What Am I Reading - Brit Lit Edition - July 31, 2025

 I've just finished two Brit Lit selections: both books happened to be published in 2018, which I suppose is a long time ago in the book world.

I have to admit that I'd been in that proverbial book slump. I'd read a few pages, maybe a chapter, and then set the book aside, never to be picked up again. I really had some deep thoughts about it. Was my attention span shot? Did reading just not interest me anymore? :: gasp :: And then...

A cover of
Middle England
by Jonathan Coe - 2018

I took some prowls around Reddit, which I find to be a very positive place on the Internet (I'm sure there are the dark parts of Reddit, but the topics I follow seem to be supportive and interesting places) and saw a recommendation for Middle England by Jonathan Coe. It seemed interesting to me, so I checked it out of my public library (::insert not knowing it was part of a trilogy here::).

Well, I loved it and devoured it over a couple of days. It's contemporary-set (the eve of Brexit), and I found its structure (told through various character perspectives, jumps to fast forward the action) helped keep my attention. Luckily I have books one and two to look forward to as well as many others by the author.

Any Jonathan Coe fans out there?

The next book that grabbed my attention was found in the nonfiction second of my local booksellers. It's called Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare by Giles Milton. This was definitely a case of judging a book by its cover, but in this case it worked out. The reader is taken in by these extraordinary vignettes highly various acts of devilishly clever sabotage during the Second World War. Again, I finished this book in a day or two. I did not realize the name of this type of writing, so I guess I can now safely say that I am a huge fan of narrative history. This makes sense because as a children's librarian, I am a huge fan of picture book biographies - they are my favorite books to read to my students. What narrative history do you recommend?

Giles Milton's
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat

Well, here's to August and a continued "win" streak when it comes to riveting reads. I guess I DO still like reading! I do! I do!

Amy