Q2 FAVOURITE READS

Oops, forgot this as I was out of the country - sorry for the delay.

You know how this goes:

What were your favourite reads of the last three months? What made them so?

Although I read more in April than I did in May and June combined (for a not very impressive quarter), I did read some excellent books.



My top read was Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste. A heartbreaking family saga set during the Ethiopian Revolution, the book had both a compelling plot and great characters. I learned a lot too.

Second was Swallows and Amazons, book one of Arthur Ransome's children's series. Absolutely delightful.

Ru by Kim Thúy and Persuasion by Jane Austen tied for third.

Runners up include: Sigh, Gone, The Winter Soldier, and Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree.

The Wayward Children series has been a great distraction when I can't focus on anything else.

I only read seven new books for the whole quarter, which I think is a record low. Any other reading I did was skimming previously read, "comfort" books.

I really liked I Am NOT Fine, Thanks by Wil Anderson but that may be because I am a long-term fan of the author, an Australian comedian, and I could practically hear his voice as I was reading.

I also very much liked The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker which was a CR BB.

I had a very strong reaction to The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester of the "*what* did I just *read*?" variety.

Only Forward for the powerful, dark story
Sortir de l'hétérosexualité for the feminist value and because I read it to my mother, who loved it too
Long Life: Positive HIV Stories was a difficult but important read
And my reread of the Murderbot series, which is still a favorite

- After Babel by George Steiner — difficult read (to put it mildly!), but a very interesting look at the philosophy of language and translation.

- Virginia, o El interior del mundo by Álvaro Pombo — a lovely, leisurely first dip into a Spanish writer I didn’t know about. More coming there as soon as I have time…

- No mate for the magpie by Frances Molloy — a very funny, hard-hitting autobiographical novel about growing up Catholic in Northern Ireland in the 60s and 70s, by a young woman who sadly didn’t get the chance to write much more. Fortunately, Virago did their best to make sure she won’t be forgotten.

And a couple of things from writers I already knew and liked:
- Last letter to a reader by Gerald Murnane.
- Juan Goytisolo, autobiography and Para vivir aquí (early stories)

Geez, my usual criterion for this is "books I gave 4.5 or 5 stars to," because otherwise I'll drive myself crazy trying to figure out what qualifies as a "favorite." But apparently this quarter the only book I gave 4.5 stars to was The Illustrated Al: The Songs of "Weird Al" Yankovic. Guess it wasn't exactly a quarter full of standouts, huh? Oh, well. At least I still have Weird Al.

Mine was Beneath the Lion's Gaze by Maaza Mengiste

>7 CharlesHull: Wasn't it fabulous? My fav too.

Hemingway's A Moveable Feast was my top Q2 read. The rest of my reading was fairly OK in that quarter, but nothing particularly jumps out that I'd like to recommend.

My top read from April-June was The Lincoln Highway.

My best reads during the second quarter were:

The Forester's Daughter by Claire Keegan (Faber Stories, Irish)
Antarctica by Claire Keegan (1999; short fiction)

The Arctic Diaries by Melissa Davies (poetry, 2023)