This series is such a good pick-me-up, even if I am guaranteed to cry (usually happy tears) at least once per volume 😂
This series is such a good pick-me-up, even if I am guaranteed to cry (usually happy tears) at least once per volume 😂
An early Dalziel and Pascoe that was pretty good. The three storylines kept things moving well, and there were some thoughtful moments and conversations around aging. Not entirely sure I buy the resolution of one of the storylines, but whatever.
Fascinating and well put together. I think I‘ll have to get my own copy.
Of course the #BookSpinBingo gods chose the one of my three firm picks that is least likely to be read 🤣
#BookSpin: Le Matou, by Yves Beauchemin
#DoubleSpin: three chapters or articles for coursework
I just realized I never posted my original #BookSpinBingo board for February 2024 (just the list), so here‘s the wrap-up:
✅ BookSpin: readings (selections from 3 different course books)
❌ DoubleSpin: Dalek Empire 3.2
1️⃣ bingo: I1 to I5
The good thing about keeping things ultra-flexible for #BookSpinBingo is that I get my lists ready a lot sooner 😂 The firm picks for March 2024 are a French book, a Doctor Who audio, and an older thriller.
I liked this. Some elements of the plot were a little far-fetched, but I was in a mood to roll with them. This was a fast read. I personally did not fear elevators while reading this, or at least no more than usual, but I don‘t hold that against the book blurb 😂
I am here for this double readathon of #20In4 and #FabulousFebruary. My goal will be to fill at least one more bingo square for course reading (I count 3 textbook chapters or articles as 1 square on my BookSpin bingo card) and to read one non-fiction book from the library.
This was good fun and a nice expansion of the Rivers of London universe. I do think calling a 200-page book a “novella” is a stretch though. Maybe it‘s a novella in relation to the 800-page-plus doorstoppers that come out these days.
I am less enamoured of fighter jets than I am of space travel, so this was a slog. I have so little time for pleasure reading these days that I can‘t spend it on books I‘m not enjoying.
Content warning for animal death (chapter 53).
I find the cover art super creepy and don‘t like that the Doctor Who logo is absent. It makes the story look pulpy (which it is, but shhh). This is one of those Fourth Doctor and Sarah Jane ones where they get captured about four times and Sarah Jane nearly gets killed twice (not through anything she did, just the fact that she‘s travelling with the Doctor). It‘s a quick read and probably better if you‘ve watched and enjoyed the TV version.
This was a re-read and a good one. It feels quite sinister because of how “ordinary” all the deaths are. No fancy poisons or weird weapons. This is a stand-alone Agatha and works better for it.
This was darkly funny with a great pace. It was distressing how many of the narrator‘s many neuroses I found completely reasonable 😂 If I can get my hands on another volume in the series, I will read it.
This was lovely. I am 100% here for this trend of bookshop-related fiction from Japan, even if this particular example does not contain cats.
January 2024 #BookSpinBingo wrap-up:
❌ BookSpin: Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators
✅ DoubleSpin: Three chapters of readings: Snook ch. 7, Amalberti chs. 1 and 2
1️⃣ bingo
I didn‘t read a lot of what I wanted to in January 2024, so keeping things loosey-goosey for #BookSpinBingo in February. The only firm choices are my Roll100 picks.
I wanted to like this more than I did. The story was intriguingly told and the world being built had many interesting elements. However, it felt incomplete, possibly because it was a novella rather than part of a longer work. The storytelling was the sort of thing I‘d want in like a 500-page novel.
I have the feeling that younger me would have read a copy of this to death if she‘d had it back then. Current me liked this a great deal. I would pick up a copy if I stumbled across a nice edition.
A lowish pick because the last two chapters read like the translator got tired 🤣 some typos, repeated text, etc. I would love to get my hands on a copy in French to compare the two.
Maurice Druon‘s novels have proven quite zippy for me, relatively speaking. Although I‘m reading them in my second language, they are quite short (250ish pages including historical notes) and the story moves quickly. I don‘t know much French history so I‘m learning a lot.
I‘m off next week on a course, so the readathon comes at a perfect time! I plan to finish two of my Roll100 picks (Dalek Empire audio and The Empress of Salt and Fortune) for sure, then the rest will be left to chance.
I fould this really interesting and compelling. The most challenging part for me to grasp was what all those abbreviations stood for; the theory of practical drift made sense.
Several new characters to throw into the mix in this volume. Mr Kanda certainly had a full house 😄 Great fun to start 2024 off with.
Best of December for #12BooksOf2023 is Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, by James Reason. I am a NERD, what can I say 😂😂😂
Best of November for #12BooksOf2023 is Writing for Busy Readers, by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink. As someone who edits for busy readers, I found this book really helpful. It told me some things I was doing right and some things I should try.
Best of October for #12BooksOf2023 is The Last Devil to Die, by Richard Osman. I love the Thursday Murder Club series and this one provided a good stopping point for the characters to take a break while Osman writes something else for a bit.
January 2024 #BookSpinBingo board:
#BookSpin: Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators
#DoubleSpin: Three chapters of readings
Both my audiobooks AND a print book I‘m currently reading are on the same line! Of course none of that line is a readings square 😂
Best of September for #12BooksOf2023 is Babel, by R. F. Kuang. Rich and thought-provoking, and as a former translator I loved reading a book with translators as protagonists.
December 2023 #BookSpinBingo wrap-up:
✅ BookSpin: An unowned book (The Stone, by Nigel Tranter)
❌ DoubleSpin: Transit, by Ben Aaronovitch
1️⃣ Bingo (O1 to O5)
Another book I forgot to review! This was my last book finished for 2023. I learned a lot and enjoyed making connections to other books I‘d read in the field.
My #BookSpinBingo will be a lot different this year because I am starting a part-time Master‘s degree. I did the math and figured that last year, I finished a book every 3 days, so to give myself the illusion of reading progress, I made half my spin list “three chapters of readings”. An article will count as one chapter. We‘ll see how well this works 😁
#Roll100 wrap-up for 2023: I read 21 of my 36 picks, and managed to read ALL of the picks for July, August, and September! I don‘t know how many other books off the list I read because I deleted the list from my master document after the December picks were announced (I was itching to create a new list for January 😆), but this year I‘m going to track that.
Best of August for #12BooksOf2023 was The Gifts of Imperfection, by Brené Brown. As a recovering perfectionist I found this book useful, especially the acknowledgement that working on accepting imperfection is a process, not a thing to check off a list ?
Best of July for #12BooksOf2023 is The LGBTQ+ History Book. DK‘s Big Ideas Simply Explained series is excellent.
Best of June for #12BooksOf2023 was a re-read, Emily‘s Quest by L.M. Montgomery. I love this trilogy!
Forgot to review this earlier. I liked the accident investigation details but found the characters‘ personal lives too messy.
Best of May for #12BooksOf2023 is Stone Blind, by Natalie Haynes. I adored this retelling of Medusa‘s story.
Looking forward to another year of #Roll100! Here are my picks for January 2024:
The Empress of Salt and Fortune (Vo)
Les poisons de la couronne (Druon)
Dalek Empire 3.1: The Exterminators (Big Finish)
Glad to have an ebook and an audiobook in the mix as I will be travelling in January 😄
Best of April for #12BooksIn2023: Love and Let Die, by John Higgs. This book compares and contrasts the cultural impact of the Beatles and the James Bond franchise. Fascinating!
#12BooksOf2023
Best of March: Here and Now and Then (Chen). I loooooove time travel in my sci-fi, so I loved this book to pieces. An excellent debut. It was recommended to me as a read-alike for Back to the Future, and I think that's a valid comparison, although there's definitely some Doctor Who mixed in as well.
I‘m late to the #12BooksOf2023 game, so here are my Day 1 and 2 picks.
Best of January: The Tea Dragon Society (O‘Neill). Very cute dragons and a great story. I need to buy a boxed set of the trilogy.
Best of February: Between the Stops (Toksvig). I read this in print and three chapters in, I ran off to buy the audiobook too. I love Sandi Toksvig and want to be her when I grow up 😄
Belated #DashingDecember 2023 wrap-up: 3 books and 5 articles for my upcoming master‘s degree.
The books:
Past Lying (McDermid)
The Red Right Hand, by Joel Townsley Rogers
Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, by James Reason
This was a difficult read for me because there are no chapter breaks, and the only POV is that of Dr. Riddle, and I was never sure how much to trust him. The story jumps backward and forward in time, adding another complication. The writing is occasionally repetitive, and the initial sections were so ornate that I nearly bailed. But at the same time I had to find out whodunnit. So a tricky one to rate and trickier to recommend.
I tore through this book in two days. It was a visceral reminder of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic: although the world seems to have moved on, we must not forget how terrifying those early days were and how little we knew about the virus (and we don't know that much more now, especially about long Covid). The details were just right and accurate. I liked too that each squad member got some airtime in the story.
This has many elements that make it a good Alistair MacLean thriller. A plane crash, hostile terrain, a medical man for a protagonist, a closed circle of suspects. I was shivering with cold just reading it. Most of the characters had a chance to play a key role in the story, even the women (as much as is possible in these older thrillers). It‘s not top of my list for favourite MacLeans, but it‘s definitely just outside the podium.
This is a short but powerful book that builds the argument that the Hatfield train crash in 2000 resulted from an environment that diffused responsibility and blocked the free flow of safety-critical information. The details are shocking, and it‘s sad to read about them now because I am not sure how much has changed. I learned a great deal from this book.
OMG it really is the middle of the month already 😳 For #DashingDecember 2023 I plan to indulge in crime fiction, because I will be on vacation at my parents‘ place. Some possibilities:
The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral
Past Lying
The Red Right Hand
Golden Age Bibliomysteries
I found this book accessible, with short chapters and good summary chapters at the beginning and end. The case studies were really good too, from a variety of fields. The last chapter did get quite repetitive, though, and there were more proofing errors (missing words, a syntax error) that made me wonder if that chapter was edited fully.