The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood - Review
Friday, January 31, 2025
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata - Review
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
So Keiko is thirty six years old and she lives by herself in a studio apartment. She works in a convenience store. She has worked there since she was eighteen. She really likes the routine of it, she likes knowing what she should be doing, she likes working out what the weather will mean for what they will sell. She has known since childhood that she is 'strange', so she learns social mores and ways of being from her coworkers. A lot of them are young, student types, and those her age tend to be management. Her parents wish she would get a 'real' job or at least settle down, but she's happy in her lane.
She is close to her sister, who has just had a baby, and some of her sister's friends. One day she mentions a coworker, Shiraha, to them, and they are overjoyed for her, thinking she's finally met someone. Shiraha needs somewhere to stay after getting fired, and so Keiko invites him to stay with her. Keiko's life is changed but not necessarily for the better...
I think Keiko is definitely autistic, and I think someone needs to diagnose her maybe and get her some support. I read a negative review of this book which said it was poking fun at autistic people but I really don't agree with that at all. I think Keiko is unapologetically herself and gets even more comfortable with that towards the end of the book. There's a lot about society's expectations of her as a woman nearing forty but I think it's fair to say that she just doesn't care. She's happy with her life and that's fine.
I'm giving this four out five. I liked it a lot and would recommend it.
Giving Up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel - Review
Monday, January 27, 2025
Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie - Review
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Book Quiz 2024
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
How many books read in 2024?
How many were on paper and how many electronic?
I think I've read approx sixty in paperback, fifteen hardbacks, thirty electronic books, by which I mean read in the Kindle app on my tablet, and I listened to five audiobooks.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
I think I read only eight non fiction books. That's just who I am as a person. Non fiction has to be a subject I'm interested in for me to even give it a go, even though I read a lot of different genres of fiction.
Male/Female authors?
I think I read about twenty three books either by men solely or co authored by men, and a couple by non binary authors. The rest were all - as far as I know - women
Most books by a single author?
I read a lot of Val McDermid in 2024, and enjoyed each of them!
Favourite book(s) read?
Least favourite?
The Four by Ellie Keel for sure, I really didn't think it was worth finishing in a lot of ways
Oldest book read?
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F Scott Fitzgerald, which was published in 1925. I listened to it on audiobook and liked it
Newest?
A couple of the netgalley books I read aren't published until 2025 so let's say one of those: Making A Killing by Cara Hunter
Longest book title?
I'm not adding letters up so let's say something different to Benjamin Button and say The Idle Stance of the Tippler Pigeon by Safinah Danish Elahi. Or Confessions of A Forty Something Fuck Up by Alexandra Potter
Shortest title?
Keedie by Elle Nichol I think
How many re-reads?
How many of this year's books were from the library?