The year in books :: September

Once again I’m a bit late this month. It’s been steady progress for me reading wise …

Firstly I read Tana French’s ‘The Secret Place’. I’m now waiting for her to write a new book. I enjoyed this but perhaps not as much as some of her other work. The story is set in a boarding school so with the overtones of Mallory Towers in my head I set off on the journey. This time we revisit Frank Mackey through his daughter Holly - who attends the school where the unsolved murder has occurred. I found the story and excellent read but I was a little bit disappointed with the ending. Just a little. Just me?

Secondly I read the second book from Tony Parsons in his new guise as a crime writer. I enjoyed it. It wasn’t too taxing with too many plot twists and turns to remember, the story trundled onwards interspersed with the development of his main character Max Wolfe. I think this series was set to be a trilogy but I imagine that if they sell well there could be more.

For September I plan to read The Magpies – Mark Edwards and a huge number of craft books as I’ve just ordered 5 from Amazon’s second hand bookshop!!

Joining in again with Laura. 

The year in books - February

January saw me finish my intended read. I really enjoyed Maggie O’Farrell’s “Instructions for a Heatwave”. It was an interesting book to read during our coldest spell of the winter. All of the descriptions of the warm summer of 1976 (which I have vague memories of, a washing up bowl of water and the grass under my three year old feet) were totally at odds with January’s weather.

I didn't manage anything else, other than the usual reading of recipe books at bedtime.

February has gotten off to a good start on the reading front. I’m aiming to read 2 books this month; “Because She Loves Me” by Mark Edwards and “Sleep Tight” by Rachel Abbott.

Let’s see how I get on.

Joining in with Laura.

The year in books - January

Well my reading in December didn’t go exactly as planned…

I did read Into the Woods by Tana French. Halfway through I was so enjoying this book I downloaded the next one to my kindle. I really had to hold off from downloading them all right away.

So December consisted of 2 Tana French books…Into the Woods and The likeness. I really, really enjoyed these books and am so pleased Jennifer put her latest one on her blog and gave me pause to consider them! I found the way she develops her characters intriguing and I like how the books are connected but not dependent on each other. I’m holding off binging on all of her novels so I can look forward to the next pones…I also finally finished Stephen Fry’s autobiography. It wasn’t as good as his other stuff. ‘Nuff said.

So this month, and yes I understand it being almost February, I’ve been reading Maggie O’Farrell’s “Instructions for a Heatwave” and plan to read Jay Rayner’s “The Apologist” and potentially a new Simon Kernick novel... If I can stop myself from the third Tana French book…..

Miscellaneous and happiness and random thoughts

Sarah over at Mitenska has had posts on miscellaneous things in her week. Gillian writes about her weekly happies. I'm going to do a combination of these two things. I not usually such a join-er in-er (is that a word/phrase??) but I can't not join in with these.

We survived our first half term. It was a whirlwind of getting stuff done, reading, trips out, family visiting, eating lots, treats, cinema visits (Daddy and daughter day)  and catching up on sleep. It has (almost) been a relief to get back into a routine and back to work/school - although I'm pleased this is my last working day of the week....

We had a fabulous day out in Whitby. The sun shone and the weather was warm (for the end of October). We made collections of stones (and brought a few home), played crazy golf, ate fish and chips and ice cream. It was a very good day. We all slept well after the sea air!

I traversed the entirety of Leeds to get a pumpkin on Halloween. A trip to big Tesco resulted in no pumpkin (but nappies - the real reason for going) but BigR did see Tesco staff members dressed up for Halloween, and from no where (when the music started) run into the centre of the store and start dancing (in time) to Thriller. Very random but very good. This resulted in much YouTube after to see MJ in action. She wasn't sure if he was brilliant or not.

I did eventually get a couple of pumpkins in our local veg shop. One was very anaemic....scary :) they're still sat on plates in our kitchen and going slightly fusty now so I'll have to spirit them into the bin later tonight (under the cover of darkness) so there are no protestations.

I made a ginger cake following this recipe. Yum. It's gone now.

I ironed and ironed and ironed to X factor. I think the ironing made X factor better. I finished all the ironing and gloried in that moment where there was no more ironing. Sadly, there's now more ironing. who though uniforms and being smart was a good idea?

I finished knitting my hat. It's blue and green not purple. It's a bit big. Maybe I should've made the biggest child's size? It looks a bit wonky here too but 'in real life' it isn't. I will be wearing it. Maybe I'll even model it?

I took more pictures of roses in the garden. Still yet more appear and flower (don't look at the black spot on the leaves) and it's November. Just beautiful.

I've been reading lots too....recipe books mostly. In bed.

Today I've been embracing The Smiths. Spurred by this post from Leanne. This isn't my favourite Smiths song but it's got very good jangly guitars. I love Johnny Marr.