A varied month but with a bias towards historical fiction, I guess. That wasn't planned, it's just the way it worked out!
The month began with a library book, Richard Osman's The Bullet that Missed. I've read all of his Thursday Murder Club stories now and I have enjoyed them all. They become formulaic to a degree but there is a comfort somehow with the feeling of hanging out with old friends. And as I am older myself I am always pleased when stories feature older people.
I belong to Readers First which is a book reviewing community. They
your first impression of that book from reading the extract. You are then entered into a draw for that book. I suppose it's a little like the old Bookbridgr in that you request a book without knowing whether you’re going to be successful or not as there are limited numbers of copies. I was a fortunate enough to win a copy of Stacey Halls The Household. I loved her book The Familiars and I still want to read her other two books. I did review the story on this blog so I won't repeat myself.
I am also a member of the Penguin community Bookmarks. I have been for years and have never yet been picked as one of their monthly draw winners. By the law of averages you'd think I would have been by now but no matter because their prize system is very generous. You earn points by participating in activities and discussions and the points accumulate into various tiers and the last tier I achieved awarded me £75 worth of Penguin books of my choice! Such an amazing prize. One that I chose was Curtis Sittenfeld's Romantic Comedy. It seemed to have done the rounds on social media and I was curious. It's been reviewed on the blog.
I had booked to go to the book launch of Syd Moore's latest book. She is a local author but I'd never read any of her books. I wanted to do so before attending the event and I'm so pleased I did. I chose Strange Magic the first of a series featuring Rosie Strange who inherits a witch museum. I wrote about the book on the blog.
Elisabeth Gifford's The Lost Lights of St. Kilda was a charity shop find. I had previously read The Good Doctor of Warsaw and enjoyed it so I figured this would be worth a read. And it was. A palpable depiction of a remote community, one of the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides. Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The book is a love story not just about the two people who meet on the midland, one a resident, one not but I think it is also a love story to the island itself. WW2 intervenes which doesn't help our separated lovers. It is a love story but not a mushy one. There's plenty of history and adventure here too.
My sister lent me Lev Parikian's Light Rains Sometimes Fall, my only non fiction book this month, again not by design just how it happened! It's an absolute delight. Parisian uses the Japanese micro seasons - 72 in all - to chart the observed changes in nature through his walks in his local cemetery and nearby woods. His garden also yields an abundance of flora and fauna. The book begins just before lockdown and for me, certainly, brought back floods of memories of my similar early morning walks - my essential exercise. I don't like to think I ever disconnected from nature but my lockdown walks did strengthen that connection and somehow this book encapsulates those feelings.
The Grand Illusion by Syd Moore I bought at the author event I attended. I've just finished it and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's historical fiction involving WW2 and the occult. I'm looking forward to books 2 and 3 in the trilogy. I wrote about this on my blog too.
An entertaining end to the month with the very undemanding The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg. Many years ago, I loved the Stephanie Plum series. It’s been a long time since I’ve revisited Evanovich, but this was a gift and a very pleasant way to end my months reading. A good old escapist yarn, with plenty of action and excitement, and the typical Evanovich humour.
I may not receive proofs, ARCs and review copies very often nowadays but my passion for books and reading will never diminish. I may have passed my sell by date in the eyes of publicists but this old blogger ain’t going anywhere.
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