Just a quick note to wish all my subscribers and readers a very happy new year! I hope you had a good break with some time to read as well as all the festive stuff. We spent a wonderful cosy week in the last home of Swallows and Amazons author Arthur Ransome in the southern Lake District with lots of enforced relaxation due to flooding, road closures, etc. Amongst others, I devoured the last of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels The Story of the Lost Child and I’m blaming withdrawal symptoms for the fact that I’ll be strolling along the stradone at Easter trying not to get my pocket picked.
I have a feeling this is going to be a really exciting year in all sorts of ways, with many fantastic writers due to visit the Literary Sofa and plans to up sticks to my own website. But for now, do take another look at my Fiction Hot Picks 2016 which I’ve just updated with the two final titles (as brilliant as the rest) and the COMPETITION to win your favourite. (It’s only running until 6pm UK on Sunday.) For those on Twitter I’ll be doing the usual tweet on each book to say why I chose it under hashtag #hotpicks16. As always my selection attracted a lot of interest when it came out three weeks ago – thanks as ever for your support and any help you can give to spread word of the competition.
I hope you have a very happy, creative and inspiring 2016!
The Literary Sofa 
I am in a state of grief over the Elena Ferrante novels. I got a present of the four of them for my birthday. They are beautifully packaged and the writing is beautiful, but I’m still struggling through the first book and they’re just not doing it for me. And I can’t put my finger on why. On paper, they seem like the sort of books I should like. I’d usually give up a book if I wasn’t enjoying it, but the four books together are reproaching me. I envy you your enjoyment!
Posted by writerlyderv | January 7, 2016, 09:42Keep going! My Brilliant Friend didn’t wow me either. After that they just got better and better (and it’s also the shortest!)
Posted by Isabel Costello | January 7, 2016, 09:52Good to know, but there are other books I want to read. I think today I may have found a good home for them with a fellow book lover.
Posted by writerlyderv | January 20, 2016, 14:34I loved the Elena Ferrante books but some of my friends didn’t leading to some interesting arguments! I love the darkness of it and the intensity of the voice. The first one is maybe most confusing because of getting to grips with all the various families but I was never in any doubt that I was going to keep reading.
Posted by vicky blake | January 7, 2016, 16:19I’ve not experienced Ferrante yet. I bought the first one for my mum at Christmas and was hoping to be able to sneak a look at the first few pages but she never put it down. that tells me something doesn’t it!
Posted by BookerTalk | January 12, 2016, 08:14Indeed! Lucky you, having that journey ahead! Fortunately there are two of her standalone novels to help me cope with the withdrawals!
Posted by Isabel Costello | January 12, 2016, 08:51