Tag: books

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…

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: October 6 – October 12

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Can you tell that I’ve been on holiday?  Long hot days spent lounging by the pool or laying on the bitch and evenings sipping cocktails mean that I’ve made inroads into my unread folder on the kindle.  I should have finished the Sarah Waters – which was one of my paperbacks – but The Boy only bought one book with him and so borrowed The Night Watch which took him most of the week to read.

Read:

Life is Sweet by Elizabeth Bass

Gently Does It by Alan Hunter

Gently By The Shore by Alan Hunter

Gently Down The Stream by Alan Hunter

Landed Gently by Alan Hunter

London Calling by Sara Sheridan

And Only To Deceive by Tasha Alexander

A Poisoned Season by Tasha Alexander

Mrs Kaplan and the Matzoh Ball of Death by Mark Reutlinger

Wicked Autumn by G M Malliet

The Path of the Crooked by Ellery Adams

Going the Distance by Christina Jones

King Solomon’s Mines by Henry Rider Haggard

Started:

The Night Watch by Sarah Waters

Sheila by Robert Wainwright

The Bride by Julie Garwood

The Tomb of the Golden Bird by Elizabeth Peters

Walking on Air by Christina Jones

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

And because I was on holiday – I haven’t bought any books this week.  I banned myself from buying any sequels to any of the books that I cleared from the backlog so that I reduced the pile.  And so now the unread list on the Kindle is now merely huge rather than gigantic!

books, fiction, The pile

Recent Reading Round-up

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As you know, I don’t write reviews here for everything that I’ve read – for a variety of reasons including the fact that I read too much stuff for that, I have one of those full time jobs people talk about (and it’s shift work to boot), I have a theatre habit to maintain etc.  If you to know exactly what I’m reading – right-this-instant –  find me on Goodreads and you too can know what page I’m on of my latest book(s).  But sometimes there’s stuff that I’ve enjoyed, that I haven’t had a chance to mention on here – whether it’s because it’s not new, or because it hasn’t fit in with what I’m writing about, etc, so here’s me redressing the balance, with a few things that I’ve read recently – that I’ve enjoyed and would recommend.

You may have noticed from last month’s stats (and the weekly reading lists) that I’ve been on a bit of a Charlaine Harris reading jag at the moment.  Having finished the Sookie Stackhouse books, I’m working my way through both the Aurora Teagarden and Lily Bard series and have the first Harper Connelly book in the Harper Connelly series on the pile too.  I like them because they don’t really require much brain power – perfect for nightshift Verity – although the pre-Sookie series can be a bit old-fashioned/outdated in patches, and her sex scenes can be a bit… clunky.  Lily Bard is definitely the darkest series of hers that I’ve read so far, but it’s still not exactly horror territory.  Which is good because I get nightmares easily!  If you haven’t read any Harris – start with Sookie: it’s my favourite and although I know a lot of the die hard fans were unhappy with the final resolution, I was fine with the way it worked out in the end. Although I could’ve done without the final sex scene!

If you’re after something contemporary and you’ve read all the Charlaine Harris you can take (or you’re not a fan), thanks to NetGalley I got my hands on a copy of No Weddings – the first in a new series by Kat Bastion and Stone Bastion. Focussing on bar owner and entrepreneur Cade and his attraction to cake baker Hannah – one of the suppliers to his new party business.  It’s steamy rather than romantic (so far at least) and if it’s a bit of a cliche to have lots of privileged rich twentieI enjoyed it – it was a bit different to my usual thing – and I have the second book in the series, One Funeral, waiting for me on my Kindle.

Meanwhile, I think I’ve read all of the Angela Thirkell’s that Virago Modern Classics has re-released. This makes me sad – because I want to read more and yet I want my copies to match the ones that I already have.  They’re inter-war set comedies – I mentioned Summer Half in my post about School-set books and I’ve really enjoyed the six that I’ve read.  They remind me of Nancy Mitford, but with some of the harder, darker edges taken off or the Provincial Lady diaries but with more characters and wider plots. If Virago could see fit to release some more in their delicious retro-but-modern covers that would be lovely.  Otherwise I’m going to have to start trawling the second hand stalls for them – but I know that as soon as I start doing that, Virago will decide to bring out more!

Alexander McCall Smith is one of those authors who is really prolific, but who has somehow passed me by a bit.  I mentioned in my Scottish books post that I had 44 Scotland Street on the shelf waiting to be read, and inspired by the referendum I finally got around to picking it up and I really enjoyed it.  The second book was a naughty purchase the other week, and it’s waiting for me on my to-read pile.  I’ve tried the Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency before and not got on with it, so I’m going to try some other series of his before I go back to that one and see how I get on.  As for 44 Scotland Street, it’s a bit like Tales of the City, except set in Edinburgh and with less bathhouses.

So, there you are – a snapshot of some of my recent reading – the only trouble is, I keep discovering new series that I like and then buying more of them, which of course doesn’t help reduce the pile…

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: September 29 – October 5

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Not a bad hail considering that two days off at the start of the week and a lot of house work to do derailed the end of September.  Still the weekend made up for it.

Read:

Unbefitting a Lady by Bronwyn Scott

Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton

Oh Yeah Audrey by Tucker Shaw

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

A Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe

Miss Primrose and the March of Progress by Carola Dunn

Mrs Jeffries Dusts For Clues by Emily Brightwell

Dancing in the Moonlight by Christina Jones

Started:

More Fool Me by Stephen Fry

Night Watch by Sarah Waters

The Path of the Crooked by Ellery Adams

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Four books bought – a second copy of The Bride by Julie Garwood to replace the one that wasn’t the right book and three early Christina Jones novels that were on offer.  Not a bad week really if it wasn’t for the pile of NetGalley requests…

Book News, books

Upcoming Excitement

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Now seemed like a really good chance to mention a few books that I’m really excited to read over the next few months.  And also if I tell you that I’m going to read them over the next few months, then I might actually manage to do it!

Firstly, out this week just finishing, Laurie Graham’s The Grand Duchess of Nowhere.  I love Laurie Graham’s books – as I may have mentioned before, Gone with The Windsors is one of my all time favourites, so I’m always excited to read something new from her.  Grand Duchess has just come out in hardback, so it may well go on my Christmas book list if I don’t manage to resist snapping it up before then!

Coming out in November is the latest book from Marian Keyes.   I’m expecting The Woman Who Stole My Life to be one of the big books this Christmas and I’m excited to see what Marian has come up with this time.  She’s one of my favourite authors on Twitter (so funny) and her books are always the right balance of funny, sad and thought provoking.

Also on my watchlist is Mhairi McFarlane’s It’s Not Me, It’s You – which is out the same day as the Marian Keyes.  The blurb for this is totally up my street – a quest for the heroine’s real self with dodgy jobs, weird bosses and handsome journalists. Sounds perfect and I’m really looking forward to it.

Now there are a whole bunch of other books that are coming out soon that I’m hoping to read too – but they’re all themed around a major festival that happens in December and I refuse to start talking about that this early.  Having worked in a shop through sixth form and university I have developed an aversion to the countdown to that particular event starting too early.  But rest assured, I will be posting about books suitable for reading at that time of year in enough time for you to get them on your gift lists or to stock up for reading in front of roaring fires whilst you eat seasonally appropriate food stuffs.  Just not in early October. I can’t do it.

 

books, stats

September Stats

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On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 406

New books* read in September: 27

Books from the Library Book pile: 0

Books from the to-read pile: 11

E-books: 11

Books read as soon as they arrived: 3

Most read author in September: Charlaine Harris

Books* read this year: 184

Books bought: 12

Books acquired: 6

Ebooks acquired: 7 Netgalley 1 free ebook, 3 free ebook short stories

Net progress down the physical to read pile: -1

Two isolated nightshifts – one expected (for Scottish Referendum results) and one less so – played havoc with my willpower and organisation of what I should’ve been reading when.  Also the rash of NetGalley requests I put in during August’s nightshifts gave me a lot of upcoming releases which jumped to the top of the list in case I was going to review them. In short, a distinct lack of progress down the pile.

* Total includes some short stories (3 this month)

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: September 22 – September 28

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Read:

Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger

Shakespeare’s Landlord by Charlaine Harris

The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry

Started:

Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton

Unbefitting a Lady by Bronwyn Scott

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

stats, The pile, week in books

The Week In Books: September 15 – September 21

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Not a bad week really – a few of last week’s books finished, a few more read despite the nightshift for the referendum results.

Read:

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

A Piece of Cake by Trisha Ashley (short story)

The Luxe by Anna Godberson

Fools Gold by Philippa Gregory

A Knight In Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux

Started:

44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

I ordered a couple of books this week – but the good news for the pile is that my purchasing orgy of the other week was decreed “undeliverable” by the courier and returned to sender (don’t get me started, I get very ranty about this), the bad news is that I’ve re-ordered some them and then some more…

books, Chick lit, Classics, cozy crime, Thriller

Scottish-set books

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In honour of the referendum today (I’m very excited as I’m working on the coverage overnight – but think of my poor partner having to put up with my moodiness afterwards) I thought I’d put together some of my favourite Scottish set books.

We’ll start with a classic of its genre – The 39 Steps – which you can get for Free on your Kindle. If you haven’t read this adventure caper – where Richard Hannay attempts to escape spies – you really should.  It’s a bit like an Indiana Jones film but a book, set pre-World War One and in Scotland rather than than somewhere more exotic.  Definitely worth a look – and the play version in London is a hoot (if not at all the same feel!).

Moving on to cozy crime and M C Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth series.  There are 30 novels about the perpetually single-but-romantic-yet-indecisive policeman and his flock in the village of Loch Dubh.  You don’t need to start at the beginning with Death of a Gossip (although it helps with keeping track of Hamish’s romantic entanglements) and they’re all fun (if increasingly formulaic) detective capers as murders crop up in lazy Hamish’s vicinity.

Falling in love with a Highlander (or being thrown together with one) is a popular theme historical romance.  It is, however, one that I struggle with.  I don’t know why, but they give me the giggles and the internal cringes if you know what I mean.  The men tend to be particularly thick headed and the women a bit shrill and irritating.  But then I haven’t read that many of them – I’m sure there are many excellent examples (leave your suggestions in the comments!) – as even reading the blurbs for some of them makes me embarrassed to read historical fiction.  So I’m offering you one recommendation – Julia Quinn’s When He Was Wicked – which to my memory includes no kilts, caber tossing or haggis, just a Scottish earl, who is in love with his cousin’s widow.  This was one of the very earliest of Quinn’s books that I read, and it is still one of my favourites.  A good blend of old school romance in the style of Georgette Heyer and the sexy bits that you never got from her!

And for a modern Scottish set romance, I give you Katie Fforde’s Highland Fling – about Virtual Assistant Jenny Porter who goes on a business trip to assess a failing Highland textile mill after a fight with her boyfriend.  Jenny manages to get thoroughly wrapped up in the village life – as her personal life gets more and more complicated.  A lovely read for a cold night in front of the fire – and yes, I know it’s not winter yet, but it’s definitely coat weather at the station at 4.15 in the morning now, so I’m including it!

It wouldn’t be a list from me if I didn’t get a bit of Lord Peter Wimsey into it, so I have to mention Five Red Herrings – which is the novel between Strong Poison and Have His Carcase and sees Peter on holiday to Scotland (one suspects to escape after the stress of the Vane case) and stumbles across a murder.  Its a complicated tale, involving artists and train timetables amongst many things – and if you’ve read Busman’s Honeymoon (I think, it’s a Harriet novel anyway) the source of the quote about “a murderer eating two breakfasts to lend verisimilitude to an otherwise unconvincing narrative.”

So there you are – some Scottish themed reading to add to your list.  On my list of Scottish-set books to read are: Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series (the first is Cross Stitch) which several friends have recommended and has just been turned into a TV series and Alexander McCall Smith’s 44 Scotland Street.