All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews book cover
Spring is coming and the cosy nights in front of the (electric) fire are receding. Boo. Still, it’s almost warm enough to read outside and that I really like. But what to read? Well, I have been a bit more organised in my reading so far this year and reviews are actually happening. On my review site. Imagine that.

I’m mid-way through a few different books at the moment (ok, that’s the normal state of affairs but I think I am actually going to finish most of the current concerns) so there’s a few potential reviews in the pipeline. The main one I’d like to get out this month is All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, which is on the shortlist for the Folio Prize this year. It’s all about two sisters, one of whom is committed to dying and one who is committed to stopping her achieving this end. Cheerful, I know. But quite good (in a meandering sort of way) so far so I’m hopeful that it’ll turn into a really good read.

In another bid to shamelessly follow the crowd, I’m also reading one of Waterstones’ (how do you deal with the apostrophe now they’ve dropped it!?) book club books, The Restoration of Otto Laird. I was totally swayed by the blurb on this one – it’s about an aging architect and his fight to save one of the buildings he designed from demolition. A promising premise that could well yield a lot of good stuff about memory, legacy, etc. It’s going ok so far – easy enough to read, pretty clunky dialogue, but I’m optimistic here too.

My book club are reading Alice Munro at the moment, so I might well delve into one of her short story collections, but we shall see. Other than that, I’m thinking it might be time to pick up another Jane Austen. I keep thinking it would be good to polish off her novels – but which should I go for next: Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion? Someone help me out!

Have a beautiful March everyone.

Notable Posts from February
Review: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
Review: Generation A by Douglas Coupland
Review: The Third Man by Graham Greene