Author: Margaret Atwood

I tried this as an audio book once before and hated it. Apparently my “rules” allow me to quit an audio book but not a published book. It was the last of the books on Dylan’s class reading list and I felt I should support him right to the end.

My feelings towards the story weren’t altered by time. This is another end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it story but less humanitarian than the previous doomsday books I’ve read.

I know this is the first book in a trilogy but I won’t be reading any more of them.

Goodreads Rating: * *

Author: Anne Tyler

I’m not sure where this recommendation came from but I’ve always liked Tyler’s books and who could resist that title.

Micah is a middle-aged man who doesn’t like change. He has a girlfriend (although he, personally, refuses to call anyone in their late thirties a girlfriend), is the manager of the apartment building he lives in and operates his own computer services business. A young man turns up at his doorstep thinking Micah might be his dad and from that point on things start to change.

I particularly liked the chapter where Micah has dinner with his sisters and their families. It sounded like a good old McKnight get-together – chaos but a happy scene.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *

Author: Winston Graham

This is the first book of twelve that the series Poldark is based on. I loved the Netflix series and this book followed it very closely (actually I guess the series followed the book very closely).

Ross Poldark has returned to Cornwall after fighting in the American Revolution. His father has died in his absence and the love of his life is set to marry his cousin. The Poldark’s are an aristocratic family who are involved in several mining endeavours, many of which are failing. Unlike many of the aristocrats in the area, Ross cares very deeply for the people who live on his land and work in his fields and mines.

I’m definitely in for the next book.

Goodreads Rating: * * * * *

Author: Emily St. John Mandel

I’m noticing a theme to Dylan’s English class – the end of the world as we know it.

This book was published in 2014 but what it describes is a more severe case of the pandemic that was caused by Covid. This end-of-the-world scenario has been caused by the Georgian Flu, out of Russia. Small communities of people have survived; some are welcoming to strangers, others not so much.

The story starts with the on-stage death of a well-known actor who suffers a heart attack. The characters in the book are all related in some way to that event – ex-wives, friends, fellow actors, the paramedic who tried to help Arthur. There is also a group of people, called the Travelling Symphony, who go from community to community performing Shakespeare plays and symphonic music. No solution to the crisis is found but after twenty years many people have accepted their new way of life.

Goodreads Rating: * * * *