Tuesday 1 March 2016

Books read in February

February was a month in which I had no kitchen but I read quite a lot. I now have a kitchen, as of the weekend, so now the job of replacing my kitchen utensils, crockery and so on has begun. It seems it was quicker to remove them than to put them back. Such is life.

Anyway, this is a bookblog so enough of mundane matters. I read seven book in February, not a bad total for me but then, apart from being on tea and coffee duty for the workmen, I've not had a lot else to do. These are the books:

6. The Bookshop that Floated Away - Sarah Henshall. Non-fiction... adventures selling books on canals around England. Not as good as I had hoped.

7. Pompeii - Robert Harris. Aquaducts and disappearances and weird things happening in the lead-up to the eruption of Vesuvius. A cracking good read.

8. Whose Body? Dorothy L. Sayers. Excellent vintage crime yarn with Lord Peter Wimsey and friends.

9. Miss Pym Disposes - Josephine Tey. Yet another excellent vintage cime story, set in a college for the training of PE teachers.

10. Murder as a Fine Art - David Morell. A dark crime story set in Victorian times with the author of Confessions of an Opium Eater, Thomas de Quincey, as the main character. Excellent. Loved it.

11. Findings - Kathleen Jamie. Beautiful non-fiction book about Scottish wildlife and scenery. If you love Scotland you should read this.

12. A Fatal Thaw - Dana Stabenow. Murder in Alaska, Kate Shugak investigating. Surprised at how much more I enjoyed book two than book one. Super read.

So. Seven books, five fiction and two non-fiction. Qualitywise this was yet another excellent reading month. One was a bit average but certainly not terrible, all the rest were really very good and it's hard to choose a favourite. Certainly the best non-fiction was Findings but fiction? If pushed, and I mean really pushed, I think I'll have to choose this:


A Fatal Thaw by Dana Stabenow was a terrific murder mystery with a snowy, mountainous setting... the kind I really love... and interesting, quirky characters. Can't wait to read more about Kate Shugak and her murder investigations in Alaska.

I'm currently reading two books, The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson and Slade House by David Mitchell. I'm enjoying both and will include them in my books for March even though I'm over halfway through each of them. It seems I really am geeky enough to worry about such things. Happy reading.
~~~oOo~~~

10 comments:

DesLily said...

wow! I've only read 2 1/2 in Feb.. and only on number 8 for the year.. I've come to a screeching halt and don't know why really. oh well.. it's not a race lol.

you are doing swimmingly !!!! I hope you keep getting books that you enjoy so much!!

FictionFan said...

Sounds like a great reading month - I must say nearly every one of these appeals to me. I enjoy Robert Harris' writing and a bit of vintage crime never hurt anyone... well, except the victims, I suppose... ;)

Nan said...

Well, of course you will wait till you finish them to write them down. (signed your fellow geek - haha). I know you said this is a book blog, but oh, how I would love to see your new kitchen!! Bill B. is hot and cold for me, and usually in the same book. At the beginning he seems excited but then I find he gets cranky and I don't enjoy the book as much. The only one I can say I purely loved is the Australia book.

BooksPlease said...

A good month for reading, you read some fantastic books - and at last your kitchen is done! I'd love to see it too!

I'm geeky too -if this really is geeky, I don't think it is - in counting only finished books in the monthly totals, even if most of the book was read in an earlier month. I'm in that position at the moment with over 70% of Doctor Thorne read in February - it will go in my March total. I'm not sure just now if I will watch the TV adaptation as I'm loving the book and don't want to sit watching and getting irritated if it doesn't stick to the book.

Judith said...

Cath,
You did have an excellent reading month, with lots of titles to inspire me as usual. I'm wondering, though, are you now more enticed to cook in your kitchen than read? I would expect so, but with a diehard reader like you, one can never tell.

Kailana said...

Glad to hear you had a good reading month. Happy reading in March!

Val said...

You're at it again adding to my library list girl!
you may like this
http://stabenow.com/2011/04/10/how-my-mother-and-josephine-tey-led-me-into-a-life-of-crime/
and I haven't read anything by her but now I must...lol

Peggy Ann said...

Good month! I have a kitchen remodel to look forward to, wish it were behind me too.

Cath said...

Pat: Nope it's not at all a race. And I think life's too short not to do what you fancy when you fancy. lol!

Yvonne: Pompeii was my first book by Robert Harris but it certainly won't be my last. Such excellent writing.

Nan (fellow geek): Yes, when everything is finally finished I will take some pics of my new kitchen. It's funny you should mention BB's crankiness... I've never been too bothered by it before but it's very much to the fore in Little Dribbling and I'm finding it a bit much to be honest.

Margaret: I'll definitely post a few kitchen pics when the work is completely finished. One cupboard door had to go back because it was warped.

I'll now have to read Dr. Thorne after the TV series. That's what I get for procrastinating!

Cath said...

Judith: Um, well I cook a lot anyway - all our meals are made from scratch - so it would be hard for me to cook more than I do unless I suddenly start doing a lot of baking as I did when my kids were young. These days with my husband being diabetic I don't bake much... and I really don't need the calories either. LOL!

Thanks, Kelly. :-)

Val: Thanks for the link. With you living in Alaska I would be interested to hear what you make of the Kate Shugak series.

Oh gosh, Peggy! I wish you all the luck in the world. One thing, if they tell you it'll take two weeks don't believe them! They told me that and it actually took four weeks and a few days.