Angelic Paranoia

What I Just Finished Reading
The Killing Time by Elly Griffiths
I was very excited to read this one, although now I have it means I've read all of her books. I enjoyed this one, but I'm used to being able to read the next/other books in the series pretty quickly and having to wait until the next one comes out is ages.

Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
I saw an amateur production of this and realised that I've completely forgotten the book, so I re-read it.

Epically Earnest by Molly Horan
I don't know why this one was on my wishlist. I only finished it because it was short and we were in a heatwave at the time. It's The Importance of Being Earnest but set in a modern day American high school with all the interesting bits taken out.

The Coming of Age of the Chalet School
I had this lying around from GGBP, so I re-read it. The more books I read with Mary-Lou in the more she annoys me. And grown up Joey also annoys me.

A Stocking Full of Spies by Robin Stevens
I keep thinking I'm not going to read any more of these because I'm not that into 12 year olds during the war, but then it was hot and this was an easy read. So I read it. It was quick and easy to read.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
I've seen the BBC adaptation of this and the book explains and expands things that aren't really explained in the series. Although interestingly, the series makes it all out to be about one thing she needs to get right, but the book isn't about that at all. I enjoyed both. But interestingly, there's a sequel to the book that cannot possibly be a sequel to the TV series.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Library by Bella Osbourne
I am enjoying this. It's about a teenager and older woman who become friends via the library.

What I'm Reading Next
The Long Shoe by Bob Mortimer
This library hold came up, because they're like buses. But now I know to expect a Bob Mortimer book to be what you expect from a Bob Mortimer book, I'm looking forward to it.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams. I read this in about a day, it was so interesting. The author worked for Facebook and started when she thought it could be a force for good in the world. It was clear pretty early on that it wasn't a good workplace, but she gets used to it. And then it gets worse. And then worse again. And worse. In summary: the people in charge of Facebook don't care about anyone. Not their employees, nor their users, nor people who were hurt (literally) by their algorithms. It's really awful what they did (and are probably still doing). I did know this stuff, at least sort of, but it hits different when reading a first-hand detailed account.

Barry Cryer: Same Time Tomorrow by Bob Cryer. This was really interesting to hear about his life and work. He was just a lovely and funny man who loved people.

Doctor Who: Origin Stories. This got a bit samey after a while - a lot of the stories were companions meeting a Doctor as children and then being made to forget about it. Which just felt a bit pointless. On their own they were fine, but it just me feel like I was reading the same thing over and over again.

The Return of Robin Hood by Paul Magrs. I found this a bit dull. There's nothing specific about it that I didn't like, it just didn't do anything for me.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Twat Files by Dawn French. This is stories from her life where either she behaved badly or made mistakes. It's quite interesting, I just stopped because I had library books to read.

A Witches Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. I'm enjoying this. I got worried when it was clear there was a love interest, but actually the romance has been okay and not that big a thing. I'm only 30 pages from the end, so I'm confident it's not suddenly going to become one.

What I'm Reading Next
Excitingly, whoever had The Vanishing Box by Elly Griffiths out of the library has brought it back. I just need to finish the library books I have and hopefully this will still be there when I go. And then after I've read that, I'll read The Great Deceiver by Elly Griffiths, the last in the series, which I own but decided to save for last.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths. According to her website this is a atandalone book, but one of the investigators is DS Kaur, who was in the previous book. And next two. Not that it matters, I enjoyed this one anyway.

The Blood Card by Elly Griffiths. The next one in the Brighton 1950s series. I'm really enjoying these. Plus, after this one the rest are in my local library, so I can get them for free (as long as someone else isn't reading one).

Esther is Now Following You by Tanya Sweeney. It took me a little while to get into this. It's about someone who starts obsessively following an actor and builds up this whole idea in her head about how he'd meet her and instantly fall in love. Which, of course, is never going to happen. But it was fascinating, and going back to the beginning of her story it was believable how she ended up in that situation.

What I'm Currently Reading
Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffiths. The next Harbinder Kaur one. I'm enjoying it.

What I'm Reading Next
White Male Stand-Up by Alan Davies. Annoyingly discovered it's a hard back when I picked it up from the library. I read his previous autobiography about his childhood and it was interesting, so I expect this one will be too.

Doctor Who: The Adventures After. Also annoyingly a hardback. Since this is short stories I expect some of them to be better than others because that's how it usually goes.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Didn't Finish Reading
Aurora: Darwin by Amanda Bridgeman. This was free as part of Kobo's first book of a series being free. I didn't get very far through it because it's really dull, there's so much explanation of things I don't care about, the main character and the attitudes of those around him wouldn't be out of place in the 1960s, and one of the women was described as petite and also 5'5". You can't be petite when you're (from my perspective) tall. What's strange is that there are a load of really positive reviews on Kobo, when most books have very few, if not no reviews there. I wonder if we were reading the same book.

What I Just Finished Reading
The Hotel Avocado by Bob Mortimer. I don't know why I was worried about this - it was exactly the sort of book I'd expect Bob Mortimer to write. All the characters were a bit odd, their descriptions were similarly odd, there was the odd strange name, and an interesting plot. I really enjoyed it.

The Girl With Nowhere To Go by Louise Guy. I liked her previous books because although they were general fiction they weren't all about romance and had a twist, so if you thought you knew what was going on, you'd find you didn't. Except this one was pretty easy to guess. And all fo the characters meeting, in order for them to find out this secret that unites them, felt so contrived.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Very Courageous Decision by Graham McCann. This is really interesting about Yes, (Prime) Minister, which I am currently re-watching in preparation for going to the I'm Sorry, Prime Minister play. I stopped at Yes, Minister because it often recaps episodes and quotes them and I wanted to (re-)watch them first.

Interesting Stories about Curious Words by Susie Dent. This is interesting, but it's also a bit like reading a dictionary - a little at a time is best.

What I'm Reading Next
The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths. This is the first in the Brighton in the 1950s series and at least I know I'll like it. I also have the seventh in the series in my to read pile, so I just need to get the 2nd-6th from the library and I can cross two books off my to read list...

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
The Book Forger by Joseph Hone. This was about a man who created rare editions of books that never existed and then sold them for a lot of money. And also about the men who discovered the forgeries and worked out whodunnit. It was hard going through all the background (not to mention the small writing), but did get better towards the end when they're trying to get the forget to admit to it.

Keep Laughing by Chris McCausland. This was on Kobo for £1.99 - more expensive than reserving it at the library, but that extra 69p meant I didn't have to wait on a list and then go up there (probably in the rain) to get it. And take it back. It was really interesting. He mentioned being into some (now-obscure) sitcoms as a child and they were the same ones I was into.

Midnight Wings by Ariele Sieling. I happened to look at the Kobo free books section and found this and the next one in the first in the series section. It's a retelling of Cinderella. I kept finding it a bit far-fetched, but then those were the Cinderella bits! I don't know if I'll read more - the whole series is just short stories so they're expensive relatively speaking. I have questions about the setting, but I'm not feeling confident that they'll be answered in the other books (which are all retellings of other fairy tales).

Better Off Wed by Laura Durham. This was also pretty short. It was a murder mystery and the main character is a wedding planner. But I still can't decide if I liked it or not. It said it was a cosy mystery, which is was, and that it was laugh out loud, which it definitely wasn't, but explained why the characters all felt a bit cartoony sometimes.

Sundered Sky by Ariele Sieling. Since I liked a book by this author I went looking for other series and this novella was also free. I don't know why I finished it because it was dull and I really didn't care about any of the characters at all.

What I'm Currently Reading
Irresponsible Adult by Lucy Dillon. I got this one mostly based on the title - but I did read the summary and thought it was interesting. One chapter in and I'm not sure how many more I'll make it through if it doesn't improve.

What I'm Reading Next
I don't know. The trouble with not liking my current book (so far) and not liking the previous one is that I'm not feeling like reading any others because I won't like them either. Maybe I need to re-read something to restore my faith in books.

Mirrored from my blog.