I love historical fiction and so jumped at the chance to read this book, set in Edwardian England. Thank you to NetGalley and Annabel Fielding for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review, plus the chance to join the blog tour.
Continue reading Blog Tour: ‘Lying with Lions’ by Annabel FieldingTag: fiction
WWW Wednesday: 16th June, 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.
It has been a shamefully long time since I last did one of these posts! This is all the books I have read since my May Wrap-Up.
Continue reading WWW Wednesday: 16th June, 2021
Book Review: ‘The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle’ by Matt Cain
Today, I’m excited to be reviewing ‘The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle’ by Matt Cain, a gorgeous story of someone finding their place in the world later on in life. Thanks so much to Rosie Margesson at Headline and Matt Cain for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review – opinions are entirely my own.
Continue reading Book Review: ‘The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle’ by Matt Cain
May Wrap-Up and June TBR
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.
Blog Tour: ‘The Glorious Guinness Girls’ by Emily Hourican
Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for ‘The Glorious Guinness Girls’ by Emily Hourican, a fascinating insight into the daughters of the famed Irish family.
With thanks to the publisher, Headline, for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The main draw for this book was the period of history it covers – primarily the 1920s. Throw in some glitz and glamour, some high society sisters from the famous brewing dynasty, lots of Bright Young Things and raucous parties and I was absolutely sold!
This book fictionalises the story of the Glorious Guinness Girls – three sisters from Ireland who were celebrated in the contemporary media for being beautiful, privileged and eminently newsworthy. They were the daughters of Ernest and Cloe Guinness and raised in wealth and luxury in Glenmaroon until the events of the Irish Civil War became a little too close to home. They then embarked on a round the world yacht trip before settling in London where the girls were ‘brought out’ as debutantes and attended some pretty wild-sounding parties.
The story is told from the point of view of a fictional cousin of the Guinness Girls, Fliss, who is invited to live with the family and so is witness to the girls’ lives in the twelve year period that the book covers. Although she lives alongside the family, it is clear that she isn’t one of them – she is not invited on the yacht trip and instead becomes a kind of companion to Cloe and chaperone figure for the girls, even though she is a similar age to them. Fliss’ narrative covers mainly her time with the family in the 1920s, although we also see her as an older woman revisiting the former Guinness estate that has now been turned over to a religious order.
I’ll admit to being unsure how this book would work – particularly how the mixture of fact and fiction would work. In fact, the story is beautifully presented and engaging, although it is slightly ironic that the character we get the most vivid sense of is Fliss, the fictional one. This isn’t really surprising though, as her personal story – including her relationship with her brother, Hughie, who is caught up in the Irish Civil War – is really the heart of this book.
Of the three Guinness Girls (Aileen, Maureen and Oonagh), the one developed the most as a fully rounded character is Maureen, so it came as no surprise to me to read the author’s note at the end of the book which explained that one of her main sources was someone who knew Maureen best. Indeed, Maureen is vividly rendered as someone who is quite spiky and willing to test the boundaries of her sheltered life – it is a clever device to place Fliss as being a similar age to her and so sharing her experiences most closely. Aileen, the eldest, is probably the most mysterious of the three, while Oonagh (the baby of the family) is mostly sweet and spends most of her time on childish pursuits.
I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the Guinness Girls as I followed them from the volatility of the Irish situation to the glamour of the Roaring 20s in London. It was really interesting to see the ways that their wealth protected them from the political situation up until the point they could no longer ignore the reality of what was happening on their doorstep. I also loved how the author presented the fact that the traditions of the aristocracy were slowly dying in the youth revolution of the 1920s – to be young and free and living life to the full was the most important thing and Maureen embodies this.
Obviously, this presents a narrow view of what life in the 1920s was like, but it is an exhilarating experience to be carried along with the beautiful people as they partied like it was 1929 (pre-Wall Street crash, of course!) The blending of historical figures with the fictional ones was also engaging – it was lovely to ‘see’ Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh and Brian Howard among others.
This book left me desperate to learn more about the Guinness Girls – all of whom had absolutely fascinating lives after the period of this book. In many ways, I really wanted this book to be more fact and less fiction – the historical figures are interesting in their own right and Fliss’ story is perhaps less compelling than the other elements of the novel. However, as a piece of historical fiction based in fact, it does work and is engaging.
I would recommend this to fans of historical fiction – fans looking for heavy-duty non-fiction will not find the detail they want here as this isn’t the intention of the book. As a fictional insight into the lives of the wealthy and fortunate in an interesting period of Anglo-Irish history, it absolutely hits the mark.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
WWW Wednesday – 24th 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.
Brilliant Books that don’t fit on my other lists of 2020
So far, I’ve written my top 10 non-fiction books of 2020, top 10 historical fiction and top 10 crime fiction. That just about covers my favourite genres!
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!
You can read my original review here.
‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton
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.
You can read my original review here.
‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne
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.
You can read my review here.
My 10 Bookish Surprises of 2020
I am a life-long bookworm, but 2020 marked the point at which a hobby became something so much bigger. This blog was born in July 2020 after years of writing NetGalley reviews and it has supplied the steepest learning curve of all!
Aside from the usual revelations to bloggers (the vagaries of WordPress, for example), there have been some genuine bookish surprises in this very strange year.
Here are just a few things that have given me food for thought this year…
Book Twitter is fabulous…
Many thanks to all the lovely bloggers who have crossed my path this year – I have been genuinely astounded at how lovely the bookish community is on Twitter and grateful about how I’ve been welcomed.
I have to make special mentions of the Tsundoko Squad and The Write Reads crew – you guys have been just wonderful in this otherwise pretty awful year!
…but it loves a drama
With this in mind, I’ve also been astonished at how many Twitter spats seem to happen. I get that we are an opinionated bunch of people, but I’ve been bemused by lots of arguments this year. I’m way too old for all that!
Reading non-fiction puts you in a minority
I’ve always read loads of non-fiction and assumed everyone else did too. Wrong!
Incidentally, you can read my top 10 non-fiction reads of 2020 here.
It’s sometimes fun to read outside your genres
One thing that has surprised me this year is how much I’ve enjoyed some books I really didn’t expect to! I think of myself mainly as a reader of historical and crime fiction, plus a lot of non-fiction. However, this year some of my favourite books have been odd choices for me – YA romance (‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff), vampires (‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James) and a book about graveyards (and so much more! ‘A Tomb with a View’ by Peter Ross).
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There is always someone who has read more than you
I’ve always read loads but not on the scale of most of Book Twitter! I’ll finish this year on about 120 books and that’s just fine.
Seasonal reading is a thing
Having never read Christmas books, I honestly didn’t really register that seasonal-themed reading was a thing. Not just Christmas, but Halloween and pretty much any other holiday/season/event you can think of – there will be a corner of Book Twitter and many blogs dedicated to it. Mind blown.
I still haven’t read any Christmas books though!
Bookstagram is huge…and I still don’t get it
I’m way too old to get Instagram.
I’m seriously impressed at the dedication of those who lovingly photograph books in gorgeous settings and with fabulous lighting. It’s one of those things that is beyond my skill set, like knitting or skiing or being able to carry off wearing a hat. Carry on, everyone else!
My favourite books of the year weren’t ones I expected
I’m pretty good at choosing books for myself – it’s pretty rare that I DNF books and have enjoyed pretty much everything I’ve picked up this year.
What I’m less good at is predicting the books that I will adore – the ones I’ll be raving to everyone about forever. This year, there have been some brilliant surprises – ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne, ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor and ‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward to name just three fantastic examples.
Affiliate links are below because everyone needs a copy of these! Thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases.
Buddy reading is fun
I’d always been sceptical about buddy reads and reading groups. Then I worked my way through ‘Rebecca’ by Daphne du Maurier with The Write Reads bunch and I have honestly never laughed so much. I not only finished a book that I’ve failed to read on other occasions, I totally enjoyed the chat and there will be elements of it that stay with me for quite a while!
I’m not sure who book blogs are really for
I’ve loved every minute of setting up and writing my blog this year (technical issues aside – curse you, JetPack) but I’m no clearer on who it is really for. Website hits, though satisfying, aren’t massively high and feedback is limited.
I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll keep writing the blog for me – and if any of you want to carry on reading then GREAT!
Here’s to a 2021 that is everything that 2020 wasn’t!
My Goodreads 100
In what might work out to be the geekiest post ever, I thought I’d have a closer look at the 100 books I’ve read this year. I completed my Goodreads challenge this week so it seems a good time to pause and take stock.
Things that don’t surprise me a bit…
I know that I read a lot of female writers, so the gender ratio 60:40 in favour of female writers didn’t surprise me at all. A lot of my favourite detective series are written by women (Rachel Lynch, Carla Kovach, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths…I could go on!)
Also unsurprising was the number of books that I read for free this year – I’ve always read a lot through NetGalley, plus have done some blog tours, so it is to be expected that a huge proportion of my reads (74%) were free in exchange for an honest review. I am eternally grateful to NetGalley, blog tour hosts, publishers and authors for keeping me in reading material!
Finally, because of my NetGalley obsession, it makes perfect sense that my most read format this year was on Kindle (71%). I invested in a Kindle Oasis earlier this year because I thought the warm light feature might be kinder on my eyes, especially given how long I stare at it!
Things that did surprise me…
I know I read quite widely, but I thought I’d probably be very heavy on the crime and historical fiction. This did turn out to be true – 44% of my books had some kind of crime element, whether in a contemporary or historical setting. However, only 30% of my chosen reads had a historical setting – something I thought would be higher.
What I was pleasantly surprised by was the fact that 27% of the books were non-fiction. I do love non-fiction but thought it would be more overshadowed than that in the statistics. I was also happy to see that there was a range of genres in the mix too – poetry, humour, romance and ‘other’ (contemporary fiction, play scripts) made up a good chunk.
I seem to be heavily dependent on the 4* rating (71% of my books in 2020) but it was heartening to see that nearly 1/5 of the books I read this year were 5* ones. I wasn’t too surprised to see the small proportion of 3* rating (and nothing below) because I choose my books carefully and DNF any that won’t make 3 stars!
Some lists…
My 5 Star Reads of 2020 (so far) – links to reviews where possible!
Books I Bought With My Own Money and Read This Year:
| ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton |
| ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’ by Bill Bryson |
| ‘Practically Perfect’ by Katy Brand |
| ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry |
| ‘The Princess and the Prick’ by Wallaburga Appleseed |
| ‘Boy’ by Roald Dahl |
| ‘More than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran |
| ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross |
| ‘Good Samaritans’ by Will Carver |
| ‘The Book of Humans’ by Adam Rutherford |
| ‘A Chip Shop in Poznan’ by Ben Aitken |
| ‘Women Don’t Owe You Pretty’ by Florence Given |
| ‘State of the Union’ by Nick Hornby |
| ‘The Great Godden’ by Meg Rosoff |
| ‘A Rising Man’ by Abir Mukherjee |
| ‘Three Women’ by Lisa Taddeo |
| ‘Dead Famous’ by Greg Jenner |
| ‘This is Shakespeare’ by Emma Smith |
| ‘A Murderous Relation’ by Deanna Raybourn |
| ‘You Took the Last Bus Home’ by Brian Bilston |
| ‘When the Dogs Don’t Bark’ by Angela Gallop |
| ‘A Million Years in a Day’ by Greg Jenner |
| ‘The Golden Tresses of the Dead’ by Alan Bradley |
| ‘A Curious History of Sex’ by Kate Lister |
| ’52 Times Britain was a Bellend’ by James Felton |
| ‘Fleabag’by Phoebe Waller-Bridge |
9 Writers I’ve Read More Than One Book By This Year:
- Ben Aitken
- Greg Jenner
- Abir Mukherjee
- Carla Kovach
- Rachel Lynch
- Andrew Taylor
- Nick Hornby
- William Sieghart (2 poetry anthologies)
- Elly Griffiths
Brilliant Debut Novels
- ‘Cows Can’t Jump’ by Philip Bowne
- ‘A Girl Made of Air’ by Nydia Hetherington
- ‘People of Abandoned Character’ by Clare Whitfield
- ‘The Chalet’ by Catherine Cooper
- ‘The Thursday Murder Club’ by Richard Osman
- ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor
- ‘The Eighth Detective’ by Alex Pavesi
- ‘Grave Secrets’ by Alice James
- ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies
- ‘The Quickening’ by Rhiannon Ward (first novel published under this name)
5 Surprises This Year
- Alice James’ ‘Grave Secrets’ – I don’t read a lot of fantasy novels, but this vampire and zombie one absolutely won me over. Well outside of my comfort zone, but it was just so funny and lively and immersive.
- ‘Longhand’ by Andy Hamilton – I had some reservations about reading a book written by hand (in beautiful handwriting though!) However, I was absolutely transfixed by this extremely quirky and humorous novel with a surprising Classical theme.
- ‘The Gran Tour: Travels with My Elders’ by Ben Aitken – the charming Bill Bryson-esque travel writing had me totally engaged in this (true) tale of a young man’s coach trips with Shearings (and his Gran!)
- ‘The Miseducation of Evie Epworth’ by Matson Taylor – I was prepared for a rom-com, but what I got was a gorgeous 1960s coming of age tale packed with humour and one of the best characters of the year.
- ‘A Tomb With a View’ by Peter Ross – I’ve tried to get everyone I know to read this! I thought I’d like this non-fiction telling of stories of graveyards and their people; I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did.
Affiliate links to my books of the year (so far) – I may earn a small commission on any purchases at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my blog!
So that’s my Goodreads 100! It’s been an odd year – I don’t usually expect to read 100 books, let alone 100 books by October. I hope you’ve enjoyed my trawl through my reading so far this year and thank you for visiting and supporting my blog.
Header photo with thanks to Floris Andréa for sharing their work on Unsplash.
October Wrap-Up and November TBR
How is it that time again?! The end of another month and another step nearer Christmas (yay!) and the end of 2020 (*huge sigh of relief*).
This month I have read 11 books and hit my GoodReads Challenge target of 100 books for the year!
It’s been a funny month with some real reading slumps as well as some absolutely BRILLIANT books. So, without further ado, here’s what I read this month…
(Links to books already published are affiliate links – thank you for supporting my blog with any purchases).
October Wrap-Up
I started the month with the brilliant ‘More Than a Woman’ by Caitlin Moran – an often funny, fresh and brutally honest take on what it means to be a middle-aged woman. This was my first five-star read of the month – you can see my review here.
After this, I read ‘Jeeves and the Leap of Faith’ by Ben Schott, a new Jeeves and Wooster novel written with the blessing of the PG Wodehouse estate. Nothing quite hits the highs of Wodehouse’s original novels, but Schott has done a great job of the language and comic elements. You can read my review here.
Next up was a blog tour for ‘The Creak on the Stairs’ by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir, a chilling and dark piece of Nordic Noir crime fiction. Set in Iceland, this follows Chief Investigating Officer Elma as she tries to solve a murder that is stirring up the unsavoury past of some people in the small town of Akranes. You can read my blog tour post here.
Then came ‘The Servant’ by Maggie Richell-Davies, a dark historical tale of a girl who has fallen on difficult times in Georgian London. This book won the Historical Writers’ Association award for a (then) unpublished novel and is definitely worth a read – my review is here.
One of my audiobooks (listened to in the car with my kids) this month was Roald Dahl’s ‘Boy’, read by Dan Stevens. We all enjoyed this one – a lively performance of a book that I’ve loved since childhood. It has been a joy to relive the experiences of Dahl at school at Repton, on holiday in Norway, with his eccentric family and upsetting teachers and sweet-shop owners alike.
Next up was ‘The Phoenix Project’ by Michelle Kidd for another blog tour in November. This was a fast-paced thriller with a wide scope – London, Paris, Africa, Russian spies and the British Government – and all very tense! Watch this space for my blog tour review.
Then I enjoyed Walburga Appleseed’s ‘The Princess and the Prick’, a short book with some very concise feminist retellings of fairy tales, myths and nursery rhymes. Beautifully illustrated, this managed to pack plenty of food for thought into a small space.
Another short but powerful book was ‘Essex Girls’ by Sarah Perry, a feminist celebration of the qualities of the Essex Girl stereotype. In Perry’s book, Essex becomes a state of mind rather than a geographical location and we are introduced to a host of fabulous women from history. My review is here.
Another of my five-star books this month was ‘Practically Perfect: Life Lessons from Mary Poppins’ by Katy Brand. Anyone with any love for the 1964 film should read this as it is fascinating but delightfully comforting. My review can be found here.
Then I listened to another audiobook, ‘The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid’, a charming and funny book about Bill Bryson’s experiences of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines in Iowa. This one is read by Bryson himself and his dry wit really comes through in the recording.
Finally, I finished the month with ‘The Devil and the Dark Water’ by Stuart Turton, a historical crime novel that I absolutely loved. You can read my review here.
November TBR
I am absolutely awful at predicting what I will read in the future – I read according to my mood and who knows where that may take me!?
However, I do have a lot of NetGalley ARCs that I should read. Here is just a selection:
- ‘The Shape of Darkness’ by Laura Purcell – I loved her previous books and this one promises to be equally fabulous.
- ‘The Whole Truth’ by Cara Hunter – this is the latest in a great series of police procedurals in which we follow DI Fawley as he tries to uncover truth. I’ve loved the other books so have high hopes for this.
- ‘The Dead of Winter’ by Nicola Upson – another series I’ve followed for a long time, this one puts crime writer Josephine Tey into the role of detective against the backdrop of Europe in the lead-up to World War II.
- ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell – Russell’s first book, ‘The Devil Aspect’, was amazing and I hope this one will be every bit as good. Set in Victorian Edinburgh and featuring a series of mysterious ritualistic murders, this looks like it will be a dark and thrilling read.
- ‘Mr Wilder and Me’ by Jonathan Coe – I’ve loved previous books by Coe and this, set in the heat of the 1977 summer, looks glorious.
- ‘Nick’ by Michael Farris Smith – this new book about the early life of the fictional narrator of ‘The Great Gatsby’ looks really interesting.
- ‘Lie Beside Me’ by Gytha Lodge – the latest in another crime series that I’ve enjoyed vey much. This is the latest to feature DCI Jonah Sheens.
- ‘Let’s Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood’ by Jasper Rees – I’ve been granted this one on audiobook and am looking forward to learning more about Wood from her closest friends and colleagues (some of whom narrate the book).
This is ignoring the huge stacks of books in my house and my jam-packed Kindle so we shall wait and see what I actually manage to read!
Header photo with thanks to Alex Geerts for sharing their work on Unsplash.