For once I have already read half of these. So they’re not going into the pile – but straight onto the shelves – or in some case to the parents for them to read. Who knew I could do that. Actually it’s probably one of the most me things ever – the mood reader buys books and immediately reads them instead of everything waiting on the shelf. Anyway: the ones I’ve read are the Richard Coles, the Nev Fountain and the second Vicki Delany. The Elly Griffiths is the next for me in the series after I remembered about them when mum’s book club read the first one. And then the other two are cozy crimes I had a read of when I was in Waterstones Picadilly and Gower Street and liked the look of. So not adding too much to the pile but not exactly restrained either!
It’s that time again – my latest batch of book arrivals. So we have one one post Christmas, panicky 50 states purchase that didn’t turn up in time and will get used for this year (The Children’s Blizzard), three purchases in Carlisle in Bookends – including a replacement for my awol copy of Goodbye to All That in the same edition of the original, and a Christmas themed murder mystery bought in January. Restrained really.
A four book haul this Christmas so far, with two from this year’s list, another from my long term wants list because I didn’t know what had been bought already when I got another request for books (and didn’t want to spoil the surprise by asking the people who I knew had bought from it already!) and an unexpected middle grade fantasy which looks really good. I do love a boarding school story. I’m hoping there will be one more to come – but we’ll see! Anyway, the Kennedy-related portion of the to-read pile is replenished as well as the 1930s notables one. And now I can take a look at what might have hit the Boxing Day sales and see what else I would like to acquire…
Will this be a three Books Incoming month? Probably. Anyway, this is the state of things at the moment – after the Christmas-themed books (which mostly arrived last month and should have been in those bumper piles) and before any Christmas gifts arrive. Fingers crossed for something(s) from the wishlist. So we have: We Solve Murders – which I’ve already read, Cher’s memoir who ch is already underway and the the last Kate Shackleton that I haven’t read.
This is actually the final part of last month’s bumper crop of arrivals – I’ve been holding back in case I impulse bought any more festive books, but I think I’ve done the lot now, so I’m risking it. Here we have the Christmas Three Dahlias, the new Martha Waters Christmas book and the Most Wonderful Crime of the Year aka a locked room Christmas mystery, which since I bought it has gone into KU which is a tad frustrating but hey, the paperback is pretty.
As I said last week, there were too many arrivals for just one post, so I’m back with a second one. And this is fifty percent preorders (that’s the whole front row), and then a few others. And several of the others are because I’ve been ordering Christmas books – and to get free postage from Waterstones you need to spend more than £30… so I just bought myself something to get up to the value, because I haven’t been organised I’ve just been ordering in dribs and drabs. Anyway, to the actual books: we’ve got the new final Vanderbeeker book which is finally out here in paperback, the next part in the Fangirl Manga and the latest Katherine Center (which I also saw in the shops last week). Then there’s A Star Is Bored which has been recommended by several authors that I enjoy reading, the Roseanne Montillo book about Truman Capote and Ann Woodward and The Divorce Colony, which has been on the list for so long that I forget who recommended it to start with, but which had a price drop. So all lovely stuff hopefully, I just need to stop acquiring things and start reading them…
Ok. So it’s all got a bit out of hand this month and I’ve had to split the books incoming up because there were just so many of them. And that’s because a bunch of preorders came in, a load of stuff that I’ve been wanting to read came down in price and I found a nice large book voucher that I needed to spend – and so here we are. So this week you’re getting the crime and mystery arrivals, next week you’re getting the other stuff and then I’ve saved the Christmas-themed arrivals to do all together!
So right at the back we’ve got the latest Rivers of London graphic novel which was on of those preorders and that I picked up from the Comic Bookshop last weekend. Then there’s the second in Frances Brody’s new series, the next two in the series which started with last week’s book of the week A Dark and Stormy Murder – one of which was second hand, the other came from the lovely cozy crime selection at Waterstones Piccadilly thanks to that voucher. Also on that voucher and from the same place is Six Sweets Under and Deadly Summer Nights – which are both first in series. The Anne George is a second in series – and will help with my 50 States challenge for this year (if I read it before the end of the year!) and then there’s another Edmund Crispin because happened to see it, the next books in two other series – the Edward Marston ocean liner books and Perveen Mistry mysteries.
So, an unusual month in a way, in that I’ve already read three of the books in this picture. So on the bright side, they’re not on the pile – they’re already off and through. On the downside, there were only two more until I went into Foyles this week and got carried away. Never mind. Four more on the pile is better than it has been. And I have all the Museum mysteries now so I can’t buy any more of those, which is something I guess. Although the Olivia Blackie is a new to me series so that could be dangerous in itself. Wish me luck…
As promised last week, here’s a second Books Incoming post – as I said on Monday, I was in Kuala Lumpur for work last week, and I may have found a bookshop while I was there and gone a little bit crazy, on account of the fact that they had a buy four books and get a fifth free promotion on. I mean how could I not! More on the bookshop itself to follow, but first up, here are the books that I brought back from Malaysia with me.
Lets start with the airport purchases. The autumn releases haven’t really kicked in yet, so the selection in W H Smiths was a little disappointing, but I still managed to find two I wanted. I’d nearly finished Going Infinite by the time I got to Kuala Lumpur – and I’ve already written about it – and the Elena Armas was the other half of the buy one get one half price. Then the five from the bookshop are the three on the back row and the other half of the middle row. I’m hoping at least one of them is a Rich People Problems book, but the shrink wrap means it’s a bit of a lottery, but all the blurbs were good – and Marlowe Banks… is one I’ve had my eye on for a while, but which hadn’t come my way at a price I was willing to pay before. At the front we have a book of short stories that was given to me by the author, who is a friend of a friend and was kind enough to show me around while I was visiting, and she also gave me Ripples. So thank you Daphne – I had a fabulous time with you and I’m looking forward to reading the books. Oh and if you were wondering what the blind date with a book turned out to be, here’s the answer:
Yes, this is early, yes it’s because the pile is out of control and I wasn’t going to be able to get it all in one photo. So there’s another post coming next week … and on that note: what have I bought?
Let’s start at the front and go clockwise – At Mrs Lippincote’s and the French Cazalet are from my Paris trip. Then there’s the next book that I haven’t read in the Library Lovers series, and two more Museum mysteries after I enjoyed the one that I picked up at Book Con so much. Murder on the Eiffel Tower was because I fancied a Paris set mystery after the trip – and this is the first in the series, then there’s Ex-Wife which has just been reissued and is from my inter-war sweet spot. Below Ex-Wife is another Anne de Courcy which I picked up on offer after reading Five Love Affairs and a Friendship last month, and then there’s Adrian Tinniswood’s Noble Ambitions, which was also on offer. And finally there’s the new Rivers of London Novella, which came out this very week and was waiting for me when I got home from my travels on Friday lunchtime.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 