WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.
Tag: book blogger
5 Classic Novels That I Love
During my time as an English Literature student (and then as an English teacher), I had to read a lot of classic novels. Some I liked, some I really didn’t (I’m looking at you, ‘Moby Dick’).
While I’m forever grateful that I did read these books that are considered to be the cream of Western Literature*, there are very few that really struck a chord and stuck with me. Here are just five that I’ve read and re-read – these are so good that I’ve come back to them repeatedly. Every reading is a revelation – I’m always astounded by how they change in my memory and understanding each time.
* Yes, I know there is a world out there beyond the Western canon but my course was pretty traditional and didn't really allow for this in a major way. And I also know that women's writing tends to be sadly under-represented in the world of classics. Never fear - I made up some of the gaps in my reading after university!
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Continue reading 5 Classic Novels That I Love
Books That Matter – April 2021 Subscription Box Review
I’ve been a long-term subscriber to the Books That Matter feminist subscription box, plus have also started the Brave Girls Book Club boxes for my 10 year old daughter.
I’m always pleased by the books and treats thoughtfully put together in these boxes but I have to say that April 2021 is an absolute gem!
Warning: spoilers ahead! If you are waiting for your own box delivery, you might not want to read on.
Continue reading Books That Matter – April 2021 Subscription Box Review
March 2021 Wrap-Up and April TBR
In the place of my usual WWW Wednesday post, I have my end of my end of month wrap up and a look at what is coming up in my bookish world in April.
Links provided are affiliate links – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
March Wrap-Up
It’s been a good reading month – I’ve read some great books, including a few outside my comfort zone! This month, I’ve read 13 books. I’ve struggled a bit with digital reading, so these have been mainly physical books – unusual for me and a lovely change.
My NetGalley is at 76% – this will be a focus for me in April as I really want to get back to that elusive 80%!
Continue reading March 2021 Wrap-Up and April TBR
WWW Wednesday: 17th March, 2021
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.
Links are provided for books mentioned – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)
What have you recently finished reading?
With the Tsundoku Squad, I was ‘The Islanders’ by S V Leonard but the lure of the last section was too much and I finished it slightly ahead of schedule – I was finding that I was losing the sense of pace and was keen to race to the denouement. Review to follow but this was an engaging, fun read.
The Write Reads book group chose a graphic novel this month, ‘Bloodlust and Bonnets’ by Emily McGovern. I hadn’t read a graphic novel in ages but I raced through this charming, witty and lively book. I loved the heroine, Lucy, who is sassy and strong (and also a redhead, like me – loved that!) yet also clueless in many ways. The addition of Byron and vampires was a bonus! Review to follow.
What are you reading now?
I have more books on the go than I can keep up with!
I’ve stepped away from too much digital reading for a while because it was not helping my headaches, so most of these books are physical copies – this is a bit of a novelty for me!
I’m still – yes, still – reading the new Katie Fforde book, ‘A Wedding in the Country’ on NetGalley. I’m making slow progress because I put it down for some blog tour books but I am enjoying it.
I’m also still reading ‘How to Live. What to Do’ by Josh Cohen, a psychoanalyst who looks at life through the lens of literature. I really like the literary examples that Cohen is using and analysing – I’ve just read a really interesting exploration of ‘ambition’ using Jay Gatsby and Esther Greenwood from ‘The Bell Jar’ – books I know well and so can easily follow Cohen’s argument. This is a gifted copy from the publisher – a review will follow.
I’ve just started ‘Art in the Blood’ by Bonnie MacBird, the first in her Sherlock Holmes series. I read the 4th book, ‘The Three Locks’, for a forthcoming blog tour and absolutely loved it so I just had to start with the first book. So far, so good!
I’ve also just started ‘Insatiable’ by Daisy Buchanan. I was intrigued about this one after reading some blogger reviews via Twitter but – wow – it is an eye opener and has made me both laugh and blush quite a few times. One I really don’t need my kids picking up!
On a more sober note, I also started reading ‘Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again’ by Katherine Angel. I picked up this book on the recommendation of the lovely Ellie H on Twitter and it is a fascinating look at women, desire and consent. It is really engaging and striking and – sadly, given the seeming relentlessness of events in the news – incredibly timely.
What do you think you will read next?
I have a blog tour for ‘The Shadow in the Glass’ by JJA Harwood. I love the look of this gothic, Victorian story!
I do have quite a NetGalley backlog since I have been struggling to read digitally with post-Covid headaches. In particular, I have my eye on ‘The Road Trip’ by Beth O’Leary and ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams.
Many thanks to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for books in exchange for an honest review.
Brave Girls Book Club: Subscription Box Review, March 2021
My 10 year old daughter has had a few of these subscription boxes now and has enjoyed them, but this month’s is just so lovely that I wanted to put it on here now!
These boxes are offered by the people at Books that Matter (who do the adult feminist book subscription boxes too) for £17 plus £3 postage in the UK. They still had March boxes available when I last looked here.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead…
The March Box
This box was heavier than usual and I hadn’t seen the theme ahead of when it arrived. My daughter loves getting these boxes and they are always beautifully packed.
The March theme is a collaboration with Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls.
The contents of the box are as follows:
- ‘I am a Rebel Girl’ hardback journal
- Two hardback books – ‘Madam C J Walker Builds a Business’ and ‘Dr Wangari Maathai Plants a Forest’
- A sheet of stickers
- A copy of the ‘Rebel Times’
- Two large postcards
- An activity booklet
The Verdict
This is a fabulous box and my daughter really likes it – even though it doesn’t contain the sweets or snacks that have been included previously!
From my perspective, I’d say this was excellent value for money – the books and journal are beautiful with colour illustrations throughout. The journal has loads of space to draw and write, plus prompts to help the creativity flow!
Even better is the message; this is a box absolutely packed with revolutionary and inspirational women, plus positive messages for girls. It also looks a lot of fun.
I’d whole-heartedly recommend this box for girls aged about 8-12. Each month has had some great books and treats – normally one book and a selection of other items.
If you want to see a previous box, here are my reviews for November and January.
‘The Jigsaw Man’ by Nadine Matheson
I was delighted to win a proof copy of this serial killer crime novel from Nadine Matheson and the lovely people at HQ Stories.
The book is published on 18th February 2021 – just enough time to sneak in a pre-order!
This book opens with the gruesome discovery of body parts in various parts of South London and the return to front-line policing duties for DI Anjelica Henley who has been on office duties after a traumatic experience. Faced with the dismembered corpses, Anjelica and her newbie detective sidekick embark on an investigation that will have sinister echoes of a previous spate of serial killer murders. However, that killer, Peter Olivier, is in prison – so how can he be responsible?
DI Anjelica Henley herself is an interesting character. She has a complex home life and the case threatens to break the uneasy peace she has found for herself after her past experiences. It is normally a bit of a bugbear of mine when police officer’s private lives are tied up in a case (you’d think all crime was a personal vendetta against individual officers if you read too much crime fiction!); however, it was well managed here and Anjelica’s family context and relationships added to the sense of her as a realistic character.
As I’ve mentioned, this book is gruesome. You do need quite a strong stomach to deal with the dismemberment and descriptions of injuries. It is dark, although I didn’t find the violence gratuitous.
I did find the casual racism expressed towards DI Henley by other characters in the novel quite shocking – the idea that this highly competent and intelligent woman was being judged primarily on her skin colour was an eye-opener for me.
This is a debut novel, not that I think you would know that from the confident way that Matheson has plotted out her narrative and presented her characters. The book, although fairly long at over 400 pages, is well-paced and packed full of tense moments that keep the reader going. Personally, I finished this novel at 3am during a particularly sleepless night – and I had to get up to check all the doors were locked before I nodded off!
I did have a few niggles with the book – mainly the large cast which meant that some of the revelations didn’t always pack the necessary punch because I had to remember who was being referred to! I’m also not sure whether the ending was setting up a sequel (although please do be reassured that this mystery is tied up comfortably at the end). However, these are small quibbles and didn’t detract from my enjoyment.
Overall, this is an excellent debut novel and I do hope that Matheson is planning more cases involving DI Anjelica Henley.
An affiliate link for this book is below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.
‘An Eye for an Eye’ by Carol Wyer
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this excellent police procedural, ‘An Eye for an Eye’ by Carol Wyer. This is the first book in the series to feature DI Kate Young.
This tour was organised by Damp Pebbles. The book was published on 1st February 2021.
Book Blurb:
A killer running rings around the police. A detective spiralling out of control.
DI Kate Young is on leave. She’s the force’s best detective, but her bosses know she’s under pressure, on medication and overcoming trauma. So after her bad judgement call leads to a narrowly averted public disaster, they’re sure all she needs is a rest.
But when Staffordshire Police summon her back to work on a murder case, it’s a harder, more suspicious Kate Young who returns. With a new ruthlessness, she sets about tracking down a clinical, calculating serial killer who is torturing victims and leaving clues to taunt the police. Spurred on by her reporter husband, Young begins to suspect that the murderer might be closer than she ever imagined.
As she works to uncover the truth, Young unravels a network of secrets and lies, with even those closest to her having something to hide. But with her own competence—and her grip on reality—called into question, can she unmask the killer before they strike again?
My Review:
I love detective fiction with a female lead so I was pleased to be invited on the Damp Pebbles blog tour for this book, the first book in a series to feature DI Kate Young. The fact that is it set in Staffordshire – pretty close to my own home ground – was an added bonus!
In this book, DI Kate Young is called back to work after a traumatic incident that has demonstrably clouded her judgement. She is put onto a murder case with a small team – just two colleagues, Emma and Morgan – although it is also clear that senior management within Staffordshire Police are scrutinising her every move.
She is investigating the rather gruesome killing of a local businessman, Alex Corby, who was tortured and killed in his large, remote house. However, as she begins to uncover the events of Alex’s last day, it becomes clear that there are a lot of suspects , secrets and lies to work through – and Kate’s personal life and issues keep threatening to surface too.
I’ll admit I was worried about the PTSD element of the story as this is becoming quite a staple of this type of detective fiction – and, if I’m honest, I prefer my detectives to be a bit more straightforward! However, I needn’t have been concerned – in Wyer’s hands, the cliché of the broken and troubled police officer becomes something more realistic and compelling as we watch Kate struggle with her mental health issues and her loyal team questioning her capability.
What I really enjoyed about the story was the clever plotting. I’ll admit I just about beat Kate to the final solution, but only just! Throughout, I was caught up in the twisty narrative and the ingenious way that the story strands intertwined – there were so many twists that I didn’t see coming and the final denouement was so far from where I thought we would end up when the story began. For that reason, Wyer should be commended for producing a genuinely surprising narrative.
I liked too that the investigations were methodical and logical, something seen as the right way to do things by Kate. There was a real sense of the investigation stopping and starting which felt realistic – the police team hit dead ends as often as they found important clues, although this didn’t slow the pace of the novel at all. In fact, rather a lot happens to keep the story moving…
Overall, I’d recommend this as a clever and engaging piece of crime fiction. For those who love police procedurals (like me!), this is an excellent example of the genre. I really hope that the next DI Kate Young book will be available soon!
About the Author:
USA Today bestselling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize Award, Carol Wyer writes feel-good comedies and gripping crime fiction.
A move from humour to the ‘dark side’ in 2017, saw the introduction of popular DI Robyn Carter in LITTLE GIRL LOST and demonstrated that stand-up comedian Carol had found her true niche.
To date, her crime novels have sold over 750,000 copies and been translated for various overseas markets.
Carol has been interviewed on numerous radio shows discussing ”Irritable Male Syndrome’ and ‘Ageing Disgracefully’ and on BBC Breakfast television. She has had articles published in national magazines ‘Woman’s Weekly’, featured in ‘Take A Break’, ‘Choice’, ‘Yours’ and ‘Woman’s Own’ magazines and the Huffington Post.
She currently lives on a windy hill in rural Staffordshire with her husband Mr Grumpy… who is very, very grumpy.
When she is not plotting devious murders, she can be found performing her comedy routine, Smile While You Still Have Teeth.
Social Media:
Website www.carolwyer.co.uk
Blog www.carolwyer.com
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolEWyer/
Twitter https://twitter.com/carolewyer
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carolwyer
Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/carolewyer
Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-wyer-407b1032
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14925467.Carol_Wyer
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj5O-lvkAYO19S0AMW8VqJQ
Purchase Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2LdJpdV
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/35y4g2j
Publishing Information:
Published in paperback, digital and audio formats by Thomas & Mercer on 1st February 2021
WWW Wednesday – 3rd February, 2021
WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Taking on a World of Words. Anyone can take part and it is a great way of sharing what you have just finished reading, what you are currently reading and what is next on the TBR.
Links are provided for books mentioned – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)
What have you recently finished reading?
This week, I’ve read ‘Dark Truths’ by AJ Cross, an engaging and well-plotted police procedural with a forensic psychologist (Will Traynor) as part of the investigative team. This is published in paperback tomorrow and will be reviewed on the blog soon. It is definitely worth keeping an eye out for as this is the first in what looks to be a very promising series. Thanks to NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading ‘Ruthless Women’ by Melanie Blake (from NetGalley) which is a glamorous whirlwind of a book! Think Jackie Collins, if Jackie Collins wrote about a soap opera set on a small island near Jersey. Everyone is plastic-surgeried up to their eyeballs and as backstabby as hell, but it is a fun read. I particularly like that the cast is packed with strong older women. I’m about halfway through and still not quite sure where it is all headed!
I’m still (yes, still!) reading ‘Maiden Voyages: Women and the Golden Age of Transatlantic Travel’ by Sian Evans. This week, I read about the glamorous side of cruise liners between the wars – I loved the tales of the celebrities, royalty and movie stars at sea, plus those less-than-scrupulous characters willing to exploit the wealthy to make their own living on the ships. The world of extortion, professional gamblers and gold-diggers is presented through fascinating anecdotes. Yes, I’m making slow progress on this book – but it is fabulous!
I’m also still reading ‘Perimenopause Power’ by Maisie Hill (from NetGalley). It is quite science- heavy and so isn’t one I can zip through, but it is interesting.
What do you think you will read next?
I have a blog tour for the fascinating-sounding ‘Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow Lives of Plants’ by Fez Inkwright. The tour is being organised by Random Things Tours and the book itself is absolutely beautiful – thanks to the publisher, Liminal 11, for the review copy in exchange for my honest opinions. I can’t wait to dive in!
I’m still planning on reading Agatha Christie’s ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ so I can catch up with a Poirot readalong this month. I got my Kindle copy free from Project Gutenberg.
I hope you’ve had a great reading week! As always, thanks for reading and please do follow my blog for more updates.
Thank to NetGalley for the books in exchange for an honest review.
Header photo with thanks to Nadya Shuran for sharing their work on Unsplash.
‘Dearly’ by Margaret Atwood
Although I’ve been a long-time fan of Margaret Atwood’s novels, I hadn’t really read much of her poetry before this. Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook version (narrated by Atwood herself) – I did also buy the hardback version as I think I take things in differently through reading and listening. I can recommend both formats though!
This collection of poetry was published in 2020, a year after Atwood lost her long-term partner to dementia, and the poems do understandably focus on loss, grief and ageing. However, the poems were written between 2008 and 2019 and so do also have a wider scope of Atwood’s interests and concerns, among them the environment, attitudes to female bodies and the nature of memory.
Although some of the poetry is bleak, it is not without hope and the trademark flashes of dry wit for which Atwood is famous, such as in ‘Everyone Else’s Sex Life’ – and I like to think you can hear this in Atwood’s deadpan, drawling delivery of the poems.
There are some very powerful poems in the collection and I was glad to have had the hardback book to fall back upon to read the lines again and think further about them – I am not sure the audiobook, while slow paced in its narration, really gives readers the time to absorb the poetry. For this reason, I think repeated listening would be necessary.
Particularly poignant for me was the longer poem, ‘Songs for Murdered Sisters’. This was written for the baritone singer Joshua Hopkins ‘in honour of his own murdered sister’ (as we only find out in the acknowledgements at the end of the book). This poem moves – in clearly delineated sections – from the sense of absence and grief through anger to remembrance and acceptance. It’s a striking poem that stood out to me on first listen and one I’ve gone back to.
I can’t even pretend to have absorbed and fully understood all the poetry in this collection yet. I think it is one that I will need to return to many times, yet I can say that I found the first reading very engaging, thought-provoking and moving. I’m not a crier, but definitely had a lump in my throat for some of the poems!
As other reviewers have commented, the narration by Atwood is quite flat and without much emphasis. I don’t see this necessarily as a negative – I have heard Atwood read her work before so kind of expected the monotone delivery. Instead, I think her reading of the poems allows listeners to build their own interpretations of the words – and the poetry is strong enough that it packs a punch even without the narrator giving us clues through the reading.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry or who shares Atwood’s concerns – and actually many of the themes are universal. What I would say is that the poetry collection is absolutely 5-star-excellent. However, I’m not wholly convinced that the audiobook is quite the right format for the poetry so I’d recommend it ideally in conjunction with a printed copy – for me, the audiobook is a 4 star presentation of 5 star material.
If you would like a copy of this excellent poetry collection (or its audio version), please use my affiliate links below – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Hardback version:
Audio version: