Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish and now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. For more info please check out Jana’s blog.
Hello!
I haven’t taken part in Top Ten Tuesday for quite a long time so I thought it was high time I joined in.
So here are my ten most recent reads. I will include a link to the reviews as well.
I loved the characters in this book but I will be honest I did get a little bored with the story. I will give Osman’s second book a read though when it comes out.
This is the second book in the Shardlake series and I could not put it down. I loved seeing how Shardlake gathered all the clues and worked out who the suspects were.
My first Tommy and Tuppence book. I enjoyed this but it didn’t have Christie’s usual flare but I suspect that is because it was one of her early books.
Yes, it is that time again, it is time for the monthly update of Reading My Height in Books. I keep plodding along hoping I will manage the challenge but I will be honest, I’m already behind on my Goodreads challenge and know full well that time is my biggest problem.
I read 5 books in April and they were all physical books so that has helped the height. So here is the new pile.
The new height is 18.5 inches just 48.5 inches to go!
Here are the pictures from January, February and March.
Happy Reading!
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The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?
Hello!
How is everyone’s week so far? I hope you are all enjoying your current reads.
What I am Currently Reading
This started off so well but I must admit now I am just over half way I am getting a little bit bored so I am hoping it picks back up soon. I love the characters but more needs to happen.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Really enjoyed this and so far I am loving the Maigret series. Review.
What I Think I will Read Next
So many to choose from! I honestly have no clue what I will read next but here are a few possibilities.
Please drop me a comment with your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
So, I have a confession. I made rather a mistake on my book buying. I ordered some books off Waterstones and Wordery and didn’t realise that I had several preordered books due at the same time. The poor postman has had rather a lot of parcels over the last few days. This will mean no more books for a while as bank account needs to recover. One of the books is for my husband, so they aren’t all mine.
So here are my new pretty books…
The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor
Two young girls plot a murder by witchcraft. Soon afterwards a government clerk dies painfully in mysterious circumstances. His colleague James Marwood is asked to investigate – but the task brings unexpected dangers.
Meanwhile, architect Cat Hakesby is working for a merchant who lives on Slaughter Street, where the air smells of blood and a captive Barbary lion prowls the stables. Then a prestigious new commission arrives. Cat must design a Poultry House for the woman that the King loves most in all the world.
Unbeknownst to all, at the heart of this lies a royal secret so explosive that it could not only rip apart England but change the entire face of Europe…
This is the book for my husband who has read all of the Marwood and Lovett series so far. I do plan on reading the series at some point because I have read some of Andrew Taylor’s books before and have really enjoyed them.
Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
As Princesses of Crete and daughters of the fearsome King Minos, Ariadne and her sister Phaedra grow up hearing the hoofbeats and bellows of the Minotaur echo from the Labyrinth beneath the palace. The Minotaur – Minos’s greatest shame and Ariadne’s brother – demands blood every year.
When Theseus, Prince of Athens, arrives in Crete as a sacrifice to the beast, Ariadne falls in love with him. But helping Theseus kill the monster means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows only too well that in a world ruled by mercurial gods – drawing their attention can cost you everything.
In a world where women are nothing more than the pawns of powerful men, will Ariadne’s decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificed for her lover’s ambition?
Ariadne gives a voice to the forgotten women of one of the most famous Greek myths, and speaks to their strength in the face of angry, petulant Gods. Beautifully written and completely immersive, this is an exceptional debut novel.
I’m so excited about this book and can’t wait to read it as I love a retelling of a Greek myth. I also love how pretty this edition is!
Sovereign by C. J. Sansom
Autumn, 1541. King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to attend an extravagant submission by his rebellious subjects in York.
Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Jack Barak. As well as legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a secret mission for Archbishop Cranmer – to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator who is to be returned to London for interrogation.
But the murder of a York glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. And when Shardlake and Barak stumble upon a cache of secret documents which could threaten the Tudor throne, a chain of events unfolds that will lead to Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age . . .
I love this series so hopefully I will get to read the third instalment soon.
Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon
A gripping new translation of the first novel in the famous Inspector Maigret series. What he sought, and what he waited and watched out for, was the crack in the wall. In other words, the instant when the human being comes out from behind the opponent.
Who is Pietr the Latvian? Is he a gentleman thief? A Russian drinking absinthe in a grimy bar? A married Norwegian sea captain? A twisted corpse in a train bathroom? Or is he all of these men? Inspector Maigret, tracking a mysterious adversary and a trail of bodies, must bide his time before the answer can come into focus.
The Late Monsieur Gallet by Georges Simenon
In the third Maigret mystery, the circumstances of Monsieur Gallet’s death all seem fake: the name he was traveling under, his presumed profession, and, more worryingly, his family’s grief. Their haughtiness seems to hide ambiguous feelings about the hapless man. Soon Maigret discovers the appalling truth and the real crime hidden beneath the surface of their lies.
The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien by Georges Simenon
On a trip to Brussels, Maigret unwittingly causes a man’s suicide, but his own remorse is overshadowed by the discovery of the sordid events that drove the desperate man to shoot himself.
The beginning of my Maigret collection! Now Penguin state these are the first three books in the series but Goodreads disagrees so I will have to do some research as I want to read them in order if I can.
The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend’s wedding in the north of Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie’s ex, Dylan, who she’s avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they’ve totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with three hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can’t avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship…
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly… is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?
Now the reason this one isn’t on the picture above is because it hasn’t arrived yet but I am including it because it is arriving tomorrow.
I can’t wait to start reading all these wonderful books!
Please drop me a comment if you have read any of these books.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Now I know I have already set myself the challenge to read all the works of Shakespeare and I am also trying to read every book written by Agatha Christie in order of publication but I have found a new challenge and one that I really want to do as I am a little bit addicted to to the books I have read so far. Yes, I want to read all the Maigret novels! My husband owns three Folio Society Maigret books that I bought him a few years back and I read them last week and wanted to read more and discovered that Penguin have released all the Maigret books with some very nice covers. This can only mean one thing, I must collect and read all these wonderful books!
The Maigret books only average 150 pages each and can easily be read in one sitting so I think they will be quick reads and I will be honest the last three I read were what I call ‘light relief’ reading which will be useful when I am trying to write a dissertation.
I have ordered the first three in the series and I can’t wait to start reading them.
Here are the reviews from the three Maigret books I have already read:
When a wealthy wine merchant is shot in a Paris street, Maigret must investigate a long list of the ruthless businessman’s enemies before he can get to the sad truth of the affair.
Review
Another Maigret novel, I have been on a roll with reading Maigret books but now I have run out so this will be the last one until I get some more and I will definitely be getting some more.
I was surprised at the lack of alcohol in this book in comparison to the two previous books but Maigret still drank more than the average human being.
This book was a little different to the previous two books, instead of Maigret finding all the pieces of the puzzle the puzzle appeared in front of him instead. However, what Maigret did piece together was the true nature of the murder victim and I must admit he was not a very nice man and it was understandable why someone had decided to kill him.
There were some interesting characters in this book and one of my favourites was the one nicknamed Grasshopper, she was a real character and I really liked it when she was in the book. This book really showed the class differences and how the very rich seemed to have very loose morals and the lower classes a much higher moral standard and to be honest the characters who weren’t made of money were the better people to be friends with in this book.
I really enjoyed this book and found it rather different to the two previous books I had read. Maigret is such a good character and I just love reading about him solving cases. I give this book 4 out 5 Dragons.
Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a Belgian writer who published nearly 500 novels and many short stories. Simenon is best known as the creator of the Maigret stories.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
Happy Friday!
I hope everyone has had a good week so far. I thought I would join in with First Line Friday this week as I do enjoy guessing other people’s First Line Fridays. As usual the answer is below the cats!
I believe that a well-known anecdote exists to the effect that a young writer, determined to make the commencement of his story forcible and original enough to catch and rivet the attention of the most blase of editors, penned the following sentence:
‘”Hell!” said the Duchess.’
Strangely enough, this tale of mine opens in much the same fashion. Only the lady who gave utterance to the exclamation was not a duchess.
Get Guessing!
Any idea?
and the answer is…
The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is summoned to France after receiving a distressing letter with an urgent cry for help. Upon his arrival in Merlinville-sur-Mer, the investigator finds the man who penned the letter, the South American millionaire Monsieur Renauld, stabbed to death and his body flung into a freshly-dug, open grave on the golf course adjoining the property. Meanwhile the millionaire’s wife is found bound and gagged in her room. Apparently, it seems that Renauld and his wife were victims of a failed break-in, resulting in Renauld’s kidnapping and death.
There’s no lack of suspects: his wife, whose dagger served as the weapon, his embittered son, who would have killed for independence, and his mistress who refused to be ignored. Each felt deserving of the dead man’s fortune. The police think they’ve found the culprit. But Poirot has his doubts. Why is the dead man wearing an overcoat that is too big for him? And who was the impassioned love-letter in the coat pocket for? Before Poirot can answer these questions, the case is turned upside down by the discovery of a second, identically-murdered corpse.
Did anybody guess correctly?
Please drop me a comment with your First Line Friday and I will head over for a visit.
Happy Reading
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
Maigret and the Saturday Caller by Georges Simenon
Blurb
A man visits Inspector Jules Maigret at his home to tell him he wants to kill his wife and her lover. Although it is not an official case, Maigret is interested, particularly when the man later disappears.
Review
My second Maigret book and yet again I was shocked by the amount of alcohol that Maigret consumed. I also loved how Maigret was convinced he had a cold brewing so he kept drinking lots of hot rum as a remedy to prevent it.
This book started off very mysteriously with the man nicknamed by Maigret’s colleagues as ‘the Saturday Caller’. This strange ‘Saturday Caller’ has been appearing at the police station like clock work every Saturday but the man never says anything and runs away before anyone speaks to him. However, one evening when Maigret walks through his door he finds ‘the Saturday Caller’ in his living room.
Maigret eventually manages to get the ‘Saturday Caller’ to tell his story, with the help of several glasses of plum brandy. The story unfurls that ‘the Saturday Caller’ wants to kill his wife and the wife’s lover who lives with them. I must admit I felt so sorry for this man as he tells his story to Maigret and you can tell that Maigret also feels the same. Even though there is no crime committed Maigret takes an interest in this man’s story and so agrees with him that they will talk on the phone everyday.
As soon as Maigret goes back to work he starts his investigations into the non-existent crime and things start to unfold. Maigret does what he does best, he gathers every little scrap of information and builds the picture up.
I really enjoyed this book and I loved seeing the little tricks that Maigret got his men to use to get the information required even if they were a little underhand. I also loved that the police have a new forensics man who helps them with some signatures and Maigret finds these modern techniques very interesting. I finished this book in less than 24 hours and loved it. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons.
Georges Simenon (1903-1989) was a Belgian writer who published nearly 500 novels and many short stories. Simenon is best known as the creator of the Maigret stories.
If you enjoy reading my blog and would like to make a donation I would be very grateful. Thank you
The rules are answer the questions below and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you will read next?
Hello!
I have actually been doing rather well on the reading front this week so far. Sadly, it is mainly due to being ill so I’m spending all my time studying and reading but It is rather nice to have time to really get into a book.
So here is what I have been up to on the reading front.
What I am Currently Reading
My third Maigret book and I must admit I am getting a little bit addicted to this wonderful detective. I will definitely be buying more Maigret books. The other advantage of these books is that they are short and snappy and just perfect for when your brain is full of stuff to do with assignments.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
I have finished two of these books from the Folio Society set this week.
Lady Book Dragon 