Verity Reads Books (lots of them)
In which our heroine attempts to tame the to-read pile
Read:
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse by Charlaine Harris
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger
Shakespeare’s Landlord by Charlaine Harris
The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Started:
Unspeakable by Abbie Rushton
Unbefitting a Lady by Bronwyn Scott
Still reading:
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
Not a bad week really – a few of last week’s books finished, a few more read despite the nightshift for the referendum results.
Read:
Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne
The Constant Nymph by Margaret Kennedy
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews
A Piece of Cake by Trisha Ashley (short story)
The Luxe by Anna Godberson
Fools Gold by Philippa Gregory
A Knight In Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux
Started:
44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith
Still reading:
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert
We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo
I ordered a couple of books this week – but the good news for the pile is that my purchasing orgy of the other week was decreed “undeliverable” by the courier and returned to sender (don’t get me started, I get very ranty about this), the bad news is that I’ve re-ordered some them and then some more…
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…
Not a good week. I don’t know what went wrong. I was so excited about #Sunathon but somewhere in the week it all went off the rails. I had Monday and Tuesday off – and The Boy was off too so we had two lovely days together – but I didn’t do much reading. Then I was away for work for a couple of days – and couldn’t take the Kate Williams with me because it’s a hard back and just takes up too much space. Wednesday went really well though – as I read all of What Would Mary Berry do but on Thursday I was out at the theatre after work and didn’t read anything much at all. Then on Friday afternoon I got rained on in my lunchbreak and on my way to the station after work and ended up reading bits of several different things on the way home from work and not really making any progress much on anything. Then on top of that a busy weekend where I didn’t really read anything and this is where we’re at…
Read:
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons
What Would Mary Berry Do by Claire Sandy
Started:
The Storms of War by Kate Williams
Tickled Pink by Christina Jones
The Beach Hut Next Door by Veronica Henry
Still reading:
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake
American Blonde by Jennifer Niven
And as far as book acquisition goes, a copy of a book that I’ve won appeared in the post – and I’ve ordered a few more, but they haven’t turned up yet, so I’m not sure whether to count them in the total or not… Oh and the Christina Jones that I started was a Kindle Freebie this week. I’m trying not to think about the state of the July stats after this week. Here’s hoping this week coming (four day shifts, home every night) is better.
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 