September reads

Well, this is a pathetic collection even by my recent standards.  I blame two things: the return of The Boy, which means a lot of my usual quiet reading time is spent doing other things (get your minds out of the gutter!  I meant things like going for meals and watching films); and Game of bloody Thrones, which is so ludicrously long it sucks up what little reading time I do have.

1. I'm still slogging my way through the third novel in the Game Of Thrones trilogy: it's taken me all month and I'm still at it (and this is only part one of two paperbacks!).  Did anyone else start to flag when working their way through the series?  As much as I love it, I do want to shout, "oh hurry up!" at times.  A break is in order soon, methinks, if only to allow other things to be read.

2. The Universe Versus Alex Woods was this month's book group choice and, when we met last night to share our opinions, they universally (no pun intended) skewed towards, "meh."  There were some very funny moments, some sweet moments, and some interesting ideas, but I found myself getting a little bored with Alex's story at times, and the plot was deliberately predictable.  If it had been a hundred pages shorter, I think I would have liked it a lot more.

3. I remember once claiming, in a books Q&A post, that I'd never bought a book just because of it's cover.  Which was a lie; I'm always keeping my eye out for pretty orange Penguin Classics and for the gorgeous matte grey slipcovers of anything published by Persephone Books (annoyingly, I couldn't find a picture of the plain edition of the cover).  Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day was a bargain find in a local charity shop and I really enjoyed it.  It's a light, fluffy Cinderella tale and a wonderful period piece; it makes perfect bedtime reading.