Category: The pile

So this week coming is Nightshift week, so that means impulse purchases and light reading. So not that different to a normal week then!  And this week’s reading ended up being really un-Christmassy – even though I’m feeling quite festive now.  And in unrelated but rather lovely news, I’m on Fahrenheit Press’s list of Book Bloggers of the Year which was very touching and made me come over all teary eyed.  But then I’ve got a fractured elbow, a terrible cough and am fighting off the newsroom lurgy so I think I’m particularly suseptible to tears at the moment.  Or that’s my story and I’m sticking to it – after all I cried at the Strictly final on Saturday night.  Twice.

Read:

The Case of the Screaming Beauty by Alison Golden

Last Boat to Camden Town by Paul Charles

The Case of the Hidden Flame by Alison Golden

Sweetest Regret by Meredith Duran

Juniors at the Chalet School by Katherine Bruce

A Little Murder by Suzette A Hill

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

Started:

Deadly Treasures by Vivian Conroy

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Three e-books bought – and three real books when I went into The Works for some Christmassy bits.  Oops.  And I’m never good at avoiding buying books on nights either am I?  Still I’ll try and restrain myself – because who knows what Santa might bring – if you want to know what I’m hoping he’ll bring, check out my Christmas gift post – or if you’re still looking for last minute things here’s the book gift guide.

Lots of Christmas-y reading this week – and yes, I am planning a post on it, just as soon as I get my Christmas book gift posts sorted.  Fractured elbows are a nightmare…

Read:

Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh

Sparkle Shot by Lina Chern

Candlelight at Christmas by Katie Fforde

Comfort and Joy by Cathy Bramley

Not Just For Christmas by Alex Brown

Started:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Last Boat to Camden Town by Paul Charles

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

Still reading:

n/a

Four ebooks bought.  Three proper books.  And the library book bag was replenished too!

So the elbow is still giving me trouble, but I did find time to sit down and finish The Underground Railroad.  And I’ve properly started my Christmas reading kick now – with two festive short stories, finishing the Christmas Meg Langslow and starting a holiday-themed Sarah Morgan.  I foresee this situation continuing.

Read:

Duck the Halls by Donna Andrew

The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch

Silent Night by Deanna Raybourn

Twelfth Night by Deanna Raybourn

The Wangs vs the World by Jade Chang

Herring on the Nile by L C Tyler

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

Started:

What Nora Knew by Linda Yellin

The Late Scholar by Jill Paton Walsh

Sleigh Bells in the Snow by Sarah Morgan

Still reading:

n/a

One book bought – to get some free postage for a Christmas present. Progress!

Ok. So I went ice skating on Monday and fell over and now I have a little fracture in my elbow.  The hospital don’t like to immobilise elbows (you lose movement fast and it’s hard to get it back) so until the giant bruise appeared on Saturday I had no evidence of my injury, but I have had lots of sympathy and I’m hopped up on painkillers so it’s fairly ok.  I’ve been taking it easy (mostly on the sofa) but I haven’t been able to concentrate on anything serious – or hold heavy books.  I called time on The #MonuMeta Social Media Book this week – I’ve tried and tried and tried (I’m not sure the pain helped when I gave it another go in A&E), but I just couldn’t get into it.  It’s got great reviews on Goodreads though, so it’s clearly me that has a problem not anyone else!

Read:

The Season by Sarah MacLean

Burke’s Last Witness by C J Dunford

It Must Be Christmas by Jennifer Crusie, Donna Alward and Mandy Baxter

Twelve Days of Christmas by Debbie Macomber

A Whole Latte Murder by Caroline Fardig

The Best of Dear Coquette by The Coquette

Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James

Started:

The Wangs vs the World by Jade Chang

Duck the Halls by Donna Andrew

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

Perhaps unsurprisingly given my weakened state, I had a kindle spending spree from my sick bed on Tuesday and Foyles were doing 20% off for Black Friday so I bought myself a book along with the ones I was buying as presents, but apart from that I’ve been remarkably restrained.  Or at least I think that I have.

I did a lot of work this week – a lot of nights away from home and only one day off in the last seven.  Consequently a lot of sleeping and not as much reading time!

Read:

Charlaine Harris’s Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris, Royal McGraw and Ilias Kyriazis

Baron by Joanna Shupe

Hero in the Highlands by Suzanne Enoch

Cooking the Books by Kerry Greenwood

All I Ever Wanted by Lucy Dillon

Lumberjanes Vol 3: A Terrible Plan by Noelle Stevenson et al

Started:

Potent Pleasures by Eloisa James

The Best of Dear Coquette by The Coquette

Burke’s Last Witness by C J Dunford

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

The #MonuMeta Social Media Book by Roger Warner

The Season by Sarah MacLean

A slight shopping spree in the comic book store – and a few secondhand books to get some free delivery from a well known online retailer, but over all fairly restrained given that I was wandering in Foyles on Tuesday night!

What a crazy week.  As you might expect my working life has been very busy and I haven’t got a lot of reading done.  Most of what I have read has been short stories with only two full length novels on the list this week, one of which I actually started last week.  Fingers crossed normal service will soon be resumed.

Read:

Cheerfulness Breaks In by Angela Thirkell

The Lady Always Wins by Courtney Milan

The Haunted Season by G M Malliet

The Perks of Being a Beauty by Manda Collins

This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan

Started:

Charlaine Harris’s Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris, Royal McGraw and Ilias Kyriazis

Baron by Joanna Shupe

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

The #MonuMeta Social Media Book by Roger Warner

The Season by Sarah MacLean

On the upside, only one ebook bought and no real books.

Not sure what happened this week, bit of a strange one.  A bit of a mini reading slump.  I read a few things that I liked, but had trouble settling to some other stuff as well.  Not quite sure what caused it, but here’s hoping I’m over  it now!  On a brigher note, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, Novelicious is back – and my first review since its hiatus is up today – it’s Sarah Morgan’s Miracle on Fifth Avenue and you can read it here.

Read:

Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Stevens

Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

Someone to Love by Mary Balogh

Dark Chocolate Demise by Jenn McKinlay

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Once Upon a Winter’s Eve by Tessa Dare

Started:

The Season by Sarah MacLean

The Haunted Season by G M Malliet

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

The #MonuMeta Social Media Book by Roger Warner

I bought one book this week – and that was the new one from Cesca Majors at her book launch – which was fab and which I’m looking forward to reading.

A bit of an odd week.  I had a couple of days off work and went away for a bit of sightseeing and then the nightshifts caught up with me and I was exhausted for the rest of the week and didn’t get as much reading done as I would have wanted.

Read:

You Can’t Touch My Hair by Phoebe Robinson

Blessed is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

Forbidden Fruit by Kerry Greenwood

How to Catch a Wild Viscount by Tessa Dare

The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet

Lord Dashwood Missed Out by Tessa Dare

Started:

The #MonuMeta Social Media Book by Roger Warner

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

On the brightside, I didn’t buy any actual books this week, although I did have a bit of a spree on novellas – in particular historical ones – and a few preorders.  I need to start making a list and asking for things for Christmas instead.  And all the books I ordered during nightshifts have turned up now and I need to start reading them, pronto!

 Nightshifts are over! Hurrah! I spent most of the week sleeping, and staying away from home, both of which means I didn’t read as much this week as I usually do on nights (not much commute) but there’s some quite good stuff on the list of stuff I did read. Also, as a side note, Novelicious is back – and I’m reviewing for them again, so more on that soon!

Read:

Eggnog Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis and Barbara Ross

Front Page Fatality by LynnDee Walker

A Killer Location by Sarah T Hobart

Death Wears a Mask by Ashley Weaver

Wonder Women by Sam Maggs

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan

The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse by Alan Bradley

Started:

The Murdstone Trilogy by Mal Peet

Still reading:
The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

 So, nightshifts. I might have gone a little crazy with the book buying in the early hours of the morning. Twice. Oops. I’ve more than replaced everything I read from the pile this week!

I’ve had a busy week – and lots of different shifts, working my way towards nightshifts – so I’m actually quite pleased with how much I’ve read.  We’ll see what happens now the nightshifts are underway…

Read:

A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen

Dangling by a Thread by Lea Wait

Geek Girl: All Wrapped Up by Holly Smale

Devil’s Food by Kerry Greenwood

Wallace at Bay by Alexander Wilson

Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation by James Runcie

A Killer’s Guide to Good Works by Shelley Costa

Started:

Wonder Women by Sam Maggs

Death Wears a Mask by Ashley Weaver

Still reading:

The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead

China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan

And I resisted the urge to buy any books too.  I’m almost proud of myself!