The end of my first month on the blog!
The school summer holidays could not have come sooner. Finally, I’ve had the chance to tackle some of those books that have been sitting on my NetGalley list for too long, as well as some new books and recommendations from my fellow bloggers.
I’ve read 12 books read this month – a good month for me and taking me to 66/100 books read on my Goodreads challenge (you can find me on Goodreads here).
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My five-star read of the month is ‘Death in the East’ by Abir Mukerjee – in case you missed it on the blog, my review is here. This led me on to the rest of the series, starting with ‘A Rising Man’ which introduces Captain Sam Wyndham of the Calcutta Police and Sergeant Surrender-not Banerjee. A brilliant series and highly recommended to anyone who loves crime fiction with a vibrant historical setting.
In a similar vein is another of my July reads, ‘Midnight at Malabar House’ by Vaseem Khan. You can read my review here – it is the start (I hope) of a great series set in Bombay in 1950 and taking in the new political landscape of Indian independence from British rule. It features a brilliant lead character, Detective Persis Wadia, who is trying to forge her path as India’s first female police detective.
This month has also been a good one for contemporary crime fiction and I’ve absolutely devoured ‘The Postscript Murders’ by Elly Griffiths, a lively mystery with an unlikely cast of detectives investigating the death of a ‘Murder Consultant’ used by crime writers. This is the second book featuring DI Harbinder Kaur but works well as a stand-alone novel – review to follow on the blog.
I also enjoyed the highly-anticipated debut novel by Richard Osman due out in September, ‘The Thursday Murder Club’. Set in a retirement village, this is a quirky and humorous crime story with plenty of twists – review to follow.
Some other strong contemporary crime fiction novels I’ve enjoyed this month are ‘Lost Cause’ by Rachel Lynch, the latest in the excellent DI Kelly Porter series set in the Lake District, and ‘The Chalet’ by Catherine Cooper, a tense and twisty thriller set in a ski resort and moving deftly between 1998 and the present day.
‘Nothing Can Hurt You’ by Nicola Maye Goldberg was another one of my fiction reads this month; this one is more an interesting exploration of the impact of a murder on a community and is very powerful on the subject of gendered violence. It is dark and really quite unusual, presenting a range of voices of those connected with a 1997 murder.
My last fiction choice this month was inspired by a fellow blogger – thank you, Amy at littlelionbooks.co.uk. ‘The Revolt’ by Clara Dupont-Monod (translated from the French by Ruth Diver) is another novel featuring a disparate range of voices in monologue, principally Eleanor of Aquitaine and her son, Richard I of England. This was a historical period I knew little about, but was fascinated by this woman who was Queen Consort to both the kings of France and then England, led a revolt against her own husband and bore future kings as well as having considerable political power in her own right. This book is beautifully written – review to follow.
In terms of non-fiction, I read ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo, ‘Older and Wider’ by Jenny Eclair and ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with My Elders’ by Ben Aitken. You can read my review of Eclair’s funny and wise book about the menopause here. Aitken’s book was also humorous and highly recommended; it’s a Bill Brysonesque travelogue about coach trips that Aitken took and his experiences of these interactions with (primarily) older people on these. The Taddeo book was the book of the month in my Books that Matter subscription box and was an interesting but challenging read about the real life relationships and sexuality of three American women.
Looking forward to August, I’m very much looking forward to using my new Kindle Oasis. I finally upgraded my old Kindle and will share my thoughts when I get used to it a bit more!
Here’s what I’m planning to read:
‘Evil Things’ by Katja Ivar (gifted by Bitter Lemon Press – you can see their amazing catalogue here). This is a historical crime novel set in 1950s Helsinki and looks brilliant!
‘The Child Who Never Was’ by Jane Renshaw – I’m joining the blog tour on this one (organised by damppebbles.com) and am looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this tense psychological thriller.
‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins – her last novel, ‘The Binding’, was one of my favourite books last year so I’m very much looking forward to what comes next!
‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Clare Whitfield – a Victorian setting and Jack the Ripper links so this one could not be more perfect for me.
‘Pandora’s Jar’ by Natalie Haynes – this retelling of Greek myths focusing on the overlooked women in the stories looks like an instant classic.
‘The Honey and the Sting’ by E. C. Fremantle – this historical tale of three sisters with a deadly secret sounds absolutely engrossing.
Plus whatever else takes my fancy as the month progresses!
With thanks to NetGalley for ARCs – they supplied a lot of the books but all opinions are very much my own!
Header photo by Samantha Hurley from Burst
I’m curious about People of Abandoned Character and The Child Who Never Was. Hope they are awesome reads!
-Lauren
The Child Who Never Was is going well so far – a really interesting idea