Book News, Prize winners

Noirville winners!

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Yes, it’s taken a bit longer than planned, but the Noirville winners have finally been announced.  In case you missed my original post, I was super excited to be part of the competition amongst an illustrious group of judges.

Fahrenheit Noirville: short stories from the dark side banner picture.

You can read the winner’s list here – and I’m thrilled that pretty much all my favourites made the cut.  The standard was incredibly high though and it was really, really hard to separate the stories.  All the judging was done blind, so I was really excited to see who was behind the stories that I’d enjoyed reading so much.   So today I’ve got a whole load of new people to add to my twitter watch list so that I can see what they’re going to write next.

It was such a great experience to have the chance to be a judge on this.  It was also absolutely terrifying – definitely out of my comfort zone! The actual published book will be out in a couple of months and I can’t wait to see the finished book, and obviously hear what everyone else thinks about the collection.

Congratulations to all the winners – and commiserations to the people who missed out.  Here’s to the first Noirville Short Story collection – may it be the first of many!

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: January 1 – January 7

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New Year, new books and still a few stragglers from last year (which I’m working on it).

Read:

A Wedding at Two Love Lane by Kieran Kramer

The Crown Prince’s Bride by Donna Alward

Second Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Christmas in Cornwall by Laura Briggs

Lost and Found Sisters by Jill Shalvis

Started:

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean

Still reading:

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson

The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown

Three books bought on the sly on Sunday morning – one of which I read immediately.  Lovely stuff.  Start as I mean to go on…

Authors I love, book round-ups, The pile

My Big Obsessions of 2017

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We’re a few days in to 2018 now, so it’s well past time to tell you about my Big Obsessions of 2017.  I’ve found it really hard to find new obsessions this year – because so much of what I’ve read has been a continuation of things that I’ve been reading previously.  I think that’s partly because I discovered a lot of new authors last year and have continued to glom on them, but also because I’ve been trying to work my way through the to-read pile backlog rather than buying lots of new books.

But if 2017 was anything, it was the year of contemporary romance.  After getting into Sarah Morgan in 2016, I tried a lot of other contemporary romance authors this year.  Some of them weren’t my thing, but quite a few were.  I’ve been on quite a few binges on new authors this year and I suspect it may continue.  I finally read Jennifer Crusie‘s Bet Me, which I’d heard people raving about over and over in Romancelandia. I read nearly a dozen of Jill Shalvis‘s novels and discovered that I really quite like small town romances, eight of Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s and got quite into sports romances even when they’re about American football and three Kristen Higgins books and thought about taking a trip to a winery.  I’ve started requesting a few more contemporary romances from NetGalley to see if there are any other tropes that I like.  So far I’ve worked out that I’m not a big fan of biker gangs and I really don’t like billionaires, but I’m hopeful that I’ll find some more that I do like at some point in 2018.

I’m still reading other genres though, especially crime and I’ve worked my way through a few series this year.  I’ve added Nick Bryan‘s Hobson and Choi series to my autobuy list, because I really need more snarky teen and cynical older bloke detective novels in my life.   I’m practically counting the days until the next Vinyl Detective novel from Andrew Cartmel, after reading the first two.  I’ve tried out some more of Henery Press’s cozy mysteries and found a couple of series there to dig into: the Tj Jenson series by Kathi Daley, Susan M Boyer‘s Lowcountry series and Julie Mulhern‘s 70s-set Country Club Murders.  Also in series set in the past, I read all three of the TE Kinsey Lady Hardcastle mysteries and the Christmas novella too and three more Royal Spyness books.

I have expanded my non-fiction reading this year – I’ve been concentrating on finding stories and voices from different perspectives than my own and I’ve really enjoyed it.  Actually that’s one of my themes in general this year in fiction as well.  It’s been a bit of a challenge at times, some times finding the books, but sometimes because I’ve got such a big selection of books to chose from that it means that I can ignore books on the shelf for ages in favour of things that are more familiar.  But I’m going to keep challenging myself in 2018.

So there you have it. It remains to be seen whether my consistency – as witnessed by revisiting my 2016 obsessions – will continue now the latest batch of renovation work is done and the book pile unpacked, but I hope I do add something random and new to my reading in 2018 or I might worry that I’m getting boring in my old age!

Authors I love, children's books, cozy crime, crime, Fantasy, romance

My Big Obsessions of 2016: Revisited

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It’s that time of the year when I look back at what I read the previous year and look at whether my habits have changed at all.  And as previously mentioned, this post is slightly later than it should have been because we’re already into 2018.  Sorry about that.

I think this year I’ve grown more slightly more consistent – if I was writing an obsessions post this year from scratch, several of last year’s obsessions would still be on it.  One of those would definitely be Fahrenheit Press. I had their subscription again this year and it’s given me another swath of great books to read.  My Dad is currently working his way through the Christy Kennedy series (and thinks they should be made into a TV series) and I can’t wait to see what they dish up this year.  I do hope the subscription is going again this year…

Another of my 2016 obsessions which has endured is Girls Own fiction. I’ve widened the pool of authors that I read again this year – adding some more classic authors like Elsie J Oxenham to my reading and to my little collection upstairs and some more obscure ones too.  Some were good, some were… not, but I had a wonderful time reading them.

My pace of working through The Chronicles of St Mary’s series has slowed somewhat this year – not because I’ve gone off them, but because I’m catching up to the end of the series – and as we all know I’m a terrible binge reader with no will control who would one click through to the next book without thinking and I’m meant to be regulating my book purchases. I’ve read a lot of the short stories and extras this year but no more of the actual novels.  Writing this has reminded me that I’ve got one waiting to be read on the kindle so you may well see that popping up on a Week in Books post soon!

Well this is one obsession that has well and truly endured this year – I’ve read another eleven of Sarah Morgan’s books this year – ranging from her new releases, through recent series and right back as far as some of her medical romances.  And she’s been the gateway into me reading a lot more contemporary romances this year than I would have expected.  Of that, more in my 2017 obsessions post – which will be coming soon.

And this final obsession is the one that hasn’t really endured.  I don’t think I’ve read a single Book with Brontes in it this year, unless we count Trisha Ashley’s The Little Tea Shop of Lost and Found which is set in Bronte country.  Publishing goes in phases and fads and clearly one of last year’s phases which hit my reading pile was the Brontes. As I’m not a particular fan of the Bronte’s I haven’t been looking out of anything else about them this year, and so I’m not surprised that it’s died off somewhat as an obsession.

So there you had it: Verity is still reading lots of crime and noir, Sarah Morgan and has a lingering fondness for time travelling historians.  Tune in to my next post to find out what I was obsessed with in 2017!

 

books, stats

December Stats

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Welcome to the end of year stats.  It was on track to be a record year and then December derailed it somewhat.  But somethings are more important than reading and luckily it all seems to have turned out alright in the end – even if I haven’t managed to get the end of year review posts up as I would have liked.  They are coming though.  Promise.  Anyway – the final month of 2017 is over and the final figures are in:

New books read this month: 22*

Books from the to-read pile: 9

Ebooks read: 13

Books from the Library book pile: 0

Non-fiction books: 2

#ReadHarder categories completed: 7

Most read author: Sarah Morgan (two books)

Books read this year: 340

Books bought: 3 ebooks and 1 proper book

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf:  (I don’t have copies of all of these!)

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (3 this month)

Read Harder Bingo card with all the squares crossed off
I did it! I did it! I did it! (and with 2 and a half whole hours to spare!)
books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 25 – December 31

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Here is the final WiB of 2017 – ending neatly at the end of the year precisely.  And everything that I finished this week was to try and finish ReadHarder – and it worked!  As it’s the end of the year, I’ve rationalised the ongoing books – and given up on the Rushdie – I wasn’t enjoying it and I’ve got lots of other things I’d rather read in 2018.

Read:

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Meridian by Alice Walker

French Poems of the Great War translated by Ian Higgins

Revolutionary Ride by Lois Pryce

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

Started:

Second Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones

Still reading:

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson

The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown

I was so busy trying to finish ReadHarder that I only bought one book – in the Waterstone’s sale and no ebooks.  Not too bad really.

 

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: December 18 – December 24

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Yeah.  This is a day late, but you had a nice bonus post yesterday, so I don’t feel too sorry for you.  And as it’s been another one of those weeks – all reading plans derailed by the need to catch up on Christmas preparations – you weren’t really missing out on much anyway!

Read:

Christmas at the Grange by T E Kinsey

A River in the Sky by Elizabeth Peters

Started:

The Vanity Fair Diaries by Tina Brown

Still reading:

The Golden House by Salman Rushdie

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler

The Square and the Tower by Niall Ferguson

French Poems of the Great War translated by Ian Higgins

Meridian by Alice Walker

A couple of books bought – but I blame the stress of Christmas!

book round-ups

Magnificent Meals

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It’s Christmas Day and I’m hoping that you’ll all be gorging yourselves on amazing food.  Spare a thought for me as you do, because I’m in the News Dungeon today – working the Big Day so other team members don’t have to (and so I don’t have to next year).  You should be all Christmas Booked up by now, so to celebrate the Big Meal on the Big Day I’ve put together a list of books with fabulous food, fantastic feasts or magnificent meals.  It has ended up being rather children’s book heavy, but hey it’s Christmas and the season for reading children’s books.  Well that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.

Boarding School books

I know.  I’ve mentioned my love for boarding school series enough already.  But back in the day, the writing about the midnight feasts in Mallory Towers or the meals at the Chalet School was enough to make Childhood Verity – queen of the fussy eaters – think she might be able to get over her dislike of all sorts of things.  At the Chalet School they didn’t have midnight feasts, but they did have fresh warm rolls – so far so good – accompanied by milky coffee for Kaffee and Kuchen.  Now coffee makes me feel sick* but I was convinced that I would have loved it.  From my memory, basically pick a Mallory Towers or St Clares and there’ll be a midnight feast or a food related mishap, if you want to go Chalet School, try The Chalet School and the Lintons which has a rare example of a midnight feast in the series or start with School at the Chalet for the full on Austrian food experience.

The Harry Potter series

I argued long and hard with myself about what to do with Harry Potter – because it’s sort of a boarding school series to start with but it goes far beyond that.  So separate it is.  Whether it’s Butter Beer or Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans or the celebratory banquets there’s something fabulous about the food in the Potterverse.  I was eating a packet of Jelly Beans the other day and came across a gross one (Cinnamon I think) and all I could think of was Dumbledore and the earwax flavour.

Strong Poison by Dorothy L Sayers

This is very nearly a spoiler including this, but the last meal of Philip Boyes is gone over in such detail in this, the first of the Harriet and Peter books, that it’s forever stuck in my mind. And although for everyone else Turkish Delight is inexorably linked with Edmund in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, for me it’s more about this book.  Not that I’ve ever liked Turkish Delight anyway, but I swear this book would put you off it permeantly too!

Away from specific books and on to food stuffs…

Chowder

I’ve read a lot of cozy crime books set in New England and I think every series has invoked chowder at some point or another.  Whether it’s the local diner where the detective talks the crime through with her friends while eating a bowl or the weird looking out of the way hut that turns out to be the home of amazing seafood, set a mystery book (or series) in New England and someone will be eating chowder at some point.  Try Jenn McKinley’s Library Lover’s series if you fancy some Chowder action.

Ices from Gunter’s

It’s not a Regency Romance if someone hasn’t mentioned Ices from Gunter’s – whether they’ve been provided for a party or an afternoon trip for younger relatives. I blame Georgette Heyer for starting it, so that’s where I’m sending you.  The Grand Sophy has some Gunter’s action (also a problematic depitction of a Jewish Money lender which I suggest you just skip past) and so does Frederica and a number of others.  If you’re Heyered out, try some Julia Quinn – there’s definitely some Gunter’s action in at least one of the Bridgerton books.

And finally, if you’re at all interested in food in history, can I suggest The Greedy Queen by Annie Grey which looks at the food Queen Victoria and her household ate and where it came from.  Really, really interesting.

Enjoy your Christmas dinner – and I hope you got the books that you wanted and will have time to read them!

Happy Reading!

*Long story, but the TL:DR is travel sick child + coffee factory = psychosomatic link between coffee and vomiting.

Christmas books

New Christmas books 2017

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It’s nearly Christmas, so here are some Festive books that are new for your delectation as you settle on the sofa ahead of the big day.  I’m working on Christmas Day this year, so raise a glass to me if you’re at home  – as I’ll be raising a glass to all the people who are working and doing much more vital and lifesaving things than just sitting in a newsroom.

Holiday Wishes by Jill Shalvis

This is the Christmas novella in the Heartbreaker Bay series.  I enjoyed it – but I think I would have benefited from having read more than just one other book in the series.  This is a Christmas-set story that isn’t too massively into the Festive details as well – which I always enjoy.

How the Finch Stole Christmas by Donna Andrews

The things I do for this blog.  Because I read this for this post, I’m now up to date in the Meg Langslow series, which means I’m going to have to wait for the next ones like everyone else.  This sees Michael putting on A Christmas Carol with a full cast – including the twins.  the trouble is that the leading man is somewhat difficult and it’s all they can do to get him to turn up to the theatre on time.  This is as fun and Christmassy as you could wish for.  I think it would work stand alone, but if you’ve read some Meg already so much the better.

A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon

I got this through NetGalley, and although my proof only had one of the three stories I’m still going to recommend it, because although the story was a little melancholy, it was very good and very readable.  If like me you haven’t read a lot of Maigret, now is an ideal time to start – especially as he’s back on TV this Christmas with Maigret in Montmatre.  Plus what’s not to like about 1950s Paris.

Christmas at the Grange by TE Kinsey

I’ve written about the Lady Hardcastle series before, but there’s a Kindle Short out for Christmas and it’s a lot of fun.  I can’t say why without giving too much away, but Emily and Florence are invited to spend Christmas with their neighbours and a mystery ensues.

I still have a few Christmas books waiting to be read – including Heidi Swain’s Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at the Christmas Fair and Christmas on the Little Cornish Isles by Philippa Ashley.  If you’re a Chronicles of St Mary’s fan, there’s a new novella out on Christmas Day (and there’s a string of previous Christmas short stories too).  If you’re not a St Mary’s fan, the first book is 99p on Kindle just don’t expect it to be Christmasy!

Also worth considering this Christmas, even if it’s not a Christmas book is Hester Browne’s The Little Lady Agency – which is only 99p on Kindle at time of writing.  I’m on the record as having some issues with the last book in this triology, but if all you read is the first one, you can’t go wrong.

It’s all been a bit hectic here for various real life reasons and even this list is shorter than I was hoping it would be, but I think this is my lot for Christmas reading recommendations.  But never fear, Week in Books continues as usual and if you’re all really good, there might be a bonus post or two between now and New Year too.  But no promises.

Happy Christmas everyone and Happy Reading!

book round-ups, Christmas books

Christmasy Books 2017

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No Book of the Week this week, instead I have some Christmas-themed books for you to read that are not new.  Some of these may come up on offers as ebooks in the run up to the big day – so if they take your fancy it might be worth adding them to your watch list.

Twelve Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

The sixth book in the Royal Spyness series (yes I still hate the name) sees Georgie acting as a paid hostess (not like that you filthy minded people) at a Christmas house party to escape from her own relations in Scotland.  But when there’s a spate of seemingly unconnected deaths in the village, Georgie is convinced that something more sinister is going on and starts investigating.  It would probably work best if you’ve already read some of the other books, but if you haven’t, Georgie is 30-somethingth in line to the throne, daughter of a newly impoverished Scottish Earldom and trying her best not to be married off to a chinless foreign prince by her royal relations.  In order to avoid this, she needs to find a way of earning some money of her own or find someone rich to marry herself. Trouble is she’s fallen in love with the equally impoverished and somewhat secretive heir to an Irish title and there’s not a lot of jobs suitable for an almost royal, especially an almost royal with a scandalous actress turned socialite for  a mother. Enjoy!

One Snowy Night by Jill Shalvis

A short but sweet seasonal novella about to ex-schoolmates sharing a ride back to their hometown for Christmas.  She’s always had a crush on him but he has reasons why she’s the last person he’d want to be with.  But being stuck in a blizzard with only his dog as a buffer between them sees secrets come out and a new way forward emerging.  This is part of Shalvis’s Heartbreaker Bay series, but I hadn’t read any of the other books when I read this and I enjoyed it just fine.  If you haven’t read any Shalvis before, my version had lots of first chapter (or two) previews for other books of hers two if you like it and want to dip your toe in and try more.

A Christmas Surprise by Jenny Colgan

Jenny Colgan has a Christmas novel pretty much every year – although I’m running a few behind (it’s only a three years since I mentioned trying not to buy this…)- usually a sequel to one of her previous novels.  They work best if you’ve already read the first one – or in this case two – books in the series, but they’re better if you have.  This is the third book about Rosie Hopkins and her sweetshop in the wilds of Derbyshire.  Helpfully it has a story-so-far catchup section at the start for newbies.  Despite the title, it’s not all festive cheer – and covers a difficult, but ultimately rewarding year in Rosie’s life.  I had a little sniffle at a couple of points – and although I had a problem with the portrayal of one character (the social worker), it was ultimately an enjoyably Christmassy experience.

I’ve already mentioned a lot of Sarah Morgan books this year – and in the last few months – but her Christmas romances are rotating through offers at the moment – so here is my review of Moonlight over Manhattan – but the Snow Crystal Christmas books and the Puffin Island Christmas book are also very good.