August was another disappointing month reading-wise, so while an honourable mention goes to one of my two September reads, The Cat Who Caught a Killer, for being a bit of fun, my choice for #12Booksof2024 goes to this November read, a delightful 1950s period piece.
#Day8
#12Booksin2024
@Andrew65
pickIt‘s a dull wet day here, so reading in front of the fire is the order of the day!
First published as part of a collection of three short stories under the name So Late in the Day, this little hardback contains just the title story. Keegan can pack so much into a few words, and this certainly makes one ponder about relationships, generosity, humour and misogyny.
pickSlipped in this Quick Read this afternoon, as my final read of 2024. Not read Jo Nesbo before, but on the strength of this, I will read more. This 90-page short story fooled me - I thought I‘d seen the twist coming but then bam! - Nesbo hit me with one I didn‘t see coming at all.
These Reading Agency Quick Reads, aimed at non-readers as an introduction to reading, are great for established readers to find new-to-them authors too.
I hadn‘t appreciated how many series I‘ve part-read until I started sizing up my 2025 reads….
- Marlow Murder Club
- Comoran Strike
- Before The Coffee Gets Cold
- Olga Pushkin
- DI Bliss
- Phryne Fisher
- Veronica McCreedy
- Borrow-A-Bookshop
- Vera Wong
- Sweetpea
- Rutshire
It‘s going to be a busy year!
@TheSpineView @Andrew65
Technically, this happened on 7th October (the 10-year anniversary of the day we met), but I only got the ring today
Sorry, @Andrew65 but I‘m going rogue! Long hours at work in July and August meant less time for reading, so I have few books to choose from, and none that wowed me. So while I give an honourable mention to Jenny Lund Madsen‘s Thirty Days of Darkness, read in July, I‘m using a September read as my Day 7 #12BooksOf2024. Though it was a little strange, I found Butter a compelling read.
pickI‘ve never seen the ballet, and so never really understood why the image of the nutcracker is so entwined with Christmas, but after seeing both E T A Hoffman‘s original and Alexandre Dumas‘ rewrite mentioned in a book earlier this month, I had a desire to read both versions! Not quite what I expected, and I‘m not entirely sure what Dumas was aiming for in his near-identical rewrite, but it‘s a sweet, magical story.
6.5hrs #20in4 #Readathon
My favourite read of June. This one is quite an odd book, that appears to be centred around the Highland clearances of the 18th/19th century, but also looks at relationships and loneliness. It packs a lot in to a short novel.
#12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
Combining two days in one today because, being a British woman of a certain age, the words #Naughty and #Nice, seen in close proximity, still make me think of the “Naughty but nice” fresh cream cake ad campaign of the 1970s, that featured well-known celebrities of the day (such as Cilla Black here)
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
My favourite read in May was this classic. Janie is such a wonderful character.
Day 5 - May
#12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
My favourite read of April was this absolute delight.
#12BooksOf2024
@Andrew65
My inner geek loved this history of the London Underground, my favourite read of February
#12Booksof2024
@Andrew65
The image is a painting of Jemmy Wood, a banker the city of Gloucester, UK, in the late 18th/early 19th century, believed by some to be the inspiration for the character of #Scrooge in Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol.
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
First off in my #12BooksOf2024 is this one from the creator of Death In Paradise, Robert Thorogood. I always enjoy his writing.
@Andrew65
pickYes, I know it‘s a children‘s book and I‘m 56 years old with neither children nor grandchildren as an excuse, but I‘m in full seasonal read mode and this one fit the bill. I loved it.
pickThis book isn‘t perfect - it‘s organised chronologically so some aspects of celebrations are touched on more than once - but overall I enjoyed this trip through the development of Christmas traditions that brought us to the experience many of us, in the west, recognise as “traditional”.
Yet another from my extensive collection of seasonal crime novels….
#Day22
#Snow
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
The escapades of a young magician were the first thing that came to mind for today‘s #ChristmasCheer prompt.
#Day21
#Magical
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
This was a cute romance that I read a couple of years ago.
Not quite a festive #wreath, but I‘ve loved Asterix since I was a child, so I‘m going with it!
#Day18
#Tree
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
Not quite a festive #wreath, but I‘ve loved Asterix since I was a child, so I‘m going with it!
#Day17
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
so-soI confess, I‘ve not read The Appeal yet, but I‘m on a “festive reading” wave and this one, ahem, appealed. I may have enjoyed this more if I had read The Appeal beforehand, but as it is, it felt a little flat. The power struggles and general bitchiness is amusing (and rings true) bit as a mystery, it didn‘t work for me. General consensus seems to be that The Appeal os worth reading so I will bring that to the top of my 2025 TBR pile
pickHaving read book 2 in this series, I decided I should read the first one! Although having pretty cover, being released in November and set in the week before Christmas 1952, this isn‘t a typical festive crime novel, but the narrator is amusing and tells a good tale, so I enjoyed it.
This one wasn‘t in my extensive collection of seasonal crime novels. But it is now. Because that‘s how I roll 🤣
#Bell
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
The book that inspired the film It‘s a Wonderful Life
#Day11
#Gift
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
Another from my extensive seasonal crime collection…
#Day9
#ChristmasCheer
#Santa
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
Life has been happening so I‘m a bit delayed on the #ChristmasCheer postings! Be prepared for a catch-up.
So, #Day8 is one from my extensive collection of seasonal crime novels
#Advent
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
pickBook 2 in a seasonal series featuring Inspector Frank Grasby. I haven‘t read book 1 yet, but that didn‘t affect my enjoyment of this. Grasby is a strange combination of cowardly incompetent and brilliant deduction.
so-soSomewhere between So-So and a very soft pick. On the one hand, it‘s the sort cute seasonal feel-good novel that I like to indulge in at this time of year; on the other hand, it‘s a bit too implausible even for a seasonal feel-good, and the ghostly sub-plot was weak.
From my TBR, subtitled “97 Stories to Read With the #Lights On”…. Ghosts and Christmas are a traditional combination.
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
First in a festive crime series. I‘ve read the second but not yet read this one 🤦♀️
#Holly
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
I am slightly obsessed with penguins, so my Christmas #Decorations include a lot of them!!
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
This one is lurking on my Goodreads TBR; I‘ve no idea how long it‘s been there!
#Elf
#ChristmasCheer
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
I appear to have been on some kind of mission this month (called trying to catch up on my Goodreads challenge!), 12 books in a month must surely be a record for me.
Best by far was There Are Rivers in the Sky, a truly beautiful novel.
Worst by a huge margin was Starting Over (men who blame their own violence on others should never be considered as love interest material, in books or in real life).
#NovemberWrapUp
pick‘‘Tis the season for seasonal themed books and perhaps a slight change in how I judge books, when the main thought is does it make me smile. This one fits the bill - not the greatest literature, and the MC can be irritating, but overall I liked the humour.
pickThis short novella captures the feeling of a first crush, and the mix of emotions are so inherent those months when we leave childhood behind and head towards adulthood
pickSoft pick for this one. I haven‘t read The Maid so this was a new author to me. Not quite what I expected - I expected crime, and got heart-warming. The mystery isn‘t very mysterious (except to the protagonist), but it‘s a sweet seasonal story
pickAstley, appearing last month at Cheltenham Literature Festival, admits that he has had a great life and is very privileged, and such a life doesn‘t make for a great autobiography. Nevertheless, his upbringing, his relationship with his parents, and the experiences leading up to his “retirement” from the music industry at the age of 27 make for interesting reading.
pickA nice, feel-good novel. Originally published as a series of 4 novellas, it‘s a bit lengthy as a single book, but enjoyable nevertheless, with likeable characters.
Photo is of an actual boat café at Gloucester Docks, one end of the Gloucester to Sharpness Canal.
Strictly speaking, this is about fellwalking rather than #Hiking, but they‘re two sides of the same coin!
#DaysDevotedTo
@Eggs
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
