I’ve got a bit of a confession here. I know I like Ruth Ware’s books but I’d kind of…put this one off. The title made me think it was going to be about wealthy people living Instagrammable lives – not that I have a problem with that at all, but I kind of need to be in the right mood.
I was wrong and should have read the blurb.
This book is actually about a murder at a fictitious Oxford University college. It centres on Hannah and the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of her discovery of the body of her roommate, April, in their shared rooms. April is the ‘It Girl’ of the novel’s title, bringing champagne, designer clothes and luxury furniture to their digs, but this is much more the story of a friendship group and a university experience gone tragically wrong.
However, it misses out some absolutely fabulous books that don’t really fit those lists, so here are 6 more books I’ve loved in 2020 and wanted to shout about!
This lists features affiliate links – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you).
‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff
I loved this YA coming-of-age tale which captured a long, hot summer and the obsession of young love.
The story follows an unnamed narrator as they spend a summer with their family by the beach – and the Godden brothers whose arrival changes everything.
It isn’t a book that I’d usually pick up but comparisons to ‘I Capture the Castle’ in the blurb won me over – and I’m so glad I read it.
‘Zeus is a Dick’ by Susie Donkin
This is a hilarious retelling of the Greek myths by one of the writers on the very funny ‘Horrible Histories’ BBC TV programme. Although that show was for kids, this is very much an adults’ book as Donkin points out all the ways in which Zeus was – as the title suggests – a dick. There’s a lot of swearing and irreverence…and I loved it!
This was a book that I read for a blog tour and I was totally caught up in the premise – a man leaving a handwritten letter for his long-term partner explaining why he has to leave. It is totally unexpected, funny in places and also very moving.
I would totally recommend this brilliant, quirky book – you can read my review here.
‘The Switch’ by Beth O’Leary
Another book that is outside of my usual genres, but I loved O’Leary’s ‘The Flat Share’ and knew that I had to read this one.
This is the story of Leena and her grandmother Eileen and their plan to switch lives for two months. Eileen heads for London and a chance to find a man while Leena looks forward to a relaxing time in her grandmother’s home in a tiny Yorkshire village. Of course, nothing works out as expected – but this is a heart-warming gem so you know nothing too bad will happen!
‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James
This was one of my surprise favourite books of the year – and another one that isn’t one of my usual reads at all.
This is the story of estate agent by day, necromancer by night Lavington Windsor and her encounters with zombies, vampires and the dark side of a small village in Staffordshire! It’s packed with humour of a very British variety – and is brilliant.
This was another blog tour read and another surprise hit – this is one of the books that I’ve told everyone I can about!
This is a coming-of-age story that is full of humour and quirks. Billy is a 17 year-old boy who lacks direction – he begins the novel as a trainee gravedigger before embarking on some rather odd schemes to allow him to take a road trip across Europe in pursuit of a girl. The characterisation is fabulous and the reader is totally pulled into Billy’s story.
This is a great debut novel and I hope there is a lot more to come from this writer.
I read a lot of non-fiction books this year – regular visitors to the blog will know that I love history, popular culture, books about books, feminism and biography in particular.
So while I cannot possibly say I’ve read a huge variety of the fabulous non-fiction books published this year, I have found some real gems. In true ‘Top of the Pops’ style (yes, I am of that vintage!), here’s my countdown of the best in 2020’s non-fiction books from number 10 to 1…
Affiliate links are included – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you).
10 – ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders’ by Ben Aitken
If someone had told me that one of my favourite books of the year would be about a young man going on Shearings coach tours, I’m not sure I’d have believed you! Still, this is a witty, warm and wise story about Aitken’s travels with the older generation and is more focused on interesting people-watching than any real travel narrative. You can read my full review here.
I also read Aitken’s ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’, an engaging tale of his year in Poland just as Brexit-fever took hold of Britain.
9 – ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand
Having been raised on the glorious 1964 film of ‘Mary Poppins’, this book was a fabulously comfortable and engaging read. Brand is clearly a Poppins-obsessive and it is something I both recognise and respect! This book is packed with nostalgia, interesting facts and witty analysis. You can read my review here.
If this one floats your boat, Brand’s book about Dirty Dancing is also well worth a read (‘I Carried a Watermelon’).
8 – ‘Essex Girls: For Profane and Opinionated Women Everywhere’ by Sarah Perry
This is a brilliant re-evaluation of the stereotype of the Essex girl and a celebration of ‘profane and opinionated women’ through history. As a Southend-born and long-term Chelmsford resident, this one struck a chord with me. You can read my full review here.
7 – ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith
I love a book about Shakespeare and I’ve read a lot! What I loved about this one was the fact that it contained so many new things that I hadn’t really thought about before, even for the plays that I consider that I know really well. You can read my review here.
If this is your thing, I can also recommend Kathryn Harkup’s ‘Death by Shakespeare’, a fascinating look at the deaths in Shakespeare from a scientific perspective. Dark but absolutely engrossing! (review here)
6 – ‘How Love Actually Ruined Christmas (or Colourful Narcotics)’ by Gary Raymond
A late entry into my favourites list but this one is hilarious! I am really not a fan of the film ‘Love Actually’ at all and I really enjoyed Raymond’s scene-by-scene evisceration of it. Thoughtfully-written and genuinely enlightening…and did I mention very, very funny?! You can read my full review here.
5 – ‘Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen’ by Greg Jenner
This is a thoroughly enjoyable jaunt through the culture of celebrity. Jenner, who was historian for the BBC’s excellent ‘Horrible Histories’ TV series, is an engaging guide and brings together stories that are funny, interesting and also occasionally tragic. You can read my review here.
If you like the look of this, I can also recommend Jenner’s first book, ‘A Million Years in A Day’, a book focusing on the history of the things we do every day.
4 – ‘Difficult Women: A History of Feminism in 11 Fights’ by Helen Lewis
This is a history of feminism, but with a difference – it focused on the lesser-known figures and events so that it really feels fresh and engaging. You can read my full review here.
3 – ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister
I supported this book on the crowd-funded publishing site, Unbound, after following Dr Kate Lister on Twitter for a while. Her take on social (sexual) history is funny, feminist and always interesting. The book itself is eye-opening and fascinating, plus Lister donated a proportion of her profits to a sex worker charity. You can read my full review here.
2 – ‘More Than A Woman’ by Caitlin Moran
Moran’s books are always worth a read, but this take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman is brilliant. She is funny and confessional, relatable and quick with her razor-sharp observations. My review can be read here.
Moran’s earlier book, ‘How to be a Woman’, about being a younger woman, is also eminently readable:
1 – ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross
OK, so a book ostensibly about graveyards and death might be a bit of an odd choice for my non-fiction book of the year, but hear me out! This is the book that I have talked about to people more than any other this year and it is an absolute treasure.
More than anything, it celebrates life and the people associated with graveyards and burial grounds and ossuaries: the historians, the mourners and the grave-tenders and those who carry out burial rites, as well as the departed. It is strangely comforting and absolutely compelling. Although sometimes sad, it isn’t depressing at all.
This is a brilliant book and one I strongly recommend. You can read my full review here.
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘Banking on Murder’ by J D Whitelaw. This cosy mystery story was published by Red Dog Press on 3rd December (who have also organised the blog tour).
With thanks to Red Dog Press and the author for my copy of the book for review – as always, opinions are entirely my own.
From the Publisher:
Martha Parker runs a small private detective agency in Glasgow with her two sisters, Helen and Geri. They specialise in catching cheating partners and those playing away from home.
The Parkers are hired by the reclusive wife of a wealthy banker she suspects is breaking their vows, but when he shows up murdered, it’s up to Martha, Helen and Geri to prove the wife’s innocence in their most dangerous case yet.
I jumped at the chance to read this cosy mystery story, the first in a new series to feature the Parker sisters as detectives and set in modern-day Glasgow.
In this novel, the detective agency run by Martha Parker and her two sisters is called upon to investigate the infidelity of a wealthy banker – his wife, who is both reclusive and slightly unstable, is sure that he is cheating but wants to know who with. As the trio begin to investigate, they realise they may have taken on more than they can cope with – especially when the banker is murdered and they are suspected of being involved by the formidable police detective in charge of the investigation.
What appealed to me about this book was the notion of sisters working together as detectives – the relationship between the three women, for me, was the strength of the book and I really enjoyed the slightly spiky sisterly teasing that comes with the sibling bond.
Of the three sisters, Martha is the eldest and the main focus of the novel. She is forty and has a family of her own (although we don’t see them much). Next is Helen who is 30 and the academic of the family, and then there is Geri, in her early 20s and the slightly loose cannon.
The sisters are so different and have been well-developed in their own rights so that the reader engages with them as individuals. I particularly liked Martha, slightly baffled to be middle-aged and trying to be the responsible one (but maybe my preference is linked to my own age!) The scenes with the sisters bickering about various things were my favourites – from Geri’s social life, Helen’s party faux pas and Martha’s dress sense, no topic was out of bounds and this felt absolutely relatable to my own family! This also added a humour to the story which I really liked.
The story is well plotted and engaging. While I never felt that there was any true peril, there are some tense bits and it certainly kept me interested throughout – more so because of the detectives than because of the murder victim or his wife, both of whom seemed pretty unpleasant.
The backdrop of the city of Glasgow was an interesting and appealing choice – especially the wealth of the banking area and the penthouse apartments contrasting with the less salubrious areas of the city.
I’d recommend this to anyone who likes cosy crime with appealing leads. As the Parker sisters bicker and banter their way through the investigation, you will be sure to keep turning the pages.
About the Author:
J.D. Whitelaw is an author, journalist and broadcaster. After working on the frontline of Scottish politics, he moved into journalism. Subjects he has covered have varied from breaking news, the arts, culture and sport to fashion, music and even radioactive waste – with everything in between. He’s also a regular reviewer and talking head on shows for the BBC. Banking on Murder is the first of three Parker sister novels. They follow his hugely successful HellCorp series. His debut in 2015 was the critically acclaimed Morbid Relations.
Today, I am answering some questions set by my fellow bloggers as part of the Sunshine Blogger Award. I was fortunate to be nominated by Danni at ForBooksSake and Ashley at Red-Haired Ash Reads.
Thanks to both of these bloggers – do follow them if you don’t already!
I’ll be answering all their questions in this post before setting my own questions for my nominees!
How does it work?
Thank the blogger(s) who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog.
Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions.
List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
Questions from Danni:
Have you set a GoodReads Reading Goal for the year? If yes, how many books are you hoping to read?
I set an optimistic challenge of 100 books on GoodReads – this is more than I’ve read in recent years and the first time I’ve consciously set a target. However, lockdown gave my reading a bit of a boost so I’m already on 93 books.
What has been your favourite book of 2020 so far?
How can I possibly pick just one?!
I’ll go with ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth by Matson Taylor. I didn’t know what to expect from this debut novel, but it is an absolutely charming, funny and sweet novel about a young girl growing up with a quirky and dysfunctional family in the 1960s.
What book on your TBR are you most looking forward to reading?
Laura Purcell’s ‘The Shape of Darkness’. I have loved her previous books and a new book is always an event.
Do you have any pets? If yes, please post pictures! (I want to see your cute animals)
Yes – 2 cats (Geoff and Ivy) plus 4 bantam hens.
Geoff (who sleeps like no cat I’ve ever seen before)
Who are your auto buy authors?
I’m not sure I have that many, but definitely Caitlin Moran and Laura Purcell. There are also a couple of crime series that I’m following where I’d buy the next books without question – I really like the Maeve Kerrigan series by Jane Casey and Rachel Lynch’s DI Kelly Porter series.
I’ve read books by a lot of brilliant new writers this year (new to me or debut novelists) that I think this list will grow very rapidly!
What are your favourite books from your childhood?
One of the first books I remember as a child was ‘Peepo’ by Janet and Alan Ahlberg, a gorgeous picture book about a baby in a (not that I realised it then) World War II era family. I’ve since read this to my kids and it is a favourite.
There are loads of books I loved as a child that probably wouldn’t stand up to re-reading – I was an obsessive Enid Blyton fan and absolutely devoured any Nancy Drew books!
Other than that, Dodie Smith’s ‘I Capture The Castle’ was a book I loved as a teenager and have re-read as an adult. I still think it’s pretty great!
Describe your dream reading space.
I’ve always fancied my own library – something along the lines of the one in Beauty and the Beast! Definitely high wall-to-wall bookshelves that need ladders to get to the top and some cosy armchairs!
What is your favourite bookish merch?
So many things that I wrote a blog post on it – you can see my collection of bookish prints, pins and all manner of other things here.
What are your biggest bookish pet peeves?
I really hate books that promise an uplifting read but that turn out to be really, really depressing! I think there is some serious misrepresentation going on with some book blurbs and am always disappointed when I get to a really nasty bit in a book that I wasn’t expecting.
How do you feel about DNF’ing a book?
Guilty. I always think it is going to get better, but I’ve learnt that some books just…don’t. I’m quite good at choosing books that I think I’ll like but I do feel like it is my fault if I can’t finish a book.
You can only read one genre for the rest of your life, what are you choosing, and why?
Historical (preferably historical crime). There’s such a rich variety of settings that I don’t think I’d ever get bored. I love learning about different periods of history (although I have a soft spot for the Victorians) and there are so many brilliant writers working in this genre.
One of my latest historical reads – recommended!
Questions from Ashley:
What is your favorite genre to read?
Historical crime fiction – that’s a very specific genre to choose but I love the combination of the rich setting with a twisty crime story!
What nonfiction book(s) are your favorite?
Oooh, great question! I think non-fiction books often get overlooked in the world of Book Twitter.
I love any of Caitlin Moran’s non-fiction books and I’ve recently really enjoyed (if enjoyed is the right word for a book about death!) Peter Ross’ ‘A Tomb With a View’ – it’s absolutely fascinating, incredibly moving and not as depressing as you might expect.
I’m also a fan of history presented with a bit of wit and flair – ‘Dead Famous’ by Greg Jenner and ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister have been high points this year.
Do you read multiple books at once or just one?
Multiple – I can’t have too many similar books going at the same time, but I’ll often have a fiction (or two, but different genres), a non-fiction and an audiobook going at the same time.
What other hobbies do you have besides reading?
I’m not really sure I do! Between the reading, the blogging and Book Twitter, I’m pretty busy.
When I’m not book-focused, I spend time with my family and teach English full-time at a secondary school.
Do you have a reading goal for 2020? If so, how is it going?
I’d not set a goal before this year, but 100 books seemed like it was going to be a real challenge. However, 2020 has been a weird year in so many ways and lockdown has boosted my reading at times so I’m already on 93 books.
What prompted you to create a blog?
I was reading and reviewing on NetGalley and it seemed like the logical next step. I love talking to people about books and so was looking to infiltrate myself into the bookish community…it seems to be working, I think…
What is your favorite trope?
I don’t read a lot of horror at all, but I’m totally won over by anything with vampires!
What is your least favorite trope?
I’m getting quite fed up with the detective with the tragic personal life. It has been very over-done and I’d quite like to focus on the crime plot without having to work through the trauma of the detective first!
What fictional world would you like to visit?
Because I read a lot about the past, I think my world would have to be step back in time! I’d love to visit the world inhabited by Jeeves and Wooster – an idealised and very jolly version of 1920s and 1930s London that never really existed outside the imagination of P.G. Wodehouse.
There are other less salubrious time periods I’d love to visit but I’d not want to stay long!
What book disappointed you this year?
I always feel bad if I’m disappointed by a book because I do try to choose my reading carefully. I did read a crime novel that was quite hyped that I was disappointed with (and didn’t feature on the blog) but I won’t name it.
What is your favorite cover from 2020?
‘The Betrayals’ by Bridget Collins (out in November) looks glorious. I read the Kindle version but have been jealously looking at other people’s proofs and advance copies!
