It’s typical for me to start the new year with books carried over from the previous year but this time, I managed to either finish or DNF books with the exception of Devotions by Mary Oliver. That is an ongoing read that I’ve been enjoying for more than a year now. Anyway, January is off to a good start and I already finished one read, A Winter Away by Elizabeth Fair but what else do I have going on?
First, is another poetry book that will be with me all year and it’s A Happy Poem to End Every Day edited by Jane McMorland Hunter. Even the cover of this book is a happy one. I love sitting at night with this book and discovering a new poem.
I’m also reading The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Phillip Gabriel. Nana is a cat on a roadtrip and through his eyes we see how he acquired his owner and his thoughts on meeting his owners friends during their travels. It’s really a delightful read so far.
My next read is The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin. Lenni is seventeen-years-old and Margot is 83 so together they are one hundred-years-old. They are both alone and living in the terminal ward. Together they form a friendship and celebrate their lives. I normally would like this type of tug-at-your-heartstrings sort of story but I think my mistake was getting this on audio. The audio is not bad as it’s always clear who is speaking but there are also flashbacks for both characters and so it took a while for me to get into the pace of the story. I’m half way through now and I still feel like I don’t know a lot about the reasons why these characters are alone.
Finally, one book I’ve just started is Stone Dead by Christopher Wortley. This is a Neolithic whodunit set in Stonehenge! I can say that’s a sub-genre I’ve never read. This is the selection for my mystery book group and looking forward to discussing this next week which means I better set aside some time for this read this weekend.
How is your reading month going so far? Hopefully you are reading some great books and can’t wait to hear more about that. Have a wonderful weekend!
Have a good weekend, Iliana! And happy reading. 😀
STONE DEAD sounds interesting, Iliana. You’ll have to tell us your thoughts and how your mystery group liked it.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles is such a delightful read. I am glad you are enjoying it! Stone Dead sounds intriguing. I am a fan of historical fiction, but haven’t read that far back! I look forward to reading your thoughts on it! Have a great weekend, Iliana!
The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot sounds interesting and I checked the goodreads page, nice cover too. I read 2 books so far this month and am reading When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer now. Enjoy your books this week!
Traveling Cat Chronicles sounds lovely!
Lark – Thank you! Luckily I had the day off and was able to finish one book!
Kay – Oh boy, it was a bit of a struggle to get through this one so I’m very curious to see what my group thought about it! I’ll report back.
Literary Feline – It’s so sweet and I’m almost half way through it but I’m almost scared to continue because I think I’m going to be crying by the end! Stone Dead has a great premise but a bit clunky.
Bookworm – It does have a beautiful cover doesn’t it? I saw your post about When the Day Comes and that sounds really good!
Stefanie – I’ll report back but so far it’s a winner!
Stone Dead sounds like a good one. I look forward to your thoughts of it, Iliana.
Meldoy – Unfortunately that was a dud. It was all over the place but at least we had a good book group discussion. We’ll share more of my thoughts on it soon.