January Wrap-Up and February TBR

January was both approximately four years long and very busy at work.

Despite the endlessness of the month, I only managed to read 13 books – a totally respectable number, but I wonder what on earth I did with the rest of the eternal days and weeks!

This puts me on 13/120 for my Goodreads Challenge for 2022.

All links are affiliate ones - as always, thanks so much for any purchases as they are really sppreciated and help pay for my blog!

---

January Wrap-Up

Most of this month’s reads were a solid four stars from me – I’m definitely getting better at choosing my books. I did award two books FIVE STARS – ‘Ask a Historian’ by Greg Jenner and ‘The Perfect Escape’ by Leah Konen.

I started the month with ‘The Seven Ages of Death’ by Richard Shepherd, a forensic pathologist who (in his book ‘Unnatural Causes’) has described the work he has done to investigate some high-profile cases. Here, he turns his attention to various causes of death – some natural, others not – at the different stages of life. It’s fascinating stuff – my review is on this post.

Next, I read the latest book in the brilliant crime series by Nicola Upson, ‘The Dead of Winter’. This is a great series that features legendary Golden Age writer, Josephine Tey, as the detective. It’s beautifully done and a worthy addition to an absorbing series – my review is here.

I followed this with an audiobook of Jilly Cooper’s early journalism, ‘Between the Covers’. Far from being outdated, these lively and engaging columns felt fresh and funny even after all the time that has passed – review is here.

Then was my first FIVE STAR read of 2022 – Greg Jenner’s ‘Ask a Historian’. Jenner writes with humour and an eye for the absurd in this collection of answers to some very random history questions! Review is included on this post.

My next read was a blog tour one – ‘Hotel Portofino’ by J P O’Connell. This has already been made into a TV programme which I hope is as gloriously packed with Italy, family secrets, sun, glamour and limoncello as the novel is! My review is here.

After all that sun and scandal, I turned to a very different setting – a 1920s sailing to New York in the company of two detectives and some dodgy characters in ‘A Fatal Crossing’ by Tom Hindle. I thoroughly enjoyed this twisty and immersive crime novel. My review is here.

The audiobook of ‘The Confession’ by Jessie Burton followed. I enjoyed being thrown into this clever story of mothers and daughters, secrets and love and the narration by Hayley Atwell was a treat. My review is here.

Then came another blog tour, this time for ‘After Agatha’ by Sally Cline. This gives an impressive overview of women crime writers since Agatha Christie and focuses on several sub-genres within crime writing. It also offers some interesting analysis of why women write and read crime novels – the blog tour posting is here.

Another blog tour read followed, albeit one that will go live in February – ‘The Love that Dares’ edited by Rachel Smith and Barbara Vesey. This is a fabulous collection of letters that focus in on aspects of LGBTQ+ history and are utterly absorbing. Review to follow.

Yet another blog tour read followed – ‘The Language of Food’ by Annabel Abbs. I loved this story of female friendship that revolved around Eliza Acton, a poet and food writer who was the inspiration behind Mrs Beeton. Think lots of fabulous period detail and some quirly recipes – the review is here.

I read ‘Blood Games’ by Liz Mistry for yet another tour – and it was an absolute pleasure (in a kind of gritty, brutal, crime-y way!) to return to the story of DI Nikki Parekh and her work in Bradford. This series keeps getting better – my review is here.

Also, heads up that this one was 99p on Kindle last time I checked.

I then turned my attention to a dose of domestic thriller – ‘Unfaithful’ by J L Butler. This follows the story of empty nester Rachel Reeves whose affair with an old flame turns distinctly sinister… My review will be on the blog soon.

I finished January with a brilliant thriller about three friends who head off for a remote holiday – ‘The Perfect Escape’ by Leah Konen. I can’t praise this one highly enough as I absolutely inhaled it in one day. My review will be on the blog later in February as part of the blog tour.

And it is currently 99p on Kindle… an absolute bargain, I think.

---

February TBR

Aside from a couple of blog tours, I seem to have a fairly free rein to read what I want in February.

My book group, The Tsundoku Squad, have picked ‘Forget Me Not’ by Claire Allan as our monthly read – I’ve started it and love this multiple-perspective story of murder and suspense so far.

Another 99p bargain too!

I also have my eye on a couple of audiobooks – ‘Arctic Summer’ by Damon Galgut is definitely on my radar as a story about E M Forster in India as he went through the process of conceiving and writing his masterpiece, ‘A Passage to India’.

Also in my sights is ‘Madhouse at the End of the Earth’ by Julian Sancton, an account of the real life 1897 voyage to Antarctica by the Belgica which ended in disaster.

I’m also planning to read ‘The Key in the Lock’ by Beth Underdown (1888/1918 dual narrative story with gothic undertones of Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Rebecca’) and ‘Wendy, Darling’ by A C Wise (gothic vibes again – this time a kind of sequel to ‘Peter Pan’).

Other than this, I’ll be waging my usual endless war against a teetering bookshelf and packed NetGalley list… wish me luck!

---

Header photo by Pavan Trikutam on Unsplash