Various ramblings by the small hobbit

7 books read this month, so 38 for the year and I'm on target!

A Frightfully Fatal Affair by Hannah Hendy
I normally listen to these on audiobook, but for a change I borrowed it from the library.  The next in the Dinner Lady Detectives series.  Entertaining, slightly implausible, but the two dinner ladies are appealing characters, so I enjoyed reading it.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys
A look at how Mr Rochester might have found his 'mad' wife in Jane Eyre.  Worth reading, but I didn't feel for Antoinette (Bertha) as I had expected to.

The Dead Witness edited by Michael Sims
A collection of short detection stories for the nineteenth century.  Very few of the stories appealed, and I was left grateful for Sherlock Holmes!

Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
The next Murderbot story, which was fun and continued to prove that Murderbot was far better equipped to deal with most things than anyone else.

The Rose Apple Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
The next in the Su Lin series (which was the Crown Colony series, although the name is no longer accurate), this one is set not in Singapore but in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.  As always, it's an interesting look at the region in 1947 and I enjoyed the mystery.  I had guessed part of it, but I imagine the reader was supposed to have their suspicions.  

Cyanide in the Sun edited by Martin Edwards
Another of the British Library Crime Classics short story collections.  Not as good as previous books, it may be that the pool of such stories is being drained.

CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour edited by Martin Edwards
Another short story collection, but this time modern short stories.  I enjoyed the majority - in any collection there are going to be some which I don't like, for various reasons, but it was a good batch.


Also, I had a go at the Goodreads Seasonal Challenge for May and June and achieved 5 of the 7 categories:



And here is my book bingo card - I may even finish it next month!

Six books this month, so I've read 31 so far this year.

Their Finest by Lissa Evans
Having read one of Lissa Evans WWII books last year I decided I'd see what else of hers the library had, and this is the first of two books.  It tells the story of the making of a film about Dunkirk by a ragtag collection of individuals.  I liked it, sympathised with the main character, but also enjoyed seeing various other characters and how they dealt with the difficulties caused by living in London during the war.

Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
I didn't enjoy this book as much as many of the other Discworld stories.  Very much a standalone, I really missed the regular characters.  Also, while I understood where Pratchett was coming from, and would agree with a number of his thoughts, I felt it lacked some of the lightness of touch he usually has.

Plenty under the Counter by Kathleen Hewitt
Republished by the Imperial War Museum and written during WWII, this was one of the runners up for the Shedunnit wartime month.  As such I liked the sense of the period, but as a detective story I didn't find it that strong.

The Body in the Dumb River by George Bellairs
A couple of people have recommended Bellairs to me, so I borrowed this from the library.  Written in 1961, so outside the usual Golden Age period, although Bellairs started writing earlier.  Chief Inspector Littlejohn is my sort of detective, sorting through all the facts and working out what happened and why.  There's a definite sense of the people and the period, and although not an exciting crime, it's all very believable.

The Blanket Cats by Kiyoshi Shigematsu
Goodreads has started running some different challenges, and this is one of the books in the Heritage category of the current seasonal challenge.  Having read a similar book last month, I thought it would be fun to read another (also from the library).  I quite enjoyed it, but I think that will do me for this particular type - too much time on the people, too little time on the cats.

Mrs Plansky's Revenge by Spencer Quinn
This was recommended as a slightly different take on the crime genre.  The basic crime is financial via the internet, and the interest comes from how Mrs Plansky deals with it.  The first third of the book is quite slow, but then it improves and I was definitely cheering Mrs Plansky on by the end, which was not as I'd initially expected.


My book bingo card.  Finally achieved a row and a column.  I'm expecting to complete this in July/August, slowly reading books in the last few categories.

I've read (or at least finished, having started last month) 8 books this month, so am back on track with 25/75 books in my Goodreads Challenge.

The Lake District Murder by John Bude
I'm not a great fan of Bude, but still read his books.  This was a Shedunnit runner up for first book featuring a series detective and also filled the book set in somewhere I've been, having holidayed in the Lake District in years gone by.  It's an okay book, very procedural and drags a bit, but easy enough to read.

Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day by Winifred Watson
A couple of people had recommended this, and although I was dubious I thoroughly enjoyed it.  First published in 1938, it's the story of a very down-at-heel governess who when searching for a new position accidentally ends up at the wrong address.  She and the young lady who admits her to her flat become unlikely friends, and Miss Pettigrew resolves that, although she will have to return to her normal life, she will have one day really enjoying herself.  It's a great portrait of life at the time.  A library book, I was forced to renew it so J could finish reading it as well.

Network Effect by Martha Wells
The fifth book in the Murderbot series and this time a full-length book.  I didn't enjoy it as much as the previous ones, although it was still good.  I felt too much was jammed into it, but I do generally prefer shorter books rather than long convoluted stories.

Death at the Chateau by Ian Moore
The third main story in the Follet Valley Mysteries.  Another slightly daft plot, but highly entertaining and the recurring characters are growing on me.  A film about Napoleon is being shot at a French chateau, with the inevitable result in a murder mystery.  Good fun, and not to be taken seriously.

A History of Britain in Ten Enemies by Terry Deary
This is the same author as the Horrible Histories series and written in the same jokey style.  I was given it as a Christmas present.  I learnt a few things, but nothing major, having already got a reasonable basic grasp of British history, and there was one major error, which annoyed me.  I could have done without the preachy epilogue as well.

The Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie
Using Read Christie I'm slowly working my way through the Agatha Christie books I haven't read for a long time.  This was written in 1929 and involves espionage and totally unrealistic action.  I'm not impressed with Christie's thriller writing.

Not Quite Perfect by Annie Lyons
I've read a number of books by Annie Lyons and enjoyed them, so this year I decided I'd read the two in the library which are more romantic in nature - I don't normally read romance.  The plot is quite well done, and things don't go as expected, but I wasn't convinced about the ending.  The story is about two sisters, one with three young children who finds herself at odds with her husband, the other who begins to have doubts about her fiancé.  A bit too much 'Hallmark Movies' for me, but okay.

We'll Prescribe You A Cat by Syou Ashida
Chosen because two people on my Goodreads list both read it and the library had copies and a waiting list.  I like cats, which helps, and I enjoyed the concept of being prescribed a cat for various problems.  I'm not so sure about the underlying theme.  It's a Japanese best seller, and, if you like cats, I'd recommend it.

And my book bingo card.  I've got books lined up for some of the remaining squares and by using free squares and substitutes I know I'll complete it.

Seven books I own, no caption, no comment

Seven books I own, no caption, no comment

Seven books I own, no caption, no comment

I've read seven books this month, because one was a very quick read.

Exit Strategy by Martha Wells
This year I intend to catch up on the remaining Murderbot stories and I really enjoyed seeing Murderbot in their next adventure and meeting up with some of the people they'd met before.

Verdict of Twelve by Raymond W Postgate
Read as the Shedunnit Lesser Known Author month, although not the winner of that category.  It was a bit of a slog, and although possibly a good example of early Golden Age mystery, I wouldn't be looking for anything else by this author.

The Oaken Heart by Margery Allingham
Allingham is the author of the Albert Campion books, but this book is her account of how her English village acts in the year before WWII begins and on into the first half of the war.  As a reflection of what life was like at the time, it should have been interesting, but her style grated and the characters really weren't interesting.

Stories for Winter and Nights by the Fire edited by Simon Thomas
A British Library Women Writers anthology, with contributions from throughout the first half of the twentieth century.  As with most anthologies, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but I found it an excellent selection.

Chatterton Square by E H Young
I knew nothing about this book when I borrowed it from the library, except that it has been republished as part of the British Library Women Writers series.  Although the copy I borrowed wasn't one of their reprints, but must have dated from roughly the time it was first published in 1947.  The book itself is set in 1938 - it took me a while to work out the date, which would have been obvious to the first readers - and is a really interesting look at two very different families who live in neighbouring houses in Bristol.  And as a look at life just before WWII, I felt this gave a much greater impression than Allingham's book.  It's much more a slice of life than much of my usual reading, which tends towards mysteries, but I enjoyed it very much, particularly the characterisations of both those you'd enjoy meeting and those you'd try to avoid.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
I cannot remember where I saw this recommended, but it was clearly popular as the library had a number of copies which were being reserved.  Rostov, the main character in the book is sentenced to house arrest in 1922 in the hotel where he is currently living.  And what has the potential for being an uninteresting story grows fascinating with all the people he meets there.  If you're looking for something slightly different, I would recommend it.

Eric by Terry Pratchett
Borrowed from the library, it's a short book and, like much of Pratchett, difficult to put down, and since I was returning the above two books to the library, it seemed sensible to finish this one too :)  I wouldn't say I enjoyed it as much as some of the other books, the main character is Rincewind and I prefer some of the others, but it's still fun and Pratchett remains very relevant with his comments.


My book bingo is looking good for two months in, especially as it includes audio books:

This is the book bingo card kingstoken has created for 2025:

6 books, so 70/75 books for the year, with all the Christmas reads to come!

The Man who was Thursday: A Nightmare by G K Chesterton
I'm joining a new (to me) book club and this is the first book - whether I continue with the book club will depend on how the first session (it's online) goes.  I was attracted because this was a book I'd been interested in reading for some time.  And basically, it's just weird.  I'm really not sure what to make of it, so it will be interesting to see how others respond.

The Hoarder by Jess Kidd
I've been reading some of the books by Jess Kidd that are available in the library and this was the last on my list - there's one more in the library, but it doesn't appeal.  The plot is quite convoluted, but I was carried along by it, with a wide variety of different characters.  Enjoyable but I probably won't be looking for more by her.

Third Girl by Agatha Christie
Read because it was the book of the month for the AgathaChristie.com reading list.  I tend to read the ones I haven't read for a long time.  This year's theme has been working through the decades, so the last quarter of the year is 1960s and 1970s, with this one dating from 1966.  A Poirot book, it's quite clever, but there's a lot of authorial criticisms of the 1960s.

Murder in Vienna by E C R Lorac
The latest Lorac to be republished by British Library Crime Classics.  I had it on pre-order so I could read it as soon as it was published.  Originally published in 1956 and set in Vienna, it was a really interesting look at a city just post-occupation and one that I've visited and liked very much.  Possibly not as good as some Loracs, but I certainly read through it quickly enough.

Old Soldiers Never Die by Frank Richards
The last of my WWI memoires and the only one to look at the war on the Western Front from the point of view of the ordinary soldier.  Worth reading for the view of the life in the trenches and to accompany those giving a wider view of the war.

Great-Uncle Harry by Michael Palin
Harry Palin, the great-uncle of the broadcaster Michael Palin, died on the Somme in 1916.  I was given the book last Christmas and felt that November would be a good month to read it.  I had already heard an abridged version on BBC Radio 4, so there was no surprise in it.  Again, an interesting look at the involvement of forces from the Empire, as Harry had signed up with the New Zealand forces.  I would have been happy without Palin's attempt to build his great-uncle's character, when there were no direct references other than in official communications.

This week's thefridayfive questions

1. Most everyone will recommend a book or two to read, but are there any you would tell people to avoid?
No.  I might say I didn't enjoy something, and even share why not, but my preferences are not your preferences, so unless you ask my opinion and I know specifically what you like then I wouldn't tell you as a general point to avoid something.

2. If you take a book on vacation, are you more likely to take something you haven't read yet or an old favorite?
New - I very very rarely reread.  And when there is limited space for books, since I must take some clothing, they'll be new.

3. Do you read any genres by the season? Like horror around Halloween? Cozy Mysteries in the Winter? Romance in the Summer?
Not genres as such, but December is the time for Christmas stories - I have a number lined up ready for this December.

4. If you read a lot of Fiction do you prefer an author that has a series with the same character(s), or do you prefer stand-alone stories?
Yes!  I like both.  Many mysteries do have the same detective, whether professional or amateur.  Glancing through the books I've read this year, I'd say it's about 50/50.

5. Is there a book that you wish you could read again, but experience it like it was the first time?
Not that I can think of.