France's reading 2025

[France]

A very quick round up of just some of what I've read since last clocking in properly:

 

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd is vintage Boyd, this story about a reluctant spy in the early 1960s iss an absolute gem.

 

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton  Chloe Dalton found a very young leveret and raised it without much hope it would survive. It did and I found the book fascinating, in particular because she took great care to raise Hare as a wild animal in great contrast to my own family where my mother raised a badger from a few hours old who most definitely became a house badger and a pet.

 

Sadly it seems from the ending that The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee is going to be the last in the series, this one was just s good as the previous ones

 

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman is sadly just not as good as his his Thursday Murder Club books but still readable.

 

 Out of Time by Jodi Taylor is the sixth in her Time Police series and like the rest very funny.

 

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths is frankly unmemorable.

 

For all those who were worried about Ben Aaronovitch running out of steam, the good news is that in Stone and Sky, Peter Grant's latest outing; he most definitely hasn't.

[Madeleine]

I really enjoyed the previous Peter Grant book, after a couple of slightly below par books, so good to see another one on the way.

[muggle not]

On 11/6/2025 at 11:35 AM, France said:

A very quick round up of just some of what I've read since last clocking in properly:

 

Gabriel's Moon by William Boyd is vintage Boyd, this story about a reluctant spy in the early 1960s iss an absolute gem.

 

Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton  Chloe Dalton found a very young leveret and raised it without much hope it would survive. It did and I found the book fascinating, in particular because she took great care to raise Hare as a wild animal in great contrast to my own family where my mother raised a badger from a few hours old who most definitely became a house badger and a pet.

 

Sadly it seems from the ending that The Shadows of Men by Abir Mukherjee is going to be the last in the series, this one was just s good as the previous ones

 

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman is sadly just not as good as his his Thursday Murder Club books but still readable.

 

 Out of Time by Jodi Taylor is the sixth in her Time Police series and like the rest very funny.

 

The Last Word by Elly Griffiths is frankly unmemorable.

 

For all those who were worried about Ben Aaronovitch running out of steam, the good news is that in Stone and Sky, Peter Grant's latest outing; he most definitely hasn't.

I read Stone and Sky awhile back. I forgot to put it on my books read list. I thought it was one of his better books.

[France]

I've been trying to read more non-fiction

 

To Catch a King by Charles Spencer was a chance pick up and a good one.  The book charts the escape of the young Charles II after the disastrous battle of Worcester as he zig-zagged down to the coast and eventual safety, in many cases only an hour or so ahead of his pursuers. Most of us have heard about his hiding in the Boscobel oak but the story of his escape is so much more than that (he was in the oak for one day and took nearly six weeks to get to safety), the king was resourceful and quick thinking and he had some incredibly loyal supporters willing to risk all to help him.  The narration takes a bit of time to get going but once it does it's completely compelling.

 

A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell.  Virginia Hall was sent to Lyon in 1941 by SOE, the fledgling British intelligence service, the whip up the French resistance under the pretence of being a journalist. She was the first woman to be sent to France, nearly the first agent, was American, not British, and despite being red-headed, tall and having a wooden leg she built up one of the largest spy networks, became a target for the Gestapo, sprung Allied prisoners from jail and created huge army of civilian guerrillas who played a vital role in occupying Nazi divisions during the 1944 invasion so they couldn't march up to Normandy.  The blurb says it reads like a thriller and indeed it does.  I can't recommend it more highly.