What we are reading in March 2024

I now have The Foundling - Stacy Halls on audio book 

I finished the audio book of Among the Wicked - enjoyed the narrator and kept up with the story although I think there were some continuity errors.

Next audio is Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid which is actually the second in the series although the TV adaptation takes its name from it.  

Skimmed through the last third of The Last Word as I wasn't enjoying it much and wanted it to end!

Hopefully at lunchtime I'll start Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Quiet as I've been away for a week! Carried over into March only the audiobook Midwife on the Orient Express by Fiona MacArthur, which I finished listening to on the plane to Sicily. I loved the vibe of the Orient Express (and its setting as a love story instead of the more morbid other version) but Kelsey and Lucas frustrated me to no end. Lucas' grandmother was brilliant though, I looked forward to when she makes and appearance, and I thought the narrator did a particularly good job with voicing her.

Then I started The House on Rye Lane by Susan Allott, a creepy story about the same house but set over 3 timeframes, not too sure what is going on at the moment but properly invested. There are 3 narrators too, each voicing one of the timeframes, which works very well for an audiobook.

I'm also reading a rare Kindle book for the Zoom buddy read: The Girl from Silent Lake by Leslie Wolfe, which I was surprised by how much I liked! Read the first chunk in a single sitting on Saturday, and am looking forward to getting back to it. 

For tree books, the Friday before we left, I zipped through the rest of Nevada Rose by Jerome Priesler, a book that is based on the CSI series that I loved watching on tv as a child. I really enjoyed revisiting this familiar cast of characters, and the cases were alright, though I was a bit disappointed by how little Nick Stokes featured here. It was almost as though he wasn't part of the investigation at all!

Then I took and finished two while on holiday, the first being The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. The writing of this one was brilliant, I liked the vibe that it gave me (and I'm not usually a fan of magical realism that is very close to reality, I find it confusing) and the introduction of the competition was very intriguing. I dropped a star in the end though, as I thought the middle part went on and on and on and onnnn for far too long.

And the second was The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King, a reimagining of Sherlock Holmes with young Mary Russell as his apprentice. I'm a Sherlock Holmes nut and initially liked the idea of him collaborating with a young (and rather feisty) companion, and I did like the cases here. However, I didn't like the portrayal of Watson in the slightest - I found it incredibly disrespectful. I have two others in this series and I will probably read them because I did enjoy being "with" Sherlock (and Mycroft features a lot, which I like), but not going to be collecting them like I thought I might at first.

Currently reading Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie.

Just started Kitty's Countryside Dream by Christie Barlow.

Since I've been stuck at home after my cataract surgery, I have been catching up with the TV and my reading.

Finished Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, a well fleshed-out story about living as a Muslim in the Western world and the effect on wider families when people turn jihadi. The format didn't work for me though, it's structured as five sections in forward timeline but narrated by 5 different characters. I found this weird as I was seeing the introduction from one perspective, the development of the story from three others and the resolution from yet another (and very different) one. 3.5*

Up next will be Bullseye by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge, as I want to read something nice and easy to follow after the above. Also will start Three Card Murder by J.L. Blackhurst as a buddy read with a friend from work.

Also finished listening to The House on Rye Lane by Susan Allott, which I really liked as it was delving a lot into the history of Peckham in London but told as a mystery story in 3 timelines (one historical, then one 1990s and another in 2008 around the time of the financial crash). It's read by 3 narrators each doing one timeline, which worked well as they were all very good and were voicing the different characters very effectively. The ending I thought was a bit disappointing though, so 4*.

Then I started The Cat Who Caught A Killer by L.T. Shearer, one with a slightly bizarre concept (my library's choices for March seem to be full of talking animals!) but I'm finding that I'm quite enjoying my time with a talking cat that goes around wrapped around the main character's neck like a scarf. The killer hasn't yet emerged, that element is quite slow-burn, but that's not bothering me. 

Just started
The Fights That Make Us by Sarah Hagger-Holt.