I had a similar response to Cursed Bread. Have you read Barbara Comyns' Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (1954)? Seemingly also based on the true 1951 Pain Maudit (cursed bread) mass poisoning incident in France, but Comyns' is set in the UK, including the Avon River flooding with water pouring into windows right at the start of the novel. It's a pretty wild tale for 1954, with less focus on romantic/sexual affairs, and IMHO more engaging. I'm sure not everyone would agree!
@@SavidgeReads have a question for you about the book but it’s a spoiler so don’t want to post here. Have a theory and wondered what you thought of it. Let me know if ok to post me question/theory
Favourites from April were Memphis by Tara Stringfellow and Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist. You're so right about the UK vs US covers of the pineapple book! I would walk straight past the UK one and pick up the US one if I saw them in book shops.
Memphis is great, sham about the authors behaviour online but I tried to separate the two. The pineapple book is what it should be called here , hahaha, with that US cover.
Pineapple Street sounds like it could've been written by Jonathan Franzen. I read Freedom earlier this year and didn't love it at first, but then it really grew on me and became my second favourite book so far this year. I'm reading another book of his now, Crossroads, and am having the same experience.
I’ve not read any Franzen. I think he’s probably a bit more (and I don’t mean this badly) literary though. Hahaha. I’ve always been mildly daunted by him.
@SavidgeReads Oh, yes! Some of us were seriously struggling. Speaking for myself, but I'm sure others feel the same way, I'm taking a very long break from Victorian literature. 😁
‘Remembrance’ by Emily Bronte is one of my favourite poems of all time. Sad but beautiful. That might be in your book, if not it’s worth finding. I agree we don’t talk about death enough and not honestly enough. Another fun video. I was a bit late to this one but not to worry. I am reading another Maeve Kerrigan police procedural by Jane Casey right now. I do love my crime. 🍍
@@SavidgeReads oh that’s interesting as I thought Rules of Civility would be very ‘you’ Character driven, based in New York etc Sometimes writers just don’t click with you though do they? I feel the same about a couple of writers that everybody seems to love 🤣 it could well be me that is odd 😀
🍊 🍍 🤓 I nearly purchased recently ‘Pineapple Street’ for my friend’s birthday - instead chose ‘A Tidy Ending’ & ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ (she was pleased with these).
Richard E Grant's book was my top read for April. Such a wonderful book and a rollercoaster of emotions. I've just ordered Pineapple Street and have so many of your recommendations on my shelves. Can't wait to get stuck into Bandit Queens and Big Swiss you've posted about previously. 🍍🍊
I still need to read Big Swiss, have heard very good things, so that is a treat for after all my research reading for Hay. Hope you enjoy Bandit Queens as much as I did.
I just finished Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, a lost classic rediscovered and published by McNally Editions. It was written in the 1920’s, but is incredibly modern (except for the Flappers and New York speakeasies). A real find.
Thanks Simon, I read Notes on Grief by Chimanada Nzogi Adichie in April which I found really resonated with me and help me put into words how I had been feeling about dealing with grief. I totally agree with you Simon we don’t talk about it enough and I find reading books dealing with it can really help. On a happier note I also really enjoyed Trespasses by Louise Kennedy and Holes by Louis Sachar. 🍍🍊
Another book I would recommend is Reverend Richard Coles amazing memoir, The Madness of Grief a very, very powerful book. Trespasses I too thought was fab.
🍍sounds terrific, Edith Wharton is great. I enjoyed Song of Achilles and Still Life. My Ex-Life is a lovely read so far and Creatures of Passage, which reminds me of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.
Fab video as always. Completely agree with you on Cursed Bread. My favourite book in April was The Book Of The Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran and for May so far it’s my Savidge prompt which was Lizzie and Dante by Elizabeth Bly. Pineapple Street is staring at me from my TBR bookcase so will get there soon! 🍊🍍
Loved Bandit Queens. DNF'ED Pineapple Street early on. Might have missed out on that one. Not sure you have this in UK but loved The Postcard by Anne Berest🍍
I feel intrigued by Pineapple Street after your review so thank you for that, Simon. The Age of Innocence I really feel like rereading so thank you for that too! 🍍 ps Favorite book of April was , The Forsyte Saga By John Galsworthy brillant!
I have mixed feelings about Pineapple Street. Some of the writing and plot lines made me wince a bit but I could not stop reading it and think a lot of people will really like it. I share your love for Jane Eyre and your lack of love for Wuthering Heights. I would love a video about your judging the RSL Christopher Bland Prize and this year’s shortlist. I have not read anything by Richard E. Grant and now I really want to. You already know my favorite read of April was In Memoriam, with All the Wide Border right behind. So far in May my best read is The Midnight News by Jo Baker, which I was mesmerized by. 🍊🍍
I’m really looking forward to All The Border Wide and In Memoriam. I think I’ll find them both favourites, possibly even a five star prediction right there. Ha.
I really, really liked Trespasses. I shall say no more for now though, in case Mum comes sifting through my comments for clues on how I might rank the shortlist hahaha.
So glad to find another person who doesn't idolize Wuthering Heights. I absolutely love Jane Eyre, it's my favourite book ❤ Wuthering Heights too melodramatic in a bad way.
🍍Hello. In April, I read "Age of Innocence." As someone who lived in Greenwich Village for decades and who owned a weekend cottage about 10 miles from Edith Wharton's Berkshire home, I have read many of her novels but somehow I had missed "Age of Innocence." It was delightful to be with her words again. I see why it won the Pulitzer. Also interesting that she wrote it while living in France. It's such a NY story. Now I am reading the co-winner of the 2023 Pulitzer, Trust, which is a terrific book to read after Age of Innocence. I'm in the 3rd section. Trust is really impressing me. As for the Brontes, Jane Eyre is one of my two favorite books of all time. Like you, I did not fall in love with Wuthering Heights or its mean characters. Have you read Mill on the Floss? Tess of the D'Urbervilles? Mayor of Casterbridge? Not Bronte books but all excellent.
I’m not a Hardy or Eliot fan I have to admit. But that could be down to the same reasons I’ve always been wary of reading more Brontë and that is that in my head (even though I love Jane Eyre) classics can be a bit alienating, over wordy or just go over my head. Ha. Seems you’ve had an unintentional Pulitzer mini spree. Hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads well Avoid Jude, if u find Hardy a bit obscure. It really is; and painful. But Tess is beautifully written and Mayor has some cynical humor. Eliot is brilliant but I wouldnt start with Middlemarch. Eliot has slow pacing until her endings which are often quite powerful. Mill on the Floss is gorgeous. They are not over your head. Try audiobooking them a few mins each day. I find reading classics helps me better understand what all other fiction is based on. How about an easy challenge of two classics annually? Since many Pulitzers are now classics u can make progress in both challenges with one read. Thx for the reply.
Thanks Simon. I really enjoyed Laura Purcell’s ‘The whispering muse’ recently and a book by Amy Harmon called ‘Where the lost wander’. I’m about to pick up ‘Cursed bread’ from the library this weekend, I’m interested to see what I see think after your review. Did you watch Eurovision, what did you think? 🍍
I would like to get to more of Laura Purcell's books. I have only read one (Bone China) and liked it a lot, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for so feel like I need to head back to her early ones and work my way forward. Intrigued to see how you get on with Cursed Bread. Eurovision makes an appearance in my next vlog.
Always lovely to “chat” with you, Simon 😉🍍 Favourite read in April was - I’m gonna have to cheat here - a toss-up between We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan and Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason. Am currently reading Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen (Derry Girls really paved the way for some cracking new reads) 🫶🏼
@@SavidgeReads They definitely do! I’m just aware that there are heaps of us on the other side 🤩 Ohh, I’m so happy for you (and the authors honestly) that you get to be in conversation on any and all platforms 📚☀️
Really glad you dropped in that there horses die in Cursed Bread because as much as you don’t like horses I very much DO like them and I would have been so upset by that part! 🥺
ohh, interesting that cursed bread didn't really do it for you! i was completely mesmerised the entire way through. sophie mackintosh's writing always casts a spell on me. homesick sounds really intriguing! i think my favourite read of april was strega by johanne lykke holm-i clearly love beautifully dark writing haha 🍊 x
This is what I love and find so fascinating with books, how we can read them so differently, it is sooooooo interesting. I am just a bit frustrated I don't 'get' Mackintosh. I want to but I just don't. Sigh.
I had eight 5* reads in April, so a tiny bit hard to choose, but Clytemnestra is still my number one book,so that’s my April favorite. In May, I loved Riambel by Priya Hein. I’m currently reading Claire Fuller’s new book. I’m about halfway through and liking it very much, but there is an aspect of it that isn’t working as well as the overall pandemic story for me. I find myself slightly skim reading those bits. We’ll see how it goes in the second half. After that, it’s back to Mr Loverman, I think. 🍊🍍
@@SavidgeReads In the order I read them: Clytemnestra Eighteen Seconds by Louise Beech - Harrowing memoir by a writer I adore The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone - 🐙 named Sandy (like me) in Scotland The Dutchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff - follow-up to 84, Charing Cross Road End of Story - by Louise Swanson (aka Louise Beech) - dystopian thriller where fiction is outlawed Wandering Souls Above Ground by Clint Smith - poetry by the author of How the Word is Passed (non-fiction) Black Butterflies
@@SavidgeReads 1 & 2. 130 Storey Treehouse and 156 Storey Treehouse both by Andy Griffiths; 3. Eureka: A Story of the Goldfields by Mark Wilson; 4. One Home by Hiba Noor Khan; 5. Young Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe; 6. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell; 7. Mythos by Stephen Fry; also The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
‘ I’ve just given away I loved the book’. + ‘Oh the humor that ensues…. Wasn’t for me either’ = only 2 of the 47 things I laughed at I judged Dog Of North by its cover same way … you’d crush in that suit JS 📖 🪱 💚
Yes please for the video on the six books on the prize list. I hope you have a great time interviewing REG, love him in Withnail and I, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? I'll listen to his book Pocket Full of Happiness on audiobook, it will probably have me in tears! Looking forward to yours and Louise's Womens prize winner predictions/preference orders. Best Wishes 💕🍊
Oh I will definitely be doing the six books on the shortlist. I ended up doing the ones that didn't make the shortlist for pattern. REG hahaha I keep seeing that on documents and thinking 'who is Reg... OH!!!!' hahaha.The audiobook has just won an award.
The best book I’ve read so far in May is All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien ( Australian) Best book read in April Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton 🍀👋☘️📕📚☕️📖💐
Hi Simon, I thought exactly the same about Pineapple Street 🍍then grew to like it. I’m currently half way through Trespasses, a poignant story, sad and funny. I’m looking forward to Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson and Yellowface by R F kuang
Hahaha well Howarth where they live is, they call it Bronte 'country' but I prefer Bronte Land, though it does sound like there should be rollercoasters. I bet the Jane Eyre Rollercoaster would be a riot.
🍊🍍I’ve got a craving for books set in Australia at the moment so Opal Country by Chris Hammer and Homecoming by Kate Morton were my favourite April reads. We forgive you for the cloak and dagger deception 🍍🍊
🍍🏆I'm leaving a pineapple because the US cover of Pineapple Street is the winner. 😂 I had no idea Amerie did this book. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I would like to come back looking just like her.
Simon, have you read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo? I just finished it. Dark academia, magic, secret societies. I was so impressed. I've got the sequel ON DECK.
It does me too… it’s a shame it wasn’t sold as that but as something else. I think had my expectations not been of the latter I might have liked it more.
@@SavidgeReads I think in the US Grant is the epitome of the “is he British or is he Gay?” because of most of his prominent roles here - Withnail and I, Can You Ever Forgive Me and he was in the recent Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. He’s the actor you’re surprised to find out is actually straight, but then recently he vigorously came out saying that Gay roles should only be played by Gay actors. Yet, especially and recently his most lauded performance was as a very flamboyant Gay man. He seems to also play alcoholics a lot too.
April top read: Pod (give it another chance!). Best May read so far: Demon Copperhead, and can't see anything topping that. But I started The Trees today and am loving it, so who knows?I can't remember whether it was you or your mum who wasn't that keen on it. 🍍🟠
I may well give Pod another chance, it may also just not be a book for me which is fine. It happens and it has lots of other fans alongside yourself Wendy. Demon is very good indeed. Which one is The Trees?
Love Richard E. Grant ! Very excited to hear your interview with Richard from Haye on Wye. 🍍🍍🍍
You should be able to see it from end of June/early July.
I had a similar response to Cursed Bread. Have you read Barbara Comyns' Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead (1954)? Seemingly also based on the true 1951 Pain Maudit (cursed bread) mass poisoning incident in France, but Comyns' is set in the UK, including the Avon River flooding with water pouring into windows right at the start of the novel. It's a pretty wild tale for 1954, with less focus on romantic/sexual affairs, and IMHO more engaging. I'm sure not everyone would agree!
Ooh I haven’t read that. I’ve not read any of her books actually. That one sounds fab.
Oooh I think Pineapple St is going to be a fun Summer read. It’s coming from the library!
Yes, definitely a good summer book.
🍊🍍 I’m almost at the end of A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon and I am riveted! I loved The Trouble with Goats and sheep as well.
Oooh so pleased you’re enjoying A Tidy Ending. I loved Goats and Sheep loads too. I also really loved Three Things About Elsie.
@@SavidgeReads have a question for you about the book but it’s a spoiler so don’t want to post here. Have a theory and wondered what you thought of it. Let me know if ok to post me question/theory
Favourites from April were Memphis by Tara Stringfellow and Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist.
You're so right about the UK vs US covers of the pineapple book! I would walk straight past the UK one and pick up the US one if I saw them in book shops.
Memphis is great, sham about the authors behaviour online but I tried to separate the two. The pineapple book is what it should be called here , hahaha, with that US cover.
@@SavidgeReads haha I couldn't remember the title! Yeh I know re Tara, but I am so glad I separated the two because the book is sooo amazing x
Pineapple Street sounds like it could've been written by Jonathan Franzen. I read Freedom earlier this year and didn't love it at first, but then it really grew on me and became my second favourite book so far this year. I'm reading another book of his now, Crossroads, and am having the same experience.
I’ve not read any Franzen. I think he’s probably a bit more (and I don’t mean this badly) literary though. Hahaha. I’ve always been mildly daunted by him.
Our book club read all of the Bronte books last year. It was quite a feat! The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was my most favorite. Anne is my girl! ❤
Blimey. That’s quite a challenge. Did it not get a bit samey/stale at all?
@SavidgeReads Oh, yes! Some of us were seriously struggling. Speaking for myself, but I'm sure others feel the same way, I'm taking a very long break from Victorian literature. 😁
Faves from this month are The Outlaw Ocean (non-fic) and Fern Brady's memoir Strong Female Character. 🍊🍍
Ooh I haven't heard of either of those. I shall look them up!
@@SavidgeReads both excellent - although the Outlaw Ocean one is a bit niche! I'm on a real non-fiction kick at the moment.
🍊 Loved this! I’m currently gorging on Bandit Queens with Demon Copperhead as the dessert! Happy reading 😻
Ooh that’s a brilliant bookish combo diet.
🍊 added 2 of your recommendations to my TBR list thank you x
Hooray 😃
🍊ThanksSimon Loved it as always Love love love Haworth Hope you had a good visit
It was a bit of an odd visit. See my women’s prize Vlog for more if you wanna know why 🥴
‘Remembrance’ by Emily Bronte is one of my favourite poems of all time. Sad but beautiful. That might be in your book, if not it’s worth finding. I agree we don’t talk about death enough and not honestly enough. Another fun video. I was a bit late to this one but not to worry. I am reading another Maeve Kerrigan police procedural by Jane Casey right now. I do love my crime. 🍍
I don’t believe you can ever be late to a video, they’re on the internet forever. Lol. I get comments from videos years ago. It’s lovely.
I know it’s old but I read Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and I recommend it wholeheartedly 🍊🍍
I have really, really struggled with his books. Sadly.
@@SavidgeReads oh that’s interesting as I thought Rules of Civility would be very ‘you’ Character driven, based in New York etc Sometimes writers just don’t click with you though do they? I feel the same about a couple of writers that everybody seems to love 🤣 it could well be me that is odd 😀
🍍 favorite book in April was Weyward, now reading Shuggie Bain. You read some great books in April!
I did, April was a good month reading wise.
Listened to Richard’s book on audio, which he does himself, and it just added a whole new dimension to it. Heartfelt and wonderful
I bet it is brilliant, he just won the British Book Award for the audio.
I’ve been reading some Graham Norton and some Tsitsi Dangarembga. 🍍🍊
That sounds a great combination.
🍊 🍍 🤓
I nearly purchased recently ‘Pineapple Street’ for my friend’s birthday - instead chose ‘A Tidy Ending’ & ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ (she was pleased with these).
You chose two corkers to be fair.
I really enjoyed (a library copy of) Lessons in Chemistry & I hope to borrow from her later A Tidy Ending 😘
Richard E Grant's book was my top read for April. Such a wonderful book and a rollercoaster of emotions. I've just ordered Pineapple Street and have so many of your recommendations on my shelves. Can't wait to get stuck into Bandit Queens and Big Swiss you've posted about previously. 🍍🍊
I still need to read Big Swiss, have heard very good things, so that is a treat for after all my research reading for Hay. Hope you enjoy Bandit Queens as much as I did.
🍊🍍 Thanks Simon. Anne Bronte's The tenant of Wildfell Hall is a favourite. Anne seems to get a bit forgotten sometimes ❤
That is one of the ones I would really like to get to this autumn/winter.
I just finished Ex-Wife by Ursula Parrott, a lost classic rediscovered and published by McNally Editions. It was written in the 1920’s, but is incredibly modern (except for the Flappers and New York speakeasies). A real find.
Ooh I am looooving the McNally Editions.
Thanks Simon, I read Notes on Grief by Chimanada Nzogi Adichie in April which I found really resonated with me and help me put into words how I had been feeling about dealing with grief. I totally agree with you Simon we don’t talk about it enough and I find reading books dealing with it can really help. On a happier note I also really enjoyed Trespasses by Louise Kennedy and Holes by Louis Sachar. 🍍🍊
Another book I would recommend is Reverend Richard Coles amazing memoir, The Madness of Grief a very, very powerful book. Trespasses I too thought was fab.
@@SavidgeReads thanks will have a look at that one too. ❤️
🍍sounds terrific, Edith Wharton is great. I enjoyed Song of Achilles and Still Life. My Ex-Life is a lovely read so far and Creatures of Passage, which reminds me of The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.
Ha. I didn’t technically read Wharton this month, but soon. Ha. Loved Song of Achilles and Still Life, two amazing books.
Fab video as always. Completely agree with you on Cursed Bread. My favourite book in April was The Book Of The Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran and for May so far it’s my Savidge prompt which was Lizzie and Dante by Elizabeth Bly. Pineapple Street is staring at me from my TBR bookcase so will get there soon! 🍊🍍
Oooh I have The Book of the Most Precious Substance on my TBR. Hope you enjoy Pineapple Street when you get to it.
I’m gonna say yes, would like a video on those 6! 📖🪱💚
Oh there will definitely be a video of those six, I meant the ones that didn't get shortlisted but I have made that video for Patreon ;)
Loved Bandit Queens. DNF'ED Pineapple Street early on. Might have missed out on that one. Not sure you have this in UK but loved The Postcard by Anne Berest🍍
If Pineapple Street wasn’t for you, it wasn’t for you. I wouldn’t worry about it. Not every book is for everyone 🍍
Great reviews as always Simon, thank you. My favourite book of April was, The Attic Child- Lola Jaye. 🍍
Oooh I have The Attic Child on my shelves. One I would like to head to after all the work reading for Hay.
@@SavidgeReads you should, it’s a fabulous book
🍍🍊 I love listening to your descriptions and reviews
Awww thanks very much.
🍊🍋🍍👍 thank you, Simon 🙂
🍍🍍🍍 pleasure Hilary.
🍍. I can’t wait to get Pineapple St from the library. It seems like the perfect Summer read. I too felt the same way about Homesick.
Yes. I think Pineapple Street could be a corking summer read. It was a nice ‘break’ amongst the Womens Prize madness. Hahaha.
I feel intrigued by Pineapple Street after your review so thank you for that, Simon. The Age of Innocence I really feel like rereading so thank you for that too! 🍍 ps Favorite book of April was , The Forsyte Saga By John Galsworthy brillant!
Ha my pleasure with both those NYC/Brooklyn based books. I have my grans editions of The Forsyth Saga, one day, one day.
I have mixed feelings about Pineapple Street. Some of the writing and plot lines made me wince a bit but I could not stop reading it and think a lot of people will really like it. I share your love for Jane Eyre and your lack of love for Wuthering Heights. I would love a video about your judging the RSL Christopher Bland Prize and this year’s shortlist. I have not read anything by Richard E. Grant and now I really want to. You already know my favorite read of April was In Memoriam, with All the Wide Border right behind. So far in May my best read is The Midnight News by Jo Baker, which I was mesmerized by. 🍊🍍
I’m really looking forward to All The Border Wide and In Memoriam. I think I’ll find them both favourites, possibly even a five star prediction right there. Ha.
Currently reading Demon Copperhead and absolutely blinking loving it 🍍
A corker. I can't believe I forgot to hold it up in this video.
I just started Trespasses by Louise Kennedy. I'm only a couple of pages in but it looks so promising ! :D
I really, really liked Trespasses. I shall say no more for now though, in case Mum comes sifting through my comments for clues on how I might rank the shortlist hahaha.
So glad to find another person who doesn't idolize Wuthering Heights. I absolutely love Jane Eyre, it's my favourite book ❤ Wuthering Heights too melodramatic in a bad way.
There’s something I heard once about being a librarian at heart if you love Jane Eyre and a rock star if you like Wuthering Heights… well 📚
🍍I read Nancy Tucker's The First Day of Spring in one day last weekend. I just couldn't tear myself away from it!❤
Oooh I haven't heard of that!
🍍Hello. In April, I read "Age of Innocence." As someone who lived in Greenwich Village for decades and who owned a weekend cottage about 10 miles from Edith Wharton's Berkshire home, I have read many of her novels but somehow I had missed "Age of Innocence." It was delightful to be with her words again. I see why it won the Pulitzer. Also interesting that she wrote it while living in France. It's such a NY story. Now I am reading the co-winner of the 2023 Pulitzer, Trust, which is a terrific book to read after Age of Innocence. I'm in the 3rd section. Trust is really impressing me. As for the Brontes, Jane Eyre is one of my two favorite books of all time. Like you, I did not fall in love with Wuthering Heights or its mean characters. Have you read Mill on the Floss? Tess of the D'Urbervilles? Mayor of Casterbridge? Not Bronte books but all excellent.
I’m not a Hardy or Eliot fan I have to admit. But that could be down to the same reasons I’ve always been wary of reading more Brontë and that is that in my head (even though I love Jane Eyre) classics can be a bit alienating, over wordy or just go over my head. Ha. Seems you’ve had an unintentional Pulitzer mini spree. Hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads well Avoid Jude, if u find Hardy a bit obscure. It really is; and painful. But Tess is beautifully written and Mayor has some cynical humor. Eliot is brilliant but I wouldnt start with Middlemarch. Eliot has slow pacing until her endings which are often quite powerful. Mill on the Floss is gorgeous. They are not over your head. Try audiobooking them a few mins each day. I find reading classics helps me better understand what all other fiction is based on. How about an easy challenge of two classics annually? Since many Pulitzers are now classics u can make progress in both challenges with one read. Thx for the reply.
Thanks Simon. I really enjoyed Laura Purcell’s ‘The whispering muse’ recently and a book by Amy Harmon called ‘Where the lost wander’. I’m about to pick up ‘Cursed bread’ from the library this weekend, I’m interested to see what I see think after your review. Did you watch Eurovision, what did you think? 🍍
I would like to get to more of Laura Purcell's books. I have only read one (Bone China) and liked it a lot, it wasn't quite what I was hoping for so feel like I need to head back to her early ones and work my way forward. Intrigued to see how you get on with Cursed Bread. Eurovision makes an appearance in my next vlog.
@@SavidgeReads ‘Silent Companions’ is her best one I think x
Always lovely to “chat” with you, Simon 😉🍍
Favourite read in April was - I’m gonna have to cheat here - a toss-up between We Are All Birds of Uganda by Hafsa Zayyan and Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason.
Am currently reading Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen (Derry Girls really paved the way for some cracking new reads) 🫶🏼
I do hope these videos feel like a chat. I really liked both the Zayyan and Mason. Was lucky to meet them when they were on Sky Arts Book Club.
@@SavidgeReads They definitely do! I’m just aware that there are heaps of us on the other side 🤩 Ohh, I’m so happy for you (and the authors honestly) that you get to be in conversation on any and all platforms 📚☀️
Careless was a five star read for me 🌟 like the sound of pineapple st 🍍
Careless by?
@@SavidgeReads sorry Kirsty Capes 🙈🤣
Really glad you dropped in that there horses die in Cursed Bread because as much as you don’t like horses I very much DO like them and I would have been so upset by that part! 🥺
I don’t like horses but I wouldn’t wish them ill, just to clarify. Ha.
ohh, interesting that cursed bread didn't really do it for you! i was completely mesmerised the entire way through. sophie mackintosh's writing always casts a spell on me. homesick sounds really intriguing!
i think my favourite read of april was strega by johanne lykke holm-i clearly love beautifully dark writing haha
🍊 x
This is what I love and find so fascinating with books, how we can read them so differently, it is sooooooo interesting. I am just a bit frustrated I don't 'get' Mackintosh. I want to but I just don't. Sigh.
I had eight 5* reads in April, so a tiny bit hard to choose, but Clytemnestra is still my number one book,so that’s my April favorite. In May, I loved Riambel by Priya Hein. I’m currently reading Claire Fuller’s new book. I’m about halfway through and liking it very much, but there is an aspect of it that isn’t working as well as the overall pandemic story for me. I find myself slightly skim reading those bits. We’ll see how it goes in the second half. After that, it’s back to Mr Loverman, I think. 🍊🍍
Wow. 8. I need to hear about all of them. ALL OF THEM. Ha. I don’t know much about the new Claire Fuller. I will get to it at some point though.
@@SavidgeReads In the order I read them:
Clytemnestra
Eighteen Seconds by Louise Beech - Harrowing memoir by a writer I adore
The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone - 🐙 named Sandy (like me) in Scotland
The Dutchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff - follow-up to 84, Charing Cross Road
End of Story - by Louise Swanson (aka Louise Beech) - dystopian thriller where fiction is outlawed
Wandering Souls
Above Ground by Clint Smith - poetry by the author of How the Word is Passed (non-fiction)
Black Butterflies
@@mradcaqbdb ooh sounds like a really interesting mix!
I had seven 5 star books in April. Way more than I first thought. 🍍
Oooh what were the seven books?
@@SavidgeReads 1 & 2. 130 Storey Treehouse and 156 Storey Treehouse both by Andy Griffiths; 3. Eureka: A Story of the Goldfields by Mark Wilson; 4. One Home by Hiba Noor Khan; 5. Young Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe; 6. The Wizards of Once by Cressida Cowell; 7. Mythos by Stephen Fry; also The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
‘ I’ve just given away I loved the book’.
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‘Oh the humor that ensues…. Wasn’t for me either’
= only 2 of the 47 things I laughed at
I judged Dog Of North by its cover same way … you’d crush in that suit JS
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Haha. Glad you had a laugh or 47 😉
I loved The Bandit Queens and actually, that's another book where the cover doesn't do it justice. I've got The Age of Innocence on my re-read tbr. 🍊🍍
I don't mind the cover of The Bandit Queens as that pink is soooo eye catching as it pops so much.
Yes please for the video on the six books on the prize list. I hope you have a great time interviewing REG, love him in Withnail and I, and Can You Ever Forgive Me? I'll listen to his book Pocket Full of Happiness on audiobook, it will probably have me in tears! Looking forward to yours and Louise's Womens prize winner predictions/preference orders. Best Wishes 💕🍊
Oh I will definitely be doing the six books on the shortlist. I ended up doing the ones that didn't make the shortlist for pattern. REG hahaha I keep seeing that on documents and thinking 'who is Reg... OH!!!!' hahaha.The audiobook has just won an award.
The best book I’ve read so far in May is
All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien ( Australian)
Best book read in April
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
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Oooh yes I’ve seen Lien’s book doing the rounds.
Hi Simon, I thought exactly the same about Pineapple Street 🍍then grew to like it. I’m currently half way through Trespasses, a poignant story, sad and funny. I’m looking forward to Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson and Yellowface by R F kuang
It was so interesting with Pineapple Street and how it built and built within my head and heart and how hooked I got. Mad. I looooooved Trespasses.
wait wait Brontë Land is a real place?? need to pick up that little black book of death!
big gothy chunky beast is how i'm tryna be for summer! 😤
Hahaha well Howarth where they live is, they call it Bronte 'country' but I prefer Bronte Land, though it does sound like there should be rollercoasters. I bet the Jane Eyre Rollercoaster would be a riot.
🍊🍍I’ve got a craving for books set in Australia at the moment so Opal Country by Chris Hammer and Homecoming by Kate Morton were my favourite April reads. We forgive you for the cloak and dagger deception 🍍🍊
Hahahaha. Cloak and dagger deception. Hahaha. That make me laugh 🍍
Excellent review as always! I agree with you on the only guarantee in life. We as societies do not discuss it🍍
We don’t discuss it enough. We probably should. Hopefully books like Richard’s will help.
🍍🏆I'm leaving a pineapple because the US cover of Pineapple Street is the winner. 😂 I had no idea Amerie did this book. If there is such a thing as reincarnation, I would like to come back looking just like her.
I think there are a lot of winning US covers this year. I feel like some of the British ones need a bit of a shake up.
Sinning is a sign we are human😂🍍
Hmmmmmm... depends on the sin I guess.
Simon, have you read Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo? I just finished it. Dark academia, magic, secret societies. I was so impressed. I've got the sequel ON DECK.
I haven't. I can't decide if dark academia is for me or not. On Deck sounds boat based which is something I tend to veer away from book wise hahaha.
@@SavidgeReads The sequel is called Hell Bent and I have it "on deck" 😂
@@amandainoak oh hahahaha
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A book about desire, loneliness, isolation, and sexual obsession sounds right up my alley. 😃😂 🍍
It does me too… it’s a shame it wasn’t sold as that but as something else. I think had my expectations not been of the latter I might have liked it more.
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Is there anything in Richard Grant’s memoirs about why he plays so many Gay roles?
How many has he played, I can only think of one. Ooh let me know.
@@SavidgeReads I think in the US Grant is the epitome of the “is he British or is he Gay?” because of most of his prominent roles here - Withnail and I, Can You Ever Forgive Me and he was in the recent Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. He’s the actor you’re surprised to find out is actually straight, but then recently he vigorously came out saying that Gay roles should only be played by Gay actors. Yet, especially and recently his most lauded performance was as a very flamboyant Gay man. He seems to also play alcoholics a lot too.
April top read: Pod (give it another chance!). Best May read so far: Demon Copperhead, and can't see anything topping that. But I started The Trees today and am loving it, so who knows?I can't remember whether it was you or your mum who wasn't that keen on it. 🍍🟠
I may well give Pod another chance, it may also just not be a book for me which is fine. It happens and it has lots of other fans alongside yourself Wendy. Demon is very good indeed. Which one is The Trees?
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I've read 3 good ones so far in May! The Men, She and her Cat and Send Nudes! 😊🍍
I really need to get to Send Nudes, I have been meaning to since Minnie Driver recommended it to me last year.
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