Tag: books

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Cat Who Saved Books

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Making a bit of a change this week, and I’ve got some Japanese fiction in translation for you. I do like to mix it up a little when I can, and today is one of those weeks where I can!

Our hero is Rintaro, a high school student whose beloved grandfather had just died and left him his second hand bookshop. The trouble is, Rintaro is also going to have to close it down because his aunt is his new guardian and wants him to move in with her. Rintaro is shy and would rather be reading books in the shop than talking to other people or going to school. Then a talking cat appears in the bookshop and tells him he needs his help to save books. What happens next sees Rintaro and Tiger entering different labyrinths to try and free the books.

This is about a teenager and a cat and the friends he makes along the way as he tries to rescue books from people who are misusing and mistreating them. Rintaro has to debate the value of books and reading against people who are diminishing them. That might sound a little heavy but it’s actually a charming story about how a love of books and reading can help you in difficult times and is important in a world where things are changing fast. It’s not a massively long book but I read it in one sitting and was very sad it was over so fast. A treat for the bookish and something a little bit different.

My copy was part of my NetGalley back log, so it has been out for a while now. I’m not sure how easy it will be to get a physical copy – I don’t think I’ve seen it in Foyles’s books in translation section – or at least not with the cover. But it is on Kindle and Kobo and in audiobook.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: January 8 – January 14

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Am I burning my way through a cozy crime novella series on Kindle Unlimited rather than reading this month’s new releases? Absolutely I am. Do I have anything to write about tomorrow? Who knows. Am I a fool to myself? Absolutely. In my defence, I did go to the theatre two nights last week (as you know) and was away from home for a few nights as well and that always has an impact. But really, I continue to be the most extreme of mood and binge readers!

Read:

Findin’ Out by Patti Benning

Diggin’ In by Patti Benning

A Truth for a Truth by Emilie Richards

Holin’ Up by Patti Benning

Murder on the Minnesota by Edward Marston

Breakin’ In by Patti Benning

Floodin’ Out by Patti Benning

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa*

Two Women Walk into a Bar by Cheryl Strayed

Freezin’ Up by Patti Benning

Started:

It Happened One Fight by Maureen Lee Lenker

Lady Thief of Belgravia by Allison Grey*

A Death in Diamonds by S J Bennett*

Still reading:

Knowing Me, Knowing You by Jeevani Charika*

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Animal, Vegetable, Criminal by Mary Roach

Quite a lot of books bought – combination of the Kindle Deals post, a few extra pre-orders put in and a trip to the bookshop…

Bonus photo: the 2024 Beat the To-Read Pile bookshelf, set up only a week late and by a miracle I remembered to take a picture before I started filling it in!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

books, The pile

Books Incoming: Mid-January

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Well, after the Christmas special Books Incoming, I don’t actually have a lot to show you this time out. I’ve already read the Rivers of London graphic novel, and I’ve started Murder on the Minnesota. The Last Action Hero was bought because of how much I enjoyed Wild and Crazy Guys – and I think this is one that Him Indoors will want to read too. But that’s it. January does tend to be a quiet time for new releases, so there haven’t been any pre-orders dropping through the letter box, and because I was expecting books for Christmas I didn’t buy many in the second half of December. I also only made it into a bookshop for the first time this year this week so that limits a little! I would say Normal Service will be resumed – but remember I’m trying to reduce the size of The Pile, so maybe I should be hoping that it isn’t?! Still a third of this is already off the pile and another third will be shortly hopefully.

Have a great Saturday everyone.

books, books on offer, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: January Kindle Offers

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Hello! It’s that time of the month again, hide your wallets because I’m back with a stack of Kindle offers and if you can resist all of them you’re a better person than I am! I’m not sure this month is quite as good as last month, but there were still a few interesting things at prices to tempt.

I’ve recommended Ali Hazelwood’s adult romances a couple of times, but her YA debut is 99p this month – so if you want a story about chess rivals, then maybe Check & Mate is what you need this January. The sequel to Nita Prose’s The Maid is out in the UK in about a week now, so that probably explains why the original story about Molly the Maid is 99p at the moment.

One of the Taylor Jenkins Reid novels from before she went massive is on offer this month – I haven’t read After I Do (yet!) but it’s got a fairly good average on Goodreads for what that’s worth (and for older books it tends to be worth more than the newer ones). Another older book on offer is Amor Towles Rules of Civility, which I read back in 2016 and really, really liked it – if you’ve read his newer stuff but not this, then go and read this about a woman trying to make it in Jazz-age New York.

The discount Terry Pratchett is The Light Fantastic at £1.99. If you’re adding to your Georgette Heyer collection, it’s the Gothicky and creepy Cousin Kate at 99p this month, with Devil’s Cub and a couple of others at £1.99. As I’ve said a couple of times now, Peter Wimsey (and Heyer actually) are emerging from copyright restrictions so there are a lot of very cheap editions of some of the books available now, but I can’t vouch for the quality of them. However, The Nine Tailors is the “proper” edition of a Peter Wimsey that is 99p this January. I’m on a bit of an Agatha Christie kick at the moment as well, and there’s a similar issue with hers – I’m deeply tempted by 49p French editions of some of her Poirot novels, but slightly dubious if the translations will be ok. Anyway, in English one of her non-series books The Sittaford Mystery is 99p, as are a lot of her short stories – although I’m not sure how you work out what are in the various anthologies and what aren’t.

I bought a couple of books while writing this (what’s new!) but also added a few more to the Kindle Unlimited list. All I need to do now is finish some of the other KU books I have borrowed…

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: January 1 – January 7

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So I started 2024 by continuing the Drina binge and then started a new series of (short) cozy crimes with a home renovation theme. And I’ve already read one of my Christmas books, before it even made it onto the pile! I’ve started a couple of this month’s NetGalley books, but I haven’t finished any yet, so I’m basically already behind there. Hey ho I enjoyed my reading and that’s the main thing right?

Read:

Drina Dances in Switzerland by Jean Estoril

Drina Goes on Tour by Jean Estoril

Drina, Ballerina by Jean Estoril

Flippin’ Out by Patti Benning

Movin’ Up by Patti Benning

Birder, She Wrote by Donna Andrews

Capote’s Women by Laurence Leamer

Started:

Knowing Me, Knowing You by Jeevani Charika*

A Truth for a Truth by Emilie Richards

Findin’ Out by Patti Benning

Still reading:

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Animal, Vegetable, Criminal by Mary Roach

Three ebooks (two novels and a novella) bought. But I haven’t made it into a bookshop yet this year…

Bonus photo: I finished the jigsaw puzzle about three hours after last week’s week in books published!

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.

books, The pile

State of the Pile: 2024 edition

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Not going to lie, I didn’t want to do this post because, well you’ll see. But I do try to be honest here and so here is some transparency…

We enter 2024 with the to read pile bigger than ever. I’d love to say that all the books in front of the shelves are borrowed, but they’re not. I’ve just expanded beyond the shelves – which I said I wouldn’t do. It’s been a little this way all year, but has got worse in the last few months as I’ve been away from home a lot and so reading off the kindle and not physical books, and while I was trying to finish off the 50 states. So my goal for this year is to try and get back into *just* having the bookshelf of unread books and not piles nearby too. Wish me luck everyone…

book round-ups, books

Recommendsday: Not New fiction of 2023

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So I was about to say this is the last look back at 2023 post, but I realised that I would absolutely be lying because I can think of at least two more. Any how, this is my favourite new-to-me fiction of last year. Many of them you’ll always have heard me talk about, but hey I enjoyed them and they’re worth it.

So in keeping with the celebrities and normal people romances that have been a theme of the year, let’s start with one of those: Nora Goes off Script by Annabel Monaghan. And I think this might have been the first of the trope that I read last year and it was really good. Nora’s been dumped by her husband but has to keep writing screen plays for romance channel movies. But when her new script is picked up by a major studio, the sexual man alive walks into her house (literally) to star in it and then doesn’t want to leave. It’s wonderful and just writing about it makes me want to read it again!

Next up is one of the books that Nora was comped with and which I finally got around to reading this year – Beach Read by Emily Henry. This has got two rival authors living in neighbouring beach houses and struggling with writers block – until they challenge each other to write in their genre. So Augustus had to write something happy, and Janet had to write a Great American Novel. It’s a grumpy-sunshine delight – even if I’ve only just realised that he’s got the summery name and she’s got the wintery one!

More authors in pick three: The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Sigemund-Broka. This has got estranged writing partners forced back together to complete their original book contract after his new solo effort doesn’t sell. It’s friends to enemies to lovers as you flash backwards and forwards between the two different trips to the same Florida rental house.

Ok, that all the romance done, let’s go for some mystery! And The Three Dahlias by Katy Watson was one of my post Christmas sale buys between Christmas and new year last year and I loved it. It has all the things that I like – Golden Age mystery stories and a modern day cozy crime murder on the set of an adaptation of the books. So much fun and something I’ve recommended a lot this year. I’m counting down to book three.

And finally, something a bit different – Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore. This one’s a bit quirky – with a missing illusionist and a podcast at the centre of it. I didn’t fully love the ending, but I did love the rest of it. This is actually the only book here from the second half of the year, and I have had a think about that and a look at the stats – there were less five star picks in the second half of the year among the not-new fiction but quite a few four stars that I’ve only just written about, so maybe that’s what’s gone on. And I did read more new fiction in the second half of the year than the first and that played into this too.

Anyway, here’s to the books I’ll discover in 2024!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: If You Only Knew

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Well after a bumper week of reading last week to get the fifty states challenge finished, I’m starting the new year with a Kristan Higgins book for Book of the Week which wasn’t one of the missing states. Who could have predicted that!

If You Only Knew is a dual narrative story about two sisters who are both at turning points in their lives. Wedding dress designer Jenny is moving back to her home town to open a new storefront after her divorce in an attempt to get away from her ex and his new wife whose lives she’s still entangled in. Her sister Rachael has a seemingly enviable life – adoring husband and cute triplet daughters. Except Rachael’s just caught him sexting with a colleague and she’s not sure what what to do about it – she’s not sure she believes in second chances but she’s also not ready to give up on her family dream.

This is really readable – I read it across about 36 hours despite it being Christmas – I liked the mix of big city New York and small town New York State and it all works out alright in the end, despite my fears at various points while reading it. As always with stories like this I liked one side of the story better than the other – in this case it was Jenny I wanted more of, but maybe that’s because adultery plots are never really quite my thing and I loathed Rachael’s husband (although now I’ve finished the book I don’t think you were meant to like him but I wasn’t sure about that at the time) and wanted her to burn it all down straight away. That said I’m not sure Jenny’s strand of the plot on its own would have been enough to sustain a novel – and I definitely wouldn’t have read just Rachael’s – so it was probably the right decision to do both!

Anyway you can get this on Kindle and Kobo and it’s only £2.99! It does have a paperback version but as it’s a few years old now it may not be that easy to get hold of a physical copy – Amazon is certainly asking crazy money for it, but the ebook is cheap so that’s something.

Happy Reading!

books, stats, The pile, week in books

The Week in Books: December 25 – December 31

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Happy New Year! I hope 2024 is every thing you want it to be and more. I have a stack of new year content coming up as well as the last bits of looking back at 2023. And thank you for reading this blog – I don’t say it enough but I appreciate you all. Anyway, I finished off the year with a stack of books – including those last few states for the challenge and also a binge reread of Drina after I put the idea in my head!

Read:

If Only You Knew by Kristen Higgins

Rivers of London: Here be Dragons by Ben Aaronovitch et al

Faux Finished by Peg Marberg

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie

Dakota Cowboy by Lisa Mondello

Drina Dances Again by Jean Estoril

Drina Dances in New York by Jean Estoril

Drina Dances in Paris by Jean Estoril

Lethal Bayou Beauty by Jana de Leon

Ghostland by Jean Hager

The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters

Drina Dances in Madeira by Jean Estoril

Started:

Birder, She Wrote by Donna Andrews

Still reading:

Travellers in the Third Reich by Julia Boyd

Animal, Vegetable, Criminal by Mary Roach

Three ebooks bought – including the latest Veronica Speedwell which has dropped to a sensible price presumably because the new one arrives soon.

Bonus photo: end of year jigsaw update…

*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.