Category: stats

What does a week off work and time to read look like? Well a list pretty much like this. My big old binge read of the Donna Andrews series continues and I’ve basically given up on getting anything else done until I finish it. Which given that I’m already in the 20s, might not be that far away! This week is back a more normal life so expect the list to change accordingly!

Read:

The Good, The Bad and the Emu by Donna Andrews

Rivers of London: Deadly Ever After by Ben Aaronovitch et al

The Nightingale Before Christmas by Donna Andrews

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrews

Heartstopper Vol 4 by Alice Oseman

The History of Europe in Bite-sized Chunks by Jacob F Field

Die Like An Eagle by Donna Andrews

Born Lucky by Rita Coatts

Zionism: A Very Short Introduction by Michael Stanislawski

Death of a Necromancer by Nick Bryan et al

Gone Gull by Donna Andrews

The Finch Before Christmas by Donna Andrews

Started:

Best of Luck by Kate Clayborn

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

The Charity Shop Detective Agency by Peter Boland*

A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong by Cecilia Grant

Five books bought – two which you saw in the Christmas Books Incoming and then three more later in the week. All actual books

Bonus photo: New Year’s Eve chez nous – a roaring fire and some good books. Exciting.

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

Well I’ve had a rotten week – I started some sort of virus (not Covid) on Monday afternoon and it just got worse and worse all week – I ended up coming home from London a day early because I couldn’t face another night not in my own bed. I’ve been feeling very sorry for myself. So say hello to comfort reading central on this week’s list – including a lot of Meg Langslow because in my weakened state I appear to have embarked on a reread…

Read:

Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood by Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova

Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska*

Murder with Puffins by Donna Andrews

Revenge of the Wrought-Iron Flamingos by Donna Andrews

Masters in this Hall by K J Charles

The Chalet School Wins the Trick by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews

Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca

We’ll Always Have Parrots by Donna Andrews

Owls Well That End Well by Donna Andrews

Started:

The Many Dates of Indigo by Amber D Samuel*

To Get to the Other Side by Kelly Ohlert*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Only one – the K J Charles on the read list. And of course the pre-order of Well Traveled turned up too.

Bonus photo: a picture of one of the panels at the BBC 100 Women event at the Barbican on Monday before I came down with the lurgy.

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

A good week of reading in the end in terms of the mix of genres, even if I didn’t finish any more of the long runners. I’m still working on it though. We’re into December now though – so we have the quick reviews this week after last week’s stats but there is more Christmas stuff coming up and you’ve already had buy me a book and the stuff I bought myself.

Read:

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

Murder Mystery Book Club by Danielle Collins

Mystery in the Channel by Freeman Willis Crofts

James Bond: My long and eventful search for his father by Len Deighton

This Telling by Cheryl Strayed

Luck of the Draw by Kate Claybourn

A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear

Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews

Started:

Death Checked Out by Leah Dobrinska*

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Bonus photo: the South Bank arts complex on Tuesday night as I walked across the river

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

Another super busy week – I’m beginning to think that’s the only sort of weeks that I have these days. Anyway, some interesting reading, one off the long running list and progress made on some of the others. It’s nearly December too, so as well as the usual end of month posts, I’ve been working on all the Christmas content. My Buy me a book for Christmas post is the first of them, but there is much more to come!

Read:

On the Hustle by Adriana Herrera*

An Act of Foul Play by TE Kinsey*

Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan*

Crook O’Lune by ECR Lorac

Murder on a Summer’s Day by Frances Brody

Beginner’s Luck by Kate Clayborn

Jane Fills the Breach by Bessie Marchant

Started:

Green for Danger by Christianna Brand

A Sunlit Weapon by Jacqueline Winspear

Still reading:

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

Going With the Boys by Judith Mackrell

The Inverts by Crystal Jeans

The Empire by Michael Ball*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Well, there were a few books bought – because as as I said in Buy Me a Book, I did buy a fair few things while putting it together.

Bonus photo: the houseplant obsession continues – one of my friends brought me some cuttings, which I carefully nurtured on my desk for three days before I could take them home. Hopefully they survived the journey…

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

Well that was an interesting week. Another few nights away from home off the back of my weekend at the skating and an evening at the theatre on top of all the usual stuff and the bits I already mentioned. Oh and the Cowboys won on Sunday. And as I think you can probably tell from the list, a good week in reading even if, once again, I failed to reduce the length of the still reading list. This week. I will do better this week.

Read:

Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett*

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

That Summer by Lauren Willig

Death on the Riviera by John Bude

The Last Hero by Terry Pratchett, illustrated by Paul Kidby

Chester House Wins Through by Irene Smith

Shop Wrecked by Olivia Dade

Started:

Murder on a Summer’s Day by Frances Brody

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Still reading:

On the Hustle by Adriana Herrera*

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*

Yeah, so I bought some books. All will be revealed in due course on the kindle front, but also my Olivia Dade turned up and the Terry Pratchett graphic novel. What a week.

Bonus photo: Thursday night at the London Palladium with Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme.

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

So, the list has been impacted by a couple of things – the fact that I was away from home for two nights at the start of the week, then I spent the whole weekend watching figure skating – and when you’re at the rink from 8am until after half past ten at night, that doesn’t leave a lot of time for reading! But it was so amazing. Also, I realised at the start of the week that I have the first two books in the S J Bennett series, so I went back to read them first before carrying on with Murder Most Royal.

Read:

Seat of the Scornful by John Dickson Carr

The Windsor Knot by S J Bennett

Death of a Shadow by George Bellairs

A Three Dog Problem by S J Bennett

Fire in the Thatch by E C R Lorac

Started:

Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

Still reading:

On the Hustle by Adriana Herrera*

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*

Murder Most Royal by S J Bennett*

One book bought, in Foyles at the start of the week…

Bonus photo: have a selfie of me at the skating – because all my live action pictures were terrible!

Bonus bonus: have a video of my favourite performance of the weekend – Latvia’s Deniss Vasiljevs skating his Free (long) programme as well as I’ve ever seen him skate.

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