‘When the Cawdads Sing’ by Delia Owen’s

Slightly late to the party with this one. Really liked it.

Up with there with the best books of the year.

No spoilers here.

‘Eleanor & Park’ by Rainbow Rowell

Teenage fiction. Love story.

I actually quite liked this book. A tad slow to get going, but a couple of really good characters, and the ending just worked.

Don’t really want to say too much about it; don’t want to spoil it for anyone who wants to read in themselves. Two teenagers, 16 years old, he’s into music and invisible, she’s slightly chaotic, bullied and has an abusive stepdad. They get together.

‘Why We Run’ by Robin Harvie

This book started pretty disappointingly, it wasn’t quite what I expected when I read the blurb.

I expected a book mostly about the fella’s attempt at completing the Spartathon, 153 mile race between Athens and Sparti. What I got was a lot of history, not just about The Spartathon, but the Olympics and other historical races.

It did improve when he started talking about him actually running the race. So not all bad.

Spoiler Alert: he didn’t even finish The Spartathon.

He did give a reason as to what he hoped people would get from the book:

My modest hope is that these pages will point you in the right direction to uncover your own reasons for why you run.

Robin Harvie, ‘Why We Run’

It didn’t.

Next up: back to a bit of teenage fiction.

‘Jews Don’t Count’ by David Baddiel

I had been putting this off for quite a while, although it’s a fairly short book, I wasn’t really ready for a heavy book looking at antisemitism.

As it turns out, it wasn’t that heavy at all. It definitely got me thinking, it also got me googling quite a lot as well!

The whole Isreal/Palestine thing – particularly topical at the moment – is a complicated issue. Baddiel explores why Jews don’t count as a real minority; and why they should.

‘The Hike’ by Lucy Clarke

Enjoyed this.

Four friends go for a hike in Norway. Of course, things don’t go exactly to plan.

Definitely worth a read.

Next up: ‘Jews Don’t Count’ by David Baddiel

‘Solo’ by Jenny Tough

Of course, it was always going to be a running book. Haven’t read one for a while!

I’m not sure why I put myself through it. I know what to expect and what I always get: it’s going to be amazing, it’s going to be really tough, I can’t do this, my arms and legs are going to drop off, I think I might be dying, I’m never going to make it, I’ve done it.

Having said that, I did quite enjoy it, Jenny Tough is one tough woman!

I did like her final thoughts:

‘Every adventure teaches me something. That’s the value of adventure. So, it you take anything away from this book, please believe in yourself, be brave and go have an adventure on your own terms. Solo. You’re tougher than you think.’

I’m off to sign up to a 100k race!!