In this blog series, I ask my friends and family to talk a little about their current reads. I figured it would make a change to look at the reading habits of people who read a lot but don’t blog about it usually.

This week we’re hearing from Claire, who is the newest member of our pub quiz team and the most likely to be there on the days we win – could be there’s a correlation there. We share a love for all things Italian, but unlike me she can speak – and read – the language. In fact, she has a PhD in it (newly minted last year) and as soon as I’ve got that TBR down to a more manageable size I’ll be hitting her up for some Italian literature recommendations. Let’s find out what Claire has been reading recently.

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I’m reading the second volume of Stephen Fry‘s autobiography, The Fry Chronicles, at the moment. I tend to read during my lunch hour or in the evenings if I’m not too tired. Stephen Fry’s always entertaining, and I bought this on my Kindle after remembering I’d enjoyed Moab is My Washpot (the first volume of his autobiography) a couple of years ago. It covers about 10 years, from late adolescence to his late 20s.

I felt like reading something I knew would be enjoyable after reading a book I didn’t like last week – The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. A colleague recommended it and I realised pretty quickly it wasn’t my kind of thing (vampire conspiracy hokum) but I wanted to finish it (and it was strangely addictive). The glorious apotheosis of the story, which sent me into a fit of giggles, is when Dracula is confronted in his library, and is revealed to have a copy of Mein Kampf, and his own printing press for running off hard-to-find articles and books…

My Kindle is fully stocked with holiday books (we’re off next week). I’ve been saving Elena Ferrante’s L’Amica Geniale (My Brilliant Friend) and Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See. If I get through those quickly I’ve got some Philip Roths I’ve never read in reserve. I’ve been using my Kindle a fair amount recently – it’s ideal for travelling (I read a lot of Sherlock Holmes during our holiday to Mexico in January) although I do still buy paperback novels. I read novels fairly often, and I enjoy the odd autobiography. It’s nice to be able to read a variety of books after quite a few years of mainly reading up on Italian history for my PhD.

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Thank you Claire for sharing your current reads. (And I look forward to discussing My Brilliant Friend with you soon!)