Verity Reads Books (lots of them)
In which our heroine attempts to tame the to-read pile
I mentioned one of Jeevani Charika’s previous books in my not new Festive reads post last month, so it seems only fair to mention that her new one is out in the UK today. If you’ve read either of her most recent books, you’ll recognise the hero here. I’m about half way through at the moment and enjoying it so far.
Hello! It’s that time of the month again, hide your wallets because I’m back with a stack of Kindle offers and if you can resist all of them you’re a better person than I am! I’m not sure this month is quite as good as last month, but there were still a few interesting things at prices to tempt.
I’ve recommended Ali Hazelwood’s adult romances a couple of times, but her YA debut is 99p this month – so if you want a story about chess rivals, then maybe Check & Mate is what you need this January. The sequel to Nita Prose’s The Maid is out in the UK in about a week now, so that probably explains why the original story about Molly the Maid is 99p at the moment.
One of the Taylor Jenkins Reid novels from before she went massive is on offer this month – I haven’t read After I Do (yet!) but it’s got a fairly good average on Goodreads for what that’s worth (and for older books it tends to be worth more than the newer ones). Another older book on offer is Amor Towles Rules of Civility, which I read back in 2016 and really, really liked it – if you’ve read his newer stuff but not this, then go and read this about a woman trying to make it in Jazz-age New York.
The discount Terry Pratchett is The Light Fantastic at £1.99. If you’re adding to your Georgette Heyer collection, it’s the Gothicky and creepy Cousin Kate at 99p this month, with Devil’s Cub and a couple of others at £1.99. As I’ve said a couple of times now, Peter Wimsey (and Heyer actually) are emerging from copyright restrictions so there are a lot of very cheap editions of some of the books available now, but I can’t vouch for the quality of them. However, The Nine Tailors is the “proper” edition of a Peter Wimsey that is 99p this January. I’m on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick at the moment as well, and there’s a similar issue with hers – I’m deeply tempted by 49p French editions of some of her Poirot novels, but slightly dubious if the translations will be ok. Anyway, in English one of her non-series books The Sittaford Mystery is 99p, as are a lot of her short stories – although I’m not sure how you work out what are in the various anthologies and what aren’t.
I bought a couple of books while writing this (what’s new!) but also added a few more to the Kindle Unlimited list. All I need to do now is finish some of the other KU books I have borrowed…
Happy Reading!
It’s the first BotW that I read in 2024 and it’s one of my Christmas gifts. And it’s non fiction, so here we are ticking off some goals for the year – more non fiction and reducing the pile!
Capote’s Women is Laurence Leamer’s look at Truman Capote and the women who he surrounded himself with – right up until the point where he published thinly disguised versions of them in his famous – or notorious – extract from his unfinished novel in Esquire magazine. This functions as a bit of a group biography – looking at each woman’s life and how it fitted in with Truman’s.
I’ve read – and written – about this little coterie before and this is a pretty good overview of the women and their involvement with Capote. I think I was expecting more about the fall out from his article – but I think I might have drawn that conclusion from the fact that the book is the basis for the next series of Feud because looking back at the blurb for this, it doesn’t really imply that. Several of the women are interesting enough that you want to read more about them – some of them I already have, others I’ll keep an eye out for. There are a couple of Swans not covered – including Ann Woodward, which is a fairly big omission, but you wouldn’t know there was any one missing if you didn’t know about the group already if that makes sense! You do sometimes lose a little track of where in time you are as it goes through the women, but I think trying to go with everything chronologically would have been even worse and very, very confusing.
Anyway, this was an interesting read that fitted right into my areas of interest that I was delighted to get for Christmas. I look forward to seeing what the TV series does with it! it’s out in hardback now but you can also get it in Kindle and Kobo – and as a bonus the price on the e-edition has come down to £4.99 (from £9.99) over the last day or two.
Happy Reading!
So I started 2024 by continuing the Drina binge and then started a new series of (short) cozy crimes with a home renovation theme. And I’ve already read one of my Christmas books, before it even made it onto the pile! I’ve started a couple of this month’s NetGalley books, but I haven’t finished any yet, so I’m basically already behind there. Hey ho I enjoyed my reading and that’s the main thing right?
Read:
Drina Dances in Switzerland by Jean Estoril
Drina Goes on Tour by Jean Estoril
Drina, Ballerina by Jean Estoril
Flippin’ Out by Patti Benning
Movin’ Up by Patti Benning
Birder, She Wrote by Donna Andrews
Capote’s Women by Laurence Leamer
Started:
Knowing Me, Knowing You by Jeevani Charika*
A Truth for a Truth by Emilie Richards
Findin’ Out by Patti Benning
Still reading:
Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd
Animal, Vegetable, Criminal by Mary Roach
Three ebooks (two novels and a novella) bought. But I haven’t made it into a bookshop yet this year…
Bonus photo: I finished the jigsaw puzzle about three hours after last week’s week in books published!
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
Having seen two productions of Private Lives in 2023, I thought I’d start 2024’s NOt a Book selections by flagging a documentary I watched over Christmas about the play’s author, Noel Coward.
This is a ninety minute journey through Noel Coward’s life, mostly told in his own words. This is largely told in his own words – through clips from TV appearances and home movies, with extracts from his writings read by Rupert Everett and the whole thing narrated by Alan Cumming.
I’m a pretty big theatre-goer (as you probably know by now!) and so I’m fairly aware of the impact that Noel Coward had on the theatre – I’ve seen Private Lives live four times now (in three different productions), Blithe Spirit twice and Hay Fever as well. I probably should have seen more, but historically I went to musicals more than plays, and plays also used to be harder to get cheap tickets to (although that is now improving/changing). Even if you’ve never seen his work, you may have a distinct image of him in your head -smoking a cigarette and wearing a dressing gown and talking in a very clipped upper class British accent. And you’ll hear Coward referred to as “a witty raconteur” – which can often mean “humour may not translate”. But actually when I was watching this I found him genuinely funny and his life is actually fascinating – his childhood in poverty, building a theatre career, being gay in a time when it was illegal – but not exactly hiding it either, and then when his plays fell out of favour, reinventing himself on the cabaret circuit.
If you already know about Coward, I’m not sure that there’s going to be a lot here that you don’t already know, but for the rest of us – who don’t want to wade through three volumes of autobiography or try to figure out which is the right biography to go for this might do the trick – we certainly enjoyed it while we were watching it – and I spent more time paying attention to the screen than reading my book, which is not always the case!
If you’re in the UK, it’s being repeated in the early hours of the 11th, and you can watch it on iPlayer for the next 11 months.
Not going to lie, I didn’t want to do this post because, well you’ll see. But I do try to be honest here and so here is some transparency…
We enter 2024 with the to read pile bigger than ever. I’d love to say that all the books in front of the shelves are borrowed, but they’re not. I’ve just expanded beyond the shelves – which I said I wouldn’t do. It’s been a little this way all year, but has got worse in the last few months as I’ve been away from home a lot and so reading off the kindle and not physical books, and while I was trying to finish off the 50 states. So my goal for this year is to try and get back into *just* having the bookshelf of unread books and not piles nearby too. Wish me luck everyone…
So the headline here is that I did it! It came down to the last day, and to Oklahoma, but I managed to get it done. There are a few series making repeat appearances on the list, and a few authors repeating within the list but I’m sure you’ll forgive me that. Of the other stuff, I’m not going to say that I liked everything that I read, but I did like quite a lot of them – as you can see from the number that have got links through to posts featuring them. I’m still debating doing it again this year, but I think I probably will, it’s quite fun – and every year I manage to do more of them without having to think about it – this year there were only about six that I had to do panicky searching for books to fit at the last minute…
Alabama – Cultured by D P Lyle*
Alaska – Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead
Arizona – For Batter or Worse by Jenn McKinlay
Arkansas – A Crime of Poison by Nancy Haddock
California – A High End Finish by Kate Carlisle
Colorado – Catering to Nobody by Diane Mott Davidson
Connecticut – Better Late Than Never by Jenn McKinlay
Delaware – Rehoboth Beach by Michael Morgan
Florida – The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Georgia – Wild Dances by William Lee Adams
Hawaii – Maui Madness by Kathi Daley
Idaho – Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score
Illinois – From Dust to Stardust by Kathleen Rooney
Indiana – Faux Finished by Peg Marberg
Iowa – Six Geese a’ Slaying by Kathleen Bacus
Kansas – A Christmas to Remember by Beverly Jenkins
Kentucky – When in Rome by Sarah Adams
Louisiana – Lethal Bayou Beauty by Jana De Leon
Maine – Happy Place by Emily Henry
Maryland – Terns of Endearment by Donna Andrew
Massachusetts – Love Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Michigan – In Farm’s Way by Amanda Flowers*
Minnesota – Fudge Cupcake Murder by Joanna Fluke
Mississippi – Double Strike by Gretchen Archer
Missouri – Guaranteed to Bleed by Julie Mulhern
Montana – Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
Nebraska – Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell
Nevada – Puppies in Paradise by Kathi Daley
New Hampshire – Pumpkin Everything by Beth Labonte
New Jersey – Cape May by Chip Cheek*
New Mexico – The Pot Thief who Studied Pythagoras by J Michael Orenduff
New York – Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
North Carolina – Death Knells and Wedding Bells by Eva Gates
North Dakota – Cowboy Dancing All Night by Jessie Gussman
Ohio – A Lie for a Lie by Emilie Richards
Oklahoma – Ghostland by Jean Hager
Oregon – Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Pennsylvania – ‘Tis the Damn Season by Kimi Freeman
Rhode Island – Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White
South Carolina – Full Blast by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes
South Dakota – Dakota Cowboy by Lisa Mondello
Tennessee – A Very Merry Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Texas – Murder Served Neat by Michelle Hillen Klump*
Utah – Bookman, Dead Style by Paige Shelton
Vermont – A Holly Jolly Ever After by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone
Virginia – Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn
Washington – Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
Washington DC – An Invitation to a Killer by G M Malliet*
West Virginia – Sidecar Crush by Claire Kingsley and Lucy Score
Wisconsin – Winter’s Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch
Wyoming – Tempest by Beverly Jenkins
Books read this month: 37*
New books: 30
Re-reads: 8 ( 4 audiobooks)
Books from the to-read pile: 4 (!)
NetGalley books read: 4
Kindle Unlimited read: 11
Ebooks: 11
Audiobooks: 4
Non-fiction books: 2
Favourite book this month: not sure
Most read author: not sure
Books bought: too many to list!
Books read in 2023: 360
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 728
Well here we are at the end of another year and with a month that turned out to be unexpectedly productive. Who could have predicted that because it was also a really, really busy month. I’ll probably have another rejig of the format of this post for next year, I’m not quite sure how yet but I’ve got a month to think about it haven’t I! I’ve also been thinking about my reading goals and aims for the year but that’s a story for another day. I’ve already told you about my favourite books of the year – you can find those links here, here and here. Onwards we go!
Bonus picture: one last Christmasy photo from the walk to work last week in the Twixtmas.
*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month
So I was about to say this is the last look back at 2023 post, but I realised that I would absolutely be lying because I can think of at least two more. Any how, this is my favourite new-to-me fiction of last year. Many of them you’ll always have heard me talk about, but hey I enjoyed them and they’re worth it.
So in keeping with the celebrities and normal people romances that have been a theme of the year, let’s start with one of those: Nora Goes off Script by Annabel Monaghan. And I think this might have been the first of the trope that I read last year and it was really good. Nora’s been dumped by her husband but has to keep writing screen plays for romance channel movies. But when her new script is picked up by a major studio, the sexual man alive walks into her house (literally) to star in it and then doesn’t want to leave. It’s wonderful and just writing about it makes me want to read it again!
Next up is one of the books that Nora was comped with and which I finally got around to reading this year – Beach Read by Emily Henry. This has got two rival authors living in neighbouring beach houses and struggling with writers block – until they challenge each other to write in their genre. So Augustus had to write something happy, and Janet had to write a Great American Novel. It’s a grumpy-sunshine delight – even if I’ve only just realised that he’s got the summery name and she’s got the wintery one!
More authors in pick three: The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Sigemund-Broka. This has got estranged writing partners forced back together to complete their original book contract after his new solo effort doesn’t sell. It’s friends to enemies to lovers as you flash backwards and forwards between the two different trips to the same Florida rental house.
Ok, that all the romance done, let’s go for some mystery! And The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson was one of my post Christmas sale buys between Christmas and new year last year and I loved it. It has all the things that I like – Golden Age mystery stories and a modern day cozy crime murder on the set of an adaptation of the books. So much fun and something I’ve recommended a lot this year. I’m counting down to book three.
And finally, something a bit different – Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore. This one’s a bit quirky – with a missing illusionist and a podcast at the centre of it. I didn’t fully love the ending, but I did love the rest of it. This is actually the only book here from the second half of the year, and I have had a think about that and a look at the stats – there were less five star picks in the second half of the year among the not-new fiction but quite a few four stars that I’ve only just written about, so maybe that’s what’s gone on. And I did read more new fiction in the second half of the year than the first and that played into this too.
Anyway, here’s to the books I’ll discover in 2024!
Well after a bumper week of reading last week to get the fifty states challenge finished, I’m starting the new year with a Kristan Higgins book for Book of the Week which wasn’t one of the missing states. Who could have predicted that!
If You Only Knew is a dual narrative story about two sisters who are both at turning points in their lives. Wedding dress designer Jenny is moving back to her home town to open a new storefront after her divorce in an attempt to get away from her ex and his new wife whose lives she’s still entangled in. Her sister Rachael has a seemingly enviable life – adoring husband and cute triplet daughters. Except Rachael’s just caught him sexting with a colleague and she’s not sure what what to do about it – she’s not sure she believes in second chances but she’s also not ready to give up on her family dream.
This is really readable – I read it across about 36 hours despite it being Christmas – I liked the mix of big city New York and small town New York State and it all works out alright in the end, despite my fears at various points while reading it. As always with stories like this I liked one side of the story better than the other – in this case it was Jenny I wanted more of, but maybe that’s because adultery plots are never really quite my thing and I loathed Rachael’s husband (although now I’ve finished the book I don’t think you were meant to like him but I wasn’t sure about that at the time) and wanted her to burn it all down straight away. That said I’m not sure Jenny’s strand of the plot on its own would have been enough to sustain a novel – and I definitely wouldn’t have read just Rachael’s – so it was probably the right decision to do both!
Anyway you can get this on Kindle and Kobo and it’s only £2.99! It does have a paperback version but as it’s a few years old now it may not be that easy to get hold of a physical copy – Amazon is certainly asking crazy money for it, but the ebook is cheap so that’s something.
Happy Reading!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 