Have you read either How High We Go in the Dark or Homegoing? It would be really interesting to know your thoughts on those because they're similar to girl, woman, other in the interconnected short story way and they're the way i got more into short stories. I own Blonde Roots by Evaristo and i really need to get round to that after also loving gwo and mr loverman!
@@bethmw28 oh no, I haven't read either! It reminded me a bit of Hotel World by Ali Smith which is interconnected short stories but it's Ali so I loved it anyway. I'll definitely see if my library has either and give them a go!
I'm so pleased you enjoyed Mrs S! It was in my top 10 books of last year, but I was so worried that you weren't going to like it because for one Jen Campbell DNFd it, but also, Penance and Study for Obedience were also in my top 10 of last year and you had less success with those, and I kind of group them together as the strange, women-centred, literary ones haha! I'm excited to read Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg in August, as I think it's going to meet my unnerving hot lesbian summer literary needs for this year!
@@rebeccafarren ohh I'm glad I didn't let you down a third time! Funnily enough it was the sentence construction and writing style that bothered me most in both of those two books too 😂 Always here for the themes they're exploring, just every so often I just don't get along with a narrative voice. Really glad I persevered with Mrs S though!
I had the opposite experience with Girl, Woman, Other and Mr.Loverman. I agree with you on that not all the characters in GWO were really necessary, but it was such a bunch of interesting stories, that I didn't care. Can't recommend anything else by Evaristo unfortunately, because I also still have to read more by her.
😮 I got a mention 😮 I think...feeling honoured 😳. It is weird how the books that are best but not favourites means having more to say about them. Means that there's more there to pick apart and because you can see how good it is, you can also see why it wasn't a love too. Not read any Benjamin Myers yet, but after visiting the farne islands (well going around them in a boat) but I think I might start with cuddy (although I still have a different one somewhere, the one about the young man and then old woman on the north east coast....)
@@jillybeanh67 you did!! Yes, that's absolutely it. I also think with favourites there's sometimes an alchemy that happens that is quite hard to explain - it's why I can never talk about Ali Smith coherently 😅 That sounds like The Offing - I haven't got to that one yet!
I've just realised something. The best and favourite thing didn't originate with me .... Well not entirely, so to give full credit to @jenniferlovesbooks(another northern based booktuber, this time in the north west) mentioned something a while ago in a tag or mid-year/end year video that'll there is a difference between best books and favourite books, changed my thinking entirely and I started thinking of my books in terms of that a lot when I consider if a book is in like a top books of the year. Sorry felt bad that I didn't credit someone's impact/involvement.
I was very much disappointed by 10 minutes. I really wanted to love this book, because I really like the author and the things she stands up against and the way she fights for human rights and against discrimination of any sort. But this book was just too shallow and superficial imo. Everything just seemed to happen accidentally, the plot didn't really make sense. In the first part all the glimpses are too short and no part of the story really stands on solid ground. And the second part showed even more a lack of deep characterisation of the protagonists and the incoherence of the story.
@@ameliareads589 I'm inclined to agree on all counts (although possibly not as emphatically 😂) - I think I'm putting her in the group of "people I like but whose work isn't for me"
Have you read either How High We Go in the Dark or Homegoing? It would be really interesting to know your thoughts on those because they're similar to girl, woman, other in the interconnected short story way and they're the way i got more into short stories. I own Blonde Roots by Evaristo and i really need to get round to that after also loving gwo and mr loverman!
@@bethmw28 oh no, I haven't read either! It reminded me a bit of Hotel World by Ali Smith which is interconnected short stories but it's Ali so I loved it anyway. I'll definitely see if my library has either and give them a go!
I second Homegoing, an all time favourite for me
I'm so pleased you enjoyed Mrs S! It was in my top 10 books of last year, but I was so worried that you weren't going to like it because for one Jen Campbell DNFd it, but also, Penance and Study for Obedience were also in my top 10 of last year and you had less success with those, and I kind of group them together as the strange, women-centred, literary ones haha! I'm excited to read Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg in August, as I think it's going to meet my unnerving hot lesbian summer literary needs for this year!
@@rebeccafarren ohh I'm glad I didn't let you down a third time! Funnily enough it was the sentence construction and writing style that bothered me most in both of those two books too 😂 Always here for the themes they're exploring, just every so often I just don't get along with a narrative voice. Really glad I persevered with Mrs S though!
I had the opposite experience with Girl, Woman, Other and Mr.Loverman. I agree with you on that not all the characters in GWO were really necessary, but it was such a bunch of interesting stories, that I didn't care. Can't recommend anything else by Evaristo unfortunately, because I also still have to read more by her.
😮 I got a mention 😮 I think...feeling honoured 😳.
It is weird how the books that are best but not favourites means having more to say about them. Means that there's more there to pick apart and because you can see how good it is, you can also see why it wasn't a love too.
Not read any Benjamin Myers yet, but after visiting the farne islands (well going around them in a boat) but I think I might start with cuddy (although I still have a different one somewhere, the one about the young man and then old woman on the north east coast....)
@@jillybeanh67 you did!!
Yes, that's absolutely it. I also think with favourites there's sometimes an alchemy that happens that is quite hard to explain - it's why I can never talk about Ali Smith coherently 😅
That sounds like The Offing - I haven't got to that one yet!
I've just realised something.
The best and favourite thing didn't originate with me .... Well not entirely, so to give full credit to @jenniferlovesbooks(another northern based booktuber, this time in the north west) mentioned something a while ago in a tag or mid-year/end year video that'll there is a difference between best books and favourite books, changed my thinking entirely and I started thinking of my books in terms of that a lot when I consider if a book is in like a top books of the year.
Sorry felt bad that I didn't credit someone's impact/involvement.
@@jillybeanh67 oh, bless you! Off to check out her channel!
I was very much disappointed by 10 minutes.
I really wanted to love this book, because I really like the author and the things she stands up against and the way she fights for human rights and against discrimination of any sort. But this book was just too shallow and superficial imo. Everything just seemed to happen accidentally, the plot didn't really make sense. In the first part all the glimpses are too short and no part of the story really stands on solid ground. And the second part showed even more a lack of deep characterisation of the protagonists and the incoherence of the story.
@@ameliareads589 I'm inclined to agree on all counts (although possibly not as emphatically 😂) - I think I'm putting her in the group of "people I like but whose work isn't for me"