Tag: Toksvig’s Almanac 2021

WWW Wednesday – 23rd December, 2020


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 already published – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

Yay, it’s the school holidays so I have the gift of more reading time! Unfortunately, 2020 also gifted me Covid, so I haven’t been able to make the most of my time because I feel like my brain is full of cotton wool.

Still, since last WWW Wednesday, I read Mel Giedroyc’s ‘The Best Things’ which I hoped would be fun and uplifting – and it mostly was. This is the story of a wealthy family who fall on hard times and learn to be resourceful to get through. I love Mel Giedroyc and her humour does come through in the book – review to follow.

I also finished my audiobook of Sandi Toksvig reading ‘Toksvig’s Almanac 2021’ which is packed with interesting snippets of information about women who have (mostly) been forgotten by history and yet did really notable things. I did enjoy the lively narration but felt that the contents of the book don’t really lend themselves to a cohesive listening experience – I’ve got a hardback copy of the book that I plan to look at too in order to pick up the bits I missed on the audio.

What are you reading now?

In order to combat the brain fog, I’ve gone for a fast-paced and lively read! I’m reading ‘The Art of Death’ by David Fennell, a serial killer crime novel with a female detective, DI Grace Archer. So far the killer has taken to displaying murder victims as art installations on the streets of London and it is fair to say I’m hooked…

What do you think you will read next?

I’m going to continue with the crime novels as this seems to be keeping me reading at the moment!

I’ve just been granted access to the new Liz Mistry book on NetGalley (‘Dark Memories’) – I loved the previous book in this series featuring DS Nikki Parekh and cannot wait to read this one.

I’ve also just bought ‘One by One’ by Ruth Ware after hearing so many great reviews.

So that’s me for this week! As always, thanks to NetGalley for keeping me in great books in exchange for honest reviews.

Header photo with thanks to Aaron Burden for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday – 16th December, 2020


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.

Affiliate links are provided for books – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve finished my *TOP SECRET* book for the BBNYA judging panel. Results will be out soon so I’ll be able to talk about it soon.

I’ve also finished ‘The Inverts’ by Crystal Jeans, a 1920s-set tale of two childhood friends, Bart and Bettina, who marry to hide their same-sex love interests from society. It’s bold and brash and I really enjoyed it, although some of the sensibilities felt very modern rather than authentically of the period. Still, it’s a lively read and one I’ll review fully nearer to publication date in April 2021.

I was also lucky enough to be granted access by NetGalley to Brian Bilston’s new poetry collection, ‘Alexa, what is there to know about love?’ Regular Twitter users will have probably come across Bilston’s witty and extremely clever poetry by now and this book is as lovely as I expected. The wordplay is sharp and I loved the mind-bogglingly varied inspirations for the poems; there aren’t many poets who can veer from Cleopatra to Google or Wordsworth to Mills and Boon with so much panache! A full review will follow nearer the publication date in January 2021.

What are you reading now?

As we near the end of term, I’m not reading so much because I fall asleep as soon as I pick up a book. Audiobooks are proving my salvation – I’m still listening to Sandi Toksvig’s reading of her ‘Toksvig’s Almanac 2021’ and I’ve moved on to ‘The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams (read by Stephen Fry) with the kids. Aside from a few saucy references I’d forgotten in the latter (funny but probably not wholly child-friendly), all is good.

What do you think you will read next?

I still have no real clue what I’ll read next – I decide totally on mood which is why ‘The Inverts’ was picked up this week even though it was a way down the TBR.

I do want to clear some of my NetGalley shelf before Christmas (when – no doubt – more books will arrive!) so I’m eyeing up ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams, ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell and ‘The Best Things’ by Mel Giedroyc. But we shall see…

With thanks to NetGalley for keeping me in books – all the mentioned books are from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, with the exception of ‘The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ which I bought from the always-excellent Audible service.

Header photo with thanks to Andreea Radu for sharing their work on Unsplash.

WWW Wednesday – 9th December, 2020


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 already published – thanks for supporting my blog with any purchases (at no extra cost to you!)

What have you recently finished reading?

I’ve just finished ‘Lie Beside Me’ by Gytha Lodge which was one of the NetGalley 2021 ARCs that I was keen to read. This is a story that opens with a woman waking up next to a dead man she doesn’t recognise…and then follows the police investigation to determine the killer. It’s the latest in the series featuring DCI Sheens and it is another solid and tense police procedural. A review will follow nearer publication date but fans of Lodge’s previous books will not be disappointed.

I’ve also just finished listening to ‘Going Solo’ by Roald Dahl which is read by Dan Stevens. My kids and I loved the audiobook of ‘Boy’, the book before this one, and enjoyed the tales of Dahl’s experiences working for the Shell Company in Africa and flying for the RAF in World War II. This was a nostalgic one for me because I read this book repeatedly as a child. It is darker than I remember and my daughter didn’t love it as much as ‘Boy’ for this reason, but I think it is still a classic.

What are you reading now?

I am reading a *TOP SECRET* book which I’m not allowed to talk about yet because I’m on the BBYNA judging panel which will announce its winners before Christmas.

I’m also working my way through some lighter reads – I’ve started both Claudia Winkelman’s ‘Quite’ and ‘Toksvig’s Almanac 2021’ by Sandi Toksvig (which I bought after seeing her speak about it at a live online event). I felt like I needed a cheery read to get me through to the end of term! I’ve got the Toksvig book on audio too through NetGalley and it is lovely to hear Sandi’s cheery voice narrating.

What do you think you will read next?

I still have a shocking NetGalley backlog but ‘Hyde’ by Craig Russell is up next, as well as ‘Dangerous Women’ by Hope Adams.

The new Katie Fforde book (‘A Wedding in the Country’) is also calling me as a lighter read!

Header photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash.