Take Five Books - June 2011

Thought I would have another go at this five book challenge, originally devised by Simon at Stuck in a Book.  This time I have had to change one of the headings.  As I don’t buy books that often, a bit of a skinflint, I have substituted an audio book instead, as I do listen to audiobooks a lot.  So here are my five books for June.

1. The book I’m currently reading - Brother of the More Famous Jack by Barbara Trapido.  This was the first book published by Barbara Trapido.  I have previously read, or rather listened to a latter novel, Sex and Stravinsky, which I enjoyed very much, though it had little to do with either sex or Stravinsky.   I also enjoyed Brother of the More Famous Jack which does feature of lot of sex.  It is on the whole a funny and witty little book which recounts one young woman’s sometimes painful journey towards maturity. 

2. The last book I finished - The Snowman by Jo Nesbø.  I am a great fan of Jo Nesbø, and this is now the fifth I have read, all featuring Oslo’s very own detective Harry Hole.  As with the others, The Snowman is about the solving of some pretty brutal and terrifying murders.  This time it gets really personal for Hole himself.  

3. The next book I want to read -  March Violets by Philip Kerr.  This is the first in Philip Kerr’s series of novels featuring detective Bernie Gunther.  I’ve read two of the latter novels which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I am now looking forward to going back to the beginning.  This one is set in Berlin in the 1930s with the Nazis in power.

4. The last audiobook I listened to - The Lemon Tree by Julian Barnes.   This was slightly unusual for me in that The Lemon Tree is a collection of short stories.  I enjoyed all 11 stories which are about aging, dying and reminiscing about the past, usually with bitterness and regret.  Well read by Timothy West and Prunella Scales.

5. The last book I was given - The Death of the Little Match Girl by Zoran Ferić.  Earlier in the year I signed up for the East European Reading Challenge.  So far I have only read books by Russian authors, so I have pinched this book from Elena, who has no time to finish it.  This will be another first for me - a Croatian writer.  It is billed as “bizarre, uncomfortable fusion of detective story, crime novel, political thriller, and raw, grotesque fiction.  In short - Balkan krimić.”  So no idea of what I have let myself in for.