Monday log

Last book finished

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Finally finished this one and I have to say it’s an incredible book. Not always pleasant and often shocking but it’s a thrilling story, beautifully written, offering tantalizing details of life in late 19th century London. I will post my review sometime this week.

Currently reading

Packing for Mars by Mary Roach

I wanted something completely different for my new book. I suspect that by the time I finish reading this I will want to be an astronaut.

Next on the TBR list

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I have been meaning to read this for months and I only heard good things about, so I’m really looking forward to reading it.

Teaser Tuesday

“She knows nothing of her body’s interior, nothing; and there is nothing she wants to know. Her loneliness, though it aches, is not particularly physical; it hangs in the air, weighs on the furniture, permeates the bed-linen.”

-page 219 from The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser Tuesday

“It was they who used to make her life a story; they who seemed to be giving it a beginning, a middle and an end. Nowadays, her life is more like a newspaper: aimless, up-to-date, full of meaningless events for Colonel Leek to recite when no one’s paying attention.”

-page 26 from The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday log

Last book finished

Cranford & Other Stories by Elizabeth C. Gaskell

A really great collection of Mrs Gaskell’s shorter stores which I really loved. You can read my thoughts on it here.

Currently reading

Mother Tongue: The Story of the English Language by Bill Bryson

This is not as funny as Notes from a Small Island or Notes from a Big Country, but it’s full of interesting trivia. I am actually enjoying all the references to the complicated and sometimes illogical spelling of some English words that often trouble foreign people, it’s good to know I’m not alone.

Next on the TBR list

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Ok, this time I really intend to read this. I was rather troubled with the strange title, but luckily I found this enlightening article about it.

Teaser Tuesday

“Miss Matty made no secret of being an arrant coward, but she went regularly through her housekeeper’s duty of inspection – only the hour became earlier and earlier, till at last we went the rounds at half-past six, and Miss Matty adjourned to bed soon after seven, ‘in order to get the night over the sooner’.”

-page 108 from Cranford by Elizabeth C. Gaskell

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser Tuesday

“Miss Matty undid the packet with a sigh; but she stifled it directly, as if it were hardly right to regret the flight of time, or of life either.”

-page 64 from Cranford & Other Stories by Elizabeth C. Gaskell

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Teaser Tuesdsay

“‘Men say,’ Liz reaches for her scissors, ‘”I can’t endure it when women cry” – just as people say “I can’t endure this wet weather.” As if it were nothing to do with men at all, the crying. Just one of those things that happen.’”

-page 92 from Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Monday log

Last book finished

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Absolutely love this book. I was very excited to watch the film as well but apparently the movie won’t be released in the UK until January. Boo.

Currently reading

Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel

A tad gory, at least in the beginning, and slow-paced in places, but I’ll try to stick with it because I’ve heard really good things about this one.

Next on  the TBR list

Cranford and Other Stories by Elizabeth Gaskell

I found this one in one of my local charity shops, a bargain for £1! I loved North and South as well as Wives and Daughters by Gaskell so I hope this one will be equally enjoyable.