Anyway, without further ado these are the books I read last months and links, where appropriate, to my reviews:
11. Have His Carcase - Dorothy L. Sayers
12. Lock 14 - Georges Simenon
13. Letters From the Horn of Africa, 1923-1942 - Sandy and Christian Curle
14. The Mad Hatter Mystery - John Dickson Carr
15. Sundiver - David Brin
16. A Voyage Long and Strange - Tony Horwitz. Excellent mix of history and modern-day travel writing. Tony Horwitz recounts the story of the people who discovered North America before the Pilgrim Fathers and Plymouth Rock. Turns out there were rather a lot, Vikings, Spaniards, Frenchmen etc. It was all extremely interesting, if a little depressing, hearing how they systematically wiped out the native populations either by attacking and killing them or spreading European diseases. The Spaniards were especially talented at a kind of scorched earth policy. Horwitz himself follows in the footsteps of these explorers and debunks a lot of the myths associated with them. An excellent and informative read.
17. Good Evening Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
18. Maigret in Holland - Georges Simenon
19. A Moment of Silence - Miss Anna Dean
20. A Greedy Man in a Hungry World Jay Rayner. Jay Rayner is a favourite TV personality of mine. I like his approach to food on programmes like The One Show, Masterchef and various documentaries, and find his sense of humour on Twitter irresistible. In this book he debunks a lot of myths we hold dear about food production, carbon footprints, organic food, farmer's markets and so on. I found this a bit of an eye-opener about certain subjects though other things I was quite aware of. I loved the author's writing style, slightly irreverant but very informative. It feels as though you're sitting having a long chat with him. A good book to read if you're interested in how the planet's population feeds itself now and whether it will be able to in future. One thing is certain, we have some real problems ahead of us. Excellent book.
So, a good and varied reading month for me. Although perhaps five crime yarns is not as varied as I might have myself believe... LOL! I am pleased with three non-fictions though and all three were very good. My favourite book of the month? Well that's easy:
Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers had me completely absorbed for four or five days, fantastic plot and great writing. Not that I didn't enjoy everything else I read as well, honourable mentions must go to A Moment of Silence by Anna Dean and A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz which will be a contender for best non-fiction of the year at the end of this year, I've no doubt. I'm also a wee bit hooked on the Maigret stories by Georges Simenon at present. Great little reads and always nothing less than very entertaining. Also a superb read was Good Evening, Mrs. Craven by Mollie Panter-Downes. You see? There was nothing this month that wasn't very readable indeed. I feel lucky... either that or I'm getting better at chooosing books for myself.
I've started March with yet another Dorothy L. Sayers - The Nine Tailors and it's proving every bit as addictive as the other two I've read. Later this month Carl's spring challenge, Once Upon A Time VIII, for fantasy books, will begin. Can't wait... I already have a pile of books waiting on the shelf.
Happy reading!
10 comments:
You had a superb month of reading, Cath! I love reading on the iPad as it is larger than my kobo ereader. Adjusting the lighting is nice too!
I bought a Kobo Tablet at Christmas. I like it because I can read across all the different companies in one place. :) Looks like you had a great month. I hope March is just as wonderful!
A great month, Cath. I think I read faster on Kindle too. It has helped that some of the books I read this month were only short.
I'm looking forward to reading The Nine Tailors, but am leaving it until April. It's no good reading a book too much in advance of my book group meeting, as I'll forget it by the time the meeting comes round.
hmmm ok.. here's the deal. I will tell you what books I want to read.. then you read them and write the review for me and I'll post them like I did it ok? lolxoxoxoxoxoxoxox
Hi Cath,
I haven't read any Dorothy Sayers, or Georges Simenon for years and can't remember either of the books you feature by them.
I make it a point to never re-read a book, however I am sorely tempted to try and get hold of a copy of these books, as you have whetted my appetite for a good, taditional 'whodunnit'
I can't remember the last time I managed to read more than a couple of books in a month and the only possible reason I can think of, is the amount of time I spend on the blog and the fact that I seem to be devoting much more of my daytime to the hospice shop.
I have so many physical books on my shelves, however most of my reading is Kindle based now, so I am never likely to get to many of them, which is so sad.
It is good to catch up with you after so long and I hope that our little Wordpress difficulties can be resolved very soon.
Yvonne.
Peggy: Thank you. I think ereaders and iPads are a Godsend for those of us who are older and whose sight is not what it was. Practically every book I pick up these days has print I struggle to read.
Kelly: Me too. There's so much available for ereaders now and likely to be even more in the future.
Margaret: Yes, a couple of mine were shorter too, Maigret for instance, those are only about 120 pgs each.
I hope you and your bookgroup like The Nine Tailors as much as I did.
Pat: Okay!!! LOL
Yvonne: I've been genuinely shocked at how much I like Dorothy Sayers' books. I had read some Simenon before but had forgotten how much I liked them.
I reread very little too, too many new books to read for that.
I'm trying to spread my reading between books and ereaders but the ereader is so easy that I share your problem of having some books I may never read. Oh well, the charity shop does well.
I don't think DLS can be beat! In many of the Gladys Taber books she mentions how her friend Jill always reads The Nine Tailors in the winter. Every year I mean to begin it with the new year, but haven't yet. I am on my third ebook reader. I bought the first Kindle, then switched to Nook, then bought the lit Kindle, and I'll never try anything else, though I love being able to read my Kindle books on my iPhone when I'm out of the house waiting for something like say, a movie to start. :<)
I didn't want a reader that also had internet because I wanted it to be just for books. I didn't want to be tempted to read an email, etc.
Nan: What a lovely idea to reread The Nine Tailors each winter. It's a book that suits that plan perfectly. Another would be The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
My Kindle has the internet but I don't use it. Like you I didn't buy it for that.
I quite liked Have his Carcase, but I thought it went on a bit. Liked the bits with Harriet finding the body on the beach but then I got a bit bogged down. I think the only Sayers I really like is Gaudy Night.
Nicola: I've been told that Gaudy Night is probably the best LPW so am really looking forward to reading it.
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