Weekend catchup

This week I have finished one book, and have started three more…

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny was my choice for the Around the Year Challenge #36 – a book featured on an NPR Best Books of the Year list. This is one in a series about Inspector Gamache, who lives in a village in Quebec. I saw Louise Penny speak at the Perth Writers Festival last year, and was charmed by her. I had only read the first in her series, but then came across this one in a charity shop – I think the 13th book in the series. Gamache is an interesting character – a detective who does not fit the usual stereotype. He lives in a small village, which in this book turns out to be a village not included on maps – hmmm. Despite some questionable background, the stories are always fun and characters well-drawn. The other residents of the village feature in each book, so I think the charm of the series comes from the community of characters rather than just Gamache himself.

I began reading/listening to the audiobook of A Gentleman of Moscow, and am about a third of the way through it. Though I appreciate audiobooks in some ways, I do find that I am easily distracted and lose certain passages. I find I can only listen while driving, but even then I find myself distracted, and of course am unable to turn back to listen again, so although I am really enjoying this book, I know I would appreciate it more if I was reading a real book. I am loving the language, so will see how I go with the rest of it.

I have also begun reading ‘The Best Short Stories’ by Rudyard Kipling, for the Popsugar Challenge ‘two books that share the same title’. I found this challenge irritating (who has two books with the same title?), but managed to find this book as well as Jack London’s short stories (luckily also called ‘The Best Short Stories’, so hope to enjoy them all. The first two Kipling stories were somewhat annoying, being filled dialogue attempting to represent various accents, which was distracting. I have now read a third story, and becoming more engaged.

Due to a desire to have a break from Kipling’s stories, I began the next in my Around the Year challenge – a book set in a school or university – for which I have chosen ‘ Friendly Fire’ by Patrick Gale. I have read several of Patrick’s books before, and always enjoy them, so I expect to finish this one before the others I have embarked upon.