Weekly Wrap Up (June 5)

 

Last Week on the Blog

It was lovely to have the Bank Holiday Monday here and after a lively BBQ on the Sunday my week on the blog started with a blog tour for When The Killing Starts by R.C. Bridgestock. Boy do this pair work hard writing books and supporting charities and even consulting on the fabulous Happy Valley! From a blogger’s viewpoint this was one of the more successful tours, because not only did they provide interesting materials, but they also put the time in to help ensure it was promoted well on social media.

My post on Tuesday saw me provide an extract from My Husband’s Son by Deborah O’Connor, the second ‘husband’ book I’ve read in a space of a couple of weeks. Perhaps this is going to replace the word girl in all psychological thrillers?

On Wednesday I shared my week’s reads which was made far harder as in June I am devoting myself to reading books off my own shelf – some for the 20 books of summer 2016 challenge but also some of those kindle reads that have been languishing for far longer than they should.  Normally I know what I’m reading quite some way into the future with my trusty spreadsheet but I finally made a choice which you can see here.

On Thursday I posted my review of the excellent Die of Shame by Mark Billingham, a great story with a perfect ending!

Friday’s review of My Husband’s Son by Deborah O’Connor spawned a bit of humorous banter on Twitter.

'There is a fair amount of sex in this novel'…my fave quote from this review. Step aside EL James! #sexytime https://t.co/jAEVEmQTbB

— Deborah O'Connor (@deboc77) June 3, 2016

Which brings us to yesterday when I excitedly posted my first review for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge; The Poison Principle by Gail Bell.

News

Not an awful amount of personal news this week, a lot of work of the paid variety, in preparation for my holiday which starts later this week… although I was incredibly pleased to see this on a tweet by Viking Books for My Husband’s Wife by Jane Corry

In book news The Bookseller this week had a piece about how well the recommendation algorithms for books work on sites such as Amazon – interestingly, apparently they work better than the original method of using humans but, listen up, the algorithms are useful but ‘Book bloggers, tweeters and old-fashioned reviewers have all become increasingly influential’ I think we all deserve a round of applause!

And finally BBC Entertainment tell us that in November three books featuring the  Famous Five for Adults will be published – I’m honestly not too sure how I feel about this – what do you think? Will you partake?

 

Stacking the Shelves

I’ve been incredibly restrained having imposed a ban on buying any new books for the month of June – I was going to extend it to the entire summer but decided not to be totally ridiculous! Funnily enough I managed to obtain a couple in before Wednesday!

First up is from NetGalley that I was sorely tempted to request on reading a number of brilliant reviews by wonderful bloggers. My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal isn’t my normal type of read but the subject matter and time period appeals and I am now the proud owner of a copy thanks to Viking Penguin who published this one on 2 June 2016.

Blurb

A brother chosen. A brother left behind. And a family where you’d least expect to find one. Leon is nine, and has a perfect baby brother called Jake. They have gone to live with Maureen, who has fuzzy red hair like a halo, and a belly like Father Christmas.
But the adults are speaking in low voices, and wearing Pretend faces. They are threatening to give Jake to strangers. Since Jake is white and Leon is not. As Leon struggles to cope with his anger, certain things can still make him smile – like Curly Wurlys, riding his bike fast downhill, burying his hands deep in the soil, hanging out with Tufty (who reminds him of his dad), and stealing enough coins so that one day he can rescue Jake and his mum. Evoking a Britain of the early eighties, My Name is Leon is a heart-breaking story of love, identity and learning to overcome unbearable loss. Of the fierce bond between siblings. And how – just when we least expect it – we manage to find our way home.

And I bought a copy of The Dead Hour by Denise Mina for my kindle. This is the second in the Paddy Mehan series which started with The Field of Blood which I adored, so it is a little holiday treat to help me sit nicely without complaining on the plane!

Blurb

When Paddy Meehan, Glasgow’s youngest aspiring journalist, is called to a domestic dispute at a house in a wealthy suburb in the north of the city, it seems like just another police call. The blonde bleeding from a head injury in the shadows doesn’t want any help; and the well dressed man at the front door assures Paddy that everything’s fine, and that she can leave.
And then he slips her a crisp £50 note to keep the story out of the paper.
By the next morning the woman’s dead. Paddy may have found the story she’s dreamed about, but she’ll lose all credibility if the word gets out about her bribe. The police who attended the call are twisting the evidence for reasons of their own.
Only Paddy cares enough to pursue a dark and brutal truth that could make her career – or kill her. Amazon

TBR WATCH
We have progress!! Since last week I have read 3 books, and only gained 2 so the total this week is now standing at 180 books!
94 physical books
70 e-books
16 books on NetGalley

What have you found to read this week?

Musing Mondays (November 4)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…• Describe one of your reading habits.

• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).

• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it!

• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!

• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

My life in books (part iv)

So I went off to secondary school and quickly realised that it was nothing like Malory Towers by Enid Blyton

(I don’t know who came up with the new covers for these but I for one am not impressed)

Our school didn’t give out reading lists so I continued with my trips to the local library picking up whatever took my fancy until gradually I moved out of the children’s corner to the adult books. There was little in the way of young adult fiction around at that time that I was aware of, although the local newsagents had one series I used to save my pocket money for… Sweet Dreams starting with P.S. I love you by Barbara Conklin (this was especially useful as I could write it on the hand even and pretend it was to remind me even though it was coincidently the initials of Patrick Sanderson!)

These books were published from 1981 to 1986.
Each teen novel dealt with usual high school drama and romance; first dates, first love, conflicts, etc Wikapedia

We also had a highly informal version of a book club while I was at school. This book club introduced me to all the ‘rude bits’ in books. Of course we needed to read an awful lot of books to find the best bits. Highlighted in my mind of a day sat on ‘the field’ reading together from The Rats by James Herbert, is the reason why I am not a fan of horror books!

At a similar time we read Lace by Shirley Conran with one poor mother’s books being passed around six girls discussing with a passion our English Lit teacher would have been proud of, if only it had been a different book. This piece of education also led our biology teacher to believe we were really interested in how genetics works and how eye colour is inherited.  I had to have a quick laugh to myself as there are no pictures left of the copy we read and the wording on the latest copy is so apt!

In my last year of school the period of the bonkbuster really came of age with my favourite Riders by Jilly Cooper

Set not far, but in a totally different world, to where we lived this book was well worth every penny I spent on it! This was far too good to have to wait a week to read the next part and I remember holing myself up in my room doing my ‘homework’ before generously handing my copy onto another girl to fall in love with Jake Lovell.

I have searched my memory banks in vain to see if there was any books that shaped my teenage years in a more meaningful way than the above selection would suggest. Sadly and ashamedly I come to the  conclusion that apart from some excellent titles I read as part of my education, my personal reading choices went somewhat awry at this stage in my life!