stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: November 10 – November 16

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Oh hello Nightshifts my old friend, you’re back to torture me again.  Four nightshifts this week – with three more to come next week – and my reading list is essentially nice and lightweight to cope with the toll that staying up all night is taking on my concentration and brainpower!

That said, the list is dominated by Christmas novellas and special releases – I’m planning a string of posts on Christmas themed reading (of all lengths) for when we get a bit closer to the time.

Read:

Chalet School and Robin by Caroline German

Difficult Husbands by Mary de Laszlo

Footsteps in the Snow and Other Teatime Treats by Trisha Ahsley

Secret Santa by Scarlet Bailey

Star of the East by Tasha Alexander

A Spy Unmasked by Tina Gabrielle

Jill Mansell’s A to Z of Happiness by Jill Mansell

One Funeral by Kat and Stone Bastian

Cold Feet at Christmas by Debbie Johnson

Soulless by Gail Carriger

Storm by Tim Minchin

Started:

The Grand Duchess of Nowhere by Laurie Graham

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

 I may have acquired a couple of books this week during the early hours.  NetGalley is just so tempting. And I won a copy of Alexander McCall Smith’s Emma retelling too.   And then I just had to buy the second Parasol Protectorate story and the prequel short story.  Ahem. There’s something about being awake in the middle of the night that seems to just force you to do impulse purchasing…

books, cozy crime, reviews

Cozy Crime Round-up

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If you were to make a study of my reading material, you would find that one of the genres that crops up the most is so-called “Cozy Crime”.  I love me a murder mystery, but I don’t like too much gore, psychological stuff, horror etc.  Basically what I’m saying is that I’m a golden age detective story fan and that’s the level of violence that I’m happy with.  So here’s a few of my recent reads from cozy end of the genre.

Mrs Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death by Mark Reutlinger – I read this in the book marathon on holiday in October, but have waited until now to review it because it is out on the 18th (thank you NetGalley for my super-advance copy!).  Rose Kaplan is a resident at an old people’s home who suspected of a murder after a fellow resident chokes to death on a Matzoh ball made by Mrs K for the Passover seder.  Rose and her best friend Ida decide to investigate who really was responsible.  I loved this book when I read it on the beach.  It’s not challenging reading, it’s not reinventing the wheel, but it is a nice way to spend a few hours – it feels like an American cross between Agatha Raisin and Miss Marple.  Definitely worth a look.

Also out in the next couple of weeks is Death Comes to London by Catherine Lloyd.  Now this is the second in a series – but I don’t think it’s going to ruin your enjoyment if you haven’t read the first one.  In Death Comes to London, Miss Lucy Harrington and her sister Anna make a trip to London for The Season and their friend from the village Major Robert Kurland is also summoned to town.  When the grandmother of one of Robert’s friends drops dead in a ballroom, Lucy and Robert end up investigating what could have caused her deaths.  I really enjoyed this during some of my nightshift commutes – it reminded me of the better end of the M C Beaton/Marion Chesney Regency mysteries.  In fact I’ve already treated myself to the first in the series to help fill the gap before the next book arrives!

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay – Having enjoyed McKinlay’s Death of a Mad Hatter earlier in the year (review) I ordered the first in her Library Lovers series to see if it was a flash in the pan.  Lindsay is the director of Briar Creek Public Library – and ends up trying to solve a murder after one of her employees is accused of killing her boyfriend.  I didn’t see all the twists coming and I liked the characters.  It felt a little bit like a younger Jessica Fletcher-who-runs-a-library-and-solves-murders.  And when you’ve wiled away as many afternoons to Murder, She Wrote repeats as I have, that can only be a good thing.

Breaking my usual rules about only reading series in order, on a trip to the library recently I picked up book 6 of Catriona McPherson’s Dandy Gilver series – Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder.  I quite enjoyed the first in the series, but hadn’t read any more because of the huge to-read pile and because they broke my rules on how much I’ll spend on an ebook (I have them on my wish list so I check periodically if they’re on offer!).  I liked this book more than book 1 and although I’m fairly sure there are a few plot developments that I’ve missed it didn’t impair my enjoyment of the book.  I didn’t work out the solution – which I had to read several times to get straight in my head, although whether that is because the cast of characters was huge, because the solution was complicated or because I’d had a couple of glasses of wine, I’m not sure!

Not really cozy crime per se, but I read E C Bentley’s Trent’s Last Case – which popped up in my Goodreads recommendations as being the forerunner of Sayers et al.  It’s an Edwardian set murder mystery where an investigator working for a newspaper tries to work out who killed a wealthy financier.  Now I didn’t enjoy it as much as my normal Golden Age fare, but I did enjoy it mostly to see the parallels between the later books which I love so much.  One to read more because of its influence and its reputation rather than because it stands up brilliantly in my opinion.

 

books

Remembrance Day Reading Recommendations

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It’s the 11th day of the 11th month today – and as always we remember those who gave their lives fighting in conflicts.  Sitting on my to-read pile is The Five Children on the Western Front – Kate Saunders’ sequel to the Five Children and It which I’m hoping to get around to soon (nightshift brain permitting) as we continue through this centenary year of the outbreak of the Great War.  I’ve read a fair few books this year that have a World War One setting – and have more still to read – but today I wanted to concentrate on the books written by the people who were there – who were writing from first hand experience.  I first encountered these books during my War Literature module at A Level – but they still sit on my shelves now, more than a decade later.  I’m not going to say much about any of them – just take it from me that they’re powerful and worth reading if you haven’t already.

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque – The Great War from the German Side of the Trenches.

Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves – this was my favourite of all the books I read for this module at the time, and it’s been too long since I read it.  I keep meaning to go back and reread Robert Graves’ autobiography which covers a much wider period than the war and also introduces a lot of characters who pop up in other accounts – contemporary and modern.

Siegfried Sasson’s George Sherston Books are a semi-biographical account of his life and his time in the British Army.  This gives a real sense of the Edwardian world which was shattered by the war as well as the conflict itself.

I’ve ummed and ahhed about including Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth because I detested this book when I read it at 17.  But I know I am in the minority and many others  have been profoundly moved by this account of the impact of the great war on a young woman.

If you are all Great War-ed out – then may I point you in the direction of Helen Forrester’s Lime Street at Two – the fourth book telling the story of her poverty-stricken life in Liverpool which deals with the worst of World War II.  Really I think you should read the whole lot (starting with Twopence to Cross the Mersey) but this is well worth reading alone.  I was 10 when I first read it (there or there abouts) and cried buckets and then appropriated one of my mother’s shopping bags and tried to draw lines up the back of my legs and pretended to be her for several days.

And if you have children, then Robert Westall’s The Machine Gunners, Michelle Magorian’s Goodnight Mr Tom and Nina Bawden’s Carrie’s War had a massive impact on me as a child and really brought home to me the reality of World War II.

Never Forget.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: November 3 – November 9

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I’ve been working hard on making progress with The Night Watch this week – I say hard, I mean trying to read a few pages each night as I try and get the still reading selection down.  It hasn’t always worked, but I’ve more than doubled how much I’ve read this week!  I’m close to giving up on Signature of All Things – but I’ve made it halfway through now so it seems a shame to give up now.  Having looked at the reviews on Goodreads they seem quite split between people who loved it and those who got bored.  So far I’m in the latter camp!

Read:

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Eve in Hollywood by Amor Towles

The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes

Christmas at the Cove by Victoria Connelly

The Gallery of Vanished Husbands by Natasha Solomons

At Home With Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly

Started:

Difficult Husbands by Mary de Laszlo

Chalet School and Robin by Caroline German

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

 Four e-books bought – and a freebie – but that’s because I got weak after I finished Rules of Civility and wanted the novella follow-on and got click happy….

books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Review: The Woman Who Stole My Life

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I have a strange relationship with Marian Keyes books.  As a person, I love her on Twitter and I could watch her all day on Strictly It Takes Two or Bake Off Extra Slice.  But when it comes to her books, and when I read them, I enjoy them but there are some times I pick one up and just don’t fancy it.  I don’t know if it’s because as well as the humour she deals with Serious Issues – and I’m not always in the market for Proper Problems with my chick lit.*  She is massively, massively popular though – and I know this is a book which is going to be on a lot of Christmas lists this year.

The Woman Who Stole My Life is about Stella Sweeney – who tries to do a good deed and ends up a car crash, the fall out from which will change her life.  The novel jumps backwards and forwards between the now – and various points in the past which explain how she got there.

Now once again, this summary seems short and cryptic, but I’m trying hard not to give too much away because I really enjoyed not knowing all the twists and turns. I will admit that I sometimes found it hard to keep track of when we where we were in the story on occasions – but that may have been down to the formatting in the proof e-copy that I was lucky enough to receive.

One thing that I really wanted to mention was how much I love the title.  Who is the Woman Who Stole My Life ?  I’ve tried writing a sentence to explain what I mean six times – and each time it’s given away too much of the plot.  But trust me when I say when you read it, you’ll understand what I mean.

I think that this may be my favourite of Marian Keyes’ novels.  I like Stella – her voice reminds me of the tone that you get from Marian’s Twitter feed (@MarianKeyes if you don’t already follow her).  I occasionally wanted to give Stella a bit of a talking to, but most of the time I was totally rooting for her as she bounced back from a life-changing experience and tried to figure out what she wanted in life with the assistance (or otherwise) of her family and friends.

And having enjoyed this so much – despite there being some serious issues in there – it’s inspired me to go back and read some of the Keyes backlist that I’ve missed out on.  In fact I think that there may be a Walsh Family book in my library book bag waiting to be read.  Serendipity indeed.

The Woman Who Stole My Life feels like a winter book, something you can curl up on the sofa with and eat Jaffa cakes like there’s no tomorrow – just like Stella does although I give you fair warning that if you do, you may end up in “lady chinos” – just like Stella!

My copy came from Netgalley in return for an honest review, but I’m expecting The Woman Who Stole My Life to be front and centre on the displays and promotions in all the major shops, but if you want to buy online here are some links – for kindle, at Foyles, it’s on my shelves at My Independent Bookshop – where it’ll give some money to one of my local indies or you can buy it through Hive and give money to one of your local indies.

*As the regular reader will be aware, my aversion to Bad Things leads me towards the romance novels and cozy crime and away from Literary Fiction and Prize Winning books.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 27 – November 2

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A fair few short stories on the list this week – some good, some not, one dreadful.  And I hate saying that about a writer’s work.  Hey ho.

Read:

Trent’s Last Case by E C Bentley

A Place For Us Part 4 by Harriet Evans

The Accidental Countess by Valerie Bowman

The Viscount’s Christmas Temptation by Erica Ridley

The Bride by Julie Garwood

Christmas with Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly

Happy Birthday Mr Darcy by Victoria Connelly

Marrying to the Boss by Elannah James (avoid avoid avoid)

Started:

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

Four ebooks bought, two free ones too but no actual books bought.  So not a bad week in the scheme of things.

books, stats

October Stats

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On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 432

New books* read in October: 39

Books from the Library Book pile: 1

Books from the to-read pile: 4

E-books: 31

Books read as soon as they arrived: 3

Most read author in October: Alan Hunter (four George Gently books on holiday!)

Books* read this year: 223

Books bought:  11 (4 books, 8 ebooks)

Books acquired: 2

Ebooks acquired: 17…

Net progress down the physical to read pile: 2 less books on the to read pile

The holiday really helped with the books read this year – not so much with the physical pile as I read everything on the kindle…  On the plus side I didn’t really buy many books so even the few paperbacks I read have helped the pile!  Hurrah!

 

* Total includes some short stories (5 this month)

Chick lit, fiction, new releases, reviews

Review: A Place for Us Parts 3 and 4

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I have enjoyed this book so much – and contrary to my usual views about serialisations (and to my sleep-addled pleas after Part 1 of A Place For Us) I’ve really enjoyed having to wait for the next part, as it’s forced me to make the book last.  As a fast reader, when I find something I like, I gobble it up as quickly as possible – then it’s over.  As someone who finished each of the last 4 Harry Potter books by early afternoon the day that they came out, I can attest that this can leave you with a very long wait to find out what happened next and a sense of regret that it was over too soon.  But reading something spaced out over a period of time gives you a different perspective than eating it up in a big rush.  And this is a book that I would definitely have read in a hurry.  I was desperate to find out what happened next and how it was all going to work out.

The end of Part 2 left us with another major plot development.  Part 3 throws everything up in the air again – so that it falls down in different places and leaves the reader with some answers – but most of the characters are still in the dark.  Part 4 puts everything back together and by the end you can see the family walking forwards into a new future.

And I can’t say much more than that about the plot – because I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone – particularly as part of the joy of this for me was not knowing where this was going and how everything was going to link up together.  Also because the book is going to be published as a proper book in early 2014, anything I say in this post is giving spoilers for the second half of the book – which I try not to do with books I’m reviewing.

This books has such a large cast of characters it is hard to pick a favourite.  Instead I’ll say that I liked the Grandchildren strands the best – if I was forced to pick – but it’s a really tough choice, because every part of the plot has something about it that makes me think that I like that one best.  Certainly the book wouldn’t be as good as it is if any one of them was missing.

This is a different sort of book from Harriet Evans I think.  I’ve read a couple of her books in the past (and as is standard for me, I have a couple waiting to be read as well) and although I enjoyed them and recommend them – I wouldn’t have lent them to my mum.  This one I would.  And that’s because she loves big family sagas spread across time – and even though this one is mostly set in the present so much of the story is because of what happened in the past.  I keep wanting to mention Elizabeth Jane Howard’s Cazalet Chronicles in connection with this book and I can’t quite pin down why – except that they are both books about extended families with secrets which switch between characters as the stories continue and where a house is almost a character in its own right.

Anyway, if you haven’t started reading A Place For Us, you should try it – and now all four parts are available you won’t have the agonising wait that I did between parts 1 to 3 (the holiday meant I got to part 3 a bit later than intended and was able to go straight on to Part 4).  If you want a proper book copy – it’s not out until January 15th next year, which is a shame as I probably have bought it for my sister for her Christmas book if I could have done.  Here are the links to the kindle versions of Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.  I got the first three parts through NetGalley (in return for an honest review) but bought myself Part 4 because I was so desperate to know how it all worked out.

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 20 – October 26

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Wow.  What a week!  And I was even at work for 4 days!

Read:

Shakespeare’s Champion by Charlaine Harris

Espresso Tales by Alexander McCall Smith

Shakespeare’s Christmas by Charlaine Harris

Curtsies and Conspiracies by Gail Carriger

A Place For Us Part 3 by Harriet Evans

The Reluctant Vampire by Eric Morecambe

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder by Catriona McPherson

Started:

Trent’s Last Case by E C Bentley

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

The Bride by Julie Garwood

 Only one book bought this week – the final part of Harriet Evans’ A Place For Us.  Progress…

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 13 – October 19

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Last week was never going to be topped was it!  For a start I didn’t spent this week on a beach or by a pool – I was at work for four days of it – and staying away from home for two nights of that making the most of the fact that my train company can’t get me to London from home for 6am at the weekend with a weekend with my theatre buddy (dinners! shows! cocktails!).  But this is particularly bad – and the still reading list is mounting up again too.  Still, at least I’m back on the paperbacks amongst this – because last week’s mammoth efforts had absolutely no effect on the physical pile!

Read:

The Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished by Sarah MacLean

Walking on Air by Christina Jones

Started:

Shakespeare’s Champion by Charlaine Harris

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

The Bride by Julie Garwood

I may have bought four books to cheer me up after having to go back to work after a lovely week in the sun…