Not a bad week’s reading – and a bit of a better mix of stuff – some romance, some crime, some non-fiction, some very retro career fiction for nicely brought up girls…
Read:
Lethal Lifestyles by LynDee Walker
Death at the Cafe by Alison Golden
Miracle on 5th Avenue by Sarah Morgan
Heavenly Pleasures by Kerry Greenwood
Dustbowl Girls by Lydia Reeder
Judith Teaches by Mabel Esther Allan
Started:
Devil’s Food by Kerry Greenwood
A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen
Still reading:
The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead
Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation by James Runcie
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
Oh dear. I went into The Works on Tuesday and they had an awful lot of books I wanted. And when they’re 3 for £5 they’re just so hard to resist. I filled in a few gaps in my Christina Jones collection* (did you see my post about how much I love her books ) and picked up a few that I’ve been coveting for a while and a couple of new series to try. Whoops.
During a trip to The Works this week I happened upon some of Christina Jones’ books that I didn’t own – having borrowed them from the library back in my days in Essex. And then it occurred to me that this might be the time to make another entry in my very occasional series of posts about Authors I love (see previous installments on Katie Fforde and Georgette Heyer) as as far as I can see there’s no new book from her on the way at the moment which I might be able to rave about.
My copy of Heaven Sent – recently rescued from the pile of favourites next to the bed
Christina Jones writes wonderfully quirky romantic comedies, usually set in or around the Cotswolds. They have often magical or mystical elements – which is not usually something I go for, but she does it so well – and come in interconnected series – where a secondary character in one book (a best friend for example) will end up being the lead character in the next book. Old characters often make cameos in later books so you get a chance to see what happened in their happily ever afters, without it being a sequel where they face strife and conflict.
As I said in my BotW post on Stealing the Show in June last year I first discovered her work when I came across a copy of Heaven Sent in a display of books nominated for the Melissa Nathan Award – as is often the way, it’s still my favourite of her novels, perhaps because I’m a sucker for a dark-haired bloke in eyeliner and Yaya is an absolute hoot. Once I’d read that I started trawling my way through older books via the library – and buying new ones as soon as they came out. I’ve got most of the reissues of her earlier stuff on the kindle – although I haven’t read them all as I’m trying to ration myself in the absence of new books.
The Christina Jones shelf, such as it is, the rest are on my kindle as they were hard to get in paperback
But basically, these have everything I want in a light romantic fiction book.* The heroines are smart and usually very good at their jobs**, they have supportive friends and find men who celebrate their achievements and love them for who they are without trying to change them. There’s conflict, but it’s often based on misunderstandings rather than someone having done something actually terrible. No one is perfect. And they’re funny – mostly witty funny as opposed to laughing at someone’s humiliation funny, although there are some embarrassing moments in them too.
So, if you want to read your way into Christina Jones where should you start? Well each novel stands alone – and as I said at the top of this post, my local branch of The Works had a cache of them at the moment – and they have the same ones online too Love Potions, Seeing Stars, Moonshine and the aforementioned Heaven Sent which are all in their 6-for-£10 promotion (sorry). All of those would be fine places to start to give you a taster – and they’re cheaper there than Amazon or on Kindle. There are few short stories/novellas available on Kindle for quite low prices – but I never think they are a particularly good way of trying a new author (unless they’re free!) because you might be missing background, in jokes, world rules etc, so I would suggest the slightly older-but-recently-reissued Milton St John series, which are available as a bundled set on Kindle for £2.99 at time of writing – I haven’t read all of them yet, but the ones I have are good so that would be a cheap way of dipping your toe in the water.
Happy reading!
*Magic is an optional extra
**or at least they are once they get their head around the magical stuff.
As you may have seen from yesterday’s Week in Books, I had a bit of a strange week reading last week, having trouble settling down to books – and a few that I didn’t like. But choosing this week’s BotW was easy – Kerry Greenwood’s Earthly Delights.
You might recognise Kerry Greenwood’s name because she’s the author of the Phryne Fisher series of murder mysteries set in 1920s Australia, which I adore and have been turned into a TV series – which I have thoughts about. This the first in her Corinna Chapman series – which is set in present day (or at least present day when they were written a few years back) Melbourne, where Corinna is a speciality baker who runs her own bakery in one of the slightly seedier areas. The bakery is proving a success, but suddenly she’s getting anonymous letters calling her a whore, a junkie has overdosed in the alley behind her shop, there’s a mysterious but gorgeous man showing an interest in her and her shop assistants are starving themselves to try and get a role on a TV show (any TV show). She’s determined to get to the bottom of the letters – which are upsetting and scaring her and her friends – and ends up getting sucked in to some of the other drama as well…
Although this is the first in the series, I had already read one of the later books and enjoyed it although I was missing some backstory. This fills some of those gaps in nicely and sets up the series as well as having an excellent mystery. Greenwood always creates great settings and quirky characters in the Phryne books – and she does the same here. Corinna is very different to Phryne, but she’s great fun, smart and warm-hearted, just like Miss Fisher. Her apartment building is a brilliantly quirky invention – as are many of the people who live there.
I didn’t love this the way that I love Phryne, but in the absence of a new book about the Fabuous Miss Fisher, I’ll happily work my way through these. I’ve been waiting for either the kindle price or the second hand price to drop on this series for ages – and these have all dropped from over £5 for the Kindle edition to just over £3, which is still on the top end of what I’m prepared to pay for ebooks, but is much more doable. I shouldn’t really be buying books, but when has that ever stopped me before. You can pick up your copy on Kindle or Kobo (which isn’t price-matching Amazon at time of writing sadly), in paperback from Amazon (if you’re prepared to shell out £11+ for a new copy or £8+ for a second hand one) or you can trawl the second hand shops because it’s out of stock and un-orderable at both Foyles and Waterstones.
It’s was a bit of a weird week – I found it hard to get in to a few things hence the dipping around. I abandoned Murder out of Tune after 50 pages – I was only about 25 pages in at the end of last week – and included it for completeness and it came back and bit me! I have another cozy crime started that’s not on this list – because I’m less than 50 pages in and I’m not sure it’s going to stick and I’m not making that mistake again…
Read:
Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son by Charlotte Zeepvat
No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor
Hot Summer Nights by Laramie Briscoe
Start Here: Read Your Way into 25 Amazing Authors ed. Jeff O’Neal
Midsummer Night by Deanna Raybourn
Earthly Delights by Kerry Greenwood
The Case of the Deepdean Vampire by Robin Stevens
Started:
Sidney Chambers and the Dangers of Temptation by James Runcie
China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan
Lethal Lifestyles by LynDee Walker
Still reading:
The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead
Dustbowl Girls by Lydia Reeder
I bought a couple of ebooks this week in an attempt to get out of the slump – and pre-ordered a couple more too. So relatively restrained. For me anyway
Most read author: Jodi Taylor (3 Chronicles of St Mary’s novels, 3 novellas)
Books read this year: 270
Books bought: 1 book and 7 ebooks
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 466 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)
Not bad going this month on the book front – most of the ebooks were bought on holiday when I went on the Jodi Taylor binge, and the 1 actual book was a second hand one.
*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (6 this month)
It was a close call for BotW this week (I like it when that happens) – with Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians deserving an honourable mention here for being utterly readable and totally cracktastic. But my favourite thing I read last week was Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here.
My copy – which has a few marks from the commute…
Have you ever wondered what the rest of the kids were doing while Buffy and the Scooby Gang were off saving the world? You know, the ones who voted Buffy class defender at the prom – who admitted that they knew there was something strange about Sunnydale and that she always seemed to turn up to fix it? Or the rest of the kids at Hogwarts while Harry is busy fighting Voldemort? The ones who aren’t The Chosen One(s)? Well this is the book for you. The Rest of Us Just Live here follows Mikey and his friends in the run up to graduation.
At the start of the book, it’s under 5 weeks away and weird things are starting to happen in the town. It’s not the first time this has happened – and as always it’s the Indie kids who are fighting whatever the evil is that’s descended on town this time. Mikey and his gang aren’t Indie Kids (you need a name like Satchel or Finn to belong) so they just see the blue lights, the zombie deer and worry that the high school is going to get blown up (again). Each chapter starts with a summary of what the Indie Kids are up to and then you get into the nitty gritty of the daily life of Mikey and his friends. And they have problems of their own. Sure it’s not zombies or vampires – but alcoholism, eating disorders, Alzheimers, ambitious parents (of various types), OCD and being worshipped by cats and Mountain Lions are pretty tough too.
I’ve seen some criticism of this book for not a lot happening or being boring – but I never felt that at all. What the kids are going through may not be as dramatic as fighting flesh eating monsters, but it’s important – and it’s relatable. I was swept up in the dramas of what was happening in the kids lives – and I identified with them. I wasn’t the popular kid at school and although I loved Buffy I would never have managed to be in her gang, but I did feel like I might have made Mikey’s team.
It is more low key than many other YA high school novels and it’s not as angsty and melodramatic as them either, but it’s touching and bittersweet and in it’s own way wryly funny. If you’ve read all the stories about the Chosen Ones and want another side to the story, then this might well be the book for you especially if you’re a teenager or a student. After all the schools are back, the novelty of a new year and new teachers has worn off and it’s nice to be reminded that as bad as your school life is, it could be much worse.
Back to reality this week – and the book list is back to a more normal (for me) size. It would be longer, but I’ve been exerting myself to finish the Prince Leopold biography which is proving something of a slog…
Read:
Christmas Present by Jodi Taylor
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple
The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
They Both Liked Dogs by Elinor M Brent Dyer
Angel Catbird by Margaret Atwood.
Started:
No Time Like the Past by Jodi Taylor
Murder Out of Tune by Lesley Cookman
Still reading:
The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead
Dustbowl Girls by Lydia Reeder
Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son by Charlotte Zeepvat
I was really well behaved and only bought one book this week – and it was a second-hand one from the Book Barge we encountered on a day out. I got a couple of free kindle books though…
You may have noticed that a week on the beach means that I’ve read a lot of books and whilst I have been bingeing a little on Jodi Taylor’s Chronicles of St Mary’s series (and Margery Allingham to a lesser extent) my favourite book last week was Dave Sinclair’s The Barista’s Guide to Espionage.
I’ve said elsewhere that this book is what would happen if Stephanie Plum had James Bond’s baby – and according to the publisher that was what the author was going for, so big success there.
And to be honest, what more could you want. Eva Destruction’s mistake – and this isn’t a spoiler because it’s in the blurb on Goodreads – is that her ex-boyfriend is a billionaire super villain who is trying to take over the world. So far Harry’s masterplan appears to be working – but there’s a dashing spy trying to thwart his plan – and if he can get Eva into bed at the same time as bringing Harry down so much the better. This all unfolds slightly out of order, just to keep you in even more suspense as Eva tries to work out which side is the right side to be one – after all Harry did buy her a castle of her very own…
How can you not love a book with a cover like this?!
This is so, so, so much fun. I mean, Eva blazes through this book, living up to her name with the trail of wreckage in her wake. And Harry the Billionaire is really well done – he has enough moments of being really human that you can see why Eva struggles to side against him at time – he’s not like a Bond villain were you know the only reason he’s attracted his female hangers-on is because he’s rich*. This unravels like an action movie – with set pieces scattered across the world and bluffs and double bluffs galore. I can’t wait for the sequel – and hopefully the movie.
This was another book which came to me via my Fahrenheit Press subscription – which has already given me previous BotW’s Murder Quadrille, Black Rubber Dress and Death of a Nobody as well as a bunch of other excellent books which have been in the running. Fahrenheit Press are starting to bring out physical copies of their books, but as yet, the only place you can get this is on Kindle but it’s definitely worth £2.95 of your hard-earned money.
Happy reading!
*Except May Day. I think she likes Zorin because he’s mad and lets her be violent (and he’s rich, and younger than most Bond villains).
Can you tell that I’ve been on holiday? Lazy days on the beach and even lazier evenings on the patio mean lots and lots of reading time. And then there was the flight home on Saturday. Lots and lots of lovely books – and a mix of fiction and non-fiction too. This may be the first time I’ve been on holiday and read all the paperbacks I took with me too!
Read:
Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham
The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel
Primary Colors by Anonymous
A Proposal to Die For by Vivian Conroy
Discovery of Desire by Susanne Lord
The Sex Lives of English Women by Wendy Jones
The Barista’s Guide to Espionage by Dave Sinclair
A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
Death of a Ghost by Margery Allingham
A Trail Through Time by Jodi Taylor
When A Child is Born by Jodi Taylor
A Roman Holiday by Jodi Taylor
Started:
Dustbowl Girls by Lydia Reeder
Queen Victoria’s Youngest Son by Charlotte Zeepvat
Still reading:
The Underground Railroad by Coulson Whitehead
The holiday meant reduced opportunities for physical book buying – but I did buy a few on the kindle – a couple of Chronicles of St Mary’s novels and novellas and a little spending spree in Gollancz’s ebook sale.
A nonfiction pick for BotW this week – but the story it tells is so incredible that it reminds me of an essay I wrote at university about the statement “Literature has to be plausible, history only has to be true”. And whilst I don’t remember what I wrote in the essay (although I do remember it got a first after much panicking and a session with my tutor where I learnt the “Ron” method of essay writing), this book really does prove that the truth can be stranger than fiction.
So Paul Fischer’s A Kim Jong-il Production tells the story of the kidnapping of South Korea’s biggest female movie star and her ex-husband, the country’s most famous director/producer who were snatched by North Korea as part of a plan to overhaul the county’s film industry. But as well as the story of the kidnapping, it’s also a bit of a potted history of the two countries, the ties that bind them, that separate then and a truly mind-blowing insight into the workings (or otherwise) of the world’s most secretive state.
Now I work in news and I’m a history graduate (albeit one who did mainly European history, and avoided anything before 1066) and I like to think that I’m fairly well up on world events and current affairs, but my mind was honestly boggled by the goings on in this book – not just the stuff from the country ruled by the crazy dictator and his family, but also by the intermittent chaos and military rule going on in South Korea. I can (just) remember the Seoul Olympic Games, and it seemed incredible to me that just a few years before the country’s president was assassinated – and tanks were on the street.
If I have a criticism of book, it’s that it sometimes seemed to be taking a long time to get to the actual kidnapping, but given my (as I now know) woeful understanding of the wider picture and the situation leading up to the main event (so to speak) I can let Paul Fischer off the hook. I feel like I learned a lot over the course of the book as well as being thoroughly engrossed in the story.
The Boy practically snatched this out of my hand as I fished it so that he could read it and he’s already two thirds of the way through. I guess if you already know a lot about the history of the two Koreas, this might be repeating some old ground, but if you’re anything like me, I think you’ll find it fascinating, bonkers and just a little bit scary – and very glad you weren’t born in North Korea.
