Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Today I am with Andy Barber, a DA, whose son, Jacob, may or may not have killed his classmate by stabbing him in the chest and leaving him in the woods.

This is the book I am really struggling with. I am about 100 pages in and frankly I just don’t care one way or the other who did what, when and why. I will struggle onwards as it is a book club read. Has anyone read it? Does it get better?

By all accounts William Landay has written two other very well received books, so there is hope!

– Defending Jacob by William Landay

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Today I am staying at the Hotel du Lac, sitting on the terrace drinking tea with Emily Hope. Emily seems to have misbehaved a little at home and on the suggestion of her friends is getting away for a while. 

I can feel the sun on my face and a light breeze on my skin. It’s all very pleasant indeed. 

– Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Today I am with Tommy and Tuppence. Apparently there are some spies in a boarding house on the South Coast, planning to wreak havoc on the Allie’s war effort. Tommy and Tuppence are having none of it and are working on unmasking the fiend. My money is on the retired Major…

– N or M? by Agatha Christie

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Today I am with Nobody Owens. He’s just a toddler, but he has crawled out of his crib to explore and has ended up in the local graveyard. Meanwhile, a very nasty man indeed has murdered Nobody’s family, and is now on the hunt for him.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Today I am with M. Poirot, we are cruising down the Nile. There are a couple of newlyweds being stalked by a very annoyed ex-bestfriend. This isn’t going to end well, I am sure, and the heat is playing merry havoc with M. Poirot’s moustache. 

– Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Today I am with John Cole. We have broken down and found an old house where we have stopped for help. The people who live there seem to know John and have been expecting him. He doesn’t know them at all.  I am thoroughly creeped out.

– After Me Comes the Flood by Sarah Perry

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

The Spectre of Alexander Wolf by Gaito Gazdanov

Today I with a man who fought in the Russian Civil War, during which he killed a man, with no witnesses. Now we are in Paris and he has bought a book of short stories, one of which is an account of the killing accurate to every detail. Is the man we thought we killed not actually dead?

– The Spectre of Alexander Wolf by Gaito Gazdanov

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Closely Observed Trains by Bohumil Hrabal

Today I am in Bohemia in 1945 with Milos who works at a small train station used extensively by the German army to move trains back and forth between the fronts.  There are plans afoot to disrupt the German trains. In the meantime everyone is gossiping about the alleged consensual use of Railway stamps on the telegraphist’s bottom by a co-worker…

– Closely Observed Trains by Bohumil Hrabal

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

We Live In the Water by Jess Water

Today I am with Bit, a homeless man as he begs to try and get enough money together to buy his fostered son a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 

I won’t be with Bit long as this is a book of short stories. 

– We Live in Water by Jess Walter

Where In The Literary World Are You Today?

Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan

Today I am in two separate plotlines, but within the same book. I am simultaneously with a broken hearted author, mourning being dumped by his Japanese girlfriend, and with a short story he wrote about a sombrero which fell from an empty sky. 

Heaven only knows how I will write a review for this one…

– Sombrero Fallout by Richard Brautigan