Books read in September

 I've no idea what happened to September, unlike our long hot summer (at least three years in length), it flew by. I meant to post more but it didn't happen, hopefully now that we're almost into October things will be quieter and I can post a bit more.

I read seven books in September, so for me that was not a bad reading month, not these days anyway. Oddly, five of those books were written by just two authors. 

I started the month with two rereads, both by Terry Pratchett.

Lords and Ladies is a fantasy Discworld book set around midsummer. Amateur witches are causing havoc among the standing stones, encouraging things to come through the barrier which should be left on the other side. Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg feature strongly in this one.

Carpe Jugulum is another witches story. Ex-witch Magrat and King Verence are to be married. He sends out invitations, including the vampires in Uberworld. Not perhaps the best idea he ever had...

Thoroughly enjoyed both of these rereads, it's a long time since I read any Pratchett and many years since I read these two so they were almost brand new reads. I always forget what a fantastic writer he was and plan to reread more this winter if I can. I fancy Sam Vimes might feature...

The next three books were all by crime writer, Elly Griffiths: The Locked Room, The Last Remains, and The Man in Black. I started with the last mentioned, an anthology of short stories. 

 Which was all well and good... Some very good stories in this. I liked Harbinger: A Harbindar Kaur Story which told of that detective's first day working as a police sergeant in Shoreham. The Max Mephisto story was not bad but informed me that that particular series of the author's is probably not for me. I 'loved' the Ruth Galloway stories, especially Flint's Fireside Tale, a really spooky little yarn told from the pov of Ruth's cat, and a great story. And then I got to The Valley of the Queens, a Ruth and Nelson story set, Agatha Christie style, on The Nile in Egypt, and with something of a spoiler in it for those who, like me, have not quite finished the novels yet. So what to do? Well, go back and read the last two Ruth Galloway novels of course! 

 The Locked Room is book 14 in the series and it takes place during the covid pandemic. It really took me back, I have to say, recalling as it did how we were all hoping for the best as the news steadily got worse and worse and lockdown was imposed. The mystery element in this one involves odd suicides connected to a weight loss centre. The personal stuff, which I always love, revolves around a picture Ruth finds in her late mother's possessions. A really excellent instalment, this one.

 The Last Remains is, supposedly, the last Ruth Galloway novel. I say supposedly because Elly Griffiths has not altogether dismissed the idea of more, I gather, and there is a very big opening in this last book for more. Anyway, the plot of this one involves the finding of a young woman's remains in a café that's being renovated. The wonderful Cathbad is implicated and his case is not helped when he disappears. A lot of personal stuff is resolved in the book, at last, and I loved it. It's very hard when a series you love comes to an end. I understand... but an still really hoping Griffiths will change her mind. 

My next book was The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley, a book recced to me by all and sundry and seen reviewed on Instagram and YouTube.

 The starting premise of this series of seven books is that six girls have been adopted by a man known to them as Pa Salt and they have been brought up on an island in the middle of Lake Geneva. Pa Salt has died and the sisters who, all but one, have been scattered far and wide, convene for the funeral, only to discover that he had himself buried at sea before they got there. This first book tells the story of the eldest, Maia, who is the one who stayed behind, but was away when he died. She decides to go to Rio in Brazil where she's been told she originally came from, to find any family she might still have there. The story is told in two timelines, the modern one with Maia, and a 1920s story which follows her great grandmother, Bel, as she's forced into an engagement to a man she doesn't love and goes off to Paris and well... that would be a spoiler. While I was reading this I wasn't sure about it to be honest. But Bel's story really captured me and is still occupying a space in my head. And there was fascinating stuff about the construction of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio too. So, yeah. Will I read more? Yes, I think I 'probably' will as Lucinda Riley wrote (she sadly passed away several years ago, aged 56) very engagingly indeed. 

My last book for September was a crime yarn from a series I have read about half a dozen books from, but not this one, August Heat, an Inspector Montalbano story by Andrea Camilleri.

 As the title would indicate this book is set during a very hot August on Sicily. Montalbano finds a holiday let for his girlfriend, Livia's, best friend and her family. They arrive and over days all sorts of things go wrong, culminating in the discovery of a body. I won't say where as it's rather ingenious and interesting. Chaos ensues of course and Montalbano has a lot of digging to do before he can discover who the dead person was and what happened. This was an excellent and clever instalment of this long-running Italian crime series. It took me back to when my late husband and I binge watched the entire series 6 or 7 years ago on BBC iPlayer (it's still on there). I don't remember this one though, so perhaps they didn't dramatise every book. Again, I think I will try to read a few more this winter. 

So that was my September reading. No particular favourite, all books enjoyed. I seem to be rereading more these days than I used to. Which is interesting. 

Happy autumn all, I hope you're keeping well and finding lots of good books to read as spooky season approaches. 

 

Books read in August

 What a summer it's been. Much of the UK experienced five heatwaves, although to me it felt pretty much like one just rolled into the next and the next and the next. Horrendous. Thank goodness it changed about ten days ago, we had the first serious rain since May, and the countryside and our gardens are just starting to turn from brown to green again. Welcome September, and a lovely autumnal feel to the air. I thought we would never get here.

So, August was an 'okay' reading month for me. Average, I would say. I read six books and these are they:

First up, The Villagers by A.J. Griffiths.  

 A couple and their children move into a quiet village, thinking it will be a good place to bring the kids up. But it's not long before Olive, the wife, begins to discover that people are not always what they seem. Their neighbours seem nice, if a little eccentric, but it turns out they all have secrets and some of them are very odd indeed. I'm a bit of a fan of secrets in books, plus I do like the tales Miss Marple tells about the people who live in St. Mary Mead, so this one ticked a lot of boxes for me. It's part of an unconnected series of books, there's a 'Seasiders' one, a 'Circus' and a 'Church' one (being a fan of churchy mysteries I think I'll grab that) and I gather from a friend that they're all good.

Next, Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell, the first in her Kay Scarpetta series of books.

 

It's Richmond, Virginia, in the early 1990s, and a serial killer has murdered three women in a very nasty manner.  Kay Scarpetta has just become the Chief Medical Examiner, which must've been unusual for a woman back then, and not everyone is happy about it. Add in a ten year old niece, whose mother doesn't want her, and the appearance of a fourth body and you have the ingredients of a good book. I quite enjoyed this, it was pacey and the characters were interesting, I'm just not sure I'll carry on with such a long series. It's a commitment and I had one or two misgivings... I just wish I could remember what they were... it's a whole month since I read it. LOL!

Next, a non-fiction book, The North Sea: Along the Edge of Britain by Alistair Moffat.  

This is a travelogue about the author's journey along the edge of the North Sea, from Kent to the north of Scotland. Interesting in parts, I would call this. I wasn't very interested in the Butlins or the seaside holiday bits, but the Doggerland details were excellent and even better was the section on how the Romans tried several times to defeat the Picts and failed. The author is Scottish so I suppose it makes sense that the Scottish bits would be the most engaging. Nice cover.

Shadows in Bronze is book two of Lindsey Davis's 'Didius Falco series. 

 

The story here starts with Falco, and one other, disposing of a body for the Emperor Vespasian. It leads to him, and a friend and his family, holidaying in Herculaneum and getting into all sorts of trouble along with the new love in his life, Helena. This was very slow starting and I felt like giving up to be honest. But it picked up halfway through and I ended up enjoying it. I could do with less of the bad luck Falco suffers from, it gets a bit wearing after a time when nothing ever goes right. I will continue with the series though as the Ancient Rome setting is superb. 

Next, I read one of the British Library's weird tales collections, Roads of Destiny edited by Alasdair Richmond. The theme of this is parallel universes, roads not taken, that sort of thing. There were several good stories, I didn't take notes so can't elaborate on those, but to be honest I thought this a very average collection. 

Finally, The Case of the Late Pig, an Albert Campion murder mystery, by Margery Allingham. 

 

Albert attends the funeral of 'Pig' Peters, whom he was at school with. Six months later the police summon him, the newly dead body of Pig Peters has been discovered. What's going on? Campion and Lugg head to the village of Kepesake to investigate. This was huge fun, if slightly confusing at times as regards who's who. The books are very engagingly written, lot of banter and humour. Apparently this is the only Campion book that Campion himself narrates. Will certainly be reading more of this entertaining vintage crime series.

So that was my August reading month. There were no massive stand-out wonderful books (on Goodreads I gave them all four stars apart from Roads of Destiny, which got three) but neither was anything terrible. And that's fine. 

Happy September reading! 

 

Books read in July

So, I've been awol again for most of July. No particular reason, just busy with visitors, and lazy because of the almost constant heatwave we've had throughout July. A drought has been declared for much of the UK but we did actually get a little rain on Friday. Not enough, of course, but it was so nice. Thank goodness it's only 4 weeks or so to September. I feel really bad for the countries currently experiencing such awful wildfires, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Canada, and even here in the UK there are a couple of nasty fires in the Cairngorms and Suffolk. I honestly can't wait to see the back of this summer.

I read seven books in July, hiding from the heat quite honestly, it's a brilliant thing to do when you haven't the energy to do anything else.

I started the month with The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis. 

 

This is book 1 of the author's Didius Falco series, set in Ancient Rome. Falco is an informer, a sort of detective in Roman times, who saves a young woman and ends up investigating the smuggling of Silver Pigs, (lead ingots) from mines in Britannia. There's a lot more to this of course, the setting and historical background were very authentic and there is high drama (Rome at night was a scary place), murder and romance. I loved it and will definitely be reading a lot more in this series.

Next was The Sunken Sailor by Patricia Moyes, book 2 in her Inspector Henry Tibbett series.

 (What a cover!) Henry and Emmy go sailing off the Suffolk coast with some friends. They hear about the death of a sailor and Henry's ears prick up. He can't resist looking into it even though he's supposed to be on holiday. What I enjoyed about this one was its delightful sense of place. The village on the Suffolk coast was gorgeous and, although I'm no sailor, the lazy sailing days sounded wonderful. The mystery wasn't bad either and I didn't guess who'd done the deed. Love this 'new to me' series.

Next, The Instruments of Darkness by John Connolly.

 This is book 21 (I know!) of Connolly's Charlie Parker series, wherein Parker takes on the case of a young mother accused, by her husband, of abducting and murdering her own child. This is more of a police procedural that many of the Parker books, but there is enough weirdness - something lurking in the woodshed in Maine - to keep me happy and, as always the writing is sublime. 

Next, A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett.

 This book two in the author's Shadow of the Leviathan series. It's of the fantasy/crime genre, a bit of a rare bird in my experience, and a very interesting series indeed. The detective is Ana Dalabra, a strange female who is so overwhelmed by the outside world that she mostly stays at home and lets her assistant, young Dinios Kol, go out to investigate for her and bring his information back. The civilisation on the planet is based on Ancient Rome and people are altered to give them certain skills; Dinios has a photographic memory for instance. The crime here involves a treasury officer who has disappeared and Dinios has to go beyond the edges of the empire to investigate. The world building in the series is fantastic, so is the writing, but be warned, the books are quite weird. I love them but they would not be for everyone. 

Next, Beyond the Point by Damien Boyd.

 This book 9 in the author's 'Nick Dixon' series and is one of my absolute favourite current crime series. This one involves a woman found murdered at the Hinkley Point nuclear power station in Somerset. This is a real place and because I was used to seeing it in the distance when I lived in Minehead, the setting felt nicely familiar. Brilliant mystery and, as always with Damian Boyd, superb writing, love the background story with Nick and his police woman girlfriend, Jane, and the dog, Monty. Honestly, this series can do no wrong for me. 

Next, a non-fiction, Roman Empire by Train by James Nally and Alice Roberts.

 Alice Roberts is well known in the UK for hosting TV archaeological and historical documentaries. I'm a big fan so tend to watch all of her programmes. Back in February she went around part of the Roman Empire by train, starting in Italy and finishing in Spain. Loved it - she's previously done Egypt, the Ottoman Empire and Greece - all well worth watching. This book is basically an accompaniment to the series and made for a very enjoyable read.

Last but very much not least, Murder at Gull's Nest by Jess Kid.

 It's the early 1950s and Nora Breen has just left a nunnery to go in search of a younger nun, Frieda, who did the same. She washed up in a village on the south coast of England, from where she wrote to Nora diligently until suddenly the letters stopped. Worried, Nora sets off to find her and goes to stay at the guest house where her friend was last heard of. There are some very odd people staying there but when people start to die Nora has trouble convincing the police that the deaths were anything but accidental. This is described on Goodreads as a cosy mystery, but I can't say that I agree. There's real darkness in this book involving the consequences of war, things that can happen to you when you're a child, sexuality, but also a lot of humour, Nora is very Irish and isn't afraid to let it show, and it's very well written. I love the budding relationship between Nora and Inspector Rideout, they suit each other, though I have no idea if that's the way the author will go as she progresses, because this is book one in a new series. Book two is already out but it's stupid expensive for Kindle so I'll wait for it to come down a bit. I will be getting it though as I absolutely loved this. 

So, that was my July reading. Seven books, six fiction and one non-fiction. For some reason this year, I'm not reading as much non-fiction as I do normally - only six this year so far. Oh well, it is what it is and I shall not stress on it. Of the six fiction books, I can't pick a favourite - all of them were top-notch - so I won't try, just be happy it was such a good month for reading, if not weather.

I hope you're all keeping well, coping in the heat if it's awful where you are, and finding lots of brilliant books to read. Is it September yet?

Books read in June

Heatwaves appear to be good for my reading figures. We endured a nasty one last week, temps up in the mid nineties, which for the UK is extremely unusual. All kinds of records broken, including the hottest June day ever. May it never return! I hate heat like that. I retreated indoors, lots of water, fan on, read books... and now it's over. Temps went down properly on Sunday and while it's still warm, it's 'normal' warm: that I can cope with. 

But because of the heatwave I got through nine books in June. These are they:

A Nice Class of Corpse - Simon Brett

Dead Men Don't Ski - Patricia Moyes

Cyanide in the Sun - edited by Martin Edwards

Starring Edward Woodward - Carolyn McGivern. An excellent biography of one of my favourite actors. He starred in The Wicker Man, Callan, The Equalizer etc.

Death and Croissants - Ian Moore. Cosy murder mystery, set in France. The middle-aged, male owner of a B&B, Richard, gets into all kind of trouble when a guest disappears leaving a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. A female guest insists he help her find out what happened to the man. I found this a bit silly. Richard needed to grow a backbone, all the too-ing and fro-ing confused me no end, and the intended humour was not actually all that amusing. Will probably not continue with this series.

Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons - Quenby Olsen

Mildred Percy is an unmarried woman in her forties who has no choice but to live with her sister, Diana. Diana 'is' married, several children, husband who hides behind the newspaper. What the married sister has done is use Mildred to bring up her kids and as a skivvy, but otherwise she goes unnoticed and uncared for. Then things take a turn when Mildred is left an inheritance by an eccentric uncle. Diana is out when it arrives and Mildred chooses not to tell her sister that the trunk is full of books and papers and a strange, oval shaped rock. Instead, Mildred goes to the local vicar for help and things go pear-shaped from there. This was one of those books that was quite a lot of fun but would not have harmed for losing 100 pages. Too much waffle and attempts at humour via Mildred's rambly cogitations. But it was enjoyable. I liked Mildred with the vicar, his housekeeper was a good character too. The wicked sister was a bit of a caricature, a bit too awful, she needed a slap quite frankly. I have already grabbed book 2 for my Kindle, wherein Mildred and the vicar head off to Wales. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, if 3.5 was available then that is what it would have got from me. 

 

The Rockpool Murders - Emylia Hall. This is book 3 in her 'Shellhouse Detectives' series. Ally and Jayden investigate the death of a rock-star who lived in a huge house overlooking the sea in their Cornish village. The rock-star is having a family get-together, although it is not exactly a happy family, when he's found face down in the swimming pool. Accidental death is the verdict, heart gave out after years of heavy living, but said rock-star no longer lived like that, so what happened? I have to admit that rock and roll themed crime novels are not my favourite. There's always one of the regular cast of characters for whom the pop group was part of their teenage years and he or she is star-struck blah blah blah. And so it turns out to be. 'But' Emylia Hall writes very well, and despite not taking to the theme of the book, I nevertheless rather enjoyed it. Ally and Jayden are always good value for money, the setting of a Cornish coast village is delightful, and I enjoy the background details of the lives of the regular cast: just occasionally there's a bit too much of that but that's okay. 

The Haunted Trail edited by Weird Walk (who the heck is called Weird Walk?), is a book of weird tales based on rambling holidays. There were a handful of good stories in this but it was not the best collection in this BL series that I've read. 

Defying Rome by Guy de la Bedoyere is a non-fiction book about the Romans in Britain and who stood up to them - Boudica etc. - or connived behind the scenes to depose emperors and so on. Interesting, if a little dry in places. I'd like to read his book on Samuel Pepys.

So that was June for me. Nine books, seven fiction, two non-fictions. Several stood out, the Simon Brett, the Patricia Moyes, the Emylia Hall and the Edward Woodward biography. But I have no complaints about my June reading months, overall it was a lot of fun. 

I hope you're all keeping well, enduring and managing the heat if you're in the northern hemisphere, and finding lots of good books to read. 

 

Some crime fiction

I'm on a crime writing binge at the moment. Sometimes that's all you want, some fun reading about dead people and how they got that way. Trying to figure out who did the dirty deed. So much to love. :-)

First up, A Nice Class of Corpse by Simon Brett.

Mrs. Pargeter, a widow of a certain age, is looking for a place to live. Her husband has left her quite well off so she applies to get a permanent room in the posh, Devereux Hotel, in a town on the south coast of England. On her first night she hears some odd noises but does not get out of bed to investigate. The next morning she discovers that an elderly woman has fallen down the stairs to her death. Did she fall or was she pushed? Her will reveals that she has left her fortune to be divided between the other residents. How many people knew about this? And something is not quite right about her jewellery. Not to mention that the dead woman inhabited the most coveted room in the hotel. Mrs. Pargeter knows a thing or two about human nature and criminal activity and sets about investigating the goings on in the hotel. Well, this was great fun. Mrs. Pargeter is a larger than life character with a personality that is more than a match for the snobby residents of the Devereux Hotel. It was nice to have a cast of elderly suspects and the book is written with a lot of humour, plus a very strong sense of an out of season town on the south coast. This is book one in the series and I'll definitely be reading more. 

Next, Dead Men Don't Ski by Patricia Moyes.

Henry Tibbett is an inspector with Scotland Yard. He and his wife, Emmy, are off on a skiing holiday to the Italian Alps. They're part of a motley crowd all staying at the same hotel, perched on the side of a mountain. There's a German family, three young Brits, the wife of a German baron and her two children and nanny, a mysterious chap no one likes, various Italian ski instructors and so on. All goes well until a dead man arrives at the bottom of the ski lift at the end of the day. The Italian police ask Henry to help solve the murder, which is awkward as he hasn't told anyone what he does for a living... This is book one in the author's 'Inspector Tibbett' series. I have to confess that I'd not heard of the series or the author until I saw it mentioned on a YouTube channel I watch. The cover struck me immediately and the review was positive so I checked it out. And I wasn't disappointed. The plot was a trifle convoluted and the cast of characters quite extensive. But Henry and Emmy were good detectives, very unassuming, and it was nice that they're middle-aged and ordinary. There was also a very strong sense of place, I'm a bit of a sucker for a mountain setting and this was depicted very well indeed. I had an idea who'd done the deed but didn't decide too early on so it kept me guessing. People who like a closed circle sort of murder mystery would enjoy this I think. I already have book 2, The Sunken Sailor, on my Kindle and I think there are about twenty altogether, so I'm delighted. 

Lastly, a short story anthology, Cyanide in the Sun, edited by Martin Edwards.

As suggested this is an anthology about holidays. I thought they would all be foreign holidays but no, thinking about it, back in the day, most Brits did not have the money to go on foreign holidays, it was Blackpool or Bognor or, if you were very lucky, Devon or Cornwall. Martin Edwards has picked out many excellent authors for this collection: Celia Fremlin, Michael Gilbert, Christiana Brand, Anthony Berkeley... the usual suspects. A few favourites: The Summer Holiday Murders by Julian Symons. An old lady, part of a coach trip, is pushed over a cliff by persons unknown. A crime writing author is also on the coach and the baffled police ask 'him' to keep watch over the passengers and report back. The Summer Holiday by Celia Fremlin. A woman has just become a widow and is so happy that she'll no longer be forced to go on holiday by her husband because she's a home-body and hates holidays. But... Loved this! Two on a Tower by Michael Innes. John Appleby takes up with a couple in Italy, she's young, married to an elderly man and there's another chap with them... A Holiday by the Sea by Will Scott features two tramps hitching a ride to Margate in an empty removal van. The tramps' cant was sometimes a bit hard to decipher but Giglamps was an excellent protagonist. There are more short stories about him but I fancy they're going to be hard to track down. Consider Your Verdict by Anthony Gilbert (female author using a pen-name) was a story set in the Lake District about a conman. Kill and Cure by Guy Cullingford features a burnt-out author whose doctor sends him on holiday to a hotel on the south coast. He can't help but study all of the other guests, their behaviour and how they treat their families or employees. This is a very solid anthology. I marked about 10 as good and all of the rest were never less than readable. Several authors I would like to follow up on, I must read one of Celia Fremlin's republished works for instance, and something longer by Julian Symons.

So that's my latest reading up to date, three good books. Very happy. I hope your summer reading is going well. 

 

Books read in May

 Good grief, it's already June and very soon we'll be halfway through the year. How can that possibly be? If someone has an explanation I'd be very interested to hear it.

May was quite a good reading month for me. I read eight books, so my reading mojo has definitely returned, and I'm pleased about that. I read a couple of non-fiction books too, which I've not been doing much of this year either, so I'm pleased about that too. It's all good. These are the books:

The Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien

Bookish - Lucy Mangan

The Girl in Blue - P.G. Wodehouse

Murder in the Moor - Thomas Kindon. Whodunnit from the 1920s, involving a police inspector on a walking holiday on Dukesmoor (Dartmoor in Devon) and various dead bodies found on said moor. Nicely atmospheric and a very good sense of place. Enjoyed it but it's the only book the author wrote so no good going off on a pilgrimage to search for more.

The Secret World of Twilight, a non-fiction book by Sally Coulthard. Nice cover:

 

The author tells us about the creatures that come out at twilight, bats, badgers, owls and so forth, the various late blooming flowers, and how we as humans behave, deal, experience twilight. A gentle, informative, interesting book. And that cover...

A Fire at the Exhibition by T.E. Kinsey is book 10 in his Lady Hardcastle and Flo crime series set in the 1910s. I love this series with its banter between the two main characters and fun plotting. This one involves a village art exhibition where an expensive, unique book  and some art is stolen. Lady Hardcastle and her maid/companion, Flo need no encouraging to get involved. Great fun.

The Villa of Secrets by Emma Burstall, is a contemporary fiction story set on Crete. 

 

Our heroine, Cleo, after a messy divorce and falling out with her daughter, treats herself to a holiday on Crete at a wellness centre sort of place. She gets to know several women and why they're there and things look to be going ok until... well I won't say what but it's pretty major and I was a bit taken aback at where the book went from there. Not what this type of book usually does but I enjoyed it and would read more by the author.

Cousins from a Distant Sun by Tamor Myers is classified, I think, as cosy science-fiction.

 

I was halfway through this and having my doubts, when I thought I'd check Goodreads, only to find it has an overall rating of 2.67. Wow. I gave it a 3.00 because the plot had potential. An alien species kidnap a pre-history group of humans from China and spend thousands of years breeding and changing them, only to dump them back in Peru during the time of the Incas. They now live in a hidden valley, in secret, but need help, so one of their number seeks out an archaeologist to help them. I felt like this could've been excellent, but sadly it wasn't. I didn't like the archaeologist, the author made the valley-dwelling species ridiculous and the writing was very average. A shame but there you go, win some, lose some. 

So that was my May reading. Overall, not bad. Favourite book? Probably my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring. I'd forgotten how brilliant it is and thoroughly enjoyed it. I have a list of books I want to read this summer and the next book, The Two Towers, is on it.  

My potential summer books: 

1. Nephthys - Rachel Driscoll

2. The Seven Rings - Nora Roberts

3. The Rockpool Murders - Emylia Hall

4. The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons

5. The Instruments of Darkness - John Connolly

6. Beyond the Point - Damien Boyd

7. The Two Towers - J.R.R Tolkien

8. A Nice Class of Corpse - Simon Brett (just finished)

9. Dead men Don't Ski - Patricia Moyes

10. Defying Rome - Guy de la Bédoyére (non-fiction about Boudica)

A lot these belong to series that I want to catch up on this year so I have an ulterior motive for reading them. If I get through half of these I'll be happy as I'm notorious for making a list of books and then going off the idea of reading the books on said list. We shall see.

Happy June reading, I hope you're all well and looking forward to your summer reading.  

I have been reading...

I wonder if I have my reading mojo back? Yes, I think maybe I have. Halfway through May and I have three books under my belt. Not heaps, but not too bad either. 

First up is a reread for me, I think I've only read this once, back in my late teens, but I'm not sure about that. The thing is, the movies of The Lord of the Rings are so familiar that I mix them up in my head with the books. Anyway, my first book of May was a reread of The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

This needs very little introduction. There's a special ring. Bilbo the Hobbit took it off Gollum in The Hobbit, and brought it home to The Shire with him. When you put the ring on it renders you invisible but it's far more dangerous than that. So powerful in fact that Sauron, the dark lord of the wizards, is searching for it. Dark forces are on the move and Frodo, Bilbo's nephew, is now tasked with getting the ring to Mordor where it can be destroyed. The first part of the story covers the journey from The Shire to the river Aduin. Many adventures are here included and I had forgotten most of them, despite being quite familiar with the movie. The book was huge fun, a lot more readable than I had remembered, I was sure it was a more difficult read, but it simply wasn't. What it was though, was a lot creepier than I remembered, very much full of suspense and edge of your seat moments. Really pleased that I reread it after all this time and, although I wasn't sure if I would, I'm now pretty sure I'll continue on and reread The Two Towers, probably in the autumn.

 

After that, or rather, alongside it, I read Bookish by Lucy Mangan. This is the author's second book about the joy of reading, and what's it's like to be so bookish that it matters more than anything else. I thought that was an interesting thing and, having thought about it, I realise that I'm not quite as addicted as that. Yes, I like to read every day, and I'm constantly buying new books (although 'that' is arguably a different hobby), but I don't think I'm quite on the author's level of obsessiveness. 'But' an interesting look at the books the author loved once she got into adulthood and I like that she is in no way a book snob; all bookish life his here within the pages of this book.

Next was a standalone book by P.G. Wodehouse, The Girl in Blue. 

The plot of this is very complicated, although it doesn't seem quite that bad while you're reading it. Jerry is engaged to Vera, a gold-digger who won't marry him until he forces his uncle to release his trust money. Doing jury service he meets Jane, and falls head over heels in love. His uncle sends him off to Mellingham Hall, the family pile, to find a missing miniature, only someone else is also looking for it. And Jane is also there, she's suddenly become an heiress and Jerry feels awkward as he himself does not want to appear to be a gold-digger. There's a lot more going on than this and it's all huge fun. And Wodehouse of course had one of the funniest turns of phrase in the English language, I was constantly laughing a lot as I do love an author who knows how to play with words (Terry Pratchett is another such one). This is a standalone, nothing to do with Jeeves and Wooster or Blandings but, to be honest, it is of that ilk, with loads of eccentric family members, misunderstandings and madness and whatnot. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will look at more of Wodehouse's standalones amd maybe revisit Jeeves and Wooster. I also have Wodehouse's book of golfing short stories which I started but didn't get very far with, so I must return to that. 

My current read is this:
 

Murder in the Moor was apparently the only book Thomas Kindon wrote and he's a mystery in himself as apparently no one knows who he was. He's called the moor 'Dukesmoor', but it's very clearly Dartmoor in Devon, which is fun as I know it. The plot involves a detective inspector on a walking holiday and a dead body beside a pool. Fantastic sense of place so I'm enjoying it very much so far. 

I hope you're all having a good reading month, finding lots of good books to read and keeping well.