56 Days -Catherine Ryan Howard (AUDIOBOOK) – 03.10.21

This was my book group read for October and I probably wouldn’t have read it otherwise, but I’m really glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed it. I listened to the audiobook and I thought the narrator (Alana Kerr Collins) was brilliant – lovely Irish accent and great storytelling with her voice.

The book is set during the first Covid lockdown in Dublin – just reading about the characters’ reactions to the news stories and the deaths and the regulations being imposed that we all lived through over the last 18 months was surreal – so familiar and yet so odd.

It’s a murder mystery with lots of layers and twists and turns and interesting motivations and traumatic backstories. It kept me guessing for a while and I found the ending satisfying.

Exit – Belinda Bauer – 28.09.21

I thought this book was great. It has a sort of lighthearted murder mystery feel and yet it deal with such deep and profound issues as well. Felix lost his wife to a debilitating illness, and with hindsight wished he could have ended her suffering sooner. This motivates him to join a group who ‘help’ terminally ill people to end their own lives with simple dignity and without family members and, more crucially sometimes, insurers, from knowing.

When Felix learns that he accidentally ‘helped’ the wrong person and a murder investigation is opened his life starts to unravel. He is no murderer, and he is torn between going to the police and confessing, and following up himself on a few things that make him suspicious of the whole set up.

I loved the characters in the book, and the moral dilemmas and the mystery as it unfolded was interesting.

The Quantum Curators and the Missing Codex. (Book3) – Eva St. John – 20.09.21

It took me a while to warm to this third installment in the quantum curators parallel universe series. Book one was exciting as it was set in our world with the protagonist learning about the parallel universe and meeting people from it, and book two was exciting because he had to come to terms with being stuck in the parallel world and learn how to cope with all the differences, so book three was like, yeah, still here…

But, once the plot got going with the ‘real’ personifications of mythological people popping up and causing havoc things got more exciting and I did get into the book and really enjoy it.

The Great Troll War (The Last Dragonslayer Chronicles Book 4) – Jasper Fforde (AUDIOBOOK) – 20.09.21

In this installment of The Last Dragonslayer series, trolls are invading the ununited kingdoms and there is little hope for the survival of humans against their endless numbers and merciless killing. As is usual for Jasper FForde, there is a lot of humour as well as pathos and thought provoking stuff and wonderful character development. Gentle fun is poked at many fairy tale tropes (like arrogant handsome princes expecting the princesses to swoon at their derring do etc.) . This is supposed to be the final book in the series, and we do get to learn some of the secrets of Jennifer Strange’s backstory, but I can’t help hoping that Jasper Fforde decides to keep the story going (I’m still desperately hoping for the promised sequel to Shades of Grey thought, so, whatever…)

Birds Without Wings – Louis de Bernieres – 16.09.21

I found this book quite a hard read for a couple of reasons. It seemed long, with a lot of characters and quite a lot of history, politics and war stuff which is not really my bag. That was one reason it was a hard read – the other was the sadness and brutality it conveyed.

Set in the Ottoman Empire in the time leading up to and passing the first world war, at the start of the book , the inhabitants of a village in Turkey live together as friends and neighbours even though they are a mixture of ethnicities, nationalities and religions.

As world political events unfold, this peace is shattered and former friends are torn apart by the cruelties of war.

There are lighter moments and lots of getting to know diverse characters, but it is still, I think a pretty heavy book. I loved Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, and some people say this is a more accomplished book, and maybe it is, but for me it was a less enjoyable read.

Great Circle – Maggie Shipstead (Audiobook) – 13.09.21

I mostly enjoyed this audiobook. At times it seemed very long and went into so many characters’ backstories that I just wished it would get on with the plot (although, saying that, when it got to the denouement, all that extra detail did actually enrich the reveal and make the ending more satisfying).

The dual stories surround two women – one a modern actor portraying an historical figure of a female pilot from the early twentieth century, and the other, the character she is portraying.

Most of the book deals with the historical character, delving into her family history as well as her childhood and whole life story really, for which I’m glad because her story was more interesting and engaging than that of the actor.

The contemporary character does however serve to illustrate that todays women still experience at least some of the unfairness that females have battled with throughout history. The pilot had to dress as a boy in her youth to be allowed to do jobs that were considered unsuitable for girls, and the actor suffered from being judged more harshly than her male co-star on social media , as well as being expected to accept sexual harassment (at least earlier in her career) in order to get roles.

The stuff about planes and flying was quite interesting, as well as the mystery element of what happened to the pilot when she and her plane disappeared.

I listened to some of this book on my holiday in Wales whilst running in the early mornings beside the beautiful Caernarfon Harbour which was lovely!

Heliotrope and a Haunting(The Witches of Wormwood Mysteries Book 7) – 23.08.21 and Sage and Secrets(The Witches of Wormwood Mysteries Book 8) – Silver Nord, Ruby Loren – 27.08.21

The next two installments in the Witches of Wormwood Mysteries series are both fun. The First is a ‘locked room’ murder mystery, except the locked room is a locked mansion constructed with many deadly traps by its paranoid owner. There is genuine intrigue and character development and the usual cat related humour.

Sage and Secrets is set around the campaign for a new town mayor where the candidates keep being murdered. Again, lots of fun and I will continue to read the series.

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories – Susanna Clarke – 18.08.21

I have mixed feelings about this book because I love Susanna Clarke’s books, especially Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell, but I hate short stories… This is a book of short stories set in the universe of Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell!

The style of writing and the dark fey/faerie fables are great – everything I love in a novel, if only they were part of a novel! If you like short stories and grown up fairy tales, then this is definitely a book for you.

Bacchanal – Veronica G. Henry (Audiobook) – 14.08.21

Bacchanal is set in the Southern States of America in the 1930s. It follows Eliza Meeks, a young Black girl who has been abandoned by her family and is feared/shunned by the people of the town where she lives because she has the gift of being able to communicate with animals. She is spotted by the talent scout of a travelling carnival and she accepts his offer to join them.

The Bacchanal carnival is unusual in that most of it’s acts are African American, and also because it harbours a dark and magical secret. The book features a lot of African Mythology like animal spirit guides, communicating with ancestors and shape shifting characters as well as demons.

I found it well written with lots of character development as well as growing intrigue as the plot unravels at a fairly unhurried pace. Eliza is a likable character, and her love interests and family relationships are sweet and engaging. I liked the narrator and looked forward to the next installment of this audiobook, sometimes prolonging my runs/walks to be able to listen to more of it!

Miss Benson’s Beetle – Rachel Joyce – 11.08.21

I have enjoyed all the books I’ve read by Rachel Joyce, and this is no exception.

For some reason I assumed Miss Benson’s Beetle would be of the Volkswagen persuasion, but no, it’s an actual insect type beetle.

Set in England (to begin with) in the 1950s Miss Benson is a middle aged unhappy teacher with a lifelong passion for beetles, and an obsession for finding an elusive golden fruit beetle that had been mentioned in the writings of several explorers, but never caught and verified. She has a bit of a meltdown at work which ends in her stealing her colleagues boots (!) and being sacked. She decides to up sticks and travel halfway around the world and have an adventure finding the beetle for herself.

The heart of the story really comes from the relationship she forms with the woman she end up hiring as an assistant for the trip, a totally unsuitable character (or is she…?) with secrets of her own.

I found the book very readable – funny, exciting and genuinely moving – I read it quickly and then was sad when it was over.