So I think I have *finally* caught up at work since arriving back from vacation in England. Just thought that I would get a round-up post so that I could do the same thing here at the blog. I’ve been reading some great books (bar one), but I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to give each them a full blog post due to time restraints.

But I can give you a few tasty morsels…

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Bachman (2012)

I read this one on the plane going to England and on the plane coming back. I think it suffered for the gap in reading time, but despite this challenge, this was one of the loveliest reads that I have had in quite some time. It’s gorgeous and almost made me cry by the time I turned the last page… Its protagonist is a grumpy old man who has lived on his street for many years. He’s been there the longest, and so views the street in a paternal way (along with the neighbors). Things are generally smooth until a tragedy happens, and then he decides that he’s had enough. The whole story revolves around this decision, and it’s a cheerful and poignant reading experience. I can’t really say any more about it without giving the book away, but suffice to say, it’s a wonderful book. Highly recommend it. (It’s also really really funny in places. The author and translator have a good sense of humor.)

So Long, See You Tomorrow – William Maxwell (1978)

OMG (so to speak). This was one of the most utterly confusing books that I’ve ever read in my whole life. It’s a novella, but still – this was not an easy read at all. However, for some reason I wasn’t going to let the book defeat me, so after starting it three times and getting so baffled about who was who and how they fit together, I finally soldiered on assuming that the characters would gel in some kind of order as I finished the read. I did eventually finish this, but it was an ongoing struggle. If you’re curious, this is the story of two boys who were childhood friends but had a tragedy in their adolescence which affected the rest of their lives. The narrator is one of the boys, now an adult, looking back and exploring the history through a grown-up perspective. Now that it’s finished, I can see the value of the story, but goodness gracious me, I had to really work for it.

So, now thinking about what is going to come next in my reading pile… I am thinking that I want to read about something completely different to what’ve I’ve been reading and it’ll be non-fiction. <rubs hands with glee> 🙂