Tell The Wolves I’m Home – Carol Rifka Brunt

I didn’t want to think about how Finn got AIDS. It wasn’t my job to think about that. If that guy really was the one who killed Finn, then he must have been Finn’s boyfriend, and if he was Finn’s boyfriend, then why didn’t I know anything about him? And how did Greta know? If she’d known Finn had a secret boyfriend, she would have taunted me about it. She never missed an opportunity to let me know I knew less than she did. So there were two possibilities. Either she just found out about this guy or none of it was true.

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Diary Of An Ordinary Woman – Margaret Forster

When Margaret Forster died, aged 77, a few weeks ago, my Twitter feed was full of people who were very sad about it, and talking about their favourites of her books. I’d never heard of her, but I was intrigued. One friend said that Significant Sisters should be given to every 16-year-old girl. So I looked up which of her books we had in the library – Diary Of An Ordinary Woman, and Isa and May – and asked which of them I should read first. Susan said this one, because she hadn’t read the other, which was a good enough reason for me.

Dumplin’ – Julie Murphy

“There’s a beauty queen in that cute, little fat girl.”

“No,” I say. “That cute little fat girl IS a beauty queen.”

The Lie Tree – Frances Hardinge

The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge

Was this Faith, the good girl?

The girl in the mirror was capable of anything. And she was anything but good, that much could be seen at a glance.

Flung out of space

‘What do they say makes a play a classic, Therese?’

‘A classic -‘ Her voice sounded tight and stifled. ‘A classic is something with a basic human situation.’

The Dud Avocado – Elaine Dundy

The Dud Avocado, Elaine Dundy

“‘Please forgive me, but I’ve never had to change my mind so often at such short notice in my whole life. It’s quite breath-taking. You see, first I thought you wanted my body, then I thought you wanted my love, then my life even, happily-ever-after and all that sort of thing, and now it turns out it is merely my money. Oh, Teddy, darling, thank you, thank you.’ I was practically sobbing.

‘For what?’ he asked patiently.

‘For restoring my cynicism. I was too young to lose it.'”

Book challenge #34 – A book with bad reviews

The Paying Guests – Sarah Waters

“For was that all, she thought bleakly, that love ever was? Something that saved one from loneliness? A sort of insurance policy against not counting?”

Friendship – Emily Gould

Scout was very interested in this

Friendship, Emily Gould

I rescued this from a friend when she was having a bit of a book clear-out a couple of months ago, because a) the cover was pretty and b) there was a quote from Chad Harbach on the front saying how much he liked it. And as The Art Of Fielding is absolutely incredible, I figured he was probably right. I picked it up from my toe-read pile on a day when I knew I’d be spending a lot of time on trains and waiting around. It led to me being on the Bakerloo line, surrounded by men on their way to the rugby, telling one of them that he needed to read it so that he would “learn how to get friends mate” and so on.

Wild – Cheryl Strayed

Wild: A Journey From Lost To Found, Cheryl Strayed

“I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me.”

Only Ever Yours – Louise O’Neill

Only Ever Yours, Louise O’Neill

freida and isabel have been best friends their whole lives.
Now, aged sixteen and in their final year at the School, they expect to be selected as companions – wives to wealthy and powerful men. The alternative – life as a concubine – is too horrible to contemplate.
But as the intensity of the final year takes hold, the pressure to remain perfect becomes almost unbearable. isabel starts to self-destruct, putting her beauty – her only asset – in peril.
And then, the boys arrive, eager to choose a bride.
freida must fight for her future – even if it means betraying the best friend, the only love, she has ever known…