Books – Wicked Witch's Blog

WWW Wednesday March 29

It’s Wednesday again and unbelievably, it’s the end of March. The clocks have gone forward so we’re back on British Summer Time which means longer evenings. Hooray!! All the blossom is appearing on the trees so the hedgerows are beginning to look really pretty with white and pink flowers appearing everywhere.

As it’s Wednesday that means that it’s time for WWW Wednesday. This is one of my favourite memes and I love taking part in it and reading everybody else’s posts. I get so many great book recommendations from them! The meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm, and it’s currently hosted by Sam. It can be found on her blog Taking on a world of words which can be found here.

The idea of WWW Wednesday is just to answer three simple questions about what you are reading, have just finished and are about to read so here goes for this week.

What I’m currently reading

I’ve finally got round to reading this ARC which will complete one of my unfinished series this year. It’s been over a year since I read the previous book and it took me a while to remember all of the different points of view characters. I’m enjoying this final volume although have no idea how it’s all going to work out.

What I have recently finished reading

I finally finished this one and posted my review here

Death under a Little Sky by Stig Abell
This was a Net Galley ARC and I really enjoyed it. Jake Jackson is a high flying detective with the Met but he inherits an isolated house in the middle of nowhere. Wanting a change, he moves there and isolates himself from society. However he begins to get involved with the local vet and then one day, some human bones appear.

A lot of reviewers didn’t like the pace of the book but I enjoyed the slow pace as it gave the author plenty of space for developing the characters and location. It was written in the present tense which I found a bit tricky at first but soon got used to.

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh
There is a New Year’s Eve party held in an upmarket property development on the English/Welsh border. On New Year’s day, one of the developers, local boy made good, is found dead in the lake. And literally everybody, even the local police constable seems to have hated him. This was a great read. I loved the huge range of suspects and the way that their reasons were revealed gradually. I’ll definitely be looking out for any further books in this series.

Weyward by Emilia Hart
I really enjoyed this book. It did deal with some uncomfortable areas especially an abusive and controlling marriage but I loved the characters of all three women.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sarafi by Shannon Chakraborty
I absolutely loved this book. I guess it’s really historical fantasy as it’s set in the real world of the Indian Ocean around the 12th century. The author has carried out an incredible amount of research to make her world come alive and then put an elderly female ex-pirate with a demon husband in the middle of it. It’s a great adventure story and l loved Amina. I can’t wait to read what she gets up to next. It’s a beautiful book too. I have to say that I think that the UK cover is far prettier than the US one.

What I am intending to read next

I’m definitely looking forward to latest outing for Commissario Brunetti in Venice.

What are you reading this week?

Reader Confessions Book Tag and Blogoversary

Happy Blogoversary to me!!! My little corner of the book blogging world has been alive and kicking for two years and I’m really amazed by how much it’s come to mean to me. I’ve now got 200 followers which I know doesn’t sound very many to a lot of you but I’m so happy that anyone bothers to read what I post especially those of you who read and comment on nearly everything I write. It’s such a change from those early days when I felt as though I was just posting into space and got excited when I had one person press like.

To celebrate my blogoversary, I ‘m going to do the Reader Confessions Tag. I saw this posted by Carl on The Pine Scented Chronicles and thought it would be a nice one to do. I’ve tried to find out who created the tag but none of the posts I’ve found mention the creator. It’s certainly been around a long while as the earliest posts are way back in 2016 so whoever thought of it, had a great idea.

Have you ever damaged a book?

I do try to be careful with books and apart from wear on the spine, especially my frequent re-reads, I haven’t damaged books that I can remember. Apart from the answer to the next question.

Have you ever damaged a borrowed book?

😳😳😳 I had a brand new book from the library once and I was reading it while eating strawberries. I hadn’t realised quite how squishy this particular strawberry was and I managed to drip strawberry juice on one of the pages of this lovely new book. I did confess to the library assistant who said that they’d had a lot worse.

How long does it take you to read a book?

How long is a piece of string? That depends on so many factors. I can often read a romance or a normal length crime novel in a single evening so say about 3 hours. However, A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon which I read recently took about 5 days.

Books that you haven’t finished

I don’t often not finish books, I’m far more likely to skim read to the end but three books that I’ve put aside in the past six months were these:

Nights of Plague was one where I didn’t enjoy the writing style. The blurb sounded really exciting but it was presented as a history and written in quite a dry way so I lost interest.

Helgoland was my attempt to understand physics better. I got about halfway through and then gave up as, despite my best efforts, I just didn’t understand it 😢

1794 – The City between the Bridges was just so unrelentingly grim. I don’t mind dark books, I love the grim dark fantasy novels of Joe Abercrombie but this was on a completely different level.

Hyped or Popular Books that you thought were only OK or disliked

This could end up being quite a long list! The most obvious is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah Maas. I don’t get the fuss about that one at all.

Two more recent books that I haven’t been that impressed by are Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus and The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake.

Is there a book that you wouldn’t tell anybody that you’re reading?

I can’t think of any thing for this question. I read fairly widely but there aren’t any books that I can think of where I wouldn’t want to own up to reading them.

How many books do you own?

I genuinely had no idea about this. I have less books now than this time last year as my husband and I had a huge purge of books before we created our little book room. I did a quick count and I have about 450 actual physical books spread across several book cases. According to my kindle, I have 535 ebooks so altogether I have own almost 1000 books!!!!!!

Are you a fast or slow reader?

Definitely a fast reader. It used to really annoy me when people would accuse me of not reading books properly because I read them so quickly. When I became a teacher and studied reading, I found that people read at a whole range of different speeds and some even faster than me.

The speed of my reading might also depend on what type of book I’m reading. I will probably read non fiction or a fantasy book with a lot of world building a bit more slowly than a romance which has a lot of dialogue. Sometimes if I’m really into the story, I will read more quickly as I desperately want to find out what happens.

Do you like to Buddy Read?

I have no idea as I’ve never done it. I think it would probably be fun to share your ideas about a book as you read it though.

Do you read better in your head or aloud?

It would never occur to me to read aloud when I’m reading to myself so definitely in my head. I do enjoy reading out loud though and used to love reading to my own children and to my class at school.

If you were only allowed to have one book, what would it be and why?

Can I have my kindle? It’s book sized after all!!!!

If I have to choose one physical book, then I would have to choose Lord of the Rings. I want the single volume with the illustrations by Alan Lee so I’ve got pictures to look at too. LOTR is a book I love hugely and I have so many memories of reading it at different times of my life

Thanks to Carl at The Pine Scented Chronicles for bringing this tag to my attention.

What would your reading confessions be?

Poetry Challenge Week 12

For week 12 of my challenge to read at least one poem, I went back to my own bookshelves to see what poetry I have. I discovered a book of Shakespeare’s Sonnets which I had completely forgotten about. I think my husband bought it for me when we performed in Kiss Me Kate as a show present. So I’ve gone from very contemporary feminist poetry to very classic sonnets. Most of them are love poems but this one seems that it could be just as much about a family member or friend.

Sonnet 30
When to the sessions of sweet silent thoughts
I summon up remembrance of things past
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought
And with old woes, new wail my dear time’s waste
Then can I drown an eye (unused to flow)
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night
And weep afresh love’s long since cancelled woe
And moan th’expense of many a vanished night.
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone
And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er
The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan
Which I new pay, as if not paid before
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend
All losses are restored and sorrows end

I’m certainly guilty of going over and over past events in my head and I love the idea of being able to think of a loved one and feel better.

WWW Wednesday March 22

Here we are and it’s Wednesday again. The weather is warming up although there has been a lot of rain. I love this time of year when all the daffodils appear everywhere. They look so cheerful

The idea of WWW Wednesday is just to answer three simple questions about what you are reading, have just finished and are about to read so here goes for this week.

What I’m currently reading

I’m still reading this and it’s absolutely fascinating. The author is following the border of Russia all the way from Korea to Norway. As she details her travels and the people that she meets, she also gives a brief history of how each country has interacted with Russia in the past. I’ve read through the chapters about the border with Asian countries such as Mongolia and into the Caucaus region. I’ve just begun the chapter on the Ukraine which is obviously out of date as the book was finished in 2020 and so pre-dates Putin’s invasion. I love reading her accounts of the chats she has with different people in every country from taxi drivers to local politicians.

Death under a Little Sky by Stig Abell
This is a Net Galley ARC and I love it so far. Jake Jackson is a high flying detective with the Met but he inherits an isolated house in the middle of nowhere. Wanting a change, he moves there and isolates himself from society. However he begins to get involved with the local vet and then one day, some human bones appear.

I really like the writing style of this book and the characters of Jake and Livia. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.

What I have recently finished reading

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
I really loved this one. It had brilliant world building, great characters and lots of plot intrigues. It’s made me want to go back and revisit The Priory of the Orange Tree now.

The English Fuhrer by Rory Clements
This was set just after the end of WWII and was about a fascist plot involving Biological weapons. It was a good read although a scary scenario.

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
I’ve really enjoyed this series set in Restoration England and I’m sad that this is the last one. It’s a brilliant story with lots of political machinations in and out of the court of Charles II. It was nice to read a more sympathetic version of Louise de Keroualle who was one of Charles mistresses and it was inspired by the stories that have emerged about Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein so had a modern feel that wasn’t out of place with the historical context. James Marwood’s increasing disenchantment with the rottenness at the heart of the court was well written too.

When the Guilty Cry by M J Lee
This was recommended by Love Books Read Books in a WWW post and was a new crime series to me. I’ve plunged in at book 7 of the series as this was the earliest in the series that the library had. I enjoyed the character of DI Ridpath and the mystery was intriguing so I will definitely look out for the others in the series.

What I am intending to read next

Weyward by Emilia Hart
The reviews that I have read lately suggest that this might be an uncomfortable read.

What are you reading this week?

Spine Poetry – Top 5 Tuesday

It’s Tuesday and so it’s time for this week’s Top 5 Tuesday post. Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and it is now being hosted by the lovely Meeghan at Meeghan reads!! For details of all of the prompts for Jan to Mar, see Meeghan’s post here.

This week’s prompt is Spine Poetry. What???? It sounded like a really cool idea until I actually tried to create anything even slightly poetic using books on my shelves. It’s really hard!!!!!

I eventually came up with this

When Darkness Falls
The Goblin Emperor
Spinning Silver into Stars
Magic’s Price
The Ivory Tomb

I am really looking forward to seeing what other people come up with for this prompt.

Can you make a poem from five books on your shelves?

Stacking the Shelves 86

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It’s been a very hectic couple of days. My daughter flew in from the US on Thursday for her Hen (or bachelorette) party. First of all her flight was delayed and then the airline hadn’t brought her luggage. That meant hours at Heathrow which we could both have done without. As she only had the clothes she was wearing, we spent most of today shopping to replace the clothes that she needed for this coming weekend as well as a wedding dress fitting and visits to grandparents etc.

Today we’re all of to Nottingham for a weekend of celebrations including Crazy Golf! So it’s all been very busy and a bit stressful although it’s so lovely to have her back home for a couple of days.

However, it’s Saturday and that means it’s also time for my weekly Stacking the Shelves post. Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality and details are on her blog. The gorgeous graphic is also used courtesy of the site.

Stacking the Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

As usual, my STS post is all about highlighting my library loans for the week. I’m very aware of how lucky I am and how many people don’t have access to public library service and I hope that maybe, these posts might encourage a couple of people to use their library more.

After last week’s bumper collection of books, I had another two to collect this week. I didn’t look for any others as I’m not going to have a huge amount of time for reading this weekend and I still have two left from last week.

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
A historical novel set in the 17th century in the reign of Charles II. It’s the sixth mystery (I think) in this series about James Marwood and his friend, Architect Cat Hakesby and I really enjoy them. A murder victim is discovered in a house being restored by Cat and James Marwood gets the job of investigating it. The court including Charles and his latest mistress all become involved too.

Weyward by Emilia Hart
This is also partly a historical novel as it is about three women, Kate in 2019, Violet in 1942 and Altha in 1619.
They tried to cage us
But a Weyward woman belongs to the wild
We cannot be tamed
It’s a story of witchcraft and strong women so I’m really looking forward to it.

That’s all I’ve added to my shelves this week but I still have plenty to read.

What have you added to your bookshelf this week? Do either of these appeal to you?

WWW Wednesday – March 15

Here we are and it’s Wednesday again. The weather has been completely topsy turvy this week. We’ve had snow with schools and roads shut and we’ve had glorious sunshine. Last night we had torrential rain and all of the local fields are currently flooded. Hopefully Spring is on the way though so I’ve changed the photo to help it along a bit.

As it’s Wednesday that means that it’s time for WWW Wednesday. This is one of my favourite memes and I love taking part in it and reading everybody else’s posts. It’s currently hosted by Sam and it can be found on her blog Taking on a world of words which can be found here.

The idea of WWW Wednesday is just to answer three simple questions about what you are reading, have just finished and are about to read so here goes for this week.

What I’m currently reading

This is taking quite a while to read as I’ve been a bit busy over the past few days. It’s also not a book that you can rush through as there are a lot of characters to keep track of and different plots to follow. It’s a brilliant read and I think I’m going to have to re-read The Priory of the Orange Tree to remind myself of how things are in 500 years time.

I’m also reading this and it’s absolutely fascinating. The author is following the border of Russia all the way from Korea to Norway. As she details her travels and the people that she meets, she also gives a brief history of how each country has interacted with Russia in the past. The chapters on Korea were really interesting and I’m loving learning more about a part of the world that I know very little about. She writes in a easily readable style so it doesn’t feel like a lesson.

What I have recently finished reading

The Ambassador by Tom Fletcher
This was interesting rather than gripping. The plot was very complex and it was never clear who could be trusted . Interestingly, the plot had several similarities with The Detective which I read last week as they were both about new technology that would let governments carry out surveillance on their populations as a matter of routine.

This is the third in the Julia Bird series. She’s a retired social worker living in a Cotswold village and keeps getting involved with murders. I like the character of Julia and the plots are interesting. There are so many cosy crime series around now that it’s difficult to know which ones to read but this is one that I would recommend.

And that’s it! I can’t remember the last time that I only finished reading two books in a week!!!

What I am intending to read next

I should finish A Day of Fallen Night tonight and then I will probably move onto Rory Clements’ latest historical novel

What are you reading this week?

Sundays in bed with ………. A Day of Fallen Night

Sundays in bed with is a meme that was originally hosted by Midnight Book Girl. It is simply a chance to share the book that is by your bed at the moment (or that you wish was by your bed). This week the book by my bed (or on the arm of my sofa) is A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

This is the prequel to the amazing The Priory of the Orange Tree and is set 500 years before the events that take place in that book. Both books are effectively stand alones although they take place in the same world and share some of the same settings.

Blurb from the book:
Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms – but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory’s purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow – exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother’s past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat.

The story is told through the different points of each of the women who live in different parts of the world. At the beginning, the POVs change quite quickly which I didn’t like that much as I like to get more immersed in a character. However, as I read through last night, the length for each POV became longer and I did begin to feel as though I was getting to know each of the women.

It’s definitely the longest book that I have read so far this year at a massive 850 pages and I’m glad that I’ve got my book couch so that I don’t have to hold it as it’s quite heavy😃It’s a great read so far.

Stacking the Shelves 85

We’ve had some strange weather this week. It’s supposed to be Spring but we’ve had our only real snow fall of this Winter this week. It was really bad in some parts of the country but it is disappearing very quickly in the sunshine today.

It’s Saturday and that means it’s time for my weekly Stacking the Shelves post. Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality and details are on her blog. The gorgeous graphic is also used courtesy of the site.

After not having any reservations come in last week, I had 4 to collect this week and another two are also in transit to my library. I love being able to request new books for only a nominal charge from my library. I am really excited about all of these but probably most for the Orange Priory prequel.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
This is the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree which I loved and at 845 pages long, is definitely the longest book so far this year. It has the priory where the sisters train to kill wryms although none have appeared for 50 years, a queen who marries to save her kingdom from ruin and a priestess. All three are caught up in having to save their world when the Dread mount erupts.

I’ve only seen good reports of this book and will definitely be starting it this afternoon while my husband watches the rugby!!

The English Fuhrer by Rory Clements
This is the latest in Rory Clements’ series about Professor Tom Wilde. The setting is Autumn 1945 when people are finding their feet in peace time. Suddenly there is a new threat and Tom is called out of retirement by MI5.

When the Guilty Cry by M J Lee
I saw this crime series mentioned in a WWW Wedensday post by Janet of lovebooksreadbooks and it sounded like a series I would enjoy. I know it’s best to read series from the beginning but this 7th book was the only that the library had. It certainly has an intriguing blurb.
Three embalmed hands are discovered in a disused Victorian house. Is it a gangland ritual? The work of a cult? Or just a prank played by medical students? And what happened to the bodies?

The Border by Erika Fatland
I’ve actually had this book already as it arrived over Christmas. The trouble was that we were so busy over Christmas that I didn’t even start it and as other people had requested it, I had to take it back unread. It’s taken all this time to come back to me but I will definitely make sure that I read it this time.
It’s the account of the author’s journey around the border of Russian, a journey of over 20,000 kilometres and two continents. I love travel accounts and can’t wait to actually start this one.

What have you added to your bookshelf this week? Do any of these appeal to you?

WWW Wednesday March 8th

Here we are and it’s Wednesday again. The weather has turned cold and apparently we might be getting some snow today. Spring has obviously not arrived just yet.

However, as it’s Wednesday that means that it’s time for WWW Wednesday. This is one of my favourite memes and I love taking part in it and reading everybody else’s posts. It’s currently hosted by Sam and it can be found on her blog Taking on a world of words which can be found here.

The idea of WWW Wednesday is just to answer three simple questions about what you are reading, have just finished and are about to read so here goes for this week.

What I’m currently reading

This is a cosy crime series that I haven’t read before and I’ve jumped in without having read any of the four previous novels. It doesn’t seem to matter too much though as I am still able to follow what is happening. However, it’s not really gripping me at the moment and the characters seem a bit two-dimensional. I’m not very far in yet so maybe it will improve.

What I have recently finished reading

This was a brilliant read. I loved the ideas and the world building of this alternative 1955 under German occupation was excellent.

I really enjoyed this book. I don’t read that many WWII books but I loved the way this one was based on real events that I knew nothing about.

I shouldn’t really enjoy the ‘in death’ series as the crimes that she writes about are very dark. I think what makes it readable for me are the characters of Eve, Rourke and Eve’s colleagues. The relationships between them are really warm and that makes up for the darkness in the plot. This one was especially disturbing as it was about sex trafficking of children.

This is the third in the Kamil Rahman series about a ex police inspector who comes to live in London. He first works as a waiter and then a cook in an Indian restaurant but is now trained as a police constable and working for the Met. I do love the character of Kamil and the plots are always interesting. This one was very ‘techy’ and involved new software that could track you where ever you went and predict if you were likely to commit a crime or not.

What I am intending to read next

This is the last of my unread library books but I definitely think that I need a fantasy book in the near future as my books have all been very much about real life this week. I’m feeling in the need for some real escapism.

What are you reading this week?