Listening Still - Anne Griffin

 59%

12.04.23

I quite enjoyed this, and its theme of communication (or lack of it), but it could have been... more. Some readers didn't warm to the main character, and it's true she spent most of the book crying, but my problem was more with everyone else - the awful husband and boring love interest, the token autistic brother, the obligatory quirky yet supportive best friend, the played-up Irishness that didn't really ring true. (I can imagine the publisher urging the writer to 'make it more Irish'.) The details about the undertaking of undertaking were interesting - although I presume the dead don't normally chat so much. 

Quiet - Susan Cain

61%
29.03.19

Amusingly, an extrovert relative bought me this from my Amazon wishlist, saying they didn't really understand it. I can see why it's a seminal work, and it is readable and interesting. I'm not sure, however, that it will influence how I think and behave - and the odd editorial decision to alternate male and female pronouns for examples, rather than using 'they', was annoying distracting.