Category: The pile

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 25 – May 31

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Firstly – Marilyn Monroe would have been 100 today (June 1st) so if you need an excuse to watch Some Like It Hot or Gentlemen Prefer Blondes again, this is it. Secondly, if it seems like I’m on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick at the moment, that’s because after revisiting Caribbean Mystery the other week I’m trying to reread the whole series before the new continuation novel by Lucy Foley comes out and there was a Poirot short story collection that I haven’t read in Kindle Unlimited too. And because I forget about things and get distracted quite easily I’m striking while the iron is hot and getting on with it!

Read:

The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

The Nine of Us by Jean Kennedy Smith

Operation Goodwood by Sara Sheridan

Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian

Edward VII by Richard Davenport-Hines

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

Started:

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

A few books bought – but mostly not for me so they don’t count!

Bonus picture: Sunday afternoon in Wales.

*next to a book 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: May 18 – May 24

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A really solid week in reading, helped by a series of football matches that meant that I stayed in watching/listening to them while reading a book rather than going out to the theatre. And then the weather got really hot so it seemed like the sensible thing to do was to stay inside in the cool and read books. This week is due to be even hotter though…

Read:

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Catching a Killer by F H Petford*

The French Market Murder by Greg Mosse*

Windsor vs Windsor by Bert Tyler-Moore*

Debts of Dishonour by Jill Paton Walsh

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Murder Off the Books by Tamara Berry

The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Started:

The Bad Quarto by Jill Paton Walsh

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Two books bought.

Bonus picture: A view across the river from the side of St Paul’s Cathedral last week. I was going to say it was old London and new London – but then I realised you can’t see the old London in the picture so you’ll have to trust me on that!

*next to a book 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: May 11 – May 17

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Happy Monday everyone. I hope you used your weekend as wisely as I did – with a trip to see my sister and her family where we watched three episodes of Rivals, all of Eurovision and I read a lot of stories to a toddler. And despite all that, my reading list is still pretty good. Yay me?!

Read:

Major Bricket and the Body in the Bell Tower by Simon Brett*

Off With His Head by Ngaio Marsh

Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen

Henry VII by Seam Cunningham

Call for the Dead by John le Carré

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré

A Piece of Justice by Jill Paton Walsh

Started:

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Catching a Killer by F H Petford*

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Three books bought – the rest of the Imogen Quy series, one of which I’ve already ready!

Bonus picture: There are a couple of new coffee shops on my walk to work, one of which has this board outside for fairy bread matcha. I’m tempted to try it except for three things: i don’t like coffee, I’m not sure i like matcha and it feels like it might be super sweet. But it looks so pretty!

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

The pile

Books Incoming: Mid-May 2026 edition

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I’m not going to lie, this was looking a lot less substantial until the last week – and there’s still a book missing from this because my copy of Star Shipped is still at my mum and dad’s waiting for me to pick it up. Anyway, two of these are already off the pile as you know – because the Richard Osman and the Tom Bower were my airport purchases and I read them on the holiday. So what of the rest. Well the Rainbow Rowell was a pre-order so almost doesn’t count as it was ordered back when Waterstones had that big pre-order offer on back in October – and I still have two books from that order to come. One of which is the final Thursday Next book* which is now expected in mid-October but it does have a cover so it’s edging closer – and of course you can also see here the first Thursday book. Now you may be thinking “doesn’t Verity already own a copy of The Eyre Affair” and yes, yes I do. In paperback and on audio. But this is the 25th anniversary edition – with annotations from the author. According to Jasper Fforde’s instagram, it’s about 8,000 words of annotations. And given that I’m going to re-read the whole series before the final book doesn’t it make sense to read the version of the first ones with the annotations? Certainly all the people I messaged in my indecision over this (full price hardback) purchase agreed with me.

Also bought at the same time is Crime Rangoon, which is the latest Noodle Shop mystery. These are so hard to get copies of in the UK in physical copies or on Kindle at any sort of sensible price that I just couldn’t help myself. More on *where* I bought them next week. The S G MacLean was my purchase at Word on the Water – which actually turned out to be a four book afternoon as I wandered my way back from there via four other bookshops – it would have been five, but I arrived at one just as they flipped the sign over to closed because it was six o’clock. Sad times for me, but potentially a good thing for my walley and my shoulder as by that point I had the Dorothy Dunnett and the Donna Leon in my (not very big) shoulder bag along with the S G MacLean – and soon added the Jill Paton Walsh too.

I would say that that was when I stopped because four books plus a purse, plus a kindle was plenty enough, but I did go to two more bookshops (including Waterstones Gower Street) after that so I’d be lying. And it was only the fullness of bag and the realisation that I was going to have to fess up to all of this when I wrote this post that stopped a couple more purchases! I did have a lovely time though – even if it has undone all the work that I had been doing on reducing the size of the actual pile. I had nearly got rid of the front overspill pile, but that’s now back up to the size of the two behind it. Oops.

Happy Saturday

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: May 4 – May 10

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Not my greatest week in reading – but that’s because I did two theatre trips, a weekend in Essex and local elections coverage. It was fun, but it was a lot. And the long runners are still lingering. I will have to try and do better this week. But this week is Eurovision week so…

Read:

Sconed to Death by Betty Hechtman*

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie

Hattie Breaks a Leg by Patrick Gleason

Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh

Edward the Confessor by David A Woodman

The Wyndham Case by Jill Paton Walsh

The Golden One by Elizabeth Peters

Started:

Call for the Dead by John le Carré

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

A bad week for book buying – five ebooks as I was writing the Offers post, plus another six actual books from four different bookshops…

Bonus picture: back in my old stomping ground of Colchester at the weekend in glorious sunshine.

*next to a book 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: April 27 – May 3

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It’s a bank holiday in the UK today – if you’re off work I hope you have a lovely time and that the weather where you are is good. And if (like me) you’re at work – I hope your day is easy and over fast and that you have the next bank holiday off! Anyway back down to earth after the two weeks off and a fairly solid list, helped by the fact that I was on the train every day. This week I’m staying in London a couple of nights and hoping to catch a show or too so the list may suffer accordingly. I am making progress on the still reading books – even though it might not look like it!

Read:

William II by John Gillingham

Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh

Mr Campion’s Fox by Mike Ripley

Richard I by Thomas Asbridge

Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh

Blue Devil Woman by Sloane Fletcher*

Banton of Paramount by Howard Gutner*

Beattie Cavendish and the White Pearl Club by Mary-Jane Riley

Started:

Sconed to Death by Betty Hechtman*

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

One cookbook bought – but that’s it. And as cookbooks don’t go on the pile, they sort of don’t count as a book purchase!

Bonus picture: Spring time (but almost summertime heat!) in Regent’s Park.

*next to a book 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: April 20 – April 26

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I’m safely home now, so I can exclusively reveal that we’ve been away on holiday for nearly two weeks. And that is why the reading lists this week and last week look so healthy – sun lounger time (and flights) mean more reading time – and why the still reading list looks as it does – the remaining ones are physical copies that were at home. I’ve got a Recommendsday coming up this week with some of my holiday reads, but more of them will be popping up over the next little while too because some of them were advance copies of books coming out over the next few months. Check me getting ahead – who even know I could do that!

Read:

Betrayal by Tom Bower

Murder on the Bernina Express by J G Colgan

The Chateau Murder by Greg Mosse

Played to Death by Mike Ripley*

The Shrew Detective: The Case of the Pilfered Pearls by Margi Preus*

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman

Death by Noir by Olly Smith*

Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh

The Gatsby Gambit by Claire Anderson Wheeler*

Death and Fromage by Ian Moore

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Started:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

William II by John Gillingham

Still reading:

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Six ebooks and one preorder arrived (at my parents!)

Bonus picture: some beautiful Cretan countryside. You can’t see them but there was a herd of goats among the olive groves and their bells were tinkling madly as I took this.

*next to a book 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: April 13 – April 19

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Happy Monday everyone. I’ve had a very productive week in reading – having finished the Francesca Wade book and got the still reading list down a bit. Need to work on the NetGalley list a bit though!

Read:

Lord of the Silent by Elizabeth Peters

Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree

A Case of Mice and Murder by Sally Smith

Murder on the Rocks by T E Kinsey*

A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz*

Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

The Queen Who Came in From the Cold by S J Bennett

Love Songs and Ferry Tales by Julie Farley

The Mystery of the Faberge Egg by S J Bennett

Death is for Death by Harriet F Townson

Started:

The Chateau Murder by Greg Mosse

Still reading:

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Two books bought and one preorder arrived.

Bonus picture: flowers and sunshine

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

The pile

Books Incoming: Mid-April 2026

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Well I realise that this looks bad. I’ve been talking about how hard I’ve been working to try and bring the size of the to-read pile down and here I am with another bumper crop of purchases, but bear with me – I can explain. Seven of these came from one day out in Leicestershire (there was also a cook book purchase that isn’t in the picture because it’s down in the kitchen being used!) which I’ve written about the last few Saturdays. And those seen are: the two Emily Wildes and Murder off the Books which are sequels to books that I’ve already enjoyed, In Want of a Suspect – a Pride and Prejudice adjacent books which is a special interest of mine, the Kate Bateman – who was at the Book Extravaganza in person and Just Playing House and Mrs Plansky’s Revenge which were the beautifully wrapped blind date with a books from the Book Extravaganza.

Once you’re take those out of the list, that just leaves Paris Match and Honey Bee Mine which were pre-orders and the George Plimpton which is a second hand copy of his book about Capote and the Angela Thirkell which is the latest in the Virago copies of her Barsetshire books. So it’s actually almost reasonable. If you look at it sideways and squint and don’t think about my logic too hard. I’m fine with it at any rate!

Have a great weekend everyone.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: April 6 – April 12

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So a somewhat mixed week. On the one hand, I read two new release romances in the week that they came out, so only slightly behind in NetGalley terms. On the other I got completely distracted from reading other things by bingeing my way through the last three of a series so I didn’t finish any of the books I started last week and now the still reading list is huge again. Why do I do this to myself?

Read:

Now You See Them by Elly Griffiths

The Midnight Hour by Elly Griffiths

Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai*

While You Were Seething by Charlotte Stein*

Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh

How Can I Resist You by Jeevani Charika*

The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths

Started:

Murder on the Rocks by T E Kinsey*

Still reading:

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree

Game Changer by Rachael Reid

Square Haunting by Francesca Wade

One and a pre-order

Bonus picture: spring is springing and it’s pink.

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