Saturday 12th May - Reading lots of books

I've just updated the books page with

When Breath Becomes Air - Paul Kalanithi

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman - for the book club meeting on 8th May

The One-Hundred-and-Ninety-Nine Steps - Michel Faber

The Magician's Nephew - C S Lewis

Arrest The Bishop - Winifred Peck

Ezra and Nehemiah - Old Testament

I strongly recommend the first three;

"When Breath Becomes Air" was everywhere in the bookshops last year, or maybe the year before, which was when I bought it, but it took a while before I was ready to read it; talented surgeon writes about living and dying with lung cancer. (That's not a spoiler, by the way!). It is such a good book. I can even remember quotes from it, which is saying something.

"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" has also "been everywhere", so much so that I refused to consider it. But it was the book club selection, so I downloaded it, and was hooked. Eleanor is a difficult character, but I felt more sympathy for her, and in the end admiration. Maybe there is an element of "too good to be true" in the other characters, but, hey, it's fiction, innit?

"The One-Hundred-and Ninety-Nine Steps" has an arresting beginning; a spiky, unpredictable, gothic romance set in Whitby with only a passing nod to Dracula. Short, sweet. I love the dog.

"The Magician's Nephew"; everyone knows this book so I needn't say anything. What do you mean, you haven't read the "Narnia" books? What do they teach them in these schools nowadays.

"Arrest The Bishop?". I'd like to tell you who didn't do it. You'll just have to read it if you want to find out. All sorts of people didn't do it, but if anyone was ripe for being a murder victim, I'd say the right man was murdered.

"Ezra" and "Nehemiah". Not my favourite books. Tick them off the list.