So it's been storm after storm here in the UK, Storm Eowyn on Thursday into Friday, Storm Herminia following it on Sunday and really hanging around all day Monday. Best thing to do, if you can, is stay indoors and read! (Other hobbies are available...)
So what have I been reading? Well my book 3 for this year was A Cold Spell by Max Leonard, a non-fiction about the history of ice (the ice age, mountaineering, warfare under the ice, its use as a food preservative and so on) that I seem to have been reading forever. Which is a good indicator of how much I enjoyed it. It wasn't a bad book but it just did not grab me as some non-fiction books do. Never mind, win some, lose some. 3 stars on Goodreads.
Then I moved on to one of the lovely BLCC collections of short stories, Metropolitan Mysteries, edited of course by Martin Edwards.
This is a collection of murder mystery short stories all set in London. And look at that absolutely gorgeous cover! Eighteen stories in this collection and, as usual with most anthologies, there's a degree of variation in the quality of them. It starts with a couple of stalwarts, Dorothy L. Sayers and Arthur Conan Doyle, and moves on to authors such as Baroness Orczy, Anthony Berkeley, John Dickson Carr, J. Jefferson Farjeon and so on. I had five favourites. The Case of the Faulty Drier by Josephine Bell was something I'd not come across before, a murder in a hairdressers! Great stuff. Unsound Mind by Anthony Berkeley... a doctor commits suicide... but did he? This was 'so' twisted, I'm not normally a fan of Anthony Berkeley but this was very good. Man in Bond Street by Anthony Gilbert, is just simply a police inspector talking about a strange case in his past concerning a lame man who lurks around Bond street, and a stolen ruby. Very nicely done, good twist. Death on Nelson's Column by Eric Bennett was again a very unusual setting! How did the murderer get the body up there! Well told and quirky. But my favourite of all the tales was, Back in Five Years by Michael Gilbert. There's a reason he's one of my all-time favourite crime authors. This was so clever and so well written, with his usual witty one-liners and a twist I did not see coming but should have. A good collection and particularly so if you like London as a setting for books. 4 stars on Goodreads.
So, I have three books on the go at the moment, well, two and another I'm about to start. These are they:
I'm halfway through Piranesi by Susanna Clarke and feeling distinctly underwhelmed, despite all the glowing reviews on Goodreads... apart from one person who gave it 1 star and said, 'Is that it?' I feel like that. Perhaps I won't when I get to the end. Says she, hopefully... On the Marsh by Simon Barnes is about marshes and bird-watching and I'm about to start it and quite keen after loving Winterwatch on the BBC last week. Virgil's The Aeneid was recommended by my Latin teacher as good background reading for my lessons and, you know, 'Romans'. Just started it and finding it interesting. We'll see how that goes.
I haven't done a 'Plans for 2025' post because I haven't got that many. But a lovely friend and myself decided to do our own Book-Bingo chart and this is it:
Already having a lot of fun with that. We did twelve squares each and I think have managed a nice mix which will enable a lot of mood reading. I have so far crossed off, 'seasonal' with The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard (it's very summery) and 'a tree on the cover' with The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst because, well you've guessed, it has a tree on the cover.
Plus, I have a 'winter' tbr pile I'm working from, although I must confess to regular chopping and changing of the actual books. But this is what it looks like at the moment. (Not a great photo.)
And last but not least, a couple of new books I got from an independent bookstore I follow on Twitter/X that specialises in travel and nature books. They are Sherlock and Pages who hang out in Frome in Somerset, not a million miles from me so I feel a roadtrip coming on in the summer, maybe. Their website is HERE. I was very pleased with the speedy service and quality of the books.
Climbing Days by Dorothy Pilley is, as it says on the tin, all about the author's climbing adventures in the 1920s. The other book is Stories of Trees, Woods and the Forest edited by Fiona Stafford, an anthology of stories about, yes, 'trees'. Can't wait to read both of these.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough. I hope you're all well and if it's winter where you are I hope you're staying safe and warm and have loads of brilliant books to read.
11 comments:
Cath, I love this post! Love hearing about all the books you've been reading, many of which I'm not familiar with. That book bingo card is great - good luck with it! I love finding a new independent bookstore to try. Have a great reading week and, yes, stay warm and cozy. Spring will come, right? Take care, friend!
What a lovely post, full of interest and excellent mixed genres.
There were a couple of stand-out ones for me, which I have added to my list:
I am not a huge reader of short stories, however I do enjoy the Martin Edwards anthologies.
Also, I know you mention that this one has received mixed reviews, but I wouldn't mind trying 'Piranesi' for myself.
I thought you might find 'Sherlock & Pages' interesting, so I am pleased that you decided to give their website a try. I don't know about you, but I don't mind paying full price for non-fiction books, whereas I always tend to shy away from doing the same for a novel.
Luke Sherlock's social media pages are also an excellent read, if like me, you are fascinated by old churches and he has just published a book recounting his journeys around the country
I see the weather men have come out today and said that these storms look set to continue right into March, which will apparently 'come in like a lion', although they didn't stick their necks out and say whether it would 'go out like a lamb'!
It is good to hear about your reading. Metropolitan Mysteries sounds very good; not available over here yet it seems, but I can wait until it is.
That is interesting about your experience with reading Piranesi. I had wanted to try it someday, since it is much shorter than Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, but the descriptions I read seemed so complex and strange. Still, if I find a copy at the book sale sometime I may get it.
I like your Bingo card. Nice categories with lots of options. I am doing (informally so far) two challenges for 2025 with long lists of prompts but not intending to finish any of them. One is Susan's Cover Lovers Challenge at Bloggin' 'bout Books and the other is the 52 Book Club Challenge. Also the Japanese Literature Challenge just for January and February.
I looked up Sherlock and Pages bookstore, it looks lovely.
Hi Kay. So glad you enjoyed my bits and pieces sort of a post. Thanks for the good luck for the book bingo. I think it will be a lot of fun and allows a lot of leeway as to what I can read. Yes, spring is on the way, I already have daffodils and bluebells shooting in the garden. You take care too.
Hi Yvonne. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
I finished Piranesi this afternoon (it's not a long book) and I had mixed feelings about it. It was very well written and did get more interesting about halfway through when it becomes clear what's actually going on. But really... there is an awful lot of waffle and for about half of the book nothing is clear at all.
I think it was you who gave me the heads-up about Sherlock & Pages. Yes, I feel exactly the same way about paying full price for non-fiction books as opposed to fiction. I think it's because I feel I'm more likely to read non-fiction books again and therefore don't mind paying a bit extra. Yes, I saw the churches book was due out and will buy that at some stage.
Heavens above, storms until March! I sincerely hope they've got that wrong!
Hi Tracy. Yes I think you would like Metropolitan Mysteries. There's a good choice of authors and various types of story... and none I actively disliked.
I finished Piranesi this afternoon and gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. It is indeed strange and I got annoyed and bored by not really having any idea what was going on for half the book. It is beautifully written though.
Enjoy the challenges you're doing. It sounds good to me to be easy-going about actually finishing them.
At some stage I would actually like to go and visit that bookstore!
I've been hearing and reading about all of those storms lately, Cath! Yikes! Inside, safe, and warm is definitely the best place to be right now. I'm sorry to hear you've been a bit underwhelmed by some of your reading lately; that happens to me, too, and it can be a disappointment. But you've got some great challenges and TBR books, so I hope you'll find some gems there. Speaking of which, I'm glad you've got one of the BL's collection there; they've been doing a wonderful job of bringing back some authors we might not otherwise read.
Great post and I love the book bingo chart you created. I'm taking a classics challege but the prompts on your bingo chart are really fun and interesting and I will add a few to my reading this year.
Speaking of classics it's great that you are reading Aneid. I haven't read it and it's occurred to me that I rarely read any literature prior to the 19th century and that's not good. A part of me would like to tackle Homer's Odyssey and I understand there are good translations these days.
Hope the weather gets better and all the best.
Margot: Yes, we seem to be Storm Central in the UK these days. It's quiet at the moment, a lovely frosty, sunny day here today, but we're never quite sure when the next one will roll in. Yes, it's a bit of a disappointment when the average books come one after the other, but hopefully that will change soon. I do enjoy the BLCC collections a lot, and often it's the more obscure authors that I enjoy the most, some real gems in this London anthology.
Kathy: Thank you, my friend and I were quite pleased with the categories we came up with. I thought about doing your classics challenge but had decided not to do too many challenges this year. I will however be trying to read a handful of classics regardless.
I read Homer's Odyssey in school but it was so long ago I've forgotten it. So I want to read it, and The Iliad again this year. I'll ask my Latin tutor about the best translations for us as she teaches Classics as well as Latin. The David West translation of The Aeneid is proving to be very readable and I'm coping well with it, much better than I thought I would!
When storms come calling that's the perfect time to hunker down with a book, a blanket and some chocolate. :D I think I tried to read Piranesi once, but didn't get far in it because I remember nothing about it, even though I really loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. And that bookish bingo looks like a lot of fun; you chose some great categories! I always love filling in the squares when I do a reading bingo. It's just so satisfying. Happy reading!
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