This will be a short post this week. It’s Lovely Husband’s birthday today so I am quite busy for once! More about that in Friday’s post. Anyway, I have one book to tell you about…
Find Them Dead by Peter James
I have already read quite a few books in Peter James’s Roy Grace series. This one, Find Them Dead, is actually the 16th! Here is the blurb:
”Ending his secondment to London’s Met Police, Roy Grace gets a tip-off about a county lines drugs mastermind operating out of Brighton. On his first day back in his old job in Sussex, he is called to a seemingly senseless murder.
Separately, Meg Magellan finally has her life back together, five years after the car crash that killed her husband and their son. Her daughter, Laura, now 18, is on her gap year travelling in South America with a friend, and Meg misses her badly. Laura is all she has in the world.
In between jobs, Meg receives a summons for jury service. She’s excited – it might be interesting and will help distract her from constantly worrying about Laura. But when she is selected for the trial of a major Brighton drugs overlord, everything changes.
Gradually, Grace’s investigation draws him increasingly into the sinister sphere of influence of the drug dealer on trial. A man utterly ruthless and evil, prepared to order the death of anyone it takes to enable him to walk free.
Just a few days into jury service, Meg arrives home to find a photograph of Laura, in Ecuador, lying on her kitchen table. Then her phone rings.
A sinister, threatening stranger is on the line. He tells her that if she ever wants to see Laura alive again, it is very simple. At the end of the trial, all she has to do is make sure the jury says just two words . . . Not guilty.”
And this is what I wrote on the Goodreads website in response:
This was an OK read. I have read other books in this series before, so the main recurring characters were all pretty familiar. Most of the plot took place in a courtroom, which was quite interesting, although there were passages that felt too long.
Most of the issues in the book were wrapped up neatly, with a couple hanging around to be resolved later in the series. There were certainly some dark foreboding clouds on the horizon!
This is the kind of series that you can slip into like a familiar police soap opera on TV. It’s an easy read, with some challenges along the way.
After that book, I decided to completely change genres, so I am currently reading The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. It is really engaging so far and I will let you know how I get on with it in next week’s Reading Roundup post.
Well, this is going to be an unusual week for me and Lovely Husband! Elder Son is away until Friday for a holiday on his own. He has been looking forward to it for months and, in recent weeks, has become very nervous. Usually, he is a very confident traveller, but under the present circumstances he has been worrying about how COVID my affect his trip. He is terrified of catching it and then being really ill and is also scared that he might pass it on to us. So, I have spent a lot of time trying to reassure him in the hope that he can have a really enjoyable holiday, which he deserves.
ES is so sweet and helpful. As I spend so much time in bed, he makes and brings me meals and snacks, treats me to all kinds of buns and crisps (which I shouldn’t eat!) with copious pots of tea, and also makes sure that my box of medications is up-to-date and well-stocked. In addition, he loves hugs, watching silly videos on YouTube together and telling me all about his current interests. All of this is amazing when you consider he has Autism and Learning Difficulties. He is a wonderful person for 99% of the time and can be very difficult to handle and live with for about 1%!
Despite me telling him to save his money to spend on his own needs, he loves to cheer me up with unexpected gifts. This collection recently appeared in my bedroom. The two outer scarves are very large and will be great for snuggling in the colder months. One has a very loose weave in an ice blue colour; the other is pale blue and is more substantial. The shiny satin scarf has a large initial “A” in the centre and is a smaller size. The black woven-effect zipped pouch with the gilt “A” will be handy inside my larger handbags or could be used as a clutch.
Isn’t he kind?
Gift items from Primark
It is also LH’s birthday this week. I don’t think I will be strong enough to go out for a celebratory meal, which I would love to do, but I am sure that we will manage to mark the day in some way. It will certainly be very strange to be on our own! I think it is over 30 years since we last had a birthday without either of our lads.
See you on Wednesday for the usual Reading Roundup post.
I haven’t used the title “Outfits of the Week” for ages! We have had hot, sticky weather this week and this has really taken its toll on my health. Most days, I have stayed in bed with heat exhaustion, despite the fan next to me. On Wednesday, however, I managed to put on a nice outfit, which gave Lovely Husband quite a surprise!
You may remember this “dress” that I bought earlier in the year…
Marigold block print cotton nightdress in cerulean blue – Toast
Well, yes, it is a nightdress but I have decided to wear it during the day instead! This collage shows how…
Outfit of the day 08/09/21 with Toast nightdress
I think that all of these blues are wonderful! The bracelet is by Halcyon Days and the earrings were from a boutique that has sadly closed down. My navy or tan sandals would have worked well with this ensemble.
Once the weather cools down again, I must put together more outfits. Well, I will try!
As it is a fortnight since I last wrote a Reading Roundup post, I have two completed books to tell you about plus another that I didn’t finish. Let’s deal with that first…
The Scar by China Miéville
So, this is the book that I didn’t manage to finish: The Scar by China Miéville. To start, here is the blurb:
”Winner of the British Fantasy Award, The Scar by China Miéville is a colossal fantasy of incredible diversity and spellbinding imagination, set in the richly visualized world of Bas-Lag.
A human cargo bound for servitude in exile . . .
A pirate city hauled across the oceans . . .
A hidden miracle about be revealed . . .
These are the ingredients of an astonishing story. It is the story of a prisoner’s journey. Of the search for the island of a forgotten people, for the most astonishing beast in the seas, and ultimately for a fabled place – a massive wound in reality, a source of unthinkable power and danger.”
I have been meaning to try this author’s books for a long time and this, with its awards, seemed like the perfect choice. Anyway, this is my response, as written on Goodreads:
I have read around 150 pages and have now given up. I am sure that this is probably a great book for many people (judging by the reviews on here), but it’s not for me.
I am just bored and can’t take any more of the endless descriptive passages and the huge list of names for places and creatures with nothing much happening!
Oh dear! My brain just couldn’t deal with this book and I simply had to stop trying to battle on with it. Maybe, I will try it again one day…
Maybe…
Anyway, let’s move on to better things…
Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My following two books were much more successful choices. I have read some of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s work before, so was excited to find his newest book, Shards of Earth #01 The Final Architects Trilogy, on our Library’s ebook catalogue. Here is the blurb:
”The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us an extraordinary new space opera about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man’s discovery will save or destroy us all.
The war is over. Its heroes forgotten. Until one chance discovery . . .
Idris has neither aged nor slept since they remade him in the war. And one of humanity’s heroes now scrapes by on a freelance salvage vessel, to avoid the attention of greater powers.
After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared – and Idris and his kind became obsolete.
Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It’s clearly the work of the Architects – but are they returning? And if so, why? Hunted by gangsters, cults and governments, Idris and his crew race across the galaxy hunting for answers. For they now possess something of incalculable value, that many would kill to obtain.”
Like the previous book, this one was very complex but the writing was much more accessible for me. This my five star review – I apologise for the brevity:
Wow! I have only just finished this amazing book and the story and characters are still bouncing around my brain! In some ways I am sad that this experience is over, but I am comforted by the thought that this is the first book in a new series.
The author’s world-building and alien creature creation is excellent. It took me a while to feel comfortable with all of this, but eventually it all began to fit together. I particularly enjoyed reading about the female warriors of the “Parthenon”. As a former student of Ancient Greece, this aspect of the book was interesting as well as intriguing.
The only down side of reading this is that I will now have to wait until the author publishes the next book!
I think I might have to search for some other books by Adrian Tchaikovsky whilst I wait for the sequels to this one!
False Witness by Karin Slaughter
My final book (I only finished it late last night) is Karin Slaughter’s False Witness. This is the blurb:
”Leigh Collier has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She’s an up-and-coming defense attorney at a prestigious law firm in Atlanta, would do anything for her sixteen-year-old daughter Maddy, and is managing to successfully coparent through a pandemic after an amicable separation from her husband Walter.
But Leigh’s ordinary life masks a childhood no one should have to endure … a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and ultimately destroyed by a brutal act of violence.
On a Sunday night at her daughter’s school play, she gets a call from one of the firm’s partners who wants Leigh to come on board to defend a wealthy man accused of multiple counts of rape. Though wary of the case, it becomes apparent she doesn’t have much choice if she wants to keep her job. They’re scheduled to go to trial in one week. When she meets the accused face-to-face, she realizes that it’s no coincidence that he’s specifically asked for her to represent him. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he may know what happened over twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades avoiding her past.
Suddenly she has a lot more to lose than this case. The only person who can help is her younger, estranged sister Callie—the last person Leigh would ever want to drag into this after all they’ve been through. But with the life-shattering truth in danger of being revealed, she has no choice…”
I must say that I am a huge fan of Karin Slaughter’s work. This is my four star review:
This is one of the darkest and most brutal books I have ever read. The author doesn’t hold anything back in her descriptions of the effects of drug addiction, crime, abuse and violence. At several points I almost put the book down as I felt that I couldn’t take much more mental battery from this grim tale. But then, I would become drawn in to the next development of the characters or the plot and decide to stay with it for a bit longer, because Slaughter is such an amazing and gripping writer.
Slaughter certainly is not afraid to challenge her readers to face up to the dark truths of contemporary society. As I just said, I almost couldn’t manage this…
OK, so after that I think I need a change of pace for my next read. I have already downloaded some fresh ebooks to my account and will go through them and decide which one I am going to tackle. So, you will find out what I have chosen in next week’s Reading Roundup post!
First of all, I must say that I am glad to be back! I won’t go into the details, but will just say that I had an awful few days last week feeling even more ill than usual. I was more or less back to my “normal” by last weekend, thankfully.
So, today we have a reveal! Here we go…
Yes, this is an Hermès 70cm silk scarf named “Tea Time”! The scarf was designed by Jonathan Burton, the colours are “Orange, Gris, Blanc” and the purchase code is H983782S 08.
Those of you who either know me in real life or who have followed this blog for a while will know that I am a confirmed tea addict. So, of course I had to own this scarf! It has been very popular so far this season and had sold out on the Hermès website. When only this colourway re-appeared, I moved quickly to secure it. If any other colourways eventually pop up again on the site, I may purchase another. If that happens, it will be the first time that I have ever bought two Hermès designs in the same format!
Now, I will show you the actual scarf and also the image from the website. Very soon I hope to feel well enough to compile a Scarf of the Moment post with this cute scarf’s full profile, including images and codes for the other colourways.
Here is a quick modelling photo that I took at the weekend. I am not sure if this bright cobalt blue is a good foil for the scarf – what do you think?
Outfit of the day 04/09/21 with Hermès’ Tea Time scarf
The scarf is now hanging on my mirror, waiting for me to feel well enough to wear it. I am sure that it will look great with my navy or grey outfits this Autumn and Winter and bring a lovely pop of colour and whimsy.
Goodbye for now. Wednesday’s post will be the usual Reading Roundup.
Oh, apologies again for the lack of an “Outfits” post. At the moment, I am really struggling to raise enough energy to get out of bed, never mind actually getting dressed in any kind of outfit. I know I have written something like this over and over again, so apologies for that too, but this time of isolation is really grinding me down.
Right, I must shake off these grim feelings (I am in the middle of watching the latest series of The Handmaid’s Tale, so that doesn’t help!). We do actually have some nicer news: after over ten years with the same car, we have just bought a new (to us) one. Lovely Husband has just driven it home and so I sat in the passenger seat whilst he showed me all of its gadgets. And has it got gadgets!!!
Since I had the stroke, almost two years ago now, I have not been allowed to drive. To be honest, despite regaining much of what was lost, I really don’t feel capable of driving. My vision still has a few blind spots and my memory issues are such that I wouldn’t trust myself to remember what to do in a sudden situation. It’s sad because I enjoyed driving and I passed my test at seventeen.
Well, at least LH will have a newer and safer car to drive and I am very pleased about that!
I am glad to say that I really enjoyed the book that I read this week. OK, I only managed to finish one, but this book was definitely worth my time!
The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H Wilson
This was another book that I selected, completely at random, from the Library’s ebook service: The Clockwork Dynasty by Daniel H Wilson. Here is the blurb:
“Follow a race of human-like machines that have been hiding among us for untold centuries.
Present day: When a young anthropologist specializing in ancient technology uncovers a terrible secret concealed in the workings of a three-hundred-year-old mechanical doll, she is thrown into a hidden world that lurks just under the surface of our own. With her career and her life at stake, June Stefanov will ally with a remarkable traveler who exposes her to a reality she never imagined, as they embark on an around-the-world adventure and discover breathtaking secrets of the past…
Russia, 1725: In the depths of the Kremlin, the tsar’s loyal mechanician brings to life two astonishingly humanlike mechanical beings. Peter and Elena are a brother and sister fallen out of time, possessed with uncanny power, and destined to serve great empires. Struggling to blend into pre-Victorian society, they are pulled into a legendary war that has raged for centuries.
The Clockwork Dynasty interweaves past and present, exploring a race of beings designed to live by ironclad principles, yet constantly searching for meaning. As June plunges deeper into their world, her choices will ultimately determine their survival or extermination.”
And here we have the review that I wrote on the Goodreads website:
I truly haven’t read anything like this before! Having heard of steampunk, I suppose it must fit that genre, so this is my first steampunk book?
Anyway, I found the book very interesting and intriguing. I liked the way that the present and the past were written in alternate chapters, gradually moving together into one timeline. The descriptions of the “avtomat” were also excellent. Full of tiny details that brought them to “life”. Their continued development over the centuries was particularly well-written.
Like many of the reviewers here, on Goodreads, I am disappointed to read that the author does not intend to develop his ideas into a longer series. I am sure that there are aspects of the avtomat that could be further explored.
I love how serendipity can triumph, at times! OK, I really enjoy finding a new book in a favourite series or by an author I admire, but the deep joy of books comes, for me, from stumbling across something that surprisingly speaks to me. Then the author is added to my mental “Watch” list for future exploration. Wonderful 😊😊😊.
The Scar by China Miéville
My next book is by an author whose work I have been intending to explore for some years: China Miéville. I will let you know next week how I get on with The Scar.
Oh, all right then, I will reveal my “secret” purchase!
On Friday, I wrote this…
”A more upbeat update is that I have received an item today that I will show you later in the year! Isn’t that irritating of me?!? Lovely Husband always leaves me to choose my own presents from him as I have such specific tastes. Luckily for me, I spotted something I was already thinking about on eBay at a huge discount! As it will be more useful in the Autumn and Winter months, I am going to put it away until my birthday in November and will post about it on here then.”
… but I can’t wait until November to show the item to you! On 13/08/21 I wrote about exploring the Johnstons of Elgin site and I saw loads of really gorgeous cashmere scarves and wraps. Then I decided to search for them on eBay, just to see what might be available. Well, I was really fortunate and found one of the new designs, entirely unused, at a really discounted price! So, I snapped it up straight away and it arrived on Friday.
Here are some images of my new cashmere stole from the Johnstons of Elgin site to be going on with:
Pixelated Check Cashmere Stole in turquoise by Johnstons of Elgin
In real life, it is absolutely magnificent – so very soft, with beautiful shades of white, navy, grey, turquoise and green. Perfect for Autumn/Winter snuggles as it measures 190×70 cms.
I am almost looking forward to cold weather!
Anyway, I have now put it away and will save it until my birthday when full modelling photos will be taken and uploaded to this blog. For now, I will just have to get it out of the bag now and then to admire and feel its fluffy softness!
Apologies, but this will be a short post today. We are struggling at the moment with Elder Son’s moods and I am sitting in bed, shaking with stress and exhaustion. I’m sure that it will all blow over soon.
A more upbeat update is that I have received an item today that I will show you later in the year! Isn’t that irritating of me?!? Lovely Husband always leaves me to choose my own presents from him as I have such specific tastes. Luckily for me, I spotted something I was already thinking about on eBay at a huge discount! As it will be more useful in the Autumn and Winter months, I am going to put it away until my birthday in November and will post about it on here then.
I try to avoid anything too controversial or political on here, but I just saw this on Facebook and decided it was appropriate in the present circumstances to post it:
The Hijab Series: “What if” by Yemeni photographer Boushra Almutawakel, 2014.
Anyway, goodbye for now and I hope you all have a great weekend!
Former professional school librarian, now retired through chronic illness. Trying to keep cheerful by reading, drinking lots of tea, blogging my new life, and my love of bling!
Find Them Dead by Peter James
The Librain
The Librain......retired 
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