Recent Reads Wrap Up | Including 3 New Favs!

[@KRE808]

Just wanted to say thanks for these recommendations. Just finished Bitter Oranges and almost through Fallow Hall, both excellent books I picked up after watching this last week.

[@ghostfleuri]

I've watched your vids since you started your channel, and am glad that every time I step back to check in even if it's been 3-4 years, you're still here making the same types of videos in the good old format, no matter how much has changed in the last decade.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Awww, thank you so much! It feels like there has been such a big change in the type of booktube content but I've continued to enjoy the same things so I've carried on making the same kind of content :)

[@sheltercoordinator8387]

The Coast Road is a favorite read of 2024 for me! So glad you enjoyed it too.

[@Molly-s6u]

Revival Season really sounds like the type of church I just got out of. I think I’ll buy it and possibly share with my kids over time. Thank you

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

The town in The Coast Road ( which is unnamed) is modelled on Killybegs, Donegal. A famous fishing port. If you ever come to Ireland it should be on the road trip. My favourite Claire Fuller book so far is Unsettled Ground It really spoke to me. I had a very rural poor childhood and it was as if the author was writing about people I knew. You might also like The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes Abide With Me & The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout Highway Thirteen by Fiona McFarlane Amy & Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout The Safekeep My Friends by Hisham Matar

[@amyb3737]

I also loved Unsettled Ground. It was excellent. 😊

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Ohhh, you've convinced me that I need to pick up Unsettled Ground ASAP!

[@Tabbiecat]

Always makes me so happy to see a new video uploaded from my favourite BookTube channel, thanks so much for making these Mercy ❤

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Awww, thank you so much!

[@katieha12345]

I have read all of Claire Fuller’s books and I think Unsettled Ground is the best, and I think it will most align with your reading interests as it centres around rural poverty. Regarding Bitter Orange’s conclusion, I can’t remember if I read this in an interview or she said it at an event I attended, but Claire Fuller doesn’t plan or plot her books at all - she just writes, sees what happens and does whatever feels most true to the characters as they develop! When I found that out I actually thought it was impressive that her books have as much momentum and cohesion as they do lol

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Thanks for the tip re Unsettled Ground. I think I'll pick it up on audio soon. That makes sense! I've come across a couple of writers like that. Sometimes it seems to work brilliantly and other times I feel a bit like I did with Bitter Orange.

[@bmaei5]

Small town novels 1. Ethan From by Edith Wharton 2. Love by Hanne Orstavik 3. A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews 4. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 5. The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas 6. Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson 7. Stoner by John Williams 8. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson 9. The Blue Fox by Sjon 10. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne 11. Sorry to Disrupt the Peace by Patrick Cottrell 12. Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor 13. The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier Hope you find something you like.

[@carrieamoreno]

Happy fall everyone woop woop woop!!! 🍂💛

[@IrmaSincera]

Amphibian sounded like you describing On the Savage Side book, so many similarities.

[@sandra7319.]

There is a memoir called Holy Ghost Girl that has been out for a while. The daughter of a pretty well known revivalist describes her childhood and the deprivations she suffered and the real life of her father as she grew up.

[@philnasmith9755]

That excerpt you read from the Sarah Moss book blew my mind

[@amyjones324]

Your videos are my favourite. Amazing reviews and so many added to my TBR ❤

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Thank you so much ❤

[@areadersalmanacwithceleste1366]

Some intriguing titles! FYI, Midsomer Murders is also very well known in the US!

[@suenicholls5446]

😀💕xx thanks SO much Mercedes. A few more titles added to my ever expanding tbr! Lots of love 🥰

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Thank you for watching 😊 I'm glad you found a few books to add to your tbr!

[@tammyripp998]

The Coast Road & The Road to Dalton were both 5⭐ reads for me!

[@velmavlogs7693]

I’ve had a stellar reading month, all based on your recommendations. At the moment I’m reading Evie Wyld’s The Echoes, and enjoying it so far.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

That's so lovely to hear :) What have you read so far?

[@velmavlogs7693]

@@MercysBookishMusings Pet, SwanSong, Tell Me What I Am, Kala, Penance. Kala was a 5*, and I love the protagonist of Swansong so much I might revise my score up on reflection.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

@velmavlogs7693 now that is a banging reading month! I'm jealous 🤣

[@michalaharesnape5434]

Really looking forward to reading ‘I died at Farrow Hall’. Some favourite reads of mine recently have been ‘Shy Creatures’ Clare Chambers, ‘Flatlands’ Sue Hubbard and a Persephone book called ‘Doreen’ by Barbara Noble. Thanks for the video x

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I've read and loved Doreen too :) I read Flatlands too and loved some parts of it but other parts not so much. I'm waiting (impatiently!) for my library copy of Shy Creatures to come in. I loved her previous book, Small Pleasures. Have you read A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier? That had a similar vibe to the books you've mentioned and I really enjoyed it.

[@michalaharesnape5434]

I have read ‘A single thread’, I’ve read everything by Tracey Chevalier. I just picked up ‘The glass maker’ from the library on Saturday, can’t wait to get started.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

@@michalaharesnape5434 ohhh, I've only read A Single Thread and Remarkable Creatures. Which others would you recommend?

[@calart1122]

I'm currently reading 'Mrs Webster' by Colm Toibin, another irish author who wrote Brooklyn and Long Island

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I haven't read any Colm Toibin but I definitely need to!

[@calart1122]

@MercysBookishMusings definitely do and Niall Williams is v good also, his descriptions of the west of Ireland are beautiful I think x

[@nandinikhanna4624]

I finished I Died at Fallow Hall a while ago, and I agree with your review of it, so if you want to talk about a particular plot point (as you mentioned in the video), I would love to!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Yay! OK so I didn't think her finding the skeleton made sense at all. The brother knew he was getting a gardener and that they'd eventually dig the body up so why not move it first? I know it would have been tricky but surely easier than waiting for her to find it surely?

[@nandinikhanna4624]

I completely agree! There were some loopholes (like this one) that I couldn't make sense of, since they seemed to be not so smart decisions made by certain characters. I completely understand, and had similar questions when reading the book myself!

[@lellymills]

I really enjoyed I Died at Farrow Hall (and Bitter Orange too), I'm intrigued to know what the thing was that didn't quite gel for you? I have a vague recollection I also felt something didn't quite fit, but can't remember now what it was. Maybe your thoughts will jog mine! And what did you make of the lack of chapter headings or indication the story had moved to someone else? At first I found it a bit confusing but I quickly got used to it and found, if anything, it made me concentrate harder.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

@lellymills yes, I'm so desperate to talk to someone about them both 🤣 So for Bitter Orange I thought it was weird that we never find out how the peephole got there? Plus it was never explained if someone had been in her bathroom when she kept hearing someone and finding a pillow in there. I thought maybe it was just an indicator of her feelings over how her mother died and she was imagining it all but I wasn't sure. With Fallow Hall I didn't think her finding the skeleton made sense at all. The brother knew he was getting a gardener and that they'd eventually dig the body up so why not move it first? I know it would have been tricky but surely easier than waiting for her to find it. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention the lack of chapters. It was a bit odd, especially when a text message or email would just randomly be in the middle of the text.

[@lellymills]

Yes I thought the same about Fallow Hall, you'd think knowing a body was buried would have sparked concern/terror at the thought of it being discovered. Perhaps so arrogant he thought it could be explained away as a servant or so old could not connected to him? I didn't think of the history of the spy hole in Bitter Orange but now you mention it, yes why was it there? I don't remember the significance of a pillow, it's a few years since I read it, maybe time for a reread? Sorry for my late reply, a few on going health issues.

[@MercysBookishMusings]

@lellymills sorry to hear about your health issues. I hope you're doing better now! Yes, I did think it could just be arrogance on his part in Fallow Hall but it seemed a bit silly. I'll still read her next book though as I loved the vibes. With the pillow she goes in the bathroom one day and sees a pillow in there with an indent like someone has slept in the bath. I thought it could be a reference to how she killed her mother with a pillow? So she imagined it and the indent?

[@lellymills]

Thanks Mercedes, I have a lot of chronic health probs (as many of us do), which seem to get added to every year. Yes it really is a major flaw in the plotline and not satisfactorily explained away. I don't remember if he had some level dementia, I suppose that might have been a more understandable reason for his laissez faire attitude. A body buried in the garden is not really something one would just forget, is it? 😂 I've just started Bitter Orange again, and she's just discovered the spy hole to the bathroom beneath, from her rooms in the servants quarters in the attic, so it looks like the servants had been perving on their employers in the bath/loo. I can't remember the pillow scene at all, so bear with!

[@lellymills]

Finished! Yes I think she imagined the pillow, as she did the moaning coming from under the bath. Still love this book on second reading, big house, decay, beauty, decadence, madness. Also, something that occurred to me this time round, the name of the house, Lyntons. A reference to Wuthering Heights perhaps?

[@Gagging4Lit]

Finished My Good Bright Wolf just yesterday and read it all in one sitting. The opening few pages were my least favourite, I think they just threw me off because I was concerned about reading a memoir that was so fragmented but after the first 30 pages it became less so, and I really got into it. I loved the literary discussions!! The food talk in them was fascinating for me. I remembered things like the seed cake from Jane Eyre and the scrambled egg recipe from The Bell Jar so it was comforting to here those mentioned haha. I thought it was brilliant stylistically but I wish I could've known more about her progress as a writer in it. Is there more of that in the Iceland memoir?? Recently read Ghost Wall and Nightwaking and thought they were both excellent!

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I'm so glad that you enjoyed it so much 😊 it's interesting that we had the opposite reaction to which parts were our favourites. I usually struggle with fragmented writing and I was anxious when I first saw it was like that but then I loved it. From memory there isn't anything about her writing in Strangers in Iceland.

[@calart1122]

I would like to recommend 'Four letters of love' by Niall Williams, think a movie is coming out about this book, loved the descriptions and story of this book..

[@MercysBookishMusings]

Thanks for the recommendation :) I've also been recommended This is Happiness by the same author so I definitely need to give his books a try!

[@calart1122]

Yes and History of the rain​@MercysBookishMusings

[@spexi513]

📕 🪱 💚

[@Ali-AvidReader]

Glad you enjoyed The Coast Road, have added The Road to Dalton to my list😊 I enjoyed Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller more than Bitter Orange. Did you get the email I sent you?

[@MercysBookishMusings]

I hope you enjoy The Road to Dalton 😊 Unsettled Ground is the one I hear the most people rave about! No, I must have missed it! Did you send it to my youtube Gmail email?

[@Ali-AvidReader]

@@MercysBookishMusings Yes I sent it to the email listed on your channel.