Category: The pile

The pile

Books Outgoing: July 2026

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Just to make a change, this Saturday this is part of the pile of books that I’m taking to Book Con with me to try and sell. This isn’t going to be a new regular feature (or at least I don’t think it is) but because there are not one but two book sales at conference, this is my attempt to try and make sure that I come home with less books than I take with me, and it may or may not be successful. It’s also my best opportunity to sell some of these rather than donate them to charity, because there are other people there who are interested in the same things as me.

They’ve all got much better collections than I have though so I have to be quite choosy about what I take – no point in taking any Chalet School, because they all have all of them (mostly in better editions than I do) or any Blyton (because those are rubbish to read as an adult) but the 80s and 90s stuff that I read when I was little may work better. We will see.

Cross your fingers for me everyone!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 13 – July 19

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A rollercoaster week in many ways, ending late on Sunday night with extra time in the World Cup Final and me rereading a Dimsie book instead of something new. Who knows what I’ll write about tomorrow given that the two NetGalley books that I finished aren’t out for months, and there are a lot of later in series on the list too. Oh well, I’m sure it will come to me…

Read:

A Death in Cornwall by G M Malliet

The 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie

Death in Print by G M Malliet

Broadcast Murder by J G Colgan

Marilyn Monroe at the Movies by Caroline Young*

Wes Anderson: The Graphic Novel by Katarina Horakova*

Dimsie Moves Up by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

Dimsie Moves Up Again by Dorita Fairlie Bruce

Started:

American Fantasy by Emma Straub*

Still reading:

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Three ebooks. But I’m still pleased with how well I did with the physical pile last month so I’ll let myself off!

Bonus picture: The top of the Shard, lit up as a St George’s flag on Wednesday night (taken just after England scored!)

*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-July 2026

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Remember this moment. The month when I only had one book to report. Genuinely one physical copy. Of course this won’t last because Book Con is next weekend and there is no way that I am coming back from that empty handed. The goal will be to come back with less books than I took, even if that means doing a drop off at a National Trust with a second hand bookshop on the way home. Anyway the one book that has come in is the fourth Perveen Mistry mystery. That’s it!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: July 6 – July 12

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It’s so hard to concentrate in the heat isn’t it? And to sleep. And to do anything other than slump somewhere and drink cold drinks and moan about how hot it is. That was basically my week. Lots of time on hot trains not being able to thing about anything except how hot I was. This week is meant to be a bit cooler (please, please, please) but we’ve also got an England semi-final at the World Cup (which I’ll be missing at least part of) and then whatever comes next. Who knows what all that means for the list…

Read:

First and Forever by Lynn Painter

For Never and Always by Helena Greer

Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh

Hers for the Weekend by Helena Greer

The Bells of Westminster by Leonora Nattrass*

Verdict of Twelve by Raymond Postgate

How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin*

Started:

Marilyn Monroe at the Movies by Caroline Young*

Still reading:

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

One book bought

Bonus picture: Wisteria season continues on my walk to work

*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: June 29 – July 5

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Not going to lie, I’m really feeling it after getting up to watch the England match in the middle of the night and my brain’s not really working right now. So this might be a shorter than usual post because of the brain fade but basically the top line is that I finally finished a long runner and because I was writing the offers post I may have bought some things…

Read:

Scot and Soda by Catriona McPherson

A Pocketful of Rye by Agatha Christie

Abby Offsides by Anna McCallie*

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson*

The Masqueraders by Georgette Heyer

A Superior Death by Nevada Barr

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

First and Forever by Lynn Painter

For Never and Always by Helena Greer

Still reading:

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Lets not talk about it because the Kindle offers post was expensive.

Bonus picture: a landmark on the Kindle reading log… but I’m still annoyed about the day 1903 days ago that I missed.

*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: June 22 – June 28

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Well as you can see, I didn’t get any of the long runners ticked off, but also the heat was even worse than I was expecting it to be. Honestly. The office was fine – but getting there was not, and sleeping at night was terrible. I feel like I need to sleep for a couple of days to recover. Apparently this week is going to be better until we get to the weekend. Thoughts and prayers everyone…

Read:

George V by David Cannadine

The Spies of Hartlake Hall by R L Graham

Marble Hall Murders by Anthony Horowitz

They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie

A Sinister Revenge by Deanna Raybourn

An Untidy Death by Simon Brett

Dream On, Ramona Riley by Ashley Herring Blake

Started:

A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Two ebooks bought.

Bonus picture: watching football somewhere with air conditioning…

*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: June 15 – June 21

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Morning everyone and welcome to the (extreme) heatwave. Houses in Britain aren’t made for this sort of weather and I’ve found myself researching portable air conditioning units more than in the last week! Anyway on the reading front, we’re just over a month out from Book Con and so I’ve started clearing out my shelves for the sale table – which lead to three Lorna Hills in 24 hours rather than finishing any of the still reading books. Because of course it did. Lets see if I can concentrate enough in the heat this week to get them read shall we (I doubt it).

Read:

Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan

Singing in the Shrouds by Ngaio Marsh

One for the Books by Jenn McKinlay

A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie

Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur

How to Fake It in Society by K J Charles

The Gay Best Friend by Nicolas DiDomizio

Castle in Northumbria by Lorna Hill

Masquerade at the Wells by Lorna Hill

Jane Leaves the Wells by Lorna Hill

Started:

George V by David Cannadine

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

Two ebooks.

Bonus picture: despite the heat, it’s wisteria season again on the walk to work.

*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-June 2026 edition

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It’s was going to be a two photo month this month, because there are a bunch of books that are already read, so I took them in a separate photo early so I could tidy them into their new homes on the “proper” shelves. But then I pushed the post back a week and had another mad Tuesday afternoon and bought another five books and suddenly we needed three photos. Not my finest hour I have to say

This photo is the pile (minus the read stuff) before the Tuesday afternoon madness. This has my pre-orders of the new Annabel Monaghan and the paperback version of The Eights which is one of the last of my Waterstones pre-order discount books. Then we have a Taste of Murder which was my holiday book from mum (thanks mum!) and The Spring Begins which was my holiday book to myself. There’s Get Over It April Evans which was my purchase on the first trip to Gay’s The Word and The Villain Edit and The Worst Woman in London which both came from a trip to Main Character Books that I haven’t written about yet.

And this photo is my five book Tuesday, plus a sixth book purchased on the way to the Royal Albert Hall to see Rufus Wainwright. That Wednesday purchase is the Constellation of Genius in the top left. The rest are three from Judd – two Donna Leons after I enjoyed the first one that I bought from there a couple of weeks back and The Windsor Faction. There’s Diaghilev’s Empire from Gay’s The Word and Oxford Blue from Skoob.

And these are the read ones – there are the other three in the Imogen Quy series which I bought so I could binge the entire series after enjoying The Wyndham Case so much, and then Star Shipped, which should really have been in last month’s picture except that it was delivered to my parents and so I didn’t get hold of it until the trip to Wales, at which point I read it immediately (and wrote about it). And that’s your lot for June. Here’s to more self control in the July post…

Have a great weekend!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: June 8 – June 14

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Happy Monday everyone! This list is shorter than I would like given the fact that I added six physical books to the pile this week and another five ebooks, but my excuse is a theatre trip and a concert, the start of the World Cup, the Le Mans 24 hours, an F1 race and grass court tennis season. I did also visit four bookshops so that’s why the purchasing happened! Anyway, onwards to this week…

Read:

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

And Then There Was One by Martha Waters

Murder at the British Museum by Jim Eldridge

Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

Puck by Samantha Allen*

Started:

Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

As I said at the top – 6 books, 5 ebooks. Oops.

Bonus picture: the wonderful library building in the middle of Stratford-Upon-Avon.

*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: June 1 – June 7

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A fairly solid week in reading all things considered, helped by commuting for the four days that I was working and some miserable weather as well. Having (finally) finished the first Heated Rivalry book last week, I then proceeded to binge through the next four, but managed to distract myself away to read some other things too so that I have some things to write about this week. Less good on the NetGalley front, but given the orgy of early June releases, the rest of the month is a little quieter for me on that front so hopefully I’ll catch up a bit this week. Still need to work on that long runners list.

Read:

Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie

Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid

Tough Guy by Rachel Reid

Receipts from the Bookshop by Katie Clapham*

Common Goal by Rachel Reid

Murder at the Fitzwilliam by Jim Eldridge

Role Model by Rachel Reid

Under the Milky Way by Jess K Hardy

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Started:

Puck by Samantha Allen*

And Then There Was One by Martha Waters

Still reading:

Death and Other Occupational Hazards by Veronica Dapunt

Any Way the Wind Blows by Rainbow Rowell

No actual books, but a whole stack of Kindle ones because I was writing the offers post. Oopsies.

Bonus picture: The Elizabeth Tower aka Big Ben on Wednesday evening before I went to a reception at the House of Lords (!)

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