Category: week in books

Book of the Week, fiction, mystery

Book of the Week: Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars

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I had such a tough job picking a book for BotW this week, because I really didn’t read anything that I whole-heartedly loved.  I started reading a lot of books and then gave up on them, and I finished a few – including a real stinker.  But in the end I plumped for Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson.

Cover of Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars.
As I mention below, Im not quite sure the cover for this is quite right.

Anna Treadway is a dresser, working in a London theatre and living above a Turkish cafe in Soho in 1965.  When the actress who she works with disappears, she sets out to try and find her as the trail grows cold and the newspapers lose interest.   As she hunts for the mysterious Iolanthe Green she finds herself in new world of jazz clubs, police cells and backstreet doctors.

Whilst this wasn’t perfect, it was an interesting idea and a great cast of diverse characters. It’s got an interesting mystery that’s well thought through and several different plot strands which tie together quite nicely.  Underneath the mystery of where Iolanthe has gone there are issues of prejudice and race and people struggling to be heard and believed. From the look of the (UK) cover and some of the write ups I was expecting it to be ultimately more uplifting, but perhaps given the issues that it’s dealing with, I was being unrealistic.

This is Miranda Emmerson’s first novel and it does a great job of creating the atmosphere of 1960s London and the grimier side of life.  In fact that was what I liked best about it – the mix of people thrown together, some times living side by side without ever intersecting.  I think I would have liked more of Anna’s backstory and I wanted a bit more of what happened next at the end, but I pretty much always want more of what happened next at the end!

My copy came via NetGalley, but you can get Miss Treadway & the Field of Stars from Amazon, Foyles and Waterstones or on Kindle and Kobo.  It only came out a couple of weeks back so it’s hardcover and the ebooks are priced accordingly too I’m afraid.  The paperback is out in July, so it may drop a little then, if you want to add it to your wishlist and wait it out.

Happy Reading.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 23 – January 29

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I started the week (unexpectedly) doing a bit old 50 and out cull – nothing was capturing my fancy.  But it has got a few books off the virtual to-read pile.

Read:

The Flying Classroom by Erich Kästner

Danny Dingle’s Fantastic Finds: The Super-Sonic Submarine by Angie Lake

A Thrilling Term at Janeways by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Miss Treadway and the Field of Stars by Miranda Emmerson

Murder of a Chocolate Covered Cherry by Denise Swanson

Started:

Shock and Awe by Simon Reynolds

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

First Women by Kate Andersen Brower

I didn’t buy any books this week – but I acquired quite a lot because the arts department upstairs at work is moving offices and everyone seems to be having a clear out of there shelves – meaning lots of books up for grabs.  Oops.

Book of the Week, non-fiction

Book of the Week: Blitzed

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So, you may have noticed from yesterday’s WiB that I didn’t finish that many books last week. But that was not a problem when it came to picking a BotW, because one of the books that I did finish was Norman Ohler’s Blitzed.

It’s only in hardback at the moment I’m afraid, but I’m just happy it’s been translated at all.

Ohler’s thesis is that large amounts of drugs were consumed by Nazi troops as they steamrollered through Europe, that drugs were equally consumed by people on the homair front and that during the latter stages of the war (from around 1941 onwards) Hitler himself was dependent on hard drugs. Ohler backs up his assertions with primary source research using documents held in archives in Germany and in America and makes a persuasive case.

Now before I go any further, I need to say that although I have a history degree, I have, in the main, avoided study of Nazi Germany because I find it too unbearably terrible. Luckily my school stopped studying WW2 Germany at A-Level the year before I started sixth form* and at university I managed to avoid Twentieth Century history for all but one term** so I am no expert.

I found Ohler’s book incredibly readable and very well researched. It’s an appealing idea. The Nazis were off their heads on drugs. That’s why they did it. It’s comforting and reassuring – it was the drugs which made them do it – and means that you don’t have to worry about what you would have done in their place. I don’t think this is what Ohler is trying to say. In the case of Hitler he’s very specific that it doesn’t explain all of Hitler’s actions – just enabled him to maintain and continue his rule. As for the man on the street, or the soldier in a panzer regiment, the drugs enabled them to keep going for longer than otherwise. So I suppose what I’m saying is that this book shouldn’t be seen in isolation or viewed as the whole story. That would be far too simplistic. But it has new ideas and research I haven’t heard about before and is worth reading, if only so that you know what the historians are arguing about.  Because they are going to argue about this.

Get your copy of Blitzed from Amazon, Waterstones or Foyles or on Kindle or Kobo.  The paperback is out in May – pre-order on Amazon. Or if you don’t want to read the whole thing, Dan Snow interviewed Norman Ohler on his History Hit Podcast and it was reviewed in the December issue of Literary Review (subscription needed).

Happy Reading!

*We did Tudor England, the French Revolution, France 1814-1914 and the Italian Risorgimento which was much more to my taste.

** the second term of my first year, where my seminar tutor was a German Post Grad whose thesis was on “images of death in 20th Century Germany”.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 16 – January 22

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Well the week started with my birthday (yes I know, I was celebrating last week.  We take birthdays seriously in my house) and although I read a lot of American Wife and First Women I didn’t finish them, and I also spent a lot of the second half of the week reading about the handover of power in the US, the end of the Obama administration and the start of the Trump one.  So not a lot of books got finished.

Read:

Rivers of London: Night Witch by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel and Lee Sullivan

A Killer Plot by Ellery Adams

Blitzed by Norman Ohler

Privates on Parade by Peter Nichols

Started:

A Thrilling Term at Janeways by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

First Women by Kate Andersen Brower

I had a mega spending spree in Hay on Wye on my birthday (Monday) buying half a dozen books for myself and another couple as gifts for other people.  But beyond that I was very good and restrained.

Book of the Week, fiction

Book of the Week: Crooked Heart

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Quite a tough decision on what to pick for BotW this week – there were several contenders. But in the end I’ve plumped for Lissa Evans’ Crooked Heart, which I devoured over the weekend while we were away for an extended jolly for my birthday.   This was another book which had ended up at the bottom of my to-read pile and resurfaced because of the Big Box Up and I’m so glad that it did.

Copy of Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans.
Mine had an extra cover on it – the actual cover is prettier.

 

Crooked Heart tells the story of Noel, who is evacuated to Hertfordshire in 1940.   Noel is an unusual 10 year old.  He’s been brought up by an old lady and is precocious and smart beyond his years.  He ends up with Vera – a 36 year old single mum struggling with debt, a recalcitrant and secretive son and her demanding mother.  Vera is sure there is some money to be made out of the war, but the trouble is that she’s not very good at making a plan and sticking to it.  But Noel is a different proposition.  He’s smart, he’s calm and he might be the answer to Vera’s problems.  But of course they’re not the only people making money from the war, and there are dangers other than air-raids in Noel’s new life.

I really enjoyed this.  Noel and Vera are engaging characters who make a good team.  Vera is almost a proto-Del Boy – but with Noel to help she has the chance of her deals actually going right.  In some ways Noel reminded me of  William in Goodnight Mr Tom (that’s a good thing) – Noel has had more advantages in his education and home life that William did, but he’s still a little boy who has had to grow up too fast and deal with things that children aren’t meant to deal with.  And one of the themes of Goodnight Mr Tom is finding your own family and your own place in life and there’s a lot of that here although Vee is very different to Tom.

It’s a heartwarming romp through the grey, greyer and uglier areas of life on the home front.  I could easily have read another 100 pages of Vee and Noel, but actually the ending is a brilliant touch.  I haven’t read any of Lissa Evans’ books before, but my little sister still has a copy Evans’ first novel, Spencer’s List, on her shelf which I bought for her back in the day 15 years ago, so I’m going to have to borrow that off her and read it.  Coincidentally someone posted a trailer on Facebook for the upcoming film Their Finest on the same day as I read this – and that’s based on Evans’ previous book Their Finest Hour and a Half, which I totally need to read now as well.

You can get a copy of Crooked Heart from Amazon, Waterstones and Foyles or on Kindle or Kobo.  And it looks like there might be a (slightly retitled) tie-in edition of Their Finest Hour and Half coming out too.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 9 – January 15

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I’m not quite sure where my reading time went at the start of the week, but I know where it went at the end because we went away for a long weekend for my birthday. What a treat. 

Read:

The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne

A Perilous Undertaking by Deanna Raybourn

New York, Actually by Sarah Morgan

Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans

Wrong For Me by Jackie Ashenden

Three Men and a Maybe by Katey Lovell

Started:

 Blitzed by Norman Ohler

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

First Women by Kate Andersen Brower

 I may have bought a few books. But hey, I’m having an extended birthday treat!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 2 – January 8

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Three nights away from home impaired my reading progress somewhat this week, and also my attempts to read my way through the bottom of the to-read pile.  Still at least one of the books I did read is eligible for a category on the #ReadHarder challenge, so that’s good.

Read:

The Making of A Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Fountain of Sorrow by Paul Charles

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham

The Vets at Hope Green, Part 1 by Sheila Norton

Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe

Started:

The Draycott Murder Mystery by Molly Thynne

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

First Women by Kate Andersen Brower

Two books bought this week – but one’s in French, so its educational – and the other was for Him Indoors as well as me.

Book of the Week, non-fiction

Book of the Week: Grunt

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Welcome to the first BotW post of the New Year, which is also the last Book of the Week from 2016.  You know what I mean – I read it last week before the end of the old year, but the post gets to you in the New Year.  Talking about last week and the old year, I hope you enjoyed my festive frenzy of posts. December stats is coming tomorrow (I thought better one post 3 days late, than three posts one day late each) now you’ve all had time to appreciate my New Years Reading Resolutions, and see my early failures in yesterday’s Week in Reading where I confess to a bit of a free book spree.  Any how, back to the point.

Copy of Grunt by Mary Roach
I don’t think I have a lot of books with green covers, not sure why!

This weeks BotW is Mary Roach’s Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, which is not about guns and weapons, but about the scientific and technological developments which have come about because of war and conflict.  Topics include clothing regulations and design, shark repellent, submarine escapes and genital reconstruction.  It’s absolutely fascinating.  This is non-fiction writing at its best – informative and well researched, it wears it lightly and is incredibly readable.  You learn a lot without realising it as Mary wends her way through military installations and research centres asking the questions that you wouldn’t dare to.

I’m not a science reader – if you’ve been here a while now, you’ll know that my non-fiction reading tends to be history, biography or a bit feministy.  But I’ve been hearing about Mary Roach’s books for a while now – as they’ve been recommended on Book Riot’s Get Booked podcast as well as this getting a review on their All the Books podcast too – and I thought it might be a good way to widen my reading horizons slightly.  Popular opinion seems to have Stiff as her best book – but I’m not big on death and so was wary of a book about dead bodies – so Grunt seemed like a better place for me to start.  And if this is not Mary Roach’s best book, I can hardly imagine how good the others must be.  I might even have to get over my squeamishness about cadavers and read Stiff.

Him Indoors got really fed up of me pausing the TV to read bits out loud to him and I’ve already got a queue forming for my copy.  I bought my copy on my post-Christmas jolly to Foyles, but it’s also available on Kindle or from Amazon and Waterstones.  You’re probably going to need a bookshop with a relatively large non-fiction selection (ie probably not a train station bookshop or a small WH Smiths) but it seems to be fairly orderable.  It’s not terribly cheap anywhere I’m afraid, but it’s worth it.

Happy Reading.

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 26 – January 1

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Welcome to the week after Christmas.  You’ll see that I got one of the books I wanted and have already started reading it.  You may also detect a slight free book spree over New Year.  What can I say.  I regret it.  And because of the fireplace situation, the bottom of my to-read pile is in the box at the top, so there are some books I’d almost forgotten I had getting an outing!

Read:

Midnight at Tiffany’s by Sarah Morgan

Deadly Duo by Margery Allingham

Grunt by Mary Roach

A Red Herring without Mustard by Alan Bradley

Open for Business by Cressida McLaughlin

I Love The Sound of Broken Glass by Paul Charles

The Billionaire’s Christmas Virgin by J S Scott

Perfect Holiday Fling by Farrah Rochon

Started:

First Women by Kate Andersen Brower

Fountain of Sorrow by Paul Charles

The Making of A Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Still reading:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

I didn’t buy any books this week – but as I mentioned, I had a little wander through the free book chart on Amazon.  But hey, they didn’t cost me anything and I don’t have to finish them if I don’t like them…

Book of the Week, romance

Book of the Week: Christmas Ever After

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What else could I pick for a Christmas book this week except for a book set at Christmas-time? Exactly. It has to be a Christmas book in Christmas week. And I’ve read a lot of Christmas books this year – don’t believe me? Check out my Christmas books post.

Cover of Christmas Ever After
I think this might be the last Christmas book cover of the year. Maybe.

So my Christmas book of choice this week is the third in Sarah Morgan’s Puffin Island series, Christmas Ever after, which has Christmas twice – once in the UK and once on the island – and an enemies to lovers sort of plot where artistic Skylar’s politician boyfriend hijacks her big exhibition and then runs out on her, leaving unwilling acquaintance Alec to come to her rescue.  She ends up meeting his family – who think she’s his first girlfriend since his disastrous marriage, and well, it goes from there. There’s lots of sparky dialogue, sexy times, snow, sexy times, discussions about how relationships would bring out the best in you and not stifle you and romantic times.

This was so much fun. I like fractious relationships with romantic undertones – or ‘I hate you, I hate you, I can’t stop touching your hair’ as Sarah Wendell at Smart Bitches puts it –  so this is right up my street and it was the perfect book for me to read on Christmas Eve. It was warm and festive and if my new fireplace had actually been installed (don’t ask) I would have read it tucked up in front of a roaring fire and it would have been perfect. I’ve read the Puffin Island series slightly out of order, but I don’t think it’s been a problem at all – because for me the fun of a romance isn’t who people are going to end up with, but how they get there so I don’t mind knowing in advance who is going to end up with whom because I haven’t read the books in order.

So, in short, lovely Christmas romance, perfect for reading in front of the fire on your Christmas days off (like today if you have a bank holiday too) or on New Year’s Eve if you’re not all Christmassed out by then (or by now!) – or just put it on your list for next December.

Get your copy from Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles or on Kindle (a bargain £1.99 at time of writing) or Kobo.

Happy reading!