Idealo Holiday Reads

I’m taking part in the Idealo Holiday Reads challenge.  Idealo have given a group of bloggers the chance to choose some holiday reading.  I’ve gone for some old classics and a very recent release.

Some years ago I read a novel by Nancy Mitford called The Pursuit of Love.  I only read it because I understood it came before another book of her’s that I wanted to read: Love in a Cold Climate.  Suffice to say that I read both and didn’t stop there.  The Pursuit of Love is very witty, but it is very much of its time.  I enjoy reading novels set in the 1920s and 30s so it was just the sort of thing that appealed to me. I rather think that if I had a time machine I’d like to go back to that period of time – I’d have to be one of the upper classes of course as I wouldn’t want to slum it in a world of no bathrooms and outside toilets.  The Pursuit of Love is broadly speaking based on Nancy Mitford’s childhood and her family life – she was one of the Mitford sisters who were very famous in society circles and beyond.

I’ve picked out a collection of her novels to read partly because there are some that I’ve read before and I would like to reread, and because there are some new novels that I haven’t tried out yet.

The other book I’ve picked is Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  I read the first book in the series, Divergent, recently after reading a review by Susan Mann.  My library hasn’t got Insurgent yet and I’m itching to read it.  It’s a fantasy novel set in a futuristic, shattered earth. It’s probably classed as young adult fiction, but it appeals to adults too.  The first novel was pacy and compelling to read, so I’m looking forward to the next installment.