Weekly Reading Update

[@SupposedlyFun]

This was so much fun to watch-and I loved the Mary cameo! You getting excited about Mary’s pancakes is me getting excited about Joel’s pancakes. I get it. 😊 I also didn’t get on with the Mantel short stories. I think if you ever feel like giving her a try again, your best bet might just be to skip to Bring Up the Bodies. Wolf Hall is denser and harder to get into. Bodies is faster, more to the point, and, well, in my opinion it’s the best book in the series for that. In the US, So Late in the Day was published with two other stories pulled from earlier collections that thematically linked to the new one. That probably made it easier to catch the meaning of the story rather than needing to reflect on it later. I just adore Claire Keegan. I’ve made good progress on the Barbara Pym book I was reading, so it looks like I may finally get a book finished in 2024! It’s been a journey.

[@Sharonreadsbooks]

Hi Jen. The New Yorker Fiction podcast had a great episode with George Saunders discussing So Late in the Day, after hearing the story read by Claire Keegan herself. Magic.

[@caleba9648]

The Time Traveler's Herbal is beautiful! I love books that feel like they make the aesthetic part of the fun. I own a book by Lucinda Hawksley with a similar vibe called Bitten by Witch Fever, Wallpaper and Arsenic in the Victorian Home. It's absolutely gorgeous while also being deliciously macabre and equally informative.

[@BookishTexan]

Agnes’s first teaching assignment gave me flashbacks to my first teaching years😮Congrats on the new job.

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

Same, I had definite teaching trauma with other adults unable into understand what demons their kids are 😂

[@jenniferlovesbooks]

Love the jumper!

[@mradcaqbdb]

Lovely to hear from Mary! I have Maud West, Lady Detective, but haven’t gotten to it yet. It sounds fun. I have very similar feelings about So Late in the Day. I very much enjoyed the short story, but it was overpriced. I hope this isn’t the start of a trend with her books. I am just about to start My Government Means to Kill Me by Rasheed Newson. It’s gotten rave reviews by some of my favorite BookTubers, Greg and Simon!

[@Dottiemi]

I haven’t read any of these. The Time Travellers Herbalist looks gorgeous and great for sitting on the coffee table to dip into over the year. I’ve had a good start to the reading year, just hoping I can keep it going once the gardening season is here!

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

I wish I still had a garden to enjoy, but I guess it’s one less thing to distract me from reading 😂

[@bookssongsandothermagic]

Great video. I definitely need to look for the book on Paganism.

[@sarah-roadworthy]

Interesting. So Late in the Day is published in the US as a collection of three stories. I'd love to know the publishers rationale for the difference in the US and UK releases. I heard Lauren Groff speak about Vaster Wilds. She mentioned that The Matrix, Vaster WIlds and a third unpublished book made up a loose religious trilogy. That made me immediately want to re-read the Matrix after having just finished Vaster Wilds.

[@recentlyseenreading]

Business as Usual struck me as similar in tone to Delafield’s Diary of a Provincial Lady. The pacing and sense of humour are similar-especially in the first half.

[@alexiarichardson651]

Agree with everything you say re So Late in the Day. I listened to the audiobook on Scribd and it's 47 minutes long. Her writing is beautiful but I'd like a whole collection of stories. It is thought-provoking though.

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

I’m glad it’s not just me. Her writing is so amazing, I just want more of it!

[@scallydandlingaboutthebook2711]

Amazing pancakes😮 Agnes Grey is a favourite; less melodramatic than most Bronte novels. I am passionate about Mantel's novels but quickly spotted those short stories were not for me. You might try Beyond Black or The Giant O'Brien instead of Wolf Hall.

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

I heard from several people that Beyond Black is worth starting with, so I think that might be the way to go ☺️

[@josie8997]

My first read of the year was Friendly Young Ladies which was a mixed experience at best, it's made me a bit wary of Renaults other works, I didn't enjoy it too much. I've now moved on to The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories. I also struggle with short stories and so far it's been more rereading for me since I had read most of the first few in other books, but I've already found one I really enjoyed! (Me and the Girls by Noël Coward). I've also been making my way through Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics and I'm loving those! Some volumes are definitely better than others, but overall it's been a huge success.

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

Yes, I thought Friendly Young Ladies started well but went downhill rapidly, overall I was quite underwhelmed by my reading experience of it.

[@josie8997]

@@JentheLibrarianreads I completely agree, I liked the start quite a bit, but felt it never found it's stride. It almost felt like two halves of two different novels, one about the younger sister, one about the older, sort of mushed together. And that ending 😭. The afterword of my edition turned me against renault somewhat, I will admit. I still have "The Last of the Wine" and "The Charioteer" on my TBR and am derermined to give both a try, but it's a shame to start of like this. I had really hoped to like her stuff.

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

@@josie8997 The only other Renault I’ve read is The Charioteer. It took me two goes to get into, but I much preferred it to Friendly Young Ladies. I’m not sure what worse of hers I want to read, because nothing has totally won me over so far.

[@josie8997]

@@JentheLibrarianreads I've actually attempted Charioteer and The Last of the Wine both, but I had put them aside, not due to any faulty of the books, but because of my mental health at the time. I don't honestly remember much. I have some interest in her Alexander the Great trilogy, but I'm feeling a little wary now. Friendly Young Ladies was one of her earlier work, I think and she herself wasn't a fan of the ending, so there may be hope

[@joy_ofbooks]

So lovely to hear Mary in the background. How does she know what page she’s on without using bookmarks?! So Late in the Day was one of my last reads of 2023 and it’s definitely a book that grew on me with further thought. In the US, the book of the same title is a collection of three short stories rather than just the one. It’d be interesting to try those stories together to see whether that impacts on the reading experience. Hilary Mantel has been one of my two DNFs so far this year too! 😢 May this be a year of 5* reads!

[@JentheLibrarianreads]

Oh no, not a good start for us with Mantel! Mary tells me she just remembers what page she’s on. I’m pretty sure this is witchcraft!

[@ameliareads589]

I'm a big fan of Claire Keegan and unfortunately So Late in the Day didn't grow on me after I read it. As much as I enjoyed the prose as always, I couldn't say the same for the story. It was a bit too much on the nose for me and there wasn't enough meat to it to be able to leave a real impression on me.

[@jacquelinemcmenamin8204]

Hi Mary 👋 My first book of 2024, was not a success. It’s very twee ( This Is Happiness). I then turned into @shawnbookmaniac and started reading several books at once. The best so far is Tom Lake The others are Falling Animals Ordinary Human Feelings How To Build A Boat The Gungle So Late In the Day is about a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[@dottypetrosky1184]

"Tom Lake" was one of my favorite books of 2023. Currently reading "This is Happiness" and enjoying it so far as I'm 100 pages into it. I think Ann Patchet recommended it recently. We'll see if I finish it though.