Angelic Paranoia

What I Just Finished Reading
First Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton, Second Form at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton, Third Year at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. I watched the first series of this in 2020 and then forgot it existed until I came across a trailer for series 5. I'm now halfway through series 4 and discovered at Christmas that my parents have got our old children's books out of the loft and they're on the bookshelves in my sister's old room. I couldn't remember anything about these books and was curious about what they changed for the TV series. And then I really enjoyed re-reading them.

The Most Likely Club by Elyssa Friedland. I saw another book by the author recced, but the library had this one, so I borrowed this one. I mostly enjoyed it - it was about four women who were friends in high school. They were going to do great things, but then they realise at their 25th reunion that their lives are crap. So they set about improving them. Which was fine, but they either had pots of money or had a source of pots of money, which just made it all a bit too easy for me.

The Body in the Blitz by Robin Stevens. I struggled a bit with this one. The main characters are 10 and 11 and I can't stand one of them. And it's set during the war, which isn't a favourite time period of mine.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths. I am enjoying this, but it's got some weird stuff going on with Aboriginal beliefs and the setting makes Norfolk sound... well, exactly like I think it's like (I've never been there). But it has interested me enough to reserve the first of the series at the library (they literally don't have a single one of my books on ebook). And I can see elements of Spooks' Ruth and Harry in Ruth and Nelson.

What I'm Reading Next
Saving Missy by Beth Morrey. I went looking for some bargains on Kobo, liked the sound of this one and then found the library also had it on ebook, with no waiting list. I'm hoping it will be a nice palate cleanser after the dreariness of Norfolk.

Mirrored from my blog.

I thought I'd failed my 2024 goal by 1 book, but then I checked back and it turns out my goal was not quite what I thought it was and I actually succeeded! Here's the goal:

So my goal for 2024 is once again to read 12 books that I acquired before 2024. And that my to read pile should not have gone up by the end of the year.

I read 13 books that I acquired before 2024. And acquired 13 more than I read. In total I acquired the same number of books as I read and therefore my to read pile did not go up!

This year's goal is simpler. I currently have 38 books to read. By the end of the year that number should be lower. It ought to be easy as two of them are library books. And some of the physical books are reference books, so I just need to read enough of those to decide if I'm keeping them or not.

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
The Belgrave Square Murder by Emily Organ. This has 73 pages. The story starts on page 5. I made it to page 12. Which was the start of chapter 3. It's just really badly written and I had no idea what was going on. I am not generally a fan of description, but this book really needs some. The first two chapters were the main character interrogating a witness, but pretty much all we got were their words. It felt like it went by so fast I couldn't take it in. And it's impossible to tell if the witness is telling the truth without body language or some way of telling how they say the words.

Secrets at Sutherland Hall by Jenna Bennett. A historical murder book that I actually enjoyed! Well, sort of. I felt the murder mystery went from 'no one could possibly have done it' to 'this person did it' without anyone making any progress. So it came out of the blue, wasn't really supported by anything that happened earlier in the book and I wasn't convinced they'd done it. However, I did really like the characters. I'd read more of the series with these characters in if they were available at the library or a whole lot cheaper than £7.

The People on Platform 5 by Clare Pooley. This was a perfect read for when I was getting over norovirus and didn't have the energy to do anything. It's about some people on a train carriage who end up speaking to each other and then improve each other's lives. It's a lovely happy story.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett. This was the one book I bought in Kobo's Black Friday sale. I was waiting for the library to get the ebook and then decided it was worth paying £1.99 not to wait. And it was good. As with her first book, I guessed one of the things, but not all of what was going on. But then it felt way too insane to be guessable.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Lost Exam by DS Lang. This is entirely because it's short. Including this book I have 17 books I've acquired this year that I haven't read and I need to get that down to 12 by the end of the year. I only just started it today, so I can't say whether it's any good or not yet. Although interestingly it's by the same person as one of the books I gave up on for really not being my thing. It seems like this is more my thing, at least based on the 20 pages I've read so far.

What I'm Reading Next
I think I've read all the short historical murder mysteries now, so I need to pick one I think I might give up on. Of the free historical murder books I acquired I've read 9, given up on 2 and still have 12 to go!

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
Murder at the Mayfair Hotel by CJ Archer. My mum recently sent me a link to get 19 free books of historical murder mysteries. Which is right up my street depending on the time period. So of course I downloaded them all and this was the first on my ebook reader. And it was dull. The main character had her family die and was taken in by estranged relatives who were rich and owned (and lived in) a hotel. And someone was murdered. And I just didn't care about any of the characters. I finished it, but I'm not sure why because I didn't care whodunnit even after I found out who did it.

Murder at Merisham Lodge by Celina Grace. This starts a pair of characters in service. Although there are murders, most of their time is taken up by work. It did have interesting characters, but there just wasn't enough of the murder mystery. I finished it because I wanted to know whodunnit.

A Precarious Homecoming by DS Lang. This was very much not my thing. For some reason I got two and a bit chapters in, someone was killed and all I wanted to do was to not read it any more. It's set in America which I'm not that interested in and I hated all the characters.

What I'm Currently Reading
Unruly by David Mitchell. I needed something different after those three and I've had this sitting around for a while after it was 99p. I am enjoying it - it's really interesting and I'm learning a lot, especially about the pre-William the Conqueror Kings. And I quite like his asides about learning history in the 1980s because it's not that dissimilar to my experience of learning it.

What I'm Reading Next
Displeasure Island by Alice Bell. I read the first book in this series a while ago and added it to my Kobo wishlist to remind me to check again later if the library has the ebook version yet. And then it was 99p, so I bought it. I am looking forward to a bit of fiction that I know I'll enjoy!

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
A Fatal Flaw by Faith Martin, A Fatal Secret by Faith Martin, A Fatal Truth by Faith Martin, A Fatal Affair by Faith Martin, A Fatal Night by Faith Martin, A Fatal End by Faith Martin. In other words, I finished the series. I solved the problem of too many other people also reading these books and borrowed a few at once - I was getting through each of them in two or three days.

And I am really missing the series now it's gone. I don't know if I'll read any of her others yet, as it's the characters and the setting that I enjoyed and the others have different characters and different settings. But I also felt that there were a lot of things that get followed up in the next book and then don't get resolved. And although it was clear how it was going to end it still managed to be unsatisfactory. Not enough that it spoiled my enjoyment of the series as a whole, but enough to make it annoyed when I finished the last one.

What I'm Currently Reading
Make It So by Patrick Stewart. It is good, I'm just still dealing with the book hangover from the Faith Martin series and so I'm struggling to get excited about it.

What I'm Reading Next
I can't contemplate that yet. Although I did put a hold on an interesting library book. There are only 36 people waiting per copy! So it's definitely not going to be the book I'm reading next.

Mirrored from my blog.