Category: books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 31 – November 6

veritywilde

Check it out! I’ve finished some of those long running books. I finally had some time at home with the physical books. And I would have done even better, except that I had a migraine on Thursday last week that basically led to me sleeping for 16 hours and spending as much time as possible in a darkened room. I have another busy week coming up this week, but I am optimistic.

Read:

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph*

My Evil Mother by Margaret Atwood

Dashing through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews

Drumsticks by Charlotte Carter

Murder at the Manor by Catherine Coles

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra*

Started:

Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett*

On the Hustle by Adriana Herrera*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan*

I don’t think I actually bought anything this week. Unless I bought something I have forgotten about, there’s no evidence of purchases in my inbox either.

Bonus photo: in a massive role reversal, I went to listen to my parents play in a concert with their band on Sunday night. They spent many years coming and listening to me playing with school bands, county bands and community bands and now it’s my turn to watch them! They both took up an instrument when they stopped working full time – and it was really cool to see them in action.

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

books, previews

New Phryne Fisher…

veritywilde

As the title says – there is a new Phryne Fisher book! Murder in Williamstown came out in Australia and New Zealand this week. It doesn’t have a UK release date yet – in fact Amazon.co.uk doesn’t even admit it exists at the moment, but it’s a great opportunity to remind you of how much I love Kerry Greenwood’s 1920s Lady Detective via my recent Phryne reread post as well as my original series I love post. Enjoy!

books, stats

October Stats

veritywilde

Books read this month: 31*

New books: 25

Re-reads: 6 (all books)

Books from the to-read pile: 7

NetGalley books read: 5

Kindle Unlimited read: 7

Ebooks: 11

Library books: 0

Audiobooks: 0

Non-fiction books: 2

Favourite book this month: Probably Killers of a Certain Age

Most read author: Charlaine Harris – because of the Harper Connelly reread

Books bought: 6 ebooks plus another ebook preorder, and about 3 actual books

Books read in 2022: 320

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 652

A month that started with a holiday and plenty of reading time and had a rocky patch in reading terms in the middle but got back on track at the end of the month with a weekend away in Kent and some extra reading time! Interestingly I only realised putting this together that although I have listened to several audio books this month, they’re all ones that I’ve already counted once this year…

Bonus picture: a two holiday/trip month – here’s another picture from Sicily at the start of October!

*Usually includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels – although this month it doesn’t!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 24 – October 30

veritywilde

So as you’ll see, there is a massive Harper Connelly binge as the start of the week and a weekend away at the end of it. And I still managed to get some other stuff read and made progress on the long runners even if you can’t tell that from the list. So it’s a net yay me. And this is the end of October, so we have all the usual things coming up this week for your delectation.

Read:

Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris

Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris

Ice Cold Grave by Charlaine Harris

Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris

The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Willis Crofts

Rooted in Deceit by Wendy Tyson

Some Hauntings Never Go Out of Fashion by Rose Betancourt

When Stars Collide by Susan Elizabeth Philips

Started:

Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan*

Dashing through the Snowbirds by Donna Andrews

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra*

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

One book bought – but I was going on holiday so it’s practically a requirement!

Bonus photo: some monastic ruins and historic buildings out the back of Canterbury Cathedral cloister. I love a good cathedral.

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

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 17 – October 23

veritywilde

So I spent five nights away from home last week. Five. And that’s probably all you need to know about why the list looks like it does. Still I achieved a lot in the real world – even if I didn’t in the actual reading – so I can’t be cross with myself. I even know what I’m writing about tomorrow already so that’s a bonus too.

Read:

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton

A Mansion for Murder by Frances Brody

Double Dip by Gretchen Archer

Cherry Ames: Boarding School Nurse by Helen Wells

Heartstopper: Vol 3 by Alice Oseman

Started:

The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Willis Crofts

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra*

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph*

The Empire by Michael Ball*

I went to Foyles and bought two books – including that new Kate Shackleton that i mentioned on Friday and have now finished. I also picked up the new Marian Keyes because it was a Kindle deal on Sunday. Apart from that, I’ve been very restrained!

Bonus photo: two bonuses this week – here’s me and my friends out playing mini golf on Tuesday – swipe through to see me celebrating and possible the best photo of me in half a decade. And then check out the flowers I got at the school I visited as a speaker at their careers day on Friday!

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

books

Books Incoming: October Edition

veritywilde

A real bumper crop this month, undoing all the good that I did by being restrained last month. There are two main factors at play here – firstly all the books that I had asked the comic book store to get in for me came in at once – that’s the left hand side. Then we have what I’m going to call the Shingles impulse purchasing as what I thought were insect bites had already appeared when I bought myself Death and the Brewery Queen in Waterstone’s Picadilly and then the Ali Hazelwood, Catriona McPherson and Jacqueline Winspear were all bought when I was on my sickbed ad feeling sorry for myself! And I’ve already read three of the four…

If you take those eight out of the equation, what you have left are two preorders – Blonde and Vera Kelly, two airport purchases (the Richard Osman and the Richard E Grant) and two purchases because I wanted them. Which would have been a reasonable month. So it’s all totally fine and explicable. Nothing to see here. Carry on.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 10 – October 16

veritywilde

Well I’m making some progress on some of the long runners, but the first week back from holiday has been a super busy one. But it always is. And I don’t think this week coming is going to be any calmer. But we will see.

Read:

April Lady by Georgette Heyer

Murder at the Theatre Royale by Ada Montcrieff*

A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone*

A Dancer from the Abbey by Elsie J Oxenham

Fangirl Vol 2 by Rainbow Rowell and Sam Maggs

Started:

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra*

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph*

Did I buy anything this week? I don’t think I did. So that’s something right?

Bonus photo: back on my walk through Fitzroy Square after the holiday!

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

books

Books in the wild: Sicily!

veritywilde

The other thing that happens when I go on holiday, is that I have a look in the bookshops there to see what I can spot in translation – so for an extra treat this week, here are my Sicilian spots!

Super easy to start with – here’s former BotW The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood and Netflix sensation (that I’m currently working my way through) Heartstopper. I haven’t read the Elena Armas – but she’s another of the TikTok/BookTok authors – this one is The Spanish Love Deception.

Next up we have a string of former Books of the Week – starting with T J Klune’s The House in the Cerulean Sea, which I recommended to someone only last week. I also spotted the newest Klune adult novel as well – which reminded me that I really need to get hold of that at some point. I must keep an eye open next time I’m in Foyles/a big Waterstones.

Then we have Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston which a friend messaged me about the other day to say how much he was enjoying it – which meant I was able to recommend a whole bunch of other books to him on an if you like… then this basis. And you can also see One Last Stop nestled next to it – which as I mentioned on Wednesday is 99p this month.

Then we have Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners, which I think is the first time I’ve spotted one of their books on holiday, but you know me, I forget things. I’ve written a lot about Christina Lauren – but this one is in their sweet spot for me – a fake relationship romance that doesn’t have the pranks/meanness issues that I have with say Dating You/Hating you.

And finally this is the one that I keep seeing but haven’t read yet – What if it’s Us by Becky Albertalli (Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda) and Adam Silvera. The second book in this series is in the Kindle offers this month, but you know me and reading sequels before the original. I don’t like it and I won’t do it and I won’t suggest you do it either. Anyway, this is suddenly everywhere – I saw both of them in Foyles when I was in there the other month, but ended up buying Piglettes instead – and now it’s coming up in my suggestions on goodreads and amazon. It must be a sign right?

Anyway the big thing I noticed this holiday was how many of the english translation books are now keeping their English cover art in their translated editions – this might be an italian thing that’s been going on a while, but it definitely wasn’t how it’s been in Spain when I’ve been looking there both before and after the pandemic – or in France last time I was there (which was pre-pandemic times). So I will keep an eye next time we go anywhere to see if this is now A Thing.

books

Books in the wild: Gatwick airport

veritywilde

We’ve been on holiday – so of course this means I’ve got some more airport bookshop pix to report for all of you who like to leave your holiday book purchases to the last minute and want to see what you might be able to pick up.

Lets start with the chart – because the number one book is one half of my purchases at the airport! I’ve written about how much I like Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, but as I said yesterday, if you haven’t already read the first two, don’t start on book three!

Next up is the new non fiction shelf which has the other half of my Buy 1 get 1 Half Price offer – Richard E Grant’s memoir. There’s also the Edward Enninful autobiography which I read the other week, and the Lucy Worsley Agatha Christie biography that I have waiting on the pile.

I own three books on the last shelf, but I have even more on here: We have the paperback of The Christie Affair (on offer this month as mentioned in the Kindle deal post), two Taylor Jenkins Reid’s: Malibu Rising and Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Love on the Brain.

But the record goes to this one: the latest TJR, which you all know I’m still reading, but also Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Lessons in Chemistry, Murder Before Evensong and Twist of the Knife (the latest Hawthorn mystery). All of which adds up to the fact that it’s getting increasingly hard for me to buy books at the airport, because all the stuff that is in my wheelhouse is stuff that I’ve already read or bought! This is good news for my poor long suffering partner, who puts up with my huge piles of books and hardly ever rolls his eyes at my acquisitions, but slightly less good for me!

Happy weekend everyone.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: October 3 – October 9

veritywilde

We’ve been on holiday! This is a slightly shorter list than usual for a holiday week, but to be honest I was so beaten down by September that I slept a lot when we weren’t sightseeing. I did however get a few of those long running books finished and made progress on a few more.

Read:

The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston

Godemersham Park by Gill Hornby*

I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson

Treacherous is the Night by Anna Lee Huber

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman

Another Time, Another Place by Jodi Taylor

A Decline in Prophets by Sulari Gentill

Started:

The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatio Sancho by Paterson Joseph*

A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra*

Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

Just the one ebook purchase from my sun lounger!

Bonus photo: beautiful Sicily. What else could it be.

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