Month: August 2024

book adjacent, books

Book Conference 2024

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As I mentioned yesterday, last weekend I was at Book Conference, and now you’ve seen the new arrivals, you get the write up of what I got up to at my third trip to The Bristol Conference for Twentieth Century Schoolgirls and their Books.

Once again we were at Wills Hall, which is part of the University of Bristol and has a pleasingly boarding school air to the old parts of the site. And this year’s theme was Mothers, Mistresses and Other Role Models – a reminder that in this context mistresses means teachers – but there were other topics on the menu as well, including my friend’s talk “Cantering Towards Christ – evangelical pony books” which we came up with at the 2022 conference and she’s had to do all the reading for. It was amazing – and came with commemorative magnets too.

As this is my third time at conference there were a fair few familiar faces now – but actually quite a lot of new ones too. And as I’ve said in my posts about the previous conferences, there is such joy in spending time with other people who are into the same stuff that you are – especially when its something so niche. Everyone gets it when you make a joke about good girls getting a doctor to marry, or singing someone out of a coma. And you get such good book recommendations too. Aside from my friend’s talk, my other favourite was the one about timeslip novels. Time travel or timeslip books are one of the areas where I can never figure out what I’m going to like and what I’m not very easily, so it was really great to hear someone talk with so much knowledge about them and with such love.

And then as well as buying books, I did a bit of selling too. There’s a participant book sale on Sunday morning and I went through my shelves to figure out what I thought the other people at conference might want to take off my hands. Two years ago I didn’t quite get it right – mostly because I took my duplicates and if I’ve got a duplicate of something they probably already have it too. So this time I went for the Girls Own stuff that I’m not going to want to read again (some of which I bought at last conference!) and then adjacent stuff that I’ve seen sold at conference (and indeed bought myself) – so adult novels set in boarding schools, crime, mystery and some literary and women’s fiction.

And I did quite well. I took four boxes of books to sell – and I only bought two boxes back. But more to the point, I made back in sales what I had spent on the books I bought! Which is quite the achievement. And now all the stuff I’m happy to get rid of is sorted and in boxes it makes it easier for me to sell it (the Girls Own stuff) or donate it (the other stuff). I just need to pull my finger out and sort that – although I’d rather be reading the books that I bought!

Have a great Sunday everyone

The pile

Books Incoming: Book Con haul!

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This time last week I was at Book Conference, so it’s only right that this Saturday’s post is the new arrivals that came home with me! To be honest, I think I was pretty restrained. I mean judge for yourself from the photo, but I could have gone completely wild. Instead I resisted and stuck to what I could buy with the cash I took with me. I went with a list of what I wanted and fresh photos of the relevant bookshelves to try and make sure I didn’t buy anything I already have. Most of this came from the dealer sale, but there are a few from the participant sale and a few freebies from the very end.

So lets go from top left, which is a copy of Return to the Wells with a dust jacket to replace the one I have which didn’t have a jacket. I love the Sadlers Wells series, and I bought seven of them in hardback at my very first Book conference in 2018. I’ve now got a whole set, but there are a couple that don’t have dustwrappers, so one of my goals for this conference was to see if I could upgrade for a reasonable price. And so now I just have Jane Leaves the Wells and some of the very late ones without covers – and those last ones are *expensive* so it may stay that way for a while.

I’m still missing a couple of Shirley Flight books – sadly none in the sale – but there were two other Air Hostess themed books which I just couldn’t resist. Going clockwise, there’s the first of two Dimsie books that I picked up. Dimsie is a series that I’ve read very out of order so I got a couple more to fill in some gaps. Then there’s some crime – a cozy that’s the first in a series and then four of Josephine Tey’s Alan Grant series – three of which I’ve read and the fourth is the only one I haven’t.

Then there’s the other Dimsie, an Armada Chalet School because it was free and I just can’t resist upgrading and adding to the Armada collection, even though I have the full set in Girls Gone By paperback now, and this one was on the free table as we were leaving as was Roller Skates. And the Alison Uttley is a classic of the kids timeslip genre that I some how haven’t read.

I’m pretty pleased with what I got – there were a couple of hardback Drina books that I was tempted by, but the prices weren’t quite right and collecting Drina in hardback isn’t one of my priorities (and also you can’t get a matching set of them because Drina, Ballerina was written so many years later) so I bought the priority stuff first – and when I can back they were already sold so it clearly wasn’t meant to be. I also resisted another Sadlers Wells – which I already have in hardback and with a dustcover – it’s just not a *matching* dustcover and it was expensive. So I was good. And not too many of these (relatively) are going on the pile. Return to the Wells will go onto the shelf with the others, the Chalet Book will go with that set and the Alan Grants that I’ve already read will go with the Golden Age Paperbacks. Lovely stuff.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

bingeable series, books, detective

Bingeable Series: Reverend Shaw mysteries

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Happy Friday everyone, I’m back with another series post and this is one that may not be a surprise if you’ve been paying attention to the lists the last few weeks.

These are a series of six books set in the 1930s following a clergyman who, in book one, is on a train where someone is murdered and finds himself drawn into the investigation. And then across the course of the next few books he finds himself again drawn into mysteries and murders of various kinds.

I read the first one of these a few years back and in my BotW review I said that it was really trying to make you think it was a British Library Crime Classic. They’ve updated the cover style since then although when you get A Third Class Murder it still has the original one – as you can see from the photo. It was a standalone title at the point that I read it and there are now another five – some of which are more towards the thriller, some are more straight up murder mysteries. If you have read a lot of Golden Age crime you can spot where some of the inspiration is coming from, but they’re basically very easy to read, enjoyable 1930s set mysteries that are perhaps a little derivative but that are also missing some of the problematic attitudes and language you find in the genuine article.

All six are in Kindle Unlimited at the moment and I suspect a seventh will appear at some point – there is certainly the set up for it at the end of book six.

Have a great weekend everyone!

books, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: July Quick Reviews

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It’s the first Wednesday of the month, and I’m back with some quick reviews. And this is a weird one, because there wasn’t actually a lot of stuff I hadn’t written about that I had loads of stuff to say about. But there are a couple, so here I am.

The Way We All Became the Brady Bunch by Kimberly Potts

Though I’ve never really watched the actual TV series of the Brady Bunch, I am a devotee of the two mid-90s movies based on it, so I picked this (really quite heavily marked up copy) up from the Oxfam near work quite a while back and finally got around to reading it. And although it jumps around somewhat in terms of the chronology, it’s a pretty good read. I’m not sure how much new stuff you’d learn if you were a series super-fan, but as someone with a casual interest and a bit of anecdotal knowledge when it comes to anything beyond the movies, I learned a lot – particularly about the impact of being on the show on the child actors – and enjoyed it.

The Vinyl Detective: Noise Floor by Andrew Cartmell

I wanted to report back in on this one – with a heavy heart – as I flagged it when it came out because it’s actually the first time this series has disappointed me. I’d been saving it for when I needed cheering up, but actually I sort of wish I hadn’t. I had some big issues with the first book in Carmel’s new (and linked) series The Paperback Sleuth, to the point where I didn’t buy the second one, and some of the things that I didn’t like about that I also spotted in this one. Now whether that’s because I’m looking for them now because the Paperback Sleuth has rubbed me up the wrong way so much, or because writing two series has led to a diminution in quality I don’t know. There is a good plot in here somewhere, but it’s too thin in the execution and overshadowed by the way it’s written and some of the flourishes. To sum up, after reading this, I haven’t bothered to pre-order the next one (which I have been doing since the second book in the series) although I probably will still read it if I can get it for a decent price. Urgh. I hate even writing this, but I do try to be honest with you all.

Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez*

And this is another one I’m reporting back on because I mentioned it on release day. I usually love a fake relationship romance – but this was just not it for me. The hero and heroine have a lot of unresolved issues and it felt less like they were together because they wanted to be and more like they had bonded over their shared mutal pining for someone else. Add to that the fact there were that some issues with the ex that made it all just a bit harder and less escapist to read than I’d been hoping, and it added up to a not for me – but like How to End a Love Story, I think other people may like it more than me!

And that’s your lot – happy Wednesday and here is a clip from the Brady Bunch Movie to send you on your way…

Book of the Week, books, Forgotten books

Book of the Week: Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm

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Yes this is something of a cheat, because I finished this on Monday, but it would have been Sunday night if I hadn’t been so very tired after book conference. So here we are, and let’s hope now that I’m not scuppering myself for next week’s pick!

When an Amy Snowden marries a much younger man, her neighbours are outraged. When she then apparently kills herself a few months later, her husband then disappears. The coroner rules it suicide, but Sergeant Caleb Cluff isn’t convinced. He knows the area and Amy and thinks someone is getting away with murder. So he sets out to find out the truth about what happened to Amy, despite the disapproval of his colleagues.

This was originally published in 1960, but like the Lorac the other week it is another that is really good at conjuring the location and the people and is very atmospheric. It’s also quite creepy – as a reader you’re not in a lot of doubt about whether it was a murder at the start but it builds and builds. Yes there are some slightly dubious attitudes here, but it does all make sense within itself. This is the first in a series and I will look out for more.

This is in Kindle Unlimited at the moment, so if you don’t read on kindle you may have to buy the paperback or wait for it to cycle out of that for it to pop up on Kobo.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 29 – August 4

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So it’s a short list this week because I’ve been at Book Conference and I’ve been hosting guests. Oh and the Olympics is on… But I have spent even more time than usual thinking about books, I just didn’t have time to read many!

Read:

Death on the Night Train by Hugh Morrison

Julia of Sherwood School by Kathleen M MacLeod

Julia in the Sixth Form by Kathleen M MacLeod

Murder in Act Three by Hugh Morrison

Started:

Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm by Gil North

Still reading:

The Swish of the Curtain by Pamela Brown

The Hazelbourne Ladies’ Motorcycle and Flying Club by Helen Simonson*

The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmire*

Quite a few books bought because there was a dealer book sale and a participant book sale, and the new month has started so there are fresh kindle offers.

Bonus picture: cacti in the botanic gardens in Bristol on Saturday!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

books

Not a Book: The Baker’s Wife

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I know, I know, I try not to do theatre two weeks in a row, but both this and Hello, Dolly! are limited runs – and so I wanted to get this out as soon as possible.

This is a musical adaptation of a 1938 French movie of the same name, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz aka the man who wrote the music and lyrics for Wicked. The plot is pretty simple: it’s set in a French village where there are a range of petty rivalries and disputes. It has been without a baker for some weeks, and the lack of bread is driving the locals mad. The new baker arrives – Amiable, a middle aged man and his much younger and very attractive wife Genevieve (and their cat, Pompom). The villagers are shocked at the age difference between the baker and his wife, and their prying causes Genevieve to run back into their house crying. The local Marquis’s chauffeur takes a fancy to Genevieve and starts flirting, and a chain of events is set in motion.

The Baker’s Wife is a bit of a cult classic – it’s never made it to Broadway, and has a history of being well reviewed, but not finding commercial success. This production is at the Menier Chocolate Factory, an off-West End venue which has a history of producing really good productions of hard to stage musicals – the revival of Merrily We Roll Along which has just won Tonys in New York (including for Daniel Radcliffe) started at the Menier more than a decade ago (and I saw it in the West End). And this is another one that works really well. As you can see from the photo, it’s a small space, set up as the village square and the actors are right there with you and around you and it’s really immersive.

The cast is excellent too – with Clive Rowe (fresh from his run in Sister Act) as Amiable and Lucie Jones – who is now building a really strong West End resume – as Genevieve, along with Josefina Gabriele (who was also in that production of Merrily) as Denise, who is the most developed of the village characters. I’m not going to say all of the songs are massively memorable once you’ve left the show – although Meadowlark is – but it’s generally a great show at a lovely venue.

The Baker’s Wife is on at the Menier for another six or so weeks – until the 14th of September. You can get tickets through all the usual sources. And I’m very excited because in the last ten days or so the Menier has announced that they’re staging a revival of The Producers next year, and I really want to see what they do with that one.

Have a great Sunday everyone – have a video of Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez singing some Sondheim to send you on your way.

books

Books outgoing: book sale ahoy…

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I’ve done it. I’ve done some clearing and there are boxes going to Book Con with me. This box is mostly Girls Own.

This has got a few things I’ve written about here, but I have written about, but that I don’t think I’ll be reading again.

And then this is mostly crime, with a touch of literary fiction and some women’s fiction. There is another box, also of girls own, but I forgot to get a phot! I’ve priced them to sell as they say with an aim of not bringing too many home with me, especially as I expect to buy a fair few…

books, stats

July Stats

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Books read this month: 32*

New books: 25

Re-reads: 7 (all audiobooks)

Books from the to-read pile: 3

NetGalley books read: 5

Kindle Unlimited read: 16

Ebooks: 1

Audiobooks: 7

Non-fiction books: 1

Favourite book this month: Do Me a Favour

Most read author: Probably Patti Benning again, because I read a bunch at the start of the month, but Hugh Morrison coming up fast behind at the end of the month

Books bought: One book-book, two ebooks and a preorder

Books read in 2024: 240

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 740

A pretty solid month in reading, although ending slower than it started. I was binging through one author at the start of the month, and moved on to mini-binges on a couple of others as we moved through. Not enough Netgalley reading done, which is all pretty standard stuff for me.

Bonus picture: Another picture from the Barbican Conservatory before Kiss Me Kate

*includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – including this month!