I was chatting books with a booky friend and she recommended me one she had just finished and said was really brilliant. It was a familiar setting, and maybe rather too appropriate for the present situation, the world overtaken by some unspecified disaster and a plucky few struggle to survive. She remarked that she never understands people who have a to-be-read pile of books (usually by their bed) as she reads a new book as soon as she gets it. I agreed, and then I thought, actually I’m reading two books at the moment, one for book club – Names of the Women by Jeet Thayil, and the most recent Inspector Tay book by Jake Needham. Then I remembered the book I’d picked up from Waterstones yesterday, they had messaged me to say the book I’d ordered had arrived – I couldn’t remember ordering any but when I picked it up I remembered, To Cook a Bear by Mikael Niemi. Oh and I bought a couple of books in a charity shop, and I have a different book to read for my other book club… so actually, I do have a to-be-read pile, and yes, apart from those on my Kindle, the pile is by my bed.
My to-be-read pile by my bed:
- Black and British – David Olusoga
- Diary of a Young Naturalist – Sara McNulty
- Farthest North – Frdtjof Nansen
- General-at-Sea – Michael Baumber
- How to Make the World Add Up – Tim Harford
- In the Month of the Midnight Sun – Cecilia Ekbäck
- Leave the World Behind – Rumaan Alam
- Riding the Magic Carpet – Tom Anderson
- Rummage – Emily Cockayne
- Tales From the Graveyard – North Bristol Writers
- The Girl in the Ice – Lotte and Søren Hammer
- The Island of th Colour-blind – Oliver Sacks
- The Last Thing to Burn – Will Dean
- The Secret Lives of Colour – Kassia St Clair
- The Secret of Creek Cottage – Tina M. Edwards
- The Spy and the Traitor – Ben Mscintyre
- The Wall – John Lanchester
- To Cook a Bear – Mikael Niemi
My to-be-read virtual pile on my Kindle:
- The Hummingbird’s Tear – C. M. Kerley
- The Miniaturist – Jesse Burton
- The Wild Places – Robert MacFarlane
Gee, that actually is a lot of books!
Lois Elsden 