chesilbeach

It is the first one set in Hong Kong. The first book is English boarding school, then an English country house, then the Orient Express, back to boarding school, then Christmas in Cambridge University before this one in Hong Kong. I don’t think you need to have read them all, but I think you will get more out of it if you’re familiar with the characters development and back story up to this point, so I would recommend at least the first book just to understand the set up first.

I've had a really busy week at work, and I'm really glad the weekend is here now! The weather forecast is not looking great, so I think a trip to the bookshop, some coffee and plenty of reading will be in order tomorrow.

I've been trying to avoid spending too much time on the computer and other devices at home this week, so although I've been reading the forum, I haven't been posting, so it's been almost a week since I mentioned what I've been reading! I've finished The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller and A Spoonful of Murder by Robin Stevens. I'm halfway through listening to Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters and I've got a couple of chapters left in Corduroy by Adrian Bell, so hoping to finish that one today.

A Spoonful of Murder by Robin Stevens is the sixth full length novel in the Wells & Wong murder mysteries middle grade series, and I can't believe how this series goes from strength to strength. This story finds the girls travelling to Hazel's family home in Hong Kong and becoming, yet again, involved with investigating a murder linked to a kidnapping, and this time, it's personal as the schoolgirl detectives must solve the case where Hazel herself is a suspect! Another fantastic crime story from this series, and the excellent research into the time and place make this a cut above the average. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

My second book completed on the Round Robin challenge was The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller. I know Andy from the Backlisted podcast, and had bought his book on the back of that, and was surprised to see quite so many of the books he read that have subsequently been discussed on the podcast. It's a memoir of his reading at a time in his life where he's realised that although he works in the publishing industry, he's got to the stage where he's got a healthy bookshelf at home, but that he's actually stopped reading for pleasure. He initially decides to read a selection of books that he thinks he should have read, such as Anna Karenina and Pride and Prejudice, and he recounts the process, some books he loved and couldn't believe he'd never read them before, others are a struggle, until his wife suggests that he just reads 50 pages a day, and it's not long before he's doing just that and ticking the books off the list. However, it's more than just a memoir, as he looks at what he does and doesn't like about the books and the authors, as well as some looks at publishing and family life and even covers books such as The Da Vinci Code (in fact, that's one of my favourite chapters ). Glad to have read it, and even gladder that I can keep up with his ongoing reading life via the podcast! Thanks @willoyd, pleased to have read this one at last.

Decided to read something a bit lighter before starting another non-fiction, so I read Wed Rabbit by Lissa Evans. This is a middle grade book, and I was drawn to it, not only because the author is has been a guest on Backlisted a couple of times and I've seen her at a Q&A at a film screening too, but because of the cover (you can see it on the Waterstone's website here) which I thought was brilliant! After a terrible accident, Fidge find herself thrown into the world of her sister's favourite picture book and along with her insufferable cousin Graham, she has to solve a mystery with the help of the Wimbly Woos and get back to the real world. The story is funny and thrilling and I can imagine if you're a littley it might even be a bit scary at times. A good, fun story.

Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman by Stefan Zweig is a short novella and does exactly what it says on the tin! The narrator is on holiday in France, and after a brief introduction we find out one of the women staying at the hotel has left her husband, and the other guests are speculating on what has happened. This leads to one of the guests confiding her story to the narrator, telling the tale of an incident that happened to her over the course of one day earlier in her life which has stayed with her and affected her ever since. The story is a pondering of morals and what society considers acceptable, and how we each react differently to situations, as well as the things we hide from each other. An interesting little book, and having read The Post Office Girl a few years back, it was interesting to read a different style of story from Zweig.

My second book completed on the challenge was The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller. I know Andy from the Backlisted podcast, and had bought his book on the back of that, and was surprised to see quite so many of the books he read that have subsequently been discussed on the podcast. It's a memoir of his reading at a time in his life where he's realised that although he works in the publishing industry, he's got to the stage where he's got a healthy bookshelf at home, but that he's actually stopped reading for pleasure. He initially decides to read a selection of books that he thinks he should have read, such as Anna Karenina and Pride and Prejudice, and he recounts the process, some books he loved and couldn't believe he'd never read them before, others are a struggle, until his wife suggests that he just reads 50 pages a day, and it's not long before he's doing just that and ticking the books off the list. However, it's more than just a memoir, as he looks at what he does and doesn't like about the books and the authors, as well as some looks at publishing and family life and even covers books such as The Da Vinci Code (in fact, that's one of my favourite chapters ). Glad to have read it, and even gladder that I can keep up with his ongoing reading life via the podcast! Thanks @willoyd, pleased to have read this one at last.

I've had another good day of reading, finishing Wed Rabbit by Lissa Evans, a hundred pages of The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller and another chapter of The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry. My next paperback will be Corduroy by Adrian Bell (my Christmas present from Janet )

I never read poetry. I don't understand it. I can't get my head around meter and non-rhyming lines and symbolism and all those things people talk about. BUT, I'd seen Brian Bilston's comic verses re-tweeted on Twitter and thought they were witty and charming, and then those pesky readers on Backlisted read out his poem on refugees that is neither of these things, but is a powerful and compelling poem; you can read Refugees on his website here https://brianbilston.com/2016/03/23/refugees/ (and I strongly urge you to). So, I took the plunge and bought the book of his poetry called You Took The Last Bus Home. Now, apart from Refugees, almost every poem is light-hearted and quite often a play on words or formats, and most of it was really short - after all, you only get 140 characters on Twitter - and I chuckled my way through it quite happily.

Battle of the Beetles by M. G. Leonard is the conclusion of the Beetle Boy middle grade trilogy. Again, it's difficult to talk about a book that relies on having read earlier books and I don't want to plot spoil, but I can say I loved it. All the children have agency and play their role in the story brilliantly. What's fantastic is it's a children's story that has an environmental science theme, but is exciting and thrilling, taking Darkus and his friends on another quest to overcome their beetling nemesis and yet Leonard still manages to make the reader stop and think about the motives and reasoning of both the heroes and the villains, and that even the best of intentions can sometimes lead people to make terrible decisions that can cause harm to others. I hope that's vague enough to not spoil it for anyone who is reading the books!

I've had a good day of reading today - I read a chapter of The Essex Serpent this morning, then this afternoon I've read Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman and also read another 50 pages of The Year of Reading Dangerously. My next paperback read will be Wed Rabbit by Lissa Evans.

With money left on my book token, I couldn't resist a wander around the bookshops this morning and have come home with Things A Bright Girl Can Do by Sally Nicholls (paperback) Make More Noise, collection of stories by writers including Sally Nicholls, M. G. Leonard, Emma Carroll and Katherine Woodfine (paperback). A Shadow Above: The Fall and Rise of the Raven by Joe Shute (hardback) Field Notes from a Hidden City by Esther Woolfson (paperback) The first two are YA/middle grade, and both are linked to the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, and they were buy one get one half price in Waterstones. The second two are both nature books, the first I hadn't heard of before, but I'm fascinated by ravens and other corvids, and it had a recommendation on the back by John Lewis-Stempel, so I couldn't resist. The other is one I've challenged @willoyd to read for the Round Robin challenge, so I decided to read it myself too.

A bit foggy this morning, and trying to rain all the time with the odd spot making it through the clouds.

Enjoying a quiet afternoon in front of the fire, and I've also finished You Took The Last Bus Home too. Decided my next paperback will be Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman by Stefan Zweig (a novella of just 92 pages, so a nice little filler) and my hardback will be my next Round Robin challenge book, The Year of Reading Dangerously by Andy Miller (from my favourite podcast Backlisted). It's going to be a good weekend!

Just finished Battle of the Beetles. Fabulous trilogy, exciting story, plenty of humour and peril, and incredibly informative about beetles! Not sure which paperback will be my next, but going back to my hardback for a bit this afternoon, and reading some more poetry from You Took The Last Bus Home.

Sunny but quite cold. Not freezing, but cold enough for me.

Started Battle of the Beetles by M. G. Leonard today and whizzing through it because I can't wait to find out how the trilogy finishes!

Went to bed with a headache last night, and it's been not much better today. I think it's probably because I didn't drink enough yesterday, and I'm a bit dehydrated, but I've been drinking plenty today, so hoping it will ease soon.

Your journal looks really good! Perhaps if you keep going with it, when you have to start a new one because it's filled up, you could get an artist sketch book instead, as I guess cartridge paper should cope better with bleed through? I keep saying it, but I really must start my own bullet journal - mine will be mostly text as I'm fairly rubbish at drawing though

After a very frosty morning yesterday (hard ice on my car windows needing to be scraped off), it was a lot milder today, and the sun was even out while I drove home.

Saw the new Aardman film, Early Man last night. It was a really small screen in the cinema (only 50 seats in total) and it was packed. Unfortunately the people next to me started eating sandwiches during the trailers, then drank noisily from a bottle before opening a bag of biscuits to share, so I had someone chamming in my ear and moving about distracting me through the first 15 minutes of the film. Then partway through the film, the man in front of us gave his son a pack of crisps, so not only the there the rustling of the bag, but also they were the crunchiest crisps known to man, and every one was accompanied by two or three loud crunches! My friend actually leaned forward and asked him to eat more quietly after 10 minutes of it. It was a 90 minute film, why can't people go without food and drink for an hour and a half??!!! It did spoil the experience a bit, but I did actually enjoy the film, although I think I'll enjoy it more when I can watch it in the peace and quiet of my living room.

January round-up I've read twelve books this month, so a good start to the year. Here's some stats: 10 female authors, 2 male authors 3 hardback, 5 paperback, 3 kindle, 1 audiobook 9 fiction (2 general fiction, 1 romcom, 3 middle grade, 2 fantasy, 1 crime) 3 non-fiction (2 nature, 1 biography) 1 Round Robin challenge 1 Anita Brookner 1 Mary Stewart 1 M. C. Beaton 3580 pages Not sure if I'll remember to keep up the stats every month, but I'm going to try!

After getting the fourth in the series of the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman, The Lost Plot from the local bookshop (who I suspect only got it in because I'd said I loved the series) I couldn't bear to put it to the bottom of the TBR pile, and I'm so pleased I didn't! I don't want to say too much about the plot as it would spoil some earlier story lines from the series, but it took a bit of a different route from previous books, set in a different world which was currently in 1920s and Irene is based in New York. It was another brilliantly entertaining read, but I have no idea when the next book is likely to be out, as this was only just published, but I think they're yearly, so it's going to be a while before I get to read the next instalment.

I finished The Lost Plot today, and I loved it. The fourth in the Invisible Library series, and an absolute cracker, with a fantastic ending! Hope there will be more to come in the series - I think she originally signed up with the publishers for five, but I hope there's not just one left and they'll renew for more. I also had a new book token card to use, so bought myself Traiter to the Throne by Alwyn Hamilton, which is the second in a trilogy and I really enjoyed the first one, Rebel of the Sands. The last book has just been published, so I'll be able to go straight onto it when I finished TttT if I feel like it.