Heatwaves appear to be good for my reading figures. We endured a nasty one last week, temps up in the mid nineties, which for the UK is extremely unusual. All kinds of records broken, including the hottest June day ever. May it never return! I hate heat like that. I retreated indoors, lots of water, fan on, read books... and now it's over. Temps went down properly on Sunday and while it's still warm, it's 'normal' warm: that I can cope with.
But because of the heatwave I got through nine books in June. These are they:
A Nice Class of Corpse - Simon Brett
Dead Men Don't Ski - Patricia Moyes
Cyanide in the Sun - edited by Martin Edwards
Starring Edward Woodward - Carolyn McGivern. An excellent biography of one of my favourite actors. He starred in The Wicker Man, Callan, The Equalizer etc.
Death and Croissants - Ian Moore. Cosy murder mystery, set in France. The middle-aged, male owner of a B&B, Richard, gets into all kind of trouble when a guest disappears leaving a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. A female guest insists he help her find out what happened to the man. I found this a bit silly. Richard needed to grow a backbone, all the too-ing and fro-ing confused me no end, and the intended humour was not actually all that amusing. Will probably not continue with this series.
Miss Percy's Pocket Guide to the Care and Feeding of British Dragons - Quenby Olsen
Mildred Percy is an unmarried woman in her forties who has no choice but to live with her sister, Diana. Diana 'is' married, several children, husband who hides behind the newspaper. What the married sister has done is use Mildred to bring up her kids and as a skivvy, but otherwise she goes unnoticed and uncared for. Then things take a turn when Mildred is left an inheritance by an eccentric uncle. Diana is out when it arrives and Mildred chooses not to tell her sister that the trunk is full of books and papers and a strange, oval shaped rock. Instead, Mildred goes to the local vicar for help and things go pear-shaped from there. This was one of those books that was quite a lot of fun but would not have harmed for losing 100 pages. Too much waffle and attempts at humour via Mildred's rambly cogitations. But it was enjoyable. I liked Mildred with the vicar, his housekeeper was a good character too. The wicked sister was a bit of a caricature, a bit too awful, she needed a slap quite frankly. I have already grabbed book 2 for my Kindle, wherein Mildred and the vicar head off to Wales. I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads, if 3.5 was available then that is what it would have got from me.
The Rockpool Murders - Emylia Hall. This is book 3 in her 'Shellhouse Detectives' series. Ally and Jayden investigate the death of a rock-star who lived in a huge house overlooking the sea in their Cornish village. The rock-star is having a family get-together, although it is not exactly a happy family, when he's found face down in the swimming pool. Accidental death is the verdict, heart gave out after years of heavy living, but said rock-star no longer lived like that, so what happened? I have to admit that rock and roll themed crime novels are not my favourite. There's always one of the regular cast of characters for whom the pop group was part of their teenage years and he or she is star-struck blah blah blah. And so it turns out to be. 'But' Emylia Hall writes very well, and despite not taking to the theme of the book, I nevertheless rather enjoyed it. Ally and Jayden are always good value for money, the setting of a Cornish coast village is delightful, and I enjoy the background details of the lives of the regular cast: just occasionally there's a bit too much of that but that's okay.
The Haunted Trail edited by Weird Walk (who the heck is called Weird Walk?), is a book of weird tales based on rambling holidays. There were a handful of good stories in this but it was not the best collection in this BL series that I've read.
Defying Rome by Guy de la Bedoyere is a non-fiction book about the Romans in Britain and who stood up to them - Boudica etc. - or connived behind the scenes to depose emperors and so on. Interesting, if a little dry in places. I'd like to read his book on Samuel Pepys.
So that was June for me. Nine books, seven fiction, two non-fictions. Several stood out, the Simon Brett, the Patricia Moyes, the Emylia Hall and the Edward Woodward biography. But I have no complaints about my June reading months, overall it was a lot of fun.
I hope you're all keeping well, enduring and managing the heat if you're in the northern hemisphere, and finding lots of good books to read.
11 comments:
I've been reading about that horrible heat wave, Cath! It must have been awful and I'm glad the heat finally broke. I'm also glad to hear you had a good reading month, with most of your reads being enjoyable. I like Britt and Moyes, too, and I ought to start reading Hall's work. It sounds great. I know what you mean, too, about characters needing a slap or to grow up. I've felt that way about characters, too, at times... Roll on, July!
More indoor time to read is probably the only good thing about that heat wave. Glad you had good books around you. We've got lots of wildfires where I live; it feels like half the state is ablaze. But we haven't been in the 100s yet this summer, so I'm glad about that. Wishing you a cool and lovely weekend. :D
It wasn't too hot up here in the north-east, but still the grass is dying. It doesn't seem to bother the weeds though and they are flourishing! Glad it's cooled down now. You had a good reading month, and it looks as though you're not reviewing them all - like me. What with my health problems I can't keep up with my reading - somethings are more important right now. Apparently there's another heatwave on the way, so I hope it doesn't get too hot for you. Take care!
I bought Death and Croissants not long ago but haven't read it yet (I guess I liked the cover!). I am enjoying the Emylia Hall series, particularly because of the friendship between Ally and Jayden - not only are they different ages but also different races. I wasn't convinced by the ending: I did not think her relationship with the would-be writer (whose name I forget) could develop further.
It was pretty bad, Margot. We're just not used to temps up in the 90s with humidity to match. I plan to read a lot more Brett and Moyes, even though I don't really need more series to read! Emylia Hall writes very well and the ensemble cast is well done. It helps that I know the Cornish setting too.
Lark: Yes, I totally agree about more time to read, it's all heatwaves are good for quite honestly. I don't know what non-readers do. I hadn't heard about wildfires in Utah, I hope you're not affected and the fire-fighters get them under control soon. Very frightening. Thank you, I hope you manage to stay cool this weekend too. :-)
Margaret: Yes, I have a friend who lives in the same town as you so I know you have not had it quite so hot. No, it never does seem to affect the weeds. I'm sorry to hear your health problems are still ongoing. Take care. Yes, another heatwave on the way but apparently it's not going to be quite as severe. I'm going to hold them to that!
Constance: I'll be interested to hear what you think of Death and Croissants when you get to it. I bought it because I like books set in France and it sounded fun. I agree about the friendship between Ally and Jayden. It shouldn't work but it does and I like that. I don't mind Gus, but whether a woman who has been married to what sounds like a very strong minded policeman, would be interested in a much milder man is up for discussion. I have my doubts but we will see.
Cath, so sorry about all the heat you guys have had. Glad it helped with your reading, but I also know that your part of the world is not as used to summer heat as my part is. It's been hot here, but it more normal temps. The weather people still keep having to educate about heat and hydration, etc. We have not hit 100 yet though and we've certainly had years where we hit that marker much earlier. Thanks for sharing about all your reading. I want to take a close look at the books. I've been doing some re-reading, but I'm also still on the lookout for new-to-me stories. Take care!
Cath, I thought of you whenever the New York Times reported on the horrendous heat in the south of England! And no AC! Yikes! Thank goodness, books rescued you as they do me in this kind of weather. I hope the weather gods are kinder to you the rest of the summer, but I also hope you have stacks of books, just in case!
Hi Cath, the mid 90's is hot for the UK in June. Here in South Florida its been high 80s low 90's but I checked the 10 day forecast and won't be doing that again. LoL
9 books finished in June is very good. I have to get back to reading Emylia Hall. Really liked her first book The Shell House Detectives and book 2 is set around Christmas and that's a nice escape from the heat.
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