books, Chick lit, cozy crime, fiction

Bargain Book Deals

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Now I know that not everyone is like me in having a to-read pile a mile high, so if you’re in the market for some more reading material – here are some of my favourite bargain deals around at the moment.

If you haven’t read Jane Lovering’s Please Don’t Stop The Music yet – where have you been?  It was the RNA’s Romantic Novel of the Year in 2012 and it’s only 99p on Kindle this month.

Christina Jones is another of my favourite authors – and the older parts of her back catalogue are being republished as e-books at the moment.  My backlog is such that I haven’t managed to read them all yet – but I did really enjoy Tickled Pink a few weeks back – £1.53 on the Kindle at the moment

Previously reviewed on the blog, Trisha Ashley’s Every Woman for Herself is currently £1.49 for Kindle – I loved it, if you haven’t read any of Trisha’s books before, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start (although my favourite is still A Winter’s Tale which is a fairly bargainous £1.99).  If you want a paperback Trisha fix, the paperback of Good Husband Material is available on sale for £2.99 on The Works’ site – which leads me nicely onto…

If you’re an M C Beaton fan, The Works have a selection of her books including Hamish Macbeth, Agatha Raisin and some of her historical romances for around £2 or £3  and a bundle of five Hamish books for £7.99 here.

Also on The Works website there are all three of Carola Dunn’s 1960s set Cornish mysteries for £2.99- ideal if you want a bit of cozy crime for your autumn nights – the first in the series is Manna from Hades.

I’m a big Lucy Dillon fan – and The Works have several of her books – not only A Hundred Pieces of Me – which I read and adored earlier in the year in the pre-blog era (you can see my rave review on Goodreads here) – but also Walking Back to Happiness and Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts – all for less than £3 each.

And the goodies just keep coming on the Works site (and they’re doing 6 for £10 so you can really splurge) with Laurie Graham’s A Humble Companion.  I love her books – although my favourite Gone with the Windsors is hard to get hold of – and this was her 2012 book which is an insider look at the Royal Household during the time of George III.  Well worth a look.

I’m hoping this list has something to tempt you – if you’re heading to the supermarket this weekend, I’m hoping some of the new releases I’ve reviewed recently will be in their deals – certainly Daisy Goodwin’s The Fortune Hunter should be.  I did try to find out what the deals were this week in WH Smith, but drew a blank.  If you spot any good bargains you think I might like – post them in the comments below!

Edited – I originally posted that Gone with the Windsors was out of print, I’ve since found some copies in some places – so I’ve upgraded it to hard to get hold of.  It’s definitely not on Kindle though, which is a big loss.

fiction, reviews

Review: The Secret Paris Cinema Club

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When I replied to this intriguing tweet from Quercus at the start of the month, I didn’t know what to expect.

I did try and work out what the book in question might be (and failed spectacularly) and settled down to wait for the package, which duly arrived bearing a copy of The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau – which is out today in its shiny English language edition.  With the author name and the subject matter, I was surprised to find that this is a novel in translation from the German – not from French.  I went looking because I would have loved to have read this in French back in my university days when I had to review a French language book a term (my choices back in those pre-e book days tended to involve dry French classics which I struggled through and did not enjoy).

So, a plot summary:  Alain owns and runs Cinema Paradis – an arthouse cinema in Paris.  He is a man after Mark Kermode’s heart – his cinema doesn’t sell popcorn and he has strict rules about the sort of films that he’ll show.  He’ll also do anything for his customers – particularly one of his regulars – a woman in a red coat. But just after he eventually plucks up the courage to ask her out, she unexpectedly vanishes just as his cinema gets a new lease of life…

This book reminded me in some ways of one of my favourite French films – Amelie.  It’s fun, it’s quirky, it’s almost ridiculous in places and the city of Paris is practically a character in its own right.  Despite Quercus’ tweet, I’d say it’s more about films and acting than it is about theatre – and it’s about secrets and coincidences as well.  The Secret Paris Cinema Club is a little gem of a romantic comedy, which will bring a smile to your face as autumn arrives.  It’s also chock full of film references and quotes – I’m sure I didn’t spot them all – and it’s given me some really good ideas for French films to watch.

This book wasn’t on my radar until I won a copy from Quercus – but it brightened up my commute during nightshift week and I’m hoping that it’ll find an audience beyond sleep-deprived Francophile chick flick fans.  You can find the Secret Paris Cinema Club here and on Kindle here – and if you’re in the US be aware it was published as One Evening In Paris in the States.

books, Uncategorized

Liebster Awards

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Thank you very much to Amanda at ChocolatePages for nominating me for a Liebster Award – and sorry it’s taken me so long to post this.  I’d never heard of them before – so I had to have a google to find out about more.  There appear to be a few variants of the rules, but the rules I was nominated under are:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who nominated you.

2. Write 11 random facts about yourself.

3. Answer the 11 questions you have been asked from the blogger who nominated you.

4. Nominate 11 bloggers with under 200 followers and set them 11 questions to answer.

So here are your random facts about me:

1. I’m a journalist in my day job

2. I really don’t like violent films or horror movies – The Boy had to stop Pulp Fiction half way through because I was so upset.  This surprises people because as part of the aforementioned day (and sometimes night) job I sometimes have to watch really horrible videos.

3. I have a large collection of Chalet School books – old paperbacks and new reprinted (unedited) ones from Girls Gone By. They were one of my favourite series when I was younger – and I’m still working to complete my set!

4. My first job was a bell-ringer at church weddings – £5 per wedding (back in the late 90s) was much better than the hourly rate in a shop at the time!

5. I’m a massive theatre fan and write about it here – although I don’t post on that as often as I do over here, books being somewhat cheaper than the theatre!

6. I lived in France for a year when I was at university – I was at university in Tours

7. As a child I had an obsession with Queen Victoria.  I used to play pretend games where I was her.  Or her daughter Victoria.  This means I (still) know some really random stuff about her and the royal family.  Like the fact that Edward VIII’s name was actually Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David and that he was always known as David.

8. My Granny loved Mills and Boon books.  When I was about 12 I had a phase of borrowing them and reading them.  I thought they were like Sweet Valley High, but with sex.

9. My favourite movie – ever – is Pillow Talk. Although this trailer does it no justice at all.

10. I’m a massive motorsports fan – Sunday afternoons during the season will find me camped on the sofa watching Formula One or MotoGP.

11. I don’t really have a claim to fame – I’m very jealous of people who do.  The best I have is that my Grandad stood as a candidate to become an MP in the 1960s.  He didn’t win.

And my 11 answers:

1. Sweet or savoury? Savoury – especially anything involving cheese

2. What made you start blogging? A need for more than my twitter account to express myself?! Seriously though, Verity Reads Books came about as part of a concerted effort to reduce the to-read pile – I thought if I was telling the world about it, I’d be less likely to ignore the backlog.  It hasn’t always worked.

3. Cats or dogs? Cats

4. Who is your favourite author? This is really tough for me, because there are so many people that I love reading.  I think either Dorothy L Sayers or Terry Pratchett – because I have one or other of their books as an audiobook on my headphones almost all the time and that’s got to mean something right?! Apart from that, I buy everything that Katie Fforde, Trisha Ashley, Laurie Graham and Christina Jones publish.

5. Tell me one interesting fact about you? I used to be a breakfast sidekick on a local radio station.  I started off as the newsreader, and ended up spending the whole show in the studio chattering away.

6. Who would be your 3 ideal dinner guests, (dead, alive, famous or not)? Doris Day, Freddie Mercury and Cecil Beaton.  Who knows if they’d get on or not…

7. What would you serve them? My speciality (and the one dish I’ve never messed up so far) is Mary Berry’s Chicken Taleggio – originally from her book Cook Up A Feast but now widely available on the web.  Here for example.  So that, then a crumble and a cheese board probably – because I’d hate to do something that didn’t turn out right!

8. What’s your all time favourite tv show? Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Particularly the High School seasons.  Every time I watch an episode I remember how much of my vocabulary comes from there – and how it shaped my teenage years. I used to try and wear my hair like Buffy’s (style not colour) was during Becoming Part II *all the time*.  I can still quote BTVS extensively…

9. What’s your ideal date? A night out at the theatre with a nice meal beforehand – something My Boy has got the hang of now – usually arrange the theatre – he buys the dinner! A Dream date would be going to see some Formula One or MotoGP – The Boy took me to the MotoGP at Silverstone last year and it was amazing.

10. Who is your celebrity crush? Oooh.  Tough. Patrick Dempsey maybe – not only is he hot and in one of my favourite shows, but he’s a racing driver in his spare time. I also like Benedict Cumberbatch – the various series of Cabin Pressure are also on frequent rotation on my mp3) and I still have a massive soft spot for David Boreanz and James Marsters from Buffy.

11. Tell me 2 of your favourite bloggers? The first blog I ever encountered is still one of my favourites – and that’s Dooce.  I’ve been reading her since just after Leta was born (and she’s 10 now) – which is longer than I’ve known some of my best friends!  I also love The mighty mighty Monkseal whose blogs on various reality shows are so funny they’ll make you cry. I nearly put him as one of my 11 – but he’s not a well-kept enough secret to be under 200 followers!

Here are my 11 questions to be answered:

1. What was your first job?

2. What’s your claim to fame?

3. What was your favourite book when you were a child?

4. What’s your favourite film?

5. Who was your teenage crush?

6. What’s your embarrassing childhood secret?

7. What’s your favourite TV show?

8. What was your first pet

9. Have you ever lived abroad (aka not the country you come from) if so – where

10. Favourite Sweet?

11. And is there one book you think everyone should read?

And my bloggers and this is where I had problems – so it’s not the full 11 I’m afraid.  I didn’t want to use anyone who I don’t actually read – and I found a lot of the blogs I read didn’t fit the criteria.  In fact it’s a shameful three – but I’ve had this post sitting in draft form all ready to go bar the bloggers for nearly three weeks.  So as it was starting to look rude, I thought I ought to swallow my pride, admit my failings and post as is so to speak.

1. Nutley One

2. A Small Mind at the Theatre

3. The Lovely Emma Louise from EmmaLouBookBlog (I apologise if you’ve done this before and I couldn’t spot it)

So there you go.  I promise I’ll try and do better in future.

books, stats

August Stats

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On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 399 (I’ve had a weed)

New books* read in August: 28

Books from the Library Book pile: 1

Books from the to-read pile: 16

E-books: 10

Books read as soon as they arrived: 1

Most read author in August: Ngaio Marsh

Books* read this year: 157

Books bought: 5

Books acquired: 2

Ebooks acquired: 10 Netgalley 3 free ebooks

Net progress down the physical to read pile: 9 less books on the pile

Gosh.  I don’t think I’ve ever done this well before – and definitely not on a nightshift month – which usually ends up in me splurging on books in the early hours!  Instead – as you’ll see I acquired a lot of Netgalley books – which has pushed my unread folder on the Kindle to almost epic proportions.  But I can ignore that because The Pile in the corner of the living room is smaller!

 

* Total includes some short stories (1 this month – Part 2 of A Place for Us by Harriet Evans – review here)

 

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: August 25 – August 31

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Hopefully I’ll be asleep in bed when this posts recovering from round 2 of nightshift hell.  Again, lots of nice light reading, with a side order in some of my NetGalley books.

Read:

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

High Heels and Bicycle Wheels by Jane Linfoot

A Difficult Term for the Chalet School by Lisa Townsend

A Place for Us (Part 2) by Harriet Evans

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau

The Lost Staircase by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Started:

The Empress Chronicles by Suzy Vitello

Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

I’ve bought two books this week – the next Meg Langslow as a treat for finishing nights and a “classic” American romance novel (of the Harlequin/Mills and Boon persuasion) for a book group.

Two pieces of housekeeping, firstly, because the start of the month falls on a Monday this time, August stats are going to be posted tomorrow.  Stay tuned to see if I’ve done any damage to the to read pile.  Secondly, I’ve got a rash of new release books that I’m going to review, so the posting schedule (Mondays, Wednesdays Saturdays) may be a little out of whack the next few weeks and there may be some more extra posts – because I do try to post reviews as close to the book’s release date as possible (I get very frustrated when I read reviews of books that I can’t buy yet, so I try not to do that to you!).

books

Back to School Books

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The schools go back this week coming, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to recommend some books based in schools or with a school-y element

I’m starting with a recent discovery (thank you NetGalley) – Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens which combines two of my favourite things – boarding school stories and Golden Age detective stories.  Like Mallory Towers crossed with Agatha Christie but with a wry smile, this is the first book about the Wells and Wong Detective Agency – aka Daisy and Hazel – and the very real murder they encounter at their boarding school.  I sped through this during my break and train journey on a nightshift and it was a joy.  There are subtle lessons about bullying and race for the children (I’d say 9 – 12 year olds) and enough sly nods to things for the adults amongst us too.  I’ll be looking out for the next one.

Melissa Nathan was one of my favourite authors of the early 2000s – and her final novel, The Learning Curve – is one of the best novels I’ve read about being a teacher (speaking as a non-teacher of course).  It’s funny, it’s smart, it’s romantic and the characters are all brilliant.  I loved Nicky and thought her relationship with her class was utterly believable and Oscar and his dad Mark are brilliant too.  I cried in Tesco when I read in the front of this book that Melissa had passed away and it saddens me that so many people won’t have come across her work –  so I heartily recommend this.  And as a side note, every year I have found at least one amazing new author from the Melissa Nathan Award Shortlist, so although tragically there will be no more books from Melissa herself, I feel like she’s pointing me in the direction of other people carrying on her fine work.

As previously mentioned, I love a good school story – and it would be remiss of me not to mention my favourite boarding school series of all time in a round-up of books about schools and that’s Elinor M Brent Dyer’s Chalet School books.  I’m working my way up to a full post on the subject so I won’t say too much more, except that if you like school stories set in the 1920s through to the 1950s and haven’t read any Chalet School books, then where have you been.  They are slightly dated now, and children should be given the abridged Armada paperback versions (which take out the smoking and some of the more questionable language) but I still adore them. “I bet Jo could sing it better” is still a running gag between my sister and I when things go badly wrong based on the main protagonist’s ability to cure fever, coma and emotional trauma with her singing voice. The School at the Chalet is the first book and is easily findable on the second-hand book sites – and Girls Gone By Publishing are republishing the unabridged versions in paperback for those of us who can’t afford the very collectible original hardback books.

One of my recent discoveries are Angela Thirkell’s delightful Barsetshire novels from the 1930s – and one of the best of these that I’ve read is Summer Half – where Colin Keith decides to spend a term as a teacher (as you could in those days!) rather than live off his dad whilst he studies for the law.  The focus is on the teachers and their lives and in particular flirtatious attention-seeking Rose – the daughter of the headteacher – who is engaged to one master, but busy flirting with every man she encounters.  It’s delightfully funny, and if you’re a fan of children’s boarding school stories, this may well float your boat too.

And finally, little bit tangential, but I really enjoyed John Le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, which starts with a section set in a school, when I read it last year – and I’m not normally a spy/thriller reader.  Well worth a look for anyone who hasn’t read this classic of the genre – although I can’t claim that the school section is the main bit of the plot!

Chick lit, fiction, new releases, reviews

Review: A Place for Us by Harriet Evans (part 2)

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We’re off schedule again people… But this time I’m properly rested and hopefully coherent (at least until nightshifts start again tonight).  It is, of course, because of the nights that we’re departing from the schedule – I didn’t realise that Part 2 was nearly here until I saw someone else review it…  Anyhow we left A Place for Us with me begging to find out what happened next in a slightly sleep deprived manner, after the end of Part 1 dropped a fairly major bombshell on the reader.

Well, what can I say.  In Part 2 the bombshell is unloaded onto the rest of the characters – along with a few other secrets – and then we’re left on another cliff hanger.  Honestly, this serialisation malarkey isn’t good for my blood pressure.  There.  That’s all I can say about the plot without giving too much away.  Except that we learn more about the characters – and in particular the absent Daisy.

I am desperate to know what happens next (again) and Harriet Evans has surprised me with some of the twists and turns we’ve had in this second part.  She’s also written a novel which (so far) seems to really lend itself to being broken up into chunks to torment the reader.  I think this part is shorter than part one – but it’s packed with character development, plot movement and surprises so you don’t notice.  I’m very excited about part three – because based on what’s happened so far, I’m fairly sure I have no idea what’s going to happen next.

A Place for Us Part 2 is here for Kindle and if you haven’t read Part 1 then you really should.  I’m off to make a note in my diary about the release date for part 3 (25 September).

mystery, reviews

Review: The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House

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I was very excited when I won a copy of Stephanie Lam’s debut novel The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House – the cover looked gorgeous and the blurb was intriguing.

The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House is a time-slip novel set in the 1920s and the 1960s.  The 1920s strand follows the visit of Robert Carver to his wealthier cousin Alec Bray, who lives in the titular house.  A poor relation, Robert has always admired Alec, but he discovers that the Brays are damaged and gets dragged into their web.  Forty years later, the second strand follows Rosie Churchill, an 18-year-old girl who has run away from home and is living in Castaway House, now subdivided into flats as she finds out about what happened to Robert, their stories intertwine…  I’m hoping that doesn’t give too much away, because I think this is a book that is best to go into unspoiled – for maximum impact.

The very pretty and retro cover of The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House
The very pretty and retro cover of The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House

The book evokes two very different periods in exactly the same setting – and does so very successfully.  You can feel the difference in the world of the Twenties where Alec is trying to project an image of glamour and privilege and that of the sixties where everything is rougher, darker and poorer.

There is plenty of mystery and suspense – expect sharp intakes of breath as the secrets are gradually revealed.  Stephanie Lam has done a really good job of setting this up so that you can’t see the twists coming – or at least I couldn’t.  I thought I knew what was going to happen (jaded time-slip reader that I am) but I was surprised by the ingenuity of what the actual plot was.  She also credits the reader with the intelligence not to need everything spelling out – particularly when it comes to the resolution.

I really enjoyed The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House – and I will be looking forward to more from Stephanie Lam.  I’ve already recommended it to several friends.  Published today by Penguin, I’m hoping it’ll be nice and prominent in the bookshops – here it is on Foyles website and here for Kindle.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: August 18 – August 24

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Nightshift hell.  You’ll notice a proliferation of childrens/YA books and Golden Age crime and comedy.  I managed a hundred or so pages of Elizabeth Gilbert on the way to my nightshift on Tuesday, but my brain was having trouble computing it, although I am enjoying it.

Read:

Not Quite a Wife by Mary Jo Putney

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy Robinson

Summer Half by Angela Thirkell

The Summer of Love by Sophie Pembroke

Started:

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Two books bought* – and a copy of the Secret Paris Cinema Club arrived for me from the lovely people at Quercus, so one book acquired too…

*And a couple of Chalet School ones which don’t count.

books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews, romance

Review: Unfinished Symphony of You and Me

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This post was Not In My Plan for this week.  My carefully constructed plan of what to post when, in a nice pattern, on a regular schedule, constructed (and written) around my current batch of nightshifts.  Then I started reading Unfinished Symphony of You and Me on my dinner break at 3.45am on Wednesday morning.  And I’ve just finished it (it’s Saturday afternoon at the moment, but it’ll be Sunday when this publishes, because I can’t let go of the plan so much I post twice on the same day!) and it was too good for me to just add it to the books read list this week and say how much I’d enjoyed it.

I really loved this. I laughed, I cried, I couldn’t wait to find out what happened – but I didn’t want it to be over at the same time.  I’m kicking myself for not reading it sooner.

Lucy Robinson’s created a fabulous cast of characters and a heart-wrenchingly brilliant story that shows you the importance of living your life, taking control and following your dream and not waiting for someone* to sort it out for you.

I loved crazy, messed-up Sally’s journey to find herself as she takes her courage in her hands and faces her fears.  I was desperate to find out what had happened that summer in New York to turn her from the mousy wardrobe mistress into a student opera singer.  And I didn’t get too grumpy at the reveal being dragged out, once I finally found out what had happened and how totally ingenious it was.  There were a couple of points where I could see the car crash (metaphorically) coming and wanted to scream with frustration at Sally for being so stupid – but then it was so brilliantly done in the end that I Didn’t Mind**.

I don’t want to say too much else about the plot, because it’s another book where it would be all too easy for me to ruin it for everyone who hasn’t read this yet (go and buy it).  I will say though that Barry is my favourite mad housemate since Bing in Bernadette Strachan’s Reluctant Landlady.  And that’s saying something.

This is a perfect summer read.  Although if you read it at the beach, people may point at you when you start crying (I held out until nearly the end, which is surprising considering that post-nightshifts I get incredibly emotional).  And, of course, my idiocy means I’m reviewing it too late in August for many people who, unlike me, have already had their summer holiday.

Still, recapture that holiday reading feeling and go and buy yourself a copy of Unfinished Symphony of You and Me.  My copy came from Netgalley (in return for an honest review etc) but you can find it here, here, here and here (on Kindle) and I hope still in W H Smith and maybe even the supermarkets too.  So really you have no excuse.  I’m off book some tickets to the opera and to add everything else Lucy Robinson has written to my to-read list – and to try to resist the urge to Buy Them Now (because of that pesky backlog I’m trying to deal with). Go. Buy. Read. Enjoy.

Oh dear.  I think this may be another of my overly emotional crazy posts.  Like my moment over the first part of Harriet Evan’s new book.  This is why I plan things so I don’t have to be coherent on here during my nocturnal moments.

* A man

** And when you consider that I can barely read one of my formerly most read books any more because I’m so angry at the way that the third book in the series turned out, you’ll know that that’s a big deal.