Tuesday 3 November 2020

Books read in October

October was another decent reading month for me. Eight books read, which seems to be my norm these days, not sure what the increase is down to, possibly lockdown, possibly not.

Anyway, these are the books:

72. The Poisoned Chocolates Case - Anthony Berkeley

73. The French Adventure - Lucy Coleman

74. Capital Crimes - edited by Martin Edwards

75. The Murder Room - P.D James

76. In Strictest Confidence - Craig Revel Horwood

77. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore - Robin Sloan

78. Menace of the Monster - edited by Mike Ashley 

79. An Unsuitable Job for a Woman - P.D. James (to be reviewed)

A bit of a mish-mash as regards genres, three crime yarns,  two short story anthologies, a bookish fantasy that wasn't really, some light fiction set in France and an autobiography. 

It wasn't a standout month as regards quality. They were all good but there were not, as in some months, several really brilliant books. My favourite is this I think:

The Murder Room was beautifully written and very absorbing, brilliant sense of place. I shall be reading more P.D. James in November and December. 

Current reads:




 

 





 

The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw, all about canoeing on rivers in England, Jew(ish) by Matt Greene who is a lapsed Jew, and writes about Jewishness, very interesting, and I'm about halfway through The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards. I'm not doing 'Non-fiction November', officially, but I seem to be anyway. 

So here we are in November. Another year almost gone... the craziest I've ever lived through and I'm 67 and seen a few things. I've taken comfort in books and am already thinking about reading plans for 2021. Anyone else that mad?


13 comments:

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Cath,

That's a really good monthly total. I am desperately trying to keep on top of the reading schedule I have for Blog Tours and Review Posts, which up until October was going really well this year. Now I seem to be stalling a bit and have difficulty concentrating, especially on writing the actual review. I obviously need to have a good talk with myself about things :)

There are a few from your list that I would quite happily mark for me to read - numbers 72, 73, 75 and 79, which I guess you will have already worked out, knowing the kind of stories I particularly enjoy.

I also quite like the sound of 73, as I have been following Lucy's writing for some time now and already have a few of her books lined up on my Kindle.

I am not a big non-fiction fan, but I hope that you have a great November :)

Thanks for sharing
Yvonne
xx

(Diane) Bibliophile By the Sea said...

Sounds like some great mysteries you enjoyed in October. Hope November is a good month.

DesLily said...

At least I've read 2 of them! lol The Murder Room and Mr Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore! You always amaze me at how fast you read! Well done, as always Sis!

Kay said...

Very nice list of books read, Cath. I don't think I've read either one of those James books. Another author I keep meaning to explore more, but maybe in 2021. I suspect we'll all keep reading, regardless of other things going on. :-)

TracyK said...

Your reading this month has been a good mix of older and newer books. I need to add Capital Crimes to my wishlist because I want to try more of the British Library short story anthologies and that one sounded very good.

I have been thinking about doing a post for Nonfiction November (because I have read a bit more nonfiction books this year than usual), but you read much more nonfiction than I do. I wouldn't ever aim to only read nonfiction for one month, but I do want to increase my reading in that area.

Sam said...

You really are going through them this year...and that's a good thing no matter the reason.

As I mentioned on Twitter, I was looking at a list of PD James books just last night and wondering why it's been so long since I've read her. It's been so long, in fact, that I would be hard-pressed to recognize a plot from any of the six or seven of her books I've actually read. I do remember her as having a style that found me re-reading a sentence more often than some other writers require, but I'm going to jump back in with a James novel as soon as I can get my hands on one. Maybe, hopefully, I'm a better reader now.

Lark said...

Eight good books makes for a good month of reading. They might not have all been 5-star reads, but at least they weren't all duds. :D

Judith said...

Hi Cath,
As I recall I mentioned before, The Murder Room was a TOP read for me, and I agree, its highly attuned sense of place was a key to my enjoyment. And as I told you earlier, GOSH! I must read it again, and very soon! Thanks for the memories!

Susan said...

JEWISH sounds like one I should read. I like reading about different religions and people's experiences with them. Faith journeys make for interesting stories.

Cath said...

Yvonne: I honestly don't know how you manage to keep up with your very hectic Blog Tour schedule, I think you must be a lot more organised than me.

The French Adventure was a fun read, one of those cheap reads for Kindle that take you away to somewhere exotic for a couple of days while you read it.

Thank you too and I hope you have a good reading month in November.

Diane: I like a good mystery reading month. I hope November's a good reading month for you too.

Pat: I didn't realise you'd read Mr Penumbra and The Murder Room too. I'll look for your reviews when I get a minute.

Kay: I'm starting to say that various books will do me for 2021 too. Nothing like making reading plans two months in advance. LOL

Tracy: Capital Crimes was definitely one of the better anthologies I've read from the BLCC. Some very memorable stories in that.

I don't think I'd want to read only non-fiction for a month either, it's not quite stimulating enough to be honest.

Cath said...

Sam: Yes, galloping through the books more quickly than usual but I'm not sure why. Eighty books read at the beginning of November is a lot more than usual for me. I've only once managed one hundred but it looks like I'll come close again this year.

If you do reread or read something new to you by P.D. James I'll be interested in how you find it. She does do long descriptive paragraphs sometimes and sometimes I might skim read those but her writing and plotting is of such high quality that I don't mind that.

Lark: This is true, all duds would be a dismal month! To be honest I tend to stop reading the duds quite early on these days.

Judith: Great that you too loved The Murder Room. I have several more of her books to read and know that I have a treat in store.

Susan: I finished Jew(ish) today and found it very interesting indeed. Perspectives in it that I had never even considered.

Peggy Ann said...

I might just have to get to Murder Room soon! I read a PD James book years ago and liked it very much. Then discovered the TV series and got lazy. I do have a lot of her books on the shelf as I always pick it up when I see one at the used book store. Now just to read them!

Cath said...

Peggy: It was good, I'd forgotten how good James' writing actually is. I know how TV series make you lazy, that happened to me with Ann Cleves' Shetland series... I haven't read one of those since the TV series began.