Quote from: ochoill on June 20, 2026, 03:18:13 PMStill plodding through The Plague.  It is actually very good but it is taking me years to get through for some reason.
Flat out stopped reading this.  Didn't have the head for it any more.  It is sitting in my bag here waiting to be picked up again.  Dunno what isn't grabbing me with it, I enjoy it when I have it in my hands but nothing is bringing me to go back to it.

Quote from: Eoin McLove on July 28, 2026, 02:07:35 PMFinished up Land by Maggie O'Farrell this evening. I had never heard of her before and I bought the book based purely on the beautiful cover. It was very good indeed. As and tragic, but also full of colour and wild pagan magic. A unique read.

Is that her latest (about the census takers)? Sounds intriguing, I wouldn't mind giving Hamnet a go either.

They were cartographers, not census takers, but yeah. I'll give Hamnet a go if I see it.

Ah right, I got that wrong. I read a couple of interviews with her around the time it was released and it sounded interesting anyway.

Well worth a read. I can't put my finger on why, but it maybe doesn't quite reach classic status for me, but it's beautifully written all the same.

Re reading Revolutionary road by Richard Yates. One of the best books I ever read. Revisiting this after 20 yrs or so

Quote from: Eoin McLove on July 28, 2026, 02:07:35 PMNext up: The School of Night by Karl Ove Knausgaard. I've read his Morning Star trilogy and mostly enjoyed them so I'm hoping this one will grip me too.

Burning through this. One of the best things I've read in a while. I was detecting a similar poisoned atmosphere to Crime & Punishment and Camus's The Outsider, and it turns out my intuitions were spot on. Knausgaard tells his own story, and it has its own meaning and drive, but those influences are strong. I can't put the thing down!