It's Monday! What Are You Reading #6

I''m struggling with blogging. Life's all up in the air at the moment and due to settle December/January though so I'm going to persevere for a bit.

Bit of an odd reading week this time, normally I never have more than one book on the go but currently I'm part way through 4 books! Think this explains why I only finished 2 (fairly short) books though.

Plan for this week is to finish the outstanding one and the upcoming book club choice.

Read this week:

It is the summer of 1976, the hottest since records began and a young man leaves behind his student days and learns how to grow up. A first job in a holiday camp beckons. But with political and racial tensions simmering under the cloudless summer skies there is not much fun to be had. And soon there is a terrible price to be paid for his new-found freedom and independence. A price that will come back to haunt him, even in the bright sunlight of summer. 

I feel a bit mis-sold by the subtitle "A Ghost Story"; as it's own story I probably would have rated it higher but as a ghost story I feel disappointed. The atmosphere and characterisation of this book are really good but the character development and their motivations are underdeveloped and the plot lacks purpose. 
Some good elements but overall I feel underwhelmed sadly. I rated this a 2/5.

Life can be hard: your lover cheats on you; you lose a family member; you can’t pay the bills—and it can be great: you’ve had the hottest sex of your life; you get that plum job; you muster the courage to write your novel. Sugar—the once-anonymous online columnist at The Rumpus, now revealed as Cheryl Strayed, author of the bestselling memoir Wild—is the person thousands turn to for advice. 

I really loved this collection of 'advice'. It did take a little while to get into it because (is this a British thing?!) I find over-sharing of personal information a tad discomforting. I'm very much a "I'm fine" person when asked even if I'm not.  But you quickly realise that these moments of her life she writes about do relate back the the question asked, they aren't gratuitous or showing off. To give the kind of advice she does it's helpful to share a look I fecked up too moment or a yes it is bloody hard to to x or y but I did it and see I came out the other end. 

This is the kind of advice society needs and we'd all be better off if we made the hard calls and admitted life sucks sometimes. A really interesting collection that everyone could get some benefit from reading, maybe not all the columns will resonate with you but I can guarantee at least a couple will really make you re-think your perspective on life and living. I gave this a 5/5.

Currently reading:

Well lots of things! But this one is *really* blowing my mind ... in a good way.