Read then Write - 30/7/26

Well I'm still not back into regular reading.  We're just coming out of another really hot spell and I'm finding it hard to just sit and read.  I've also been quite busy at the Food Bank.  Today I didn't get home until nearly 2.30 pm and I actually took a nap.  I find the heat exhausting.

But this evening one of the book groups met to discuss Hamnet.  Thankfully I had finished the book and although some people hadn't managed to read it we still had quite a good discussion about it before we wandered onto other subjects as we usually do!  We sat out in our host's garden and it was lovely and cool.  One member even remarked that it was a little bit too chilly.  It felt like we might get some rain.  There were one or two drops in the air but it didn't come to anything.

We seriously need rain.  There are several areas where there have been fires.  Nothing on the scale of those in France and Spain but it's still a worry.

I'm off to read in bed now, hopefully having napped this afternoon I'll manage a few pages before nodding off!

This is my current read:

Read then Write - 23/7/26

Well this might be a short post as, although the last one of these posts was done on 11th June, (yes 6 weeks ago!) I have only managed to read 2 books during that time.   Yes I know, that is most unlike me.  Of course we were on holiday and then we came home to a houseful of family so I really didn't have it in me to do much reading.

But, I finally finished this one earlier this week:

It was a book club read and several people rated it highly.

I'm on the fence.  

I can understand why people rave about it. It follows the lives of two young Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze as they navigate life in America (for Ifemelu) and the UK (for Obinze) there is a lot about race and immigration, written from a black perspective. Both subsequently return to Nigeria where much has changed.

It is a really good book but for me it was just too long and it took a long time for me to get hooked enough to read it consistently. I hadn't even finished it when the book club met to discuss it. It's also quoted as being funny but I failed to find much humour in it.

Another complaint we had was that the edition we had from the library was very small print. The page number was 477. I noted another edition as having 588 pages. That probably had an average sized print and confirmed my suspicions that this is a very long book!

This one was a much easier read and I finished it in two days:

Our evening book group will be discussing it next week.  I really enjoyed it but I do think it's been overhyped.  

These are the next two book club reads:

I've actually read Lessons in Chemistry and loved it so that will be an easy re-read for me.  The Atwood one is a collection of short stories and is less than 300 pages so hopefully that one won't be too difficult to get through.  It will also tick one of the 52 Book club prompts - "starts with an O" so that will help get me back on track with that challenge.  I have some catching up to do!

Have you read much over the summer so far?

Read then Write - 11/6/26

Well I have managed to finish Heartburn by Nora Ephron.  It was ok but I wasn't overwhelmed by it and as someone who's just completed 42 years of marriage it's hard to empathise with someone who's going through a marriage break up.

The afternoon book club met this week to discuss Three Things About Elsie.  Someone had brought along a set of questions for us to work through but that was a bit hard going, especially as one member hated the book lol.

Our next read will be this one:

The evening group will be discussing Heartburn next week but we'll be away so I will miss that.  We've already chosen the next book though and it's this one:

But....at the weekend we browsed some charity shops and I came home with these:

There are not enough reading hours in the day!

Read then Write - 4/6/26

Since my last book post I have managed to finish Three Things about Elsie by Joanna Cannon.  A re-read for me but it was the afternoon book club pick and I couldn't really remember all that happened in the book so it was a good reminder.

I really enjoyed it.

I've also managed to finish Welcome to the Neighbourhood by Jane Fallon.

This was a slow burner for me at first but then I found myself wanting to find out what the various characters were going to do.

Kitty moves to London after the break up of her long term relationship. She thinks the move will improve her life but is initially disappointed. Then she gets new neighbours, Sian and Rich and suddenly she has a new friend in Sian and her life seems better.

But then she spots a mysterious woman leaving their house and the plot thickens. The saying "oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" springs to mind as there is a lot of deception going on and at some points it's tricky to keep track of. Some of it is a little far fetched but I did find myself sucked in during the second half of the book. The subtitle on the book was "Good neighbours or bad people?" and there's a good mix of both.

It also ticks a prompt on the 52 Book Club prompt.

I've now moved on to this one:

This is the choice of the evening book club and although I won't be attending the meeting when it will be discussed I thought I'd read it anyway as it's not too long (just short of 200 pages).  

Ephron is the screenwriter of When Harry Met Sally and Sleepless in Seattle so it sounded promising.  However it is written in the first person and very much in a Stream of Consciousness style. The blurb says it will make you laugh.  I think I'm missing my sense of humour so far.  

Read then Write - 21/5/26

Well I think I need to speed up my reading - I'm still ahead of schedule but I don't think I've been reading as much and the books are piling up!

I finished this last week and I was impressed with it as a debut novel. 

"When teenager Nora Sheehan fatally shoots her brother Nico in their family home one evening, her parents’ lives are left shattered. Nico had been diagnosed with a terminal illness – was what Nora did an act of mercy, or something far darker? And what will happen to her now, alone in a juvenile detention centre awaiting trial, unable or unwilling to speak?"

The book follows Nora and her family as they navigate the US legal system and deal with their grief.  Angie and David feel like they have lost both their children as Nora is facing the prospect of a long jail term.  Initially they rely on a local lawyer, Martine Dumont but she calls on her son Julian to take on the case as he is a high powered defence lawyer working in New York.  He is also the ex-partner of Angie and their parting was far from amicable.

Additionally, there are lots of secrets between the characters, some which are revealed early on, others later.

The story is well told and the focus is definitely more on the aftermath of the shooting, and the history between Angie and Julian rather than why Nora shot her brother.  Personally I would have liked to have had more insight into what was going on inside Nora's head leading up to the shooting.  But the lack of that didn't spoil it for me. 4 stars for me.

I'm currently reading:

This was the choice of the afternoon book club and it's a re-read for me, although it was a long time ago so I don't remember it that well, other than that I liked it first time around.

On my bedside table I also have this one:

which I picked because it was a magazine recommendation and it ticked the "published in 2026" prompt on the 52 Book Club challenge but Penitence ticks that box too so I might have to get a bit creative.

I also need to pick up this one from the library as it's the next pick for the evening book group:

I'm not sure I can fit this one to a prompt but maybe when I've read it I'll be able to work it in somewhere.

After this one we're going to read Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell which feels fairly recent to be on the library list but then I checked and found it was first published in 2020.  Time is going too fast!

Read then Write - 14/5/26

Well since last week I have finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. I did enjoy it but I found some of the historical parts of the book a little bit confusing to follow as they weren't always in a chronological order. However following Faith's recommendation I watched the film which I really enjoyed and it helped make more sense of the book.

I've now moved on to Penitence by Kristin Koval which is about what happens after teenager Nora shoots her brother dead.

Yes I know it sounds a bit grim but it was recommended in a magazine I read and yes, it ticks a 52 Book club prompt - the Kindle edition was released in 2026.

We had a good meet up with my afternoon book group yesterday where we discussed Hotel Du Lac. Most of us didn't enjoy it that much and found it quite slow. Good to be in the majority.

And now for something a bit different which I'm copying from Faith, who copied it from Barbara who got it from Paula at Between the Bookends.

1. Bookmarks or dog-ears?

Absolutely has to be Bookmarks. I have a lot of them. Quite a few are promotional ones from when I had a book club subscription and there aren't any really fancy ones but turning corners down is a big no for me.

2. Book accessories?

I have a reading light somewhere but I hardly use it. What I need to get is something my husband has that keeps the book open. His is a really simple version of this:

IF Charcoal Gimble Traveler hands free reading tool.,Urban grey,20 cm : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen

(This one folds when not in use, my Husband's doesn't.

3. Are you a fast or slow reader?

I'm definitely not slow but I wouldn't say I'm exceptionally fast. And it depends on what's meant by this. As in do you read quite quickly when reading. Or do you get through books quickly because you're consistent with your reading? For me that would depend on how engaging the book is. Some books I might get through in a few days, others might take me a week or longer.

4. Have you ever written to an author?

Not exactly but I did follow an author's blog for a while and we'd exchange comments.

5. Have you ever met an author in person?

No

6. Do you have a favourite character who is not the main character?

It's too late in the day to think of an answer for that.

7. Do you have any bookish merchandise?

No - well apart from some bookends on my shelves.

8. Favourite book from childhood?

Little Women, the What Katy Did series, lots by Enid Blyton.

9. Do you read one book at a time, or several?

One at a time usually.

10. Favourite genre?

Crime Thrillers

11. Genres you don’t care for?

Gothic, Science Fiction, Westerns

12. Best movie based on a book? Worst?

It took me a long time to get through Lord of the Rings and then I binge watched the films which I loved. I've enjoyed all the Harry Potter films too.

I can't remember watching a film and thinking it wasn't as good as the book or that the film didn't follow the book.

What are you currently reading?

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!

Friday's Fave Five - 24/4/26

Friday's Fave Five is hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story.  Each week she reminds us to look back and find the things we were grateful for during the week.  It's good to be grateful.  Why not join us?

1)  Well firstly I am grateful for my Hubby.  He had a birthday last Saturday and we celebrated by attending a fund raising evening organised by a friend of his doing what he loves best - singing and playing his guitar.  He was one of several acts that performed at a nearby church and although I don't usually go to watch him play I couldn't miss out on his birthday.  We'll have been married for 42 years in June.  Definitely a keeper.

2)  The quiz night I mentioned last week raised £3967 for the Foodbank which is amazing!  

3)  Spring weather.  It's been sunny all week and although not that hot yet I was still able to get all my washing done and a lot of it dry on the line outside. (I still tumble dry things like underwear and t shirts to cut down on the ironing.) 

4)  Postal votes.  We have elections for councillors next month but our postal votes came yesterday.  I'm grateful not to have to get to the polling station on the day.  Usually it's fine but one less hassle to deal with.

5)  A good meet up for the evening book club on Wednesday.  There were only 5 of us but we had a good discussion about the book and lots of other things too.  We all agreed that we didn't like the book:

Hopefully the next one will be better:

And the jumper is nearly done.  I just need to do a few more rows and then the decorative bottom.  Oh and all the tedious sewing in of ends and seams to do.  Don't hold your breath for a picture of me modelling it!

Have a good weekend all.

Weekly photos 5th - 11th April 2026

Firstly a big thank you to everyone who has been commenting on my A-Z posts (and my regular posts).  I do appreciate it.  Unfortunately I haven't been as good at responding as I'd like.  This was a busy week with grandchildren here and now I have a rotten cold.  One that has a tickly cough with it.  I woke up in the early hours this morning doing nothing but cough.  Deciding I needed to be propped up I came downstairs and wrapped myself up on the recliner.  I also took some honey in warm water which helped but not the most restful of nights.

Not all doom and gloom though.  For once I said no to a visit from our granddaughter - didn't want to spread my germs so I've been able to relax all day.  I've managed to get all of this week's A-Z posts finished off and scheduled to post so one less thing to worry about. (Until next weekend at least.)

But as for photos well let's see how I did:

No photo taken on Sunday but this was my reading book:

This was taken on Monday.  Not sure what they were begging for, might have been dessert as we'd just finished dinner.

Tuesday had Noah and Daddy playing draughts

and Miles blowing bubbles.

Nathan & Ella were here all day Wednesday - it was the warmest day so far this year I think.  Warm enough for ice lollies anyway.

Four of them here on Thursday and racing cars kept them amused for ages!

On Friday we spotted that Miles had left some of his Easter treats behind so I packaged them up to be posted.  They were supposed to be collected from the house and although I was in all day I didn't hear the postman.  I suspect he didn't knock very hard let alone ring the doorbell!  Thankfully I rearranged collection on Saturday from the front porch.  Not secure but the parcel wasn't visible from passers by and was successfully collected.  Hopefully Miles will get them early this week.

I didn't take any photos yesterday.  I was busy reading this:

Pretty grim reading but it was written by Peter Apps who was at the same school my boys attended.  He was in the year between them.  I also have a book lined up written by his sister and the two together will fulfil two of the 52 book club challenge prompts.  My review of the book can be found here.       

Read then Write - 26/3/26

Well the big news here is that I got through an audio book at the weekend!

I wrote about it on my #SoCS post here.  As I mentioned there I've not been a big fan of audio books and this was borrowed accidentally from the library.  I don't think I'll be making a habit of it as I did find it hard to concentrate on it.  Even though I wasn't in bed and about to fall asleep.

Thankfully though it has kept my reading tally on track.  I'm actually 2 books ahead of schedule but this has been quite a slow week for reading.

I've been busy knitting in the evenings, although one evening I did start a new jigsaw puzzle and I've been going to bed quite late so I haven't read much of my current book "The trouble with Goats and Sheep" but I'm aiming to finish it by the end of the weekend.

I also got another book out from the library yesterday:

This is the first in the Karen Pirie series.  I recently read #6 that had been passed on to me so I thought I'd check out the first and go from there.  My library is quite efficient at getting book reservations in.  I really need to have some earlier nights and fit in more reading time!

#SoCS - 21/3/26 - Easy/Hard

Linda provides the prompts for #SoCS and the link up is here.

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “easy/hard.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you’d like. Bonus points if you get both words into your post. Enjoy!

Well I'm going to use both by asking is it easy/hard to listen to an audio book?

I have never really settled to listening to audio books.  Some years ago my daughter gifted me a six month subscription to audible but I was still working at the time so the only time I really had for reading was when I went to bed.

Well I'm sure you can guess what happened.  I would often fall asleep listening to the book so I consequently found myself having to backtrack, trying to work out at what point I was up to when I fell asleep and often reading the same chapter over and over.

Needless to say I did not renew the subscription when the gift period expired.

Fast forward to now and I read a lot.  I'm retired so I can really read as much as I want and when I want.  I do love a physical book but I also like the convenience of reading on my Kindle App, especially when on holiday.  But I've kept away from audio books.

Until today.  I mistakenly ordered an audio version of a book from the library rather than the physical copy.  I decided to give it a go.

Straight off I had to speed it up.  The narrator's voice was boring and slow.  I worked out how to speed it up and I actually managed to listen to the whole book during the course of this afternoon and evening.

It was Wednesday's Child by Peter Robinson which is a DCI Banks story. (Actually #6 in the series.)  This is a very English crime series that has been televised.  I enjoyed the TV series and the books have been ok so far. (I'm trying to read them in order.)  They're not 5 star material but they're quite gritty at times.  This one was a bit more graphic than some and the crime centred around a child abduction.

My main problems with the audio version were that:

1)  I found the narrator annoying - and it was the same one for all the characters, men and women; and

2)  I noticed how much detail there was in all the descriptions.  Of everything.

Perhaps when I've been reading the books I've skimmed over that or maybe this book was just more descriptive than previous ones.

Anyway I finished it. 

But it hasn't persuaded me that audio books are my thing.  I was knitting while listening so it was productive in that way but I'm not sure I would necessarily keep all the plot details in my head if I was doing something that required a bit more concentration.  Chick lit might work I suppose but I'm not convinced.

I'll definitely be more careful when ordering books from the library in future though!

Are you an audio book fan? 

Read then Write - 19/3/26

Well I only managed to finish one book since my last book post - The Killing Stones by Ann Cleeves.

The blurb reads:

"It's been several years since Detective Jimmy Perez left Shetland. He has settled into his new home in Orkney, the group of islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, with his partner Willow Reeve and their growing family. One stormy winter night, his oldest and closest friend, Archie Stout, goes missing. Ever the detective, Perez catches a boat to the island of Westray, where Archie worked as a farmer and lived with his wife and children.

But when he arrives he finds a shocking Archie's body, on an archaeological dig site and an ancient Westray story stone with precise spirals carved into it beside him, the clear murder weapon. The artifact, taken from a nearby museum, seems to suggest a premediated murder.

But Perez is so close to the case that he struggles to maintain an objective distance from the potential suspects. He finds it difficult to question Archie's wife, whom he's known for years. Rumours swirl about the dead man's relationship with a young woman new to the island, an artist. With each new lead, the case becomes more twisted and Perez wonders if he will ever find out what happened in his friend's final days."

I've enjoyed quite a few books by Ann Cleeves and I've watched the "Shetland" series which featured DI Perez on the TV.  This book finds Perez now settled in Orkney with partner Willow, a young son and another baby on the way.  Yet there didn't seem to be any explanation of how we got from Shetland to Orkney.  According to Google we've jumped 7 years but that wasn't accounted for in this book.

Having said that this book could easily be a stand alone and I do love Cleeves' way of describing things in detail and giving depth to her characters.  It was a little bit too neatly wrapped up for me at the end so no 5 stars but it definitely makes you want to visit Orkey for its scenery.

According to Goodreads I'm 2 books ahead of schedule to complete this year's reading challenge but my reading pile is not going down.

I have 3 books out from the library at the moment:

 


The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is the afternoon book club choice.

People Person is for the evening book group and

The Betrayal is for one of the 52 book club prompts:

"Inspired by the top grossing movie, in the year you were born"

The film?  Ben Hur.  My first thoughts were I'd have to find something on ancient Rome.  Definitely not my sort of thing.  Having looked at what the film is about Betrayal seemed a good fit.  My challenge my rules!

I've actually read The Trouble with Goats and Sheep before so that should be an easy one to get through and I'm starting with that one next.  Then I'll do the other book club one so that I'm ready for the next meet ups before moving on to Betrayal.

Read then Write 12/3/26

It's been a good week for reading and all things books!

I finished Past Reason Hated by Peter Robinson. This was another good crime thriller featuring DCI Banks. This one felt a bit slow in places and there was a lot of repetition about the smoking and drinking that went on at the time but I still enjoyed the unravelling of the clues and solving of the crime. 3 stars

I moved on to this one

Yes, another crime thriller.  I think it's fair to say it's my favourite genre.

This one features DCI Karen Pirie a detective working on cold cases in Scotland.  

The blurb reads:

"On a freezing winter morning, fishermen pull a body from the sea. It is quickly discovered that the dead man was the prime suspect in a decade-old investigation, when a prominent civil servant disappeared without trace. DCI Karen Pirie was the last detective to review the file and is drawn into a sinister world of betrayal and dark secrets.

But Karen is already grappling with another case, one with even more questions and fewer answers. A skeleton has been discovered in an abandoned campervan and all clues point to a killer who never faced justice - a killer who is still out there.

In her search for the truth, Karen uncovers a network of lies that has gone unchallenged for years. But lies and secrets can turn deadly when someone is determined to keep them hidden for good...."

This was actually #6 in the series but I was familiar with the character as she has been televised. Karen is definitely a no nonsense character and it was interesting reading about how things are done in Scotland and what happens when the work overlaps with policing not only in England but also abroad.

The cold case was wrapped up by the end of the book and there were quite a few twists and turns to that but the case of the skeleton didn't feel finished to me.  I might have to look out the next book in the series to see where that actually ends up going.  But I'll be looking out for the earlier books in the series first - I do like continuity.  I'm not even sure where I got this book from.  Possibly from my BIL - he passed on a lot of books last summer but it may have been a charity shop buy.

Definitely worth the read though - 4 stars from me.

I also had 2 Book Club meet ups yesterday.

The first one in the afternoon had our biggest attendance yet - 7 people.  The book we'd been reading for that was Grandad there's a head on the beach by Colin Coterill which I wrote about here.  Five of the group had read it and surprisingly 3 people really enjoyed it while I was in the minority of 2 who hadn't enjoyed it all.  

The evening group also had 7 people there which was a good turn out and we discussed The Muse by Jessie Burton which we'd all enjoyed although some more than others.  We had 5 regulars and a couple of newcomers so it was a nice mix and of course we moved on to discussing all sorts of things!

The next book I'm going to read is this one which was one I'd reserved a while ago and I picked it up from the library on Tuesday.

I've read a few books by Ann Cleeves in both her "Vera" and "Shetland" series as well as the more recent "Matthew Venn" books but this one follows the original Shetland detective Jimmy Perez after his relocation to Orkney.

Time for bed and a few opening chapters.