I posted the first snapshot of my reading on New Year’s Day, expecting to follow it with another in February which somehow didn’t come off thanks to 
The novel I’m reading is Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson (transl. Philip Roughton), a doorstopper, or at least in my terms, which I’m halfway through. Set on an Icelandic fjord, it follows a writer suffering from amnesia but careful to hide it from the small community which seems to be welcoming him back from who knows where. Stefánsson weaves the stories of the characters and their ancestors through the writer’s narrative as he waits for a party to begin. I’m enjoying it but it needs a few hours at a time rather than dipping in.
The short story collection I’ve just started is Irish writer Norah Hoult’s Cocktail Bar, originally published in 1950. A little soon to judge, but I was impressed by the opening piece about a couple hosting a wedding in London, determined to recreate a truly Irish experience, who 
are left feeling somewhat disenchanted by their younger guests’ behaviour.
The non-fiction book I’m reading is poet Amy Key’s Arrangements in Blue which uses as its framework Key’s adored album and comfort listening, Joni Michell’s Blue, the hook which sold me her book. Key reflects on her ambivalence about living alone in her forties when she’d expected to follow the conventional route of marriage and motherhood, something she’d yearned for. Beautifully written and often raw, it’s a very intimate memoir, overly so at times.
What about you? What are you reading?
These all sound interesting reads. I don’t know Nora Hoult at all, I’ll be interested to hear how you find the whole collection if you post on it.
I am currently reading The Amendments, as recommended by you 🙂
I’m not sure how I came across Hoult but I suspect it was Cathy746 who pointed me at her.
Oh, that’s great! Hope you’re enjoying it.
I enjoyed Cocktail Bar when I read it a few years back. Arrangements in Blue appeals as I am a big Joni Mitchell fan.
Ah, I thought I must have come to Cocktail Bar through you. Not as much Joni as I’d like in the Kay, I’m sorry to say.
The Brontes by Juliet Barker. Epic – 900 pages read and 100 to go.
Wow – respect!
I keep meaning to read Arrangements In Blue. I love Joni Mitchell beyond reason and Blue is the album I feel most strongly about, plus the premise of the book is so good.
I should warn you that there’s less Joni than the book’s blurb would have you believe but it’s worth reading so far.
I’ve not managed to read Stefansson yet; I made a false start on Summer Light, and Then Comes the Night a few years ago but maybe I should try a different one. What would you recommend?
I think I’ll need to read Cocktail Bar, though, having enjoyed a collection called Cocktail (by Lisa Alward, a Canadian — from the Carol Shields Prize longlist) last year!
There’s another book about Mitchell just out this year, Song So Wild and Blue by Paul Lisicky. I don’t know her music well, just the few hits everyone is familiar with, so I’m not sure if Key’s is a book I need to read?
This Is my first Stefansson and I’d recommend it with the caveat that it needs time rather than picking it up now and again.
I can’t help feeling that the blurb took a few liberties with the Key as there are a couple of asides on Mitchell in each chapter. It’s much more about her feelings on romantic love or the lack of it.
Ah, my habit of flitting between books would not work so well with that one.
I see. So it shouldn’t matter that I’m not a Mitchell fan.
The Stefansson goes back and forth between time lines without warning and has quite a few characters which might make it tricky.
I don’t think it would matter. Several readers on Goodreads are annoyed at the lack of Joni!
Oh my gosh, I loved loved that Steffansson novel from beginning to end. And I actually tried to read it straight on, but settled on 15-20 pages a day instead; I found it overwhelming to read more in one session. Although I agree there is a lot to track. I’ll be so curious to see what you think in the end.
Ha! I had the opposite reaction, finding that I needed to put aside a fair amount of time to keep on top of the time lines and characters. I’ve finished it now and very much enjoyed it.
I have not heard of Irish writer Norah Hoult. Reading her bio I see she was prolific and proceeded Edna O’Brien in being banned by the Irish Censorship Board!! I am just finishing Joan Didion’s The White Album which I loved, for anyone interested in American culture in the 60s-70s, it’s a must. Poetry-wise I am reading Lorca’s Poet in New York, picked up in Malaga. Just finished Orbital, enjoyed it but not sure whether it is Booker winner worthy though. Next book to read is Ian McEwan’s The Children Act. Picked it up at Ennis Bookclub Festival this weekend where McEwan was interviewed and was so erudite and entertaining.
I have Cathy746 to thank for introducing me to Hoult’s writing.
That’s a nicely varied range of reading. I read the Didion so long ago I’ve forgotten most of it! Glad you had a good time at the festival.
So you juggle more than one book at once? I’m strictly a one-at-a-time kind of person. Life seems a bit chaotic at the moment and I’m in no mood for a door-stopper, interesting as the Jón Kalman Stefánsson looks. I’m not sure the Key is for me, not really knowing Mitchell’s work (just read the comments – it doesn’t matter, you say!), but I’ll look out for the Hoult. Another author I don’t know at all.
I do! Up to four if I have one on the go for review – a mere nothing when compared with Rebecca. Cathy746 is responsible for the introduction to Houult as with so many Irish writers.
Rebecca is impossible. I have no idea how she does it! And yep, Cathy746 is rather well read, as are all you book reviewers whom I follow
Me, neither! I think we all egg each other on.
Your book covers are also an arrangement in blue 🙂
A bit of Bookish Beck synchronicity, perhaps!
I have Arrangements in Blue to read! I don’t mind a bit of rawness, so I’m looking forward to that one. The Norah Hoult sounds really intriguing, too. I never used to like short stories but now I’m old(er) I find I have much more of a taste for them.
I’m a convert, too. It was Lucia Berlin’s Manual for Cleaning Women that did it for me.