It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 2-3-25

A travel day today — heading home from England (London and Blackpool)— so I’m at the mercy of public WiFi and airplane mode to get this post up.

The good news is we had a great day of sightseeing in London last Wednesday, and a great time at the weekend dance event we were attending.

The bad news is our connecting flight from Manchester to London was delayed this morning and we missed our flight from London to Boston this afternoon. Couldn’t get on a flight till tomorrow morning and too exhausted to trek anywhere tonight to do any more sightseeing, so we’re just holed up in a hotel near Heathrow Airport and will both have to waste a vacation day getting home tomorrow.

Obsessive Facebook reading and scrolling has been eating up a lot of my reading time lately— trying to keep up with the fire hose of political news and checking throughout the day to see if we’re still a democracy here in the US.) I will be starting this week to contact elected representatives.

Due to all that, my “Currently Reading” hasn’t changed much from last week. I had to leave Against All Obstacles at home unfinished, because I was trying to pack light on reading material (only two books, one unread New Yorker, and an iPad) and there were just a few chapters left. But I finally started Shrines of Gaiety — my chosen “First Book of the Year”. (Starting out the year behind.)

Of course, during our one full day in London, we did wander into an OxFam bookstore where I bought another book — The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt. (Just in case I got sick and had to quarantine in my hotel room!)

Please let me know what you’re reading in the comments and/or share your blog link! (If you can’t see where to comment, try clicking/tapping on the title of this post to open it in full.)

Currently Reading

Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

From the incomparable author of LIFE AFTER LIFE and DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK, a story of nightclub owners and socialites, gangsters and dancing girls set in 1920s Soho.

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

“The God of the Woods, like The Secret History, transports readers so deeply into its richly peopled, ominous world that, for hours, everything else falls away. . . . Breaking free of the spell Moore casts is close to impossible.” — Washington Post

The God of the Woods is definitely hard to put down once the story gets going. I listened to Long Bright River by Liz Moore on audio; it was also a suspenseful pageturner. The God of the Woods is longer, I think, and a slower burn.

Against All Obstacles by Jennifer Safrey

“At 45, Rachel’s given up on love. Competition ended all her relationships, and she’s fine running her race alone. At 38, Evan’s given up on love. He’s just not the commitment type, and he’s declared himself retired from trying. When Rachel, a teacher and obstacle-course racer, and Evan, a former English soccer star, meet as competitors in The Golden Crucible endurance race, winning is the only thing on their minds. 

I’m enjoying Against All Obstacles by Jennifer Safrey. It’s a romance and it’s by a local author, which might be two strikes against it for some readers, but if you like contemporary romance or are willing to give it a try, I recommend it!

Currently Listening To

London by Edward Rutherford

London has perhaps the most remarkable history of any city in the world. Now its story has a unique voice. In this epic novel, Edward Rutherfurd takes the listener on a magnificent journey across 16 centuries, from the days of the Romans to the Victorian engineers of Tower Bridge and the dockland development of the modern day. Through the lives and adventures of his colourful cast of characters, he brings all the richness of London’s past unforgettably to life.

I started this audiobook last year on our trip to England but forgot to borrow it again to finish it. By the time I remembered I hadn’t finished it, I had forgotten how far along I was, so after a few hours of listening, I still haven’t arrived at the place I left off. (It’s 49 hours long!)

Listening to this novel of historical fiction about London through the centuries, I keep wanting to highlight passages like this one that seem relevant to the political situation today. (Transcribed from the audio, so I’m not sure of the correct punctuation)

History has seen many hoaxes, but few more devastating than the great hoax of 1678. Titus Oates — bowlegged, lantern-jawed, a known but unsuccessful trickster — suddenly devised a way to make himself famous. Working with an accomplice, he uncovered a plot so terrible that it made all England tremble. The plotters, he claimed, were Papists. Their plan was to kill the king, and put his brother James, Duke of York, on the throne instead, and proclaim the kingdom subject to the Pope. It was the Armada, the Inquisition, everything the Puritan Englishman dreaded. It was also, from start to finish, a fabrication.

Some of the details were absurd. When told that the Papist army was to be led by an elderly Catholic peer, whom Oates clearly did not realize had long since been bedridden, King Charles burst out laughing.

But, as usual in politics, the truth was not only different, it was irrelevant. All that mattered is what people believed.

This post is linked up to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, hosted by The Book Date. It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is a place to meet up and share what you have been and are currently reading each week. Visit the link-up for more books to add to your groaning TBR pile.