. Anyway, I am going to give you links to the reviews and if you want some recommendations you can check them out.
AUDIOBOOKS
In the last few years, I have also started to listen to books and I am addicted. Yes, it does depend on the reader. You have to like the voice, but I am seldom disappointed.
Have you heard of Borrowbox? It is a service provided by libraries in some countries. If you are a member of your local library, you can borrow available eBooks, eMagazines and audiobooks on your phone or tablet, once you download the app. Sometimes you have to wait for a few weeks if the book is new or popular. But it is an amazing free service.
I still like to have a physical book ‘on the go’ too and it is easier, of course, to check on names with a hard copy.
RECENTLY READ (Hard Copies)
‘The White Album’ by Joan Didion
This is a collection of previously published essays about the late ’60s and early ’70s in California. A mixture of memoir, criticism and journalism, I really enjoyed the insights into the paranoia and craziness of the time. Joan Didion waits for Jim Morrison to turn up for a band rehearsal, she visits the Black Panthers in prison, she watches Nancy Reagan pick roses and buys dresses with Charles Manson’s girls. She writes about feminism, shopping malls and student sit-ins.
I particularly liked her personal stories. Didion was very open about her marriage problems; she wrote very descriptively about her experience of having migraines and her honest account of her mental breakdown was illuminating and harrowing.
This a book to keep, to dip in and out when the mood takes you. Her other books are now on my list of must-reads.
‘Prophet Song’ by Paul Lynch
Paul Lynch won The Booker Prize in 2023 for this dystopian novel, set in Dublin. It is terrifying and details what happens when a far right party forms a government and suspends civil liberties. The secret police has emergency powers. Though it may not be an easy read, it is an important one.
‘Frankie’ by Graham Norton
This is such a beautiful, heart-warming story that moves between Ireland, London and New York. Damian, a young carer, is employed to care for Frankie, an elderly lady who has had a fall. A strong bond develops between them and she gradually opens up and tells him her story. I was enthralled from beginning to end.
PREVIOUS BOOK POSTS
If you want to look back on my previous book posts here you go.
3 Wonderful Books for Book Clubs
Books to Enthral, Delight and Educate
Best Books to Read from Autobiographies to Thrillers
4 Books to Read in Lockdown that could be loosely termed Historical Fiction
Books Can Take You To Other Worlds
FEBRUARY BOOK
The book for February is Yellowface by Rebecca F. Kuang. I know nothing about this so I am going in blind. I will let you know in March what I think about it.
Happy Reading.
Hilda x
