Books read in November

December 1, 2013 by Carole 11 Comments

Badwater – Toni Dwiggins
This was another Kindle freebie/cheapie which I’d quite liked the sound of. It wasn’t bad. It was part of a series, I think, about two people who work forensic geology. In this book they get hired by the FBI to help with a case where some radioactive beads go missing. The basic story was good enough but sometimes the actual writing put me off a bit. The same phrases were used over and over, which started to get a bit annoying towards the end. I don’t think I’d bother with another in the series but this one was diverting enough for a few hours.

A fistful of charms – Kim Harrison
I’m really enjoying this series and have been trying to make the books that I have last a little longer by spreading them out. I have one more to read before I have to see if there’s more to get hold of. This one had a different setting, which made a nice change, and was a great read. Lots of action and character development.

Eric – Terry Pratchett
This was funny, but as it’s a DiscWorld novel I probably don’t need to say that. I love anything that has The Luggage in it, even in a small role and it was great to see the return of Rincewind. Not as laugh out loud funny as some of the DiscWorld books but still a great read.

Stories from a theme park insider – Robert Niles
As I’m currently at Disney World I thought it’d be fun to take a look at this one. It consists of anecdotes from the author’s time working here. It was funny and interesting and I really enjoyed it. It was positive and upbeat and a lovely book to read while here.

Broken silence – Karen Rose
This was a short story that followed on from the last novel that I read by the author. I like Karen Rose’s books. I wouldn’t say she’s one of my favourite authors but I can be fairly sure that I’m going to enjoy anything of hers that I pick up. This one was only about 70 pages but was quite good and did finish off the last story nicely.

Don’t want to miss a thing – Jill Mansell
This is another author that I like. This book like some of the ones above has been sitting in my ‘holiday reads’ folder on my Kindle as I was sure it would be a nice light read. It was and I’ve just finished it while sitting on my balcony in the sunshine, with an iced coffee to the side of me. Bliss.

Deja View – Ian Hocking
This was a techno-thriller and had a time travelling element to it so had lots of the things that I love to read about. It sounded good from the reviews and as it’s a Kindle book, it was reasonable priced. You have to take a chance, don’t you. This one worked out fine as the book was in fact very good. The writing was excellent with great characters – I loved Saskia – and a brilliant plot. I love anything timey wimey. I already have the next book in the series so I may just read it soon.

The quick and the thread – Amanda Lee
I was browsing in Barnes and Noble and spotted racks upon racks of cosy mysteries. This series leapt out at me as it featured cross stitch and sounded fun. I bought the first two books in the series but left the others just in case they weren’t very good.
I’m happy to report that the first book was an enjoyable read. I liked the characters in it and it may turn out to be an interesting series. If we get anywhere near a bookstore again before we go home, I could be tempted to get a couple more of the books.

Maskerade – Terry Pratchett
This was excellent. It pokes fun at opera and does it very well indeed. I do like a bit of opera but I realise how ridiculous it can be in terms of plot etc. This book exploited that magnificently and had Granny Weatherwax in it too. Also Greebo the cat, one of my favourite characters.

A grave denied – Dana Stabenow
I really must slow down on these as I’m going to run out soon. This was book thirteen and was excellent, just like all the others in the series. A body is discovered hidden under a glacier and Kate is tasked with discovering who shot him and put him there. The murderer comes after anyone who gets close to the truth and Kate has a lucky escape. I loved how the book ends and I’m loving the interplay between some of the characters. I’m now torn between wanting to find out what happens next in Kate’s life and wanting to make my stash of books last longer. Such a terrible problem to have, eh?

The girl who ruled Fairyland – for a little while – Catherynne M Valente
I found this short story on Amazon recently when I was looking to see if there was a follow-up to The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland. It was just the equivalent of 33 pages but it was a lovely read and will keep me going until I get the next book, which I have on pre-order.

A taint in the blood – Dana Stabenow
My curiosity won out and I started the next book in the Kate Shugak series. This one is set mostly in Anchorage so the usual characters are absent apart from Jim who keeps making an appearance. For a change, I actually guessed who the culprit was this time, although I didn’t realise what the motive was. That didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book though as it was beautifully twisty-turny with violence and mayhem and a thrilling end. I love these books.

Thread on arrival – Amanda Lee
I’m such a dimwit. I managed to read book five in the series instead of book two and I didn’t realise until I was far enough in that I didn’t want to put it down and find out which one I should have been reading. Doh.
(As you may gather, we did detour to the bookstore again. They only had books 5 & 6 in stock though so I was planning to put those on one side until I could get my hands on 3 & 4. That plan worked out well then.)
It’s going to be very annoying now when I do read books two – four as I’ll know what happens to the main character. Still, it was another fairly enjoyable read. I do like a cosy mystery for when I want something light. These aren’t as good as the Monica Ferris books but they’re not bad at all.

Sharp objects – Gillian Flynn
I liked this. It was quite atmospheric. The story was good, and I really liked the way it was told. I loved the main character. She was complex and the way she was described was interesting and very different. I’d definitely read more by this author.

44 – Jools Sinclair
This was another Kindle bargain, had great reviews and sounded intriguing. I thought it’d be a good buy. It wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. It started ok with an interesting storyline. A girl drowns and then has visions of a killer doing his thing. You know she’s going to find out who he is at some point, but it starts to get a bit too predictable after a while. I didn’t like the ending at all. There are more books in the series but I won’t be going anywhere near them. Shame, I really liked the sound of this book.

Daylighters – Rachel Caine
Only my third ‘proper’ book of the month. All the others have been digital so my Kindle has had a good workout while I was on holiday. This book, the last in the Morganville vampire series, was waiting for me when I got home though so it needed to be read asap. I saved it for the weekend and have just read it in two very enjoyable gulps. It managed to tie all the loose ends up while still being the usual thrilling story that’s expected from these books. There were a couple of places where I thought something may have been finished off a bit too easily, but overall it was an excellent ending to a brilliant series.