A year in books: February 2016

This year I'm joining in with The Year in Books, organised by Laura at Circle of Pines. The aim is to read at least one book per month during 2016 and, for me, one of the attractions is that, unlike conventional book clubs, participants don't have to read the same book.

At the start of each month, you write about the previous month's book and introduce your next read(s). You can see all of the information on the link above.

My January pick was Us by David Nicholls. It's the story of Douglas and Connie who have been married for more than 20 years when Connie announces she's thinking of leaving. Douglas organises a once-in-a-lifetime trip through Europe to try to win her back. As they travel, he thinks back over their life together and there are moments that make you cringe, moments that make you smile with recognition and moments that make you swallow hard.

I've read and enjoyed a couple of books by David (One Day, Starter for Ten) and this one didn't disappoint. I already have another of his books in my to-read pile and would definitely read more.

The bonus with buying secondhand is that you sometimes find a little surprise inside. Tucked in the back cover was a colouring sheet :)

And so onto my next book.

Having said that participants don't read the same book each month, in February several of us are! Laura suggested The trouble with goats and sheep by Joanna Cannon and, as I liked the sound of the blurb, that's my pick. It feels so decadent reading a hardback! And it has that wonderful new book smell :) I'm already 100 pages in and so far so good. Maybe February will be the month I manage 2 books!

The glasses, by the way, are purely for staging purposes. They're for distance so would be no use for reading whatsoever!

If you don't fancy the Year in Books but do fancy a blogging challenge, Shazza over at Sunshine and Celandines recently listed 7 others you might want to try. x