Late night train journies really help with the book reading, but I need to sort out this habit of mine of starting big thick books that are too chunky to take in my handbag to work! I also read a couple of single issue comics, but they don’t have Goodreads entries, which I guess means I can’t count them!
Read:
Sisters on Bread Street by Frances Brody
The Little Shop of Happily Ever After by Jenny Colgan
The Incredible Adventures of Cinnamon Girl by Melissa Keil
The Murder Quadrille by Fidelis Morgan
Lumberjanes Vol. 2: Friendship to the Max by Noelle Stevenson
The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow by Katherine Woodfine
Started:
The Stylist by Rosie Nixon
The Prince’s Boy by Paul Bailey
Still reading:
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Villa America by Liza Klaussman
My headphones broke midweek and in ordering new ones, I may have bought 5 second hand books to get me free delivery on them. I would have been buying then at some point anyway…
A much more “normal” (for me) week. Lots of good stuff here – new stuff from authors I like, a new author or two and a wide range of stuff – historical fiction, contemporary women’s, detective, childrens, started some fantasy etc.
Read:
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaranovich
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
All Aboard (Canal Boat Cafe Part 1) by Cressida McLaughlin
The Glittering Art of Falling Apart by Ilana Fox
The Case of the Blue Violet (A Wells and Wong short) by Robin Stevens
Secrets of a Lady by Tracy Grant
Dangerous to Know by Tasha Alexander
Started:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Villa America by Liza Klaussman
Still reading:
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
Sisters on Bread Street by Frances Brody
Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes
I don’t think I ought to talk about the acquisitions this week – a couple of orders with book dealers have come through and I got more than I was hoping for/expecting. Mostly children’s books, and some are books I read as a child and wanted a copy of, so they kind of don’t count, right? It did make me restrain myself from a few other purchases though. Long may the will power continue. Not that this week is a demonstration of will power at all really!
At the start of January (in December stats in fact) I promised you a more in depth look at my reading and rating patterns. And then I forgot about it until I was doing January stats. So I’m rectifying that now!
I noticed when I was putting together the December stats that the number of 5 star ratings I give out has been creeping up at a rate that’s disproportionate to the increase in books that I’ve read. And it led me to wonder why. Am I getting less fussy/discerning? Am I just picking amazing books to read?
The answer is a bit of both I think, but mostly the latter. I think I have, on occasion, reached for the 5 star rating too often. But I have also discovered new authors that I love and then whistled my way through their back catalogues at a rate of knots, instead of at a rate of a book a year (or however often they bring out a new book). I’ve also got a lot better at decoding back covers and reviews and working out what I’m going to enjoy and skipping over the stuff that I won’t. Then there’s my large to-read pile, loaded with books that I’ve heard good things about, from sources that I trust. And the pile also means that I can ignore stuff I’m not sure about (for ages) and go straight to the good stuff!
So what am I going to do about it? I’m going to try and have an extra cogitate before I rate books in Goodreads and try not to reach for 5 too often. But beyond that, all I can do is rate honestly and continue to work my way down the pile. And I’d always rather read a book I love than one I detest (who doesn’t) so all I can do is be honest and explain my choices.
Another strange week for me. I’m not entirely sure why, but long days and commuter trains may again have something to do with my inability to settle down to a book as well as usual. In the traditional one post two days late or two posts a day late each, the latter option has won – and January Stats will be tomorrow with Book of the Week on Wednesday.
Read:
My American Duchess by Eloisa James
Freeze my Margarita by Lauren Henderson
Bettany’s on the Home Front by Helen Barber
The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern
Rivers of London: Body Work 1 by Ben Aaronovich, Andrew Cartmel and Lee Sullivan
Mystery of the Skeleton Key by Bernard Capes
Started:
The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin
Whispers Underground by Ben Aaranovich
Still reading:
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
Sisters on Bread Street by Frances Brody
Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes
One e-book comic bought – and a pre-ordered novella arrived. I’m still clutching my book tokens and trying to resist the urge to spend!
A fit of indecision and some standing only train journeys are to blame for the somewhat shorter than usual list. I’ve started a few good books though and adopted a short stories by the bed policy. I’ll keep you posted!
Read:
London Rain by Nicola Upson
Death with an Ocean View by Nora Charles
Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury
Queen Lucia by E F Benson
Started:
Sisters on Bread Street by Frances Brody
The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern
Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes
My American Duchess by Eloisa James
Still reading:
Freeze my Margarita by Lauren Henderson
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
I don’t think I bought any books this week – but I did get a book token as a belated gift, so a spree may be imminent!
So, it was my birthday last week and we went to Barcelona to celebrate for a few days. Thus there was reading time on flights, in departure lounges, late at night etc. So a fun week’s reading.
Read:
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
The Girl from the Opera House by Nancy Carson
Geek Drama by Holly Smale
Far in the Wilds by Deanna Raybourn
Black Rubber Dress by Lauren Henderson
The Astonishing Return of Norah Wells by Virginia MacGregor
Charlotte Bronte’s Secret Lover by Jolien Janzing
Stars over Sunset Boulevard by Susan Meissner
Lady of Devices by Shelley Adina
Started:
Death with an Ocean View by Nora Charles
Freeze my Margarita by Lauren Henderson
Still reading:
Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
Queen Lucia by E F Benson
I did have a bit of a spending spree on books though (twice) but it’s my birthday so I’m allowed – right?!
So, a difficult choice for BotW this week – I finished the latest Laurie Graham last week and really enjoyed it – but I also read Lucy Ribchester’s Hourglass Factory and enjoyed that too. So in the end, I’ve picked The Hourglass Factory for BotW and decided to do an Authors I Love post on Laurie G instead, which’ll be coming up in a few weeks. So more for you to read. Bonus.
Some of my best photos are taken on the train. No idea why.
In The Hourglass Factory, tom-boy reporter Frankie George is trying to make waves in Fleet Street, but all she’s getting are the women’s interest stories an the gossip columns. When she gets assigned to write a profile of trapeze-artist-turned-suffragette Ebony Diamond she gets short shrift. But then Ebony disappears and Frankie finds herself drawn into a world of corsets, circuses, tricks and suffragettes. Where has Ebony gone? What is going on with the suffragettes? And will anyone listen to Frankie if she finds out?
This has been sitting on my shelf for aaaaaages (what’s new) and I kept meaning to read it. Then I saw it recommended by another blogger (Agi’s onmybookshelf) as one of her books of the year of 2015 – alongside several other books that I had read and liked and it gave me the push that I needed.
I really enjoyed this. I haven’t studied the women’s suffrage movement in Britain in much depth – apart from as part of my history GCSE – so I knew the basics, but I don’t think you’d have too much trouble if you knew even less. Lucy Ribchester paints a vivid picture of 1912. Post-Edwardian London springs to life – all dark corners, imminent peril, seedy clubs, variety acts, cuthroats, suffragettes and jails. Some passages were tough going – early 20th century jails were not nice places to get stuck in – but it was totally worth it. This is quite a long read (500 pages) but it is pacy, exciting and thrilling – you don’t notice the pages going by. So good. And another cautionary tale about letting books sit on the shelf.
Not a huge list this week – but The Hourglass Factory is 500 pages long – and it’s worth it. Busy week at work too and quick trains both ways several days (often on the way home in rush hour too) reducing the reading time.
Read:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
The Night in Question by Laurie Graham
The Hourglass Factory by Lucy Ribchester
The Chalet School and Rosalie by Elinor M Brent Dyer
The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
Started:
My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick
The Edge of the Fall by Kate Williams
Queen Lucia by E F Benson
Still reading:
Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury
One short story pre-ordered – but I don’t think I’ve actually bought a book so far this year (the Deanna Raybourn spree was before New Year). I’m sure that will change though…
Welcome to the first Book of the Week post of 2016! I really enjoyed writing these last year – and find that having to pick a favourite book each week really helps to focus the mind – not just about what I like and don’t like about books, but also about what I chose to read from the pile. It doesn’t stop the bingeing on one author, but it does mean I try to add some variety in – after all a BotW from the same author each week would get very dull very quickly. And speaking of binge-reading, there’ll be a post coming up at the weekend about the Pink Carnation series – which is one of the reasons why one of the three Lauren Willigs I read last week isn’t occupying this spot now!
So, Bleakly Hall. This has been on the pile for over 2 years (!) – and had been on my radar for some time before that. I think it’s another that was mentioned in the Emerald Street book section (where I’ve found several really interesting books) which I then added to my Amazon pile to wait for the price to come down (although in the end it came from Waterstones who must’ve been doing a deal judging by the prices) which is what happens to a lot of books. Anyway, you all know about the state of my to-read pile and the less said about it the better.
This is my best attempt at artistic. I polished the wood specially.
Bleakly Hall is a hydroprathic spa, populated by a cast of misfits and damaged people after the Great War. New nurse Monty has taken a job there because she has a score to settle with Captain Foxley. The Captain is there because he served with one of the two brothers who own it. The other brother came back from the war minus his legs and now has a matrimonial problem on his hands. Ada worked with Monty during the war – and misses the purpose and status it gave her. The residents are elderly, thin on the ground and not conducive to a health bank balance for the owners. And then there’s the ominous noises from the pipes…
I read a lot of books set in and around the First World War as part of my A-Level English literature and the period has continued to fascinate me in the intervening years (no, I’m not telling you how many years) and so this book was right up my street. I’m particularly fascinated with the aftermath of the war* and how it affected people so I found the characters in this fascinating. And they are a bit of a microcosm of post-war society – people want nothing to have changed, people for whom everything has changed, others for whom everything has changed, but in a different way and then those who would quite like the war back in some ways.
This is quite black in places – there are moments that will make you laugh and then there are moments of horror. The spa is damp and run down and there’s comedy in the treatments and quackery provided and then there are the flashbacks to Belgium and the carnage of the trenches. The two are nicely balanced – and sometimes you realise you are still chuckling over the latest antics at the spa but you’re in the trenches and really shouldn’t be laughing.
I enjoyed (if you can call it that) Bleakly Hall – and got a lot out of it. If you’ve read the usual Great War suspects – like Goodbye to All that, Regeneration, Testament of Youth etc – then this might be a good place to go next. It’s available on Kindle, at Amazon (where there are some good second-hand prices), Waterstones and Foyles.
* It’s one of the aspects of Lord Peter Wimsey‘s character that I find really interesting, as is Daisy’s search for a career and a new future after the war and the changes it brought in Carola Dunn’s early Daisy Dalrymple books.
You may notice a theme in this week’s reading. Yes I went all out for the end of the Pink Carnation series and read another Lauren Willig I had on the kindle as well. And then while writing about Deanna Raybourn in my 2015 Obsessions post I found that a the book sale gods were smiling on me, and I could reading the rest of the Lady Julia Books safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t get left on a cliff hanger! I’m still trying to ration myself on the new Laurie Graham – by which I mean only letting myself read a bit more every few days to try and stop myself from bingeing. So far it’s working.
Read:
The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla by Lauren Willig
The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig
Whisper of Jasmine by Deanna Raybourn
The Lure of the Moonflower by Lauren Willig
The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn
Bleakly Hall by Elaine di Rollo
Started:
n/a
Still reading:
The Night in Question by Laurie Graham
Princes at War by Deborah Cadbury
Oh dear. Massive Deanna Raybourn spending spree in the Kindle sale (as mentioned in my 2015 Obsessions post), then there was the only Hellions of Halsted Hall book I haven’t read on offer for 99p. How could I resist.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 