Category: week in books

Book of the Week, non-fiction, romance

Book of the Week: Beyond Heaving Bosoms

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This week’s book of the week is the very wonderful and very funny Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan.  I have recently discovered the Dear Bitches, Smart Authors podcast – and through it the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books website.  Now I’ve documented here in the past my slightly shamefaced addiction to US romance novels with the sort of cover I’m embarrassed to take out in public.  Now whilst I stick mostly to historicals, these ladies have read the lot – and can dissect it brilliantly and hilariously.  If you have a problem with profanity this may not be for you (Hi Mum!) but I just found it absolutely side-splittingly funny and totally on the mark.

My copy of Beyond Heaving Bosoms

As someone who has discovered the massive US historical romance market through Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Sarah MacLean, I also got a lot of recommendations for old school authors to go back and read – to add to the massive book list I’m accumulating from the podcast.

I was reading this over the weekend whilst I was staying at my sisters – and had to keep stopping to read bits out to her – or pass the book over for her to read longer chunks.  She’s not a romance reader – but she found it hilarious too.

My only gripe with the book is that in the chose your own romance novel section, I kept being too sensible and the stories ended too soon… Now I’ve got two days off this week and I’m off to read the new Sarah MacLean which has been sitting at the top of the to-read pile for weeks waiting for me to not have to leave the house!

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 12 – January 18

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Hmmm.  Half a week off work for my birthday – and I was so busy enjoying myself that I didn’t get much reading done… Still I’ve got a bunch of lates and a weekend coming up, so that’s not going to last…

Read:

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Ridley Road by Jo Bloom

Beyond Heaving Bosoms by Sarah Wendell and Candy Tan

Scales of Justice by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander

Still reading:

Still no lingerers!

Book of the Week, books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

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What to say about this.  Really I should have been reading between Christmas and New Year – but as it had potential to be a weepy, I thought mixing it with nightshifts was a bad idea.  I had a meltdown over a relationship break-up at the start of a book during some nightshifts, so I thought I ought to avoid a book about a woman dying of cancer!  So, well rested and as emotionally stable as I ever get (that is to say, prone to tears when sad things happen or when people die in documentaries, even when I know it’s coming) I started in on this on commute to work.  And it nearly had me crying on the train not once, not twice, but three times.  On three separate train journeys.

Now I know what you’re saying: “Verity, why didn’t you stop reading the damn book on the train?” And the simple answer is that I couldn’t.  I had to know what happened next – how it all worked out for Rabbit and her family – and as I was on late shifts, the train was the only place where I was going to get a chance to do that.  But I did learn something – by the third train journey I’d scaled back the eyeliner and switched to waterproof mascara!

To go back to the beginning – The Plot.  Rabbit Hayes is dying.  She has cancer – it’s terminal – and the end is rushing towards her faster than anyone wants.  What will happen to her daughter Juliet? And to the rest of her tight-knit family?  But even though her mum and dad are still searching for a miracle, the reader always knows what’s going to happen to Rabbit.

Now I know that makes the book sound like a real downer – and like I said, I was in tears in places – but here’s the thing.  It’s not.  It’s funny and it’s rude and, most importantly, it’s life-affirming.  By the time it’s over, Rabbit may be gone – but you know that it’s ok and it’s going to be ok for everyone else too.  She was the glue that held her family together, but she’s helped them find a way to make it work without her.  And I don’t think that’s a spoiler.  You might cry for Rabbit – and be sad that it ended this way for her – but you’ll come away better for having known her.

I don’t usually do weepies.  The Boy is still borderline grumpy with me about the 2am crying fit that ensued at the end of The Fault in Our Stars after I insisted on staying up to read it to the end (Me: “I’ll have horrible dreams if I leave them like this” Him: “I don’t think reading til the end will make your dreams any more cheerful”).  There are a few books that I’ve studiously avoided reading because I know that they’re sad – and although I’ll read pretty much anything, I’d rather twiddle my thumbs than read anything from the “Tragic Lives” section of the bookshop. But this had such good reviews – and people whose books I love had raved about it – so I took the plunge, and I’m so glad I did.  Perhaps there are a few more books out there that I’ve been avoiding that I should be getting involved with. But maybe not on the train!

You can buy The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes everywhere.  It’s in Richard and Judy’s latest Book Club picks, so it’s in the Buy 1 get 1 for £1 promotion in W H Smith (or at least it was on Saturday), I’m expecting it to be all over the supermarkets and the high street book shops, but if you can’t wait or can’t be bothered to leave the house, you can buy it from Foyles or Waterstones or Amazon or Kindle or Kobo or my page on My Independent Bookshop (which gives money to my local Indie).

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 5 – January 11

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Not a long list this week – but there’s some real quality on it.  The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes took a bit of reading – it’s a real emotional journey – but it is so worth it and you read more about it here tomorrow!

Read:

How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy by Vanessa Kelly

The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin

The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith

Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn

Started:

 Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn

Still reading:

Still no lingerers!

I bought Four books this week – naughty me.  But they were all second hand, and all books that I’d had on my to buy list for a while.

Book of the Week, books, fiction, reviews, Uncategorized

Book of the Week: Fin and Lady

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Welcome to a new feature for 2015 – a post on my favourite book of the previous week.  The inaugural Book of the Week is Cathleen Schine’s Fin and Lady – which I’ve had on my to-read list since it was recommended in the Emerald Street mailout in December 2013 (yes, that is the amount of lag the size of the to-read pile causes me).

Paperback copy of Fin and Lady
Not only is the book good – but the cover is pretty too!

Fin and Lady tells the story of Fin – who is orphaned at 11 and goes to live with his older half sister Lady.  Lady is glamorous and exotic and moves Fin from his grandparents’ farm in Connecticut to Greenwich Village – in 1964.  Through the book you see 1960s New York through Fin’s eyes – and watch as he looks after his sister as much as she looks after him.

Lady is a fascinating enigma through the book – she longs to be independent and free, but the late sixties hippy-commune-free love vibe doesn’t appeal to her.  She tells Fin she wants his help to pick a husband – but doesn’t like the advice he gives her.  I wasn’t dazzled by her the way that Fin was, but I still found her an interesting and engaging character – and I could totally see why 11-year-old Fin would have been absolutely bowled over by her.

I was fairly sure I knew what was going to happen, but I really enjoyed the journey to get there.  I would have liked to know more about what happened next to Fin, but the ending was still satisfying.  Fin and Lady made me laugh – and it made me teary-eyed. I also want to read more about New York in this period. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye open for more from Cathleen Schine.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 29 – January 4

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I put in a shift or two this week finishing the Stephen Fry so that I could start 2015 without any long running lingerers.  And then I had nightshifts for four nights over New Year….

Read:

Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Kennedy Wives by Amber Hunt and David Batcher

Christmas at High Rising by Angela Thirkell

Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander

All I Want For Christmas by Claudia Carroll

The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews

Twisted Threads by Lea Wait

Started:

 How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy by Vanessa Kelly

The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith

Still reading:

None!  New year, new start!

I bought a Kindle book this week – the first Inspector Maigret which was on offer – but that’s it. A positive start to the new year.

 

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 22 – December 28

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Turns out working the start of Christmas week – and then being back at work the day after Boxing Day means that I did a surprising amount of reading considering the time of year.

Read:

A Viennese Christmas by Lynn Crain

The Two Gentlemen of Altona by Lisa Henry and JA Rock

These Wonderful Rumours! by May Smith

Death Comes To The Village by Catherine Lloyd

Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

My Sister’s Song by Gail Carriger

Fairy Debt by Gail Carriger

Marine Biology by Gail Carriger

Started:

The Kennedy Wives by Amber Hunt and David Batcher

Spinsters in Jeopardy by Ngaio Marsh

Still reading:

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

I bought ONE book this week (!) and three short stories and I only got given two for Christmas – so the to read pile hasn’t expanded the way I was worried it might.  We head towards 2015…

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 15 – December 21

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Not a tremendously productive week in reading terms this week – but the it is the week before Christmas and several of the books that I read were really quite long.

Read:

A Christmas Feast by Katie Fforde

Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop by Jenny Colgan

Goodbye Picadilly by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Diary of a Failed Southern Lady by Florence King

Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

These Wonderful Rumours! by May Smith

Still reading:

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

 On the brightside no books bought – except for one bought as a Christmas book and re-purposed for me!  Next week however is Christmas week – and I suspect I may well get some books amongst my gifts.  But at least I won’t have bought them for myself!

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 8 – December 14

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Reading schedule derailed by a very busy weekend of work – and an urge to re-read some Phryne Fisher (it happens when I’m tired) – but hey – I still did ok.

Read:

Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh

The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox

Cover Story by Rachel Bailey

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

Stork Raving Mad by Donna Andrews

Shopaholic on Honeymoon by Sophie Kinsella

Started:

Opening Night by Ngaio Marsh

Still reading:

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

Goodbye Picadilly by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

 One book bought – the next Meg Langslow.  So better work from me on that front.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 1 – December 7

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Considering I’ve been off work this week and not really been commuting, I don’t think I’ve done too badly.  I’ve called time on the Sarah Waters  – there’s so much else I’d rather be reading, and it’s lingered for two months not being read, so I’ve given up.  I’ll keep it around – and I may return to it – but enough people (including The Boy) have told me that it wound them up or left them unsatisfied that I thought I’d rather spend my time on stuff I do enjoy.

I’m trying to delay reading the last Parasol Protectorate story – because once I read it, I’m out of Gail Carriger to read until her next book comes out (in 2015!) so the purchase of a couple of Ngaio Marsh omnibuses in Foyles double Foyalty points promotion last weekend has bee fortuitous.   A bit of Golden Age crime is an excellent distraction!

Read:

The Greatest Love Story of All Time by Lucy Robinson

The Grand Duchess of Nowhere by Laurie Graham

One Upon A Christmas Kiss by Manda Collins

How The In-Laws Wrecked Christmas by Fiona Gibson

A Grosvenor Square Christmas by Anna Campbell, Shana Galen, Vanessa Kelly and Kate Noble

Heartless by Gail Carriger

Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh

Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

Goodbye Picadilly by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

Swing, Brother, Swing by Ngaio Marsh

Still reading:

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Goddess and the Thief by Essie Fox

 A couple of books bought this week – both Christmas released from Authors that I enjoy, so they’ll probably appear here soon!