Tag: novels

A bumper week of reading – because of a bumper week of train trips!  Lots of good stuff in there, but a few frustrations too.  I’ve mostly been trying to work my way down my NetGalley backlog – and I’m pleased to report that my little yellow post-it notes in the front of my diary have a lot more things crossed off!

Read:

The Piano Man Project by Kat French

The Great Village Show by Alexandra Brown

The Spider in the Corner of the Room by Nikki Owen

Just The Way You Are by Lynsey James

Not Always A Saint by Mary-Jo Putney

Threads of Evidence by Lea Wait

What to Do with a Duke by Sally MacKenzie

Five Go Glamping by Liz Tipping

Hardwired by Meredith Wild

Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton

Started:

Killing Monica by Candace Bushnell

Still reading:

The Girl of My Dreams by Peter Davis

A Very Big House in the Country by Claire Sandy

I had a little lapse in the supermarket this week and picked up two ebooks that were on offer and recommended too.  Oops. Hey ho.

A couple of issues this week.  Firstly I got to 90 pages from the end of Paris wife in the early hours of Wednesday morning on my way home from work – and then it fell under my rule about not taking books with less than 100 pages to go to work with me* and so it sat unfinished til the weekend.  Then there was an issue with the Spider in the Corner of the Room – I can’t read it when it’s dark.  It’s too scary. So that’s not finished because I haven’t had enough daylight reading time.  This combining together meant at one point this week I had EIGHT books on the go at once.  Which is ridiculous even for me.  I think I’ve done well to get it down to four!

Read:

Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke

I Don’t Want To Talk About it by Jane Lovering

Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome**

In The Drink by Allyson K Abbott

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

Wolf Bride by Elizabeth Moss

Started:

The Spider in the Corner of the Room by Nikki Owen

The Piano Man Project by Kat French

Still reading:

The Girl of My Dreams by Peter Davis

A Very Big House in the Country by Claire Sandy

A couple of books bought this week – so a bit of backsliding, but in my defence, they were bridging a gap in a series (I’ve read books 1 and 2, and have book 5 but can’t read it till I bought the ones in between) so really the purchase is helping reduce the pile.  That’s my story anyway, and I’m sticking to it!

* Because I finish them before I’ve finished the train to work and then have to carry around dead weight for the rest of the day.

** Yes, I’ve read this before, but I haven’t reread it in a decade, and it wasn’t on my goodreads list. And I read it properly as part of Novelicious’s Nostalgic Summer Reread.

A very good week’s reading – both in quantity and quality.  Some truly excellent stuff in there – the highlights of the week were two crime novels – one for Children by Robin Stevens (which I recommended in my Summer Reads post) and the other, well you can find out tomorrow!

Read:

The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams

Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier

The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George

The Rules of Seduction by Jenna Mullins

The Cherry Tree Cafe by Heidi Swain

First Class Murder by Robin Stevens

Bound to Be A Groom by Megan Mulry

Death of An Airman by Christopher St John Sprigg

Started:

A Very Big House in the Country by Claire Sandy

Wolf Bride by Elizabeth Moss

Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France by Stephen Clarke

Still reading:

The Girl of My Dreams by Peter Davis

So a lot of train journeys at the start of the week (to and from work) means that the to read pile on the Kindle is shrinking – and I’ve been valiantly resisting the urge to request more books from NetGalley after writing out my August Post-It note of NetGalley books and realising I got a bit carried away.  I also got a bit carried away late at night the other day – and ordered four actual books.  And I might have bought a few e-books too.  Backsliding again…

A real mix of reading this week – classic crime, non fiction, women’s fiction, cozy crime.  I’m struggling a bit with Little Paris Book Shop (as you may have guessed by now), but I’m loathe to give up on it as I’ve heard good reports from elsewhere.

Read:

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Wickham Hall Part 1: Hidden Treasures by Cathy Bramley

A Deceptive Homecoming by Anna Loan-Wilsey

The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

Drape Expectations by Karen Rose Smith

From Pasta to Pigfoot by Frances Mensah Williams

Started:

The Notting Hill Mystery by Charles Warren Adams

Still reading:

The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George

The Girl of My Dreams by Peter Davis

A bit of an ebook spree this week – 5 bought.  But no actual books.

I’ve admitted defeat this week on The Weightless World.  It’s been lingering for more than a month – and it didn’t grab me.  I shall hold on to my copy and maybe try and come at it again at a later date.  Just not for me at the moment.  The Boy rattled through The Year of Living Danishly this week – and spent so much time chuckling over it that I’m going to have to read it soon to see what he was laughing at.  I had six days off work this week (!) and there seems to be a correlation between train journeys and amount read.  I’m working a lot this week – so we can put this theory to the test! As I was at home, most of my reading this week was actual books from the pile – so that’s progress of a sort at any rate!

Read:

The Other Daughter by Lauren Willig

A Woman of Consequence by Anna Dean

Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

Bricks and Mortar by Ann Granger

Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn

Started:

The Girl of My Dreams by Peter Davis

The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah

Still reading:

The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George

I *may* have bought a couple of e-books this week, but I nobly resisted the urge to buy actual books – despite a trip to the supermarket and to the charity shop.

Not massive amounts read this week – family wedding, jobs to do etc – but I enjoyed what I did read, which was a little murder mystery heavy…

Read:

Wallis: My War by Kate Auspitz (I say read, it was actually an audiobook)

The Cake Shop in the Garden by Carole Matthews

Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

Dead Water by Ngaio Marsh

Death at the Dolphin by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

n/a

Still reading:

The Weightless World by Marcus Trevelyan

The Little Paris Book Shop by Nina George

Only one kindle book bought this week – I’m trying to behave myself.

A better week of reading – although there’s a fair few novellas in there.  I’ve had a blast reading stuff this week though and having reorganised the to-read bookshelf I’m feeling reinvigorated in my quest to get the backlog down…

Read:

The Wedding Reject Table by Angela Britnell

How to Manage your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx by Jerry Toner

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Wellies and Westies by Cressida McLaughlin

Sunshine and Spaniels by Cressida McLaughlin

The Great Allotment Proposal by Jenny Oliver

One Summer Night at the Ritz by Jenny Oliver

The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

Started:

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

Still reading:

The Weightless World by Marcus Trevelyan

A bit naughty on the purchase front – 4 novellas and two ebooks – and I preordered the new Harper Lee book because I couldn’t restrain myself.  I’m seriously debating just returning it after reading the early reviews.  I don’t think I can bear it.

Home improvement works have disrupted my reading schedule this week!  Lots of packing up and cleaning to do and no time for books, but I’m sure the new windows will be worth it when they’re done.

Read:

The Chateau on the Lake by Charlotte Betts

Mr Rosenblum’s List by Natasha Solomons

The Rhyme of the Magpie by Marty Wingate

Fire Colour One by Jenny Valentine

Started:

How to Manage your Slaves by Marcus Sidonius Falx by Jerry Toner

The Weightless World by Marcus Trevelyan

Still reading:

The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

A little bit of backsliding on the purchase front this week – three books – after prices dropped on a couple of things I’ve been hankering after. But I did have a bit of a cull of the physical pile as I was packing everything away for the window fitters so the pile has actually shrunk really!

This week I was on holiday – as in out of the country, on a beach sunning myself – for six days – so I had plenty  of time to do some reading – although we did do some sightseeing too, so it wasn’t entirely a reading-on-a-sunlounger kind of holiday.  It does mean that you’ll be getting a holiday reading suggestion post in the next little while too!

Read:

Three Times the Scandal by Madelynne Ellis

The Mangle Street Murders by M R C Kasasian

Murder at Beechwood by Alyssa Maxwell

The Vintage Guide to Love and Romance by Kirsty Greenwood

The Norma Gene by M E Roufa

The Art of Sinning by Sabrina Jeffries

The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett

The Doris Day Vintage Film Club by Fiona Harper

The Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh

Started:

The Day We Disappeared by Lucy Robinson

The Rhyme of the Magpie by Marty Wingate

Still reading:

Mr Rosenblum’s List by Natasha Solomons (which I started last week and accidentally left off the list in my pre-holiday excitement)

The Chateau on the Lake by Charlotte Betts

No books bought!