Angelic Paranoia

What I Just Finished Reading
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady. This is kind of an autobiography, but through the lens of her getting diagnosed as autistic and then looking back at things she did and how they related to that. It was so interesting I read it in a day and had such a book hangover that I didn't read another book for a day.

The Twins at St Claire's by Enid Blyton, The O'Sullivan Twins by Enid Blyton, Summer Term at St Clare's by Enid Blyton, Second Form at St Clare's by Enid Blyton. After re-reading the Mallory Towers books I wanted to read St Clare's. I don't know if it was the books or my mood, but I struggled with these until partway through the second one. Mallory Towers is better, I think, but they are pretty similar.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey. I looked through my physical books to read thinking I ought to get through some of those. This one is hard going, partly because Mercedes Lackey books are slow and therefore hard going, but also because it has tiny writing.

Jackpot Summer by Elyssa Friedland. The other book turned out to be so hard to get it to stay open while I ate that I started this one to read during meals. And then I remembered I'd read another book by the same author that I hadn't thought much of. So far I haven't thought much of this one either.

Claudine at St Clare's by Enid Blyton. The fifth book in the series.

What I'm Reading Next
Fifth Formers of St Clare's by Enid Blyton. The last book in the series.

Primula of the Chalet School by Helen Barber. This turned up just before Easter, but I really can't start it until I've finished some others.

And I'm getting to the top of the list on my ebook library holds so I'm expecting those to come in soon. If you say you don't want it and let the next person have it you don't get to be in the queue after them, you go to the back of the queue. One of the books I have on hold has over 100 people in the queue, so I have to get it when it comes to me!

Mirrored from my blog.

What I Just Finished Reading
A load of Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway series. I've been putting holds on the early ones, one at a time, and then when I go to the library to pick them up, getting another one. I finally read one where they made Norfolk sound really pretty. It was the first one that wasn't set in the middle of winter or a summer heatwave, so that probably helped.

Upper Fourth at Malory Towers, Into the Fifth at Malory Towers and Last Term at Malory Towers by Enid Blyton. I struggled a bit with the fourth series because a lot of it about the First Formers and there was a lot less of the original characters. Turns out the book is all about the original characters and I enjoyed it more. I am saving series 5 until there's less on TV because it has 20 episodes(!), but I've seen the preview. There was one bit that sounded partially like the fifth book and one bit that sounded partially like the sixth book. It feels like they're gradually getting further and further away from the books, but we'll see.

A Good Enough Mother by Sheila Norton
The Lost Letters of Evelyn Wright by Clare Swatman
Her Guilty Secret by Emily Cavanagh
The World Outside My Window by Clare Swatman
Not Your Child by Sheila Horton
I was ill and wanted some easy reading and these were. But they were all about women whose exes were terrible, but it's ok because they found romance (except one). I just felt like I was reading the same books all the time. I thought I liked contemporary fiction, but it turns out I like some contemporary fiction. That doesn't involve divorce or romance or small children.

What I'm Currently Reading
To The Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei. I needed something different and I really wanted to read something written by a man. This is not fiction, so it's different in that respect. It's also really interesting because there's stuff about the anti-Japanese American prejudice during WWII and the sort of roles that were available to him as an actor.

What I'm Reading Next
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. For the 'Banned Book' square on my bingo card. And also because something from the book came up ages ago and I realised that I read it so long ago that I remembered absolutely nothing about it.

And then books 4 and 15 from Elly Griffiths' Dr Ruth Galloway series, once the library has got both of them in. Then I'll have read the first four and last four in the series and will just have the middle seven to go.

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
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.