I have, thankfully, been reading quite a lot and quite quickly recently. Because although only a few physical books have come into the house, the e-book pile has grown quite horribly. And while they don’t seem to really EXIST somehow, do they, not forcing their way into your peripheral vision as you get ready for bed by a bulging TBR, they are there and they do need to get read.
Shall I do the paper books first?
These two beauties have arrived from the lovely folks who produce the British Library Women Writers series. They’re their two new ones – “Mamma” by Diana Tutton, which looks at the relationship between a woman who was widowed when her daughter was a baby and her new son-in-law, nearer to her than her daughter in age, and “Tension” by E.M. Delafield, which puts into opposition a woman of the old guard, titled and secure and a new professional woman, looking at women’s roles in public life and gossip and reputation. I’m on the blog tour for “Tension” so will be reviewing it later on in May – there’ll be a blog tour for “Mamma” too and I’m sure you’ll see lots of familiar names on both.
Then two I’ve bought for myself recently. When I was reading Adharanand Finn’s “The Rise of the Ultra Runners“, Damian Hall popped up a few times, a man who’d gone from unfit to fit and was running ultras and setting Fastest Known Times (the time it takes to run a big known route which isn’t a race, basically your own timed run). Then I saw Damian’s book, “In it for the Long Run”, was coming out on the indie publisher Vertebrate Publishing (they always have good discounts, by the way) so I pre-ordered a signed copy. And “Pandemic Solidarity“, edited by Marina Sitrin and Collectiva Sembrar, came about because I had a Waterstone’s voucher calling to me, I spent that on another book entirely, which isn’t coming out until August, on world feminisms, but bought this one to get the free postage (I know, I know). It’s a collection of positive stories of community action on the pandemic from around the world.
Now here are the NetGalley wins just from April. Fortunately, they will be published across the upcoming months!
Bernice McFadden’s “Sugar”, published 05 August, is a novel set in 1950s Deep South America, where a growing friendship between an incomer treated with suspicion and a resident changes their lives and the small town’s they live in. “Fit for Purpose”, Richard Pile looks at the physical, mental and spiritual well-being we need to build to cope with modern life (I’m more interested in the physical and mental side and hope they’re the emphasis, as I’m not a spiritual person though I do have strong principles I live by. That’s out on 25 May. That one comes out on 24 June. “My Mess is a bit of a Life: Adventures in Anxiety” by Georgia Pritchett is a memoir about living with anxiety by a TV writer and producer which has had praise from Miranda Hart and Sara Pascoe among others. It’s published on 01 July.
In the novel “The Mismatch”, Sara Jafari writes about two very different people falling in love, with the setting the lives of Iranian people in the UK. That one comes out on 24 June. “Ms. Adventure” by Jess Phoenix is the memoir of a vulcanologist (that’s one of those ones you have to read in the Shelf app which is slightly annoying) and came out on 02 March. “Conversations on Love”, out on 15 July and edited by Natasha Lunn, caught me with its mentions of Candice Carty-Williams and Philippa Perry and is a collection of musings and essays on love of all kinds. Dany Asaf’s “Say Please and Thank You and Stand in Line” is the story of four generations of Canadian Muslims and looks at both history and hope for the future as multiculturalism is strained and is published on 10 May.
And my Amazon book (one) ebook purchases. I try not to buy books on Amazon these days: I use Bookshop.org and divert the profit to one of three independent bookshops I use in real life, but the first one in the image is published by the US Editorial Freelancers Association and I couldn’t get it any other way. I don’t really like ebooks at full price but will pay a couple of pounds for them – I love a book! But sometimes there’s a special offer and then I click away!
“Respectful Querying with NUANCE” by Ebonye Gussine Wilkins is a book for work which helps editors working with people from different cultures to their own to keep the author’s voice and experience centred while working on their text and understand when and how to raise a query on matters of content or explanation. I was alerted to this book by a fellow editor and it looks like a useful resource. I will review this on my work blog when it’s arrived and I’ve read it.
A.I. Shoukry mentioned his memoir about running in Egypt, “It’s not Just About Running”, in the Runners’ Bookshelf group I’m in and a few of us bought it: it sets running in the country against the backdrop of its political and social change. Elizabeth Acevedo’s “Clap When You Land” is the two countries / two families novel-in-verse that’s been talked about a lot and was on my wishlist then popped up for 99p. A.M. Blair (a fellow book-blogger) has written several novels taking Jane Austen as her inspiration – “A Case of First Impressions” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Nothing but Patience” “Sense and Sensibility”. The latter at least is set against a backdrop of the author’s own background, the Sri Lankan community in America, and while apparently some have criticised this (WHY?), I am looking forward to this twist on the classics. And Ritu Bhathal‘s (who hails from my city of Birmingham) “Marriage Unarranged” is a novel about a woman turning down her arranged marriage and going on the pre-wedding shopping trip to India anyway.
So, volcanoes, at least seven different ethnicities, novels, non-fiction, running, editing, physical and mental health – I’m missing nature but apart from that I’d say … these conform to my collection development policy, amiright?
What have you acquired this month? Have you read any of these?
Apr 26, 2021 @ 09:00:19
Pandemic Solidarity sounds fun. I basically pretend e-books don’t exist 😉 The hundreds of print books in the house are menacing enough without feeling the obligation of the hundreds on the Kindle…
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 09:05:23
Yes, I think more so than the very serious history of the pandemic in Wales I bought and had to pass to a friend! And yes indeed, ha! Invisible and just not there. I have a good serendipity for you on Wednesday, by the way …
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 10:18:08
Wow! That’s an impressive amount of incomings!!! I have the two BL books too – don’t they sound great? – and will be taking part in the Mamma tour!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 10:59:11
I know I’ve gone a bit over the top when you’re impressed!! And great, I’m really looking forward to those two. I’m going to try to read both early in the month so I can enjoy their blog tours.
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 11:05:34
I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the two BL Women Writers releases. The series has been excellent so far, so here’s hoping the high quality will be maintained!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 11:25:03
They both look great, I think I only have “My Husband Simon” to read (which Ali got twice so she gave me one copy!). I should have “Mamma” read and reviewed early in the month, my place on the blog tour for “Tension” comes later in the month but I’ll try to read it early so I can enjoy the rest of the tour.
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 11:54:06
Wow, you’ve been a busy little reading bee! My e-reader is also bursting with books, but my library holds keep coming in. You know the struggle is real. You’ve got some great suggestions here–do I dare add more to the list? I loved The Rise of the Ultrarunners, by the way. I am going to add It’s Not Just About Running to my TBR list, but I have 4 or 5 running books I have to read and review for the blog. So many books, so little time!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 12:06:01
Yes, I’d love more suggestions, thank you! I did love Rise of the Ultrarunners (reviewed a little while ago) esp him being knocked down to size by ultras!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 15:42:48
Those BL Women Writers books are just lovely objects, aren’t they. Great haul – enjoy!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 15:46:27
They are super, aren’t they! And thank you, I will!
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Apr 26, 2021 @ 18:13:59
I always think my ebooks are invisible. I have quite a large ebook tbr, and my physical tbr never gets any better. I recieved those two beauties from the British Library, I’m on the blog tour for Mamma. I have also recieved a British Library crime classic recently and a Nancy Spain book from Virago. I’m expecting another review book soon, and I have bought three or four recently too. Oops.
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 08:51:52
Oh-o, and a birthday coming up and a pile of books circling, too! I’m looking forward to the blog tours although it’s funny I’m on one and you and Kaggsy on the other!
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 16:07:00
I’ve been focusing so intently this year on reading my own books, and because I have all the books I own logged on an Excel sheet, I don’t have any problems remembering my e-books. It feels good to get through my own collection and donate any physical books I don’t want to the Little Free Library. If I didn’t have my spreadsheet, and I can absolutely see how I would forget what e-books I own.
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 17:21:30
It’s really easy to lose track of them esp as I have ancient ones on there in collections – oops! So it’s good to make myself spell out what I acquire so there’s a record somewhere!
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 17:58:05
You pointed out the box sets I got. I think those are going to throw me off if I don’t keep track carefully.
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 18:15:05
Yes, esp if all different authors and you get their series!! I might have had my own box set arrive today … all of Maya Angelou’s autobiographies for a little project I’m doing with a friend!
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Apr 29, 2021 @ 18:49:02
I remember being surprised when I learned Angelou had so many nonfiction works about herself.
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 16:55:30
Thanks for picking up my books! I don’t want to overstate the criticism I’ve received for the cultural background of my characters in Nothing but Patience. From my perspective, it has taken the form of implicit biases in comments about problems with the book that are aspects of my culture. I don’t expect every reader to enjoy the story—there are lots of good reasons someone might not like it—but I didn’t expect to find out that some readers can’t follow it because of the names of people and places (and then describe that situation as a problem with the book). The implication is that they would have had a better reaction to the book if I removed my culture from it. It is hard not to take that kind of criticism personally (even though I’m sure that was not at all the intent behind the honest feedback).
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Apr 27, 2021 @ 17:19:07
I’m looking forward to reading them! I just found it so odd that someone would do that – unless something is written so opaquely that it’s impossible to work out (but that would only be if there were huge chunks of dialogue in a different language and even then we do have Google translate for most languages), it’s not that hard if you don’t understand something from the context to look it up! And I have to do that with straight, White, American culture, let alone anything else, but I don’t go saying a straight, White, American shouldn’t write about eating a baloney sandwich and nor would, I suspect, those people. Anyway, the cultural aspect really appeals to me!
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Apr 28, 2021 @ 13:56:31
Oh no…LOL…did breaking the fast for the Club (with one of Evaristo’s back-into-print recos) open the floodgates? I can sympathize with that kind of thing, peeking past the curtain of restraint having turned into whipping the curtain wide open. No. I’ve not read any of these but many of them do appeal to me. And I have meant to read McFadden for years; her books’ summaries always sound interesting to me, with their focus on women’s lives. Somehow she’s gotten into the category of “now where to begin” with me, as though there are just too many and I’m almost afraid to like her and then have that many more books on my TBR, which is senseless of course, but it happens. Or maybe that’s just me?
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Apr 28, 2021 @ 14:16:47
Oh I’m not sure how the timing worked with the Evaristo-buying and these, I requested the NG books over Easter I think and they all merrily got accepted. I am still keeping the physical shelves pretty clear though, only two bought and two review copies … And I know what you mean about McFadden, I hadn’t realised she’d done many others and am going to try to ignore that for a bit … but it does definitely make sense!
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State of the TBR May 2021 | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
May 01, 2021 @ 12:35:49
May 04, 2021 @ 14:42:13
Your posts are (wonderfully) bad for my shelves’ health.
Your comment re: Ms. Adventure and the Shelf app is probably why I passed on it to begin with, but now will read. I do not like that app even with my new glasses. Pandemic Solidarity looks great.
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May 05, 2021 @ 09:33:53
Mwah hah hah, I aim to please! And yes, reading it in a different format will be just fine and even the shelf app wasn’t too bad on my tablet, it’s just you can’t bookmark more than pages to make notes on what you want to talk about in your review! Happy reading!
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Book review – Marina Sitrin and Colectiva Sembrar – “Pandemic Solidarity” | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
Mar 04, 2022 @ 09:01:05