Category: Literary Lists

The past few weeks have been so hectic! This wrap-up is so late!

I managed to read 10 books in May – mainly due to having taken on rather a lot of blog tours. Of these, I gave 3 *****, 6 **** and one ***. I’m now on 55/100 of my Goodreads Challenge.

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May Wrap-Up

I started the month with the very exciting and tense ‘The Assistant’ by Kjell Ola Dahl for a blog tour. I thoroughly enjoyed this slice of Nordic Noir which was set in Prohibition-era Norway, a setting I hadn’t experienced before. My review is here.

Another blog tour book followed – ‘A Public Murder’ by Antoinette Moses. This is a lively and engaging police procedural and will be the first in a series to feature DI Pam Gregory. Set between Cambridge and Crete, I loved the classical allusions of the Cretan bull and the labyrinth that are central to the story. My review is here.

David Baddiel’s audiobook, ‘Jews Don’t Count’ was up next. This is a short (it is in the TLS Essays series of hardbacks) but compelling argument that anti-Semitism isn’t recognised as ‘real’ racism. Baddiel argues that Jews are paradoxically considered both low status (discriminated against) and high status (stereotyped as privileged and wealthy) – and so racism against them is somehow discounted or ignored. This was one of my five star reads of the month – it is a real eye-opener and the audiobook is engagingly presented by Baddiel himself.

Then it was back to the blog tour books and ‘Stealing the Spanish Princess’ by Bea Green. This is another new crime series, this time featuring detective Richard Langley of Scotland Yard’s Art and Antiquities unit. The art dimension (the Spanish Princess of the title refers to a painting) was fascinating and the whole book was tied together with an engaging murder mystery too. My review is here.

This was followed by the charming ‘Mrs Narwhal’s Diary’ by S J Norbury – another blog tour read. This is a funny and relatable book about one middle-aged woman trying to hold everything together – in her case, a crumbling stately home, a husband having a mid-life crisis, children, in-laws and unhappy customers of her husband’s furniture business. My review is here.

Next up was ‘The Distant Dead’ by Lesley Thomson, a crime novel with an unusual detective – cleaner Stella Darnell. This is a clever, dual-narrative story which links a 1940 Blitz murder with events in the present day. My blog tour review is here.

Another five star read (listen) followed with the non-fiction ‘The Glamour Boys’ by Chris Bryant. Although I listened to the audiobook, I also had to buy a copy of the hardback because I needed to see pictures of the key players and re-read bits! This is the story of a group of MPs in the period prior to World War II who first identified that Nazi Germany was a threat that needed addressing – but were ignored, partly because of their queer status. This was an absolutely fascinating slice of history and brilliantly told.

Another five star read followed, this time a buddy read with Hannah’s ‘book club that isn’t a book club’ through The Write Reads – ‘The Five’ by Hallie Rubenhold. I really loved this insight into Victorian women’s lives – specifically the victims of Jack the Ripper. Rubenhold told the women’s backgrounds with clarity and tonnes of interesting details – and (commendably) kept the focus on their lives rather than their deaths.

Then I finished another buddy read (with the Tsundoku Squad), ‘Lace’ by Shirley Conran. I’ll admit that I was aware of the scandalous reputation of this one and wanted to see what the fuss was about. I wasn’t disappointed with the frankly bonkers story of a young woman and the four older women she thinks may be her mother. Bits of this felt dated, but it certainly kept me entertained. Our collective review is here.

I finished the month with another blog tour book, ‘Cut from the Same Cloth?’ edited by Sabeena Akhtar. This is a collection of essays written by Muslim women in Britain and it was an engaging and eye-opening read. My review is here.

June TBR

After May’s excesses on the blog tour front, I only have two for June and I am very much looking forward to ‘Dead Ground’ by M. W. Craven (the fourth book in the Poe and Bradshaw crime series that I’ve heard lots about) and ‘Mary Jane’ by Jessica Anya Blau (a coming-of-age 1970s nostalgia-fest!)

Aside from this, I have a stack of gorgeous proofs and hardbacks that I’m desperate to read! On the shortlist so far is ‘The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle’ by Matt Cain (this sounds like a gorgeous story of finding love later in life), ‘Murder: The Biography’ by Kate Morgan (fascinating non-fiction about the history of murder as a crime), ‘Yours Cheerfully’ by A J Pearce (sequel to the brilliant ‘Dear Mrs Bird’ – historical fiction at its most uplifting) and ‘Nighthawking’ by Russ Thomas (super-twisty crime fiction that has had rave reviews).

As usual, see you next month when I will have read precisely nothing of what I planned!

With my usual thanks to all the lovely blog tour hosts, publishers, NetGalley, bookshops and authors who keep me in books. However I come by books, opinions are always entirely my own.

Header photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash.