Nope on Ford Madox Ford but yes on Plath

Catching up on book reviews and making plans.

Epic fail on my Classic Club Spin.  I just couldn't get on with A Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford so it's a DNF.  Having planned to knock out one of my titles on the list I chose The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.  Now I need to edit my Classic Club list on the tab.

I'm sure Sylvia Plath used much of her own thoughts in writing the character of Esther Greenwood.

This novel was before the pill, medical knowledge of mental illness, women's studies and a bit like that TV series Mad Men in regard how women were viewed. The character  Esther recognized this despite her mental illness, or perhaps because of it.

She wanted more from life than the traditional path expected and having depression and suicidal thoughts didn't help with her mental state and decision making.

Noting how it would turn out if she married - "And I knew that in spite of all the roses and kisses and restaurant dinners a man showered on a woman before he married her, what he secetly wanted when the wedding ended was for her to flatten out underneath his feet like Mrs. Willard's kitchen mat."

She just wanted more out of life.

 The character mentions she should be grateful for the friend of her mother, Mrs. Guinea, for affording Esther to stay at a nicer sanatorium during her treatment.  But she was no more grateful than being gifted a ticket to Europe, or a world cruise or trip to Paris to sit and enjoy a sidewalk cafe...she'd still be under that vacuum, that Bell Jar, feeling nothing but misery. It wasn' that she was an ingrate, she was mentally paralyzed.

Medical knowledge and treatment were woefully lacking in those days regarding depression. Esther's mother was always asking her why was she like this, as if it were her fault. Knowing Plath's true life story made this a sad read. 4 stars

📚📚📚📚📚

Frankie by Graham Norton

I've read a few of Graham Norton's fiction and this one, true to form, gives us a setting in Ireland and lots to think about.  The plot centers around Frances Howe and how her very sad childhood changed her path in life.  The different time periods are well described, in my opinion. We start with Damien who is a care giver living in London.

Frances, dubbed Frankie once she arrived in New York, is now in her eighties and has broken ankle.  Damien is sent to her for the temporay care she needs.  As they are both Irish and Damien knows the area Frankie grew up in this opens a window for them to reminisce.  He's great at getting his clients to chat and this opens up a flood of memories from Frankie as she slowly tells him her life story.  From county Cork in Ireland to London, Frankie finds happiness for a while and it's an interesting journey.  

📚📚📚

This week I posted and tried to join in on Nonfiction November Here. Upcoming I have a stack of books and need to decide which to tackle first, some depend on library due dates.

Hope your reading week is a good one!

 Linking up with:

Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

Graham Greene and Charlotte McConaghy books this week

Wild Dark Shore.  I was hooked on this story after the first chapter.  A woman, close to death by drowning and hyperthermia,  washes up on the Arctic shore of a remote island.  The woman, Rowan, is dragged up to the lighthouse and cared for by Dominic Salt and his three children.  She has grave injuries requiring stitches where jagged rocks tore her body open.

 

When Rowan awakens the little boy, Orly Salt, asks her name.

"I'm Orly Salt. And you're on an island in the middle of the Southern Ocean, fifteen hundred kilometers from any other landmass.  Closest is Antarctica. So my question for you is: How did you get here Rowan?"

She is on Shearwater island, an island one hundred and twenty kilometers squared.  It's a tundra climate with many species of plants and hundreds of sea lions, seals and the last colony of royal penguins in the world.  It's also a research island where millions of seeds are stored to repopulate the earth after flooding.

All of them have secrets and as soon as you think one has sinister intentions, you get their backstory.  You've heard the saying -  don't-judge-a-book-by-it's-cover - and the reveals of all the characters took me by surprise, just when I thought I was figuring them out.

Rowan does not reveal her husband Hank is a reseacher who sent alarming emails to her while she was in their Australian home.  Dominic Salt, the father, doesn't know she is Hank's wife (at first) and there is quite a story there about Hank. Other researchers seem to have vanished, the children  (Raff, Fen and Orly) have lived on the island for the last eight years with their widowed father and I don't think any of them are thrilled to be leaving for civilization.  You are plunged into the cold, the storms and I hate to use this overused descriptor but it's atmospheric. 

I will be reading more by this Australian author.   5 stars.

The Quiet American

The setting is Vietnam in the 1950's and there is fighting between the Vietnamese and the French. France wants to hold on to the power they have, with the help from American govenment. As we all know, when France pulls out the Americans were involved in the war.  This one was on my Classics Club list I knocked out in a few days.

Aiden Pyle is the American who isn't in Vietnam to absorb the culture or as a journalist to report on the conflict.  He is an agent of the United States with the intent of bringing a better government and way of life to the Vietnamese people. That's one point of view because imposing American "values" to restructure is to ignore the the intact culture and regard as inferior. 

Thomas Fowler is the British opium addicted journalist who befriends Pyle.  Fowler was basically living with the lovely young Vietnamese woman named  Phuong.  She would prepare his opium pipe in the evenings and was quite devoted.  Then Pyle became infatuated with her and promised her marriage, Was he trying to save her from the middle-aged married Brit as well as "saving" her country?

Pyle is naive and ingenuous. Fowler has no moral compass. 

This is a classic but not one I personally found fantastic.  I am obviously in the minority.  In the past I have enjoyed some of Graham Greene's novels but this one was just meh for me. Knocking another off for my Classic Club list. 3 stars

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

The Classics Club

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay #ClassicsClub

 Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay was my spin pick for The Classics Club. I read the lenghty forward and it seems there was a question about the author's first hand knowledge, or is it entirely a work of fiction.  It is labeled as historical fiction with a setting in 1900 at a girl's college in Victoria Australia. The locations Hanging Rock and Macedon ranges are real.

Mrs. Appleyard established a girls college and boarding school insisting on a very English "uniform" and forms of etiquette. When the story begins it's Valentine's day, the girls exchanging cards and planning a picnic at Hanging Rock. Mrs. Appleyard is a strict head mistress and very unyielding, trying to keep with "proper" English customs in an unsuitable environment regarding clothing.

 It is mentioned how the governess, teacher and young ladies are required to wear gloves, voluminous dresses and hats in spite of the scorching Australian heat.  Appleyard did not believe in adapting for the heat. The description of the landscape, flora and heat are well written, placing you in the scene.

" Insulated from natural contacts with earth, air and sunlight, by corsets pressing on the solar plexus, by volumious petticoats, cotton stockings and kid boots, the drowsy well-fed girls lounging in the shade were no more a part of their environment than figures in a  photograph album, arbitrarily posed against a backcloth of cork rocks and cardboard trees."

A few of the girls napped while several of the senior girls decided they would like to walk and get closer to the Rock. Miss McGraw, the mathmatics teacher, wanted to take measurements and so it was agreed they could walk but be gone no more than one hour. It should be noted everyone's time pieces stopped at noon.

Over an hour later one girl came screaming down the path and couldn't recall what had actually happened but the senior girls and Miss Mcgraw were missing.  After searching as long as possible the coachman returned to the college. From there on, the scandal of it blackened the college until it's ruin.

There are many more characters who played a large part; Albert the stableman and Michael, a young artistocrat living with his aunt and uncle, forming an unlikely friendship with Albert. The two of them went lookng for the missing girls independent of the police investigation. One of the girls was found, close to death, but she could not remember a single thing about the walk after the picnic or anything about the missing girls and teacher.

There is an otherworldly and eerie atmosphere about the disappearances and the subsequent events which seemed to touch on the lives of anyone involved with this picnic.

As Joan Lindsay attended a girl's boarding school in the same vicinity it has been suggested this is very loosely based on a true story.  That is never revealed to be true and I think this novel was a brilliant fiction Lindsay created.  As the author stated when asked, "Whether Picnic at Hanging Rock is fact or fiction, the reader must decide for themselves...it hardly matters."

It should be noted there was a final chapter which the editor asked Lindsay to delete, leaving things ambiguous rather than explaining.  I'll be looking for that version called The Secret of Hanging Rock, it would include chapter 18, to see how our author wanted to end this.

4 stars

Sharing with The Classics Club for the spin.

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh #BriFri # ClassicsClub

 Brideshead Revisited was on my spin list for the Classics Club but I wasn't able to finish it in time.  It was interesting n some parts but other parts I found it a slog.  This would cause me distraction and I'd read something else. Hence my lengthy reading time with a 400+ page book.

The book starts in the WW II time period with Captain Charles Ryder moving his troops along the English countryside. When his company comes upon an estate to set up their camp it's revealed to be Brideshead, a vast property and mansion owned by the wealthy Flyte family. Charles is very much familiar with the home and property as he spent a good deal of time there, in what seems to him, a lifetime ago when he was a student at Oxford.

Immediately after arriving at Brideshead Captain Ryder, as the narrator, recollects how he met fellow student Lord Sebastian Flyte at Oxford roughly twenty years earlier. It's a very rude introduction as Charles is hosting a party in his rooms and Sebastian walks by, drunk, leans into the window to speak and vomits all over the floor. To make amends he invites Charles to his home for a lunch and apologizes.  This ignited a deep friendship between Charles and Sebastian. As they spent more time together Charles was embraced by the Flyte family and became close to Sebastian's sisters - Lady Julia and Lady Cordelia.

As Evelyn Waugh embraced Catholicism in the 1930s it influenced his writing, making religion a prominent theme with this particular book.  As you read about Charles' relationships with Lady Marchmain, Julia and Sebastian you'll see how Catholicism becomes rather it's own character, a cape of guilt for Julia when her father suggests she is living in sin.  The sin was her leaving the church to marry Rex and then her affair with Charles. There are many other instances where faith, guilt and life styles  are explored.

“I've always been bad. Probably I shall be bad again, punished again. But the worse I am, the more I need God. I can't shut myself out from His mercy. ... Or it may be a private bargain between me and God, that if I give up this one thing I want so much, however bad I am, He won't quite despair of me in the end.”

There are many sections to this book.  The Oxford years, Sebastian leaving England for Venice, his alcoholism, Charles and the Flyte family and of course the war.

Overall, I wasn't crazy about the book but I am most likely in the minority. 3.5 stars

Linking up with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday and The Classics Club.

The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico#ClassicsClub #BriFri

The Snow Goose is a short classic by Paul Gallico, published in January 1941. I sought this title out after reading Peter Heller's book The Orchard as his well educated main character and narrator was named Frith, one of the main characters in The Snow Goose.

Here is the plot of The Snow Goose - Philip Rhayader is a hunchback with dark hair and a beard, a hump, and a crooked hand resembling a claw. He had much love and empathy to give, but everyone was repelled by his appearance.  He was was shunned by all in the town and so heartbroken and lonely, he retreated to an abandoned lighthouse on the salt marshes in Essex.  His company was nature and the various wildlife which he captured in paintings.

Then a wild looking little girl called Frith came to his island. She was very brave. She carried an injured snow goose, not knowing what it was, wanting to save it. She had heard of Rhayader's ability to heal and shelter animals. While wary of this large man she had a good heart and wanted to save the bird.

Once the goose heals it flys north but returns every October to visit with Rhayader.  Frith, while brave and headstrong, is also a very lonely girl. Her friendship with Rhayader is good for them both.  She returns and visits over the years and he shares his knowledge of the marshes, birds and books.  They enjoy talking over the seven winters they visit and the healed snow goose returns each year as well.

After a hearing of the battle at Dunkirk Rhayader realizes he can help using his little boat, possibly saving trapped soldiers.  Frith begs him not to go as it would be dangerous with Germans still bombing the waters but he sees at last he can contribute and tells her to stay on the island, sailing away to help. The themes are compassion, acceptance, love and friendship.

Sharing with:

The Classics Club

Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday

J

Testment of Youth by Vera Brittain#ClassicsClub #BriFri#NonfictionChallenge

 This book was challenging for me and I could only read about 25 pages per day.  I felt my educational level was lacking for that sort of reading/subject matter but it could also be the stilted language of the author.  I admire how she stood up for her beliefs and all she attained. I was in awe of her perserverance in just about anything she set her mind to accomplish.

Here is a passage:

 "There is still, I think, not enough recognition by teachers of the fact that the desire to think – which is fundamentally a moral problem - must be induced before the power is developed. Most people, whether men or women, wish above all else to be comfortable, and  thought is pre-eminently uncomfortable process; it brings to the individual far more suffering than happiness in a semi-civilized world which still goes to war, Still encourages the production of unwanted children by exhausted, mothers, and still compels married partners who hate one another to live together in the name of morality." 

The misogynistic treatment of women was par for the times, something I think our current U.S. government would love to see return. Alas. It took courage to continue fighting for women's rights, to continue a university education and attempts at publishing her writing in that era.

Equal rights:

"Thus, it was in St. Monica's garden, beside a little overgrown pool, where the plump goldfish slid idly in and out of the shadows, and the feathered grasses drooped their heavy heads to the water's edge, that I first visualized in rapt childish ecstasy a world in which women would no longer be the second-rate, unimportant creatures that they were now considered, but the equal and respected companions of men."

I'm not sure how to rate the book.  For me it's a  3.5 for the material as well as my reading pleasure.  I know there are rave reviews of this historical account but it was a labor to finish this book.  Had it not been for JoAnn and our buddy read I may well have abandoned this very early on. Thank you, friend!

The time period is WW I and settings in England, Malta, Italy and France.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday. and The Classics Club.

Also shared with  Shelleyrae at Book'd Out for the 2025 Nonfiction Reader Challenge.  Category: History

Classic Club Spin

Since joining the Classics Club I have managed to read two from my list, so that's going well.  Today I will be participating in my first Classic Club Spin.  You may read about that on their website HERE.

Here's my book list for the Classics Club spin 

1. A Room with a View by E.M. Forester
2. Agnes Grey by Ann Bronte
3. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
4. Bridehead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
5. Daisy Miller by Henry James
6. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
7. Goodnight, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian
8. Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
9. It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis
10. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
11. Scapegoat by Daphne Du Maurier
12. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
13. Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
14. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
15. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
16. The Postman by David Brin
17. The Quiet American by Graham Greene
18. The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
19. The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico
20. To Sir with Love by E.R. Braithwaite

When the spin number is announced on Sunday I will read that book before April 11, 2025.  It's my first time with this spin event so I'm excited!

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough#ClassicsClub #BuddyRead

 The Thorn Birds was a buddy read with Deb at Readerbuzz.  This was an interesting journey through decades with the Cleary family and getting myself immersed in Australian outback conditions. 

Below is a general summary of the book but spoilers are in my Goodreads review HERE.   

This is a multi-generational saga spanning from 1915 to 1969.  The Cleary family, Paddy and Fiona, along with their seven children, are trying to make ends meet on a farm in New Zealand.  You will read about the hardships of the family and how they eventually move to Australia when Paddy's sister (Mary Carson) offers them a home on her vast property called Drogheda.

Paddy is Mary's only heir and he will eventually be assumed to inherit her estate. The sons flourish working on the sheep ranch and the women are sequestered at home doing the usual mundane work of cooking, laundry, childcare etc.  Yet another perk of being a female in that time period.

A central character to this story is Father Ralph de Bricassart, the Catholic priest who visits Mary Carson, hoping to advance his position with the church and relocate to Sydney or perhaps, one day...Rome. He becomes very involved with the Cleary family, much to Mary's dismay, but her vindictive nature will eventually turn the tables.

The descriptions of the birds, landscape and the flora are very richly described; such vivid colors and atmosphere.  The weather conditions are so well depicted you can feel it, easily imagining hot breezes, the sticky humidity and bitter cold in each season.

There is so much tragedy, sadness as well as love in this novel.  

This was a buddy read with Deb at Readerbuzz and also one of the books on my Classics Club list.  Publication date 1977.

.

Book travel to Australia, England and a nonfiction on deck #ClassicClub #Nonfiction #BuddyRead

1Here we are Friday already and my week has flown past.  Trying to stay informed  with world events while minimizing the articles about the mentally deficient criminal in chief.  So that means more reading and I can't complain about that :-)

Currently reading /  I am engrossed with two chunksters right now.  Both are on my Classic Club list as well as being buddy reads. Sweet.

Earlier in the month I started The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, with Deb at Readerbuzz. The publication year is 1977, 692 pages.  I'm around the 70% mark now. Such tragedy in this family saga.

Wednesday I started reading Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, an autobiographical historical account of Brittain's early life and encompassing the first world war.  Publication date of 1933, 688 pages.  I am buddy reading with JoAnn at Gulfside Musing. 

Upcoming / On deck after those two books is The Story of a Heart by Dr. Rachel Clarke. Just picked it up from the library.  It's about two families, two nine year old children and a transplant.  When Keira Ball is in a horrific car accident her body shut down, except her heart kept beating. Her parents allowed her to be an organ donor. 

Nine year old Max Johnson was fighting a virus causing his heart to fail.  When Max's family got the call they knew it came at a terrible cost to another family. He received Keira's heart.  I bet this book makes me cry.

📚 Also, if anyine is interested, Kate Quinn's book The Rose Code is on sale for Kindle for $1.99 today.  Not sure is that price is good outside the U.S. or if it's a today-only kind of deal but....if you like books about codebreakers during WW II this one is great. 📚

Sharing with:

Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon

Joy for British Isles Friday

Vicki for Mailbox Monday

The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Remains of the Day is a story about a seemingly cold unfeeling butler named Stevens and his reminiscing of days past.  It's more than that as you'll realize his memories are not so much flawed but, for him, a realization of what he missed out in his life. 

I know there is a movie based on this book but I have not seen it.  That said, knowing Anthony Hopkins stars as our main character Stevens, I heard his voice and accent throughout the book.

In 1956 Stevens' current employer, Mr. Farraday, insists he take a holiday, giving persmission to use his car while he is on  a trip to the U.S.  While Stevens drives through the English countryside he thinks back to war time when he was employed by Lord Darlington. The language is very formal and you get a clear image of the character displaying the utmost self control, even as he reminisces.  I enjoyed reading about his working relationship with head housekeeper Miss Kenton as he travels toward her home in south England. It's been decades since he'd worked with her but he has fond memories. He is about to be enlightened by what "could have been" when he finally arrives in her village.

If a person is shaped by their upbringing then Stevens is the ultimate example of controlling his emotions and showing zero empathy. Loyalty to the man he served is of the utmost importance, something he learned from his father who was considered one of the best butlers of his day.  Sadly, this transfers to personal relationships as well.  

When his father's health takes a turn for the worse you won't find any warmth between father and son.  I could feel the cold exchange between Stevens and his elderly father regarding the change of duties and thought it very sad. It’s hard enough to let a parent know their health or memory is failing but I’ve had warmer conversations with strangers.  

Dignity is clearly one of the cornerstones of Stevens' profession and his explanation of what distinguishes a butler from a manservant was interesting. 

"It is sometimes said that butlers only truly exist in England.  Other countries, whatever title is actually used, have only manservants.  I tend to believe this is true. Continentals are unable to be butlers because they are a breed incapable of the emotional restraint which only the English race are capable of."

Regret comes with reflection and sadly for Stevens, he makes this realization so very late in life.

"Looking back so much...I should adopt a more postive outlook and try and make the best of what remains of my day. After all, what can we ever gain in forever looking back and blaming ourselves if our lives have not turned out quite as might have wished?"

This is not a fast paced book but one which captures the memories and considerations of an aged man who gave his life entirely to serving his employer. 

 This is the third book I have read by Ishiguro and my first for the Classics Club.

Sharing Joy's Book Blog for Britsh Isles Friday.

Reading and watching

So far this month has been fairly laid back.  We watched season four of Van Der Valk so we are all caught up on that.  Just picked up Madam Secretary series from the library so we'll see if we like it enough continue with six or so seasons. Christmas movies are in the lineup soon.

This week I joined The Classics Club and added a tab at the top of my blog. 👆 I can link each book as I finish and started with The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. As I have been inside quite a bit I've made good progress with this book.  The setting is wartime England.

I also added a tab for apocalyptic/dystopian books with links for the ones I have read and reviewed.  Other titles will be added as I learn of them from Goodreads or suggestions by others.  Please feel free to share some of your favorites if you like that genre.

That's the weekly excitement around here, haha.

Sharing with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon. and Joy's Book Blog for Britsh Isles Friday.

The Classics Club - My 50 titles

 Well I am taking the plunge and joining The Classics Club.  Having been intimidated by it for years I think I can manage these books in a five year period. Now I am excited by it and had a blast making my list!  

It's meant to be your personal dream list of titles and after reading the "rules" I am comfortable with the titles selected.  All are over 25 years in publication.  If you are interested check out the link HERE, or scroll to the bottom where I copied/pasted the details for joining in.

Here is my living list. I will add  a tab on this blog to link reviews and completion dates.

1. Braithwaite, E.R. - To Sir with Love
2. Brin, David - The Postman
3. Brittain, Vera - Testament of Youth (nonfiction)
4. Bronte, Anne - Agnes Grey
5. Bronte, Charlotte - Villette
6. Bronte, Emily - Wuthering Heights
7. Brookner, Anita - Hotel Du Lac
8. Capote, Truman - Breakfast at Tiffany's 
9. Christie, Agatha - And Then there Were None
10. Collins, Wilkie - The Woman in White 
11. Conrad, Joseph - The Heart of Darkness
12. Du Maurier, Daphne - Scapegoat
13. Fielding, Henry -Tom Jones
14. Ford Madox Ford - The Good Soldier 
15. Forster, E.M. - A Room with a View 
16. Forster, E.M. - Howards End 
17. Fowles, John - The Collector
18. Frank, Anne - The Diary of a Young Girl
19. Gaarder, Jostein - Sophie's World
20. Gallico, Paul -The Snow Goose 
21. Golden, Arthur - Memoirs of a Geisha
22. Greene, Bette - The Summer of my German Soldier
23. Greene, Graham - The Quiet American
24. Hardy, Thomas - Tess of the D'urbervilles
25. Heller, Joseph - Catch 22
26. Heller, Joseph - Closing Time
27. Hemingway, Ernest - A Moveable Feast (nonfiction)
28. Hemingway, Ernest - Farewell to Arms
29. Ishiguro, Kazuo -The Remains of the Day 
30. James, Henry - Daisy Miller
31. Kerouac, Jack - On the Road
32. Lewis, Sinclair - It Can't Happen Here 
33. Lindsay, Joan - Picnic at Hanging Rock
34. Magorian, Michelle - Goodnight, Mr. Tom
35. Maugham, W. Somerset - Of Human Bondage
36. McCullough, Colleen - The Thorn Birds
37. Michener, James - Chesapeake
38. Orwell, George - The Road to Wigan Pier (nonfiction)
39. Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
40. Remarque, Erich - All Quiet on the Western Front
41. Shute, Nevil - A Town Like Alice
42. Steinbeck, John - The Pearl
43. Styron, William - Sophie's Choice 
44. Tolstoy, Leo - The Death of Ivan Ilyich
45. Vonnegut, Kurt - Slaughterhouse Five
46. Waugh, Evelyn - Brideshead Revisited 
47. Wilder, Laura Ingells - Little House on the Prairie
48. Wilder, Laura Ingells - Little House in the Big Woods 
49. Wodehouse, P.G. - My Man Jeeves
50. Woolf, Virginia - Mrs. Dalloway

My projected goal to complete this list will be December 30, 2029 but I hope to finish sooner.  Starting this month with The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.

What is the Classics Club? From the blog:

• choose 50+ classics
• list them at your blog
• choose a reading completion goal date up to five years in the future and note that date on your classics list of 50+ titles
• e-mail the moderators of this blog (theclassicsclubblog@gmail.com) with your list link and information and it will be posted on the Members Page!
• write about each title on your list as you finish reading it, and link it to your main list
• when you’ve written about every single title, let us know.

Book one on tap 

Let's get reading!