I can't believe it's almost the end of May, before we know it we'll be halfway through the year. Scary. I'm very behind with book reviews, so I shall do a quick catch-up in this post and see if I can keep rather more up to date in June. Hoho.
I read six books in May and these are they:
20. The Shell House Detectives - Emylia Hall
21. The Man in the Dark - Susan Scarlett
22. A Thousand Feasts - Nigel Slater. A collection of memoir 'essays' of his travels, mainly concerning food. Japan features heavily but also Scandinavia, the Middle-East. Beautiful, lyrical writing as always.
23. Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh.
24. Borrower of the Night - Elizabeth Peters
25. Sisters Making Mischief - Maddie Please.
A complete change for my last book of May. A contemporary fiction offering that centres on Joy Chandler. Joy is newly divorced and in her sixties, Hubby having left her for his secretary. He was a piece of work quite frankly and the family, a son and daughter and their various wives, husbands and kiddies, are not much better. Joy provides a wonderful Christmas for them... it's a disaster because they're so awful... so Joy ups and goes to France to visit her sister, Isabel, in Brittany. Here she starts to relax, help out a bit with gites and the antiques, meets new people and realises she's better off without Hubby, which we all could've told her from the start. This was a great deal of fun with nice characterisation and a really good sense of rural Britany and its people. Eugenie, the French, hypochondriac mother-in-law was a hoot and the French love interest bearing a resemblance to Harrison Ford didn't harm either. Enjoyed this a lot.
So actually, that was not a bad reading month. Out of six books, just one I felt was a bit average and slightly disappointing, the rest were all very readable, particularly The Shell House Detectives, The Man in the Dark and Sisters Making Mischief. So nothing to complain about there.
My current read is this:
This is book number 17 of John Connolly's wonderfully creepy and weird Charlie Parker series. Most of the books take place in the USA but the action this time has moved to The Netherlands and then the UK, up near the border of England and Scotland beside Hadrian's Wall. And it doesn't disappoint. John Connolly continues to be my favourite author and his Charlie Parker books my favourite series.
I hope you all had a good May and are keeping well and reading lots of good books!
14 comments:
I thought I knew a fair amount of French but "gite" was a new word for me! That book sounds fun. I do have an armful of books I bought while traveling, which will take me some time to read, however.
I have always meant to read John Connolly's books. I think I gave the first one to my sister, who reads much faster than I do. I will have to check what she thought as she either does not comment at all or months later will say, "I hated that book you gave me," and I will have say, "But which one?" But I go on trying! I got her the new Jane Casey while I was in London so I know that will please her, anyway! Of course, then I had to carry it over three countries . . . but I got to read it on the plane coming home so I benefitted too.
You did read a variety of books this month, Cath. I'm coming to enjoy doing that from time to time. My May post, which I hope to have done for Monday, will be a bit boring because pretty much books by one author. I did catch up on a series though. Anyway, I was trying to remember if I read any of the Vicky Bliss books. Probably, but it was before 1993 because not on my 'reading list'. I always liked Peters' books featuring Jacqueline Kirby better. The third one of those, Die For Love, is set at a Historical Romance book convention and was a lot of fun. I also enjoyed several of her standalone books and also Amelia Peabody. Honestly though, I liked her 'Barbara Michaels' persona best. All that Gothic stuff. Ha! Still meaning to start John Connolly's series. You have praised that one for many years. Hope you have a good week!
Constance: It's funny how words travel across the Atlantic... or they don't. If you said, 'French gite' here a fair few people would know what you meant, but it clearly hasn't spread across to the USA. How odd.
Connolly's books are strange and weird, and have a religious, Paradise Lost, bent to them. Not for everyone but I find his imagination fascinating. I love your book interactions with your sister. I showed my Latin teacher Detectives and Togas and she was really tickled, she'd not heard of that one before.
Kay: Yes, I like to read a wide variety of books, always have really and that's a problem as so many books appeal to me. I really think I would have liked the Vicky Bliss book when I was in my twenties or thirties but it seems really dated now. I'll check out her JK books, I'm happy to keep trying! The John Connolly books should come with a warning as they are quite strange and are not for everyone. He's a brilliant writer though. You have a good week too, Kay!
I'm glad you had mostly good reads this month, Cath. And you've had a solid variety, too! I'm glad you mentioned the Charlie Parker series. I really much pay more attention those books. There's just never enough time for all of them, is there?
Sisters Making Mischief sounds good and Joy is right. If family members are giving you grief and not being supportive sometimes the best thing to do is to take a break and move to another location. Joy understood she needed to get out of that pressure cooker and take care of herself.
That sounds like a nice set of books for May. Based on your review, I plan to read The Shell House Detectives. The setting seems very interesting. I also will look into Some Desperate Glory. I like to have recommendations for science fiction. I just finished the fourth Murderbot Diaries novella, and luckily it was much better than the 3rd one.
One of my goals this summer is to read several of John Connolly's Charlie Parker mysteries. I'm woefully behind in them, but I did really love the first one. And Sisters of Mischief does sound like a fun read. Here's hoping June is a fabulous month of reading for both of us. :D
Margot: No, there just is not time enough to read everything, even though I would like to. When you reach our age it becomes necessary to prioritise. A pity I don't think that way when it comes to not buying new books for my Kindle! LOL!
Kathy: Sisters Making Mischief was interesting for me as my family don't behave in the way hers did and never would. She came to realise that her family did not define her and it was up to her to decide how her life would be now she no longer had a demanding husband to think of all the time. I like these books that make me think of how it can be for other people.
Tracy: Yes, I think you would like The Shell House Detectives. My friend has read the whole series and says they're mostly all excellent apart from book 2 which contrentrates a bit too much on 'issues'. I have book 2 on my summer tbr list. I also think you would like Some Desperate Glory, the quality of the writing reminded me of of the Rusch 'diving' series. My son-in-law is just reading, or even finished, the Murderbot series and has enjoyed them a lot.
Lark: I hope you get to several CP books and look forward to hearing what you think if you do manage it. One of my plans for 2025 was to finished the series, I think I have 5 more to read. I hope you have a good month of reading in June too, I assume school will finish for you soon.
It ended Friday, so my summer vacation has officially begun. 😎 Now if only I had some fun trips planned...but I'll have to settle for some bookish traveling instead this year.
Lark: I'm so happy that you're now on your summer break. Enjoy all your bookish travelling! I know you will. :-)
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