Books Read in July

 Where did July go? I don't mind... it's not my favourite month by any stretch of the imagination... but it just whizzed by. Possibly because I had two lots of visitors? Which is always nice but means I'm behind with reviews and also commenting on my favourite blogs. I will try catch up. 

So, I read six books in July. Some I reviewed, some I did not. I wish I had the time to review everything, but I can at least mention them all here.

32. The Half Bird - Susan Smillie. This is a non-fiction book about a woman who sailed from the UK to the Med. and around it. Well, supposedly. She didn't actually get going until about halfway into the book, and the first half just felt like a load of waffle. The actual sailing around the Med. bit was quite good - there just ought to have been more of it. 3 stars

33. An Act of Foul Play - T.E. Kinsey 4 stars

34. Not to Be Taken - Anthony Berkeley 4stars

35. Godmersham Park - Gill Hornby.  

Thirty one year old Anne Sharpe is from a genteel family, until her mother dies and Anne suddenly realises she has no home and nowhere to go. She has to resort to being a governess and gets a job at Godmersham Park, the home of Edward Knight (formerly Austen) and his family. Her charge is Fanny Knight, aged 12, an enthusiastic, likeable, intelligent girl. Things could be worse. But a governess holds a strange position in a large household, neither a fully paid-up member of the servants, nor a proper family member. Things are difficult, made even more so when the servants take against her. Still, she is very much liked by Edward's brother, Henry Austen, who has charm aplenty and the sort of personality that wishes to know about everyone. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? I thoroughly enjoyed this fictional account of the life of Anne Sharpe. In real life her and Jane Austen really were friends but not a lot more is known about the friendship. Sadly, Jane herself does not appear until halfway through the book. Until then the book concentrates on the indignities Anne suffers and you feel very sorry for her. Henry Austen takes centre stage quite a lot and he is full of ambivilence, something he was in real life apparently. His charm made him popular but the target of said charm needed to be careful. This is Gill Hornby's second book about the Austen family, Miss Austen, which concentrates on Cassandra Austen, was very good too. And now there's a new book out - The Elopement - how that fits in with the family I don't know, but I assume it does somehow and I will be reading it. 5 stars

36. Hyperion - Dan Simmons. This was a reread for me. I read it first in 2016 and my review is HERE. I saw mention of the whole series of four on Youtube recently and decided I wanted to read the next three, but would need to refresh my memory by rereading the first book. It was every bit as good the second time around, if not better. I see I reserved book 2 from the library but clearly never read it, I have bought it now and plan to read it in the autumn. 5 stars (I gave it 4 in 2016.)

37. Walking the Woods and the Water - Nick Hunt. The author plans to follow in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor who walked from The Netherlands to what was then Constantinople, back in the 1930s. How much have the countries he passed through changed, are people's attitudes the same? Some very interesting answers ensue. Enjoyed this one a lot. 4 stars 

So, I was pleased with my July reading month. I read 4 fiction novels and 2 non-fiction travelogues and they were all quite varied. Only The Half Bird was a bit disappointing, the rest were all top-notch. And now we're into August, another of my least favourite months, roll on September! Hopefully there will be some more good books read during August but as yet I'm not sure what they will be. 

 Happy reading and I hope you're all keeping well.