Hello! It’s been a beautifully sunny week here, with warm, bright sunshine, joyous birdsong and a gentle breeze. As much as I love the fall, March in Phoenix is the most beautiful time of the year. By April it will be blazing hot and uncomfortable so I am going to enjoy the loveliness while I can.

As I was typing this the longlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction was announced. I always love seeing which books make this list and one day I will have time to read them all before it is whittled down to a short list. Not this year, though… I’ve got to start my reading for the summer book buzz program I’m presenting in June for work. I have already read three books from the list, though: Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss, Normal People by Sally Rooney and An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (see my less than favorable thoughts below).

Books finished this week:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid – I struggled to finish this love story/fantasy/social justice novel, but I ultimately really liked it. Hamid’s writing style is odd – completely unembellished with sentence structures that sometimes reminded me of the Old Testament. But once I got the hang of his writing style, I thought the story was very beautiful. We’re discussing this tomorrow at the first of the two book clubs I facilitate at the library.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – This is the second book club book I read this month. I’m sad to say that this novel was a disappointment to me. I thought it was slow, boring and the characters were utterly unsympathetic. I love reading novels where nothing really happens as much as the next reader does, but this was too steeped in misery and enjoyed wallowing in it that I had a hard time caring after a while. I’m sorry, Oprah – this was a miss for me. It will be interesting to see if it is chosen for the Women’s Prize short list.

Do you plan to read any books from the Women’s Prize longlist? Have a great week!