Simon from Stuck in a Book has posted another edition of the reading-snapshot meme he created in May. I enjoyed answering it the first time, so I thought I’d do it again; as you’ll see, it is a full house of 2011 titles for me.
1) The book I’m currently reading
Robert Jackson Bennett, The Company Man
Bennett’s first novel, Mr Shivers, was one of my favourite reads of 2010, so naturally I have high hopes for this sophomore effort. I’m a little too early on in The Company Man to say firmly what it’s like, but so far it is an intriguing noir-ish novel set in an alternate 1919 with more advanced technology.
2) The last book I finished
The Guardian Review Book of Short Stories
Free with yesterday’s Guardian, this is an anthology of eleven original shorts from writers including Margaret Atwood, William Trevor, and Audrey Niffenegger. It’s a very diverse selection that almost certainly does have something for everyone. I particularly liked the stories by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Mohsin Hamid.
3) The next book I want to read
Helen Gordon, Landfall
It was way back in March when I saw Gordon read from her debut novel at the Penguin General bloggers’ evening. Between that and the blurb of Landfall, which promises “one of the most surprising and destabilizing endings you’ll have ever read, I’m keen to read the book as soon as possible.
4) The last book I bought
Ian R. MacLeod, Wake Up and Dream
I haven’t bought any books since FantasyCon at the start of the month, so I had to think back to work out which was the last. MacLeod’s follow-up to the Clarke-winning Song of Time imagines Clark Gable as a private eye in a ’40s Hollywood where the movies can be transmitted directly into your brain. That makes two books out of five on my list which are noir fantastications — quite an odd coincidence.
5) The last book I was given
Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending
A big thank-you to Bianca Winter for very kindly sending me her copy of this year’s Booker winner, which was also the subject of my latest review.
30th October 2011 at 8:38 pm
I like the look of all of them. I have The Sense of an Ending on my kindle but Landfall is the one that’s appealing to me the most.
Pam
1st November 2011 at 12:53 pm
Thanks for playing! I started the Barnes yesterday – only three pages in, but I think it could be really engaging.