I thought it was time for a Christmas reading list update. I am really racing through my Christmas books and I am thoroughly enjoying them and I have also added some extra ones into the mix as well.
I am currently reading Midwinter Murders by Agatha Christie and Christmas at Highclere by The Countess of Carnarvon.
Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights by Carole Matthews
So the Christmas books I have left over are…
The Christmas reading is going really well and I can’t quite believe how quickly I am finishing books at the moment. Christmas at Highclere wasn’t originally on the reading list but I started browsing through it yesterday and I just got hooked.
Please drop me a comment with your Christmas reads as I would love to see what everyone is reading or planning to read over the festive period.
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 can’t believe we are back to Wednesday again, time seem to be flying by at the moment. I hope this post finds you all well and not to stressed as the festive season approaches.
So here is what I have been up to with my reading.
What I am Currently Reading
Literally just started it so not much to say so far.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Just finished Christmas Cakes and Mistletoe Nights yesterday and couldn’t put it down, review will follow shortly.
Christmas is Murder: A Chilling Short Story Collection by Val McDermid
Blurb
The Queen of Crime Val McDermid is a master of the dark and sinister story, and these powers are demonstrated in full force in Christmas is Murder, a festive collection of chilling tales.
From an irresponsible baron whose body is discovered beneath a silver birch tree, to an author who is haunted by the spiteful presence of a jealous writing partner, the characters McDermid conjures are enigmatic and dangerous, never above suspicion.
Follow Tony Hill and Carol Jordan as they track a deadly killer who is preparing to strike on Christmas Day, and lose yourself in a festive exclusive – a recently unearthed case for a classic detective duo, set as the lights are going out across Europe.
These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight. This is the perfect book to curl up with as the frosty winter draws in and each night gets darker than the last, written by one of our greatest living crime writers.
Review
I was so excited to see this book and immediately ordered it off Waterstones. I love a good Christmas murder mystery but sadly I was rather disappointed with this book.
The first thing I really disliked was the fact that a lot of these short stories seemed like they should have been longer but that McDermid had just removed chunks of the story to make it shorter. They jumped around too much and there was no development which even in a short story should be present.
The second thing that got on my nerves was the fact that some of the stories basically had nothing to do with Christmas and even if they did the link was tenuous at best. For a Christmas murder mystery book this was a disappointment for me.
I did however like some of the stories, my favourite was The Girl who Killed Santa Claus. This story was wonderful and a really good short story and was a welcome change from the rest of the short stories.
I am afraid I have only given 2 out of 5 Dragons to this book and I will be honest and say that I will not be reading another Val McDermid book as I just did not enjoy her writing.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Val McDermid is a No. 1 bestseller whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages, and have sold over eleven million copies.
She has won many awards internationally, including the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year and the LA Times Book of the Year Award. She was inducted into the ITV3 Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for 2010. In 2011 she received the Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award.
She writes full time and divides her time between Cheshire and Edinburgh.
My Christmas reading list this December is above so it will be one of these books but not sure which. As usual it all depends on my mood.
So there is my WWW Wednesday! Please drop me a comment if you want a chat and of course please drop me the link to your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
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!
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a freebie but with a wintry festive feel. With this in mind I thought I would go for different copies of The Nutcrackerby E. T. A. Hoffmann. Every December I read a different version of The Nutcracker. This can be translated by different people or just a different edition but my favourites are always the ones with pretty illustrations or like last year a pop up book!
So here we go…
First up is the one I have ready to read this year, the illustrations look really nice so I am looking forward to reading it.
This was last year’s read and I must admit I got very excited when I discovered it. It is absolutely stunning and I highly recommend it.
This is another beautiful edition but it is big so not easy to read for too long. This was 2018’s Christmas read.
I have the full set of these little Christmas books and I absolutely love them. This one was 2017’s.
Now you might notice this isn’t actually by Hoffmann but it is the story but it is Dumas’ adaptation and this is also the start of my tradition. I bought this when I went to the German Market in Birmingham with my then future husband and we took a trip to Waterstones and I picked this up and then read it through December 2016.
These next ones are future editions that I would one day like to buy and read.
So there is my Top Ten Tuesday and one of my Christmas traditions. Have you got any Christmas book traditions? Please drop me link to your Top Ten Tuesday and I will head over for a visit.
No crowded shops, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether.
Theirs will be the only house on the street without a rooftop Frosty the snowman; they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences – and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.
Review
The first Christmas movie I watched this year was Christmas with the Kranks and I loved it! Then my best friend told me that it was based on the book Skipping Christmas so I immediately went on to Waterstones and ordered myself a copy. Thankfully I was not disappointed.
The first thing I noticed was how faithful the movie is to the book and that was really good as I always hate it when the movie is so far from the book. Luther and Nora are husband and wife who are about to spend their first Christmas without their daughter but Luther wants to celebrate Christmas differently this year. When Luther thinks of Christmas he just sees expense and mobs of people so he decides this year Nora and himself will skip Christmas and go for a cruise instead.
Nora loves Christmas. She loves the decorations, the parties, the present buying absolutely everything but Luther persuades her this year they will go on a cruise and through the book you can see how Nora is affected by the lack of Christmas traditions in her life. Nora is a typical housewife who spends all her time dashing from one charity thing to the next, who is always helping the needy and making sure everything at home is just right.
Luther however is always counting the money and to be honest is a really selfish character and he really got on my nerves at times and I must admit this does come across in the film but the film had more of a comic element to offset the selfish behaviour. I really felt sorry for Nora having to deal with Luther through all of this but I was pleased he got his comeuppance and everyone was happy.
The other characters who were my favourites were Spike and Ned Frohmeyer. Spike was a real character and Ned was the typical nosy neighbour but there for anybody in need and always trying to bring the street together to be the best they can be.
At just under 200 pages this book took no time at all to read and was a good light-hearted quick read that made me laugh. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons and highly recommend it to anybody who wants a funny read over the festive period.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
John Grisham (1955) is an American novelist, attorney, politician and activist. He is best known for his legal thrillers.
Even though there was a war on, the Woolworths girls brought Christmas cheer to their customers
Best friends Sarah, Maisie and Freda are brought together by their jobs at Woolworths. With their loved ones away on the front line, their bonds of friendship strengthen each day. Betty Billington is the manager at Woolworths, and a rock for the girls, having given up on love . . . Until a mysterious stranger turns up one day – could he reignite a spark in Betty?
As the year draws to a close, and Christmas approaches, the girls must rely on each other to navigate the dark days that lie ahead . . .
With so much change, can their friendship survive the war?
Review
I picked up this book before Christmas last year from a book stall at a Christmas fair but I never got around to reading so it was added to my Christmas list for this year and finally I have managed to read it.
I will be honest I struggled at the beginning of this book and I wasn’t entirely sure I would continue reading it but thankfully I carried on as I could see it was going to be a good story. The reason I struggled was due to Everest’s writing style, when there are a lot of characters all talking Everest doesn’t make it very clear who is saying what and in several instances there aren’t even quotation marks to show there is a dialogue going on which really put me off. However, once I got used to it I soon got into the story.
My favourite character of the book is Ruby who is Sarah’s grandmother. Ruby looks after everyone and includes everyone as family even people she has just met. If she sees they need help she is there doing whatever needs to be done. She is also a big believer that any problem can be solved with tea and is regularly making a brew.
Freda is a wonderful character who I really felt for as she seems to get the worst luck in this book but bless her all she wants to do is do her part for the war effort and keep on going. Sarah who is married to a Spitfire pilot and has a baby daughter is also the same and happily goes the extra mile for anybody in need.
I will be honest I would have loved a bit more about Betty because she was a fantastic character that I really wanted to see more of. Betty is a leader and a strong woman who is a true friend to Sarah, Maisie and Freda.
This book is detailing the run up to Christmas through these friends’ lives and it is beautiful and really enjoyable. I absolutely loved the story and the excessive use of tea because as a massive tea drinker myself I believe that tea solves most problems. I give this book 4 out of 5 Dragons just because I struggled with Everest’s writing style but I do intend on reading the rest of the series.
(All purchases made using one of the above affiliate links gives a small percentage of money to myself with no extra cost to yourself. All proceeds go towards the upkeep of this blog. Thank you ever so much, your support is gratefully received.)
About the author
Elaine Everest was born and brought up in northwest Kent and has written widely – both short stories and features – for women’s magazines. When she isn’t writing, Everest runs The Write Place creative writing school in Dartford Kent, and the blog for Romantic Novelists’ Association.
Another week has gone by and I must admit I am thoroughly enjoying all my Christmas reading. I find Christmas books go particularly well with hot chocolate, a warm blanket and Christmas decorations in the background.
Here is what I have been up to in the blog this week.
So there is my week and yes I know I said no more buying Christmas books but I just couldn’t help myself! I will try to do better and not buy anymore… I really will try.
I thought a little update was required. I have now read 3 of my Christmas books on my list and I have ordered more which was very naughty of me but I just couldn’t help myself.
So here are the books I have read and I will be honest I absolutely loved and they have really helped me get into the festive spirit.
Here are the books I have left to read and I know I will never get through them all but I live in hope and my Goodreads challenge is falling behind so I am hoping my Christmas reading will help me catch up.
So there is my current Christmas Reading list. Please drop me a comment if you want to chat about any of these books.
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?
Another Wednesday has arrived and I am definitely in the Christmas reading mode. So here is how my reading is going.
What I am Currently Reading
I’m loving my little poem book. Christmas at Woolworths is rather confusing at the moment because Everest’s writing style is rather all over the place and its all rather hectic trying to work out who said what.
What I have Recently Finished Reading
Loved both of these books and I was really pleased to discover a new author, Sarah Morgan who I will definitely be reading more of. Here are the reviews A Perfect Cornish Christmas and A Wedding in December.
What I think I will Read Next
It will be one of these as it is all Christmas books in December and I have loads of them to read. I just need to make sure I don’t buy anymore!
So there is my WWW Wednesday, please drop me a comment if you want a chat and of course please drop your link to your WWW Wednesday and I will head over for a visit.
Lady Book Dragon 