Happy New Year! Today seems a good day to try out an idea I’ve adapted from a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking On a World of Words with which I’m familiar from What Cathy Read Next. Coincidentally, 
it falls on a Wednesday but I’m plumping for a monthly, or thereabouts, snapshot, aiming to record a little about some of the books I’m reading but don’t plan to review, many of which have been lingering on the shelves for a while. With luck fewer books might slip from my memory but we’ll see.
The novel I’m reading is Margaux Vialleron’s enjoyable The Yellow Kitchen which I’m about two thirds of the way through. It revolves around three friends in their thirties, one Italian, another with a French mother who has known the third since they were at school. It was the blurb’s mention of a foodie theme that attracted me to this one. The Brexit shadow cast by the referendum which has friends on the same side so angry they’re yelling at each other is ringing loud 
bells for me.
The short story collection I’m reading is Percival Everett’s Damned If I Do which I’ve almost finished. Expectations were high for this one, given how much I’ve enjoyed Everett’s novels, but I’ve found it disappointing, lacking the sharpness of his longer fiction. I have gleaned that he’s a keen fly fisherman, though.
The non-fiction book I’m reading is Martin Latham’s The Bookseller’s Tale. I knew I’d be on safe ground with this one. Latham is the longest serving Waterstones manager, having run the Canterbury branch for well over thirty years. Unsurprisingly, his book is a hymn of praise to reading and bookishness, packed with titbits of history and literary anecdote. It’s a bit like sitting down for a catch-up with a very knowledgeable, like-minded pal.
What about you? What’s your first book of 2025?
This is a really good idea! I’m currently reading (or re-reading in the case of most of the stories) an ARC of Curtis Sittenfeld’s short story collection Show Don’t Tell alongside Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem and Yume Kitasei’s The Stardust Grail. Struggling with both of the latter.
Are you enjoying the Sittenfeld? I spotted it on NetGalley and have been wondering about reading it. The premise of The Stardust Grail sounds good although perhaps you wouldn’t recommend it.
Hmmmm. Yes, I am, but I think this is her weakest collection so far. I’ve read most of the stories before and I’m not sure I’m getting much from re-reading them. Of the three new stories in this collection I’ve read so far, only one has really captivated me.
I LOVED the premise of The Stardust Grail and really enjoyed Kitasei’s previous novel The Deep Sky, so I had high hopes. Unfortunately the execution is really poor. I think Kitasei is struggling with the leap from writing near-future, grounded SF to more far-future, ‘proper’ SF. I would struggle with this as well, so I do sympathise but it’s just a mess.
Ah, good to know. Thanks.
That’s a shame. It sounds like a major problem rather than a niggling one.
The Booksellers Tale sounds great! We have a recently opened Waterstones in my town (very exciting!) so I’ll see if they have a copy.
I’d be interested to know if they do. It’s been published for a little while now.
This is a lovely idea for a post as there’s much I read that I don’t review. The Yellow Kitchen sounds tempting and the book about bookselling. I’ve read several in this genre and do find them relaxing and fun!
I’m hoping that it will help with the memory wipe that seems to happen with books I don’t write about. Martin Latham has tge magpie mind of an excellent bookseller!
Great idea Susan! I’m reading Intimacies by Katie Kitamura which I picked up on a whim and am really enjoying.
Thanks, Cathy. I enjoyed A Separation a few years ago. She’s an interesting writer.
The fiction book I am reading at moment has a food theme. A bit of a tome, Butter by the Japanese writer Asako Yuzuki is based on a true story of a female serial killer. The short story book I am reading is Joan Didion’s The White Album, published in the 1970s it is a compilation of her journalistic articles from that era. She is one of my favourite social commentators. The non-fiction book I am reading is by the Irish psychologist Tony Bates called Breaking the Heart Open. An examination of mental ill-health, wellbeing and hope.
Our reading seems to follow a similar pattern! Are you enjoying Butter? I was in two minds about reading it mostly because of all the marketing hype. The Bates sounds like a good one to start the new year with.
It’s Tony Bates’s personal and professional story. He is an eminent psychologist in Ireland. I am dipping into sections of it randomly. A very humane writer who advocates for compassion in understanding and treating mental health issues.
It sounds well worth reading.
That works for me, the mere mention of a book in a post seems to take that work to a “remember I’ve forgotten” stage rather than wholly forgotten. If that makes sense. Enough that I can trace my steps for the details, at least. Hope it works for you too!
It does! Thank you, Marcie. We’ll see if it works.
Minis of books you probably won’t review is a great idea. I find if I write something, no matter how little, I’m far more likely to remember the book. Brains are weird things! 😉 I’m starting the year with RF Delderfield’s Long Summer Day and a collection of Ian Rankin’s Rebus short stories.
They are, indeed. Part of this idea came from staring blankly at titles I’d read about which I could remember nothing. I hope there are some warming descriptions of summer in the Delderfield.
This monthly snapshot sounds a good idea, which I might join in on. I’ve only just finished my first book of 2025 (all this travelling!): Benjamin Myers’ Perfect Golden Circle – about crop circles. Recommended!
Please do, although I’m not convinced I’ll manage it every month. I read the Myers, partly because I remember the hoo-ha around the phenomenon.
I remember all that too. It happens – a bit – most years, doesn’t it?
I think it does but not nearly so much. There were some huge ones in Wiltshire not far away from here. Lots of whacky theories circulating at the time.
I know. I wonder if Myers’ men were the actual answer?
Wouldn’t that be great!
This is fun! The novel I’m reading is A Dream of White Horses, by Paul Scraton. Published by Bluemoose Books. It’s wonderful. The short story collection I’ll be starting is ‘sweet home’ by Wendy Erskine. The nonfiction is a memoir, The Secret Practice, Eighteen Years on the Dark Side of Yoga, by Joelle Tamraz.
I’m hoping to make this a regular spot. Always worth looking at a Bluemoose title, and I loved the Erskine. She has a novel out in June. The Tamraz sounds intriguing, Happy reading, Jennifer!