This Week in Books – 24-01-24

This Week in Books is a feature hosted by Lipsy at Lipsyy Lost and Found that allows bloggers to share:

• What they’ve recently finished reading
• What they are currently reading
• What they are planning to read next

A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words.

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After reading Plutoshine by Lucy Kissick, I read The Watchmaker’s Hand by Jeffery Deaver, the sixteenth novel in the Lincoln Rhyme series which I absolutely loved.

A CITY IN TURMOIL
Looming over the Manhattan skyline, a lone crane comes crashing down into the city, sending panic radiating across New York City.

A DEADLY CONSPIRACY
The NYPD believes a political group is behind the sabotage and turns to Lincoln Rhyme for help. He knows this is just the beginning.

A RACE AGAINST TIME
Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs must race to stop further attacks before more chaos is unleashed upon the city. Watching Rhyme from the shadows is the elusive assassin The Watchmaker, and he’s preparing to strike…

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I’m currently reading The Selfless Act of Breathing by J. J. Bola.

A heartbreaking, lyrical story for all of those who have fantasised about escaping their daily lives and starting over.

Michael Kabongo is a British-Congolese teacher living in London on the cusp of two identities. On paper, he seems to have it all – he’s loved by his students, popular with his colleagues, and enjoys the pride of his mother who emigrated from the Congo. But behind closed doors, he’s been struggling with the overwhelming sense that he can’t improve the injustices he sees – from his efforts to change the lives of his students, to his attempts to transcend the violence that marginalises young Black men around the world.

Then Michael suffers a devastating loss, and his life is thrown into a tailspin. As he struggles to find a way forward, memories of his fathers’ violent death, the weight of being a refugee, and an increasing sense of dread threaten everything he’s worked so hard to achieve.

Longing to escape the shadows in his mind and start anew, Michael decides to spontaneously pack up and go to America, the mythical ‘land of the free,’ where he imagines everything will be better, easier – a place where he can become someone new, someone without a past filled with pain. On this transformative journey, Michael travels from New York City to San Francisco, partying with new friends, sparking fleeting romances, and splurging on big adventures.

In the back of his mind, Michael has a plan: follow his dreams until the money in his bank account runs out, and then he will decide if his life is truly worth living…

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My next read might be Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson.

‘Like most people I lived for a long time with my mother and father. My father liked to watch the wrestling, my mother liked to wrestle; it didn’t matter what’

This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one of God’s elect. Zealous and passionate, she seems destined for life as a missionary, but then she falls for one of her converts.

At sixteen, Jeanette decides to leave the church, her home and her family, for the young woman she loves. Innovative, punchy and tender, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit is a few days ride into the bizarre outposts of religious excess and human obsession.

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And that’s my week in books! What are you reading this week? Let me know in the comments! 😎