Category: week in books

American imports, Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Dear Girls

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A long list of books last week – but actually when it came to picking a BotW it was looking quite tough until fairly late on. But then I finished Ali Wong’s Dear Girls and the choice became a lot easier.

Cover of Dear Girls

Ali Wong is a comedian and writer – in 2019 she co-wrote and starred in the film Always Be My Maybe and Dear Girls is a series of letters written to Wong’s two daughters.  These daughters are the babies she is (heavily) pregnant with in her Netflix comedy specials.  Wong starts the book by saying that her daughters really need to be over 21 before they read this and I would concur whole-heartedly.  It’s wise and moving, but it’s also incredibly honest and might tell them more than they want to know about their mum. I know I wouldn’t want to know quite as much about my mum’s sex life!

 

Even if you’re not related to Wong, this might still be a bit TMI for you – it covers everything from bad sex in New York, to what it’s really like after you’ve given birth and eating snakes. That said, this is funny and touching and a really interesting insight.  It’s very honest – probably the most warts and all book I’ve read since Viv Albertine’s first memoir. As well as the personal life stuff, Wong is fed up of being only asked about what it’s like to be an Asian-American female comedian – and she goes about answering the questions that she really would rather be asked as well as setting out her path to success on the stand up circuit and the pitfalls and problems on the way.

I haven’t seen all of Wong’s comedy specials, so I can’t speak as to what the overlap is – although there is some (even in the trailer above) but I think if you’re a fan, you’ll enjoy this.  If you’re not a fan (kinda like me) and are coming to it because you’ve heard a lot of good things about it, then I think it’ll work for you as well. It certainly did for me.  I need to finish watching those specials, just as soon as I’m done with Dancing Queen. And if you haven’t seen Always Be My Maybe – her romantic comedy movie from earlier this year then go watch that too, because it’s fun and funny and everything I like about rom coms but find so hard to find at the moment.

My copy of Dear Girls came from the library, but its available now on Kindle, Kobo and as a hardback (under £10 on Amazon at time of writing).

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: December 2 – December 8

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We’re into the final stretch of the election campaign, and I had three glorious days off to recover from my weekend at work.  And of course I spent some of them reading.  I’m quite annoyed that I still haven’t managed to post my Christmas-themed book posts yet – why is that I hear you ask, because you’ve seen Christmas books on thes lists for weeks, nay months now. Well it’s because I haven’t liked enough of them so I’ve had to keep on going and finding more to read in the hopes of being able to recommend them.  It has undone all my good work of starting reading the festive stuff early.  But they are coming.  Soon.  I promise.

Read:

St Ann’s on the Anvil by Winifred Norling

Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction by Richard L Bushman

Christmas Calamity at the Vicarage by Emily Organ

All I Want for Christmas by Jennifer Gracen

War on Peace by Ronan Farrow

Love Lies Bleeding by Edmund Crispin

The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan

Dear Girls by Ali Wong

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess in The Rajah’s Daughter

Started:

Christmas Secrets by the Sea by Jane Lovering

Death on a Quiet Day by Michael Innes

Still reading:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgerstern

Death Beside the Seaside by TE Kinsey

So I bought some stuff, but they mostly don’t count.  Let me explain: One for ebook for my sister’s book club (she has a kindle hooked up to my account), one ebook as part of her Christmas present from my parents (she’s in China, so posting a book isn’t really an option). And another girls own book (to add to the Shirley Flight’s from last week) but it’s the unabridged version of a Chalet School book I already own, so that doesn’t count either right? And a preorder of the paperback version of the latest Custard Protocol, so that sort of doesn’t count either right?!

And on a completely different note, you may remember how much I loved the Jim Henson biography back in September, so I wanted to mark the passing of Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who was the original Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch who appeared in that book as a supporting role and who died over the weekend at the age of 85. And another loss on Sunday was the actor Rene Auberjonois – who played Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space 9. I don’t think I’ve talked much about my love of Star Trek as a child and teen, but I feel like I grew up watching the three Next Generation-era series and he was one of the best things about DS9.

Bonus photo: Quality winter comfort food (and my slipper) as the cold weather starts to make me want to eat nothing but casseroles.

 

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: The Bromance Book Club

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Well where to start.  You saw the list yesterday. it was long. There was good stuff. You might have expected the pick today to be the Gail Carriger – and I do love her, but I’ve written a lot about her already and you really need to be reading those in order, so go back at least as far as Prudence first, maybe even Soulless. But this book, the very last one I read last week was my favourite. I had trouble stopping myself reading it when I had to go and do other things. Like eat. Or get off the train.

Cover of The Bromance Book Club

Gavin Scott has messed up. His baseball career is on a high, but his marriage has fallen apart. The night of his biggest career triumph was also the night his relationship came crashing down when he discovered his wife Thea had been faking it in bed. He reacted badly and now she wants a divorce. Gavin doesn’t though – he wants his wife back. Enter the Bromance Book Club – a group of really quite alpha guys who have fixed their own relationships with the help of a seemingly unlikely source: romance novels. With the help of the book that they’ve picked for him Gavin starts to try and rebuild his marriage. But will he manage to follow its instructions – and does Thea even want to try again?

“The point is to fit the lessons of it into your own marriage. Plus, that’s a Regency, so—” “What the hell is a Regency?” “That means it’s set in eighteenth-or early nineteenth-century England.” “Oh, great. That sounds relevant.” “It is, actually,” Malcolm said. “Modern romance novelists use the patriarchal society of old British aristocracy to explore the gender-based limitations placed on women today in both the professional and personal spheres. That shit is feminist as fuck.”

This was so much my jam. I mean really, really good. I mean if that quote doesn’t sell it to you, then I don’t know what will. Gavin is a great hero – he knows he’s messed up, he doesn’t know how to fix it and he hasn’t realised that more is wrong than just the bedroom issue.  His pro-sports career gives him a legitimate reason to have not noticed some of the stuff that’s been bothering Thea – and once he realises what’s happened, he pulls himself together and makes changes to do better and be better.  Thea is an attractive heroine – she’s a young mum who’s given up a lot because of her husband’s career but who still has goals and ambitions.  You understand why she reacts the way that she does and why she feels so strongly. She’s changed herself so much to fit in with Gavin’s life and the players’ wives and she wants to find her own identity again.  It’s wonderful to watch it all unfold.

The only thing that I didn’t like was the resolution to the bedroom side of the story.  Nothing really changes really in *what* they’re doing in the bedroom – so you don’t really understand orgasms weren’t happening during sex for Thea in the first place – or why she started being able to come again. Other reviewers have also spotted this – and I think it has bothered them more than it bothered me – but it is annoying and also troublesome. In a book which is mostly about Gavin learning to listen to his wife and to be a better partner, there’s no conversation about how to fix this at all – but hey presto, it’s fixed because the rest of their relationship is fixed.  That’s not how it works. It didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book, but it is a shame and an opportunity missed.

I’m having a real moment with contemporary romance right now and struggling a bit with the historical stuff (apart from a few reliable authors) but this was such a great combination of the two.  It’s also got a great cast of supporting characters with the other guys from the book club – the Russian with the digestive problems, the playboy who flirts with every woman he sees.  Thea’s sister Liv was a bit of a tough sell for me at times, but as you lean more about the sisters’ childhood you understand why she is like she is.  I’m looking forward to her getting a book of her own – because this – praise be – is the start of a series.

My copy of the Bromance Book Club  by Lyssa Kay Adams came from NetGalley, but it’s out now in ebook – it’s a bargainous £1.99 on Kindle and Kobo at the moment.  The paperback comes out in the UK at the end of January.

Happy Reading!

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 25 – December 1

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This year really just won’t quit. It keeps on being insanely busy even when it should be getting into Christmas mode.  And this week has been stressful too, so check out the result of a string of late night train journeys, a weekend at work and the need to destress through reading. Impressive no?

Read:

The Likeability Trap by Alicia Menendez

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser

A Wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

Sick Kids in Love by Hannah Moskowitz

Love, Parisienne by Florence Besson, Eva Amour and Claire Steinlen

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

Competence by Gail Carriger

A Kiss for Mid-winter by Courtney Milan

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams

Started:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgerstern

Death Beside the Seaside by TE Kinsey

Still reading:

War on Peace by Ronan Farrow

A couple of books bought – but mostly as Christmas presents.  There may have been a few Girls Own in there too though..

Bonus photo: Will there ever be a satisfactory way to shelf my Gail Carriger books? Probably not.

Shelf of Gail Carriger books of varying sizes

Authors I love, Book of the Week, Christmas books

Book of the Week: Hither, Page

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An embarrassment of riches on this week’s list, but I think this was my favourite.  Lots of stuff from it will be making appearances in other posts soon too – in fact the only thing against Hither, Page being this week’s pick is that I sort of wanted it for my Christmas reading post, which is taking longer to put together than I was expecting because I haven’t liked a lot of the stuff that I’ve been reading with an eye to including it.  But this wasn’t on the original list of potentials for the Christmas post, so I don’t feel too bad about it. Anyway, on to the book.

Cover of Hither, Page

Hither, Page is a murder mystery and romance set in Britain in the aftermath of World War Two. James Sommers has come back from the war to work as the doctor in the village that he lived in as a child.  After he catches his cleaning lady looking through his patient records and snooping in his flat he lets her go. But soon she’s found dead after a dinner party at the Big House and James feels like the peace of his post-war sanctuary has been shattered. Leo Page works for one of the shadowier (and possibly dodgier) bits of the British secret service and is surprised to be sent to a sleepy village to investigate a charlady’s death. Soon Leo and James are crossing paths – one as as he tries to solve the crime, the other he tries to get his village back to normal – or at least that’s what he thinks he’s doing.

I think you all know me well enough to know that this plot summary ticks quite a lot of my boxes – murder mystery, mid-twentieth century, secret services connection and it’s sort of enemies forced to work together.  It’s funny and snarky and has a great cast of supporting characters who – as it’s the first of a series – we should hear more from in books to come. What is not to love.

I’m always after a new historical mystery series, and Cat Sebastian was one of my 2018 Obsessions as I worked my way through her back catalogue so this is practically a Venn diagram all on its own. My only complaints were that it wasn’t long enough and as it’s the first in the series I now have to wait impatiently for the next installment which doesn’t even have a name yet it’s so long away.  However in writing this post I realised that there is another Cat Sebastian book due out soon (in December and I’ve got it pre-ordered already, well done PastVerity) which is good, but I think we’ve just ruled that out of BotW contention if I read it straightaway, which I think we all know I will.  Hey ho (ho, ho), you can’t win them all.

My copy of Hither, Page came from the library – but it’s available on Kindle and on Kobo now.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 18 – November 24

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I used my three days off to read books. Can you tell? And I needed the relaxation because my days at work were Very Busy. But then it’s still election season isn’t it. Only three weeks to go…

Read:

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess and the Congo Rescue by Judith Dale

Sweet Valley Confidential by Francine Pascal

Maid of the Abbey by Elsie J Oxenham

Bad to the Bone by Katy Munger

Seduction on a Snowy Night by Madeline Hunter, Sabrina Jeffries and Mary-Jo Putney

It Happened on Christmas Eve by Kirsty Greenwood

Hither, Page by Cat Sebastian

The Banks by Roxane Gay and Ming Doyle

Meant to be Yours by Susan Mallery

A Very Merry Princess by Susan Mallery

Started:

Competence by Gail Carriger

The Likeability Trap by Alicia Menendez

War on Peace by Ronan Farrow

Still reading:

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser

A couple of ebooks bought. And some Christmas presents. But they don’t count because they’re not for me.

Bonus photo: the winter soup cauldron. Now back out for the season and in heavy rotation.

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Unhoneymooners

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A very unseasonal pick for this week’s BotW – the weather here is cold and often wet, the pavements near my house are a sludge of fallen leaves and I’ve had to retire my in-between season wardrobe and admit that it’s actually winter.  And yet here I am recommending a book mostly set on a tropical island vacation. I know. But not everyone wants to read winter books at this time of year – and if you’re not the sort of person that might impulse book a hot weather holiday if you read a book set on the beach at this time (and maybe if you are and you’re ok with that!) then this is such a great read. And yes I know, I’m repeating authors – I’ll get to that later.

Cover of The Unhoneymooners

Olive thinks she’s unlucky – she’s just lost her job and nothing ever seems to go right for er.  Her identical twin sister on the other hand is so luck she’s financed her wedding by winning contests. Great for her – but not for Olive who is going to have to spend the day with Ami’s new brother-in-law, who is best man and also Olive’s sworn enemy.  But when Ethan and Olive are the only people who don’t go down with food poisoning at the reception, suddenly they’re off on Ami’s nontransferrable all-expenses paid contest prize honeymoon.  Surely they can pretend to get along for a week’s free vacation? But Olive’s bad luck seems to have followed her to the holiday – because she runs into her future boss who now thinks she’s married and suddenly the stakes got a bit higher.  And Olive is starting to think that maybe she doesn’t hate Ethan as much as she thought she did…

If you’ve been reading long enough to remember my Historical Romance Tropes post you’ll know that fake relationships are one of my favourites. Also on that list – although not talked about in that post – are forced proximity (stuck somewhere with no escape – often deployed in christmas novels where people get snowed in) and enemies to lovers (i hate you, I hate you, I hate you, wait why do I want to stroke your hair?*).  And this does pretty much everything you would want a forced proximity, enemies to lovers, fake relationship romantic comedy to do.  And it is very much a comedy at times.  There are some laugh out loud funny moments here.  I did have some doubts at various points if it would be able to wrap everything up in a satisfactory manner** but actually it all played out rather nicely.  It did all wrap up very quickly at the end, as romances often do, but the epilogue sort of made up for it.

I have been a bit hit and miss with Christina Lauren at times – although this is the second time they’ve been a BotW pick in just over a month, so I can see that you might not believe me – but this is the most fun of all their romances that I’ve read.  Aside from Autoboygraphy (which I loved, but which is YA) I’ve had problems with some of their  heros – I hated Carter in Dating You/Hating You and never really believed that he realised exactly how much of a jerk he had been. To be fair, I also hated the pranks in that book because they were incredibly petty and unprofessional and I like competency porn from my heros and heroines. I chalked that up in my review to not my tropes – but when the stars align and they are writing in my wheelhouse, they can be absolutely spectacular.  The trouble then for me is working out which of their novels will be my thing. I’m hopeful that Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating may be one I like – so I’m going to try that next.

My copy of The Unhoneymooners came from the library, but it’s available now on Kindle and Kobo.  It’s not out in the UK in paperback until May next year (which may be why the ebooks are so expensive – £9.99 at time of writing) so you won’t be able to get it in a UK bookshop yet (although you could preorder) but Book Depository seem to have copies, and you should be fine in the US.

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

*thank you Sarah Wendell

** mostly related to the reasons why the two of them had initially not got on and about one part of Ethan’s character to say more about either of these would be a spoiler.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 11 – November 17

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Hooo boy what a week.  Three nights away from home at the start of the week on early shifts which were insanely busy with the election, and then another night away at the weekend because I was working – and that work involved a certain Royal Interview which is being much talked about.  All that plus a trip to the cinema (Le Mans 66 aka Ford v Ferrari) and to see some comedy (Dave Gorman). November may not be my month!

Read:

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess and the Great Bullion Mystery by Judith Dale

Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles

Lumberjanes vol 12: Jackalope Springs Eternal by Shannon Waters et al

Gilded Cage by KJ Charles

Started:

Bad to the Bone by Katy Munger

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess and the Congo Rescue by Judith Dale

The Vanderbeekers to the Rescue by Karina Yan Glaser

Still reading:

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

One book bought – a kindle daily deal impulse buy in a moment of weakness on Sunday.  It was a week.

Bonus photo: A typically mad cover for a Shirley Flight novel…

Hardback copy of Shirley Flight, Air Hostess in the Great Bullion Mystery

Book of the Week, non-fiction, Uncategorized

Book of the Week: Catch and Kill

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It may have been a shorter than some reading list again last week, but nevertheless I am back to normal service with the BotW posts today and I’ve got a cracker for this week’s pick. And yes it’s had a lot of hype but it’s really worth it.

Cover of Catch and Kill

I think you’d have to have been under a rock to have missed the Harvey Weinstein story breaking last year. The former movie mogul – the producer behind many Oscar-winning movies – was accused sexual harassment and paying settlements to women in a New York Times article by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey and then five days later by multiple women of a pattern of predatory behaviour of sexual assaults (including rape) in a New Yorker article written by Ronan Farrow. Weinstein has always denied wrong doing, saying that via his lawyers that any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied and there are cases still making their way through the courts in the US. But Farrow’s investigation of Weinstein originally started as part of his work for NBC News. This is the story behind that original New Yorker article – of how Farrow assembled the witnesses and evidence to stand the story up and of the efforts that he says were being taken to stop the story getting on air.

Two years after those first articles (which saw Kantor, Twohey, Farrow, the NYT and New Yorker share a Pulitzer Prize) we already know most of the allegations about Weinstein and this book has mostly made headlines because of the allegations made about the attempts to suppress the story. But it’s also a pacey and incredibly readable piece of narrative nonfiction. It’s very easy to read, and Farrow is realistic about his role and position in the world – in case you’ve missed it, he’s the son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen and was a child genius who went to college in his teens and who is estranged from his father. Farrow has a way with words – this reads almost like a thriller novel, and not just because of the presence of secretive Israeli spies. It’s also wryly funny in places – mostly when Farrow’s partner, podcaster and former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett, appears, something that Lovett has Thoughts About when it comes to the audiobook:

This is one of the best nonfiction books I’ve read this year and would make a great Christmas book gift – even though the subject matter doesn’t sound like it would. I borrowed my copy from the library, but you should be able to get a copy of Catch and Kill from all good bookshops (I’m thinking it’ll be on a table/new books display), as well as on Kindle, Kobo and Audible, although I understand that there have been some problems in some territories with legal threats.  Is it any wonder that I’ve read and rewritten this post several times?!

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: November 4 – November 10

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A super busy week. Again.  Also I spent Sunday at two concerts, which was amazing, but obviously not reading.  Maybe I’m finally getting my reading and everything else balance sorted out?

Read:

Already Home by Susan Mallery

The Princess Plan by Julia London

Wrapped Up In You by Jill Shalvis

Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow

Royal Holiday by Jasmine Guillory

Smoke and Mirrors by Elly Griffiths

Started:

Shirley Flight, Air Hostess and the Great Bullion Mystery by Judith Dale

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Any Old Diamonds by KJ Charles

Still reading:

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

Three books – all Girls Own stuff – bought in a moment of weakness. Lovely stuff.

Bonus photo: The stage ahead of Maria Friedman’s concert at the Southbank Centre on Sunday night.

Spotlight on a microphone