Okay, so some books are a quicker read than others, sometimes life, children and work get in the way of reading and finishing a book. Half-terms always seem like a good time to catch up on that eternal TBR pile … but then life intervenes and you end up standing in a river in glorious sunshine having a four year old child splash water at you!
My four year old, I hasten to add!
So anyway, around that, last week I sent my Year 11s into their English Literature Exam having spent a week submerged in Romeo and Juliet, An Inspector Calls and A Christmas Carol – Lord, Michael Gove’s Literture lists are monocultural! But the idea of teaching Priestley’s Socialist propaganda within Gove’s plan is ironic! – and they seem, on the whole, to have been fair questions. Power in Romeo and Juliet, wealth in An Inspector Calls and goodwill in A Christmas Carol.
God bless us, everyone.
I finished reading and reviewed The Black Book of Secrets. Again, this was regrettably reading for work but an enjoyable enough read.
I have also begun to read See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt, based on a notorious real-life Borden axe murder! I found Lizzie to be an intriguing point of view to settle into in Chapter One but found the changing point of view in Chapter Two a tad jarring. I hope it settles down because the prose itself is powerful and lyrical.
Finally this week, and most excitingly, I have sent off ARC requests for Katherine Arden’s The Winter of the Witch and Tana French’s The Witch Elm. And today, I had an email back confirming that I was on the mailing list for the Arden book! So excited! I can’t wait to get back into the world of Vasya and Morozko!
The Book Lovers' Sanctuary 