JUNE TBR | 2019
Since finishing my first year of University, it's time to get stuck in to some books for summer! I've somehow created a massive to be read list over the past few months. Maybe when I get stressed and overwhelmed, I buy books? Seems legitimate.
I'm currently reading Origins: How the Earth made us by Lewis Dartnell. This is a non-fiction book focused on the creation of our civilisation. This type of book appeals to those who want to know more about how this civilisation has become this way. How do humans hunt? How do we communicate with each other? How have we become the dominating species on this planet? So far Dartnell's writing has a lot more scientific and geographical reference, rather than sociological (what I'm more interested in), but nevertheless it is interesting. I'm about 100 pages in, so there's still a big chunk to go.
Dubliners by James Joyce, is a book that I bought around Christmas time, but because of University I had not had the chance to read it. I've always wanted to read one of Joyce's works, but don't want to commit myself to Ulysses at the moment. Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories, initially focusing on middle class Dublin life. I've become more interested in Irish fiction and literature, partly due to the oppressive history that Ireland has faced through the years; from the famine, to the English occupation.
Another novel, considered part of Irish literature is Milkman by Anna Burns. This novel was the 2018 Man Booker Prize, which is partly why I picked it up. But this novel is set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The ambiguous title of the novel suggests quite a ambiguous plot therefore making the reader do the thinking and work on behalf of working out what is actually happening in the novel. Flicking through the pages, there are no names to any of the characters, which makes the structure more unstable and unusual to other novels of similar content.
The main protaganist is a young woman trying to hide her boyfriend from her mother's knowledge. The young narrator offers some moral ambiguity in the social norms of Northern Ireland in that time, and the religious implications also. I think this novel will use sexual and moral ambiguity to distinguish the coming of age journey of the main character, and the movement through the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The final book on my TBR is Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. I was gifted this novel for Christmas last year, and of course haven't been able to read it since because of University. This novel is set in 1940's Berlin, and is focused on the German resistance of the Nazi regime. The main protaganist, Otto uses postcards to threaten Hitler's authority and the Nazi ideology. This form of resistance soon is to become known by the Gestapo, therefore turning in to a cat and mouse game between Otto and the Gestapo. There is a film on this novel of the same name, which I have watched before. Historical fiction is my favourite genre, so I'm hoping this will be a good novel to add to the my collection.
What are you reading this month?
Happy Reading!
Rose x
I'm currently reading Origins: How the Earth made us by Lewis Dartnell. This is a non-fiction book focused on the creation of our civilisation. This type of book appeals to those who want to know more about how this civilisation has become this way. How do humans hunt? How do we communicate with each other? How have we become the dominating species on this planet? So far Dartnell's writing has a lot more scientific and geographical reference, rather than sociological (what I'm more interested in), but nevertheless it is interesting. I'm about 100 pages in, so there's still a big chunk to go.
Dubliners by James Joyce, is a book that I bought around Christmas time, but because of University I had not had the chance to read it. I've always wanted to read one of Joyce's works, but don't want to commit myself to Ulysses at the moment. Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories, initially focusing on middle class Dublin life. I've become more interested in Irish fiction and literature, partly due to the oppressive history that Ireland has faced through the years; from the famine, to the English occupation.
Another novel, considered part of Irish literature is Milkman by Anna Burns. This novel was the 2018 Man Booker Prize, which is partly why I picked it up. But this novel is set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The ambiguous title of the novel suggests quite a ambiguous plot therefore making the reader do the thinking and work on behalf of working out what is actually happening in the novel. Flicking through the pages, there are no names to any of the characters, which makes the structure more unstable and unusual to other novels of similar content.
The main protaganist is a young woman trying to hide her boyfriend from her mother's knowledge. The young narrator offers some moral ambiguity in the social norms of Northern Ireland in that time, and the religious implications also. I think this novel will use sexual and moral ambiguity to distinguish the coming of age journey of the main character, and the movement through the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The final book on my TBR is Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada. I was gifted this novel for Christmas last year, and of course haven't been able to read it since because of University. This novel is set in 1940's Berlin, and is focused on the German resistance of the Nazi regime. The main protaganist, Otto uses postcards to threaten Hitler's authority and the Nazi ideology. This form of resistance soon is to become known by the Gestapo, therefore turning in to a cat and mouse game between Otto and the Gestapo. There is a film on this novel of the same name, which I have watched before. Historical fiction is my favourite genre, so I'm hoping this will be a good novel to add to the my collection.
What are you reading this month?
Happy Reading!
Rose x
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