My parents were visiting me last week, so plenty of sightseeing, but still a solid week of reading as I try desperately to finish my massive pile of library books before I have to take them back ready to head back to the UK. I’m hoping that Thanksgiving this week will help speed me on my way!
Read:
Malice at the Palace by Rhys Bowen
When A Scot Ties the Knot by Tessa Dare
Agatha Raisin and the Witches Tree by MC Beaton
The Forgotten Room by Lauren Willig, Karen White and Beatriz Williams
Basket Case by Carl Hiaassen
A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas
So Much Blood by Simon Brett
Started:
The Painted Queen by Elizabeth Peters and Joan Hess
Come Hell or Highball by Maia Chance
Still reading:
Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Fear by Bob Woodward
No books bought – no time for shopping, only for reading and sightseeing.
Bonus picture: Michelle Obama’s Inauguration gown from the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Another week, another BotW post. This time I’ve gone for VE Schwab’s A Conjuring of Light, which is the final book in a trilogy, so it does break my rule about trying not to feature books that don’t stand-alone, but it also means that if you were to start the books now, you’re guaranteed a resolution. So swings and roundabouts really.
Anyway, this is the third (and final?!) book in this magical series in a universe where there are three different Londons in three parallel worlds that only a select few can travel between. In the first few books we see a lot of Grey London, where there is no magic (basically Regency Britain as we know it) and White London, where there is nothing but violence and magic. But this final book concentrates on the battle for Red London where magical and non-magical people exist side by side.
Red London is also where Kell is from, the traveler between worlds who we’ve been following since the start. Over the course of the books, Kell’s life has only got more complicated, but that also means he’s got more friends as well as more enemies. Friends like Delilah, the former thief who he teamed up with in the first book and her motley crew too. Everything that he and Delilah have learned over the course of their adventure comes to a climax in this.
And yes, I know that sounds like I’m avoiding talking about the actual plot. And that’s because I am, because saying much more will give away the plots of the other two books. And you really need to read this series in order or you’ll be lost. It’s been a couple of years since I read it and I felt a bit at sea at times and I know what happened and what the rules are. But there’s magic and pirates and peril and a big battle or two. And although it doesn’t quite reach Battle of Hogwarts levels of carnage and loss, it’s fair to say that not everyone comes out of it alive.
If you’ve read The Night Circus and The Children of Blood and Bone and thought that what you really need to read is a hybrid of the two, then try this. It wasn’t always 100% my cup of tea (I need less angst at the moment) but it’s pacey and well written and clever and really quite good.
My copy came from my library, but you should be able to lay your hands on this fairly easily on Kindle and Kobo as well as in paperback from all the usualsources, including actual bookshops. I do suggest you start at the start of the trilogy though or you’ll be totally lost. There’s also a graphic novel prequel series that’s just started but I think you need to have read the books for that. I’ll check it out and let you know…
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.
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.
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
Books from the to-read pile: 5 (although it’s more an acquired in America pile)
Ebooks read: 19
Books from the Library book pile: 2
Non-fiction books: 9
#ReadHarder categories completed: 9
Pop Sugar categories completed: 13
Most read author: Rhys Bowen (3 books and a novella)
Books read this year: 309
Books bought: 3 ebooks, 3 ebooks
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 566 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)
Another dip in reading – due to this US trip and all the work and sightseeing and travel. And I’ve bought a few books too – I think about 8 all in although i suspect they won’t all be coming home with me at the end of November!
Bonus picture: part of the mystery section at Strand bookshop in New York
*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (7 this month)
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…
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.
It’s nearly Halloween and since I’m in the US where it is such a massive thing that it’s blowing my mind, I thought a round up of some spooky/halloween-themed reading might be in order. I was aiming for it to be recent Halloween-y reading – but you know how these things go – you get a stack of likely books together, you read them – and then you don’t like some of them enough to recommend them. And I’m always honest. Which is why I’m telling you up front that there’s no horror here – because I’m too scared to read horror. My brain is good enough at coming up with things to scare me without ready scary books. Thrillers are about as much as I can deal with. And some times I can’t even deal with that. So expect my usual mix of mystery, romance and fantasy with a dash of classic thriller thrown in.
As I am away from my bookshelves, here’s a picture of a Halloween display in Texas last weekend.
The One with the sweet tooth
I read The Candy Corn Murder right after it came out three years ago and it sees a local reporter covering a Halloween Festival. But when her husband becomes the prime suspect in a murder, she steps in to investigate. This is the 22nd(!) in Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone series – and there are other Halloween-themed installments among the other 24 (!!) books in the series if you like Lucy’s world and want to spend more time there. I’ve read one, maybe two others and have my eye on a couple from the library to see how there series has evolved.
The one that’s a creepy classic
I’m slowly working my way through Daphne DuMaurier’s works – and there are several of hers that would be good for giving you chills on a dark night. The obvious one is Rebecca, but Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel are also properly atmospheric and creepy. Those two also have recent tv or film versions should you want to be a person who likes to watch the movie of the book and complain compare. I also have a massive softspot (if you can call it that for something so creepy) for the Charles Dance and Emily Fox TV version of Rebecca from the late 1990s.
The One with a creepy doll
Barbara Early’s new book, Death of a Russian Doll is mostly about the murder of the local police chief’s wife, but it’s also got a matroshyka doll that’s moving on its own to up the creep factor. Your amateur sleuth is Liz, the owner of the vintage toy shop next door to the murder scene and the sort-of ex-girlfriend of the police chief (he didn’t tell her about his estranged wife) who’s retired cop father is called in to investigate the crime. This came out this month and is the third book in the series, but it’s the first of them that I’ve read and I liked it enough that I’ll be keeping an eye out for more by this author.
The One with the Embarassing First Date
This is slightly tangentially Halloween-y because Carter and Evie, the hero and heroine of Christina Lauren’s Dating You, Hating You meet at a Halloween party being held by mutal friends. From that awkward beginning, a promising relationship starts until their companies merge and the two of them find themselves in competiton for the same job. I really liked Evie, but I had a few issues with Carter and I felt their prank war was just a little bit unprofessional. However the dialogue is sparky and the chemistry is there so I’m still mentioning it here because I know that I can be a bit of a curmudgeon sometimes and I know a lot of people who really loved it and didn’t have the same issues!
The One with that’s spoofing a Vampire Craze
I couldn’t help but include this. Lauren Willig’s the Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla sees Sally Fitzhugh investigating whether the Duke of Belliston is an actual vampire after a rumour takes hold in London in 1806. He’s not of course, but he doesn’t mind the reputation that he’s got, that is until a woman is found with the blood drained from her throat and it looks like he’s going to get the blame. This is the eleventh in the Pink Carnation series, which I would say to read in order to get the full force of the present-day story line (which runs through the whole series) but the nineteen century one is really the star here, so I think you could make an exception for Halloween. And it’s got a stoat. What more could you want?
The One with the Actual Vampires
If you haven’t read Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampires series (aka True Blood), Halloween might be a good chance to start. And now the series has been finished for a while if you like them you can glom your way through all thirteen of Sookie Stackhouse’s adventures. Just remember not to get too invested in any one outcome for Sookie in particular – because there was a lot of upset when the last book came out about which of her beaux she ended up with. I won’t give anything away, but I think the clues were sort of there about what was going to happen – or at least I didn’t think the ending ruined the whole series for me (which a lot of people did!). And if you like that world, there’s plenty of other Charlaine Harris novels, most of which are set in (what turns out to be) the same world of vampires, werewolves and other supernatural creatures.
The One with the Haunted House.
You all know how much I love Meg Langslow because I keepwritingabouther, but Lord of the Wings, the 19th book in Donna Andrews’ long running series, is a Halloween one and I really liked it. There’s a massive Halloween festival going on in Caerphilly when first the Haunted House burns down and then a body is discovered in the wreckage. The usual Langslowian mayhem ensues – including Meg’s Grandad running a special exhibit at his Zoo – and then there’s the Goblin Patrol. Probably best appreciated if you’ve read some of the others in the series, but this is still worth a look.
If you’ve got any Halloween recommendations for me – and remember that I don’t do horror because I’m a scaredy cat – then put them in the comments!
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.
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.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 