The Rainbow (D.H. Lawrence)

D.H. Lawrence
The Rainbow

I've always found Lawrence difficult to read and I took this on holiday thinking that it would force me to read as lots of time. But I couldn't get into it at all. The descriptions are so forced that it was frustrating - why would a grown woman get freaked out by the gurgling of a nearby stream. I gave up and bought something a little more readable... Proust's In Search of Lost Time volume 2.

The Parasites (Daphne du Maurier)

Daphne du Maurier
The Parasites

A very readable tale of three siblings and their intertwined and interdependent lives in particular related to their (step)father and a husband. As with all her stories it's gripping and evocative of the time and place. After being told by one husband that they are all parasites they spend an afternoon discussing that accusation and we have flashbacks into the past. There is quite a lot of ambiguity regarding the sibling's relationships including a sexual friction. The story then moves on from that to the somewhat predictable and believable but unsatisfying ending. I'll say no more. Well worth reading.

On the Clock (Claire Baglin)

Claire Baglin
On the Clock

A strange book which (SPOILER ALERT) doesn't really go anywhere as a plotline. It's two narratives in parallel but never touching (as parallels don't) except that maybe the characters are the same person at different times. One strand is about a family who don't have a lot of money and whose father words as an electrician and seems to get angry a fair bit. The other is someone working in a fast food restaurant that includes a drive through and how unrelenting and soul destroying that is. Both stories are well written and although I was thinking Where's this Going, and rightly guessed it didn't really go anywhere, it was very readable with great descriptions. So thanks to Jordan Stump who translated from the French.