what I read in january 2011...

Yasi update: I'm so relieved to say that I've just heard from my peeps in Far North Queensland and they are all well and relatively unscathed.  I can breathe out now :)
Reading is like breathing to me. Absolutely necessary. But since this whole blogging palaver began I have been doing less and less...but not anymore! I've started a new monthly 'series'...doesn't that sound grand :)

I have promised myself to get back to where I once was...devouring books by the bucket load.

And to keep me on the straight and narrow I thought I'd do a monthly round-up of the books I've read.  I won't be reviewing them in any detail (because quite honestly, neither you nor I have the time for that now do we) but I will tell you about the one I liked the best.  So, this month (remembering that I've been on holidays so the list is impressive...even if I do say so myself!) I've read...in order...

Moral Hazard by Kate Jennings - fiction

Villa Fortuna by Geoffrey Luck - memoir

Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs - crime fiction

Beloved Homes by Ikea Family - design

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell - historical fiction

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos - fiction 

The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi - non fiction based on Lionel Logue's diaries

Knitting by Anne Bartlett - fiction

Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali - non fiction/memoir

I enjoyed all of these although The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet was extremely difficult to get in to and if it hadn't been for Book Club I might not have persevered! Glad I did though.

Nomad was unputdownable and more than a little bit disturbing. I've given it to a friend to get his perspective. I haven't read the first of her books Infidel, but I will...

The one that touched me the most (and which I enjoyed the most) was Love Walked In...which was recommended by Julienne. Thank you Julienne, you sure got that right. When I told a friend I was reading a book called Love Walked In she wanted to know if it was a Mills and Boon...honestly, as if I would! It does sound a bit soppy but it is anything but. The story of Cornelia, a cafe manager in Philadelphia...looking for something but not sure what...and Clare, a lost 11 year old reaching out for her father, and a mother who has suddenly disappeared on her. Their paths cross and it's beautiful. The writing is lyrical, magical, literary but easy. It's like a conversation. This is a book you can have a relationship with...better than some of the men I've had relationships with that's for sure ;)

There is a sequel. I'm on to it :)

images 1 and 2 from weheartit