It’s technically possible to squeeze in another couple of books before midnight on December 31, 2025 but unlikely, so I think I can safely draw a line under the reading challenges for the year. Continue reading
Tag Archives: reading challenge
Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang
I had a little crisis-of-age as I was reading Private Revolutions by Yuan Yang – I don’t think about my age much at all, however, this book that looked at the ‘history’ of the 1980s and 1990s made me think, gosh… that was thirty years ago!
Yang’s text examines China’s new social order through the lives of four ordinary women – June, Siyue, Leiya and Sam. Each was striving for a better future in a society that remained inherently unequal. Yang demonstrates that despite enormous economic gains, inequities in other aspects of everyday life were growing. Continue reading
Sample Saturday – three for my Around the World reading challenge
Sample Saturday is when I wade through the eleventy billion samples I have downloaded on my Kindle. I’m slowly chipping away and deciding whether it’s buy or bye. Continue reading
Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week
01. A whole day to begin my #NovNov25 reading (with a tin of chips). Continue reading
Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry by Christine Sneed
I really had the best intentions to do all of my Short Story September reviews in September… but anyway, here I am in October (planning November reading) and thinking I ought to draw a line under last month. So, Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry by Christine Sneed…
There are ten stories in the collection (Sneed’s debut. I bought this book after reading her first novel, Little Known Facts, which I enjoyed). The themes focus on love and what people choose to do for love. Continue reading
Novellas in November 2025
It’s almost time for Novellas in November, hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck. Continue reading
German Literature Month XV
Guten Abend!
Yes, the calendar has just flipped into October but I’m fairly sure that other readers are doing what I’m doing… that is, making November reading plans. We have to be strategic given that it’s German Literature Month, Novella November and Nonfiction November! Continue reading
Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
Well, after two funny collections about women and their relationships, Roxane Gay’s Difficult Women brought me back to reality with a thud.
There are 21 stories in Difficult Women, and most have themes of violence. The collection opens with the powerful and disturbing I Will Follow You, about two sisters who were abducted, held by their abuser for months, and then released. The impact of this trauma on the rest of their lives is explored by Gay in a delicate but straight-forward way. Continue reading
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld was probably one of my most anticipated books of 2025 (I rarely pre-order but this one, I did). I was excited because her last short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It was exceptionally good (subtext – Show had a lot to live up to…).
There are twelve stories in the collection – very much character-driven (don’t wait for plot twists), with the focus on the inner lives of middle aged women.
From time to time, Janie wonders if David is having an affair. Because of how rigidly he sees things, she doubts it, but if he is, she’s not sure she can summon the requisite outrage, nor, really, can she identify with the impulse. Continue reading
Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan
After a disappointing start to #ShortStorySeptember, I’ve corrected things with Claire Keegan’s supberb collection, Walk the Blue Fields.
This is Keegan on fine and familiar ground – stories about the loner in the village, tortured priests, isolated women, Irish folklore – all told with a little barb. So clever. Continue reading