Struggling to find time to read at the moment, but popped this one on as an audiobook on my commute home from work. A collection of short stories featuring the fabulous Phryne Fisher, it was guaranteed to make me smile.

I love a gothic novel, so I fully expected to love this, but, while overall I enjoyed it, I felt it could have done with some more editing. In particular, something was referred to several times in the novel but nothing was made of it, leaving it feeling as if part of the later story had been edited out but everyone forgot to edit out the earlier references. Not a bad novel, but not great either.

I‘ve parked this one on the back-burner, marked as DNF. Marketed as a travel book, I anticipated a narrative about the author‘s journeys to the Hebrides, about the characters she met, and the history. But the marketing is deceptive. This is a series of political essays, that reads like a text book.

Not my usual sort of book, but a book club friend said Cooper‘s books were her “guilty pleasure”, so I thought I‘d give it a go.

Written in the 80s and set in the 70s, it‘s very much of its time, but I did end up caring about some and absolutely hating others, which shows I connected with them in some way. So while being far from the best book I‘ve ever read, it‘s far from the worst, too.

Not in the Litsy database sadly. Thoroughly enjoyed this whistle-stop tour of British female aviation pioneers. I tired a little of Smith‘s habit of assuming how the subjects of her chapters were feeling at certain times, but otherwise this is an interesting and entertaining read about women who, in many cases, should be far better know for what they achieved.

Is it “cheating” to include textbooks in your Goodreads challenge?…..

Last week‘s #BookReport: Christmas crime short story collection and book club read both finished as planned.

#WeeklyForecast I hope to get through some, if not all, of Magnificent Women and Flying Machines, a Christmas present from my other half.

@Cinfhen

Should have posted this a couple of days ago but events (commonly known as getting symptoms of a bad cold, doing a test and testing positive for the ‘rona 🙄), so here‘s my slightly late December pick for #12BooksOf2021. It‘s a slow, gently paced book, not the greatest writing ever but the historic and geographic detail of an area I know well made this a really enjoyable read for me.

@Andrew65

1. I love watching snow fall, I love walking through it; but I hate driving in it so I only like it to snow when I don‘t have to be anywhere!

2. I do enjoy a walk in the snow on a crisp, clear day. As long as there‘s a comfy chair and a boozy hot chocolate at the end!

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView

I think I‘d sum this one up as bonkers but brilliant. My favourite read of November #12BooksOf2021 @Andrew65

A collection of Festive-themed crimes from some of the best British crime writers of 20th century. Personally, I didn‘t take to the opening story featuring Margery Allingham‘s Albert Campion, or the closing one written by Dorothy L Sayers (is it heresy to not like Sayers?), but the rest were enjoyable.

Discovered this one at Cheltenham Literature Festival in October after seeing the author on one of the panels. An interesting, unusual novel looking at the effects of childhood trauma.

#12BooksOf2021

@Andrew65

It‘s been a while since I did one of these! My reading has been off the boil for a while, so New Year‘s Resolution has to be to do more reading😊. Sticking to my book-a-week goal, I‘m keeping it light. I started Murder at Christmas last week, and want to finish it before moving on to my book club‘s choice for discussion next week, The Great Gatsby, which will be a reread for me.

#WeeklyForecast @Cinfhen

I have set my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal at 52 books, so I keep in with that and proclaim my goal to be an average of a book a week, making my January goal 4 books.

My “fitness” goal is to maintain a good diary. It‘s the one thing more than anything else that helps me lose weight, but I‘ve been very lax over the last couple of years.

#BFC #BFC2022 @wanderinglynn

Again, it was just the two books read in September, but what a two! Honourable mention to Amor Towles‘ A Gentleman in Moscow, but Holly Bourne‘s novel struck a note with me and gave it the edge as my choice for #12BooksOf2021

 @Andrew65

Not just my favourite read of #August but my favourite book of the year.

#12BooksOf2021
@Andrew65

Confession: I only read two books in July! Of the two, this was my favourite

#12BooksOf2021
@Andrew65

My June pick for #12BooksOf2021 is the beautifully crafted novel from Korean writer Cho Nam-Joo.

@Andrew65

My favourite read in May was this memoir from Tarquin Hall, based on his experiences living in Brick Lane, and the conversations he had with other residents, reflecting the changing demographic in the area over the decades.

#12Booksof2021 @Andrew65

My favourite read of April was this crime novel set in colonial India.

#12Booksof21 @Andrew65

My favourite read of March was this one from the DI Bliss series.

#12BooksOf2021 @Andrew65

3 days in and I‘m already running behind!🙄😂

My favourite read of February 2021 was this cosy crime from the creator of one of the few programmes I watch on TV, Death In Paradise.

#12BooksOf2021 @Andrew65

Picking up @Andrew65 ‘s idea of posting #12Booksof2021, posting my favourite book from each month of last year, starting with this one, a gentle plot with keenly observed characters. Swift is a master of character-driven novels.

#1stBookof2022 #January

A slow, gentle, easy read, mixing cosy crime and a ghost story. The author mines a rich seam of historical detail from her own life growing up at Holkham Hall (she is a member of the Coke family, who have owned the Holkham Estate since the early 17th Century.) Having visited the Estate many times, I loved the details of the house and village, and the story itself, though slow-burning, is engaging. Worth a read.

My parents live near Holkham, I‘ve visited the village and it‘s impressive beach many times, and the Hall gardens a few times, so this could be an interesting read. The author is the daughter of Thomas Cole, 8th Earl of Leicester, whose family have owned the Holkham Estate since the early 1600s. So I‘m intrigued and interested to read this one.

The follow-up to last year‘s Away With the Penguins (known as How The Penguins Saved Veronica in the US) follows the further adventures of Veronica McCreedy, where discovering more about her past, and more about penguins, sees her learning more about human connections. While not having the immediacy of the first book, this is nevertheless another heartwarming story from Prior.

I was expecting just a light-hearted, predictable, fluffy romance, but there is a lot of spirit in this book that IMO lifts it above average. Main character Jenny is flawed but develops throughout the book, there‘s a good mix of humour and pathos, and sufficient interesting stories beyond the central will-they-won‘t-they-(of-course-they-will-that‘s-how-these-books-work) romance to keep the reader hooked. A very pleasant surprise.

It‘s that time of year where I read some “low-brow” Christmas-themed books. Found A Cotswold Christmas (Willoughby Close 1) on Audible as a freebie included in my subscription. It was OK, thought I‘d give part 2 a go, but I found it a bit bland and am unlikely to bother with the rest of the series. The series is very much aimed at the US market the location is more an American‘s idea of the Cotswolds than actual reality.

“The past is an anchor….chained at one end to our ankles and buried in the mud of history at the other. It drags us down; it keeps us from moving forward.”

This satire rips into identity politics, religion, dysfunctional families and tradition, in a most bizarre fashion. At times hilarious, at times moving, always slightly weird, the book is well written, but begins to become repetitive and unsubtle as it makes its point again and again.

1. Noooo! I‘m way behind. Since we came out of lockdown my life seems to have become busier than it was before the pandemic, I planned for a book a week and am barely managing one a month!

2. The tagged book, the follow-up to last year‘s Away With The Penguins (known as How The Penguins Saved Veronica in the US, I think?), which I absolutely loved.

#Two4Tuesday
@TheSpineView

1. Mother For Dinner by Shalom Auslander;

2. The old faithful, Goodreads. I‘ve tried keeping a written journal but I always gravitate back to GR;

3. I‘ve never Googled a book, I Amazon them 🤣! The last one I Amazoned was Pandora by Susan Stokes-Chapman

#WeekendReads
@rachelsbrittain

Slow-moving, completely unrealistic, an incredibly weak ending, and poorly written. Wish I‘d bailed but it was a book club choice and I felt I should keep going.

Not recommended.

I was a little underwhelmed by this book. With the reference to aviation in the title, I think I was expecting more about the the flying. Too much back story on minor characters for my liking, too.

This should be read by every woman who feels that they are unlovable, that feels that they, something about them, are the reason relationships fail; and by every woman who has felt uncomfortable (or worse) about the way they‘ve been treated by a man. This is a book I needed 20 years ago, when I was the protagonist‘s age.

Time to catch up on some reviews. I read this one back in August (August!).

This is a lovely, gentle novel written in a style similar to many Japanese novels I‘ve read (Bradley lived in Tokyo for many years). A series of linked short stories that encapsulates the isolation one can feel in a large, busy city. Probably my favourite book of this year. And Bradley is so unassuming, he still can‘t believe people like his work!

Hey!!!

I‘ve been AWOL for a while, lots of stuff going on, but I‘ve missed you all!

I love Towles‘ writing, his character-driven stories are so well drawn. This tale of a true gentleman under house arrest as a Former Person after the Russian Revolution appears at first to be a gentle tale, but scratch the surface and the effects of Soviet communism are revealed just beneath.

This was August‘s #BookSpin. I‘ve got a little behind!

July has been a busy month in general, and I only finished one book!! Must try harder in August….

Here‘s my list for #BookSpin #DoubleSpin #BookSpinBingo

@TheAromaofBooks

This was my #BookSpin read for July. I‘m really not sure what I make of it. It‘s an easy read, but the characters are all rather ghastly, and I don‘t feel that Murdoch had quite mastered the art of making ghastly characters engaging yet - her next novel, A Severed Head, published 3 years later, had, I feel, much better drawn characters.

@TheAromaofBooks

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 230
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 229
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I‘ve lapsed, life getting in the way. So, picking up where I left off…

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 228
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day (ish) from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 227
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 226
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 225
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

Most disappointed that this one isn‘t in the Litsy database!

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 224
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 223
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 222
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 221
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain

I am posting one book per day from my extensive to-be-read collection. No description and providing no reason for wanting to read it, I just do. Some will be old, some will be new. Don‘t judge me - I have a lot of books. Join the fun if you want.
This is day 220
#BooksToRead #TBRPile #TBRMountain