We are past the halfway mark in the year, and so it’s time for me to take stock of what my favourite reads of the year so far have been. And as ever, at this point in the year, I’ve mostly been looking at which books I’ve given the highest ratings to on goodreads, and not just which ones were Books of the Week – because sometimes I can read more than one excellent book in a week. And I’m going to start with the New Releases – in no particular order of preference. And I’m saying that deliberately because I never know if recency bias is playing tricks on me until I’ve got some more distance. And also because I forget how long ago it was that I read something until I remind myself of dates for things.
I’m starting with the only non-fiction book on the list: Receipts from the Bookshop because what better place to begin than a book about selling books, in a year when I’ve bought way more books than I should have done. If you want a slice of life about life in a small town where everyone knows you (and your mum) and you sell books (with your mum) this is for you. I don’t read a lot of new non-fiction – I don’t request loads from NetGalley and often when I get given it it’s in hardback so it sits on the pile for so long that it’s no long a new release when I read it. Let this be a lesson for me to read it faster in the second half of the year!
On to new fiction, I’ve tried to restrain myself and put some limits on how many I’m picking, so I’m going with three. The first is Dolly All the Time – which may be the recency bias, but it is just such a lovely romance where someone who is used to relying only on themself and being the problem solver for their entire family finds where they want to be and finds love. Next I’ve picked Star Shipped, which again could be the recency, but this is a lovely romance and just worked extra well for me because it tapped into all the feels I have about sci-fi series from my childhood and teenage love of the 80s and 90s Star Treks, but also because there’s no huge enormous calamity that hits them – it’s low angst and relatively low stakes, but a wonderful romance. And finally I’ve picked Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter. I loved the world, I loved the characters, I loved the Howl’s Moving Castle vibes I got from it – and in fact I liked it so much I went out and bought Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries and then when I liked that two I bought the next two in that series too. It also started me on a bit of a quest for more cozy fantasy novels so that shows just how much I liked it!
On to the new to me books and really it’s actually more proper old this time than usual because I think the fiction is The Wyndham Case which I liked so much I immediately bought the rest of the series basically all at once instead of following my usual rule of finishing the one I have before buying the next one! Then there’s Call for the Dead as I finally got to reading more of the George Smiley series. I have more waiting to be read – but I want to do it in order and I have a gap now before the next one I own, so if the book gods could put a reasonably priced copy of The Looking Glass War my way that would be great, please and thank you. And finally there’s Deliberate Cruelty, which is the reason for that disclaimer about not everything being a book of the week! I read this the same week as Meet the Newmans, which was new that week and so got my pick, but if you’re interested in the Capote set (and lord knows I am)this is really, really interesting – I think I might have liked it more than Capote’s Women – and I liked that a lot.
Now who knows how many of these will make the end of year list – or whether by the time we get to Christmas something that I’ve left out here will have been gradually gathering momentum in my mental list of favourite books. You never know, it wouldn’t be the first time!
Have a great weekend – enjoy the sport if you’re a sport person – we’ve got Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix *and* the World Cup, and spare a thought for me hiding from the hoards of fans who’ve descended on my home town because it’s the F1 down the road. Fingers crossed we at least get a Red Arrows spotting out of it tomorrow!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 