Opening Lines: Like many others, I did not see it coming. But William is a scientist, and he saw it coming; he saw it sooner than I did, is what I mean. Like many others, I did not see another Lucy book coming! But, in the end, I was glad. Lucy by the Sea brings … Continue reading Lucy by the Sea | Elizabeth Strout #USAfiction
Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany abdicated on 9 November 1918 and in the streets of Paris there was jubilation. One of the reasons I decided to pick up Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World at this point in history, was for the history. We are now 18 months into … Continue reading Pale Rider | Laura Spinney #USAnonfiction
No lights at the row, no TV. The inside of my fridge is warm already in the fuggy night. All over the estate, the sound of the Park’s ute engines charging phones and batteries. I get my Holden going to give my mobile a boost too. What a mad, mad ride Laura Jean McKay takes … Continue reading The Animals in That Country | Laura Jean McKay #AWWfiction
The very first thing I want to know is how does Emily pronounce her middle name? Does she say it as it looks, 'saint john', or does she use the English pronunciation 'sinjin'? I have no idea, or any good reason, why it has taken me so long to get around to reading this terrific … Continue reading Station Eleven | Emily St. John Mandel #CANfiction
I had no idea that Bill Hayes was working on another scenes of New York book that would focus on the March-April Covid-19 lockdown of 2020. If I'd known, I may have experienced fewer angsty days of my own, knowing that Bill was going to somehow make it all right! It’s a little like losing … Continue reading How We Live Now: Scenes from the Pandemic | Bill Hayes #USAnonfiction
This slim volume of essays grabbed my attention thanks to it's Covid-related lockdown content. Lately, I've been reading a number of fiction titles about plagues and epidemics (see below). This was the first one, however, that considered our current Covid situation. I've been meaning to read something by Zadie Smith, ever since 2000 and White Teeth, … Continue reading Intimations: Six Essays | Zadie Smith #USANonFiction
For the first half of this year, I was avoiding plague literature, like the plague! But since reading Camus' The Plague during August, I seem to be verging on obsession. What are the signs, I hear you ask? First up, how many people do you know, who take plague literature with them on a holiday … Continue reading A Journal of the Plague Year | Daniel Defoe #GBRclassic
After reading a number of slow, reflective reads lately, I needed something a bit easier and faster. The Pull of the Stars fit the bill nicely. It was easy to read, even with the rather detailed 1918 midwifery and autopsy scenes that left me gasping and wincing in sympathy! In keeping with my current Plague … Continue reading The Pull of the Stars | Emma Donoghue #IRLfiction
What does one read during a pandemic that has changed the way we all live our lives? The Plague (La Peste) by Albert Camus of course! This existentialist (or absurdist, depending on who you talk to) classic from 1947 presents us with the day to day changes that occurred in a small city in Algeria … Continue reading The Plague | Albert Camus #ReadtheNobels
All Fall Down is a heart-breakingly sad story, beautifully written and crafted. It tells the story of a small village in the north of England in the 1300's through 14 year old Isabel's eyes. The Black Death is coming closer and closer to their little village. Rumours are spreading like wildfire. Anxiety and tension increase as … Continue reading All Fall Down | Sally Nicholls
The Way We Fall is an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it book. A virus suddenly takes hold on an island population. They're quickly cut off from the mainland and left to fend for themselves as one by one they die, go hungry and become desperate. Only 6 people survive the virus. One of them is Kaelyn and this is … Continue reading The Way We Fall | Megan Crewe
bronasbooks.com 