books – Page 108 – Verity Reads Books (lots of them)

May Stats

June 2, 2015June 1, 2015 veritywilde

On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 462 (because I’ve added a whole load of series to the to-read list)

New books read this month: 35*

Books from the Library Book pile: 0

Books from the to-read pile: 4

Ebooks read: 10

Most read author: Janet Evanovich (by a country mile)

Books read this year: 154

Books bought: 26 paperbacks and 1 ebook

Abject failure on the New Year’s Resolutions front – no non fiction, or library books and I bought nearly 30 books. The Janet Evanovich obsession means I’ve fallen behind on the NetGalley list again, after working so hard to get back up to date – and wifi woes at home haven’t helped either. A must do better performance for sure.

NB – Book of the week will follow tomorrow – I don’t know why but two posts each a day late seemed better than one post 3 days late!

*Includes some short stories – 1 this month

books, stats

April Stats

May 1, 2015April 30, 2015 veritywilde

On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 445

New books read this month: 37*

Books from the Library Book pile: 4

Books from the to-read pile: 6

Ebooks read: 21

The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Café (Blog Tour)

April 10, 2015April 10, 2015 veritywilde

Well here we are, in a first for Verity Reads Books, I’m part of a blog tour. Isn’t this exciting! Today I welcome Jenny Oliver to the blog. She’s going to tell you why she loves the arrival of Spring, and then I’m going to tell you what I thought about The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Café – which is the first book in her new Cherry Pie Island series. So, over to Jenny:

Hurray it’s Spring!

Every season I think, ‘This is my favourite season!’ So naturally, right now, I’m thinking that Spring is my definite fave. Here’s my rational…

1. What could be better than a bright yellow flower with a trumpet that costs less than a pound a bunch? They’re happiness in a vase. Right by my parents’ house in Cornwall there are daffodil fields and I think I’m right in saying they leave them to bloom the first year after planting. Last year it was amazing to see this huge yellow field of happy little flowers.

2. This is not to say that I don’t love winter food – stews and casseroles and lasagnes – but I really love a good salad. I’m talking about crispy lettuce, maybe a bit of rocket, and some tiny new potatoes, crispy bacon, feta and lemon juice. Eaten sitting on our back step (because we don’t have a garden) with a glass of really lovely white wine.

3. The smell of the air when you walk out the door in the morning. The warmth of the sun mingling with the cold of the night, the scent of cut grass and daffodils and the sound of birds and cars and people getting up and starting their day happy because it’s not raining or cold!

4.Not wearing a coat! Don’t get me wrong, I really like my coat but after months of wearing it non-stop it’s a pleasure to walk out the house in only a jumper.

5. The knowledge that summer is just around the corner…

Thanks Jenny! Now on to my review…

Dandelion Café tells the story of Annie’s return to island that she grew up on to take over the family café. Annie’s got some issues, and she’s not thrilled to be back on Cherry Pie Island where everyone remembers (and won’t let her forget) her youthful mistakes and misadventures. But it does have the added bonus of Matt-the-millionaire (not the cliche that it sounds, trust me) who she had a massive crush on when she was at school.

Jenny Oliver manages to get a lot of plot into a short book, but it never feels rushed or forced. I got swept away in the world of the island and was rooting for it all to turn out right in the end. And for Annie’s brother to end up getting a dunking in the sea!

I read this on the way home from a nightshift (the last of three), desperately needing some light relief that wouldn’t overtax my frazzled, sleep-deprived brain. The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Café put a smile on my face (helping counteract the purple dark circles) and perked me up nicely. It also didn’t send me into the simmering rage that some partworks/serialisation-y type things do by ending on a cliff hanger which I can’t find out the resolution to for weeks/months/years.

There are some loose ends left at the end of this book – don’t get me wrong – and I need to find out what happens to them, but the main plot of this part of the series is resolved at the end, and the next book in the series is set up neatly – with the prospect of keeping track of how Annie gets on as the next story unfolds. And since reading Dandelion Café, I’ve been back and found a Jenny Oliver book that had been sitting in the Kindle backlog for a while (I’m not looking to see how long – I don’t want to know!) and read and enjoyed that too.

The Grand Reopening of Dandelion Cafe is available now from the usual e-book based outlets. My copy came from NetGalley – but I liked it so much I’ve shelled out my own money to pre-order the next in the series!

books, stats

March Stats

April 1, 2015April 1, 2015 veritywilde

On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 441

New books read this month: 32

Books from the Library Book pile: 1

Books from the to-read pile: 11

Ebooks read: 20

Most read author: tricky – I’m giving it to Charlaine Harris – because I read two complete books from here, and was more than half way through a third when we hit midnight last night (I also read 2 by Gail Carriger, R J Palacio and Jane Thynne)

Books read this year: 83

Books bought: 11 actual books and 3 ebooks

New Year’s Resolutions kept: 1 library book read, 1 non fiction (two if you count the Josh Sundquist) but I did buy the same number of actual books as I read, so the physical pile isn’t any shorter, and my NetGalley habit means the electronic one didn’t shrink as much as you’d hope either. Maybe I should have given up buying books for Lent rather than chocolate, sweets, crisps, cake and biscuits. Although knowing me that would just have resulted in a pre-ordering splurge on Shrove Tuesday and then a catch-up one on Easter Sunday!

Book of the Week, books, Children's books, Young Adult

Book of the Week: Wonder

March 24, 2015April 1, 2015 veritywilde

This week’s BotW is RJ Palacio’s Wonder. It was hands down my favourite book of last week’s reading – I was enjoying it so much I nearly took it to London when I went down for work at the weekend – even though it was a hardback library copy! And the first thing I did when I got home on Sunday afternoon was to curl up on the sofa and finish it.

Wonder is the story of Auggie – born with a terrible facial abnormality and starting school for the first time after years of home schooling. With multiple narrators, you see the world from his point of view and from those of the people around him as he tries to fit in and make friends and be “normal”.

If I could have read this in one sitting, I would have done (don’t you just hate it when real life gets in the way of reading?!), it’s that kind of book. It really is one of those novels where you fall in love with the characters and the world and don’t want to leave it behind. And you can insert my usual comment about the state of my to-read pile meaning I don’t get to good stuff soon enough – because this has been on my to-read list since it was mentioned in an Emerald Street mailing soon after it came out.

I need to get my own copy – firstly because my library copy didn’t have “The Julian Chapter” in the end of it and secondly because I want to lend it to my sister and my mum. And I want to read it again. It’s that sort of book. And don’t be put off by the fact that it’s a children’s/YA book if you don’t usually read that sort of thing. It’s really worth it.

You can get your copy of Wonder from Amazon, Kindle, Foyles, Waterstones etc. You won’t regret it.

Book of the Week, books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: Creature Comforts

March 3, 2015March 2, 2015 veritywilde

Regular readers to the blog will be unsurprised to discover that this week’s BotW is the new novel from Trisha Ashley. The first review on this blog (and one of the earliest posts) was of her last book Every Woman for Herself and I’ve been waiting eagerly for Creature Comforts ever since. And I managed to control myself – and read the book across three days, rather in one sitting.

Creature Comforts tells the story of Izzy, who returns to her childhood home of Halfhidden, after years travelling around the world. She’s just broken up with her fiancé Kieran and is looking for answers about a tragic accident she was involved in as a teenager. On top of that, she’s starting a new business and helping her friends with a plan to regenerate the village by getting more tourists in. And her aunt’s dog rescue centre is in a spot of bother – with money and with the new owner of the estate that owns the land…

I love the corner of Lancashire that Trisha Ashley has created – and Halfhidden is a great addition to it. I liked the dynamics of Izzy and her gang of friends – and there’s some fun supporting characters (as usual) who are quirky in a non-irritating way. The plot’s a good one too – as Izzy tries to discover what happened that fateful night. Trisha’s heroines always have a bit of baggage behind them to overcome – and I liked that Izzy’s wasn’t a husband/ex-partner as it so often is with books in this sort of genre. I also really empathised over her ex-fiancé – who reminded me of one of my ex-boyfriends* with his attitude towards her and her life.

As usual, after reading on of Trisha’s books, I wanted to go back and read the earlier ones – this is partly because there are always little references to them, enabling you to catch a glimpse of what’s going on with some of your old friends, and reminding you how much you enjoyed reading about their lives.

Creature Comforts is Trisha’s first book to get a hardback release – you can buy it on Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles and hopefully in stores too. The Kindle edition is available too and you can pre-order the paperback too if you can control yourself and wait until June.

*Although my exboyfriend didn’t cause me any of the trouble that Kieran causes Izzy!

books, stats

February Stats

March 1, 2015March 1, 2015 veritywilde

On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 440

New books read this Month: 31

Books from the Library Book pile: 2

Books from the to-read pile: 10

Ebooks read: 13

Most read author: Charlaine Harris (3 Harper Connellys)

Books read this year: 51

Books bought: 5

New Year’s Resolutions kept: 1 non fiction book, 2 library books and I bought less than I read from the pile. So some small progress there! And as you can see from the number of books I read in the shortest month of the year, nightshifts (train journeys and meal breaks with nothing to do but read) really do make a difference.

Book of the Week, books, non-fiction

Book of the Week: Her Brilliant Career

February 17, 2015February 17, 2015 veritywilde

This week’s BotW is a non-fiction book which has been on my to-read list since it was reviewed in hardback in the Sunday Times in October 2013 – and has been on the actual pile since soon after its paperback release in back in May. Which, to be honest, tells you all you need to know about the to-read pile…

But Rachel Cooke’s book – which is subtitled “Ten Extraordinary Women of the Fifties” – shouldn’t have languished on the pile for so long. It is really good. A series of essays about fascinating women that I’d never heard of, but who had lead fascinating and trailblazing lives. They’re not all tremendously likeable – Alison Smithson and her jumpsuit must have been very difficult to live with – but they all tried at least to live lives on their own terms, despite the constraints of the period.

Not the greatest photo I know, but I'm on nights - give me a break!

The ten women worked in different fields and had differing degrees of success, but they all did something. They challenge the idea that after the war women went back to the home until the sixties came along and shook everything up. As I said when I reviewed Viv Albertine’s autobiography, I can live my life the way that I do because of trailblazing women in the past who were prepared to put themselves out there and stand up and be counted in a way that I know that I would be afraid to do.

Rose Heilbron was my favourite of the women – the first female barrister, the first woman to lead a murder trial – and part of the group that changed rules about rape so that the complainant could remain anonymous and not have to answer questions about their sexual history. The pictures of her show that she also looked impossibly glamorous in her wig and gown. Attagirl.

But all the women’s lives are interesting – if not always happy. Nancy Spain, Joan Werner Laurie and Sheila Van Damme’s ménage sounds completely fraught. But it is gripping reading. You can get Her Brilliant Career from Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones and you can even listen on Audible. Don’t leave it as long as I did to get around to it.

Book of the Week, books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: Three Amazing Things About You

February 10, 2015February 9, 2015 veritywilde

This was so nearly last week’s book of the week – except that it didn’t get finished in time – and I can’t write a BotW post on something that isn’t over – after all it could all have gone terribly wrong in the last 100 pages. But it didn’t and it was still the best thing I read last week, even if I did finish it first thing on Monday (!) so here were are.

Jill Mansell’s latest book tells the story of Hallie, Flo and Tasha. At the start of the book we learn that Hallie has Cystic Fibrosis and is on the way to London for a possible transplant that could save her life. Hallie runs a website where she answers people’s problems – like an agony aunt (but in a good way) – and her correspondents tell her three things about them before they tell her their dilemma. As she travels to the hospital, she’s writing her three things – an explanation – revealing her identity and her situation, in case she doesn’t make it. Then we jump back to find out how we got to here…

The three stories intertwine in a way that I don’t really want to explain, except to say that it really works. I loved all the characters in this book. It made me laugh and it made me cry* and I think it may be my favourite of Jill Mansell’s books that I’ve read. It’s definitely an evolution from her novels that I’ve read – and its a really good evolution. I know I haven’t written a lot here – but I don’t want to give too much away. But if you like smart, funny books with a heart, then this may well be for you.

Three Amazing Things About You is out now in hardback and ebook. You can pick up a copy at all the usual place – and the supermarkets too – or if you can’t wait here are some links – Foyles, Waterstones, Kindle or my shop in My Independent Bookshop (which send money to my local indie)

* Luckily I have learnt from the Rabbit Hayes experience, and I did my crying on the sofa at home, not on the train!

Book Club, books, fiction, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: The Ship

February 3, 2015February 3, 2015 veritywilde

So. I have joined a book group*. Or rather I have been allowed to join a book group (thanks Curtis Brown!) and this week’s BotW is our book group read from January.

Antonia Honeywell’s first novel, The Ship, tells the story of a future where the world has descended into chaos – the food has run out, natural resources are exhausted, where people routinely disappear without trace, and you can only continue to exist if your identity card remains valid – forcing you to jump through hoops to keep it up to date. Lalla has grown up sheltered and protected by her father – who has been assembling a new life for them as her mother shows her around the British Museum. But when the new life – on board a former cruise ship where her father has had picked all the other residents – gets underway, Lalla grows uneasy – about her future and their destination.

Antonia Honeywell's The Ship — Isn’t the cover gorgeous? I would definitely pick it up in a shop

Now I’m not usually a big reader of dystopian future novels. I studied The Handmaid’s Tale at A-level – and read Brave New World, Children of Men and 1984 alongside that – but it’s not an area of fiction that I tend to pick up. But I really, really enjoyed this. It’s taut and full of suspense and keeps the reader guessing all the way through. It leads the reader with questions – and it provoked a lot of debate at the (online) book group.

I don’t really want to say too much else about the book – because it’ll spoil it for you, but it’s definitely worth a read. It paints a very believable picture of a possible future – but it’s one that I sincerely hope never comes to pass. There are interesting characters – with flaws and secrets for the reader to uncover. One of the blurbs describes it as Hunger Games meets Handmaid’s Tale – and I think I could get on board with that as a broad summary of what is a really interesting and complex book.

It has a beautiful cover – but I know that if I’d picked this up in the bookshop and brought it home it would have spent a long time sitting on the shelf waiting to be read – as I’m terrible for picking “light” fiction over books I perceive as harder work. But the book group deadline meant I read this – and I really enjoyed it. So clearly externally imposed deadlines will work on me – in a way that targets I set myself don’t!

Anyway, The Ship is out in Hardback on February 19th – preorder it on Kindle, from Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones.

*If you’re thinking that it’s odd that I’m not already in a book group, I work a job that has a 24/7 rota pattern making being able to be free on a specific night hard to guaranteed, and I live 80 miles away from where I work, which means I have a long commute – and friends split between home and work. It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare…

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