I have enjoyed this book so much – and contrary to my usual views about serialisations (and to my sleep-addled pleas after Part 1 of A Place For Us) I’ve really enjoyed having to wait for the next part, as it’s forced me to make the book last. As a fast reader, when I find something I like, I gobble it up as quickly as possible – then it’s over. As someone who finished each of the last 4 Harry Potter books by early afternoon the day that they came out, I can attest that this can leave you with a very long wait to find out what happened next and a sense of regret that it was over too soon. But reading something spaced out over a period of time gives you a different perspective than eating it up in a big rush. And this is a book that I would definitely have read in a hurry. I was desperate to find out what happened next and how it was all going to work out.
The end of Part 2 left us with another major plot development. Part 3 throws everything up in the air again – so that it falls down in different places and leaves the reader with some answers – but most of the characters are still in the dark. Part 4 puts everything back together and by the end you can see the family walking forwards into a new future.
And I can’t say much more than that about the plot – because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone – particularly as part of the joy of this for me was not knowing where this was going and how everything was going to link up together. Also because the book is going to be published as a proper book in early 2014, anything I say in this post is giving spoilers for the second half of the book – which I try not to do with books I’m reviewing.
This books has such a large cast of characters it is hard to pick a favourite. Instead I’ll say that I liked the Grandchildren strands the best – if I was forced to pick – but it’s a really tough choice, because every part of the plot has something about it that makes me think that I like that one best. Certainly the book wouldn’t be as good as it is if any one of them was missing.
This is a different sort of book from Harriet Evans I think. I’ve read a couple of her books in the past (and as is standard for me, I have a couple waiting to be read as well) and although I enjoyed them and recommend them – I wouldn’t have lent them to my mum. This one I would. And that’s because she loves big family sagas spread across time – and even though this one is mostly set in the present so much of the story is because of what happened in the past. I keep wanting to mention Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles in connection with this book and I can’t quite pin down why – except that they are both books about extended families with secrets which switch between characters as the stories continue and where a house is almost a character in its own right.
Anyway, if you haven’t started reading A Place For Us, you should try it – and now all four parts are available you won’t have the agonising wait that I did between parts 1 to 3 (the holiday meant I got to part 3 a bit later than intended and was able to go straight on to Part 4). If you want a proper book copy – it’s not out until January 15th next year, which is a shame as I probably have bought it for my sister for her Christmas book if I could have done. Here are the links to the kindle versions of Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4. I got the first three parts through NetGalley (in return for an honest review) but bought myself Part 4 because I was so desperate to know how it all worked out.
As you know, I don’t write reviews here for everything that I’ve read – for a variety of reasons including the fact that I read too much stuff for that, I have one of those full time jobs people talk about (and it’s shift work to boot), I have a theatre habit to maintain etc. If you to know exactly what I’m reading – right-this-instant – find me on Goodreads and you too can know what page I’m on of my latest book(s). But sometimes there’s stuff that I’ve enjoyed, that I haven’t had a chance to mention on here – whether it’s because it’s not new, or because it hasn’t fit in with what I’m writing about, etc, so here’s me redressing the balance, with a few things that I’ve read recently – that I’ve enjoyed and would recommend.
You may have noticed from last month’s stats (and the weekly reading lists) that I’ve been on a bit of a Charlaine Harris reading jag at the moment. Having finished the Sookie Stackhouse books, I’m working my way through both the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard series and have the first Harper Connelly book in the Harper Connelly series on the pile too. I like them because they don’t really require much brain power – perfect for nightshift Verity – although the pre-Sookie series can be a bit old-fashioned/outdated in patches, and her sex scenes can be a bit… clunky. Lily Bard is definitely the darkest series of hers that I’ve read so far, but it’s still not exactly horror territory. Which is good because I get nightmares easily! If you haven’t read any Harris – start with Sookie: it’s my favourite and although I know a lot of the die hard fans were unhappy with the final resolution, I was fine with the way it worked out in the end. Although I could’ve done without the final sex scene!
If you’re after something contemporary and you’ve read all the Charlaine Harris you can take (or you’re not a fan), thanks to NetGalley I got my hands on a copy of No Weddings – the first in a new series by Kat Bastion and Stone Bastion. Focussing on bar owner and entrepreneur Cade and his attraction to cake baker Hannah – one of the suppliers to his new party business. It’s steamy rather than romantic (so far at least) and if it’s a bit of a cliche to have lots of privileged rich twentieI enjoyed it – it was a bit different to my usual thing – and I have the second book in the series, One Funeral, waiting for me on my Kindle.
Meanwhile, I think I’ve read all of the Angela Thirkell’s that Virago Modern Classics has re-released. This makes me sad – because I want to read more and yet I want my copies to match the ones that I already have. They’re inter-war set comedies – I mentioned Summer Half in my post about School-set books and I’ve really enjoyed the six that I’ve read. They remind me of Nancy Mitford, but with some of the harder, darker edges taken off or the Provincial Lady diaries but with more characters and wider plots. If Virago could see fit to release some more in their delicious retro-but-modern covers that would be lovely. Otherwise I’m going to have to start trawling the second hand stalls for them – but I know that as soon as I start doing that, Virago will decide to bring out more!
Alexander McCall Smith is one of those authors who is really prolific, but who has somehow passed me by a bit. I mentioned in my Scottish books post that I had 44 Scotland Street on the shelf waiting to be read, and inspired by the referendum I finally got around to picking it up and I really enjoyed it. The second book was a naughty purchase the other week, and it’s waiting for me on my to-read pile. I’ve tried the Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency before and not got on with it, so I’m going to try some other series of his before I go back to that one and see how I get on. As for 44 Scotland Street, it’s a bit like Tales of the City, except set in Edinburgh and with less bathhouses.
So, there you are – a snapshot of some of my recent reading – the only trouble is, I keep discovering new series that I like and then buying more of them, which of course doesn’t help reduce the pile…
Today’s review is Hester Browne’s latest book The Honeymoon Hotel – which was out last week in the UK and I’m reviewing today because NetGalley was showing the US release date and I didn’t realise…
I’ll start by saying that Hester Browne creates the sort of characters and lives that I love. I adored Melissa/Honey from the Little Lady Agency* and Evie from Vintage Girl (or Swept Off Her Feet depending on when you bought it) is a hoot. Browne also creates worlds that I wish I could be a part of – a bit posh, filled with glamour and balls and parties but in a subtle, achievable way – you can believe that you too could be part of a world like that with a bit of luck and hard work (and better networking skills).
The Honeymoon Hotel is the story of Rosie, who at the start of the novel is unceremoniously left at the altar**, and her life as an events coordinator (mostly weddings) at a posh, glamorous, retro-in-a-Golden-Age-of-Hollywood way hotel in London. She’s angling for a promotion, but her plans are thrown off track by the arrival of the owner’s son Joe to learn the business…
I *really* enjoyed The Honeymoon Hotel – once again, Browne has created a world that you believe in and characters that you buy into – I was rooting for Rosie all the way through and wanted it to turn out “right” for her. I’m quite a shy person in real life and not good with crowds of strange people, but I found myself thinking “Oooh. Hotel events planning, that sounds like so much fun” as I read about Rosie’s job at the hotel. I loved the supporting characters as well, and although he gave me the pip at first, as I got to know him I really liked Joe. I would liked to have find out more about his dad Lawrence (and what he was up to when he kept disappearing) and I wanted a little bit more comeuppance for one character who shall remain nameless in the interests of avoiding spoilers.
If you haven’t read any of Hester Browne’s books before, this might be an ideal place to start – a quirky and interesting set up, an engaging central character and a cast of characters that all seem perfectly real and plausible. I could have read about them for twice as long – and could happily have coped with another chapter or an epilogue of what happened next.
My copy of The Honeymoon Hotel came from Netgalley in return for an honest review – although I’ll probably buy myself a copy of the paperback so that I can put it on an actual shelf next to her other books! You can buy Honeymoon Hotel from all the usual suspects like Foyles,Waterstones, on Kindle, if you’re in the US on Amazon.com or in a new twist, you can buy it through my page on My Independent Book Shop so a portion of the sale goes to an independent book shop near me – and where you can also buy other books that I’ve reviewed recently. I’m hoping that Honeymoon Hotel will be widely available in the supermarkets as well and that it will do really well.
* It’s a measure of how much I love Hester Browne’s characters, voice and world that I’m still coming back despite my disappointment with the third Little Lady book. Although I will say that the first book appeared at a time when I wanted a boyfriend who didn’t make me sleep in a tent for holidays or sneer at my theatre habits and in consequence I possibly over-identified and over-invested in the central relationship, and so the third book pushed me into a rant on the scale of certain elements of the True Blood fans at the end of that series.
**The regulars amongst you will notice that this is my second book in a week featuring a hotel with a worker who was jilted. You wait ages for a book about a hotel and then… etc
Now I know that not everyone is like me in having a to-read pile a mile high, so if you’re in the market for some more reading material – here are some of my favourite bargain deals around at the moment.
If you haven’t read Jane Lovering’s Please Don’t Stop The Music yet – where have you been? It was the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year in 2012 and it’s only 99p on Kindle this month.
Christina Jones is another of my favourite authors – and the older parts of her back catalogue are being republished as e-books at the moment. My backlog is such that I haven’t managed to read them all yet – but I did really enjoy Tickled Pink a few weeks back – £1.53 on the Kindle at the moment
Previously reviewed on the blog, Trisha Ashley’s Every Woman for Herself is currently £1.49 for Kindle – I loved it, if you haven’t read any of Trisha’s books before, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start (although my favourite is still A Winter’s Tale which is a fairly bargainous £1.99). If you want a paperback Trisha fix, the paperback of Good Husband Material is available on sale for £2.99 on The Works’ site – which leads me nicely onto…
If you’re an M C Beaton fan, The Works have a selection of her books including Hamish Macbeth, Agatha Raisin and some of her historical romances for around £2 or £3 and a bundle of five Hamish books for £7.99 here.
Also on The Works website there are all three of Carola Dunn’s 1960s set Cornish mysteries for £2.99- ideal if you want a bit of cozy crime for your autumn nights – the first in the series is Manna from Hades.
I’m a big Lucy Dillon fan – and The Works have several of her books – not only A Hundred Pieces of Me – which I read and adored earlier in the year in the pre-blog era (you can see my rave review on Goodreads here) – but also Walking Back to Happiness and Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts – all for less than £3 each.
And the goodies just keep coming on the Works site (and they’re doing 6 for £10 so you can really splurge) with Laurie Graham’s A Humble Companion. I love her books – although my favourite Gone with the Windsors is hard to get hold of – and this was her 2012 book which is an insider look at the Royal Household during the time of George III. Well worth a look.
I’m hoping this list has something to tempt you – if you’re heading to the supermarket this weekend, I’m hoping some of the new releases I’ve reviewed recently will be in their deals – certainly Daisy Goodwin’s The Fortune Hunter should be. I did try to find out what the deals were this week in WH Smith, but drew a blank. If you spot any good bargains you think I might like – post them in the comments below!
Edited – I originally posted that Gone with the Windsors was out of print, I’ve since found some copies in some places – so I’ve upgraded it to hard to get hold of. It’s definitely not on Kindle though, which is a big loss.
I did try and work out what the book in question might be (and failed spectacularly) and settled down to wait for the package, which duly arrived bearing a copy of The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau – which is out today in its shiny English language edition. With the author name and the subject matter, I was surprised to find that this is a novel in translation from the German – not from French. I went looking because I would have loved to have read this in French back in my university days when I had to review a French language book a term (my choices back in those pre-e book days tended to involve dry French classics which I struggled through and did not enjoy).
So, a plot summary: Alain owns and runs Cinema Paradis – an arthouse cinema in Paris. He is a man after Mark Kermode’s heart – his cinema doesn’t sell popcorn and he has strict rules about the sort of films that he’ll show. He’ll also do anything for his customers – particularly one of his regulars – a woman in a red coat. But just after he eventually plucks up the courage to ask her out, she unexpectedly vanishes just as his cinema gets a new lease of life…
This book reminded me in some ways of one of my favourite French films – Amelie. It’s fun, it’s quirky, it’s almost ridiculous in places and the city of Paris is practically a character in its own right. Despite Quercus’ tweet, I’d say it’s more about films and acting than it is about theatre – and it’s about secrets and coincidences as well. The Secret Paris Cinema Club is a little gem of a romantic comedy, which will bring a smile to your face as autumn arrives. It’s also chock full of film references and quotes – I’m sure I didn’t spot them all – and it’s given me some really good ideas for French films to watch.
This book wasn’t on my radar until I won a copy from Quercus – but it brightened up my commute during nightshift week and I’m hoping that it’ll find an audience beyond sleep-deprived Francophile chick flick fans. You can find the Secret Paris Cinema Club here and on Kindle here – and if you’re in the US be aware it was published as One Evening In Paris in the States.
We’re off schedule again people… But this time I’m properly rested and hopefully coherent (at least until nightshifts start again tonight). It is, of course, because of the nights that we’re departing from the schedule – I didn’t realise that Part 2 was nearly here until I saw someone else review it… Anyhow we left A Place for Us with me begging to find out what happened next in a slightly sleep deprived manner, after the end of Part 1 dropped a fairly major bombshell on the reader.
Well, what can I say. In Part 2 the bombshell is unloaded onto the rest of the characters – along with a few other secrets – and then we’re left on another cliff hanger. Honestly, this serialisation malarkey isn’t good for my blood pressure. There. That’s all I can say about the plot without giving too much away. Except that we learn more about the characters – and in particular the absent Daisy.
I am desperate to know what happens next (again) and Harriet Evans has surprised me with some of the twists and turns we’ve had in this second part. She’s also written a novel which (so far) seems to really lend itself to being broken up into chunks to torment the reader. I think this part is shorter than part one – but it’s packed with character development, plot movement and surprises so you don’t notice. I’m very excited about part three – because based on what’s happened so far, I’m fairly sure I have no idea what’s going to happen next.
A Place for Us Part 2 is here for Kindle and if you haven’t read Part 1 then you really should. I’m off to make a note in my diary about the release date for part 3 (25 September).
Anyone who has read my review of Part One of Harriet Evans’ latest novel will know that I’m not the best candidate to read serialisations, or stories in parts, but when this popped up in my timeline as being available on Netgalley I snapped it up as I’ve seen a lot of good things about Ivy Lane which is a serialised novel from Cathy Bramley.
And I enjoyed it as I read it on the train in to work. It’s light and easy to read – which is exactly what you want at 4.30 in the morning (don’t ask) and it zips along at a nice pace. I like the characters that have been introduced and the setting and Tilly is an engaging female lead. My only grip – if it is one – is that I don’t know what Tilly’s secret is (I can’t be more specific than that without giving away plot points) and it’s starting to feel a little dragged out. But that just be me and my need to know!
This is the sort of book that I’d usually leave until all four parts have been released to sample – so that if I like it I can read my way through the whole lot and find out the resolution. But if you can cope with the waiting better than me, then the anticipation may be just what you’re looking for and this series will be a nice treat for you to dip into as the seasons pass and the new instalments appear.
Ivy Lane: Spring is available here from Amazon and Summer is also already available. Autumn is due on September 4 and Winter at the start of November.
I am not a good candidate for serialisations. I am your classic binge reader – find me something I like and I’ll gorge on it until there is nothing left. I don’t like having to wait. Anticipation is not my friend. I count myself as anticipated out after waiting to find out what happened next in Harry Potter for years at a time from the end of Chamber of Secrets onwards.
I’m writing this on my phone, on a train in the early hours of the morning because I’ve just finished the first part of Harriet Evans new book which I was pre-approved for on Netgalley and I need to know what happens next. Now. Preferably about 10 minutes ago.
Part one of this serialisation has set up a cast of characters designed to captivate, has dangled enough clues about secrets to tantilise and then FOUR sentences from the end dropped a great big enormous bombshell and then left me hanging. To quote one of my favourite TV shows (involving a Miss B Summers of Sunnydale, California) Inquiring minds need to know. And this one needs to know now.
A Place for Us (so far) is the story of three generations of the Winter family who have been summoned to the family home for Martha the matriarch’s 80th birthday party. Previously very close, the family has fractured apart and during part one we get to know them – find out who they are and some of what they’re hiding, and guess at other secrets as yet unrevealed. Then, at the end of Part 1, we find out the bombshell that is about to be dropped at the party (or at least I think we do, unless it’s a masterpiece of misdirection) and your brain starts frantically trying to work out what happens next – and whether this will bring them closer together or send them spiralling further apart – because although this secret is huge, there are lots of other things lurking beneath the surface too.
I’ve read a couple of Harriet Evans’ books before and enjoyed them. She mentions Georgette Heyer (always a good way to my heart) and I like her heroines. This book has so many characters I don’t know who is my favourite yet, but I want to read more so I can decide! (I hope my message is getting through, though I fear it may sound like the deranged rantings of a sleep-deprived woman, it’s not. Honest. I just Need To Know). If the rest of the book lives up to this first part (of FOUR – how am I going to cope with this?!) I believe then it is going to be a great read (and possibly somewhat epically long) and deserves to be gobbled up by fans of Harriet Evans and new readers alike.
It’s Thursday morning and I’ve re-read my rantings from last night before publishing. I don’t think I sound too crazy. I’m hoping I sound enthusiastic and excited about the book rather than plain loopy, although I fear it’s a fine line. But I didn’t want to alter too much of my post – because this was my genuine response to finishing Part One of the book. And it was 1am, on a train, at the end of a 10 hour shift and that sort of sleep-deprived creativity cannot be faked!
I always feel a sense of trepidation when I hear that a book or series that I like is being turned into a film or a TV series. There have been some notable successes, but equally a number of failures too. When I analyse it, I tend to prefer the adaptations where I’ve read the book after watching the TV show or movie. So here for your delectation are some of my hits and misses.
Miss Marple
To me, Joan Hickson was perfect
I’m fairly sure that I watched the Joan Hickson Miss Marple adaptations before I started reading the books. I was 10 when I first watched them (as mentioned in my post on Lord Peter Wimsey), twenty years on I still love them wholeheartedly – and actually have a fair few of them on my TiVo box which I watch whilst ironing. My favourites are Body in the Library, A Murder Is Announced, The 4.50 from Paddington and Nemesis (despite the fact that the murdered girl is called Verity!). I’ve only seen a couple of ITV’s “Marple” adaptations – and I’ve loathed them – not only do they change the plot and sometimes even the murderer, but they are utterly unnecessary considering the perfection of the 1980s adaptations.
Hercule Poirot
David Suchet gets it pretty much spot on
Moving from one Agatha Christie creation to another – I think my first encounter with the little Belgian detective was David Suchet’s audiobook version of Murder on the Orient Express, although I may have read a book or two first. I think this means I was predisposed to like his TV version – and I forgive it the tweaks and alterations. I don’t rewatch these the way I do with the Miss Marples, but if one happens to come on, I won’t turn it off. I also love the film of Murder on the Orient Express with its starry cast and gorgeous music by Richard Rodney Bennett (if you’ve never heard it, spare a few minutes to watch the wonderful Proms performance below) – a rare occasion of my liking two different adaptations of the same property!
Pride and Prejudice
My much-loved TV tie-in edition of Pride and Prejudice
I started reading the book after I’d watched the first episode of the legendary BBC adaptation with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. I’d finished the book by the time the second episode aired. Because I read it that way around, Ehle and Firth were Lizzie and Darcy in my head from the start – and that’s where so often it goes wrong with adaptations for me – when the actors just don’t look like the image you have in your head of the characters. I’ve never managed to get past the first 15 minutes of the Keira Knightley/Matthew Macfadyen version – possibly because I’m so attached to the 1995 adaptation and it’s so fixed in my head.
Harry Potter
German hardback Harry on Chamber of Secrets doesn’t look like Radcliffe
The “image in your head” issue is at the heart of the problem with Harry Potter. My sister was very angry when the first film came out – she wasn’t pleased with Daniel Radcliffe, but her bigger problem was Emma Watson – “Hermione’s not meant to be pretty and she’s about as convincingly plain as Rachel Leigh Cook is in She’s All That”. I agreed – and there are also parts of the books that I’m sentimentally attached to that are left out (the last lines of Prisoner of Azkaban for a start – “He was my mum and dad’s best friend. He’s a convicted murderer, but he’s broken out of wizard prison and he’s on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though … keep up with news … check if I’m happy.”).
The look of the trio definitely “evolves” once the films start
But of course for children reading the book now (or anytime in the last decade) that’s not a problem – you can’t avoid the film versions, so you’re unlikely to have the same strong mental image of what Harry et al look like that those of us who were fans of the books before the movies appeared. I read Harry in French and German to improve my vocabulary (for degree and A-Level respectively) and it’s noticeable that the cover illustrations of Harry grow more like Daniel Radcliffe as the books go by. On a side issue, I’m still sad that children now won’t experience Harry we (my sister and I) did – today, if you read the first one and like it, you can read all the way through to the end of the series. Never again will you have to wait a year to find out what happens next, or worry about how it’ll end.
Phryne Fisher
Book Phryne…
Back on the literary adaptations, we move on to the inspiration for this post. I love the Phryne Fisher books – but I have serious issues with the TV adaptations. I have to try to view them as completely separate entities or I get ragey. Very ragey. In the books, Phryne is in her late 20s, solves murders and gets a lot of action in the bedroom department. She has two adopted daughters, Mr and Mrs Butler to run her house, her regular man (or as regular as any) is Lin Chung and she unofficially assists the happily married policeman Jack Robinson. In the TV series, she still solves murders. The actress playing Phryne is at least a decade too old (although, to be fair, she is a good actress and does her best), one of her daughters and Mrs Butler have disappeared, Lin Chung appears in one episode (and looks young enough to be Phryne’s son), they’re trying to work up a love interest with Jack Robinson (who is divorced from the daughter of a police bigwig) and Phryne’s lesbian socialist sister has been replaced with Miriam Margolyes as an uptight class conscious aunt. On the plus side, the costumes and locations are gorgeous, although there have been some really shonky wigs.
…TV Phryne
I appreciate that for a family audience you can’t get away with what you can in a book, but the two are so different that it sometimes seems that the only thing they have in common is the names of some of the characters! One of the reasons for my recent Phryne re-read was to banish the memory of the second series of the TV series – which I mostly watched whilst yelling at the TV over the character changes and the narrative alterations, much to the amusement of The Boy. Still, so far, I’ve managed to keep my own mental image of Phryne going without it being overwritten with the TV version – I credit my rage for this!
So, there you have it. Three good, and two not so good. A couple of other snapshots for you: I found the TV version of The Handmaid’s Tale deeply disappointing when we watched it during A-Levels, but I like the first Bridget Jones film (the second was a bit of a let down, but then the book isn’t as good either). The Boy is a big fan of HBO’s True Blood and I’ve almost finished reading the books. We have fun comparing the plots of the two – which seem to differ wildly (Typical conversation: Him “Has the governor appeared yet?” Me: “What governor?” Him “He does experiments on Vampires and starts poisoning True Blood” Me: “That’s not in the book!”). I’m also working my way through the Inspector Alleyn series – both the books and the TV adaptations (the latter being classic ironing fodder) and the jury is still out on those.
I’ve got the TV version of Tales of the City waiting to be watched next time I do some ironing so that I can see how it compares to the books and I’m currently debating whether to go to see The Fault in our Stars at the cinema – but that’s not so much because I’m worried it’ll upset my mental image of the characters, but because I’m not sure I can handle all that crying again so soon after the book – and this time in public!
If you’ve got any literary adaptations that you love or loathe – or think I ought to watch, leave your comments below!
A few friends have already asked me for ideas for books for their summer holidays, so I thought now might be the time to come up with a proper set of recommendations for holiday reads. It is a tradition in our family that you get a holiday book – this was started by my mum back when I was small and I have various books on my shelves with neatly written notes in the front from my mum telling me which holiday she gave them to me for. My sister and I have continued this as grown-ups – The Boy thought it was weird at first but I now have him so used to it that he starts to offer suggestions for what he’d like me to get him. I have terrible trouble deciding what to take to read on holiday (thank goodness for the kindle) so I’ve tried to include a range of options.
The One that Everyone’s Reading
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simison –I know. It really is everywhere. But I read this on our trip to Rome earlier this year and laughed so hard that people on the plane started staring at me. It has had a lot of hype, but it is very, very good. I don’t want to say too much about the plot, but watching Don Tillman hunt for love is properly funny – and in places you’ll want to read through your fingers as you cringe at his mistakes. I’m already looking forward to the sequel.
The One if you like “Chick Lit”
I guess this could be considered my home genre (unless you count historical novels. Or cozy crime), anyway I read a lot in this sort of genre. So I couldn’t just pick one. Books I’ve recently really enjoyed are The Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan (which is definitely a holiday read – it’s set in Cornwall by the coast!), Trisha Ashley’s Every Woman for Herself (which has a full review here) and Sinead Moriarty’s Mad About You (although I think I’d have liked it more if I had read the other books about the characters) which all should be available in the sort of multi-buy offers you get at WH Smiths and the Supermarkets.
The One if You like Cozy Crime
It’s not really new, but try Manna from Hades by Carola Dunn if you like the sort of cozy crime that’s set in the past – this is in 1960s Cornwall where Eleanor Trewynn has retired to after a life working for charity abroad. It’s as readable as the author’s Daisy Dalrymple series. If you like your cozy crime modern, I reviewedJenn McKinlay’sDeath of a Mad Hatter a few weeks back which is fresh on the market – or you can’t go wrong with Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series – Death with Peacocks is the first one and as it came out 10 years ago, you can get it for cheap second hand.
The One if you like Non-Fiction
This is a tough one for me – because I’m very behind with my non-fiction pile. Of books released recently, I enjoyed Neil McKenna’s Fanny and Stellawhich is the story of two young men who dressed as women in Victorian London and the scandal that ensued when they were caught. Apart from that, all my recent non-fiction reads have been published some time ago. I hesitate to recommend anything I haven’t yet read, but the excellent Helen Rappaport has a new book out (in hardback sadly) – Four Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Romanov Grand Duchesses which has been picked out as a recommendation at various places. If you haven’t read her Magnificent Obsession (about Queen Victoria’s relationship with Prince Albert) that is available as a paperback and is well worth a look – as is her Beautiful Forever which is about a cosmetician and con-artist in Victorian London – who coincidentally also gets a mention in Fanny and Stella.
The One if you like Thrillers
A Delicate Truth by John le Carré –I got given copy of this a month or two back – you can see the long review here. Its pacey, suspenseful and disturbing. If you haven’t read any le Carré, go get yourself some of the Smiley series and try them out – they’re Cold War and this is modern, but all the ones I’ve read have been very, very good.
The One that’s a Kindle Bargain
Vintage Girl by Hester Browne – This was 56p when I wrote this blog – which by any standards is a bargain, let alone when it’s as fun as this. Valuer Evie gets sent to Scotland to asome heirlooms – romance, family secrets and Scottish Dancing ensues. (NB previously published as an e-book called Swept Off Her Feet – so don’t buy it twice!)
The One(s) if you want a series to start
The Amelia Peabody books by Elizabeth Peters. I have a terrible habit of starting a series and keeping going with it, ignoring all other claims from the to-read pile. E-readers make this so easy and if you’re a quick reader, you may need more than one book for your week at the beach (hell I need more than on book for a DAY at the beach). Amelia is a Victorian feminist who sets off for Egypt to do a spot of archaeology. I can’t come up with the words to do her justice, but’s like a funny female Indiana Jones. There are 19 books in the series (more than you could read on one holiday surely!) and the later ones feature various members of her family too – her son is a scream!
So there you are. I hope there’s something for everyone in the list – I think most of them should be easy to find and in some cases as available in multi-buy deals. As usual most of my links are to Foyles – because I like independent bookshops and the name of their loyalty scheme Foyalty. And if you’ve got any recommendations for books I should be reading this summer – please do put them in the comments below!
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 