Slightly rejigged posting schedule this week – if you’re looking for this week’s BotW post, click here to read about Derek Farrell’s Death of a Devil (or here for my interview with him) but normal service will resume tomorrow for Recommendsday.
Anyway, quieter week of reading last week, but I was quite busy in real life (I know, what a pain) and that got in the way. We’ve got some building work coming up at home, so I fear this week may be quieter too, but I’m telling myself that a bit less reading time is worth it to have the work done at home…
Read:
Death of a Devil by Derek Farrell
Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich
Blue Flame by Jill Shalvis
One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis
Rescuing Dr McAllister by Sarah Morgan
Started:
The Adventuress by Tasha Alexander
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Still reading:
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
Wise Children by Angela Carter
I was really quite well behaved this week – and didn’t buy anything. A miracle has occurred. And as the books are about to be packed into boxes, I’m hoping I can resist the urge to buy more until I have an actual bookshelf to put them on again. Of course that doesn’t help with my ebook buying problem, but you know, baby steps!
Check it out: I finished one of the long runners this week! My still reading list is reducing. It’s the little things you know. Anyway, a good week of reading, dominated by one author. And to be honest, I would have bought more Susan Elizabeth Philips to read, if I wasn’t on a ActualBook buying ban (because we’ve got building work due to happen at the house and everything has to be packed up) and more of the Kindle editions were cheaper…
Read:
The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen
Kick by Paula Byrne
Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Philips
Match Me If You Can by Susan Elizabeth Philips
First Star I See Tonight by Susan Elizabeth Philips
The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf by Nick Bryan
Lord of the Wings by Donna Andrew
Started:
Motor Mouth by Janet Evanovich
Blue Flame by Jill Shalvis
Still reading:
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
Wise Children by Angela Carter
Two ebooks bought – First Star I See Tonight as part of the SEP binge and then These Old Shades on ebook because it was only 99p and I wanted to have an e-copy as well as a paper one. So that doesn’t count really. And as I’ve already read First Star… that means a net addition to the to-read pile of… zero. So I’m counting that as a success.
Nightshift week and lots of good books read. You’ll have seen some of them already in my Holiday Reading post too. I started a couple that I didn’t have the brain power to cope with with nightshift brain, but that always happens. But nights are over now and I’m attempting to get my body clock back to some semblance of normal with the help of early nights and more books!
Read:
A Quiet Life in the Country by T E Kinsey
Big Sexy Love by Kirsty Greenwood
Duke With Benefits by Manda Collins
One Kiss in Greece by Kirsty Greenwood
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Philips
Picture Miss Seeton by Heron Carvic
Started:
Wise Children by Angela Carter
The Girl Who Tweeted Wolf by Nick Bryan
The Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen
Still reading:
Kick by Paula Byrne
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
I’m afraid some impulse purchasing took place on the nightshifts. But I think that’s entirely understandable really. I mean it’s hard to resist the urge to purchase at 3am…
By the time you read this, my nightshifts will be underway. I’ll probably just be waking up as this is posted – or at least I hope I’ll just be waking up if I’m going to have got enough sleep for me to be able to stay up all night again. This week has been really quite busy – and my brain has been quite frazzled – so there’s a lot of comics and graphic novels on this list. This may continue next week because of nightshift brain, which as usual, means expect to see a lot of cozy crime and romance on this list next week!
Read:
The Summage Solution by G L Carriger
Simple Irresistable by Jill Shalvis
Reel History: The World According to the Movies by Alex von Tunzelmann
Bitch Planet Vol 2: President Bitch by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al
Rivers of London: Detective Stories 2 by Ben Aaronovitch et al
Bitch Planet Triple Feature 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al
Bitch Planet Triple Feature 2 by Che Grayson
Room For Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman
Started:
A Quiet Life in the Country by T E Kinsey
Still reading:
Kick by Paula Byrne
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Two ebooks bought – both on deals and part of series that I’m following or want to read more of to work out if I like them or not!
Not bad going all in all – and some really good stuff. I’m going to have trouble picking my Book of the Week tomorrow!
Read:
The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room by Paul Charles
Jeeves in the Offing by P G Wodehouse
Dead is Good by Jo Perry
Paper Girls Vol 2 by Brian K Vaughan
Killer Party by Lynn Cahoon
Lowcountry Bombshell by Susan M Boyer
The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley
Started:
Room For Doubt by Nancy Cole Silverman
Still reading:
Kick by Paula Byrne
Reel History: The World According to the Movies by Alex von Tunzelmann
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
A couple of books bought (two secondhand and two Ebooks), but nothing too bad really. I mean not compared to the last few weeks! I did treat myself to a new Kindle though…
Started the week going great guns, and then slowed to a halt – partly because of a family party on Saturday. On the bright side I got to dress up as an extra from the Bronze and live out some Buffy-ish moments!
Read:
Lowcountry Boil by Susan M Boyer
Trans Like Me by CN Lester
Dimsie, Head Girl by Dorita Fairlie Bruce
Murder in D Minor by Alexia Gordon
Lumberjanes Vol 5: Band Together by Noelle Stevenson et al
Started:
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Jeeves in the Offing by P G Wodehouse
Still reading:
Kick by Paula Byrne
Reel History: The World According to the Movies by Alex von Tunzelmann
The Greedy Queen by Annie Gray
The Hissing of the Silent Lonely Room by Paul Charles
I bought rather a few books again. Ooops. But some came from the Barnes Booksale – and were total bargains – and three ebooks as well. Naughty Verity. Must do better!
A bonus post for you this weekend with what may seem like an over dramatic title, but as I was relaxing on the beach last week I realised that without my ereader, my holidays would be very different. Allow me to explain.
One very loved kindle and slightly battered case…
As you may have worked out by now, I am a fast reader. I read twelve books during my week in Croatia – and that’s not even the most I’ve read during a week away. I’d either need an extra suitcase or to take no clothes with me to take enough reading material for a week on the beach and the flights to get me to said beach. And that’s before you take into account my notoriously flighty nature and tendency to want to read something, anything other than the books that I’ve brought with me*.
What you may not know is that I’m not good when left alone with my own head. I have to have something to listen to to go to sleep – silence makes my brain start obsessing over things – did I do everything I should have done at work today, why haven’t I done x or y, death, that sort of thing. So laying on the beach doing nothing was never my sort of holiday because although a bit of people watching is fun, I can’t just about doing doing nothing for hours but there was no way I could take enough books to keep me going for a week. But sometimes you don’t want a holiday full of activities, where you’ve always got places to be or things to be doing. Sometimes you just need to relax and unwind and do nothing and the ereader means that I can do that.
I was a (relatively) late adopter of ereaders. I like the feel of books, I like the smell of them. I like the way your favourites fall open to your favourite passages and the way you can lend books you love to the people that you love. I managed the whole of my first year of the long commute without an ereader – taking proper books with me in my bag and occasionally using the Kindle app for free books on my phone when I ran out of reading material before I got home. But then came EURO 2012 – when I was going to be spending a month away from home in Poland. I knew I wouldn’t have space in my suitcase for books, but might well have some reading time. I treated myself to a Kindle Touch (the first generation of them I think) and I’ve never looked back.
This holiday we took 4 actual books with us between us – a Janet Evanovich (that I’d already read) for Him Indoors who is working his way through the Steph Plum series one holiday at a time, two books he picked out from a selection from my to-read pile that he would like to read too and my holiday book – the Andrew Cartmel that was this week’s BotW. He read the Steph Plum and then nicked my kindle to continue his Vicky Bliss odyssey. I finished two of the three and started the other. Without the ereader(s) we would have been lost. The iPad isn’t allowed on the beach, but in the evenings we were often to be found relaxing on the balcony, him with the Kindle and me with the iPad.
If I didn’t like a book, I didn’t have to finish it (I hated one of the paperbacks and although I did finish it, I abandoned it to its fate at the hotel, clearing space in the suitcase for an extra bag of sweets for my long-suffering work colleagues) and equally if I loved a book and wanted the next in the series or another by the same author, the joys of wifi meant that I could just buy it. I stocked it up with some cozy crimes and some favourite authors before we went and I had more than enough choice to keep me going for the week.*
My trusty Kindle is almost exactly five years old now and is groaning with the weight of the books stored on it. I use it on the train every time I travel too or from work, I use it at the hostel on the nights I’m way from home and I use it on my breaks in the early hours during the dreaded night shifts. I’m debating getting a new one – because reading on the iPad is just not the same – I’m sentimentally attached to my worn, well loved Kindle that makes me loath to let it go. Although it would mean next holiday we’d have two to use on the beach…
If only I’d had an e-reader back in the day when I used to have to go on camping trips!
*I think this is the same tendency that makes me not want to eat packed lunches that I’ve made for myself.
**To be honest, I’ve probably got enough to keep me going for a year if only authors didn’t keep publishing new books.
A busy week of news and work. Honestly I wish it would just stop. It’s starting to feel a bit end of days to be honest. Here’s hoping the world improves.
Read:
An Expert in Murder by Nicola Upson
Gridiron Grit by Noel Sainsbury Jr
Fatal Forgeries by Ritter Ames
Bitch Planet Vol 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al
Rivers of London: Detective Stories 1 by Ben Aaronovitch et al
Fatal Facade by Alison Campbell
The Antique House Murders by Leslie Nagal
Started:
Trans Like Me by CN Lester
The Early Birds by Laurie Graham
Nun Too Soon by Alice Loweecey
Still reading:
Kick by Paula Byrne
Reel History: The World According to the Movies by Alex von Tunzelmann
The Headmistress by Angela Thirkell
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel
I may have bought a few Kindle John LeCarrés, but apart from that, well behaved. I’m also trying to make the Cartmel last because I’m really enjoying it!
