Peace2 mountaineers Mount TBR in 2022

Happy New Year to all.

I'm going to try another thread despite my utter failure to maintain last year's. Here's hoping I do better this year as one thing is certain it wasn't for the lack of completing books last year as according to my spreadsheet, I finished 271 books last year.

I'm already off to a flying start and have already finished 9 books (probably 10 by the end of the day).

My only real reading goal for the year is a repeat from previous years and that is to try and reduce the number of books waiting to be read by at least 50 - so my reading rate has to outstrip my acquisition rate. Bearing in mind that in 2017 I started the year with 950 books waiting to be read - a mere 19 years were needed to read them all assuming that I read 50 and didn't acquire anymore. Persistence with this target over the last few years meant I started this year with 518 books unread - 10.36 years worth of reading to go.

I have picked a few books out of the TBR pile and put them into the collection I've called 'Read before end of 2022' but there's no real pressure to read these. The purpose of the list was just to try and make sure that I'm tackling some of the books from all of the years I've got listed as having acquired books - I arbitrarily went through my catalogue and picked approximately every 11th book (I picked one nearby if for instance I landed on a sequel which I haven't read or perhaps haven't even got the earlier books for) or if I saw something near it that I was more keen on.

So this is my thread which I will try to do better at keeping for 2022.

Looking forward to seeing what you post regardless of frequency of posting. Have a great reading year.

While I think about it and just in case the enforcers are out and about... today is my Thingaversary (it's good to have it early in the year because at least then I have time to counterbalance the ever increasing acquisitions pile as a result of this auspicious date!

Today I have been here 8 years... hard to believe!

In no particular order I have acquired:
1. The Panama Papers: Breaking the story of how the rich & powerful hide their money by Fredrick Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer
2. Broadland by David Blake
3. Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson
4. The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough a Torchwood short story/dramatisation
5. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
6. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
7. Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
8. The Ratline: Love, Lies & Justice on the Trail of a Nazi Fugitive by Phillipe Sands

and one for luck:
9. The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

I will be completely honest and say that 3 of these have got stuck in the post - they were supposed to be here at the end of last week ready, but... are still en route (but then hopefully so are my SantaThing books and they're even more out of date!) Supply lines, deliveries etc are all effected by so many things out of our control these days, I am hoping that the enforcers will bear with me and see that my intentions are good (I could also list some other free acquisitions or the odd duplicate purchase where I've decided to get an audio copy of something that I've had on my shelf for years because the type/weight is not conducive to reading now should that be necessary). I also revisited the online library shelves to see if they had anything else for me to read and I have tagged a few books for when I get chance.

>2 pgmcc: Thank you - I hope you have a good year of reading too.

Happy new year! I hope you read lots of great books, even if you don't always post about them.

And Happy Thingaversary!

>3 Peace2: Happy Thingsaversary! That looks like an excellent selection.

>3 Peace2: Happy Thingaversary. It looks like you have covered all bases regarding the enforcers. You cannot be held responsible for postal delays during the current issues affecting most of The World.

>5 Sakerfalcon: & >6 -pilgrim-: Sending you both good wishes, welcome to the thread that will hopefully not be as slowly updated as last year's :)

I've already started listening to Broadland - it's good so far. Mind you I do enjoy listening to Jonathan Keeble reading.

January Book #1 Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman

So at the back of a cupboard last year I found some unread Dragonlance books that have been on my shelf since... forever? before 2011 anyway and I thought I should restart the series to try and get a feel for it and then I saw two titles in a sale on Audible. I thought these came before the ones I'd got - now I'm not so sure!

Anyway this was a bit of light escapism even when the events took a darker turn. Overall I liked them, they fitted my mood for the start of the year - and scenes with Tasslehof and Fizban brought a smile to my face as I was listening.

January Book #2 The Snow Goose and the Small Miracle by Paul Gallico

This volume was a Christmas gift - very moving stories for younger readers - a solitary man who aids soldiers trying to escape from Dunkirk during WW2 and a young boy who has faith that if he can take his donkey into a crypt of St Francis of Assisi the donkey's health will be restored - he takes his plea all the way to the Pope.

January Book #3 Livable Cities by Mark Alan Hughes
For anyone with an Audible account, I highly recommend taking a look at their Great Courses collection. A lot of them have been added to the Plus Catalogue (assume that is wider than a UK thing) and so are available to listen to for free. I listened to quite a few on different subjects last year and have continued to do so this year.

This one was about strategies and projects in different cities around the globe where steps are being taken to improve living standards, combat climate change, deal with supply lines - it made for interesting listening and a curiosity to what steps could be taken nearer to home.

The other good aspect of a lot of these titles is that they are fairly short - between 4 and 7 hours - more of a taster than a heavy duty tread through a topic - enough to whet the appetite so that you might go looking for more on a topic or more by the presenting lecturer.

>3 Peace2: You got me with The Accidental Alchemist--it looks like fun.

>10 Marissa_Doyle: Hopefully I'll post when I get to it and let you know whether it's as good as it sounded.

January Book #4 Possession by A S Byatt
I actually got more immersed in this book than I expected in the early stages. Originally this came into my notice as it was on a version of the BBC's Great Reads back in the early 2000s - I took a look today and it appears to have been on the top 200 according to one website and the top 100 according to the list I have but can't remember where I got that from. Since then I've never actually seen a copy, so when one was available in a sale on Audible I decided to give it a go.

The story has two academics each researching the life of a Victorian poet - a different one each - when they unexpectedly uncover what appears to be possible evidence of a connection between the two. What transpires is a story of discovery, the determination of academics and collectors and what it means to uncover the life of a figure or figures from the past about whom new evidence points in a different direction to that already known. Possession seems to have different layers within the novel - the possession in the sense of the academics' overwhelming need to uncover the whole of the past, needing to have the evidence, needing to be first; the battle with other contemporary individuals willing to pay vast sums of money to the current holders of the evidence; the right of the holders to retain or sell the documents in their possession.
And that's before considering it in respect of the original historic figures.

It's intricately woven, detailed, layered. Overall I enjoyed it.

>12 Peace2: Blast from the past. I got persuaded to read Possession by a girlfriend 20 years ago. Rather to my surprise I quite enjoyed it.

>12 Peace2: I loved Possession. It is immersive, isn't it.

>13 haydninvienna: and >14 majkia: It took me by surprise how much I enjoyed it - pleasant surprise - it was obviously the right book at the right time! Glad you both enjoyed it too.

January Book #5 10 Women who ruled the Renaissance by Joyce Salisbury

This was another of the Great Courses - each lecture featured a different woman who played a significant role during the Renaissance period of history - different parts of the world and very different roles. From Queen Elizabeth I to Malinche of the Aztecs, to a Mongolian Queen Mandukai, to Rani Abbakka Chowta of India the reach of the book is wide and interesting showing women who stood out from the crowd. It was good to see a wide variety of figures from around the globe - at first I had expected the book to have a European focus but was delighted to find it brought history from around the globe. The other women in the lectures included 2 pirates, a 'witch' and a painter so the roles covered wasn't just that of ruling. Another recommended one.

January Book #6 The Executor by Jesse Kellerman

I wasn't as enthusiastic about this one by the time I'd finished. This is a fiction book. A student, Joseph studying for his Masters is stuck and can't complete his studies. Eventually he gets an ultimatum from his tutor at the same time as losing his home. Giving up his studies for the time being, Joseph takes a job visiting an elderly lady as a 'conversationalist'.

Over time he finds himself becoming more a part of Alma's life and making judgements about those around her.

The book is slow paced for about two third and then suddenly speeds u in a most unlikely fashion. Somewhat bizarre thriller - unlikely plot and not a keeper from my perspective - I've already passed it on to find itself a new home (and make room for some of my physical Thingaversary acquisitions).

That's an impressive amount of reading for last year and an intriguing collection for this year so far. Happy New Year

>17 Silversi: Happy New Year to you too. The last three years have seen a real jump in the amount of books I've been reading and getting a subscription to Audible helped to as that way I can 'read' and craft at the same time as I discovered last year.

Happy Thingaversary and belated Happy New Year! >9 Peace2: I'm glad to hear that Dragons of Winter Night was still enjoyable.

>19 Karlstar: Thank you and I think with the Dragons - it was just the right time for it.

January Book #7 The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

A very informative piece about terrible events - it covers the personal experience of a few individuals, the overarching period/circumstances that surrounded the events and lay the groundwork for things to happen and the lasting effects afterwards and the repercussions for individuals and society. It also draws some comparisons with the accountability of post-World War II Germany and post-World War II Japan and why some of those differences existed.

Not an overly long book, but it covers a lot of ground in its pages. Not an easy read - like many books dealing with periods of war in detail, but I think a good read for the information it gives on the events.

And I was doing so well... So with outings become rarer and working from home stopping filling my lunch breaks with trips to shops - charity shops in particular, I had been controlling my book acquisition rate quite well. Until this month - so it started with late arriving Christmas gifts, spread into Thingaversary requirements and has reached the point where today I went looking for a chaise longue or similar which could be used in the reading/crafting nook I have set up in my room. I didn't find suitable furniture but I did come out with another six books... most in almost mint condition... titles below for those who want to know:

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Worst Idea Ever by Jane Fallon
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel
Legend by Marie Lu
The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag

and to make it worse there's a sale on Audible and I'm tempted there as well *sigh* This is a losing battle I'm fighting, isn't it?

>22 Peace2: But is it a war you want to win?? Congrats on your restraint though.

>23 Karlstar: Not win exactly, but nor do I want to succumb to an avalanche and starve while trying to read my way out from underneath. Not to worry I'm sure six more books won't do that much harm...

January Book #8 Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn

This was a prequel to the Otori Trilogy which begins with Across the Nightingale Floor. The problem with reading a prequel after the main arc is that you know where it's got to get to and somehow that detracts from the novelty and enjoyment. The book is well written, the characters brought to life, but I just didn't find myself enjoying it as much as I did the first of the series when I picked that up in 2006/7. I'd recommend it for people coming fresh to the series.

January Book #9 On the Beach by Nevil Shute

It was a mistake to read this, I wasn't in a good place to appreciate it. The silly thing was that I sort of knew that when I picked it up, I questioned whether I should be reading it because I knew that it was about the aftermath of nuclear disaster. It's not badly written and its tone and events fit the subject matter - period typical for the late fifties, with a lot of gender sterotypical roles - the story is about a community in Australia dealing with the oncoming threat of a cloud of nuclear contamination heading their way. Like A Town Called Alice, it doesn't shy away from the matters it wants the reader to consider and is probably a pretty typical outlook for a book written in the Cold War era. It brought back all the teenage fears of Nuclear War that I remember, that was exacerbated by Horizon and similar TV documentaries about what would happen and in school discussions/drama sessions etc - I'm glad I never happened across this then.

Just found your thread. Happy reading!

>26 Narilka: I hope 2022 brings you a year of happy reading too.

>22 Peace2: This happens to me on a regular basis. It is good to know we are not alone!

>25 Peace2: Is that one at all related to the Tale of Shikanoko?

>28 Sakerfalcon: Just when you think it's safe to venture out the front door - they're lying in wait for us!

>29 Karlstar: I don't think so - although looking at the tags, it seems like a similar theme. This one was linked to the Tales of the Otori.

>30 Peace2: A friend of mine jokes that if I were in the middle of the Gobi desert I'd still find a bookshop!

>32 Sakerfalcon: I think I know a few people who'd echo the sentiment on my behalf.

January Book #10 Broadland by David Blake

Mixed feelings about this one - it was fine but with some reservations. It's a crime fiction - the story centres around Detective Inspector Tanner who has just moved to a new area - the Norfolk Broads. He's temporarily living on a friend's boat, having moved from London following the death of his daughter. His first case is that of a woman is reported missing by her husband, but when the police begin to investigate they find, he hasn't even called her parents to see if they know where she is. Tanner's welcome into the team is mixed - his superior is harsh, a colleague is abrasive presumably feeling his place is threatened and his partner, a younger policewoman stretches the boundaries - with the two of them flirting - in my opinion inappropriately for their roles and the fact they are working at the time.

The mystery itself is a bit of a curious one, somewhat farfetched. It drags a little for the greater part of the book and then suddenly kicks into top gear and escalates remarkably in quite surprising extremes.

Will I continue with the series? I'm debating this at the moment - wondering whether to give another a try to see if it evens out a bit. I do enjoy listening to Jonathan Keeble reading books to me, which is what is pushing me slightly towards the giving another a go.

January Book #11 Ancestors: A Prehistory of Britain in Seven Burials by Alice Roberts

A few years ago I read The Incredible Human Journey by the same author and really enjoyed it, so when I saw this I was immediately tempted.

The author brings to life the world uncovered by archaeology, the prehistory and the studies themselves, making them relatable for lay persons like myself. Really interesting listening and well read by the author. The book discusses a number of recent archaeological works - some new, some revisits to known sites - the eras vary bringing out different developments along the road to civilization as we know it, also discussing the science used for original discoveries and what new facts and theories can be surmised from the use of modern science.

The author also ties modern day issues back to the results of the findings and also talks about the danger of making too many assumptions into facts rather than accepting they are ideas or possibles but we don't have the evidence to call them fact.

I enjoyed this one - glad I tried it and would read more by the author (again).

January Book #12 The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

It took me a little while to get into this book - my fault, I'd left it way too long since I read the first in the series and was trying to remember what had led to the current situations. Once I'd get far enough in, I began to feel more invested - I won't leave it so long to read the next in the series. This has some interesting ideas and I did enjoy it.

January Book #13 The Ratline: Love, Lies and Justice on the trail of a Nazi Fugitive by Philippe Sands

This is an exploration of the life, death and family of Otto van Wächter, who played a key role during the German occupation of Poland but after the war, while many of his colleagues were put on trial for their actions, van Wächter escaped. The book explores his actions during the war, the family he had and how much they knew of what he was doing, his escape and ultimately his death. The book also touches on his family's view of the past and how he is seen in their eyes - which makes one consider how do you separate the sides of the man who was a father and was also a high-ranking Nazi officer.

I listened to the audio version which is read by the author along with Stephen Fry and Katja Riemann. The book is split into different viewpoints - the author tells of his meeting with the descendants of van Wächter and his research, while Fry and Riemann recount some of the events that happened during the war and people's reactions to them.

It also looks at his death - where, how and whether the records were accurate.

Interesting and informative. There are a few things that leave one pondering more than just the events of the time. One slight quirk that may not be to everyone's taste - the author puts himself into the book as he recounts the events surrounding, for instace, meeting the people he interviewed and gives a lot of details about where and when - to an extent some of this felt surplus to what was needed.

So here's a question for all the knowledgeable folk in the Pub... What fantasy book would you recommend to someone fairly new to the genre?

A friend asked me the other day and I couldn't figure out where to start. To shed some further light on the situation, she has read and watched the Harry Potter series and has watched The Lord of the Rings but doesn't want to read that.

I couldn't decide where to start and ended up wanting to call her and run down a list of questions before recommending anything! There seem to be almost endless possibilities. She did say she didn't want anything too sad or emotional at the moment.

I was tempted to start with Naomi Novik's Temeraire series orTerry Pratchett's Discworld. My concerns with them were - it's a multibook situation and I don't have the first of either series to lend. I've got from the Light Fantastic up to about book 13 I think with a few titles thereafter but not The Colour of Magic as I read the library copy of that.

I was trying to think of a standalone book that would be a good taster. Any ideas?

>37 Peace2:
My first thought was LOTR*, but that was dashed as I read on. My second was The Earthsea* books, but that was dashed with your comment about wanting a standalone. (The City of Brass popped up in that context too.)

Rather than working through Discworld chronologically why not lend her Wyrd Sisters? I twas my first Pratchett and it worked well as a standalone. If she likes it there are other stories of the three witches.

*LOTR was my first venture into Fantasy.

**Earthsea was a trilogy when I read it.

>37 Peace2: A question: what does your friend normally read?

>38 pgmcc: and >39 Maddz: I know she's just re-read the Harry Potter series for the xth time - apart from that I don't really know. I'll have to dig a little deeper. I may have to recommend the first in a series because there are so many awesome ones out there - if it isn't too her taste she doesn't need to continue. I'm tempted to go with a Discworld but not necessarily the very first there as they are fun and then perhaps something like the City of Brass as suggested by pgmcc. If she does take to Terry Pratchett then I can share the ones I've read and have on the shelf with her - I'm reading number 11 at the moment (and already have 12 and 13 on the shelf - as well as some further into the series but I'm doing a chronological read this time as opposed to just reading intermittent titles.

So if she loves HP, probably a coming-of-age story might fit, and probably something fairly light verging on YA. Umm, let me think.

Skimming through your library, I see you have the first couple of Rivers of London, you've got a later Myth Adventures but don't seem to have the earlier ones, ah, Dresden Files although I thought the first 3 fairly meh, City of Brass - again I didn't take to it but my other half liked it enough to get the other 2, ooh The Invisible Library which is fun, Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Good Omens and American Gods, I see you've got The City - I rather enjoyed it and the sequel although they may be a bit grimdark, Robin Hobb, Guy Gavriel Kay, Deverry Cycle, Anne McCaffrey although Pern does have forced sex and implicit homosexuality which may be a non-starter, Elizabeth Moon but you don't have The Deed of Paksenarrion which is where I'd start in that world, T H White.

Probably any of the above would be good starters. I'd avoid anything that looks too much like a brick; she may find it daunting. I would say best to start her off on something short enough not to feel guilty about not finishing if it's not to her taste.

>37 Peace2: >38 pgmcc: Hmmm... A Wizard of Earthsea shouldn't be completely ruled out as the first book works pretty well as a stand-alone story. As far as young wizards finding their place in the world, it is not much like Harry Potter though...

Robin Sloan's Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore might be a good one. And maybe one of Patricia McKillip's stand-alone fantasy novels? I rather liked Alphabet of Thorn. Or how about The Princess Bride by William Goldman? Jo Walton's Among Others is also very, very good. Not really YA - although it does feature a teenage girl protagonist. It's weirdly wonderful but may not work for a Harry Potter fan. Good enough to be nominated for, and win a pile of awards, including the Hugo and the Nebula...

Neil Gaiman might be an author to look into as well. Ray Bradbury is another, although his stuff can get a bit dark and may feel a bit dated these days. Philip Pullman? Rick Riordan? Garth Nix? I haven't read any of those last three but their books come up as recommendations when looking at Harry Potter titles.

>41 Maddz: Ooh, now you mention it I really liked The Invisible Library and always meant to go back and continue the series - unfortunately I had an ebook for that one, so can't loan it to her but should be easy enough to get a copy herself. Good Omens too might be a good option - I'll have to find out whether she watched the TV series (I haven't so don't know how closely related they are).

I've not been able to get the earlier Elizabeth Moon titles (at an affordable price - I think it's luck of the draw when hunting) so have been waiting until I can justify the cost by not having so many other books waiting to be read!

The Myth Adventures was a gift I received a while back, but I've never got around to checking it out or finding anything earlier. I've read a bunch of the Pern books many moons ago, but it was a long time and I don't remember the individual books well - I had wondered whether one of her other series might be worth considering like the Crystal Singer - but again it's a long time since I read them.

I've not read the others you mention although they are on my TBR pile - I just need a bit more time to get through everything!

>42 ScoLgo: I've got an omnibus of the first four Earthsea books waiting to be read (I read the first three about 20 - 30 years ago).

Mr Penumbra might also be a good choice - I've got a copy of that which she could borrow.

I should be careful asking questions like this as what I'm seeing is more books for me to try as well - I've not read any Patricia McKillip or Jo Walton. I've read some Garth Nix and perhaps his Old Kingdom series might be a good series for her - the first three are on my shelf waiting for a re-read (not the prequels though). I could move Sabriel up the priority list.

I looked at the books on both our shelves and thought I’d throw a few others up for consideration. These 3 have pretty different styles.

Elantris – Although it’s supposed to get a sequel at some point, it works well as a standalone. I thought it had well-developed characters and an interesting and unique (in my experience) story, and it satisfied my epic fantasy cravings within the space of a single book.

Uprooted – It’s been 6 years since I’ve read this one, but I remember really being hooked on it when I read it. It’s a bit younger in tone if I remember correctly, and has more of a coming-of-age element to it, and the main character has to learn how to use magic, so those things might appeal in some of the same ways Harry Potter appealed without actually being very similar to that series.

Piranesi – Based on your tags it looks like you might have done this one as an audio, in which case it might not work since you wouldn’t be able to lend it. This one is short and fast-paced (or at least I thought it was), and keeps you guessing a bit but wraps everything up nicely. It's a bit more literary-ish, so that might appeal if her normal reading tends more toward that style.

She might love Discworld, there’s certainly a lot there to like, but it has such a different style of humor. For me at least, it took a while to grow on me. I love humor in my books, but I usually prefer for it to feel more like a natural extension of the characters and the story. With Discworld, it had more of a tendency to break the fourth wall, if that’s the right term for what I mean. I was constantly thinking that the author was being funny/clever, instead of thinking that the characters were being funny/clever, and much of the humor came from subtle (or not) references to real-world concepts. I had to approach those books in the right mindset to appreciate them.

>37 Peace2: From the books I saw in your collection, I'd suggest one of the Diana Wynn Jones', or Magician. With Magician, if they like it they have more like it to go on. If not those, why not A Wrinkle in Time? Sure, it is a little YA, but still a great book. From books I didn't see, I'd suggest one of the Iron Druid books by Kevin Hearne or Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor or anything by Patricia McKillip. The McKillip books have the advantage of being of medium length, usually have a bit of a romance and you can't find better writing.

>45 YouKneeK: The lurker unlurks!

>46 Karlstar: Magician was a rare DNF for me. I remember seeing it in Forbidden Planet when it first came out, going How much?? (this was when a mass market paperback was under £3) and giving it a pass. I got it for 99p in a Kindle Monthly Deal, and tried to read it about a year later. Not my cup of tea at all quite apart from the hero being something of a dog.

I consider Discworld more in the humor genre with the fantasy element being there to support the humor

>42 ScoLgo: I should have just seconded your recommendations, though I don't usually recommend Gaiman for beginners, except for perhaps Stardust.

Late to the party, but I would recommend one of Brandon Sanderson's stand alone books, or the Mistborn trilogy, since they are manageable sized.

>37 Peace2: Maybe The House in the Cerulean Sea for a taste of contemporary fantasy and The Priory of the Orange Tree or The Goblin Emperor for epic fantasy. For humorous fantasy, there's the Thursday Next series. I'm a fan of Theodora Goss' Athena Club series, but they're historical mysteries with light elements of the fantastic. If she likes YA, Sherwood Smith's Crown and Court duology is good fun. Also, if your friend likes Harry Potter, she may find the Morrigan Crow series of interest.

Happy belated Thingaversary!

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions - clearly it was a very dangerous question to have asked as I have not only come up with ideas for her, but also a list that needs to be added to or moved up my own wishlist!

I'm going to prioritise a couple of books that are near the top of my reading list and grab a couple from my 'have read and enjoyed' and then lend them to her the next time we meet for her to pick from - this won't be for another few weeks in all likelihood so we can see what I've managed to get through by then. I'll ask her a few questions about other things she's enjoyed and then narrow the suggestions from there. I think I was being too wary of starting her on some of the ones I really like because they were either looong themselves or part of longer series. Certainly the series shouldn't put me off, because if she doesn't like it, she doesn't need to read any more in the series.

In the meantime, I'm going to close my eyes and pretend I didn't just get hit by a bunch more book bullets.

January Book #14 Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

This was a re-read (or re-listen) as I've just acquired the next in the series. A series of 'parts' of a huge human-like figure are found scattered across Earth, which when assembled may provide answers to their origin.

I found it interesting and in parts unnerving (less the bits about the aliens and more the bits about the lengths authorities might go to at the expense of the ordinary people).

I should probably look back to see what I thought first time I borrowed this from the library but I'm looking forward to getting to the next one.

January Book #15 Scorpio Attack by Trevor Hoyle

Basically this re-tells three episodes from Season 4 of Blake's 7 (the final season) - and not terribly well at that - some of the descriptions are just plain awful. This title will be moving home at this point.

January Book #16 Torchwood #51: The Five People You Kill in Middlesbrough by Yvonne Hartman

Not one of my favourites in the Torchwood series from Big Finish - bits amused but maybe it will grow on me with a re-listen.

January Book #17 Risa: In Camelot's Shadow by Sarah Zettel

A Camelot based story. Gawain rescues the Risa as she flees from her father's home after finding out the future in store for her. She goes with him to Camelot where she sees a different type of society to that she has known before.

I felt like the book had potential but just somehow didn't live up to it and ending up wishing the book would finish. It's hard because some of the things built up to be something ended up frittering away almost unnoticed in significance. The pacing was too variable - some parts dragged and others raced - but not necessarily in terms of how important they seemed to be to the plot.

I already have the next in the series and am dubious whether to continue or jump ship now.

January Book #18 The Shamer's Daughter by Lene Kaaberbol

This was available for free from Audible in their Plus catalogue - it's the first in a series. I will not be continuing with it. It begins with a young girl, isolated from her peers after she has developed her mother's 'gift' of Shamer's eyes - when someone meets your gaze they can be shamed into confessing their guilt for their transgressions.

All in all, I really didn't enjoy this , it just didn't work for me.

January Book #19 The Girl of Ink and Stars by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I liked the ideas behind this book, a mapmaker's daughter leading villagers on a hunt to unknown lands in the hope of finding and rescuing a friend, but it just felt too short. There wasn't enough development of the story elements, the characters. Personally I felt like the book should have been longer to allow the author to explore the ideas being written about.

January Book #20 A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix

For a quite a bit of the book the confusion was in the reader (or me specifically), but I gradually got to grips with the idea. This was unlike anything I've come across by Garth Nix before - more science fiction that the other works I've read by him. The character telling the story is a prince, he has various enhancements and advantageous training and now he is out in the world and aiming for a rise through the ranks.

So this book is so centred on Khmeri that no other character really feels whole, Khmeri starts off as not an overly likable person, but he does develop and learn throughout the book. I didn't feel that this was up to the usual standard of Nix's writing and it's not going to be one of my favourite's by him.

January Book #21 Worst Idea Ever by Jane Fallon

Not quite but almost the worst acquisition ever. Social media - competition between friends - lies - betrayal - people being unkind - the worst of a number of potential areas.

Two friends are competitive judging their own lives not against personal criteria but against how the other is faring - the more successful friend tells the greater part of the story. At first I thought it was going to be a light amusing book but as it continued it actually seemed to head deeper and deeper into the people being deliberately unkind or selfish and putting other people's friendships in jeopardy as well as their own. I did finish but I put it straight into the donation box with absolutely no compunction to have it venture near my nice shelves.

January Book #22 The Desert Spear by Peter V Brett

I struggled with this title and wanted to like it more than I actually did. It seemed to alternate between grasping my interest and not doing so at all. For a long period the book centres on one set of characters and their plot line before suddenly switching to another set - the two stories then switch back and forth and overlap as we see the two cultures begin to interact, there is also a thin thread of a deeper evil lurking behind what we've spent most of the time on.

Another facet that I struggled with was the treatment of women in the book - there is a lot of brutality in this that I didn't enjoy even when it's not given in detail but is referenced so that the reader knows what has happened 'off-screen' so to speak. It seemed to be a part of almost every key female figure's story.

I have the third book in this series already (not sure where but somewhere in the house) and I know there are a further three after that which I don't currently have. I'm not sure I should keep going with the series - my concern is that there will be more of the bits that I didn't like and less of the bits that I do.

January Book #23 St Benet's by David Blake

So this is the second in a series (January Book #10 was the first). I had reservations after the first book and part of what convinced me to try the second was that I liked the narrator in the audio versions.

I don't like the relationship between the two police officers - it seems unprofessional and improper. The crimes are somewhat gruesome and in some cases unlikely.

I finished this one, but doubt very much that even the narrator will draw me back into the series at this point.

And so ends January's reading. Next up the stats for the month.

January Round-up

Total Number of Books Read : 23
Books Retained After Reading : 3 physical editions
I'm not sure about retaining this as a statistic because digital books which most of the audios are will be retained unless either not finished or borrowed from the Audible Plus Catalogue or the library).

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Oct 2020 : 3
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2021 : 7

Books Abandoned : 0
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 5

Non-Fiction Reads : 5
Fiction Reads : 18

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year - pretty much a given at this point of the year): 10 (50% of total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 10 (50% of total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 11 (47.8% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 10 (43.5% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 2 (8.7% of all books read)

Books acquired : 34 (Oops! I can't even blame my Thingaversary for all of them - just lack of willpower)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 4,700 pages read this month (12,212 pages left to read)

My original list of 50 books to read in 2022 is 47 books long - not a bad start but who knows where I'll get to by the end of the year

Mount TBR was 518 on January 1st and is now 530 books high.

February here I come - and hopefully I'll have some willpower this month!

>56 Peace2: If you aren't enjoying The Desert Spear or the third book, you should bail. The series doesn't get any better.

>59 Narilka: Thank you for the warning - I still haven't found where I've put the third one so I haven't started it yet but I think it's time for me to pass them both on when I do locate it. It's not like I'm short of things to read now is it? :)

>60 Peace2: I second >59 Narilka:'s opinion, that series doesn't get better as it goes along.

>61 Karlstar: This is what I love about the Pub - you're all saving me from wasting time (or funds) that could be spent on something better. I've found number 3 and put it straight into the rehoming box.

>62 Peace2: Me too, I'm always happy to see honest opinions of books so I can make educated choices about how to spend my time.

>62 Peace2: & >63 Karlstar: This reminds me of a thread I keep meaning to start!

>64 clamairy: Books to avoid? Or why we come to the Pub (apart from the PGGBs, company and cheese because they are a given)?

>53 Peace2: Oh, I did enjoy Sleeping Giants and its brethren. I've started his new series--and I see the second book is now out. Hmm.

>10 Marissa_Doyle: I don't usually comment as I'm reading but as you noted it sounded like fun I thought I'd say I've started listening to The Accidental Alchemist and am enjoying it immensely so far. For anyone with access to the Audible Plus Catalogue it's free at the moment if you're interested.

So a big thank you to all those people who made suggestions for me to pass on to my friend. We actually caught up today - so sooner than I was expecting. I slipped a few books into a bag and took them with me to pick her up and then let her have a browse through the bag and make her selection from there - promising her that 1. I won't take offence if she doesn't like/finish them 2. that she can take her time and doesn't have to return them immediately only when she's finished with them.

So turns out the LOTR is actually because she has the audio box set and is now a good way through The Hobbit with the others to follow a later date.

For those who are curious, she chose to take with her Uprooted and Mr Penumbra's 24 hour Bookstore and The Looking Glass Wars which I threw into the bag as an off the cuff choice. Fingers crossed she likes something from that collection. I also suggested The Accidental Alchemist as she has an Audible account and it's free at the moment so always good to try something that way.

February Book #1 Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith

The books in this series just get progressively longer. This time the focus for the detection part of the book is for Strike and Robin to be investigating a cold case of a female doctor who was a young mother who vanished about 40 years previously. There are multiple threads in this story, many of which focus on Strike and his family/relationships rather than Robin whose life seems to be generally running smoother (with one or two hiccups rather than the major issues seen in the prior book).

In some respects, this book becomes somewhat bogged down in the multiple threads and begins to drag, rather than keeping a quicker pace. I could almost say there's too many bits of stories going on, some with relatively little purpose in the grand scheme - I almost feel as if a bit of pruning of the extraneous minor plots would have benefitted the whole.

February Books #2 and #6 Moon Over Soho and Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch

The further exploits of Peter Grant as he continues to work as a police constable in London but with a difference - his speciality is assisting cases that involve magic. Peter's continuing to learn - both about magic through his practice and the teaching from his DI, Thomas Nightingale, but also from his experiences when he's out and about.

The audiobooks are well read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. I can't remember who fired it but this series was definitely a book bullet at some point in the last couple of years - so thank you to whoever fired this one (and I'm sorry I can't remember that was). I shall look out for some more.

February Book #3 Swimming in the Dark by Tomasz Jedrowski

A book about a young gay man growing up in Poland, against a background of communism - mostly that of the 1980s although some is earlier. It's a coming of age story, mostly well written, the main character telling events and his growing understanding of his situation, other people's reactions and where their paths are leading.

February Book #4 The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

I listened to this and loved it! So much so that I went straight back to Audible to buy the next in the series (although I'm not listening to it straightaway). Zoe, the main character, has just bought a house having decided to settle down in Portland, it needs a lot of work doing, but she can't get anyone to do the repairs and then when she does... things don't go to plan. Zoe as alchemist is older than she seems (about 300 years or so!) but she's modern feeling - a herbalist and vegan - she also discovers when unpacking that she has inadvertently brought a gargoyle with her to the US - a gargoyle who is alive and would like to remain so. Dorian, the gargoyle, needs her help but in the meantime, he proves him to be an excellent chef, in between moments of grumpiness.

There is fun, mystery, crime, getting to know the neighbours, supernatural forces and basically it was pacy, lots going on and I really enjoyed it. I'm hoping the series continues in a similar fashion.

February Book #5 The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick

A library loan and just a short story. What happens when a homeless man meets a runaway boy and a rich girl? It's set in Australia. It's a story about bringing out the best in yourself and others and looking beyond the superficial.

February Book #7 Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett

What happens when Death gets the sack? Windle Poons at the University is busy trying to figure out why he's not as dead as expected, meanwhile Death is discovering what it's like to be mortal. The usual humour combined with a certain amount of a philosophical look at life. There are two storylines in this book, the one occurring because of the other, but there is little overlap in the two.

This year is not going well in terms of tackling Mount TBR... I had a legitimate reason to go into the charity shop today - I was seeking a particular piece of furniture - they didn't have anything remotely like what I wanted but I did come out with another 8 books *sigh* I'm sure the Zoo appreciated my utter lack of willpower.

Acquitisions : 4 x Terry Pratchett, 2 x Ann Leckie, 1 x Anne McCaffrey and 1 x Gemma Malley. (On the positive side, I've already declared my intention of reading all the TPs so that's four I don't need to buy brand new).

February Book #8 Let Us Prey by David James Smith

I listened to this Audible Original narrated by the author. It's an account of Ben Field's actions culminating in the death of Peter Farquhar at his hands, and an attempt to murder Ann Moore-Martin. It uses the forensic evidence and Ben Field's own diaries, as well as the testimony of witnesses to the events to retell the story.

The author/narrator often sounded bored and fed up with his own work, as I listened to this, other sections felt sensationalised.

February Book #9 Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel

This series gets even better with more of the giant robot figures appearing/disappearing on Earth and still no real progress on where they came from but seeing the reactions of various individuals and countries to the threat. I hope the series continues strong into the next book as I'll be getting that as soon as I can from Audible as I think the audio versions with multiple narrators are a great way to experience this story (once I've managed to even out the incoming with the outgoing books!).

February Book #10 Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold

This was the first book I've read by this author, but I have heard a few people mention her writing. This title was available from the Audible Plus catalogue to borrow for free. It takes place in space with a group of people who were genetically modified to be better suited to life in zero gravity. It raises a lot of questions on a number of topics - genetic engineering of people, freedom of those people, censored education, corporate greed and corporate responsibility and take advantage and so on. But at the same time it's a short book and quite fast paced.

I'm not sure whether I'll tackle anymore, while I found this interesting, I'm not sure I loved it enough to look for further titles.

February Book #11 Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Crawford

This was actually a Christmas present from my sister, although I then found it on the library audio loans so I listened to it instead. It's a mystery told in part in two time periods. In one of the times Kya is abandoned to live in a Marsh with her father after her mother and siblings leave one by one, friendless, she struggles through life becoming one with the Nature around her. The other story line follows a murder investigation in which a dead body is found in the Marsh and follows the police's attempts to solve the murder. I won't say any more about the story It took me by surprise just how much I was drawn into the story and how engaged I felt and I had a little cry at certain points of the book.

I liked it a lot more than I initially expected and the narrated version brought it to life for me brilliantly (not to say the same wouldn't have happened with the book alone, but just to say I liked the narration).

>70 Peace2: Ooh, a talking gargoyle. This sounds fun!

>74 Peace2: I only want to say that Falling Free, while showing how the author introduces social/moral topics having to do with scientific advances, is not the best example of Bujold's writing. Her other space operas are much more engaging character-wise, and the stories fly. Guess I'm saying, try her once more if you get the chance. :)

>76 MrsLee: Thank you for letting me know - as mentioned above, I didn't dislike this I just wasn't sure I liked it enough to keep going, so your comments are really helpful in knowing to dip my toes into the series further.

I've taken a quick look on Audible and books 2 and 3 in the series are also available for free Shards of Honor and Barrayer so I can give those a go without needing to spend anything (Book 4 is available for purchase and then 5-9 are free). So if things remain like that, I can at least try a couple more - I am working on the theory that things remain like this rather for long enough for me to get to these titles.

I am working on the theory that this is a series that should be read in order. Would I be right? I'm sort of assuming it's cumulative at this time.

>77 Peace2: It's a little complicated, in that Bujold wrote an arc, and then later novels went back and fill in the gaps. So do you follow publication order or chronological?

Shards of Honor does appear to be the best place to start, as it is first in both versions (with Falling Free as a sort of prequel with a different set of characters). It is where I began.

>77 Peace2: I think if you read those two books, you will have a good idea whether or not to continue with the series. I had not heard of Bujold before I read Cetaganda, which is much later in the series. When I read that, I knew I needed more, so went back and began at the beginning. I didn't read Falling Free until I had read all the others, then its story was more interesting as an origin of later events.

>78 -pilgrim-: >79 MrsLee: Thank you both for the help. I shall read on when I get chance before making a firm decision.

February Book #12 The Panama Papers: How the World's Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money by Frederick Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer

This is written by the two German investigative journalists who first began the work that lead to the release of information about the 'Panama Papers' to the world. This is a look at what the hunt entailed, where the information came from and how it differed from prior revelations such as the Wikileaks. It covers what is actually involved in hiding this sort of money (shell companies and such) and some of the companies/organisations globally that were taking part as well as just a few of the high profile figures that were involved - by no means all. It touched on the difference in journalism in a variety of countries - both in terms of freedom of the press, but also the threat to journalists reporting. It also explains how they moved from being two German investigative journalists reporting on a situation to needing to be a global network of journalists and the intricacies of coordinating such an endeavour. A highly listenable account that's suitable for people like me with not much knowledge of what people do with really large sums of money.

February Book #13 The Test by Sylvain Neuvel

An odd little book (I listened to an audio) about a man sitting a test to become a British citizen. I have heard that some of the questions on the citizenship tests are ones that the average person in Britain probably wouldn't be able to answer as they cover so many periods of history/geography/politics/law etc and this book starts with that kind of scenario before veering off into a virtual reality simulation in which the person undergoing the test is put into a simulation to gauge their reaction to situations. Their reactions within the simulation are what is used to make the decision on whether their request for citizenship is granted.

Very strange - a sci-fi/dystopian take on the citizenship test idea. Thought provoking, a lot to think about in a very short piece and extremely well read by the narrator Neil Shah - who had me invested in the central character from the beginning.

>81 Peace2: That sounds interesting. And reminds me of the fillm The Swissmakers - a seventies film that satirised immigration protocols. (And if you think the British tests are brutal - which they are - you should try the Swiss!)

>81 Peace2: >82 -pilgrim-: Re the British tests: Mrs H has passed it, and she is not exactly an expert on Britishness in any of its aspects. BUT she is Australian, and it wouldn't surprise me if there is a tempered version for the Old Commonwealth.

In the 18th century Handel and Johann Christian Bach and many others could just travel to London and set up as composers or music teachers or whatever without all the visa and Indefinite Leave to Remain and right-to-work BS. Makes you wonder how the country survived.

>83 haydninvienna: AFAIK passports et al were optional up to the First World War. Wish we could get back to that!

>82 -pilgrim-: >83 haydninvienna: Just to say that there is a very brutal side to the dystopian kind of test in the book - that doesn't bear any resemblance to the current tests.

February #14 The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

The main character in this story is the party crasher of the title. A young woman whose parents (father and stepmother) have recently separated is finding it difficult to get along with her father and his new partner. The new partner has made a number of changes to the childhood home and ultimately a decision is made to put the home on the market and to throw a last 'going away' party which Effie for reasons I won't get into ends up semi-accidentally gate crashing. Putting to one side the faults of the character, what ensues are a series of ridiculous escapades. It's fairly typical of the author's non-shopaholic writing - bits are funny and with a bit of emotional upheaval as the plot resolves itself. There is a bit of suspension of belief needed and a bit of a need to ignore the faults of Effie - so I would say not one of her stronger pieces of writing, but as quick, mostly light relief, this is okay.

February #15 The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This book is by the author of The Night Circus which I loved several years previously. I wish I could say the same of this. I actually really really struggled to get into and through this book. It's a book about stories, story tellers and secret societies and I got lost repeatedly and found myself struggling to keep track of what was actually supposed to be happening. There is some beautiful writing in the book, but I just really struggled to engage and enjoy. I did get to the end and somehow felt like I'd missed something and for that reason, I've kept it and will retry at some point in an attempt to find out if it was just my state of mind at the time of reading. I was so much hoping to love this like I'd love her earlier book, part of me wonders if I'd just put it on too high a pedestal before I'd even started.

February Book #16 When I was Ten by Fiona Cummins

A woman is being released from prison where she has spent a number of years following the death of her parents for which she and her younger sister were held responsible. She announces on TV that she wants to meet up with her sister and as a result her sister is exposed on TV despite having changed her name and moved using witness protection years previously.

The story is mostly told from the perspective of the younger sister's point of view as her cover is broken and from the perspective of a journalist who knew the sisters as a child.

We get the back story of what led to the parents' deaths, the story of the younger sister's life in between and some of that of the journalist, along with the current situation.

While reading I couldn't help think of a discussion I'd seen here in the Pub, I think it was on -pilgrim-'s thread about evil characters and their motivation which seems quite apt to this - there are a variety of evil/non-evil characters in this, whose motivation can be at least in part understood but others for whom there didn't seem to be a reason for their extremes of their behaviour.

There are also some plot lines that I couldn't understand why they were there at all - other than to perhaps lay a foundation for a debate around prisoners' rehabilitation (in particular violent crimes/young offenders) but while that made sense for the character presence, it didn't necessarily for the subsequent events.

So overall mixed feelings as to whether this just wasn't as good as the hype I'd seen suggested or whether it was just not really my kind of book.

February Book #17 Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

A short story I borrowed from the Audible plus catalogue as I had seen that pgmcc had been recommending Uncle Silas by the same author. I hadn't realised at the time, but this was an adaptation into performance of the original text. It's a creepy gothic horror and although you can pretty much see where it's going from the outset, it still does well at creating the atmosphere and building the characters and their world.

I managed to acquire more books (not exactly accidental - just utter lack of willpower) - another Terry Pratchett this time it was I shall wear midnight, then a couple of audio books Crimea by Orlando Figes, Shadowplay by Tim Marshall, The Gas-lit Empire by Rod Duncan - this is an omnibus of The Bullet-catcher's Daughter, Unseemly Science and The Custodian of Marvels, then there was also The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton and Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey and then further paperbacks Stone Heart and Iron Hand by Charlie Fletcher.

If it's a bargain (audible sale or charity shop) I really seem to have a complete lack of will power and consider it doing well if I only leave with one or two.

How strange - in altering one of the touchstones, it changed others - not to the right thing, but just changed!

February Book #18 Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson

I listened to this - it's a novel of the Romeo and Juliet story that many are familiar with from Shakespeare, but which actually goes back before him. It took me a while to get into this, but once I did, I didn't want to have to stop. The majority of the story is familiar and feels a little bit like putting flesh on the bones of Shakespeare's play - however, there are parts which the author gives a new slant or added dimension which is different to Shakespeare's. I won't mention the elements of the alterations as I wouldn't want anything to spoil a reading for anyone else. In the version I listened to, there was also an afterword - the author's explanation of the history of the story, why he chose to set elements where or when he did, making choices as to how old Juliet is (in this she is 16, Shakespeare's Juliet is only 13 but one likely source for Shakespeare a poem by Arthur Brooke also had her as 16) and how retelling a story with changes is just what Shakespeare was doing - making it speak to the audience in the time it is being read as much as anything else. Overall listenable, generally enjoyable although I did find some of the narrator's voice choices a bit awkward sounding.

February Book #19 The Novice by Taran Matharu

This has been on my ebook shelf for a good couple of years and then I ended up getting an audible version and listening to it. I quite enjoyed it. It's a YA book. The main character Fletcher is an orphan who was raised by the local blacksmith. He has been well treated and well educated for his position. He lives in a world where there are ongoing wars against orcs in which alongside the soldiers are summoners who summon demons to help them in their fight.

Fletcher finds himself on a quest to train and to learn more - on arriving at a school for Summoners, he makes friends with the other commoners, but also a dwarf and an elf - other outsiders in the school and he and they come up with new ideas to the school.

There were times when it felt like the author was trying to speak to 'the outsider' and overplayed the idea of the person/people who is 'other' to the group (in this case the nobility) should band together to prove that they are better than the mainstream because they are open and collaborative etc. Perhaps this is because the author is writing for teens? Having said that I enjoyed the book enough that I would look for more in the series (when I've got a bit further through the TBR obviously *not*).

February Book #20 Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

I borrowed this book from the Audible plus collection. It's a short story/novella, apparently some versions have other stories included - but not the one I listened to. A nameless storyteller retells his observations of the life of his neighbour, Holly Golightly. I'm curious to see the movie (I've never actually seen it). It was a curious book, not what I'd been expecting. Glad I borrowed it but not sure I'd hunt out more of the author's work, but equally if I happened across some, I'd give it a try.

February Round-up

Total Number of Books Read : 20
Books Retained After Reading : 2 physical editions
(1 of these was The Starless Sea - I'm thinking I may give this another go at some point as I expected to like it more than I did but I may change my mind on that).

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2020 : 1
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2022 : 7

Books Abandoned : 0
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 0

Non-Fiction Reads : 2
Fiction Reads : 18

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year): 9 (52.8% total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 7 (47.2% total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 12 (53.5% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 7 (39.5% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 1 (7% of all books read)

Books acquired : 21 (total lack of willpower)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 3,502 pages read this month (9,798 pages left to read)

My original list of 50 books to read in 2022 is 46 books long - not a bad start but who knows where I'll get to by the end of the year

Mount TBR was 518 on January 1st and is now 543 books high.

>91 Peace2: Other Voices, Other Rooms is one of my favorite novels: Southern Gothic with a gut-punch ending.

>90 Peace2: I can't check the author at the moment, but that sounds very like a book I read, I think it was Macbeth: a novel. It had the historical notes and such as well. I really enjoyed it.

ETA, A.J. Hartley was a co-author with Hewson of the Macbeth novel.

>93 libraryperilous: I shall note the title and add it to my wishlist to try - thank you.

>95 Peace2: Thank you - it's good to know there are others to try by the same author that are worth looking out for.

March Book #1 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Wow! Really enjoyed this - I laughed and cried, pulled all the heart strings. Definitely worth the time. First travel to very distant space in search of a solution to try and save Earth from upcoming disaster and first contact with another species. New way of looking at both (or new to me - I've not come across anything quite like this).

March Book #2 The Demon Next Door by Bryan Burrough

The author uses the case of a serial killer in his home town who was not caught for a prolonged length of time to raise issues of whether the killer should have been detected before and where the blame would lie for him not being arrested before his rape and murder spree was able to continue. Mixed feelings on this one and came down on a decision for 2 1/2 stars.

March Book #3 A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre

Having read Agent Zigzag by the same author, I decided to give another of his titles a try. This was about Kim Philby, British spy who was spying for the Russians. The author's style brings the world in which Philby was living to life for a modern reader. It outlines his determination to be a Soviet spy and how he rose through the ranks of British spies all while betraying Britain, his near misses for being caught out, some of the outcomes of his actions and some of the details of the lives of those around him (including other people betraying Britain like Guy Burgess but also those who were working for Britain and defending Philby's innocence like Nicholas Elliott. Definitely a good one here (so much so that when I was in the charity shop yesterday and saw Operation Mincemeat and Double Cross by the same author I immediately picked them up as well.

>97 Peace2: I loved Project Hail Mary. It was refreshing to read a first contact buddy story. I haven't read any of Macintyre's books, but I did read a biography of Anthony Blunt a few years ago. Fascinating time period!

>97 Peace2: >98 libraryperilous: Glad you liked PHM, I thought it was great as well. Disappointed that it wasn't on the Nebula lists though.

>98 libraryperilous: Anthony Blunt only gets a brief mention in this one. Some of the things that happened were almost unbelievable - they would have seemed more in place in fiction that wasn't trying to stick too closely to reality! Definitely fascinating and if it's the kind of thing that interests you, I'd recommend giving Ben Macintyre's books a try - I've only read the two so far but they were both good.

>99 Karlstar: It's definitely excellent - makes me curious as to the ones that were included on the list if this wasn't 'good' enough for consideration.

March Book #4 Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz

The first in a series (there's two released so far). It's the story of two teens growing up. Aristotle is an introvert who has difficulty making friends until he meets Dante at the swimming pool. The two have different lives, different schools but their friendship grows over the course of the summer and through into their return to school and onward. It's a coming of age story, it's about growing up and finding one's self. Aristotle's introversion is about more than just his own character, it's about the secrets he knows are there in his own family but doesn't know what they are. Dante's openness about his life and family are in stark contrast to Ari's but the two connect and do their best to support each other. I enjoyed it and will be reading the next in the series in due course.

March Book #5 The Windsor Knot by SJ Bennett

There's been an unexpected death at Windsor Castle after a dinner party. The Queen is determined to find out the truth and so while the police investigate, the Queen has her staff looking into one or two things as well.

I listened to a copy of this and I think it would fall into the category cozy mystery with some light humour along the way as the Queen subtly (or not so subtly) directs her staff to follow up on one or two things. It's a quirky story, nothing to deep and I have to say that the narrator's voices were good, lifting the characters from the page.

March Book #6 Shadowplay: Behind the Lines and Under Fire by Tim Marshall

Written by the author of Prisoners of Geography and Divided, this book examines the war that led to the breakdown of the former of Yugoslavia, showing the realities for the ordinary people at the time and since, the life of a journalist reporting on the events and along with an insight into the politics that surrounded the events.

March Book #7 An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

The author created a world in a ship travelling through space, a dystopian look at the power structure in play, the realities of the lives of the lower classes on the ship from the viewpoint of Aster who is trying to investigate the death of her mother while learning more about the society as a whole. This was an interesting listen (I borrowed the book from the Audible Plus collection).

March Book #8 Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

An interesting book, not quite what I was expecting. The story centres on a family, a mother and father, retired tennis coaches, and their four grown children. A stranger comes into their midst, seemingly welcomed by the parents, but unnerving to the children. As the book continues, it becomes clear that in the 'present, the mother has gone missing and more light is shed on the past, examining the relationships with the children, with the stranger who appeared, with their past students - letting the reader question what might have happened, what is the truth about the present.

March Book #9 The Masquerading Magician by Gigi Pandian

This is the second in the series I started reading earlier in the year. Zoe continues her search for the solution to Dorian's problem. In this she thinks she has found someone who might be able to assist, but needs to discover their honesty and trustworthiness before revealing her search. Instead she finds herself sidetracked into other problems .

Overall I like this series, it has humour and fantasy and interesting characters and is well read by the narrator, Julia Motyka.

March Book #10 The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan

I borrowed an audio version of this. I'm not sure whether it was me and my current mood, the writing or the narrator but I didn't really enjoy this.

March Book #11 Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella

So I like a lot of Sophie Kinsella's non-Shopaholic writing but this one just didn't quite hit the mark. It's the story of two people who meet on a writer's retreat, fall madly in love and try to bring their whirlwind romance home to the real world. I don't want to go into too much detail and risk spoiling it for other potential readers, but I struggled to like the main character - too whimsical and offbeat for my taste and while at times things made me smile/laugh, more often it didn't. This one felt too forced and not up to the author's usual high standard.

March Book #12 Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thich Nhat Hanh

A book about mindfulness, about being in the moment and cutting out the background interference of life to focus and appreciate. It's an interesting idea, and I believe that to take on board some of the ideas would benefit, but the thought of spending all of my time in the moment and focused only on one thing... I'm not sure I could achieve that - maybe at some point when life was less busy and I had time to just do one thing at a time - right now I appreciate the chance to listen to books while I complete things like the washing up and don't feel the need to be quite that in the moment myself. I think taking on some of the ideas and thoughts for part of every day wouldn't be such a bad thing.

>103 Peace2:
I read Prisoners of Geography last year and found it quite interesting. It explains Putin's paranoia about Europe in the context of Russia's exposure to invasion from the west due the easy geographic access.

The Thirty-Nine Steps is quite old-style which may have been a misfit for you. My lasting memory of the book is how for ten shillings one could buy a dead body on the streets of London for whatever reason you wanted. Buchan appears to have taken this as a non-surprising fact for his hero, Richard Hannay.

March Book #13 Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

A book about data and how the world has been structured more to take account of men as the norm for how things are set up, with examples from the medical field, employment, transport studies, technology right down to even how car seat belts are designed and tested to take the weight, height and body structure of an average adult male, and when tests were finally run on using an alternative to 'adult male' crash test dummy, they used 'teenage boy' to represent women and teenagers and only in the passenger seat and only in some tests meaning that data about car safety and the survival and/or likely injury from road crashes only really applies to the average adult male in a car and not to anyone who varies from the norm. It was interesting and there were lots of things that I hadn't thought of in the way the author does in terms of the way the data gathered affects everyone. The reality is that the places that women take in the world today is changing, but that there are still some historical data issues which will continue to have an effect - one example was given around technology which in the labs was taught to recognise a typical male voice, sold to everyone and then in real world use it struggled to recognise female or younger male speech. The author does make the point that by continuing to not accurately collect and collate the data on women alongside that of men, then it is a disservice to society as a whole. Overall, it was an interesting read as I hadn't really considered how much the data collected and used for decision making is affecting outcomes - for me this was almost as enlightening as the effect it has on women, but while the author is right about data gaps being an issue for women - the same argument could be used for other groups of people - the real issue is making big decisions based on only data from one portion (or selected portions that are going to return the desired/easy responses) of the society's population and it not being truly reflective of the people the decisions will effect. I've seen this in recent local policy decisions and could go on but that would definitely be a TL;DR moment! I read this as it had been recommended both by a friend and on a course I'd attended about equality in the workplace.

>105 pgmcc: I've read four books by the author now and do find his writing quite interesting generally - the one above, the one you mention and Divided and one about Flags ( the meanings/history behind them and what they represent to the people in different countries). There is one more in the politics of geography series that I would like to try.

March Book #15 The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker

It took me a little while to get into this book but I'm glad I stuck with it. It was an interesting read and I liked the development of both the main characters and the setting and story. I've not come across anything quite like this and I loved the way both the Golem and the Djinni became real in my mind and the picture I had of them as characters interacting with the world around them as individuals.

March Book #16 The Rock by LJ Ross

Another police investigation with DCI Ryan at the helm. This time the investigation is into human trafficking. The police side of the crimes and investigations are fine, but I'm not enamoured by the many personal relationships of the police. There are now 3 different personal relationships that the author is extending and in many respects they seem to go over old ground from story to story with little new to add or relevant to the main crux of the story. I've probably said something similar on the last couple of titles, so I really should stop buying these just for the narrator!

March Book #17 I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

The book is what the title suggests one woman, Michelle McNamara, privately investigated the crimes of the Golden State Killer, hoping to find a solution, passing information and leads to the police and also sharing some with fellow investigators.

Unfortunately the principal author died before completing this book and sections that were unfinished or incomplete were built using the author's notes and research.

It was an interesting book, outlining the search for the killer but also how investigative techniques changed over the years. The book was published before the police had found and brought the criminal Joseph James DiAngello.

>108 Peace2: I think there's a sequel to Wecker's novel as well. I need to read this one. It sounds fascinating.

I loved the way both the Golem and the Djinni became real in my mind and the picture I had of them as characters interacting with the world around them as individuals.

It's always such a pleasure to find a novel like this.

>104 Peace2: I tried reading The Thirty-Nine Steps just last week and bailed out about 10 pages in. I will possibly try it again, but maybe not.

>108 Peace2: I also enjoyed I'll Be Gone in the Dark and I think we lost a talented writer well before her time.

>109 libraryperilous: I hadn't heard that - I shall have to look out for it.
>110 clamairy: I think you may be right.

March Book #19 Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover

I borrowed this one from the library digital audio collection. It's a complicated story about teens growing up and expectations. Beyah has grown up with her mum, life was a struggle and she believed her Dad had no real interest in her. When her mum dies, she calls her Dad and asks to stay with him - without telling him why she needs somewhere to stay. There she meets her father's new family and neighbours. Among the neighbours is Samson, a teen who seems to be living alone in a series of holiday homes and doing odd jobs for the neighbours. As the story progresses, the initial expectations of a number of characters are shown to be not the reality and leaves characters reevaluating themselves and each other, questioning why things play out as they do.

This is the first time I've read a book by the author and following this, I would certainly try another.

March Book #20 Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is a journalist and the story has her heading to Wentwater Court for an article she plans to write about the estate. While there she gets involved in a murder investigation when another guest is found dead in a pond. The story is set in 1920's England, is a cosy mystery and makes an okay read/listen - this is the first in a series of about 23 main stories. I listened to it from the Audible Plus catalogue. Reading other reviews, the characters etc improve as the series progresses through the next couple of books at least.

March Book #21 National Geographic: Notre Dame - Rebuilding an Icon

Interesting set of articles covering the rebuilding of Notre Dame after the fire, Sudan and the climbing of K2 by a group of Nepalese climbers in winter.

We won't talk about the nightmare after I read the Notre Dame article and how that night I dreamt that I was at the top of part of the structure with a rope and people removing the scaffolding from around me! Because what I read doesn't effect my subconscious mind that much at all! *rolls eyes in despair at self* (It was the photographs of the renovations I'm sure).

March Round-up

Total Number of Books Read : 21
Books Retained After Reading : 0 physical editions

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2020 : 1
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2022 : 2

Books Abandoned : 0
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 4

Non-Fiction Reads : 7
Fiction Reads : 14

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year): 6 (45.45% total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 10 (49.09% total first time authors for the year)
Non-Binary Authors (first time to read that author this year): 1 (1.8% total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 7 (46.87% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 10 (42.18% of all books read)
Books by Non-Binary Authors: 1 (1.5% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 1 (9.37% of all books read)

Books acquired : 34 (total lack of willpower - I went looking for furniture and came back with books!)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 1,288 pages read this month (8.510 pages left to read)

My original list of 50 books to read in 2022 is 45 books long - not a bad start but who knows where I'll get to by the end of the year

Mount TBR was 518 on January 1st and is now 553 books high. Definitely not the plan!

Has anyone read Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin? I'm really struggling with it at the moment and don't know whether I should persist or give up and move on. Any thoughts? I don't want to miss out on something amazing, but as mentioned above my TBR pile is heading in the wrong direction so ...

>114 Peace2: I did, some years ago. It came across as a deliciously creepy retelling of the Virgil we sweated through in my final year at school. I suspect if anyone had suggested it to the teacher he'd have had a fit, but the story made sense and brought the Virgilian heroes alive as human beings. And now sometimes (rarely) when I hear an owl at night I think of the unfortunate lady. Methinks the book is due or a re-read.

>115 hfglen:. Maybe I need to put it down and come back to it in a week or two and start it again in that case. Thank you. I always worry that if I give up on something I might be missing out and it sounds like that might be the case here.

>116 Peace2: Reading mood is a thing. I have put down a book due to 'not feeling it' and then found myself really liking it on the next attempt.

I read Lavinia at the end of 2018 and thoroughly enjoyed it. At the time, I had put off starting it for several years. Even as I decided to finally have a go, I can't say I was excited about it as I'm not well-read in ancient Greek/Roman mythology. It was more of a, "Well, I am a Le Guin fan so I should read this book." I was therefore very happy to find myself picking it up at every opportunity. Le Guin had that anthropological view of things that really helped bring the characters to life as regular people, (as Hugh mentions in >115 hfglen:). That was one of the aspects that helped my enjoyment of Lavinia.

>117 ScoLgo: so true! I’m putting Lavinia down for now and I will try it again later. It’s not working at the moment but I don’t want to risk missing a gem.

Instead I’ve moved on to Witches Abroad in tree and The Conquest in audio.

April book #1 Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead

The story focuses on a furniture seller in Harlem in the 1950s and 60S. He does a little fencing of the odd bit of illicitly obtained furniture or jewellery but thanks to a cousin finds himself drawn deeper into the activities of local criminals.

It’s an different take on the usual crime novel by focusing rather on the person trying not to be involved. It’s pretty good although I didn’t love it. I gave it three stars.

April book #2 The River King by Alice Hoffman

What an unusual book - again this is sort of a crime novel but it’s also sort of a coming of age one, and also a look at private schooling in the US. It’s almost ‘literary’ but in its descriptions in the way the author writes and develops the ambiance for the book. The author isn’t getting from A to B in a quick hop, she’s taking time to bring the world in which she is travelling alive. It does give the book what feels like quite a slow pace.

April book #3 The Greatest Menace: The Gay Prison Experiment by Patrick Abboud

An audible original that’s more of a podcast format rather than an actual book. It covers an investigative journalist’s research into rumours that gay men imprisoned in the 1960s and 1970s in Australia were in many cases sent to the prison in Cooma and were subject to attempts to ‘cure’ them. It’s at times a hard piece to listen to with some of the people interviewed revealing the same attitudes now that would have lead to the creation of the prison and its experiments at the time.

April book #4 Agrippina: Empress, Exile, Hustler, Whore by Emma Southon

I had mixed feelings about this listen. On the positive side, it was interesting look at the life of Agrippina the Younger. She was the great-Niece of Tiberius, sister of Caligula, wife of Claudius and mother of Nero. The author retells her life from the minimal evidence and references available in texts. The author admits that she is making assumptions and drawing conclusions that she cannot fully prove (personally I didn’t have a problem with this because the author explained the evidence she did have and how she was drawing her picture - the reality is that the contemporary writers were interested in the significant male figures and rarely mentioned the women except in relation to the men, so there is relatively little direct evidence to use). My reservations stem from the amount of bad language and the number of references/comparisons to modern cultural references eg The Simpsons, Alan Sugar, Patrick Stewart, politicians like David Cameron. I don’t think this will stand the test of time well because of this.

April Book #5 The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller

Not at all what I was expecting. This is a look at life for men returning from World War I. The story's narrator is asked to investigate the suicide of a former classmate who took his life several years after his return from the War. His search for the truth uncovers the struggle men faced to deal with what would now likely be classified as PTSD, how they would be treated while at the front and after - the classification of soldiers as cowards, the sentencing of them to death, the psychiatric treatments they might have received. It's an intricately layered piece, uncovering events, characters and how different elements play together to create a whole.

April Book #6 Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the third of the Raven Boys series, it's a good continuation of the story - the characters continue to develop, their interactions revealing more about all of them, showing the depth of care, even when it's not spoken. It's an intricately woven story - I'm looking forward to tackling the final book shortly.

April Book #7 Half Bad by Sally Green

This one didn't work for me. I found it tedious and quite depressing - while it's not uncommon to see a character who starts life at a disadvantage, judged by heritage and living in a strictly structured society of some kind which is judging and limiting others according to presumptions and forced situations. This didn't work for me - too much of a familiar theme but personally I felt it lacked the delivery to engage me as a reader. I did finish it, but elected to pass on the sequel without reading it - too many other titles that I want to read more.

April Book #8 The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J Walker

Depressing post-apocalyptic piece with a main character that didn't engage me. The story is set in Britain and begins with much of the country being hit by a series of asteroid strikes that wipe out the major cities, swathes of the countryside are left burning. The narrator, his wife and children survive the initial strikes at their home in Scotland. The story then relates their initial struggle to survive before joining other survivors. There are trials, tribulations, separations and journeys to rediscover.

Now it could be my mood at present that I really shouldn't have been reading a post-apocalyptic story but realistically, I'm not sure I'd have really been rapt by this book at any time. The narrator is selfish and self centred - for a large portion of the book, he's concerned with his own survival and his family are a hindrance. He whines and moans constantly about his lot - what about everyone else's?

Not for me - I was glad to get to the end.

April Book #9 Blood in the Snow: The True Story of a Stay-at-home Dad, his High-powered Wife and the Jealousy that Drove him to Murder by Tom Henderson

A true crime story about a murder in the US. Stephen Grant reported his wife missing several days after she disappeared, saying they had argued and she had left for a work trip early, but he hadn't heard anything since. It's a horrific story of real life jealousy and the husband's actions. The actions of certain family members after the fact are also horrible - his sister's actions in trying to gain custody of the children adds to the awfulness of the events.

I didn't particular like the narration and production of this audio book - I'm not sure whether to put that entirely in the hands of the narrator or whether it is the writing of the material he is delivering.

April Book #10 The Conquest by Elizabeth Chadwick

Slightly mixed feelings about this one, although it comes down more on the plus than the minus. On the positive side, this builds the historical picture of the period before and after the Norman conquest of England through people living on both sides at the time. Ailith is a Saxon, wife of a blacksmith is at the core of the events of the first half of the book - we see her life, her love, her loss and rebuilding of a life on more than one occasion (I don't want to say too much). The author develops her relationships with both Saxons and Normans. The second part of the story focuses on Julitta, daughter of Ailith, as her life develops. The world building and much of the character development is good.

On the negative side, some of the romance felt heavyhanded to me. Some of the shifts between events felt sudden and abrupt as if lacking a smooth transition between the writing of one set of events and the next.

April Book #11 Kiss Myself Goodbye: The Many Lives of Aunt Munca by Ferdinand Mount

This is the author's memoir of his efforts to uncover the true life of his aunt, a mysterious figure who seemed to have any number of secrets. She was quite an extraordinary figure, following quite an exceptional path through her life, that involved shedding her identity and starting over in quite startling ways.

It's a complex story, intricately woven twists and turns and slightly stunning to believe that this is true.

April Book #12 Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett

A great adventure on Discworld with Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and Magrat heading off to foreign parts to sort out a fairy godmother situation. This was just qhat I needed - clever, witty, intricate, and the three main characters are brilliant. Loved it - won't be too long before I move on to the next in the series - I think it's Small Gods so hope to get to that soon (particularly as I've already bought the copy in ready to read).

April Book #13 The Englishman by David Gilman

When a British banker is kidnapped, MI6 contact a former French Legionnaire who was a friend of the banker. This is a thriller, with espionage, political intrigue, torture, loyalty and vengeance. The main character Raglan, is the former Legionnaire, - the story has him drawn into the investigation in an attempt to rescue his former friend but ultimately has him infiltrating a Russian prison to murder an inmate before managing an incredible escape.

I enjoyed this and became quite fascinated by the main character and his efforts.

April Round-up

Total Number of Books Read : 13
Books Retained After Reading : 2 physical editions

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2020 : 5
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2022 : 5

Books Abandoned : 0
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 2

Non-Fiction Reads : 4
Fiction Reads : 9

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year): 5 (49.2% total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 5 (49.2% total first time authors for the year)
Non-Binary Authors (first time to read that author this year): 0 (1.6% total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 6 (46.8% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 6 (46.8% of all books read)
Books by Non-Binary Authors: 0 (1.3% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 1 (5.2% of all books read)

Books acquired : 16 (this isn't good but at least it wasn't as bad as March!)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 2,211 pages read this month (6,089 pages left to read)

My original list of 50 books to read in 2022 is 42 books long - three less than last month - so that's something positive!

Mount TBR was 518 on January 1st and is now 553 books high. Same as last month, so I'm taking that as a positive.

>123 Peace2: Witches abroad and Small gods are two of my favourite Discworld books! Pratchett really was a genius.

Oh so nice to see someone else has discovered the Elizabeth Speller books. I wish she'd write more with Laurence Bartram, but so far only two. The other is worth checking out, too - The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton.

>125 Sakerfalcon: I'm looking forward to Small gods - I'm sure I read it a long time ago and enjoyed it.

>126 Bookmarque: Good to know there is another one to look out for although as yet I've never seen that anywhere - I shall keep looking!

May Books #1, 3 and 5 The Fall of The Gas-Lit Empire by Rod Duncan

This is a three box set The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter, Unseemly Science and The Custodian of Marvels. I bought and listened to the set from Audible and the narrator did a good job. The story centres on Elizabeth Barnabus. She grew up in a travelling circus and now works as intelligence gatherer by impersonating her fictional twin brother at night, and living as herself in daylight hours on a canal boat.

The story is set in an Alternate Britain - it's not a United Kingdom broken into a Kingdom and a Republic but neither are entirely without their problems - it bears some resemblance to the 19th century in manner of clothes, speech, actions. It has steampunk elements, but not entirely - any technology/scientific development is strictly controlled. There are an array of varied characters, the rich and wealthy, people from circuses, the officers of the law.

The set was a fairly quick listen, easy enough to get into and interesting enough to stick with. It creates a world effectively and draws in the reader and by the end of the trilogy the problems set up in the first book are resolved. I understand that the author has written a further three books with stories around Elizabeth Barnabus. I'm glad I read the first three, if I happen across any additional ones I may well give them a try.

May Book #2 The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith

Written by the author of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency but set in Sweden rather than Botswana. It's a long time since I read the No.1 Ladies but I seem to remember enjoying it a lot more than this. I felt there was a slightly distant tone - I've read a couple of suggestions that the author was parodying the Scandi-noir genre but I've only read a couple so I'm not certain on that. I can't say that I really enjoyed this. In essence, Ulf Varg is investigating crimes, with his supporting cast, that include a man stabbed behind the knee, a woman whose boyfriend has disappeared and a possible werewolf.

Worth trying, but not my cup of tea so I won't be pursuing the series further.

May Book #4 Sergeant Joe by Mary Jane Staples

This was a library audio loan - there was a massive waiting list so I presumed it was something that was really worth reading and didn't want to miss out (I know that probably shouldn't be a reason to join the waiting list but I presumed volume of interest indicated something worth at least a look).

Total mistake on my part! Not my thing at all. Sergeant Joe is popular, loved by his landlady and her family, friends and neighbours, he also has a little sideline in forgery. He bumps into Dolly while out in the fog, she seems scared and hurt so he carries her home with him and the story develops from there.

I found the characters irritating, Sergeant Joe is too superior, Dolly too flighty, Mrs Beavis the landlady irritated me too, I found the characters' interactions grating and as for Sergeant Joe's constant threats to spank Dolly's bottom and actually doing so very uncomfortable, particularly given everyone's acceptance of this. This is not I would have thought in keeping 'A heart-warming Cockney saga' as the library had it listed.

A massive mistake to listen to this for me and I won't be borrowing any more by the same author. It's interesting that the library lists the author as a 'multi-million copy bestseller' but although there are 57 books by the author here on LT the top three have 32, 25 and 22 copies held and I haven't found one with any reviews yet - although I'm not inclined to click through them all. Apparently the name Mary Jane Staples was a pen name for Reginald Thomas Staples. Learn something new every time I poke around on LT (Have to go and adjust my stats as I had wrongly assumed the author was female and hadn't until now checked to verify).

Oh the frustration! So I've been borrowing some of the Rivers of London books from the library and yay they've just got a new one - far less yay, they've got number 9 but I've now read books 1 - 3 which they have and I don't have 4 through to 8 and was hoping that as they had just added 1 - 3 to their collection and they'd been popular and there was a waiting list for each of them that the library might see that as a reason to buy more... and it was - just not the next in the sequence! Why do libraries do that? I know when I was working in a school library I always did my best to make sure whole series were available and to replace missing titles from the middle of series so as not to spoil the reading enjoyment for the readers. Guess at some point I will be buying 4 through to 8. *sigh*

>129 Peace2: That is a series which really benefits from being read in order, too. Bummer.

>130 MrsLee: It's really noticeable that there are still queues to borrow the first three from the library but the new one doesn't seem to have been borrowed at all. Why do I cynically think this is just a ploy to prove that 'sci-fi/fantasy titles aren't popular' so that they don't need to get any more? *sigh* Oh well - at some point I'll try and hunt them down but it won't be for a while.

This will be a bit of a mad dash to try and account for the rest of May's reading - where does all the time go?

May Book #6The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien

I listened to this read by Martin Shaw. I actually struggled through probably the first half of the book, but things seemed to improve in the second. It didn't click in for me personally with the same level of excitement around the characters and their adventures - at times it almost felt like I was listening to a reading of one of the Old Testament books with the long genealogical lines of ancestry. It felt for me like less of a wonderfully adventurous story and more of a groundwork for the world in which the other books take place.

May Book #7 Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover

So I have a newly acquired Kindle and this was a free to borrow Kindle Unlimited book. Not my usual fayre but I had read one by the author a month or two ago and enjoyed it, so I went with it and was pleased to find that actually it was pretty engaging once I did. It's difficult to explain (without giving away too much plot) - it's a combination of redemption and love story. Kenna is newly released from prison and wants to reunite with her daughter - a daughter who was born while she was in prison and so she has no relationship with her. It's about her struggle to rebuild a life, prove that she isn't the person other people think she was/is and move forward. *This is a very light touch description as I wouldn't want to go into more detail but there is more depth and other characters that are also interesting* It is emotional at times given the subject matter, but overall it was a good read and I would try more after a few other books in between.

May Book #8 A Village Murder by Frances Evesham

The first in a series, available free to borrow from Audible. It's a murder mystery in a village - retired policeman runs the nearby pub and is curious about recent deaths and gets involved in investigating. It's lighter fayre - more akin to Agatha Christie than Tess Gerritsen or Karin Slaughter. I would listen/borrow more by the same author.

May Book #9 Mitosis by Brandon Sanderson

It was a mistake to read this one because it's a very short sequel to Steelheart and not having read the first, I wasn't really sure of what was happening in this - I will revisit after having read Steelheart.

May Book #10 The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Borrowed from the library e-audiobook selection, I found this quite enjoyable, humorous in parts. The story revolves around a group of residents at a luxury retirement home who united in the love of murder mysteries decide to investigate a local murder, infiltrating them into meetings with the police and carrying out their own investigations. Worth a read and I'm on the list to borrow the next in the series when it's available (should be sometime in June).

May Book #11 The Owl and the Pussy-Cat and other Nonsense Rhymes by Edward Lear

A quick light listen from Audible.

May Book #12 The Elusive Elixir, #19 The Alchemist's Illusion and #21 The Lost Gargoyle of Paris by Gigi Pandian

Continuing the story of Zoe Faust's attempts to save Dorian the chimera/gargoyle who is slowly turning back to stone, uncover the truth about the backward alchemists and get tothe bottom of crimes/murders and general bad guys. Not all of the books are as strong as the early part of the series, but I think there is only one title left now, so I will finish.

May Book #13 Taliesin and #16 Merlin by Stephen Lawhead

I read some of these books back in my late teens/early twenties (not sure exactly but a long time ago anyway) and so coming back to them I wasn't sure how I would feel. Audible have them to borrow so the first was reasonably enjoyable - I liked the narrator. It is a retelling/combination of the myth of Atlantis with that of King Arthur - a lot of liberties taken - but this is a fantasy so why not? I was a bit surprised at some of the quite heavy handed religious elements (I didn't remember them from my earlier reading).

The second book has a different narrator and his reading is much more of a struggle to stick with. Combined with the even heavier religious elements, I'm not sure how much further through the series I will get - Audible have the first four books, I have five on my shelf but I was struggling to read the type face so was pleased to see the books available to listen to. I read the first three back in the day, so books four and five (and there is a sixth book in the series which I don't currently have) will be new to me - but right now I'm not sure how much further through the series I will get. These were read and kept last time, but I'm not inclined to keep them this time.

So I guess the take-away from that is that I am unconvinced at this point.

Will try to get the rest of May's reading reported on this evening.

Book #14 In Order To Live by Yeonmi Park

The story of a young girl's and her family's life in North Korea, her escape to China and the struggles she faced before reaching safety. Hard to read of the struggle that she faced, the things that happened along her journey, but worth it.

Book #17 Legend by Marie Lu

A young adult dystopia. Two teens live in a city, one on either side of a societal divide. Day comes from the poorer side of the society and he has had to leave his family and hide, living rough, stealing both for his own survival and that of his family as he secretly leaves them supplies. June is privileged, she is highly educated, a rising star. Her parents had died when she was younger, her brother has taken care of her. The night he dies, she is thrust into adulthood and vows to seek revenge on her brother's murderer. What follows is a story in which both teens learn more about themselves and the society, the truth behind the things they have been told and the need to reevaluate what they believe. Has a similar feel to The Hunger Games, Divergent and that kind of book although the story itself differs.

Book #18 Lady Susan by Jane Austen

I listened to an audio of this book - that may not have been ideal as it's written as a series of letters and it was difficult to follow the changes and really get a feel for the characters in this form. That said, as I got into it, it was an interesting look at the lengths Lady Susan will go to for the right marriage. At some point, I may try to locate a copy that I can read rather than listen to in order to explore it again.

Book #20 The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancy

A teen book about an alien invasion of Earth - survival, uncovering what's really happening, trying to work out who to trust. Readable first part in a series, characters were interesting. I don't have any further books in the series - it has been on my shelf since 2017 and I've never come across any of the sequels.

May Round Up

Total Number of Books Read : 21
Books Retained After Reading : 2 (does not include digital copies which are redownloadable)

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2022 : 6
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2020 : 5

Books Abandoned : 2
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 5
Non-Fiction Reads : 1
Fiction Reads : 20

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year): 9 (51.3% of total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 6 (47.4% of total first time authors for the year)
Non-Binary Authors (first time to read that author this year): 0 (1.3% of total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 12 (49% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 9 (45.9% of all books read)
Books by Non-Binary Authors : 0 (1.0% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 0 (4.1% of all books read)

Books acquired : 14 (all were from Audible or Kindle and so are not taking up physical space)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 2,259 pages read this month (total so far this year: 14,170 pages)

Mount TBR is now 544 books high (finally 9 less than the previous month – this has been a struggle this year)

>132 Peace2: That's a good description of the style of The Silmarillion. It is more of a reference work, with a few fun stories mixed in.

>136 Karlstar: It's a relief to hear you say that - I was worried that I had missed something and was just not 'getting it' as I was expecting something more akin to the other books.

On belatedly to June's reading, or should I say listening. I'm not getting much time to actually sit down with a book and so tend to be listening while driving to work/walking to the shop/doing chores/ eating dinner in order to try and stay on top of the reading - unfortunately I am most definitely losing the battle with Mount TBR this year after doing so well in the last few.

June Book #1 I am a Bacha Posh by Ukmina Manoori

I borrowed this from the Audible Plus collection. It's the memoir of a woman growing up in Afghanistan. In a family with few sons, as a child she is brought up as a boy so that she can be sent on errands, get a job until she reaches puberty, at which point she is expected to change her life back to behaving as a woman. She elected not to do that but instead continued to live as a man. It's an interesting listen, although only short, the author explains why she chose to continue to follow this path - the initial choice was made by her family, but the prospect of having the freedoms of being able to leave the house, work and make decisions taken away drives her decision, but she is making a choice to sacrifice other things in order to maintain these. She talks of the difficulties of continuing on this path - the things she will never be able to do, the dangers of living under the rule of the Taliban and being caught. Interesting and sad that such extremes are needed because of a society that restricts women's right to such a degree.

June Book #2 The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell

I really don't know what to say about this one - there are three stories in the book and I raced through the first two and loved them but got to the third and ground to a virtual stop, struggled to read more than a page or two at a time. It's taken me nearly a year to get through the book - and it's all down to struggling with the final story and I can't even put my finger on what the problem was. I like Elizabeth Gaskell's writing, but for some reason I just couldn't make easy progress on the final story in the book. But it's finished now so that's something.

June Book #3 Murder at the Magnolia Inn by Helena Marchmont

The Bunburry Triangle continue to investigate murders in the neighbourhood - I love listening to this cozy mystery series read by Nathaniel Parker. He is a great narrator and really one of my favourite narrators. It's a short listen and a nice way to spend an afternoon.

June Book #4 The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune by Gigi Pandian

The last in the Accidental Alchemist series rounds up the events of Zoe and her friends, resolving a number of the ongoing plotlines and relationships.

June Book #5 Christmas Cross Stitch and Book #17 Mini Cross Stitch by Michael Powell

I acquired a couple of books of small cross stitch patterns and have already managed to whip up three of the designs, two of which I have turned into cards already. I like the designs and they were fun to make (although some of them are a bit on the tiny side to be useful for what I had planned without some manipulation).

June Book #6 The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman

A continuation of the Thursday Murder Club series, slightly humorous crime fiction set around a group of residents of a senior housing complex who are determined to help solve local crime. Quite enjoyable as a light read.

June Book #7 The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles

Paranormal historical mystery lgbt romance - a bit of everything. Listenable as a borrowed book, I may continue with the series if/when they are available to borrow but I didn't enjoy enough to want to buy the next title.

June Book #8 Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies by Ben Macintyre

It's not that long since I read Agent ZigZag and A Spy Among Friends by the same author. This title is in a similar vein - an account of the use of double agent spies during World War II - a little bit confusing as a listen, as there was a huge catalogue of people many of them with multiple identities and code names. Still it was interesting, but would probably be better as either an read or a more concentrated listen (as in not one when I'm doing other things like the cleaning/sewing). I have Operation Mincemeat on the shelf, but think I will leave it a little while before tackling that one as well.

June Book #9 Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

A bit of a let down - I borrowed this from Audible. A group of musicians are staying in a creepy old mansion to work on their upcoming album when one of them goes missing. It was promoted as a horror and mystery. For me I didn't find myself engaged with the characters or the mystery and so it was not really my thing. Having said that, a lot of other people seem to have left very positive reviews here on LT - so it may just me that didn't love it.

June ended up being a bit of a difficult month to handle towards the end and so my attempts to catch up on reporting on my reading were derailed. I'm surprised to see that I even managed the last post. It was a busy month but then I was scheduled some time off for the last week, that I was going to do some redecorating, and celebrate my birthday. Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I ended up with quite a few medical appointments scheduled in the last couple of weeks - I'm thinking of them positively as hopefully now I have better action plans for going forward. Unfortunately two friends passed away unexpectedly which left me feeling a bit reclusive and not keeping up with the online things I should have been. The redecorating is progressing well but not quite finished - still the skirting left to finish, along with putting all of the furniture back and tidying everywhere up and getting rid of the resulting dust etc - but it's well on the way and the room is at least usable again if still a bit like an obstacle course. Slight hiccup that I am returning to work tomorrow and had planned to go into the office, but have been asked to work from home for a couple of days due to a shortage of desks in the office - so I had to reassemble my WFH space which I had packed up to help with storing excess things from the room I was decorating! It's all a juggling act and it will be a good job that no one can see the other side of the webcam! Fortunately July's reading is off to a slower start so I can keep catching up on June for the moment.

June Book #10 The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams

I really enjoyed this one - I think it benefited from my having read a couple of Simon Winchester's books about the creation of the Oxford Dictionary previously and knowing how the words and their definitions were sent in by contributors etc. I really found myself immersed in the world of this book and one of my favourites of the month.

June Book #11 Athena's Child by Hannah Lynn

There seems to be a lot of books popping up on my radar recently (since reading Circe by Madeline Miller) that are retellings of Greek myths from a different perspective. This is a retelling of the Medusa and Perseus story. I wanted to like this more than I did. I liked the perspectives of hearing the origins of Medusa, of her feelings and how/why each event played out the way it did, she was a much more sympathetic character in this than in most of the stories I read when I was younger. I can't really put my finger on what didn't work for me, but I sort of felt that I was trudging to get to the end - maybe it was the pacing or perhaps it was just my mood at the time of reading. It definitely had some interesting elements and I wasn't going to give up on it, but I just didn't quite love it.

June Book #12 The Killings at Badger's Drift by Caroline Graham

For anyone familiar with The Midsomer Murder TV series, this is the first book in the series from which the TV series was adapted. First thoughts are that the book is darker and the characters harder and more judgmental than the TV portrayal. Although I haven't watched the show regularly, I was familiar enough with John Nettles' portrayal of the character to have expected more of the same, but the Tom Barnaby in the book is a bit of a harsher character and some of the other characters are actually quite objectionable in their attitudes. This in part could be a time and place thing - I've borrowed this as one of the newly available audio titles from the local library, but the book was actually written in 1987 - so 30+ years ago - with that in mind some of the things characters say would have been more period typical (not nice or right, but more likely to be openly spoken). One wonders why the library is suddenly buying up books that are 30+ years old - probably they are cheaper than actual new releases I guess.

June Book #13 The Winter Garden Mystery by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple continues - more of a cozy period mystery, although it does amaze me how Daisy manages to inveigle her way in to all of the investigations against expectations of police and family. While they make for an interesting listen from the Audible Plus catalogue (so free to borrow), they don't quite read as Daisy being quite so naturally involved as say Agatha Christie's Miss Marple.

June Book #14 The Visitor by KL Slater

The plot centres around a female stranger who moves in with an elderly lady and a somewhat reclusive man who makes a habit of watching the neighbours and has a job as a parking attendant where he can watch other people. The woman, Holly, gradually builds herself a life, working at the shop where the man, David, is manning the car park. Both have past secrets and things that are being hidden.

I found the characters disconcerting, given it's a psychological thriller, that's probably apt, but felt like the secrets being covered up was manipulated just to build to the climax rather than it being a natural cumulation of unease - it felt a bit forced.

I'm not sure I'd read more by the author although there are a few more available in the library loans.

June Book #15 Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

The central character in this is Frankie, she is a sort of private detective. After the police have given up on a missing person case, she moves to an area and begins to try and trace what was missed by the police to see if she can uncover anything and come up with a resolution for the family of the person missing - she isn't seeking payment from the family for her help (hence my calling her a sort of private detective - she's a civilian looking into the case). This story is set in a Boston neighbourhood and she is searching for a missing Haitian teenager. It is the start of a series. The author builds a world and I found myself swept along with the pace. A good listen from the library.

June Book #16 Black Butler Vol XXXI by Yana Toboso

The 31st book in the Black Butler manga series sees the characters separating and this part of the story focussing primarily on Mei Rin and Ran-Mao as they uncover the secrets of the mansion in which they are working as maids. I wish it wasn't so long between books being published as I'm already eagerly awaiting vol 32 with now idea of when it will be out (next year I would imagine!)

June Book #18 The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

I'll be honest and I say that I had to check back on the book pages to remind myself of which was Book 15 and which 18 for this month as the titles were so similar - they were both library loans and weren't due to come in so close together by the predicted dates!

Anyways, this was set in Britain and is another missing person story. Tallulah, a young mum, leaves her son at home with her mum and goes out for the evening with some college friends. She isn't seen again, also missing is the baby's father. Not everyone thinks she is missing, some people think she has run away. Her mother believes otherwise but is struggling to get the police to take the case seriously.

An author moves with her partner as he takes up a post at the local private school and she begins to uncover some suspicious clues and so begins to investigate to see if she can work out what really happened to Tallulah.

Overall, I liked this, I had my thoughts as to what might have happened as the story progressed. Interesting and glad I borrowed it from the library.

June Book #19 Silent Lies by Kathryn Croft

Another library loan that came in weeks early - really wouldn't have been my choice to read another crime/mystery/thriller so soon after the others - I would normally have had a bit more of a break. I say this upfront as this may have been part of the reason I didn't enjoy this one as much. Mia is rebuilding her life after her husband committed suicide several years previously, the suspicion there at the time of his death that he had been having an affair with a student. A stranger appears asking for Mia's help and saying that she knows the truth of what happened to her husband.

This one just didn't work for me.

June Book #20 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

I listened to this one and was really disappointed in it, having loved Circe by the same author. The story didn't engage me in the same way as the first novel did and the narrator's voice almost bored me to tears. Would I have liked it more if I had read it myself? I'm really not sure that I would.

June Book #21 Zero G by Dan Wells

A early teen book in space with pirates! Zero G is embarking on a journey with his family across to settle on a new planet, they are travelling in stasis for a hundred years to reach the destination. The only person to stay awake will be the pilot who will get them out of the solar system before going into stasis himself and then one or two key people will be woken up shortly before they reach their destination.

Something goes wrong and Zero G's stasis chamber fails and he is woken up early to find himself the only person awake on the ship, the pilot missing (they haven't made it out of the solar system yet) and trouble abounds when pirates board the ship with the intention of stealing it and its supplies for their hidden base.

This was a great romp with a teen hero fighting the odds. In a way it reminded me of Home Alone but in a space ship. The audio version available on Audible Plus was a great rendition.

June Book #22 The Last Days of John Lennon by James Patterson

Kind of a bit of a mismatch on the title - it attempted to give a brief potted history of the Beatles from their early days together in Liverpool, through going to Germany and rising to touring in the US - picking some events but glossing over or ignoring completely others. It's interspersed with chapters about Mark David Chapman and his journey to meet with John Lennon and the plan to shoot him.

For me the book didn't work. It wasn't about the last days of John Lennon - very little of John Lennon's last days were actually mentioned in the book. It doesn't work as a biography of John Lennon because of the potted nature of the elements of that period of his life - nothing is dealt with in detail and loads of things are missing (and I say this as someone who was born not even a year before the Beatles split up). I'm not convinced by the chapters about the shooter either - they feel as if they were written to be deliberately menacing rather than factual. I'm afraid that this one got a thumbs down from me.

June Book #23 Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin

So having abandoned this earlier in the year, I got on much better with it the second time around and was able to make it through. Le Guin builds a story around a minor character in Virgil's Aenid, bringing Lavinia to the fore and showing who she could have been.

June Book #24 Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Another teens in space adventure (older teens this time). There are a few things that I didn't like about this, in particular the way two of the characters fall for each other immediately and the massive amount of internal monologue. Some of the quips and jokes seemed unrealistic - humanity have been in space for hundreds of years, colonising, liaising with aliens and yet they are still using Lord of the Rings references constantly. There is a somewhat diverse collection of characters in the team, but the leader is white male and referred to as 'Alpha' and the person of colour is sidelined - to be fair this is the first in a series, so this may change - I hope it does because it did feel like the character had potential to offer more to the team. The story works quite well as an audio - the version I had used different narrators for the different roles. Not sure that I will continue with the series - maybe if they are available in a sale but probably not if I have to buy.

June Book #25 Poison Ivy by Helena Marchmont

Another short cozy mystery in Bunberry read by Nathaniel Parker - a bit farfetched in this one but still a quick listen with some light humour in between the murder attempts.

June Book #26 The Library by Bella Osborne

Set in a village in England. Tom is 16 and struggling at home and school and finds himself visiting the village library. Maggie is in her 70s and goes to the library once a week for book club. A couple of accidental meetings and their lives begin to intertwine, along with that of a number of other villagers. I did find myself quite drawn into the book and wanting to see how things worked out, even though some things felt a little forced. Not perfect but overall an okay read.

On to the stats for the month...

June Round Up

Total Number of Books Read : 26
Books Retained After Reading : 3 (does not include digital copies which are redownloadable but does include the 2 books of cross stitch designs)

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2022 : 2
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2020 : 2

Books Abandoned : 1
Series Finished as far as I intend reading or Completed : 5 (maybe 6)
Non-Fiction Reads : 5
Fiction Reads : 21

Male Authors (first time to read that author this year): 3 (44.8% of total first time authors for the year)
Female Authors (first time to read that author this year): 14 (54.2% of total first time authors for the year)
Non-Binary Authors (first time to read that author this year): 0 (1.0% of total first time authors for the year)

Books by Male Authors : 5 (42.7% of all books read)
Books by Female Authors : 20 (51.9% of all books read)
Books by Non-Binary Authors : 0 (0.8% of all books read)
Books by Collaboration : 1 (4.8% of all books read)

Books acquired : 16 (all but 2 were from Audible or Kindle and so are not taking up physical space)

Goal to read 18000 pages from Mt. TBR by the end of the year : 816 pages read this month (total so far this year: 14,986 pages)

Mount TBR is now 542 books high (2 less than last month - at least its down - need to have less library loans next month as I've got through enough books this month that should have been more impressive.

I'm sorry for your losses.

I hope the medical plan of action turns out well for you and/or resolves soon.

>141 Peace2: I'm interested in Williams' book, although a couple of reviews mentioned it was depressing.

>140 Peace2: Sorry to hear that June was such a rough month and sorry to hear about the loss of your friends.

Back to the grind for me today too. Good luck going back to the office when you do!

>146 libraryperilous: and >148 Karlstar: Thank you for your thoughts.

Work (even though from home) for the last two days has been hectic but it's back into the office from tomorrow for a while as I'll be covering for someone else being on holiday for the next couple of weeks. Guess it won't be getting any less hectic for a while.

>147 libraryperilous: I didn't register it as such, but there are parts of the book that are sad so YMMV. I thought a couple of the ideas in it were interesting - the idea that the words that made it into the dictionary were from books and that it was acknowledged there was a spoken vocabulary that was consciously ignored because there was no written record. In the book this is framed as a feminist issue but in reality would have been a wider issue generally and specifically more of a class issue.

Just catching up here, and I too am very sorry about the loss of your friends. Big hugs to you.

July Book #1 Murder in E Minor by Robert Goldsborough

I have a vague recollection of having seen 1 or 2 Nero Wolfe shows on TV many moons ago, but it was sufficiently dim and hazy for me to not have any expectations or memories based on who played which character.

This was available free on Audible and I enjoyed it enough that I would consider borrowing and listening to more (or looking out for the TV show).

July Book #2 The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

A mystery in which a grieving widow is drawn into the investigation when her niece's room mate is murdered. A charismatic professor falls under suspicion. It's a dark thriller with a sinister twist. I borrowed this from the online audio loans of the local library.

July Book #3 Win by Harlan Coben

This was another library audio loan (do you get the feeling they call came in at once?!). If you're familiar with Myron Bolitar, this is an offshoot of the stories with Myron. Win is Windsor Horne Lockwood III, a character who appeared in the other series as a friend of Myron.

In this Win is investigating why at a man's death a missing painting is found along with a suitcase with Win's initials.

It's an interesting listen, well read by the narrator, it has a good pace and keeps the reader thinking. A good read.

I am really late catching up with your thread. My condolences for the loss of your friends and I wish you well with your medical matters.

With regards to your decorating, furniture moving, and office/WFH situation, good luck. These things take a lot of time and furniturial discomfort. I am going through the back-to-the-office transition. Luckily I am in a team that is working very well on-line and there is no heavy pressure to get back immediately.

I notice you have read The Maidens. Have you read The Silent Patient, the author's first novel? I recently finished reading The Maidens. I was slightly disappointed as The Silent Patient was so much better.

Thank you to everyone for the condolences and the good wishes on medical matters.

>153 pgmcc: I hadn't read The Silent Patient but will keep an eye out to try it if you think it is better than the one I've tried. I've done a quick search of the library collection but it's not listed in the available titles on my preferred app - I'll try their other app later to see if it's there.

July Book #4 The Diviners by Libby Bray

This one was a young adult fantasy set in the 1920s in New York and the start of the series. It was an okay read but I didn't love it enough to go looking for further titles. Evie is sent to live with her uncle in New York, which sounds really exciting, but her uncle is deeply involved in research of the occult and Evie has a secret that she doesn't want discovered. I didn't love Evie's character, she is quite selfish and immature but to her credit she was also pretty smart.

July Book #5 The Polygamist's Daughter by Anna LeBaron

This is a memoir by the author of her childhood growing up in a polygamist Mormon fundamentalist sect. It is not an easy read as she explains her personal experiences but shows the inner strength she had to survive her childhood and grow into the person she is now. Her father was Ervil LeBaron, a man convicted of multiple murders and arranging murders - many of whom he saw as either personal opponents or people who wanted to leave his sect. He involved some of his wives and children in the murders he committed.

July Book #6 Lost and Found by Helena Marchmont

This was a quick audio listen read by Nathaniel Parker, who is always a treat, a continuation of the Bunberry Triangle cosy mysteries set in the village of Bunberry.

July Book #7 Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

I think the novelty of revisiting these is wearing off as I'm not as engrossed as I had hoped to be. I still have a couple more 'on the shelf' in my audible catalogue, so I shall have to hope that they grab my attention more thoroughly.

July Book #8 Burn by Patrick Ness

Not like anything else that I can think of that I've read. Set in 1957, Cold War era, dragons and humans have an uneasy alliance. This is not a light trivial book - there are conflicts - race, sexuality, the acceptance of dragons/humans by the opposite group, Russia/US tensions. In some respects the treatment of characters isn't as deep as one might imagine it would need to be, but that is in favour of the bigger picture of the whole of everything that is going on.

July Book #9 The Retreat by Sarah Pearse

Really strange thriller mystery. The story is set on a luxury island retreat. People begin to turn up dead and so the detective tries to solve the story behind the crime - who is telling the truth/lying, who has something to hide, what is the history of the island.

End result - I wasn't impressed - I didn't like the characters or the mystery. Thank goodness this one was a library loan.

July Book #10 Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel by A J Hartley

A retelling of the story of Hamlet as told by Shakespeare and supplemented by the original stories that may have inspired Shakespeare. It fleshes out and gives more depth to the characters and the events. A good read (dare I admit that Hamlet is not my favourite Shakespeare play - possibly because I had to study it multiple times as a student) - I really enjoyed this. Coincidentally I went to see an exceptional production of Hamlet a week or two later by Oddsocks (if anyone is in or visiting the UK, I highly recommend looking out for Oddsocks as they travel the country performing. For much of the year, their performances are outside wind, rain or shine (well shine at the start but it's dark by the end!). I have seen them multiple times and there hasn't been a production that has been both different to anything I've seen elsewhere and exceptional quality.

July Book #11 Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas

A 'romance' - girl falls for her boyfriend's Dad and the feeling's mutual. Not really my usual fayre and I won't be looking for more.

July Book #12 The Serial Killer's Daughter by Alice Hunter (not sure why the touchstone doesn't even come up with the right book as an option, but I've had the same problem trying to add it to book lists)

This was another library loan. A local vet is having blackouts, waking up in strange places and unsure of what's going on. She begins to worry when a local woman goes missing and is frightened of the part her own past may play in the events.

Overall, I made it through but didn't love it.

July Book #13 The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

The book was okay, but not as strong a finish as one might hope after the stronger start to the series. It took me a lot longer to read and there seemed to be a lot of unnecessary rather than focusing on resolving the plot lines. Somewhat disappointing end to the series.

That's the end of my list of July reads - no stats as too difficult to work out at this point and I'm probably better to crack on with listing my August and September reads before I get any further behind.

>157 Peace2: I've had Burn on my TBR for ages, but I don't like the idea that dragons might be harmed. I've put off reading it, but it certainly sounds like a unique story.

I hope you are feeling a bit better.

>158 Peace2: Have you read the book from A.J. Hartley on Macbeth? I liked it even better than the one on Hamlet. That may be because Macbeth had always been somewhat inaccessible to me, whereas Hamlet is one of my favorites. I never had to study any Shakespeare in school, thereby saving them from drudgery. :)

>159 libraryperilous: It's an unusual one.

>160 MrsLee: That one is on my Wishlist but I have read Romeo and Juliet which is listed as being by David Hewson who collaborated with AJ Hartley on Hamlet and Macbeth.

>161 Peace2: Oh! I will look for that, especially since Romeo and Juliet has never been one of my favorites. :D

August Book #1 Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

Not my cup of tea, struggled to stick with it to the end.

August Book #2 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I strangely ended up with two books by the same author on my shelf in short order. This was the first one I got around to reading. The story of a group of siblings throwing an end of summer party, but it also tells their history and and that of their parents. It was an okay read, had my attention and had me curious but not completely invested.

August Book #3 Indelible by Karin Slaughter

Quite an early book in the Sara Linton series as she is married to Jeffrey Tolliver, the Chief of Police. The story revolves around an attack on the local police station by two armed but unknown assailants. There are two timelines at play with the present situation and flashbacks to the early days of Jeffrey and Sara's relationship, when he takes her back to his hometown for the first time to meet his friends and family. It's a good read.

August Book #4 Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty by Catherine Bailey

The story of the Fitzwilliam family and their home Wentworth House. The book tells of how the family built their wealth in the coal mining industry, and ultimately how a combination of family scandals, family disagreements and war and changing politics lead to their downfall. It is an interesting book, with quite an amazing amount of details despite knowing that many of the family documents were destroyed.

August Book #5 Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

A young adult science fiction book, the first in a series. The book begins with a planet being invaded and locals being evacuated to three different spaceships and heading into space for help and salvation. Kady and Ezra having just split up from their relationship, end up on different spaceships but they begin to communicate again between the ships. What ensues is a chase through space, with all sorts of other events occurring to heed the hunt for safety and some unexpected twists before the end.

Definitely a good read.

August Book #6 A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes

A re-telling of myths and histories surrounding the Trojan War but from the perspective of women - the women left home while the Greeks are in Troy, the women in the city of Troy, the women they meet on their journeys. It fleetingly touches on Penelope, Cassandra, Penthisilea, Hecabe and many others. None of the characters are drawn in great depth as the book covers so many different stories. The author has used many sources in order to create her book and has elaborated on things not touched on in the traditionally known texts by creating a world for the women who were on the sidelines of the histories.

August Book #7 Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada

Set in Nazi-era Berlin, the story follows several characters, but the core of the story is about a couple who write and leave anti-Nazi postcards at various locations around the city and the investigating police. It's their only opportunity to resist but how effective is it? What opportunities are there to resist and oppose such a regime which thinks nothing of arrest and torture?

The author had been given information about a couple who had run a similar campaign, but while that may have been his inspiration, he is not retelling their story.

It took me a while to get into this but it was worth sticking with.

August Book #8 Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz

The second in a young adult series, it follows two gay teens as they learn about themselves, relationships and life. I didn't enjoy this as much as I had the first in the series but there was still enough to keep me interested and sticking with it.

August Book #9 Children of the Night: The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania by Paul Kenyon

An interesting somewhat fleeting look at the history of Romania, from the era of the ruler Vlad Dracula through to Nicolae Ceausescu - it shows the struggles the country has been through with shifting politics, not always stable ruling figures, attempts to both resist the forces of the Russian communism, or German Nazism and how their location left them vulnerable with no help coming from the likes of Britain and France.
I'm glad I picked this one up in an Audible sale as it was a good listen.

>165 Peace2:
Your comments on Alone in Berlin have given me a nudge to read Fallada's books. A few years ago I was triggered to pick up one or two (I think it was five or six) of his novels, but never got round to reading them. I have probably been holding back for fear of not enjoying them and then feeling guilty about having invested in them. Your post gives me hope that I will find them interesting. Thank you!

>166 pgmcc: The version I had gave a mini-autobiography of Hans Fallada at the back which was interesting. I think it is definitely worth giving at least one of the titles you've picked a try to see what you think.

August Book #10 Oranges are not the only fruit by Jeanette Winterson

I read this many years ago (probably in the '90s at a guess), and thought it was an autobiography (pretty sure I borrowed it from the library biography section). This edition, read by the author and available in the Audible Plus catalogue at the time, states that it is not an autobiography, nor a cookery book, both of which it had apparently been sold/listed as in earlier editions. It is the story of a young girl growing up in a highly evangelical family and coming to understand her own sexuality and how the collision of the two effect the balance of her life and her home.

August Book #11 Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is the second recent read by the same author. This one follows a band and a singer in the 1970s, how their lives become entangled, the stresses of touring, clashing personalities and egos, drink and drugs and the ultimate fall out of the above. It was a pretty good read, felt like it could have been real, I didn't necessarily like all of the characters (or some of them all of the time), but that didn't negate the real feeling. I preferred this to Malibu Rising.

August Book #12 The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

A novella length story by the well known author. I'd been sent this as a birthday gift earlier in the year. It's set in the 1950s and begins with a pilot flying home solo from Germany on Christmas Eve. I can't say a lot as it's short and I don't want to give anything away, but suffice to say it left me with goosebumps.

August Book #13 Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

An unusual story of friendship between two thirty-something year old men, who still live at home with their families. It's an interesting book about people who accept each other for who they are, who don't fit the mold for people typical of their age who test their own boundaries and try to become who they want to be while trying to retain who they are. It's the kind of friendship that doesn't normally get written about in books.

Definitely catching up now as that's the last of my August books so I'm in to September at last with my next post!

>168 Peace2:
You have touched on another two works that I intend to read but have not read yet.

Oranges are not the only fruit is on my shelf awaiting attention. I read Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson and it was on the strength of that I bought Oranges.

The Shepherd is another intended read. I have read most of Forsyth's books but have not reached this one yet.

I've had Fallada on my TBR for ages. I'm a bit better at handling depressing books now, so I may try him soon.

I thought Alone in Berlin was amazing but I'm not sure I could reread it.

>164 Peace2: Illuminae! I liked that series when I read them a few years ago - particularly the way the books are formatted. I found the sequels similarly enjoyable, if you're planning on continuing the series.

>172 nonil: Thank you for the heads up that you feel positive about the rest of the series - I shall keep my eyes open for the sequels.

Fly by post as I've not been keeping up with my reading/posting - by the looks of it I'm now six months behind at least!

Anyway the purpose, apart from to say I am thinking of you all, missing you all, but just not able to visit the site like I would want to if things were ideal, is to tell at least those in the UK with Audible accounts that added to the Audible Plus catalogue (as in the available to borrow for free bit) are a number of Guy Gavriel Kay and Katherine Kerr books if they might be of interest - A Song for Arbonne is one title and Daggerspell - also some Elizabeth Moon and LE Modesitt Jr (not ever read any of the latter so if anyone can advise whether worth reading - The Magic of Recluce), along with Lois McMaster Bujold.

Haven't listened to them yet so don't know what the narration is like, but just thought there might be some people who'd like to listen to them (particularly while they're free *smile*)

I hope you are all well and finding plenty of good things to read and the time to do so.

>174 Peace2: I hope things calm down and you can relax a little and start posting again soon.