There's a malfunction behind the scenes in the sidebars at the moment which means I can't add anything new to the booklists, but 'Current Reading' should include Rachel Cusk's The Bradshaw Variations along with Sue Gee's Earth and Heaven (which I am enjoying very much). I've finished I Never Knew That About the Scottish and have indeed learned much about my fellow countrymen and their exploits, including the origins of the blackboard, the term 'sweetheart' and the fashion for twinset and pearls!
But I digress. It's too early for me to pronounce on the Rachel Cusk and I haven't read her before (I've had Arlington Park on the wishlist but that bird on the cover is a bit off-putting, don't you think?) but have you read her?
Next on the pile is something a world away from the middle-class angst of The Bradshaw Variations: Marlon James' The Book of Night Women has been described as "both beautifully written and devastating", "...a book to love... hard to pick up, even harder to put down". It's a novel about Jamaican slavery set in 1785 and at its centre are the Night Women, a clandestine council of fierce slave women plotting an island-wide revolt. Just a page of this shows its unique voice and tells of a sense of purpose and power in the writing - it looks to be very strong indeed.
I read Arlington Park and enjoyed it, if that's the word for such a bleak book. Very well written, just rather pessimistic in its outlook!
Posted by: Sarah | 19 August 2009 at 04:10 AM
I enjoyed Arlington Park very much. I'm about to start reading The Bradshaw Variations and hope it lives up to my expectations.
Posted by: BooksPlease | 19 August 2009 at 07:30 AM
I also enjoyed Arlington Park!
Posted by: Claire (Paperback Reader) | 19 August 2009 at 10:51 AM
I read Arlington Park with great interest and she can write very well but I can't honestly say I ENJOYED it! Still, I have Bradshaw Variations in my own TBR pile and will read soon. I notice that you have the new Jane Gardam to read too...I envy you that and will order it at once.
Posted by: adele geras | 19 August 2009 at 11:02 AM
I read The Country Life quite a while ago, and though I can't remember much/anything about it, I know that I found it bleak and unappealing, enough so that when I see Rachel Cusk's name, I recoil. I guess I won't be adding any of hers to my "must read"pile. . . just as well when school starts again in two weeks and I am currently enjoying Peter Lovesey, a new discovery for me, and also trying to read all those school books I intended to "just breeze through over the summer"!
Posted by: Becky | 19 August 2009 at 12:27 PM
I read The Country Life and loved it. Haven't read anything else by her. I do have In the Fold on the shelf but never seem to want to read it. Hmmm.
I'm curious to hear your final thoughts on Heaven and Earth.
Posted by: Heather Bond | 19 August 2009 at 05:11 PM
I read Arlington Park and was impressed by her grasp of the "dark underbelly" of motherhood. However, because the bleakness was unrelenting, I could not say I loved (or even fully enjoyed) the reading experience but on the whole I was awed by her honesty
Posted by: Samantha | 25 August 2009 at 05:33 AM