A Bookish A-Z

I saw this on someone’s blog (I cannot now remember where) but thought it would be a good way to get me back into the blogging routine after my little break 🙂

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Author You’ve Read the Most Books From: The author of my comfort reads – Dick Francis. I’ve read every book he wrote – and he wrote 40 works of fiction. A British jump jockey turned thriller writer upon retirement, with most of his work having links – however tenuously – to the racing world. Recommended first to my father by his mother, the rest of the family then picked them up – and with both sets of grandparents owning and breeding racehorses, it’s was a familiar world for us all.

Best Sequel: The Amber Spyglass, the final in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Although written for children, these came highly recommended. What’s especially unusual is that the best book was the last one.

Currently Reading: The Burgess Boys from Elizabeth Strout. I didn’t connect with Olive Kitteridge as many other readers did, but Lucy Barton resonated strongly. I’m currently working my way through others of her back catalogue, and also recently finished her latest – and Booker shortlisted – offering.

Drink Choice While Reading: Tea – either Earl Grey with a drop of milk, or Chai, without milk. No sugar in either.

E reader or physical book: E reader. Although I love owning and holding real books, the convenience of an E reader means they’ve won out for a while now.

Fictional character you probably would have dated in high school: I was an awkward and gawky teenager, not dating anyone until I reached my twenties. I simply cannot think of anyone I could or would have dated at that age.

Glad You Gave this Book a Chance: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War from Max Brooks. I absolutely loathe anything to do with zombies and this was the second zombie related book selected by my book group. I’d hated the previous one, only surviving it because I read a really wonderfully witty book alongside it. Yet this was an absolute gem, so could’ve also been selected for the next category.

Hidden Gem: Mr Loverman from Bernadine Evaristo which – in my mind – is decidedly superior to her later Booker winner.

Important Moment in Your Reading Life: Lost Connections from Johann Hari. This seminal work on depression was a lightbulb moment for me and encouraged me to learn how to manage my depression.

Just Finished: Block, Delete, Move On: It’s not you, it’s them from LalalaLetMeExplain. A book about dating for women in their twenties & thirties, written anonymously. I’ve recently become a dating coach for the over fifties, and it was interesting to see the parallels. It’s also very well written, and amusing.

Kind of Books I Won’t Read: Anyone peddling extreme or abhorrent views. Other than that – horror, gore and zombies.

Longest Book You’ve Read: Troubled Blood from Robert Galbraith (aka J K Rowling) at 1,088 pages.

Major Book Hangover Because Of: A Little Life from Hanya Yanagihara. A real marmite book which people either love or loathe. Despite not being a fan of misery porn (how many have categorised this book), there is no doubting it’s a challenging – if wonderful and affecting – read

Number of Cases You Own: 5 (floor to ceiling height) although not all the shelves are book filled, and so I “need” more 😉

One Book You’ve Read Multiple Times: pretty much all the works of Dick Francis, although I also re-read earlier Harry Potter books in advance of the latest volume’s release. But I haven’t touched my Harry Potter books in a while, whereas I keep on picking up my Dick Francis books.

Preferred Place to Read: a comfortable chair with good light. I used to read in bed, but that put a strain on my back and gave me a crick in the neck. I’m now too old not to pay attention to my body’s complaints 😀

Quote That Inspires You, or Gives You All the Feels, From a Book You’ve Read: Nope, sorry, nothing to offer here, because I tend not to collect quotes from books. Instead let me pick a book which has provided something to take away for many people – Eat, Pray, Love – and say that I love the bit when she’s in Bologna and attends a football match with Italian (male) friends. When their team loses, they go out to commiserate – by buying pastries. There’s lots about Italian manhood I’m not fond of, but this is simply delightful 🙂

Reading Regret: That I left it so long to read To Kill A Mockingbird (I was in my fifties). I saw the film first (and watched it many times), then feared that the book couldn’t possibly outstrip it. It didn’t, but I love them equally.

Series You Started and Need to Finish: None that I can think of. There’s many books where I’ve read one or more in a series but, if I feel the need to finish them, I just get on with it – so there’s none outstanding!

Three of Your All Time Favorite Books:

• Midnights Children from Salman Rushdie
• Pere Goriot from Honore de Balzac
• Things Fall Apart from Chinua Achebe

Unapologetic Fanperson For: Sebastian Barry – I’ve enjoyed everything he’s written and his descriptive passages are simply luscious.

Very Excited For This Release (More than all the others): Nope, not anymore. When I’ve built up a level of excitement for a new book, it tends to disappoint. So I don’t allow myself to do this anymore.

Worst Bookish Habit: Buying more books than I can ever read in the years I have left!

X Marks the Spot—start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book: Hackney, that Rose-Red Empire from Iain Sinclair (my daughter lives in Hackney in East London).

Your Latest Book Purchase: In Kindle, it’s The Ink Black Heart the latest from Robert Galbraith. In terms of a real book, that would be Modernists & Mavericks from Martin Gayford – renowned art critic, writing about Francis Bacon, Lucien Freud, David Hockney et al which I bought from our local art gallery.

Zzz-Snatcher Book (the last book that kept you up late): Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from J K Rowling. I picked it up – in hardback no less – at one minute past midnight on the day of its release, but couldn’t finish reading it as we were booked to spend the day with my parents-in-law. As soon as we got home afterwards, I sat up and read till it was finished. I kept falling asleep so the ending made absolutely no sense, until I slept some and re-read it!

As ever, do recommend something for me to add to my ever swaying To Be Read pile, or let me know your answer to any of the categories.

© Debra Carey, 2022