Welcome to What I’ve Been Reading Lately, a feature where I’ll be giving short reviews of what I’m currently reading:
The Switch by Beth O’Leary
Expected Publication Date: August 18, 2020
When overachiever Leena Cotton is ordered to take a two-month sabbatical after blowing a big presentation at work, she escapes to her grandmother Eileen’s house for some overdue rest. Eileen is newly single and about to turn eighty. She’d like a second chance at love, but her tiny Yorkshire village doesn’t offer many eligible gentlemen.
Once Leena learns of Eileen’s romantic predicament, she proposes a solution: a two-month swap. Eileen can live in London and look for love. Meanwhile Leena will look after everything in rural Yorkshire. But with gossiping neighbours and difficult family dynamics to navigate up north, and trendy London flatmates and online dating to contend with in the city, stepping into one another’s shoes proves more difficult than either of them expected.
Leena learns that a long-distance relationship isn’t as romantic as she hoped it would be, and then there is the annoyingly perfect – and distractingly handsome – school teacher, who keeps showing up to outdo her efforts to impress the local villagers. Back in London, Eileen is a huge hit with her new neighbours, but is her perfect match nearer home than she first thought? (Credit: Flatiron Books)
So entertaining and interesting so far! If you enjoyed her debut novel, The Flatshare, then you’ll enjoy this one!
Green and Pleasant Land: Best Loved Poems of the Countryside by Ana Sampson
Our rolling fields and verdant countryside have ever inspired some of the finest verse by our most cherished poets, and the very best are brought together in this thoughtful and enjoyable collection. Green and Pleasant Land features such best-loved poets as Keats, Larkin, Shakespeare, Hopkins and Wordsworth, who effortlessly conjure relaxing and nostalgic images of a better time and place. Be transported to a more lush and vibrant world with this celebration of all the beauty of our language and land. The perfect addition to any poetry lover’s collection. (Credit: Michael O’Mara Books)
Since I can’t visit the British Countryside this year, it has been a joy to read poetry that describes it’s wondrous wonder.
It’s Not OK to Feel Blue (and other lies) by Scarlett Curtis
Everyone has a mental health. So we asked:
What does yours mean to you?
THE RESULT IS EXTRAORDINARY.
Over 70 people have shared their stories. Powerful, funny, moving, this book is here to tell you:
It’s OK. (Credit: Penguin)
What I Plan to Read Next:
Run Rebel by Manjeet Mann
When Amber runs, it’s the only time she feels completely free – far away from her claustrophobic home life. Her father wants her to be a dutiful daughter, waiting for an arranged marriage like her sister Ruby.
Running is a quiet rebellion. But Amber wants so much more – and she’s ready to fight for it.
It’s time for a revolution. (Credit: Penguin UK)
Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge
In 2014, award-winning journalist Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote about her frustration with the way that discussions of race and racism in Britain were being led by those who weren’t affected by it. She posted a piece on her blog, entitled: ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’ that led to this book.
Exploring issues from eradicated black history to the political purpose of white dominance, whitewashed feminism to the inextricable link between class and race, Reni Eddo-Lodge offers a timely and essential new framework for how to see, acknowledge and counter racism. It is a searing, illuminating, absolutely necessary exploration of what it is to be a person of colour in Britain today. Credit: Bloomsbury Circus)
The Lost Lights of St Kilda by Elisabeth Gifford
When Fred Lawson takes a summer job on St Kilda in 1927, little does he realise that he has joined the last community to ever live on that desolate, isolated island. Only three years later, St Kilda will be evacuated, the islanders near-dead from starvation. But for Fred, that summer is the bedrock of his whole life…
Chrissie Gillies is just nineteen when the researchers come to St Kilda. Hired as their cook, she can’t believe they would ever notice her, sophisticated and educated as they are. But she soon develops a cautious friendship with Fred, a friendship that cannot be allowed to develop into anything more…
Years later, to help deal with his hellish existence in a German prisoner of war camp, Fred tells the tale of the island and the woman he loved, but left behind. And Fred starts to wonder, where is Chrissie now? And does she ever think of him too? (Credit:Corvus)
cup of tea with that book, please 