Welcome to my blog! I am going to take a break for a few days over the holidays. There may be a Reading Roundup post next week, but it depends on my health and family issues. So, I may not be back until next year.
Anyway, I do hope that you have a Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holiday Season!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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Image details
Merry Christmas by Michael Levine-Clark on Flickr
Welcome to this week’s post about my reading journey. This might be the final one for 2023, but I am not quite sure. If I am able, I will write another post next week to properly finish off the year. I hope that I reach my target of 60 books.
I am now on 59!
The first book is Nine Lives by Peter Swanson. Another serendipitous choice from the Library’s ebook selection. This is the blurb:
“Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke – until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next….”
And this was my response on Goodreads:
Nine Lives by Peter SwansonMy next choice was completely different…
I chose the first book in The Eagle of Mercia Chronicles: Son of Mercia by M J Porter for a taste of Dark Ages history. Here is the blurb:
“Tamworth, Mercia AD825.
The once-mighty kingdom of Mercia is in perilous danger.
Their King, Beornwulf lies dead and years of bitter in-fighting between the nobles, and cross border wars have left Mercia exposed to her enemies.
King Ecgberht of Wessex senses now is the time for his warriors to strike and exact his long-awaited bloody revenge on Mercia.
King Wiglaf, has claimed his right to rule Mercia, but can he unite a disparate Kingdom against the might of Wessex who are braying for blood and land?
Can King Wiglaf keep the dragons at bay or is Mercia doomed to disappear beneath the wings of the Wessex wyvern?
Can anyone save Mercia from destruction?”
What a lot of kings and other characters with Anglo-Saxon names! Anyway, this was my quick review:
Son of Mercia by M.J. PorterI have already started to read the next book in the series, so I think that may be my final book of the year. Well, we will see…
Happy Reading to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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OK, I must admit that I am a scarf addict! Particularly when it come to Hermès. Especially because I have so little to spend my monthly “fun money” on. Also, because I love colour, pattern and luxurious fabrics…
So, I saved up for months…
Then, I watched a certain pair of websites for weeks…
To see which of the two scarves I was waiting for would appear in the UK…
And this was the result of my search…
Yes, I bought an Hermès cashmere/silk 140cm shawl!!! This one is called Le Jaguar et le Colibri (Humming Bird) designed by Lugo Montserrat. The shopping code is H243919S 07 and the colourway is marine/rouge/rose.
This is an image of the full shawl…
The shawl is absolutely glorious in real life with so many different colours and patterns. I tried to count all of the shades and gave up at twelve! The navy blue background really drew me to this colourway as it sets a beautiful foil for the floral and geometric drawing. This also means that it will look lovely with my navy base colour clothing such as jumpers, t-shirts, jeans, trousers and dresses (yes, I do have some in navy).
I intend to slowly compile a Scarf of the Moment profile for the shawl. Slowly, because I want to do its sheer beauty justice. I will try it on against suitable colours that I have in my wardrobe and try different knots. (I must get my hair cut first and, perhaps put on some makeup!) The post will only be published on the blog when I am completely satisfied with it, so that may mean that it will not appear until the New Year 2024. We will see!
Anyway, if you love this design like I do and have been waiting for it to appear in the online shops, it seems to trickling in and out again very quickly. Good luck if you have been hunting for it!
Happy Weekend to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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I have finally caught up with my reading this week and I think I might just hit or even exceed my target set on Goodreads! Here are the two books that I enjoyed:
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the sequel to Rory Clements’ The Man in the Bunker: The English Führer. Somehow I had managed to miss this book, #06 in his Tom Wilde series. I hurried to put the book on request at the Library’s website and it dropped on to my iPad last week. This is the blurb:
“WHAT IF HITLER HAD SURVIVED?
In the gripping new spy thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Hitler’s Secret, a Cambridge spy must find the truth behind Hitler’s death. But exactly who is the man in the bunker?
________________
Germany, late summer 1945 – The war is over but the country is in ruins. Millions of refugees and holocaust survivors strive to rebuild their lives in displaced persons camps. Millions of German soldiers and SS men are held captive in primitive conditions in open-air detention centres. Everywhere, civilians are desperate for food and shelter. No one admits to having voted Nazi, yet many are unrepentant.
Adolf Hitler is said to have killed himself in his Berlin bunker. But no body was found – and many people believe he is alive. Newspapers are full of stories reporting sightings and theories. Even Stalin, whose own troops captured the bunker, has told President Truman he believes the former Führer is not dead. Day by day, American and British intelligence officers subject senior members of the Nazi regime to gruelling interrogation in their quest for their truth.
Enter Tom Wilde – the Cambridge professor and spy sent in to find out the truth…”
This book was so good that I couldn’t put it down! Here is my response on Goodreads (I gave it the full five stars):
The Man in the Bunker by Rory ClementsMy second book of the week was very close to five stars, but the sheer horrific gruesomeness (is there such a word) made me knock off one…
The book was the final episode of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines trilogy: The Last Town. This is the blurb:
“What’s inside was a nightmare. What’s outside is a thousand times worse.
Welcome to Wayward Pines, the last town.
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke arrived in Wayward Pines, Idaho, three weeks ago. In this town, people are told who to marry, where to live, where to work. No one is allowed to leave; even asking questions can get you killed.
But Ethan has discovered the astonishing secret of what lies beyond the electrified fence that surrounds Wayward Pines and protects it from the terrifying world beyond. And now that secret is about to come storming through the fence to wipe out this last, fragile remnant of humanity.
The Last Town at last pitches Ethan Burke and his fellow residents into all-out war against the forces outside the town’s gates – and in doing so delivers every bit the riotously horrific, breathlessly action-packed conclusion that the Wayward Pines trilogy deserves.”
And this was my response (I was probably shaking as I typed!):
The Last Town by Blake CrouchMost of you are probably too busy with the run up to the festive season to read, or perhaps you manage to revive yourselves with a good book! Anyway…
Happy Reading to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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Friday is here already and we are now even closer to Christmas! Ours will be very quiet this year with just the three of us (or four if Younger Son can get over here). Well, perhaps “quiet” is the wrong word knowing us! As Lovely Husband still cannot leave the house, we are trying to organise deliveries of everything we need. We have never tried this before because LH has always done the food shopping and cooking. All of us will have to pitch in together and try to make some kind of celebration.
I have been making more effort to get dressed recently. For me that means putting on a lovely jumper, preferably cashmere, and accessorising with a gorgeous scarf. If I am feeling a little stronger, I also choose some earrings and a bracelet. Anyway, here are some quick photos. Please excuse the quality. They were taken on my old iPad as my new one can’t take decent portrait selfies, sadly.
Here are the scarves and the shawl in larger images:
The first two scarves were worn with a navy cashmere/wool mix v-neck jumper from WoolOvers and the shawl with my newish Lands’ End purple cotton mix cable jumper. Such simple clothes can be simple foils for amazing accessories!
If I still had the figure and went to “posh” events, my scarf and shawl collection could be worn with gorgeous dresses or separates in velvet or satin. Ah well…
Happy Weekend to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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Welcome to the first Reading Roundup post for December. I chose a target for the year on Goodreads back in January and I am now getting very close, despite the six months sharing this bed with injured Lovely Husband over the Spring and Summer when I was unable to spend much time with ebooks.
This week I read two books from one of my very favourite Science Fiction series: the Vorkosigan Saga. I am carefully tackling them in Lois McMaster Bujold’s recommended reading order, which is different from the order in which they were published. Here they are:
The first of the two books was Mirror Dance (Vorkosigan Saga – #08 publishing order/ #09 chronological order). This is the blurb:
“Mark Vorkosigan is the cloned “twin” of Lord Miles Vorkosigan, born six years after Miles and raised by a psychopathic madman for nefarious political purposes. That’s old news, however, conveyed in the prequel Brothers in Arms. Now, in Mirror Dance, Mark still has no identity of his own and no place to call home. One thing he does know: He must free the young clones from the sinister “orphanage” he left behind years ago, on Jackson’s Whole. Pretending to be his twin, Admiral of the Dendarii Mercenaries, he just might be able to pull it off. But at what cost? And is Miles his brother’s keeper?”
And this was my response on Goodreads:
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster BujoldMy second read of the week was Memory (Vorkosigan Saga – #10 publishing order/ #10 chronological order). Now for the blurb:
“Miles hits 30… Thirty hits back.
Miles turns 30, and–though he isn’t slowing down just yet–he is starting to lose interest in the game of Wall: the one where he tries to climb the wall, fails, gets up, and tries again. Having finally reached a point in his life where he can look back and realize that he has managed to prove his courage and competence, he can move on to bigger and better things.”
Oh dear, these blurbs are so poor and not at all informative! Anyway, I have just finished reading this wonderful book and this is what I wrote on Goodreads:
Memory by Lois McMaster BujoldFunnily enough, the series hasn’t dated too much considering that these two books were published in the 1990s. The second one, however, made me smile at how technology has moved on. So much of the plot might have been different if the characters had owned mobile phones and laptops! Younger readers might find this jarring, but I am too old to care.
I think I will choose something very different for my next book before returning to the Vorkosigan universe once again. No idea what will take my fancy…
Happy Reading to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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So, Friday has come around again and it is time for another post! This week I’m going to avoid moaning about health and family matters. I am sure that you will be very relieved. Instead, I will show you the results of my “Black Friday” sales temptation.
I have loved One Hundred Stars’ kimonos and scarves for quite a long time and I already have a short kimono, a dressing gown and a scarf from them. This time I looked at their dresses and fell for the one below. Their Ancient Columns fabric has appealed to me for ages and I thought that this dress shape would work for me in warmer months. I have put on so much weight through illness that I definitely need tummy skimming shapes! I also bought the matching kimono which will also go with other garments in grey, such as t-shirts, vests and trousers.
Anyway, see what you think…
OK, I am cheating because I haven’t yet taken selfies in these clothes and I certainly don’t look like the model! I will wear these next year and take photos then.
Oh, I really miss my waist! It was 24 inches when I was in my twenties!
Happy Weekend to you all!
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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Welcome to my weekly post about the books I have been reading. I have two very different books to write about today. Here is the first one…
Regular readers of these posts may remember that I have enjoyed books by Will Dean for quite a long time. This one, The Last Passenger, was a real change from his Tuva Moodyson Mystery series. First we have the blurb:
“When Caz steps onboard the exclusive cruise liner RMS Atlantica, it’s the start of a vacation of a lifetime with her new love, Pete. On their first night they explore the ship, eat, dance, make friends, but when Caz wakes the next morning, Pete is missing.
And when she walks out into the corridor, all the cabin doors are open. To her horror, she soon realizes that the ship is completely empty. No passengers, no crew, nobody but her. The Atlantica is steaming into the mid-Atlantic and Caz is the only person on board. But that’s just the beginning of the terrifying journey she finds herself trapped on in this white-knuckled mystery.”
Well, this book left me shocked and stunned! My Goodreads review may enlighten you a little. It was impossible to write a comprehensive response…
The Last Passenger by Will DeanAfter this stunning experience, I had to choose something completely different…
The book I selected was The English Führer by Rory Clements, #07 Tom Wilde. I was delighted to find another book in this excellent series. Anyway, here is the blurb:
“Autumn 1945 – Off the east coast of England, a Japanese sub surfaces, unloads its mysterious cargo, then blows itself to pieces.
Former spy Professor Tom Wilde is enjoying peacetime in Cambridge, settling back into teaching and family life. Until a call from senior MI5 boss Lord Templeman brings him out of retirement.
A nearby village has been locked down by the military, its residents blighted by a deadly illness. No one is allowed in or out.
There are rumours the Nazi machine is still operational, with links to Unit 731, a notorious Japanese biological warfare research laboratory. But how could they possibly be plotting on British soil – and why?
What’s more, Wilde and Templeman’s names are discovered on a Gestapo kill list. And after a series of assassinations an unthinkable question emerges: could an Englishman be behind the plot?”
This is my response:
The English Fuhrer by Rory ClementsI must apologise to any of you who come to these regular posts hoping for lengthy and detailed reviews. Unfortunately, I am finding it increasingly difficult to write any more than a swift response. OK, I must admit that book reviewing is definitely not one of my skills, despite being a librarian! I read purely for my own pleasure and escapism from difficult circumstances, and I am not at all a “literary” kind of person. These posts are written mainly to remind myself of what I have been reading and if other people visit and get something out of them, then that is a nice bonus!
Right! Now I am off to read my next book!
Happy Reading to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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It has been a strange kind of week. I haven’t been able to motivate myself to get out of bed and wear something nice. Instead, I have spent the time immersed in my books and a marathon revisit to the Outlander series on Lionsgate. Perhaps I have needed the escapism from the realities of life.
I did wear my new purple jumper with a deep red velvet scarf for a couple of hours on one day, but forgot to take a photo! The scarf box on the top of the pile opened to reveal the scarf below, which has been hanging on my mirror waiting for me to wear it with a navy cashmere and merino v-neck…
By the way, the architecture in the background of the scarf is drawn in navy, which helps tie it to a navy column of clothing. This is how I usually wear it, but it also goes well with my grey outfits.
Here’s an old collage with this gorgeous scarf:
Oh, thinking of Outlander, I have to repost these images!
I really must make an effort over the next few days to pull myself out of the doldrums and join the rest of the world!
Happy Weekend to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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Welcome to this week’s post about my reading journey. Today I have three books to write about. These are the first three in a crime series by Lesley McEvoy: Dr Jo McCready…
I actually read the books out of order because I found book 2, The Killing Song, on the library’s ebook collection first. When I realised that I really enjoyed it, I bought the other two books. Here, I am going to present them in series order, starting with the blurb for The Murder Mile…
“”Jo, it’s me. We’ve found another body.”
A body is discovered on a canal towpath in the small Yorkshire town of Shipley. DCI Callum Ferguson calls on forensic psychologist Jo McCready to help investigate the mysterious crime.
The victim is the second to be found on the canal in as many weeks, and Jo believes a single killer is responsible. Then, when one of her troubled patients is found brutally murdered, a puzzling connection is the murderer taking inspiration from the most notorious serial killer in Britain’s history?
As DCI Ferguson and Jo McCready race to find the killer, the investigation takes more twists and turns than Yorkshire’s canals. And with more questions than answers, can they solve it before another body turns up?”
And here is my response on Goodreads:
The Murder Mile by Lesley McevoyBy the way, I rated all three books as four stars; two were almost the full five. OK, now the blurb for the second book, The Killing Song…
“On a busy train station platform, a man pulls a knife and viciously attacks another passenger before fleeing – apparently unaware of what he has just done.
To the police, it looks like a terrorist attack. But Forensic Psychologist Dr Jo McCready has seen this bizarre behaviour before, in controversial psychological experiments. She knows this is no random killing spree.
When a botched cold case resurfaces, and the mistress of a controversial billionaire philanthropist is found dead, Jo discovers all these crimes are tangled up in the same web of deadly local secrets. Secrets that some will kill to protect . . .”
This was my review on Goodreads:
The Killing Song by Lesley McevoyAnd, finally, we have the third episode, A Deadly Likeness. This is the blurb:
“Jacob Malecki killed fifteen people over a thirteen-year period.
At the height of the murders, Dr. Jo McCready was at university and, as an exercise, compiled a profile of Malecki, which broke open the case and helped send him down for life.
Twenty-five years later a copycat killer is re-creating his murders. What’s more, Malecki offers to help the police catch him from his own prison cell.
Malecki claims he’s repenting for his crimes. Jo doubts it, but as the body count rises, she can’t ignore the killer’s offer. What does he really want – and can Jo find out before anyone else dies?”
I wrote this short review a short time ago:
A Deadly Likeness by Lesley McevoyI am not at all sure which genre I will read next, but perhaps not crime after that three book spree!
Happy Reading to you all.
Love and best wishes,
Anne
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