Category: week in books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: April 18 – April 24

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I would have read more this week, except for the fact that I acquired a new-to-me copy of one of my favourite books of all time – Gone with the Windsors by Laurie Graham – and couldn’t resist re-reading it.  This of course cut into my time for reading new books and doesn’t count towards my total for the year – or my list here.  Still it’s so funny and so good I don’t mind!

Read:

The Queerness of Rusty by Phyllis Matthewman

Beneath a Silent Moon by Tracy Grant

Good Dukes Wear Black by Manda Collins

Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

Mug Shot by Caroline Fardig

Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin

Started:

Read It and Weep by Jenn McKinlay

Still reading:

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

Five books (including that copy of Gone with the Windsors) and two ebooks bought.  Oops

Book of the Week, historical

Book of the Week: Jane Steele

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This week’s BotW is Lyndsay Faye’s Jane Steele, which is billed as a gothic retelling of Jane Eyre, but is a bit more loosely related to Bronte’s book than that might suggest. I heard a lot of buzz about this before it’s release – Deanna Raybourn wrote about it in her newsletter and some of the book podcasts I listen to talked about it too, so when I spotted it on NetGalley I was already intrigued enough to request it.

Jane Steele’s favourite book is – and her life has some parallels with Charlotte Bronte’s heroine – she’s orphaned, she’s sent to boarding school, she becomes a governess and is attracted to her employer.  But there’s a key difference – Ms Steele has a bit of a murderous streak.  This Jane has a few more trials in her life than Bronte’s – but she’s not going to take them lying down.

Despite her killings, Jane is an attractive and appealing heroine with reasons (mostly) for acting as she does.  I was concerned before I read this and early on in the book that I wouldn’t be able to get past the fact that she was killing people, but it really wasn’t an issue.  Jane’s actions are (mostly) quite understandable – and not without consequences for her.  She’s fairly self-aware – although the reader suspects she’s not as well informed about some things as she thinks she is – and chafes at the restrictions and limitations places on her by Victorian society.  She’s smarter than most of the men around her during the first half of the book and it’s interesting and entertaining watching her work out how she can extricate herself from the situations she is forced into.

Considering I read Jane Eyre for the one and only time when I was about 9 and – whisper it quietly – have never read Wuthering Heights*, I seem to have read a lot (proportionally) with Bronte re-tellings or influenced books (and I have The Madwoman Upstairs sitting on the to-read pile so it’s not over yet!).  And while I didn’t love this the way I love Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair** it is really good fun.  I liked the portion of the book before Jane arrives back at Thornfield the best – possibly because it’s quite hard to keep up the fast-paced, wise-cracking action when you introduce a love interest and try to work out a resolution where the problem of your heroine being a murderess isn’t an issue!

Not quite as brilliant as you expect from the first 50 pages, but nonetheless pretty darn good, Jane Steele is out in the UK in what I suspect from the price is the giant airport sized paperback and in the US in hardback.  A cheaper (smaller?) paperback edition is due in the UK in November Get your copy from Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles, Kindle or Kobo.

* I do know what happens though.

** But Thursday Next is a very high bar and has a lot more going on than just Jane Eyre.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: April 11 – April 17

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Look at my progress with the longstanding books in progress!  And I read more besides.  Thank you minibreak and days off work.

Read:

Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone

Jane Steel by Lyndsay Faye

The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell

Freya by Anthony Quinn

Chloe Takes Control by Phyllis Matthewman

Started:

Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin

The Queerness of Rusty by Phyllis Matthewman

Still reading:

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

I bought books this week – but that’s because we went to Northumberland for a few days – and that meant a trip to the cavern of amazingness that is Barter Books in Alnwick.  Ninety minutes later and I’ve got a basket of books that I’ve been after for a while – although a couple were for friends.  So much fun.

Book of the Week, new releases

Book of the Week: Somewhere Inside of Happy

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A paperback copy of Somewhere Inside of Happy
This week’s attempt at an artistic photo has floorboards and sheepskin

There were two strong contenders for this week’s BotW crown – the latest Daisy Dalrymple mystery (which I’ve only just got around to) and Somewhere Inside of Happy, but as Anna McPartlin’s latest was released last week (I was lucky enough to be sent an copy in advance) and I really did love it, the funky yellow book takes home the prize.

Somewhere Inside of Happy starts with Maisie Brennan standing on a podium, about to address an audience on the twentieth anniversary of her son. Then we go back in time to find out what happened to her beloved Jeremy, as well as what her life was like before he disappeared.

You may remember that The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes reduced me to tears on a train, so this time I took precautions while reading this – no public transport.  However it did leave me in tears (subtly I hope) in my youth hostel dorm room as I finished it.  This is a tear-jerker in the very best sense.  You go into this knowing that Jeremy is dead – it’s on the back cover – but you desperately don’t want it to be true.  Watching how the story unfolds is a total rollercoaster as you get to know the characters and their backstory and their close family unit.  I was alternately desperate to know what had happened to Jeremy and desperate not to know because once you know then he is definitely dead and the family will never be the same again.

But don’t go thinking that this book is a downer. It’s not. It is funny and warm and life affirming. It shows the power of love and what people can achieve even in the face of great adversity. It shows the importance of family – whether it’s the one you’re born with or one you find and make for yourself. I may have an aversion to sad books and be devastated that Jeremy died, but I’m so glad I read it and I know I’m going to be recommending it to so many people. It’d make a great holiday read – as long as you have some big sunglasses to hide your tears behind!

Get your copy from Amazon, Waterstones or Foyles – but I’d expect this to be front and centre in the supermarkets and WH Smith stores – on on Kindle or Kobo.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: April 4 – April 10

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Some really good books here – I’m having trouble picking my BotW for tomorrow!  I’m going to try and finish some of the long-running books this week coming though.

Read:

Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn

Somewhere Inside of Happy by Anna McPartlin

Exile for Annis by Josephine Elder

Prefects at Vivians by Patricia K Caldwell

Secret Letters at Trebizon by Anne Digby

Midnight Pleasures by Eloisa James

Started:

Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone

Still reading:

Freya by Anthony Quinn

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

Jane Steel by Lyndsay Faye

No books bought!  Again.  I’m really trying hard.

Book of the Week, cozy crime, reviews

Book of the Week: Speaking from Among the Bones

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Back to detective fiction for this week’s BotW which is Alan Bradley’s fifth Flavia de Luce book.  Unusually for me these days, I’m reading this series out of order – I read the first book first, but the only others I’ve read in the series are the two which follow this one.

In Book 5 we join our heroine as the village is preparing for the exhumation of their local saint from the church yard to mark the 500th anniversary of his death.   But when they open the tomb, instead of a skeleton they find the recently deceased church organist and the pre-teen detective can’t help but start to investigate…

In the first book, Flavia trod a fine line for me – between engagingly and  clever and irritatingly precocious.  In this book (and the other later ones that I’ve read) she’s smart, with some pretty peculiar interests, but doesn’t ever cross too far over into preternaturally omnipotent!  Aside from her sisters, most of her relationships are with adults and I enjoyed watching how the different adults interact with her – and their varying success (in her opinion) in treating her “properly”.

This was a fun page-turner, I had my suspicions about the culprit but couldn’t figure out the hows and whys – but the explanation was ingenious.  I’m obviously still enjoying the series despite reading it out of order – you should be able to find Flavia’s adventures (where ever you want to start with them) in all good bookshops and online or, as I did, at your local library.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: March 28 – April 3

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My lack of reading progress this week is entirely down to the combination of late shifts and the World Figure Skating Championships…

Read:

The Mueller Twins at the Chalet School by Katherine Bruce

Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

A Frightfully English Execution by Shamini Flint

A Crimson Warning by Tasha Alexander

Champion of the Chalet School by Adrienne Fitzpatrick

Started:

Somewhere Inside of Happy by Anna McPartlin

Superfluous Women by Carola Dunn

Still reading:

Freya by Anthony Quinn

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

Jane Steel by Lyndsay Faye

Although I may not have made as much progress down the stack as I wanted, I haven’t added to it either – no books bought!

Book of the Week, books, non-fiction

Book of the Week: As If!

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Tricky choice this week – I’ve already waxed lyrical about The Night that Changed Everything in the Easter post, where I also mentioned Jolly Foul Play which I’ve now finished and is part of a series I’ve already written about in various places (like here, here, and here).  And my other favourite book last week was Broken Homes – book three in the Peter Grant series  which I wouldn’t suggest you read as an introduction to the series and I’ve already written about Rivers of London and Body Work.  So, I preface this by saying, go and read Wells and Wong if you like school stories, Peter Grant if you like magic and detective series and The Night that Changed everything if you like romantic comedies.

That all out of the way, the BotW has to be As If! An Oral History of Clueless.  This is the inside story of the classic teen movies – with contributions from pretty much everyone involved – mostly from interviews given to the author.  If you’re my age, you may have watched Amy Heckerling’s film on fairly hard rotation through your teenage years.  Cher and Dion’s adventures through Beverley Hills are both funny and strangely universal despite their mega bucks wardrobes and swanky life style.

If you love the movie then this is a fascinating insight into how it got made, what was going on behind the scenes and what it was like working on the book.  I found it fascinating – although I found that the style of putting in chunks of quotes from each contributor made it feel more like a stack of research notes in places rather than an actual book coming to conclusions.  If you’re not a mega fan of the movie, then this probably isn’t going to be your bag – unless you have and interest in the behind the scenes machinations of Hollywood and the process of making a film.

It’s a fairly pricey paperback – so unless you’re a super-fan if may be one for your local library – but here it is on Amazon, Kindle, Waterstones and Foyles.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: March 21 – March 27

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Some really good books this week – some of which I’ve already mentioned in my Easter Books post.  You may yet hear more about some of them too!  I went away for the bank holiday weekend – or you know the list of books read would have been higher if I’d been sitting on my sofa.  Get me with my life outside work and books!

Read:

The Sport of Baronets by Theresa Romain

The Night that Changed Everything by Laura Tait and Jimmy Rice

Deira Joins the Chalet School by Caroline German

Jolly Foul Play by Robin Stevens

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

As If! An Oral History of Clueless by Jen Chaney

The Skeleton Garden by Marty Wingate

Started:

Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye

Still reading:

Freya by Anthony Quinn

Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham

I didn’t buy any books!  Well I bought one book, but it wasn’t really for me (although it is on my kindle account, because I share it with Him Indoors).  So I’m calling it no books.  Who knew that was possible. I’ll try and not to buy any books at all this week…

Book of the Week, Fantasy, fiction

Book of the Week: The Night Circus

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This week’s book of the week is Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus.  In another tale of the state of the pile, this was a Christmas book from my mother in 2014.  In my defence, it did get a bit misplaced for a while in a storage box and then got shuffled to the bottom of a pile it shouldn’t have been on – but thanks to my mum’s habit of writing dedications in the front of gift books I have the guilts.  Sorry mum.

Anyhow, everyone else read this 18 months ago at least, so I’m behind the curve, but in case you are too, The Night Circus tells the story of Le Cirque de Rêves and some of the people who live there.  The circus arrives without warning, is only open at night and is filled with enchantment and wonder.  The book focuses on several characters in particular, but to say much more is to say too much.  It covers decades in the lives of the key players – starting before the invention of the circus and switches backwards and forwards through time as you learn some of the secrets behind the Circus of Dreams.

I started it before those pesky nightshifts and it took my brain some time to recover so it took me longer to read than how good it is.  But once my brain was functioning normally again I gobbled this up.  It’s clever and it’s magical but not too far from reality in many ways.  It’s romantic and intriguing and I wanted more.  I suspect I’ll be going back to reread this again and that I’ll get even more from it second time.

Magic! Illusions! Kittens! Clocks! Scarves! The Night Circus has all this and more – and now it’s got me wanting some more books with magical realism.  I listen to Book Riot’s Get Booked podcast and there have been several people asking for books to fill a Night Circus-shaped void in their lives, so once I’ve got the pile sorted a little bit I may have to look into that.  In the meantime, I’m ransacking the existing backlog for stuff that might scratch that itch.  Luckily I still have some Peter Grant saved on the shelf.

Anyhow.  Get your copy from Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles and on Kindle or Kobo.