France

Ouch! That sounds horrible, puts the hacking cough I've got as a left over from my cold firmly in the shade. I shall stop feeling sorry for myself. Do give audio books a try, I was pretty snotty about them until I tried them. Listening to books you've already read and enjoyed read by a good narrator is wonderful.

Catching up! Agatha Christie by Lucy Worsely. I'm not a great fan of Agatha Christie's books, they're readable but nothing I'd search out, but I am interested in her as a person. This is a highly readable biography with a distinctly feminist slant and Lucy Worsely is a very entertaining writer. I enjoyed it a lot. The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly. From the blurb "Summer, 2021. Nell has come home at her family's insistence. Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried—gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore's pelvis remained hidden. The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, obsessed to a dangerous degree. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. His daughter, Nell, became a recluse. But now the book is being reissued with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. Nell is appalled, and terrified. Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose." As I've already said psychological thrillers are no longer my cup of tea but I really couldn't put this one down. It sagged a little bit towards the end, too much explanation, which is why it isn't a five star read, but I still kept on obsessively reading. I'll be looking out Erin Kelly's other books. Murder under the Tuscan Sun - Rachel Rhys. What a come down after The Skeleton Key! Banal writing, a ridiculously obvious baddie, even more obvious leaden plot twists. I made it to half way though then read the' last chapter to see if it was just was boring at the end. It was.

I feel that getting 11 year olds to read books like Lord of the Rings is far more harmful than the odd swearword, outdated notions and language and attitudes that are not approved of today. Besides giving readers nightmares (you might gather I loathed it) it also suggests that ganging up on the weak or the different is quite normal. Far worse than the casual snobbism in Enid Blyton.

I had too - even though I bought it as a Kobo special and it's been languishing in my huge "unread" collection ever since. it's just been moved up to the top.

Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morely is a short novel published in 1917 about a harrassed woman who is fed up of running the family farm and looking after her brother who is an author. She buys a traveling bookshop to stop him getting his hands on it and because she feels like a break. This book is an absolute delight, I can't imagine anyone not reading it with a smile on their face! It's part of the Gutenberg project too so you can download it.

Jigsaw, a semi autobiographical novel by Sybille Bedford has to rank amongst my all time favourite books. Her biography by Selina Hastings unfolds a truly extraordinary life, Sybille was German and brought up by her dilettante father after her mother bolted, then after he died she went to live with her restless and unstable mother, eventually settling in Sannery sur Mer in the south of France which was peopled by a lot of writers including Aldous Huxley who Sybille worshipped. Sybille's mother became addicted to morphine and after Sybille could no longer look after her went into an asylum leaving Sybille aged about 19 on her own. Sybille was a keen pursuer of women (to put it mildly, she was still falling in love in her 80's), spoke three languages, was fiercely intelligent, was very knowledgeable about food and wine, obviously had masses of charm for she had masses of friends, many of whom supported her financially throughout her life and she must also have been an utter monster at times, arrogant, selfish and a raging snob. It all came together to make a superb writer, she didn't write her first novel until she was in her 40s (A Legacy is almost as good as Jigsaw), she was also a travel writer, journalist and specialised in court writing, apparently they were billiant. Jigsaw was written in her 80s and she wrote an autobiography the year before she died aged 95. Selina Hastings is a good biographer and I thoroughly enjoyed this, but if you haven't come across Sybille Bedford before do try Jigsaw.

Having read two biographies back to back I did some Kobo diving among my unread books and landed on The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly. I have no idea why I bought it as I got tired of psychological thrillers about the time Gone Girl came out, but so far I'm really enjoying it.

Michael Ondaatje is a poet as well as a novelist, memoirist and essayist which is probably why he has written so few novels. It probably is also responsible for the way he writes which is sublime, unshowy, simply yet every sentence is perfect. Warlight, his most recent book, is the first of his books I've read. It's the story of 14 year old Nathaniel and his sister who are left in the care of a near stranger in post war London while their parents ostensibly go to Singapore for their father's job. Nothing is quite what it seems. The first half of the book which follows Nathaniel running wild with a decidedly dodgy friend of their 'guardian' is absolutely wonderful, the second half where Nathaniel is older and trying to find out exactly what his mother did do in the war is less successful, there's a fantastical boy's own feeling about the narrative which tips over into being downright unbelievable in places. That said it's still a superb book.

I haven't read a bad book by Ben Aaronovitch yet and Amongst Our Weapons is no exception, though I can't help wondering where the series is going to go. It seems he's backing into a slightly staid corner but I hope I'll be very surprised. No more said for fear of spoilers! See Them Run by Marion Todd was an object lesson in not getting seduced by a too good to be true offer on Kobo (3 books nin a series for 99p). If this really is an example of the best in Scottish detective fiction then all I can say is something has gone badly wrong with Scotland's writers. The first book was readable, just about, the second was abandoned. There's much better out there.

I've got About Time on my Kobo and I'm saving it for when I really need a lift.

Jane Casey knows how to write a cracking page turner and The Close, the 10th in her Maeve Kerrigan series is no exception. What I like about these books is that people change and develop, for instance the super glamorous, super ambitious junior constable who was always trying to get one over Maeve in earlier books is becoming someone to giggle with even if she still makes needless mistakes. If you have tried these books before start at the beginning and don't be surprised if you find yourself reading the whole series. I did some Kobo diving amongst the unread books and came up with A Dry Spell by Clare Chambers which is a gentle and undemanding read set in the 90's about a group of students who went on a field trip in the 70s and are finding somepigeons coming home to rest. It was very enjoyable, she is a superb writer and there's a wonderfully funny scene with Bones the labrador making his first appearance as an actor.

Bloomsbury Ballerina by Judith Mackrell Lydia Lupokova was the most famous and loved ballerina in England during the 1920s. Trained in St Petersburg she became a key member of the Ballet Russe, danced with Nijinski (whom she loathed) then in her 30s married the brilliant economist and Bloomsburyite John Maynard Keynes and was gradually forgotten. This should have been absolutely fascinating and parts of it were especially if you are interested in both ballet and the Bloomsbury set but it's much too detailed and long and I was getting distinctly weary by the end. I was suffering from fatigue by the end of The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu too, mainly because the sheer amount of physics in it was giving me brain ache. I've never read any Chinese SF before, the theme was promising and I loved the background and the descriptions of the game even though the closed I've got to playing on-line games is Solitaire, however the characters remain pretty flat for the most part and so generally unengaging and I might have coped better with the physics if I'd been more invested in them.

I'll second Ben Aaronovitch! My youngest daughter and I fight over who gets to read his new books first! Have you heard of Jasper fforde? If you have a sense of the ridiculous I'd really recommend starting with the Eyre Affair which truly funny (and a mystery, albeit a very offbeat one!) For classic crime fiction take a look at Dorothy L Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, I love both of them and they are so well written that I'm happy to reread them even though I already know whodunnit.

Hi Amelia, Our reading seems pretty similar though I have to admit not to getting on with Matt Haig, especially The Midnight Library but The Vanishing Half was definitely among the top books I read last year. My non-fiction reads lean heavily towards biography and history though Sapiens is in my tbr pile.

I came to France before Susanna and Trinny hit the TV screens so never saw them though I had heard of them. The only reason I bought Ready for Absolutely Nothing by Susanna Constantine is because a)she used to live in the house in Lincolnshire my brother now rents and I was mildly curious and b)it was a dirt cheap offer on Kobo. The only reason I'm taking the time to write about it is to warn you are it's utterly dire. Boringly written, full of faux apologies for being born rich and privileged, way too much information about her problems in flushing large poos down the lavatory - even my Kobo couldn't put up with this tripe and froze until I deleted it. Daphne Sheldrick came from a Kenyan white settler family and spent her life passionately involved with animal conservation, particularly with Elephants. Her two husbands were game wardens and she spent nearly her whole life in National reserves, her particular passion being rescuing orphans, elephants naturally, but also rhinos, zebras, impalas, even warthogs. She was the first person to successfully raise a milk-dependent baby elephant (after several heart-breaking failures) as no-one could work out what the vital ingredient was and the babies gradually sickened and died. Love, Life and Elephants is her memoir and it's fascinating, it's obvious that she's not a natural writer, it's a bit plodding in places but the content and the utter passion she had for Kenya and its wildlife come through clearly.

I don't enjoy reading Trollope, too wordy, but listening to him being read by Timothy West is another matter entirely! Absolute enjoyment.

In that case, yes please!

Thank you Haley, you're so generous. Don't include me though, it's not fair to ask you to post to France.

I've got a Kobo Libra (a present to myself from the tips I get at work) and I really like it. It's got a bigger screen than my previous Kobo which really increases my reading enjoyment, it's waterproof, easy to use and has the most brilliantly designed sleep cover which converts into a stand which was also quite expensive but one of those items that work so well that you don't regret spending so much.

I think this is true for a lot of people!

I also find I read much quicker with Kindle books - which is fine with detective novels but biographies etc are better in print I find.

Sorry, wrong word! It's not a follow up, it's his second novel and not connected to The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle at all.

You know there's a new one that came out last week? I'm so tempted to break my temporary rule of no buying any more books until I've reduced the tbr pile.

The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea by Stuart Turton. This is the follow up to the Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle which was very strange indeed and I thought mesmerising and brilliant though I know not everyone agreed. This book takes place on a ship sailing back to Holland in the early 17th century where the governor of Batavia (a Dutch colony) is going to become a director of the Dutch East India company. Also on board are Sammy Phipps, the world's greatest detective, imprisoned for an unspecified crime, his bodyguard Arendt who is Watson to Phipps' Holmes, the governor's wife who loathes him, his preternaturally clever daughter, his mistress who is also his wife's best friend... and an apparent demon called Old Tom who is systematically killing people. Phipps is the only one capable of solving the mystery but he's in chains... This was a bit slow to start, then it became runaway compulsively readable. It's not as original as his first book, it's difficult to imagine how anything could be and like Seven Deaths it has a slightly weak and unsatisfactory ending. However it's still an excellent read.

How are you finding it? I've heard that reading on an iPad, phone, tablet etc is quite hard on the eyes. I've got a Kobo which I use a lot but I do find there are some books that just don't work on it.