In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 21/52

 

Seven books this week - 30th December to 6th January.

Both The Visitor's Book and Something Untoward are collections of Sophie Hannah's short stories.  There are four in the former and six in the latter; both are quite creepy, so god only knows why I read them together.

Marionette focuses on a lesbian teenager who has recently tried to commit suicide; it's a little bit about things going better but also, surprisingly, a little bit mafia.  I enjoyed it.

Lasting Damage is the 6th book in Sophie Hannah's Spilling CID series.  I don't yet have the next one, Kind of Cruel, which is why I've listened to three other audiobooks this week.  The odd thing about the audio of Lasting Damage is the fact that there are two readers; one male and one female, one for the main narrative and one for the first person bits.  Why bother?  The main character in the narrative is Charlie (a woman) anyway, and one female reader sufficed for all the previous books.  It worked in Rose Madder because the two characters were male and female and in direct opposition.  Also because the male reader was the author, which was an interesting novelty by itself.

Anyway; I also listened to Modern Romance, The Girls and The Tales of Max Carrados, the last of which was a loyalty gift from Audible.  Apparently Max Carrados' popularity rivalled that of Sherlock Holmes at the time of printing.  The story was okay, but my Homles stage was twelve years ago and I worked it out of my system then.  Sorry Carrados.

I did like Modern Romance, though Aziz Ansari does occasionally tell you off for making him read it to you.  It's non-fiction, focusing on romance in the modern world (duh).  Ansari has spoken to focus groups of varying ages to get an idea of how romance has changed, as well as speaking to various experts.  He observed that most people who are pensioners now typically married someone who lived near them at the age of 23-24.  Today, most people meet online - more than meet through friends or university - though many are still embarrassed to admit that.  I found it really interesting.

Finally, The Girls.  It was an okay ride; I've been walking a lot recently, which is why I finished it so quickly. 

Pretty early on, you're given an obvious suspect for the crime.  That suspect remains obvious - so obvious that there's no mystery to it at all - until the last minute, when the real culprit gets away scot free.  I am genuinely concerned about Lisa Jewell's children, considering how often she's writing about them getting away with despicable and selfish behaviour.  Speaking of Lisa Jewell's children, one of the readers for this book is her daughter.  She can read well for a nine-year-old, but I really dislike London accents so that was quite off-putting.