Welcome to this weeks blogpost. Heres our roundup of your comments and photos from the last week.

First, Hilary Mantels The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher has provided welcome distraction for MaggieMaggieB:

I was finding it difficult to concentrate on a book as I was worrying about my son and daughter and missing my grandsons so I thought that I would try short stories. They were just what was needed. I found them easy to read and the title story turned out to be surprisingly cosy. The other tales were very varied and well observed, ranging from an account of two bored childrens antics during a hot summer to a vampire story!

Elmore Leonards 52 Pickup has been ideal lockdown reading for RickLondon:

This week I read an early Elmore Leonard, 52 Pickup; and if his absolute mastery of plotting was not totally refined by this point, his brilliant dialogue and characterisation was much in evidence. A perfect lockdown read. Its been a while Elmore, but Im not going to wait so long for the next fix.

Alice Munro has been keeping lonelybloomer going:

I have also taken to reading an Munro story every morning and I went through a couple of her collections this way. Very enjoyable (I love Munro!).

Peter Robinsons short story anthology Not Safe After Dark has provoked a powerful reaction from PatLux:

One of the stories, Memory Lane, had a strong effect on me. Its setting is a care home and it was ironic to read it as Brexitland went all nostalgic about VE day at the same time as allowing so many elderly people to needlessly die alone in care homes. In a 12-page story much to reflect on about our current times and about the lives and experiences of war heroes. Art and life, life and art.

Wild Women is a fine collection of tales by female travellers, put together by Mariella Frostrup, says laidbackviews:

She brings us selected highlights from 50 authors, taking us to all parts of the globe and using pretty much every means of transport. Theres some old favourites in there, and some new ones to discover. I find myself making lists, starting with a short one of writers that could have been there; and ending up with another of writers of whom Id like to read more. On the former Id have Elly Beinhorn and Annemarie Schwarzenbach from the golden age, and Anna Badkhen and Kate Harris from the here and now. But it is the deliciously named Aloha Wanderwell who heads the second list, having enticed me in and left me keen to see if she lived up to her destiny.

James Baldwins If Beale Street Could Talk has remained with booklooker for a long time:

What is the magic phrase again? You are too young for this book! from my (much older) sister who was fencing off my query what it was about. So this is how I came to read James Baldwins If Beale Street Could Talk at 12 (ish): stealing it from its place on the shelf at opportune moments. I suppose I was too young for the book, as with many others that were all the more attractive for being forbidden ... Please do tell me I am not the only one who sneaked reads from an early age! Both love story and police brutality impressed me very much at the time. I also remember very vivid descriptions of what racism feels like on the body - and how you can be forced to view yourself as others do, momentarily.

Ive finished The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab by Fergus Hume, says SydneyH:

A nineteenth century sensation novel, in which a man is murdered in the back of the titular vehicle. The text is justifiably best known for the astonishing number of copies sold, though it is also noted as an early work of detective fiction and Australian literature. I think it is also an inspiration for people considering self-publishing. Im particularly pleased to discover that a parody was written titled The Mystery of a Wheelbarrow.

I can really recommend English Monsters by James Scudamore, says bindithecat:

I picked it up knowing nothing about the book or its author and was immediately engrossed as soon as I had started. To begin with its about a 10 year old boy living on a ramshackle farm in the English countryside with his eccentric grandparents while his parents are expats in Mexico. At the age of 11 or 12 he is sent away to a local boarding school where the usual sadistic masters rule. He falls in with a group of friends and they more or less support each other and keep in touch into adulthood Although the subject matter may sound depressing, it is a surprisingly funny book, especially the bits about the boys grandfather.

Finally, tiojo compares two masterpieces, Graham Greenes The Heart Of The Matter and Joseph Conrads Lord Jim:

In both books the main character faces a moral dilemma and in both the author has chosen an exotic colonial location in which the dilemma plays out. Also in both, the authors have managed to gain the readers sympathy for their flawed heroes and their moral struggles. Both of them cloak their exploration of morals in a more expansive tale - Conrad with his adventures on the high seas, Greene a more subtle story of wartime colonial intrigue. And for both they draw on their own personal experience Conrad as a seaman, Greene from his time spent in west Africa as a young man. In some ways they might be seen as giving hope to the aspiring writer. The moral dilemmas they explore are ones that are faced by many people in their everyday experience. They are using their own life experience to put them into a setting in which the tale can be told. But both of them are master craftsmen. Both writers of high quality.

High quality, indeed.

If youre on Instagram, now you can share your reads with us: simply tag your posts with the hashtag #GuardianBooks, and well include a selection in this blog. Happy reading!

Link:

Tips, links and suggestions: what are you reading this week? - The Guardian