Verity Reads Books (lots of them)
In which our heroine attempts to tame the to-read pile
New books read this month: 35*
Books from the to-read pile: 15
Ebooks read: 17
Books from the Library book pile: 1
Non-fiction books: 1
Most read author: Lorna Hill
Books read this year: 146
Books bought: None (except travel guides which don’t count)
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 452 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)
*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (1 this month)
This week started quite slowly – but ratcheted up at the end as I finished some books that had been on the go for a while (because they were hardbacks not because they weren’t any good).
Read:
Act Like It by Lucy Parker
It Had To Be You by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Dead is Better by Jo Perry
Lucia in London by E F Benson
Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes
Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Started:
The Long View by Elizabeth Jane Howard
Bury Her Deep by Catriona McPherson
Still reading:
n/a
And I didn’t buy any books either. Go me. I’d be impressed with myself, except that I’m fairly sure it’s not going to last.
Another positive week in reading – I’m practically up to date with NetGalley – and I’m continuing to work my way through the to-read bookshelf before I refill from the pile…
Read:
The Locked Room Mystery mystery by Jasper Fforde
Rock-a-Bye Bones by Carolyn Haines
Death at a Fixer-Upper by Sarah Hobart
A Useful Woman by Darcie Wilde
Miss Mapp by E F Benson
Death of Nobody by Derek Farrell
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Philips
Started:
I finished everything I started!
Still reading:
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes
The only books I bought this week were travel guides for holiday planning. I’m almost impressed with myself…
Quite a quiet week in reading this week – lots going on in the real world and a busy time at work as well. You’ll notice I went on a Lorna Hill kick – they were part of that big second-hand/collectable order that I put in with my favourite book dealers a few months back and have been sitting on the side of the to-read bookshelf – so came to the top of the pile as part of my clear-the-bookshelf-so-I-can-refill-it kick. I think I had read Swan Feather before – but a very long time ago and some of the time line in the Wells books overlaps a lot, so it’s hard to be sure when it was so long ago (20 years I think) so I’m counting it! The Sali Hughes – which I’ve been dipping in an out of on an as-and-when basis for about 9 months – joins the in progress pile because I’ve started reading it from cover to cover…
Read:
Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch
Northbridge Rectory by Angela Thirkell
Principal Role by Lorna Hill
Swan Feather by Lorna Hill
Back Stage by Lorna Hill
Night Shift by Charlaine Harris
Started:
Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes
Still reading:
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
I continue to exert my willpower to the max – and haven’t ordered any books. One of the secondhand books I ordered a few weeks back arrived from America this week (the next Charles and Melanie/Malcolm and Suzanne book) so I’m still feeling like things are arriving which is nice. I’m also trying to be very good with the NetGalley requests too – I’m nearly up to date and want to keep it that way!
A very profitable week’s reading. My quest to empty the to-read bookshelf continues – as does the 50 page challenge (if I’m not enjoying it/interested by it by page 50, I give it up). At current rate of progress I’ll be replenishing the bookshelf in no time!
Read:
The Dressmaker by Rosalie Ham
Mystery and Mayhem by Katherine Woodfine, Robin Stevens et al
Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
Reining in Murder by Leigh Hearon
A Muddied Murder by Wendy Tyson
Miss Buncle Married by D E Stevenson
Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch et al
The Song Collector by Natasha Solomons
Death and the Lit Chick by GM Malliet
Started:
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Still reading:
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
And I didn’t buy any books either. Total result. I’m almost proud of myself. I would be if it wasn’t for the huge pile of books nestling behind my sofa arm!
A bit of an action-adventure-mystery-y week – with a time-travelling romp, a spy romp and cozy crimes among the reading matter. And a bit of YA. And some romance. I need to get my non-fiction reading hat on again though as I’ve been a bit lax in that direction.
Read:
A Symphony of Echos by Jodi Taylor
Read It and Weep by Jenn McKinlay
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
This One is Mine by Maria Semple
Sugar and Iced by Jenn McKinley
Her Only Desire by Gaelen Foley
The Mask of Night by Tracy Grant
Started:
The Song Collector by Natasha Solomons
Still reading:
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
One actual book and a couple of ebooks (all sequels) purchased – and I’ve gone on a big kick of picking my next “real” book off the shelf – not the piles and leaving the gaps so I can see progress. Then I can refill from the pile at an appropriate point and make the pile go down, rather than constant replenishment of the shelf, which leads me to keep adding to the piles. We’ll see how long that lasts…
New books read this month: 27*
Books from the to-read pile: 12
Ebooks read: 7
Books from the Library book pile: 1
Non-fiction books: 0
Most read author: Jodi Taylor, Jenn McKinlay and Phyllis Matthewman (2 each)
Books read this year: 84
Books bought: 16 (!)
Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf: 464 (I don’t have copies of all of these!)
That shopping spree at Alnwick and some celebratory buying when I got a secondment allied with a bit of series glomming to make a Naughty Month for book buying. And no non-fiction either – although I am still working my way through Lena Dunham, so it’s not like I’ve read nothing but fiction really…
*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics (although none this month)
I would have read more this week, except for the fact that I acquired a new-to-me copy of one of my favourite books of all time – Gone with the Windsors by Laurie Graham – and couldn’t resist re-reading it. This of course cut into my time for reading new books and doesn’t count towards my total for the year – or my list here. Still it’s so funny and so good I don’t mind!
Read:
The Queerness of Rusty by Phyllis Matthewman
Beneath a Silent Moon by Tracy Grant
Good Dukes Wear Black by Manda Collins
Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor
Mug Shot by Caroline Fardig
Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin
Started:
Read It and Weep by Jenn McKinlay
Still reading:
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
Five books (including that copy of Gone with the Windsors) and two ebooks bought. Oops
This week’s BotW is Lyndsay Faye’s Jane Steele, which is billed as a gothic retelling of Jane Eyre, but is a bit more loosely related to Bronte’s book than that might suggest. I heard a lot of buzz about this before it’s release – Deanna Raybourn wrote about it in her newsletter and some of the book podcasts I listen to talked about it too, so when I spotted it on NetGalley I was already intrigued enough to request it.
Jane Steele’s favourite book is – and her life has some parallels with Charlotte Bronte’s heroine – she’s orphaned, she’s sent to boarding school, she becomes a governess and is attracted to her employer. But there’s a key difference – Ms Steele has a bit of a murderous streak. This Jane has a few more trials in her life than Bronte’s – but she’s not going to take them lying down.
Despite her killings, Jane is an attractive and appealing heroine with reasons (mostly) for acting as she does. I was concerned before I read this and early on in the book that I wouldn’t be able to get past the fact that she was killing people, but it really wasn’t an issue. Jane’s actions are (mostly) quite understandable – and not without consequences for her. She’s fairly self-aware – although the reader suspects she’s not as well informed about some things as she thinks she is – and chafes at the restrictions and limitations places on her by Victorian society. She’s smarter than most of the men around her during the first half of the book and it’s interesting and entertaining watching her work out how she can extricate herself from the situations she is forced into.
Considering I read Jane Eyre for the one and only time when I was about 9 and – whisper it quietly – have never read Wuthering Heights*, I seem to have read a lot (proportionally) with Bronte re-tellings or influenced books (and I have The Madwoman Upstairs sitting on the to-read pile so it’s not over yet!). And while I didn’t love this the way I love Jasper Fforde’s The Eyre Affair** it is really good fun. I liked the portion of the book before Jane arrives back at Thornfield the best – possibly because it’s quite hard to keep up the fast-paced, wise-cracking action when you introduce a love interest and try to work out a resolution where the problem of your heroine being a murderess isn’t an issue!
Not quite as brilliant as you expect from the first 50 pages, but nonetheless pretty darn good, Jane Steele is out in the UK in what I suspect from the price is the giant airport sized paperback and in the US in hardback. A cheaper (smaller?) paperback edition is due in the UK in November Get your copy from Amazon, Waterstones, Foyles, Kindle or Kobo.
* I do know what happens though.
** But Thursday Next is a very high bar and has a lot more going on than just Jane Eyre.
Look at my progress with the longstanding books in progress! And I read more besides. Thank you minibreak and days off work.
Read:
Dandy Gilver and a Deadly Measure of Brimstone
Jane Steel by Lyndsay Faye
The House at Baker Street by Michelle Birkby
Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams
Inspector of the Dead by David Morrell
Freya by Anthony Quinn
Chloe Takes Control by Phyllis Matthewman
Started:
Maybe the Moon by Armistead Maupin
The Queerness of Rusty by Phyllis Matthewman
Still reading:
Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
I bought books this week – but that’s because we went to Northumberland for a few days – and that meant a trip to the cavern of amazingness that is Barter Books in Alnwick. Ninety minutes later and I’ve got a basket of books that I’ve been after for a while – although a couple were for friends. So much fun.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 