August reading

August is the busiest month, workwise at least, so since all work and no reading makes Jane a very dull girl, I'm making sure I've got some entertaining books lined up for the weeks ahead.

I've been meaning to read Lancaster author Jo Baker's The Picture Book since I saw her at last year's Litfest. I'm a hundred pages in and it's shaping up very nicely. It begins in a London picture house in 1914 and works its way through four generations. Above all, she tells a good story and there's a lot to be said for that.

My husband has just read Blessed Days of Anaesthesia: How anaesthetics changed the world, and tells me it is very interesting. I hadn't appreciated the ethical issues that surrounded the development of anaesthesia in Victorian times, so it's as much a social history as it is about medicine. Now he's finished grouting the bathroom I'm rather hoping he'll do a review for me.

I've pre-ordered Jeanette Winterson's new book The Daylight Gate about the Pendle witches. I do have a particular interest in the witches, since they were tried at Lancaster Castle and hanged less than a mile from here.  The book's due out mid-August so I'll talk more about that in a future post.

I'm also looking forward to the announcement of the line-up for Lancaster Litfest in October. I'm hoping it'll make for some interesting additions to my reading list.

All this and classics besides - I'd better get reading!