I had a week off work. And this year we didn’t go on the usual January holiday, instead I’ve been up to Carlisle and back again and then mooched around the house and town for the rest of the week. But a four hour each way drive means you can’t read a book (if you’re driving, which I was) and quality time with the family is more important than reading. So this week’s list is heavy on the audiobooks and light on the new reads and finishing of long runners. But it was a lovely, lovely week.
Well it’s that time of year where the counters are reset and some of the audiobooks that I listen to more than once a year will appear on the lists again. And aside from that, I’m also trying to be better with the NetGalley reading than I was for some (most?) of last year. So still a bit behind on clearing the long runners, and of course I broke my own rules with last week’s BotW so we’ll see what I do about tomorrow on that front…
I finished the old year with possibly the last of the Christmas-themed reading (but who can tell) and started the new with lots of good resolutions about finishing the stuff on the long running list – and then forgot to take any of the physical copies of it up to the Frozen North with me. So one off the list, and a slow start to the year. But it was a busy week, and there was a lot of driving.
Lets start with the big news: I have finished my read across the US challenge for the year – a whole day and a half earlier than I did last year. What a result. For once I managed to get a bit of discipline together – and spend most of December working my way through the remaining states, rather than just the last 10 days… It does mean that I haven’t read all the Christmas books that I wanted to this year, but I’ve got two days left before New Year to sort that out. I should probably be trying to clear the long runners of the list though, but I think I’ve been disciplined enough for one month. It can be my New Year’s resolution…
Surprisingly, only one and it was a pre-order. Kindle Unlimited has been my friend in ticking off those last few states and my wallet thanks it for that!
Bonus picture: my second Christmas jigsaw…
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
I’m down to the last few states. It’s going to be close but I might just do it. Maybe. If I don’t get distracted. And it’s Christmas this week so chance of distractions is high. We will see. And as it’s Christmas I’m taking a couple of days off this week – so the normal pattern of posts will resume next week.
Less than you might expect given the way I’m working my way through the final states. Two total – but only thanks to the sterling efforts of Kindle Unlimited.
Bonus picture: some Christmas graffiti from the park on Saturday
*next to a book book title indicates that it came from NetGalley. ** indicates it was an advance copy from a source other than NetGalley.
A fairly solid list, but the real achievement is that I got four more states ticked off the list as I once again attempt to read a book from every US state. Still a few tricky ones to do, but I’m getting there. And in the real world, it’s fully Christmas now – the tree is decorated, presents are bought (some even distributed) and as well as the trip to A Midsummer Night’s Dream this week, I also went to the kids Christmas show at the local theatre – which is the Jolly Christmas Postman and was excllent.
The end of the year continues to hurtle towards me, as I desperately scramble to tick off those final states for read the USA 2024 – four more off the list this week but there are still a few to do. But a doable number if I keep myself at it! A good week in reading though all in all. So that’s good.
A mega list this week because we’ve been on holiday. It was warm and sunny and there were plenty of comfortable places for me to read books. And there was a plane ride there and back to read on too. Generally most satisfactory. Less satisfactory is the situation with the various reading challenges, but I’m going to give them my best shot in the month that I’ve got left. I’m back at work tomorrow and I’ve got a theatre trip planned this week and it’s starting to get a bit Christmas-y so we’ll see how the list looks this time next week…
Autumn is new TV season, and the run up to Christmas (and THanksgiving in the US) is the big movie release season, so I thought this week I’d mention the books that are about to hit the screens of various sizes before the end of the year.
I’m starting with the one you’re most likely to have already seen a trailer for even before I put it here, and that’s Wicked. It’s based on the musical which is quite a long way away from Gregory Maguire’s novel, but as they’ve split it into two parts, it sounds like they have used more of the book material for the film – which makes sense because the second half of the musical is less obviously spectacular than the first and the most well known songs are in the first – including the iconic Defying Gravity which is the ending of the first half in the musical and has been so heavily featured in all the promotional material that it has to be in the first part!
Excitingly Interior Chinatown has a brand new trailer today – ahead of it’s release in the US in mid November. Charles Yu has adapted it himself from his novel, which is about an background character in a police procedural drama who longs to be the main character. It won a National Book award the year it came out and was nominated for a couple more prizes. I read it in 2020 and although it was not entirely my thing (as we know that’s not unusual for Award-winners) but I thought it was really clever, inventive and mind bending. It’s on the list of things I might be able to watch with Him Indoors. Or at least let him start watching it to see if I’ll be able to cope. I just need to get Disney+ again first!
Already out there in the US, but frustratingly still without a confirmed date in the UK is the Moonflower Murders. I did mention this the other week when I posted that there is going to be another book in the Atticus Pünd/Susan Ryeland series, but I don’t care, because I think these are so fun and clever and I’m looking forward to seeing how book two translates to the screen – I doubted Anthony Horowitz before the seeing the Magpie Murders and I’m not making that mistake again. I’m sort of expecting that this is going to be in the Christmas TV offerings, so I might still have two months to wait…
This one is a bit of a cheat on two fronts because it’s already out there *and* I haven’t read the book, but the trailer made me laugh so I’m going with it anywhere. I’ve read about half a dozen of Carl Hiassen’s books – but not Bad Monkey – and I am a little worried this is going to be a bit too violent for me on screen – the novels fall into the same sort of humours crime-thriller-adventure area as Stephanie Plum does, but with a lot more gore on the page. This one is on Apple TV+, which I hardly ever have, so it may be a while before I can set Him Indoors on it to check it for me.
And finally, this is the one that I have no clue how I would be able to watch as it’s a Hallmark Movie, but the book itself sounds intriguing: The Chicken Sisters. It’sabout two families feuding over whose restaurant serves the best fried chicken and two sisters who have ended up on opposite sites try to settle it by taking part in a TV cooking show. It’s at least partially set in Kansas too – so if I can get hold of a copy of that, it might help me with one of my harder to get states in the 50 states challenge…
It’s only right that the week after Book Conference, my book of the Week pick is a bonkers Girls Own boarding school story. So buckle up, this has got a lot of plot to get though…
I was going to say that I don’t know where to start on the plot, but I do: the start, because this opens on a twin arriving at Riverlea having run away from the boarding school she was attending after the parents decided they would be better apart from each other. And it only gets wilder from there. It’s got (not in order and not exhaustive) film stars, vindictive PE teachers, hidden talents, missing treasure, salvation through cricket, missing heirs, near drowning and a shipwreck. And those last are not at the same time. And it’s only just over 200 pages long.
Now I normally like my school stories a little saner – if by saner we mean the realistic (in comparison) boarding school in the Alps where you might get lost up a mountain that Elinor M Brent Dyer offers. But sometimes you just need something crazy. This was a great way to spend an evening and I thank my friend for letting me read it first.
I can’t even tell you where to get this – it’s long out of print and I’ve never seen it before – but I’m also not expecting many of you to want to read it because it’s niche. So niche. But also hilarious.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 