{"id":130229,"date":"2025-03-13T07:51:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/books\/a-snapshot-of-my-reading-2\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T07:51:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T07:51:06","slug":"a-snapshot-of-my-reading-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229","title":{"rendered":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"text\">\n<p>I posted the <a href=\"https:\/\/alifeinbooks.co.uk\/2025\/01\/a-snapshot-of-my-reading-1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first snapshot of my reading<\/a> on New Year\u2019s Day, expecting to follow it with another in February which somehow didn\u2019t come off thanks to <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-35008\" src=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Cover image for Your Absence is darkness by J\u00f3n Kalman Stef\u00e1nsson \" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg 332w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\"\/>my gallivanting to <a href=\"https:\/\/alifeinbooks.co.uk\/2025\/01\/three-days-in-london-and-one-book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">London<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/alifeinbooks.co.uk\/2025\/02\/four-days-in-stockholm-and-one-book\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Stockholm<\/a>. This month I\u2019m staying put with enough time on my hands to post the second.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The novel I\u2019m reading<\/strong> is <em>Your Absence is Darkness<\/em> by J\u00f3n Kalman Stef\u00e1nsson (transl. Philip Roughton), a doorstopper, or at least in my terms, which I\u2019m halfway through. Set on an Icelandic fjord, it follows a writer suffering from amnesia but careful to hide it from the small community which seems to be welcoming him back from who knows where. Stef\u00e1nsson weaves the stories of the characters and their ancestors through the writer\u2019s narrative as he waits for a party to begin. I\u2019m enjoying it but it needs a few hours at a time rather than dipping in.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-35009\" src=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cocktail-Bar-188x300.webp\" alt=\"Cover image for Cocktail Bar by Norah Hoult\" width=\"188\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cocktail-Bar-188x300.webp 188w, https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Cocktail-Bar.webp 250w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 188px) 100vw, 188px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The short story collection<\/strong> I\u2019ve just started is Irish writer Norah Hoult\u2019s <em>Cocktail Bar,<\/em> originally published in 1950. A little soon to judge, but I was impressed by the opening piece about a couple hosting a wedding in London, determined to recreate a truly Irish experience, who <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-35010\" src=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Arrangement-in-Blue-196x300.webp\" alt=\"Cover uimage for Arrangement in Blue by Amy Key\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Arrangement-in-Blue-196x300.webp 196w, https:\/\/t9z6e6y4.delivery.rocketcdn.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Arrangement-in-Blue.webp 261w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\"\/>are left feeling somewhat disenchanted by their younger guests\u2019 behaviour.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The non-fiction book I\u2019m reading<\/strong> is poet Amy Key\u2019s <em>Arrangements in Blue<\/em> which uses as its framework Key\u2019s adored album and comfort listening, Joni Michell\u2019s Blue, the hook which sold me her book. Key reflects on her ambivalence about living alone in her forties when she\u2019d expected to follow the conventional route of marriage and motherhood, something she\u2019d yearned for. Beautifully written and often raw, it\u2019s a very intimate memoir, overly so at times.<\/p>\n<p>What about you? What are you reading?<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded\" id=\"like-post-wrapper-52859811-35007-67d1e773e78a3\" data-src=\"https:\/\/widgets.wp.com\/likes\/?ver=14.4.1#blog_id=52859811&amp;post_id=35007&amp;origin=alifeinbooks.co.uk&amp;obj_id=52859811-35007-67d1e773e78a3\" data-name=\"like-post-frame-52859811-35007-67d1e773e78a3\" data-title=\"Like or Reblog\">\n<h3 class=\"sd-title\">Like this:<\/h3>\n<p><span class=\"button\"><span>Like<\/span><\/span> <span class=\"loading\">Loading&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"sd-text-color\"\/><a class=\"sd-link-color\"\/><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I posted the first snapshot of my reading on New Year\u2019s Day, expecting to follow it with another in February which somehow didn\u2019t come off thanks to my gallivanting to London and Stockholm. This month I\u2019m staying put with enough time on my hands to post the second. The novel I\u2019m reading is Your Absence [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[56748,56749,56750,56751,56752,56753,3646,5388,56754],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-130229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-amy-key","tag-arrangements-in-blue","tag-cocktail-bar","tag-jon-kalman-stefansson","tag-norah-hoult","tag-philip-roughton","tag-reading","tag-snapshot","tag-your-absence-is-darkness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I posted the first snapshot of my reading on New Year\u2019s Day, expecting to follow it with another in February which somehow didn\u2019t come off thanks to my gallivanting to London and Stockholm. This month I\u2019m staying put with enough time on my hands to post the second. The novel I\u2019m reading is Your Absence [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"332\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"A Snapshot of My Reading #2\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\"},\"wordCount\":313,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Amy Key\",\"Arrangements in Blue\",\"Cocktail Bar\",\"J\u00f3n Kalman Stef\u00e1nsson\",\"Norah Hoult\",\"Philip Roughton\",\"Reading\",\"Snapshot\",\"Your Absence is Darkness\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\",\"name\":\"A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg\",\"width\":332,\"height\":500},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Snapshot of My Reading #2\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network","og_description":"I posted the first snapshot of my reading on New Year\u2019s Day, expecting to follow it with another in February which somehow didn\u2019t come off thanks to my gallivanting to London and Stockholm. This month I\u2019m staying put with enough time on my hands to post the second. The novel I\u2019m reading is Your Absence [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":332,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2","datePublished":"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229"},"wordCount":313,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg","keywords":["Amy Key","Arrangements in Blue","Cocktail Bar","J\u00f3n Kalman Stef\u00e1nsson","Norah Hoult","Philip Roughton","Reading","Snapshot","Your Absence is Darkness"],"articleSection":["Books"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229","name":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2 - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-13T07:51:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Your-Absence-is-Darkness.jpg","width":332,"height":500},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=130229#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Snapshot of My Reading #2"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/130230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130229"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=130229"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=130229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}