As expected, I’m too busy watching the Winter Olympics (as well as a weekend away!) to get a lot of reading done, so this is a bit of a list dominated by novellas – although I did get two books finished. It could have been a lot worse. This week I have the Winter Olympics *and* a theatre trip so who knows if the situation will be any better come next Monday. I’m really enjoying the Games though and it will soon be over, so I’m not complaining at all.
It’s day three of the Winter Olympics proper and I’m having such a good time watching it all I’m almost surprised I finished anything over the weekend. But I did, although it wasn’t any of the long runners that I’m meant to be targeting. Hey ho, onwards and upwards towards the ice dance, where the Brits have a chance of a medal if all the stars align for them.
As I said yesterday, there’s a new Amazon valentines novella series and so there are a few of those on here. Otherwise I’ve nearly finished one of the long runners and so I’m getting there, despite a night out at the theatre in the week and a very busy weekend. Onwards into February.
Books bought: 4 actual books (3 of them in Sheffield), 1 pre-order placed, 5 ebooks
Most read author: Goodreads tells me that the Elissa Sussman is the longest book I’ve read this year so far so it must be that!
Books read in 2025: 31
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 597 (I told you I’d done a cull!)
January started well, but then sailed a little bit off course on account of that entire week of skating in Sheffield. Which was amazing and I regret nothing. The week of recovery I regret a little bit more, but hey these things happen. There are more novellas on this list than usual – because at times that was all my fried little brain could cope with, but also because Patti Benning writes annoyingly readable things and I kept going straight on to the next one but also because Amazon dropped another Valentines Novella collection with a bunch of romance authors I like and I ended up reading those instead of finishing off some of the things I had on the go. I’d like to think February will be a better month in reading, but the Winter Olympics start on Friday and we all know how much I love the Olympics. And given that I can only watch one thing at a time and I also have to work, the reading may get a little sidelined in favour of figure skating, skiing and sliding,
Bonus picture: Another picture from my fabulous week in Sheffield!
*often includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – 10 this month!
Not quite back to normal service after Sheffield because it was a very, very busy week but I’m getting there. And as we’re hurtling towards the end of the month that’s probably for the best. Hopefully now I’m back up to date with everything and I can get down to finishing some more books and not just starting them!
Bonus picture: I love an old school logo, and this moving van in Fitzroy square felt like such a mix of modernity and tradition that I had to take a photo!
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
How long has this post taken me to write? A long time. Did I start it in summer 2025 when I saw that there was a sequel to The Socialite Spy coming? Yes. Has this see-sawed wildly in the writing between abdication books and Edward VIII books? Also yes. Am I posting it now because yesterday was the 90th anniversary of Edward VIII’s accession? Yes. Was that the thing that finally gave me the push to post it? Yes again. Anyway, here we are.
Andrew Larman’s The Windsor’s At War is actually his second book in a trilogy about the Windsors. The first, The Crown in Crisis, followed the events leading up to the Abdication, and this follows the relations between the now-Duke of Windsor and his brother the new King from 1937 and through to the end of the Second World War. The final book in the trilogy is The Power and the Glory and examines what happened after the Duke of Windsor’s wartime activities emerged and finishes with Elizabeth II’s coronation. I’ve only read this one of the three, and I’m not sure this told me anything I didn’t already know – and the writing can be a bit dry at times. But if you’re after an in-depth look at the situation this – and the others in the trilogy – might be a good option for you. I’ll be keeping an eye out for them, at a sensible price of course!
I’m following that with Abdication by Brian Inglis, which was actually written in 1966 for the 30th anniversary of the abdication, by an author who remembered it happening when he was a school boy and who had access to lots of the people involved because they were still alive. And it’s definitely got a different sort of sensibility to the more modern books, but those eyewitness reports are worth it if you’re really interested in the minutae of what went on and already know a bit about the characters. Which I am, and I do. It’s especially good on the political context of the time and who the different non-royal characters were. But probably one for the completists.
Next up is Anna Pasternak’s The American Duchess, which is a 2019 biography of Wallis Simpson originally called Untitled, but renamed for the paperback publication. Pasternak says she’s trying to understand the woman behind the headlines, and as is often the case with Wallis biographies says it’s “her story as it’s never been told before”. Having read that, I would say that the way that it is different is that it is giving Wallis a very easy ride – putting the best possible interpretation on her behaviour and ascribing the worst interpretation to everyone else’s actions. It was published before Lownie’s Traitor King, which led to a re-evaluation of the Nazi sympathies of the couple, but even bearing in mind what was known before that Pasternak glosses over the pre-war visit to Hitler and the events surrounding it. It gives a lot of weight to Diana Mosley’s views on the Duchess – without giving the context of Mosley herself – married to the head of the British Fascists, who was friends with Hitler and wrote an incredibly partisan and gushing biography of her friend. The Anne Sebba is better on pre-war Wallis, the Lownie better on post war.
Talking of Diana Mosley, I have also read her book about The Duchess of Windsor and I cannot recommend it. My goodreads review from back in 2016 reads: “I was expecting this book to be partisan, but it was much, much more biased than I had expected… Worth reading only as a lesson to retain your critical faculties when you read any non-fiction book to remind yourself what the author’s objectives may be.” I need say no more.
Moving on… The Kings Loot by Richard Wallace is a look at the astonishing jewel collection that Edward bought for Wallis and the origins and provenance thereof. Like the Brian Inglis, it’s probably only one for the truly interested because the writing style is hard going. But there is some really interesting stuff in there about Edward VIII’s potential raiding of the royal jewellery hoard which had been gathered from colonising the world and marrying into various European royal families.
There are still a couple of books I’m yet to read – the Phillip Ziegler Edward biography and the Michael Bloch Wallis biography as well any of the Andrew Morton about Wallis. I’ve tried some of the Alan Lascelles diaries and never managed to get through them, but I may yet give them another go. I have the Larman that precedes Windsors at War on the Kindle as well. And of course it’s a source of endless fascination to historians, particularly in the current climate, so I’m sure there will be more in the pipeline…
I’m sorry! Too much skating, not enough reading . I’ve got three things part finished but nothing to write about today so I’m giving myself a pass this week. In the meantime, here are some of my favourite performances from last week that might have gone under the radar if you only watched the final groups of the competition:
Josefin Taljegard from Sweden absolutely nailing her skate to It’s All Coming Back To Me Now, skating second in the women’s free programme (after the first person fell five times) and getting a standing ovation from the crowd for her performance, musicality and emotion. And we didn’t give many ovations.
We’ve had a lot of Moulin Rouge routines over the year but nothing quite like The Finns and their slightly unhinged but very entertaining take on it (that’s them in the picture at the top taking their bow).
And finally, my prediction for a potential viral moment at the Olympics: if Tomas Llorenc can land the triple axel at the start of this Minions programme for in Milan it will take the roof off.
So I was off work last week, but I was also spending 7 hours a day watching figure skating, so not a lot of reading happened! It was a fabulous week though, it was amazing to see all the European skaters at their last competition before they head to Milan for the Olympics next month. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing and all the people sitting around me were great too. It all went very fast, and I can’t believe it’s over already. Normal reading should be resumed this week…
Honestly I really picked the wrong week to do the commute in to work daily (rather than staying down there for a few nights) and it was as very rude awakening for the post Christmas return to normality. Still that number of train delays means more reading time I guess? Anyway, I’m pleased with myself – I’ve read two of my January NetGalley books already and also a non-fiction book so I’m off to an alright start to the year really.
Favourite book: Tough to choose between Season of Love and Second Chance Romance
Books bought: lets not talk about it
Most read author: Really hard to say because there weren’t any repeats ths month except Georgette Heyer rereads. So lets say that
Books read in 2025: 381
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 829 at the end of the year, but has now gone down after the cull I mentioned in yesterday’s resolutions post.
I finished the year pretty strongly once I had finished off my last states I actually managed to read some Christmas books and get some more NetGalley books off the list too. I’ve already said a lot about 2025, so there’s not a lot more to say here for once. But as we are now well into January, it’s time to look forward!
Bonus picture: one last Christmas photo – from Liberty’s main hall, it’s the good ship Liberty!
*often includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – 6 this month!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 