Category: week in books

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: November 5 – November 11

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Check it out!  Reading more like normal – even though it was election week.  Thank you very much library.  Don’t expect this to last though – I’ve got more visitors arriving this week, so sightseeing will be back to full speed.  I’ve only got a few weeks left here now too.

Read:

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian

The Soldier’s Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian

It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian

Now That You Mention It by Kristin Higgins

Turbo Twenty-Three by Janet Evanovich

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came by MC Beaton

A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander

Hardcore Twenty-Four by Janet Evanovich

Started:

So Much Blood by Simon Brett

When A Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

One book bought and a few more library books borrowed…

Bonus picture:

Jasmine Guillory talking to Petra Mayer at Politics and Prose at the Wharf on Thursday.

Book of the Week, detective, Forgotten books, mystery

Book of the Week: Cast, In Order of Disappearance

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Back to semi-normal service this week, in that there is a BotW post, albeit a shorter one because I spent the week working and then gadding about Washingotn with my sister.  However after she and her boyfriend left on Saturday evening I consoled myself with books and this was one of them.

Cast, In Order of Disappearance is the first novel in the Charles Paris series by Simon Brett. Set in 1974, Charles is a middle-aged actor, with a drink problem and a career problem.  But when he meets up with a previous paramour (from a seaside run in panto) he ends up getting entangled in blackmail, the murder of a theatre impresario and all sorts of other shenanigans.  It’s all set against the backdrop of petrol shortages, electricity rationing and the winter of discontent which makes for a slightly different take on the murder mystery.  Charles is very much in the mold of the classic amateur sleuth, and even as he’s being terrible (drinking, womanising etc) he’s still strangely likeable and very readable.

This is the first book in a seventeen-book series – which I came across because the radio adaptations popped up in my recommendations on audible.  I’ve been listening to some of them – which are great fun as they have Bill Nighy as Charles (he’s predictably brilliant) but they have been considerably updated.  I really liked both of them – and although the original version is probably my favourite, it does require a level of knowledge about Britain in the 1970s which may not work for modern audiences.  Anyway, I’m already stockpiling more of these to read, so you may well here more of them anon.

Yes, this is short, but it’s been a busy week – and it’s about to get even busier.  As this posts, I should be gearing up for a midterms overnight shift.  Anyone who’s known me for any length of time knows that I love elections – so it’s a big night for me and requires proper preparation.  Hence the short post.  Sorry, not sorry.

You can get Cast, In Order of Disappearance on Kindle or Kobo, but the paperbacks are out of print.  But the radio plays are available on audible and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 29 – November 4

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Another week with not a huge amount of reading done – but I had a fabulous time with my sister and her boyfriend while they were here.  I’m all on my lonesome again now, but it’s midterm elections on Tuesday so reading time may not be huge this week…

Read:

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 1 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

True Blood 1 by Alan Ball

Star Trek TNG: Mirror Broken 0 by David Tipton

Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

Cast, In Order of Disappearance by Simon Brett

Started:

Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen

Turbo Twenty-three by Janet Evanovich

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Little Sis left on Saturday – I consoled myself with a trip to the library and a massive pile of library books.  Which is an improvement on my usual method of cheering myself up by buying a stack of books…

This week’s bonus picture: Washington Wizards trying (and failing) to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder

Basketball game

Book of the Week

Not a Book of the Week post…

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As I mentioned in yesterday’s Week in Books post, I said I wasn’t sure if I was going to have a BotW to recommend today, and I don’t. I just didn’t read enough last week to have something to recommend that’s not a repeat or clashing with a post I’ve already got planned. I was totally wiped out after a busy week at work and that trip to Texas. I fell asleep on the sofa one night at 9.30. And the last time that happened was back when I worked breakfast shifts!

Anyway, you did get a bonus post last week for Halloween reads, so go back and read that if you haven’t already, and I’ll attempt to resume normal service next week. Although my sister and her boyfriend are here this week, so I’m going to be busy again…

Bonus picture: the US Supreme Court on Sunday!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 22 – October 28

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I feel like I spent the first half of the week recovering from Texas and the second half preparing for my little sister and her boyfriend to arrive. And that’s before all the news that happened this week. Which was a lot. So not as much reading done as I wanted, and I have no idea if there’ll be a Book of the Week post tomorrow. Sorry.

Read:

Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen

Sorrow on Sunday by Ann Purser

A Picture of Murder by TE Kinsey

Sleep Like a Baby by Charlaine Harris

Started:

Queen of Hearts by Rhys Bowen

The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

No books bought, but a big stack borrowed from the library…

Bonus picture: my favorite specimen at the Botanic Gardens. It’s like a muppet and a plant had a baby.

Adventure, American imports, Book of the Week, Thriller

Book of the Week: Skin Tight

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Not a lot of reading done last week – I started the week in New York and ended it on a plane back to Washington from Dallas and there wasn’t a lot of reading time other than the travelling. But luckily, I had an easy choice for my BotW pick thanks to my new local library and Carl Hiaasen’s Skin Tight.

One well-loved library copy of Skin Tight

After a Mick Stranahan stabs his unexpected guest (who came armed) using a taxidermied fish, he starts to try to figure out who it is who wants him dead. Unfortunately the intruder died so quickly he couldn’t answer any questions. And there are plenty of suspects. As an investigator at the State Attorney’s Office there were plenty of people who had a grudge against him even before he nailed a crooked judge and got fired. But then the list just keeps growing and soon it becomes clear that if Stranahan wants to enjoy his retirement, he’s going to have to figure out what’s going on before he ends up dead.

If that sounds a bit mad, that’s because it is. It’s a dark and satirical screwball comedy where every character has at least one serious character flaw, but very few of them realise it. I’ve spoken a lot about my search for more books to scratch my Steph Plum-esque itch and this definitely did that. Stranahan is much less likeable than Steph and a lot further from the straight and narrow than she is, but this is the same sort of madcap adventure you get with her.

My only real problem with Skin Tight is that it was published nearly 30 years ago and that’s making it hard to get more books by Hiaasen, although not impossible as my to-read pile will already show. It does mean though that the bad news is that Skin Tight isn’t available on Kindle or Kobo at the moment – and it may well be out of print in the US as well as the UK.  It is available on audiobook from Kobo, but if you want an actual book you’re going to have to buy it secondhand (Amazon and Abebooks have plenty of copies at various price points) or do what I did and get it from your library.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 15 – October 21

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I had a very busy and exciting week – starting in New York and culminating in a couple of days in Dallas. Thus not much reading done. But je ne regrette rien.

Read:

To Obama by Jeanne Marie Laskas

Skin Tight by Carl Hiassen

Mardi Gras Murder by Ellen Byron

Miss Seeton Flies High by Hamilton Crane

Started:

Heirs and Graces by Rhys Bowen

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

I *may* have bought a book in New York.  But what happens in New York stays in New York right?

Bonus picture: the view from the grassy knoll on Sunday afternoon.

View of Dealy Plaza from the Grassy Knoll

Authors I love, Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Forever and a Day

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A tricky choice this week – I didn’t finish a lot, and there’s a lot of repeat authors here. And I’ve been super busy, so that means I don’t have a lot of time to write. But as I’ve read three Lucky Harbor books in as many weeks, this seemed like a good option. Anyway, to the book…

Cover of Lucky Harbor omnibus

Grace never thought she’d end up in a town like Lucky Harbor. Her super successful parents had plans and ideas for how they wanted her life to turn out and she’s never wanted to make them feel disappointed in the little girl they adopted. But when the job she moved across country for turned out to have some sexual strings attached, she knew it wasn’t the job for her. But that left her without a job and a long way from home and she doesn’t know how she’s going to sort this out before her parents find out. Then she ends up dog sitting and then baby sitting for local doctor Josh. Josh has got far too much on his plate. His son is only communicating in barks since his sister brought home Tank the puppy. And his sister has got a serious case of rebellion going on, after the accident that killed their parents and left her in a wheelchair. Soon he and grace are getting on really well and the sparks are flying, but they both know that this can only be a temporary thing – after all she isn’t staying in town and he’s been burnt before and doesn’t want to upset what balance he does have in his life. Right?

So Lucky Harbor books come in threes, and this is the third of its groups, so if you’re reading in order you’ve already seen Grace’s arrival in town and the friendship that she’s built with Amy and Mallory, the heroines of the previous two books in the series, as well asserting glimpses of Josh as he interacted with his friends in town. This makes this book extra satisfying because you’re already engaged with the characters and invested in a happy ending for them. Jill Shalvis is so good at these small town romances. Her characters are three dimensional and their backstories feel very realistic. And the writing is so witty – you get to laugh as well as getting a happy ending. What more could you want?

As you can tell, I got my copy from Barnes and Noble as part of an omnibus edition, but you should be able to get hold of these fairly easily as ebooks from all the usual sources although the paperbacks may be a little harder to find in the UK, but I have found them in the library on occasion too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 8 – October 14

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As suspected, I’ve been so busy with my visit from Him Indoors that I haven’t done as much reading as last week. But I regret nothing!

Read:

Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen

Naughty in Nice by Rhys Bowen

Forever and a Day by Jill Shalvis

All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris

Death of a Russian Doll by Barbara Early

Started:

Skin Tight by Carl Hiassen

Still reading:

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

Fear by Bob Woodward

To Obama by Jeanne Marie Laskas

No books bought – and I now have a proper library card too!

Update: here’s a bonus picture from Sunday night in New York!

American imports, Book of the Week, crime, detective, Verity Goes to Washington

Book of the Week: Legwork

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After a good week of reading last week I was spoilt for choice forBotW options, but in the end I went for a new to me author and series that I picked up in a secondhand shop during one of my lunchtime strolls through Washington DC.

Paperback copy of Legwork

Casey is a private eye. Or at least she would be if it wasn’t for a spell in jail that means that she can’t get a licence in her current home in North Carolina. What she actually is, is the person doing all the hard work for Bobby D, an overweight eating machine who doesn’t want to do anything that means he needs to leave the office. Casey’s current job is some security work for a local senatorial candidate. Mary Lee Masters decided she needed extra protection when she started getting threatening phone calls, so when she finds a dead body in her car it’s Casey she calls for help. Soon Casey is investigating some very seedy dealings and trying to keep the fact that she doesn’t have a licence under wraps from Detective Bill Butler.

Long-term readers may remember me tearing a streak through Janet Evanovich’s back catalogue, in particular the Stephanie Plum series, and that I’m always looking for books and series that scratch a similar itch. I think this might be one of them. Casey is a so much fun to read about. She’s smart and tough and knows what she’s good at – and she’s good at her job. Casey is no damsel in distress who needs rescuing. She’s running away from her past, but she knows she’s doing it and that she’ll have to face up to it some day. The mystery is well plotted and twisty and all the characters are well drawn. I also really liked Southern setting, which is so well described I can almost smell it. I’ll definitely be looking for the next book in the series.

Legwork first came out in 1997 – three years after Stephanie Plum, which makes it another older series which I’ve discovered years after the fact. Clearly I need to do some more research and digging to see if there are anymore unconventional female sleuth series from that era that I’m missing out on.

As I mentioned earlier, my copy was secondhand, but it’s still available in Kindle or in paperback if you want to take a look. In fact the whole series is available for free on Kindle Unlimited if you’re a member (which I’m not, we all know I’ve got enough access to books as it is and the to-read pile is already massive!)

Happy Reading!