Read then write - 7/5/26

Well it's been a while since I posted about books (not including all the 26 A-Z posts I've recently done!) so I have a few books to talk about which I read during April. Firstly:

The Distant Echo by Val McDermid 

This series features Karen Pirie a Detective working on cold cases.  Having seen a televised version of Karen Pirie and read #6 in the series I decided it was worth checking out #1. It didn't disappoint although Karen Pirie has quite a minor role in this book.

Set between two time periods, 1978 and 2003, it started with a crime that happened in 1978 where a group of 4 friends stumble onto the body of Rosie Duff who, by the time the police arrive, has died. She had been raped and stabbed. The police initially treat the friends as witnesses but as they struggle to find the murderer they try to establish if one of the four could have murdered Rosie and treat them as suspects.

With suspicion aroused repercussions follow but eventually the case is left unsolved.

25 years later a review of cold cases, including the Rosie Duff murder stirs up memories and 2 of the original witnesses/suspects die in suspicious circumstances. New evidence comes to light and the remaining 2 try to clear their names and find out who the actual murderer was.

I enjoyed the book as it didn't keep switching between the time periods - we had the earlier events and then moved forward. And it came to a satisfactory conclusion. I'd liked to have seen more of Karen in the book but I'll be looking for #2 in the series at some point to see how she progresses.  4 stars

Next was:

Show me the bodies: How we let Grenfell Happen by Peter Apps

This book ticked a prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge as it will pair with another book I'm intending to read.  Basically it's read 2 books by authors related to one another.    

Not my usual sort of read but it was written by someone who attended the same school as my sons - in the year between them.

It is a very detailed account of not only the event of 14th June 2017, i.e. the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in Kensington, London, that claimed 72 lives, but how successive previous governments had allowed the situation to occur. It details the failings of the construction industry that allowed cladding, that not only contained combustible materials but also released toxic gases, to be fixed to buildings but also the short comings of local authorities in their management of social housing, in particular high rise blocks of flats.

Grenfell Tower with its external cladding and maintenance issues was a disaster waiting to happen. But the disaster was compounded by the Fire Brigade's response to the situation. Their expectation in fires in high rise blocks of flats is that a fire would be contained within the flat where it started and residents are therefore advised to "stay put". They were woefully unprepared for the rapid spread of the fire and how to arrange an evacuation of the building.

The book also touches on how the local authority badly handled rehoming the large number of people that were made homeless overnight, losing all their possessions, documents etc.

It's not an easy read and there is quite a bit of repetition about the fire testing regulations for the cladding panel but the author had clearly done his research well, including talking to many of the survivors who had horrifying stories to share.  5 stars

One of the prompts for the 52 Book Club Challenge is:

34. Inspired by the top-grossing movie the year you were born

Well the top grossing film in the year 1959 was Ben Hur!  This immediately conjured up images of Romans and chariot races.  I haven't watched the film but I knew that much at least.  Reading more about it I discovered that betrayal was a feature of the story so I went for:

Betrayal by Kate Furnivall 

Could you kill someone? Someone you love?

Paris, 1938. This is the story of twin sisters divided by fierce loyalties and by a terrible secret. The drums of war are beating and France is poised, ready to fall. One sister is an aviatrix, the other is a socialite and they both have something to prove and something to hide. 

I enjoyed the book although some of it was a bit predictable. 4 stars

My final read during April was:

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner.

Well I'm not sure how to start reviewing this book. It's supposed to be a classic and it won a Booker prize. It's also been described as a love story.

Firstly it's hard to pin down when the book is set. It was written in the 80s but it seems that the setting is the 50s. The main character, Edith Hope, is a romantic novelist who has been advised by her sister and friends to spend some time away in Switzerland at the Hotel du Lac. Eventually we find out why but details are vague.

I found the book dull and slow. There is a lot of descriptive text about furnishings, weather and, to be fair, some of the other people staying at the hotel but not about the important events in Edith's life.  I found it hard to get my head around Edith's character. There is also a lot of misogyny in this book.

This is an edited version of the review I posted on Goodreads which included spoilers.  I read it for a book club. It will be interesting to see what others thought of it.  I gave it 1 star!

Thankfully it ticked off another 52 Book Club Challenge prompt. 

49. From the 800s of the Dewey Decimal System

I'm currently reading Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg which was my other book club's choice but also ticks off another prompt: 

40. Author’s first and last name start with same letter

So far I've been able to pair quite a few of the book club reads to the 52 Book Club Challenge which makes things a little bit easier.

Apologies for the odd formatting where I've copied from Goodreads.  It's too late in the day to go back and edit it.  Goodnight!

A-Z Reflections Post 2026

Well it's time to do a reflections post on the A-Z challenge and one of the co-hosts, J Lenni Dorner gave some pointers on what to consider including so here goes:

• How do you feel about the Theme Reveal? (Especially if this is not your first year doing the Challenge.) I think it's useful to let people know you're taking part and what you're planning to write about but I'm not sure having a list on the A-Z site is actually that helpful. (Although it probably is for the co-hosts to gauge what the level of participation is going to be.)
• In what ways does the reflection post help you?  It's a good way of looking at what worked, what didn't etc.
• What experiences have you had in the past, or hope to have this year, with the Road Trip?  I've tried to do the Road Trip a couple of times and have failed miserably.
• Does the HTML on the badges/ graphics page help you? Yes, thanks.
• Did you meet your blogging goals in April? I did.  
• What were your top five favourite blogs from the challenge to visit in April this year? Difficult to say - I'm still working my way through the list but several people who I already followed did the challenge so I enjoyed following them through the challenge.
• Did a co-host (J Lenni Dorner, Arlee Bird, Zalka Csenge Virág, John Holton, Jayden R Vincente, or Ronel Janse van Vuuren) comment on your blog during the challenge? Yes, several of them, thank you.
• Is there a comment you received on your blog in April that is your favourite? "Wendy, how do you remember all of the authors you've read! I am amazed at your A-Z this year and you are only on "D"!! Wow!"  This was left by one of my regular readers who always leaves me great comments.
• Who were your top comment-leavers this challenge, and did they do the challenge?  Definitely Terri, who left the comment above, plus Kim and Joanne who did not do the challenge. Of people that did do the challenge Joyce at http://www.fromthissideofthepond.com/ and Faith at GOLD in the CLOUDS were regular commenters.
• Is your blog open to comments from everyone, or only comments from those who "sign in" to the platform? Open to everyone.
• Do you feel this helps or hurts your blogging comment goals? Helps
• Are there any other blog hops you regularly take part in? Wednesday Hodgepodge at From this side of the pond, a weekly gratitude post at Living to tell the Story and I also try to join in with a stream of consciousness post on Saturdays here.
• Did you discover anything interesting because of the Challenge? Lots of things.
• Will you plan to do the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge in 2027, and why (or why not)?  I probably will if I can think of a suitable theme.  I definitely work better with a theme.
• Will you recommend this blog hop to others?  Difficult to say.  My regular followers are already aware of the challenge from visiting my blog and new visitors have tended to be people doing the challenge anyway.
• If RoadTrippers only visit one of your Challenge posts, which would you suggest and why? (This question is also the prompt if you create a RoadTrip post.) Probably the A post.
• Do you plan to visit the A to Z site every month? I look at all the new posts as and when they're posted.
• Did you refer someone to hope to win a guest post spot? No
• What else could the team offer you to persuade you to encourage others to join the challenge?  I don't feel I need encouraging, I just don't have that big a circle of people.

Phew that was a marathon.  I really enjoyed doing the A-Z again this year particularly looking back at the books I've read and their authors.  What frustrated me, as it seems to every year, was that despite deciding on my theme way back last summer, I still wasn't totally prepared by the start of the challenge.  Consequently that meant I didn't have as much time as I'd like to work my way through the list of people taking part.  I think I'm about half way through the list now and I've tried to comment as much as possible.  I will continue to work through it but it will probably be at a more leisurely pace.  The way the commenting system works on Blogger still frustrates me too as it's hard to see the continuity in the same way as you can on Wordpress sites but I have no plans to switch platforms.

Finally 2 big thank yous - firstly to the team that make the A-Z challenge possible.  I can't imagine how time consuming it must be for you all especially when you all have your own sites to maintain and many of you are published authors.  Secondly to all those people who did visit my A-Z posts and particularly those that left regular, encouraging comments.  A lot of my blogging is about keeping a log of my daily life so I'd do it even without the comments but it is great to feel that your posts are not just disappearing into the web.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 6/5/26

Joyce asks the questions, we prepare our answers and then the link up is here.  Thanks Joyce.

1. What's something you may do this month?

I might get a haircut.  Been saying that since February!  That's the problem with a long hairstyle - it doesn't need as much maintenance so it's easy to just leave it growing.

2. Hola! Hodgepodge Day lands just after Cinco de Mayo... how do you feel about Mexican food? What's your favourite dish? Do you make it at home or is it a strictly dine out option? 

I'm not a big fan and it would definitely be dine out as I wouldn't make it at home.

3. When the children of today grow up what do you think they'll say about this time period? What do you most hope they remember? 

Oh goodness, that's a tricky one.  How long have we got?  It's hard to find the positive's with all the unrest around the world.

4. What advice would you give a new mother? 

Trust your instincts but ask for help when you need it.

5. What's a phrase your mother often said to you? If you're a mom do you say it to your own children? 

I can't remember a specific phrase but we were always reminded about good manners if we forgot, which is something I also did when my kids were younger.  They're all grown adults now with kids of their own and I love that they're reinforcing good manners with them.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Going back to question 3, our 3 youngest grandchildren were all lock down babies, born in 2020.  What I hope they'll say when we talk about lockdown is "what are you talking about" because they will have no memory of it as long as it doesn't happen again.

Hmm hope that makes sense!

In the news this week - 5/5/26

Well it's been a few weeks since I did one of these posts as I was busy doing the A-Z challenge but now that's done I'm trying to get back into my regular blogging rhythm.

As far as the International picture looks, nothing much has changed.  The USA and Iran are still at war despite a ceasefire, Israel is still attacking Lebanon and nothing seems to have changed in Ukraine.

Moving on to local news then and everything seems to be about the local elections taking place on Wednesday - this is for our local councillors.  It's not looking good for Labour.  We did our votes over a week ago by post.  So much easier than having to get to the polling station on the day.  Especially as you now have to remember to take photo ID with you.  It will be interesting to see just how badly Labour does but hopefully Reform won't do as well as they keep saying they will.

In sport, our football season is drawing to a close with Arsenal set to win the Premiership and possibly get through to the Champions League final. They're currently ahead in the semi-final.  At home we're waiting to see if West Ham or Tottenham Hotspur will be relegated.  Hubby is a West Ham supporter, I'm sort of a Spurs fan through family connections but I don't really care.  I was just looking forward to the summer break from football when, oh yeah, there's just the matter of the World Cup taking place this year!

The Entertainment news that caught my eye was this one about the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest Semi-finals next week.  It seems to me this contest has got more farcical over the years and as this year it turns 70 it will probably be worse.  I mean since when has Israel been in Europe?  But then again if Australia can take part I suppose anyone can?  Apparently it's all to do with Broadcasting areas.  Our entry this year is Eins Zwei Drei by LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER.  I don't think we have a hope.  Apparently it has  "many iconic UK references like roly poly with custard"   so why give it a German title?  I probably won't be watching.

And for miscellaneous I bring you this article from the BBC website on the wonderful creations stars wore for the Met Gala this week.  Many of which would probably have prevented the wearer from sitting comfortably!  (Or even walking very far!)

P.S. Arsenal made it through to the Champions League final - my Grandson Nathan and my DIL will be very happy.