I’d only read one Patricia Highsmith novel before picking up Carol, and as soon as I started reading this I thought to myself, Why haven’t I read more? The other novel was The Talented Mr. Ripley and both times I’ve admired her style – intelligent, observant, dark. If you’re unfamiliar with the story surrounding Carol‘s publication, it was originally published under a pseudonym due to its themes and the publisher’s nervousness about them. Not that there was any need, it was a best-seller and poignantly portrayed the deepening relationship between Carol and Therese. If you’re after a story with a twisting plot, then you won’t get it in Carol – this is certainly more of a character study. (The final two pages… I almost needed a tissue!) I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the casting looks perfect.

Not on Fire, but Burning by Greg Hrbek caught my eye on the new releases stand at the library (no surprise why!) I’ve not come across Hrbek’s writing before and I have an ambition to expand my reading horizons, especially in the area of speculative fiction which novel falls under. Here’s a brief description from the synopsis:

Twenty-year-old Skyler saw it from the window: a metallic object that descended from the sky at terrific speed, slowed above the Golden Gate Bridge, and then severed the bridge’s suspension cables before a toxic mushroom cloud lifted above San Francisco . . .

However, that’s just the opening pages. The novel soon skips to a ‘post-incident’ America and that’s when the parallels to our own world of today start to appear. I’m only about a third of the way through and seeing as this is the week of the new presidential inauguration in America, I think it’s fitting I try to finish.

The Art of Grace is last on my list this month as it’s the one I’ve read the least amount of – this saddens me a bit because I really picked it up for its subtitle: ‘On Moving Well Through Life’. Who doesn’t want to do that? Kaufman is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, so knows her stuff. Let’s hope I have more time to press on with it.

What are you reading this month?