Tag: reading

Lots of stuff started, not as much stuff finished this week – mostly because I was at the theatre four evenings! I felt like a bit of a gadabout – but it was fabulous.

Read:

Shakespeare’s Trollop by Charlaine Harris

Shakespeare’s Counsellor by Charlaine Harris

Bad Bridesmaid by Portia MacIntosh

The Brandons by Angela Thirkell

Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh

Started:

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne

The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

The bright side is that whilst I haven’t read a lot, I haven’t bought anything either after last week’s orgy of purchasing!

There’s a couple of short stories on the list this week, which make it look longer than it should.  I spent Monday to Wednesday recovering from nightshifts (which finished at 6 on Monday morning) and catching up on housework so the reading got a bit left behind – though the slow trains home from my four late shifts at the end of the week helped redress the balance!

Read:

The Empress Chronicles by Suzy Vitello

Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell

No Weddings by Kat Bastion with Stone Bastion

Storm in a Tea Shoppe by Carola Dunn

An Unhappy Medium by Carola Dunn

The Lady’s Disgrace by Callie Hutton

Love Me or Leave Me by Claudia Carroll

Who Needs Mr Darcy by Jean Burnett

Started:

The Brandons by Angela Thirkell

Shakespeare’s Trollop by Charlaine Harris

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

I think we should skim over the number of books bought this week (6) as the arrival of parcels from previous weeks and from a publisher or two has already disturbed The Boy’s belief in my ability to reduce the pile.  Still this week I’ve got much closer to up to date on my NetGalley backlog.  Swings, may I introduce you to Roundabout.

Hopefully I’ll be asleep in bed when this posts recovering from round 2 of nightshift hell.  Again, lots of nice light reading, with a side order in some of my NetGalley books.

Read:

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

High Heels and Bicycle Wheels by Jane Linfoot

A Difficult Term for the Chalet School by Lisa Townsend

A Place for Us (Part 2) by Harriet Evans

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

The Secret Paris Cinema Club by Nicolas Barreau

The Lost Staircase by Elinor M Brent Dyer

Started:

The Empress Chronicles by Suzy Vitello

Pomfret Towers by Angela Thirkell

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

I’ve bought two books this week – the next Meg Langslow as a treat for finishing nights and a “classic” American romance novel (of the Harlequin/Mills and Boon persuasion) for a book group.

Two pieces of housekeeping, firstly, because the start of the month falls on a Monday this time, August stats are going to be posted tomorrow.  Stay tuned to see if I’ve done any damage to the to read pile.  Secondly, I’ve got a rash of new release books that I’m going to review, so the posting schedule (Mondays, Wednesdays Saturdays) may be a little out of whack the next few weeks and there may be some more extra posts – because I do try to post reviews as close to the book’s release date as possible (I get very frustrated when I read reviews of books that I can’t buy yet, so I try not to do that to you!).

Nightshift hell.  You’ll notice a proliferation of childrens/YA books and Golden Age crime and comedy.  I managed a hundred or so pages of Elizabeth Gilbert on the way to my nightshift on Tuesday, but my brain was having trouble computing it, although I am enjoying it.

Read:

Not Quite a Wife by Mary Jo Putney

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh

Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens

Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh

Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

The Unfinished Symphony of You and Me by Lucy Robinson

Summer Half by Angela Thirkell

The Summer of Love by Sophie Pembroke

Started:

Dead Ever After by Charlaine Harris

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Two books bought* – and a copy of the Secret Paris Cinema Club arrived for me from the lovely people at Quercus, so one book acquired too…

*And a couple of Chalet School ones which don’t count.

Nightshifts start today (Monday) so I spent this week concentrating on reading a couple of books that I have ahead of their release so that I can write reviews on them.  I’m not good at reading anything complex on Nightshifts (see my post about Nightshift reading matter here) and they run right up until the books come out, so I couldn’t guarantee that I’d manage to read them during the nights.  Plus I really wanted to read them!

Read:

The Mysterious Affair at Castaway House by Stephanie Lam

The Fortune Hunter by Daisy Goodwin

Pastors’ Wives by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen

Beyond Seduction by Stephanie Laurens

August Folly by Angela Thirkell

Started:

Not Quite a Wife by Mary Jo Putney

Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio Marsh

Still reading:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

I bought three books and a cook book this week.  Managed to resist the lure of a second-hand book stall at a fair today – and am still valiantly resisting the urge to buy myself the next Meg Langslow book – perhaps I’ll treat myself at the end of nightshifts!

As you’ll have seen from Friday’s post, I’ve given up on Titus Groan so that has gone from the list.  And I feel relieved.  Considering Flappers is 500 pages (and worth it) I don’t think I’ve done too badly this week.

Read:

Deception by M C Beaton

Flappers by Judith Mackrell

Mrs Sinclair’s Suitcase by Louise Walters

A Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Hay

Started:

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

Beyond Seduction by Stephanie Laurens

Still reading:

 n/a

Only one free Kindle book acquired this week – and the rest of my last orders all turned up too.  I’m trying not to buy books because I know that I’ve got nightshifts coming up and they make me susceptible to buying stuff and I already have way too many books – even my sister told me the pile is out of control today!

A much more productive week than I was expecting – and some really good books in there – check out the reviews of American Blonde and The Storms of War.  It’s also been a very early Twentieth Century week – Flambards in the pre-Great War period, The Storms of War covering 1914-18, Laura Lamont starting in the 1920s and going through to the 1970s and American Blonde set in the 1940s! And that’s before you get to the fact that I’ve started Flappers  I also really enjoyed the Donna Andrews, the Meg Langslow series continues to provide me with a lot of laughs and it was great to fill in a gap in my Christina Jones back catalogue with Tickled Pink.

Read:

American Blonde by Jennifer Niven

Tickled Pink by Christina Jones

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much by Donna Andrews

Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub

The Storms of War by Kate Williams

Flambards by K M Peyton

Started:

Deception by M C Beaton

Flappers by Judith Mackrell

A Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

Still reading:

The Beach Hut Next Door by Veronica Henry

Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake

No books bought this week – so that’s progress of a sort.  Still, not all of last week’s splurge have arrived yet…