6 weeks, 11 books…

Those figures would say it’s been a good start to my year’s reading. With a yearly goal of 52 books – or an average of one book a week – you’d think I’d easily double my annual target if I kept up that pace.

Yet I know it’s unlikely that I will 🙂

It’s been a relatively quiet start to the year. The weather has been gray and inclement, and while our cameras are robust and designed to cope with less than perfect weather, we don’t usually risk them in the wet. If we were professionals, then we’d have no alternative. But we’re not. We’re happy snappers, amateurs who care for our cameras as valuable resources for enjoyment. We’ve no desire to spend a fortune on unnecessary repairs, or engage in arguments with insurance companies over replacements. So, we’ve been spending quiet weekends at home. And that’s made it easier for me to dip in & out of books throughout the weekend, as well as during the weekday evenings.

A big surprise for me was that most of the authors I’d expect could become 4-star reads weren’t. As the authors who didn’t hit the mark included such literary luminaries as Sebastian Faulks, William Boyd, Kate Atkinson and Elizabeth Strout, I’ve had to wonder if I’ve become too accustomed to their style, or to their high standard and so am expecting more & more from them – which is clearly completely unreasonable of me.

Or it may be just that I’ve been feeling a bit curmudgeonly…

It also highlights that I struggle with the five star rating system beloved of Goodreads and most other places where you can record your reading. How I use stars:

⭐️	Unredeemable
⭐️⭐️	Poor
⭐️⭐️⭐️	Good
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	Very good
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	Excellent

Yes, there is no category for average… for me a book is either good (enough), or it’s not.

I am loathe to award a book only one or two stars unless it has no redeeming qualities, especially when it’s an indie author, as I empathise with the blood, sweat and tears which went into crafting it. I will occasionally resort to them when it’s a book by an established or famous author which is badly written or error strewn. The result is my three star category is overly crowded, containing solidly good reads, the pleasant and enjoyable, and those which are almost good enough to elevate to the four star category of very good, but not quite. I have very few five star reads a year, as they are the absolute pinnacle of excellence.

So, what have I been reading? Well, it’s a bit of a mix…

The three star reads

The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman	a pleasant, light murder mystery (part 1 of a series).
The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman	a pleasant, light fantasy adventure (part 3 of a series).
When God was a Rabbit, Sarah Winman	an enjoyably light piece of popular fiction, if a touch too heavy on the whimsy.
Amy & Isabelle, Elizabeth Strout	a well-written piece of literary fiction.
Suspect, Scott Turow	a well-crafted police procedural with multiple strong central female characters.
The Romantic, William Boyd	a sweeping work of biographical fiction, with a central character I just couldn’t warm to.
Shrines of Gaiety, Kate Atkinson	a well-written work of historical fiction set in the 1920s in London’s Soho, filled with lovely period detail.
Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks	a famous war and love story, which managed to really annoy me.

The four star reads

The Remains of the Day from Kazuo Ishiguro is a book where very little actually happens in the now, but where everything has happened in the past – some historical, some domestic, some personal – all seen through the eyes of Stevens, previously butler to Lord Darlington. That past being pre-WW2, we see how easily the British aristocracy were wooed by Hitler’s foreign minister von Ribbentrop. Memories being revisited as he travels across country in an act of hope he might have a chance with Miss Kenton, ex housekeeper at the Hall – but he returns alone. Pathos is the word which comes to mind. A remarkable work of subtlety.

In A Month in the Country from J L Carr, Tom revisits the memory of his month in the Yorkshire countryside. Back from WW1 with a twitch which caused people to gaze over his shoulder rather than look him in the face, he’s engaged to restore a wall painting by what turns out to be a truly talented artist. Down on his luck, he accepts the commission and camps out in the church tower, where he is welcomed into the local community, and falls a little in love with the vicar’s wife. I was tempted to read this one by a Goodreads review in my network, and I’m so glad that I acted on that impulse as it was a truly lovely read.

Black Water Sister from Zen Cho tells the story of young, lesbian-in-the-closet, Jess/Min, who returns unwillingly to Malaysia with her parents, having grown up in the US. She has a secret girlfriend who is planning for their new life together in Singapore, but Jess/Min has stuff going on that she’s not felt able to share with her, so puts that in jeopardy. A tale of ghosts and mediums, family stresses and secrets, all playing out in modern day Malaysia where trendy coffee shops mingle with old traditions, culture and religious beliefs. I really enjoyed this – it was fast paced and yet filled with nuance. Huge thanks to Autumn for the recommendation, as I don’t believe I’d have come across it otherwise.

I know I’m regarded as a tough grader, especially in awarding the top two levels of star. Do you categorise your reads against the five star system? Or do you grade your reads via another method? And, as ever, your recommendations please 🙂