#Kay Langdale

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My Favourite Novels read in 2017!

In 2017 I read 252 books, many of them were such brilliant reads, so it’s been really hard picking my top books of the year. Today I’m sharing my top novels read last year, and tomorrow I will share my top non-fiction reads so please look out for that post.

In no particular order the novels that I have loved, and the ones that are really staying with me are:

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara…

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Blog Tour - The Way Back To Us by Kay Langdale

Blog Tour – The Way Back To Us by Kay Langdale

What’s it all about?:

I am a mess of tears on the train. Can’t remember the last time a book broke my heart so much… (Lucy Dillon on Away from You) Perfect for fans of Adele Parks and Maggie O’Farrell.

Since their youngest son, Teddy, was diagnosed with a life-defining illness, Anna has been fighting: against the friends who don’t know how to help; against the team assigned to Teddy’s care who…

[adecablog]

Gov. Ivey Awards $18.7 Million to Help Improve Alabama Communities

Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded $18.7 million in grants for improvements in 58 Alabama communities. The funds from the Community Development Block Grant program will enable communities to provide water, improve roads and sewage systems, construct public community buildings and remove blight.

“Community Development Block Grants are vital to Alabama communities wanting to raise living standards and improve living conditions for their residents,” Ivey said. “I am pleased to award these grants, and I commend all those local leaders who, by seeking these grants, show they have their communities at heart.”

The competitive grants are awarded annually in several categories including county, large city, small city and community enhancement. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants from funds made available by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“As a former mayor, I know how valuable these grants are to communities and I also realize the time and effort that local leaders, planners and residents invest in obtaining funding,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell said. “ADECA is pleased to have a role in this process that will benefit communities all across Alabama.”

Grants awarded and projects include:

North Alabama

Cullman (City) – $450,000 to provide sewer, water, drainage and street improvements in the Katherine Street area.

Guntersville – $450,000 to provide street and drainage improvements in the East Lake community.

Hackleburg – $85,000 to provide improvements along four streets, including widening and paving or sealing.

Hanceville – $250,000 to build a 2,500-square-foot senior center.

Leighton – $350,000 to provide water line improvements at several locations.

Scottsboro– $208,958 to demolish and clear 25 deteriorated and dilapidated structures throughout the city.

Town Creek – $350,000 to upgrade and repairs sections of the town’s sewer system.

North Central Alabama

Ashland– $350,000 to provide road and drainage improvements and water upgrades.

Blount County – $350,000 to improve three roads totaling eight miles north of Blountsville.

Childersburg– $450,000 to improve sewer services in the Coosa Court and Childersburg/Fayetteville Highway areas.

Clanton – $239,400 to demolish and clear 28 dilapidated and vacant houses.

Fayette County – $250,000 to improve water lines and provide road resurfacing in an area west of the town of Belk.

Heflin– $40,000 to help the city develop a plan that will assess needs and goals.

Marion County – $350,000 to provide public water service in the Bexar Church area.

Millport – $203,315 to upgrade one the town’s three water tanks serving 340 persons.

Oneonta – $450,000 to replace deteriorating sewer lines and collection system in an area involving sections of Hillcrest Circle and Underwood and Valley avenues.

Pell City – $450,000 to improve the efficiency of the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Reform– $350,000 to renovate and repair various sections of the town’s sewer lines.

Steele – $189,977 to raze and remove 15 dilapidated structures throughout the town.

Sylacauga – $250,000 to demolish 11 dilapidated structures throughout the city.

Tuscaloosa County – $235,990 to provide public water service benefitting 63 residents in the Evanstown Road and Sid Davis Road areas.

Weaver – $122,628 to raze and clear 11 dilapidated and unsafe structures throughout the city.

South Central Alabama

Camp Hill – $350,000 for sewer improvements at the town’s wastewater plant.

Dallas County – $350,000 to supply public water service connections to residents in the Bogue Chitto community.

Hayneville – $349,601 to make improvements on sewer lines and wastewater treatment facility.

Forkland – $350,000 to upgrade water lines and improve two streets.

Greensboro– $350,000 to improve sewer lines.

Lanett – $250,000 to complete the final phase of a downtown revitalization project.

Marengo County – $350,000 to pave five roads.

Marion (City) – $450,000 to improve its wastewater treatment plant.

Millbrook – $250,000 to construct a new senior citizen center.

New Site – $177,460 to renovate its senior citizen center.

Perry County – $350,000 to provide public water services to 145 residents south of the city of Marion.

Randolph County – $350,000 to provide public water services to 78 residents along two county roads east of the city of Roanoke.

Tallapoosa County – $350,000 to provide public water services in a rural area near Dadeville.

Tallassee – $250,000 to demolish 27 vacant, abandoned and dilapidated structures throughout the city.

Valley – $450,000 to improve sewer services in the Langdale Mill Village area.

Southeast Alabama

Abbeville – $350,000 to provide full or partial rehabilitation of up to 27 houses in the Stegall Heights area.

Brundidge – $350,000 to improve water services and demolish 13 residential and commercial structures.

Clayhatchee– $127,288 to resurface a section of Providence Lane and improve drainage.

Dale County – $308,700 to provide public water to 42 households along Dale County Road 21 and Penny Point Road.

Geneva– $450,000 to improve drainage in a local neighborhood.

Gordon – $349,787 to provide water and sewer improvements at various locations within the city.

Goshen – $325,000 to upgrade the town’s water lines and improve water quality.

Kinston – $350,000 to rehabilitate up to 20 occupied houses and bring them up to compliance with the Southern Building Code.

Level Plains – $250,000 to provide street and drainage improvements along Faith Street and Phyllis Avenue.

Opp – $450,000 to provide sewer system line improvements along Dr. Martin Luther King Drive from Cannon Drive to Hardin Street.

Southwest Alabama

Brewton – $450,000 to renovate or replace dilapidated sewer lines along multiple streets.

Castleberry – $350,000 to replace aging and undersized water lines and improve streets in various sections of the town.

Chatom – $350,000 to rehabilitate sections of the town’s sewer lines and a lift station.

Choctaw County – $350,000 to resurface multiple roads in the northeast part of the county.

Flomaton – $201,115 to resurface several roads within the city to reduce safety hazards.

Loxley – $350,000 to replace aged and damaged sewer lines along the east part of town.

Monroeville – $450,000 to replace sewer lines along multiple streets on the west part of the city.

Pennington – $350,000 to resurface 5.5 miles of road in various locations within the city.

Repton – $350,000 to improve drainage and improve streets at various locations within the city.

Robertsdale – $450,000 to replace sewer lines and improve drainage at various locations.

Silas – $350,000 to improve drainage and resurface streets at several locations within the city.  

[alwaystrustinbooks]

The Comfort Of Others by Kay Langdale (Book Extract) #Blogtour

The Comfort Of Others by Kay Langdale (Book Extract) #Blogtour

Welcome to another exciting Always Trust In Books book extract. Today’s blog tour is hosted by Hodder & Stoughton. Thank you to Jasmine for both a copy of The Comfort of Others for review and a spot on the blog tour. I have an intriguing extract to share with you all that was selected by Kay herself. The extract, which is chapter 4 from the perspective of Minnie, does a great job of showcasing…

[iklees]

Choose me / Kay Langdale

Billy's moeder is een junkie; Billy weet niet beter dan dat hij niet kan vertrouwen op zijn moeder om voor hem te zorgen, ondanks haar pogingen, zo nu en dan, om opnieuw te beginnen. Als hij negen is, sterft ze aan een overdosis. Zijn vader is nooit in beeld geweest. Zijn grootouders trekken zich, na alle frustratie, moedeloosheid en schuldgevoel over hun verslaafde dochter, terug in Portugal en geven de voogdij op. Billy's sociaal werkster, Miriam, moet nu onderdak voor hem vinden. Ze streeft naar permanente adoptie, maar ze heeft haast, want als Billy eenmaal tien wordt, zijn de kansen daarop vrijwel nihil en komt hij in een kindertehuis. Het is niet eenvoudig om geschikte families te vinden. Billy doet zijn best, maar toch ketst het steeds af. Hij voelt zich net als de dieren in zijn boek 'Dear Zoo', die worden teruggestuurd naar de dierentuin, omdat ze niet geschikt zijn als huisdier: te groot, te lang, te dik, te net-niet-wat-we-zoeken. De enige met wie hij praat, is Andrew, de klusjesman van het jeugdzorgcentrum. Die vertelt hem over de baby, die hij en zijn vrouw binnenkort krijgen, over vissen, en klussen, en andere dingen die niks met het zoeken naar een nieuwe familie te maken hebben.

They are kind. They try so hard it feels like something is going to snap.

Malcolm told me about the cronofarge clock. It eats up your life. There's a coffin that clanks.

Their house makes me feel like I can't breathe. The air comes into my nose like pond water. At night, it's soup-dark.

I don't know how to tell Miriam because she's trying hard too.

Also, if a dad is happy about a baby coming, he can make a storebox to put nappies in. If he's not, he can run away without a word.

Feel good, met een goede afloop, en toch net iets minder voor de hand liggend, dan je had vermoed (okay, tot op ongeveer 3/4 van het boek). Vanwege het perspectief van Billy, deed het me een beetje denken aan Room. Met Billy loopt het allemaal toch goed af, maar het onderliggende beeld dat geschetst wordt van kinderen die door hun ouders niet goed (kunnen) worden verzorgd, is triest.

[rathertoofondofbooks]

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

  I bought these books:

Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach

I bought this ebook on a total whim when the cover caught my eye on Amazon and then the synopsis sounds really intriguing. I think this will be a quick read so I’m hoping to squeeze this in between review books soon.

Synopsis:

Ava doesn’t believe it when the email arrives to say that her twin sister is dead. It’s not grief or denial that causes her scepticism – it just feels too perfect to be anything other than Zelda’s usual manipulative scheming. And Ava knows her twin.

Two years after she left, vowing never to speak to Zelda again after the ultimate betrayal, Ava must return home to retrace her errant sister’s last steps. She soon finds notes that lead her on a twisted scavenger-hunt of her twin’s making.

Letter by letter, Ava unearths clues to her sister’s disappearance: and unveils harrowing truths of her own. A is for Ava, and Z is for Zelda, but deciphering the letters in-between is not so simple…

A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall

I’ve seen this book on some of my favourite blogs recently and have been keen to read it. I spotted the ebook for a good price this week so snapped it up. This is one of those books that I want to read soon but that I also know I need to be in the right mood for but hopefully it won’t be too long before I read this one.

Synopsis:

After the sudden death of his wife, Audrey, Jonah sits on a bench in Kew Gardens, trying to reassemble the shattered pieces of his life.

Chloe, shaven-headed and abrasive, finds solace in the origami she meticulously folds. But when she meets Jonah, her carefully constructed defences threaten to fall.

Milly, a child quick to laugh, freely roams Kew, finding beauty everywhere she goes. But where is her mother and where does she go when the gardens are closed?

Harry’s purpose is to save plants from extinction. Quiet and enigmatic, he longs for something – or someone – who will root him more firmly to the earth.

Audrey links these strangers together. As the mystery of her death unravels, the characters journey through the seasons to learn that stories, like paper, can be refolded and reformed. Haunted by songs and origami birds, this novel is a love letter to a garden and a hymn to lost things.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

This is a book that I owned and part-read many years ago and I’ve been wanting to sit and read it all the way through for some time now. I found a copy for a good price this week so now it’s on my shelves waiting for me when my brain is in gear enough to read it.

Synopsis:

Written during the 1940s and early 1950s, when Baldwin was only in his twenties, the essays collected in Notes of a Native Son capture a view of black life and black thought at the dawn of the civil rights movement and as the movement slowly gained strength through the words of one of the most captivating essayists and foremost intellectuals of that era. Writing as an artist, activist, and social critic, Baldwin probes the complex condition of being black in America. With a keen eye, he examines everything from the significance of the protest novel to the motives and circumstances of the many black expatriates of the time, from his home in “The Harlem Ghetto” to a sobering “Journey to Atlanta.”

Notes of a Native Son inaugurated Baldwin as one of the leading interpreters of the dramatic social changes erupting in the United States in the twentieth century, and many of his observations have proven almost prophetic. His criticism on topics such as the paternalism of white progressives or on his own friend Richard Wright’s work is pointed and unabashed. He was also one of the few writing on race at the time who addressed the issue with a powerful mixture of outrage at the gross physical and political violence against black citizens and measured understanding of their oppressors, which helped awaken a white audience to the injustices under their noses. Naturally, this combination of brazen criticism and unconventional empathy for white readers won Baldwin as much condemnation as praise.

Under the Sun by Lottie Moggach

This was another book I bought on a total whim when I spotted it for 99p on Kindle this week. I’ve read Lottie Moggach’s previous novel and enjoyed it so I’m hoping this one will live up to it.

Synopsis:

Anna’s friends and family think she is living the dream in her beautiful finca under the Spanish sun. But the reality is far from perfect. The handsome, complicated man she was building a life with has left with little more than a note to say goodbye and the future she imagined has crashed around her ears. Anna has secretly embarked on an ill-advised affair and lives above the dingy bar she runs in the sleepy beach town of Marea, surrounded by British expats as homesick and stuck as she is.

When Simon, a local businessman, offers to rent the finca, Anna hopes it will pave the way for her escape. But there is more to him than meets the eye, and when a body washes up on the beach in mysterious circumstances, Anna realizes she may be the only one with the power to unravel the truth. But how can she prove that Simon is connected, and how can she reclaim her house? Anna is prepared to risk everything to get home even though she’s no longer sure where home really is.

I received these review books:

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

I’ve not read any Karin Slaughter before despite feeling sure that I will love her writing so I decided to grab this one on NetGalley this week and I really want to read it very soon. I’m intrigued by the synopsis so I don’t think this will be on my TBR for very long at all!

Synopsis:

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy smalltown family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father – Pikeville’s notorious defence attorney – devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself – the archetypal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again – and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatised – Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case which can’t help triggering the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime which destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried for ever…

Lily Alone by Vivien Brown

I saw this on NetGalley when I got the above book and downloaded it as it sounds interesting. 

Synopsis:

What sort of mother would leave her all alone… a gripping and heart-wrenching domestic drama that won’t let you go.

Lily, who is almost three years old, wakes up alone at home with only her cuddly toy for company. She is afraid of the dark, can’t use the phone, and has been told never to open the door to strangers.

But why is Lily alone and why isn’t there anyone who can help her? What about the lonely old woman in the flat upstairs who wonders at the cries from the floor below? Or the grandmother who no longer sees Lily since her parents split up?

All the while a young woman lies in a coma in hospital – no one knows her name or who she is, but in her silent dreams, a little girl is crying for her mummy… and for Lily, time is running out.

Last Seen Alive by Claire Douglas

I loved Claire Douglas’ first novel The Sisters and have been eagerly anticipating this one so I was thrilled when I got approved for it on NetGalley yesterday. I’m really tempted to start reading this right away but I feel like I should read some of my other review books first.

Synopsis:

She can run Libby Hall needs to hide, to escape from everything for a while. Which is why the house swap is a godsend. The chance for Libby and her husband Jamie to exchange their tiny Bath flat for a beautiful haven on the wild Cornish coast.

But she can’t hide But before they can begin to heal their fragile marriage, Libby makes some disturbing discoveries about the house. And soon the peace and isolation begin to feel threatening. How alone are they? Why does she feel watched?

Because someone knows her secret What is Jamie hiding? Is Libby being paranoid? And why does the house bring back such terrible memories? Memories Libby’s worked hard to bury. Memories of the night she last saw her best friend alive . . . and what he did.

The Way Back to Us by Kay Langdale

I was super excited when I opened this book post yesterday as I love Kay Langdale’s writing. This sounds like a really emotional read but I’m so looking forward to reading it. Also, doesn’t this novel have such a gorgeous cover?!

Synopsis:

Since their youngest son, Teddy, was diagnosed with a life-defining illness, Anna has been fighting: against the friends who don’t know how to help; against the team assigned to Teddy’s care who constantly watch over Anna’s parenting; and against the impulse to put Teddy above all else – including his older brother, the watchful, sensitive Isaac.

And now Anna can’t seem to stop fighting against her husband, the one person who should be able to understand, but who somehow manages to carry on when Anna feels like she is suffocating under the weight of all the things that Teddy will never be able to do.

As Anna helplessly pushes Tom away, he can’t help but feel the absence of the simple familiarity that should come so easily, and must face the question: is it worse to stay in an unhappy marriage, or leave?

Giveaway win!

I also won a giveaway on Instagram for a copy of Sweet Little Lies by Cat Frear, which I was very excited to receive! It was even more brilliant when the book arrived and it was a signed copy.

Synopsis:

WHAT I THOUGHT I KNEW

In 1998, Maryanne Doyle disappeared and Dad knew something about it? Maryanne Doyle was never seen again.

WHAT I ACTUALLY KNOW

In 1998, Dad lied about knowing Maryanne Doyle. Alice Lapaine has been found strangled near Dad’s pub. Dad was in the local area for both Maryanne Doyle’s disappearance and Alice Lapaine’s murder – FACT Connection?

Trust cuts both ways . . . what do you do when it’s gone?

    So, that’s all of my new books from the past week. Have you bought any new books recently? Tell me all in the comments below, or if you have a stacking the shelves post on your blog feel free to post the link below too.

My weekly wrap up post will be on my blog tomorrow so please look out for that.

  See this week’s #bookhaul in my Stacking the Shelve post (15 Jul) Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, which is all about sharing the books that you’ve acquired in the past week!

[rathertoofondofbooks]

May has been another quiet month for me. My pain medication change is ongoing at the moment and will be affecting me on and off for the next few weeks. I’m really pleased that it’s happening, even though it’s really hard.

I’ve managed to have a post up on my blog most days in May. I’ve been much more organised in writing posts on my better days and getting them scheduled on here, and for links to be posted on twitter and Facebook so that my blog is still running when I’m not around as much.

On Tuesday I was thrilled to get a notification telling me that my blog had had it’s most ever views in one day. I’m not obsessive about my blog stats but it’s always lovely when these notifications come through that show my blog is still interesting to people and is still growing.

  Here are the 24 books I read this month:

Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

The Elephant in the Room by Jon Ronson

The Heroes Welcome by Louisa Young

The Way Back Home by Freya North

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

Fairytale Interrupted by RoseMarie Terenzio

The Zero by Jess Walter

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby

Playlist for the Dead by Michelle Falkoff

Becky by Darren Galsworthy

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor by Jason Gurley

Making Space by Sarah Tierney

Letting Go by Alex Hanscombe

Wishbones by Virginia MacGregor

I Know My Name by C.J. Cooke

How We Met by Katy Regan

After Anna by Alex Lake

How to Survive a Plague by David France

  May Blog Posts & Reviews:

May has been a good month on my blog. I’ve been much better at writing posts in advance and scheduling them. I’ve not been around as much due to not being well but I like that my blog still has regular posts, it gives me some sense of achievement. I managed to review eleven books this month, which I’m really pleased about. My aim was to post at least three reviews a week to try and catch up on my reviewing back log (I’m reading faster than I’ve been reviewing) so I’m glad to be on target. I still have some reviews to catch up on but I am closer to being caught up now.

Here are my reviews from May:

Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson (Blog Tour)

Little Deaths by Emma Flint

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr 

The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Final Girls by Riley Sager

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis

Making Space by Sarah Tierney (Blog Tour)

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

  Here are my blog posts from May:

I wrote my regular posts each week, which are my WWW Wednesday posts, my Stacking the Shelves posts, and my Weekly Wrap-Up posts. Then I also wrote and shared the following posts:

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April Wrap-Up post where I shared all my reviews, blog posts, the state of my TBR and my news from April.

Guest post about the evolution of Claymore Stryker by Paul Hardisty for theReconciliation for the Dead blog tour

My 20 Books of Summer TBR post where I finally made my mind up which of my own books I would like to challenge myself to read between June and September.

    The state of my TBR:

When it comes to the state of my TBR the honest truth is that it is in actual fact in a state! I started the year owning 1885 unread books and now have 1954 unread books. I am finding it interesting to track my book buying and reading on a spreadsheet though and it is helping me to focus a bit more than I used to on whether I should buy a book or not.

I’ve now read 114 books this year so far, and 49 of those were books that I owned before 31 December 2016 so I’m really happy with how my Mount TBR challenge on Goodreads is going (I challenged myself to read 100 books from my TBR this year). So, I’m really pleased with the balance between reading new books (20), older TBR books (49) and review books (45).

I’m listening to more audio books than I’ve done in a long time and I’m really enjoying that. I often read a bit and then listen to a bit and then go back to the book, and it works for me that way. My disability is such that I wouldn’t be reading half as much as I am if I could only read print or kindle books so I’m very grateful that audio books are so widely available now.

  All-in-all it’s been a good month of reading. I’ve had to take it easy a lot more during May but I feel like I’ve been really productive with my blog, and I’ve read some amazing books. 🙂

  How was your May? I hope you all had a good month and that you read good books. Did you read many books? What was your favourite book of the month? Please tell me in the comments, I’d love to know. Also, if you have a blog please feel free to leave a link to your month’s wrap-up post and I’ll be sure to read and comment back. 🙂

May Wrap-Up post! May has been another quiet month for me. My pain medication change is ongoing at the moment and will be affecting me on and off for the next few weeks.

[rathertoofondofbooks]

    In happy news this week… I managed to have an hour out with my husband. The gorgeous weather coincided with his day off earlier this week so we went and sat in a lovely pub beer garden and had lunch outside. It was bliss to feel the sun on my skin and to just be outside for a little while. And it was wonderful to have time out with my husband and to just feel normal for a while. It’s been months since I’ve spent time outside and it made me so happy. This was our view 🙂

This week has been quite positive on the medical front but it means tough times ahead in the short term but will be worth it in the longer run. I’ve now managed to reduce my pain meds enough that I can switch to different meds, which will give me more control. In the short term this means my condition will be much worse due to sudden withdrawal and an increase in pain while my body adjusts. I’m trying to focus on the longer term when I will hopefully be better able to control my pain without feeling drugged up all the time. I’m only sharing this here as once the med change happens (it’s due to be in the next couple of days but it will depend on the NHS being back up and running) I will probably be around less for a little while. I may miss replying to comments here, or commenting and sharing your posts so please bear with me, I will be around as and when I can be.

I did have a productive couple of days at the start of last week and managed to write quite a few reviews and posts so I’ve got those scheduled. It means there will still be posts from me but I might not necessarily be around when the posts appear and links are tweeted.

This week I’ve finished reading four books:

The Zero by Jess Walter

This was my audio book for this week and I very much enjoyed listening to it. It’s a novel set around the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York but the main character is losing chunks of time and is increasingly confused so the story is told out of order. This book was so much more than I was expecting and I’m so glad that I stumbled upon it when sorting out my Kindle last week.

Fairytale Interrupted by RoseMarie Terenzio

This was an interesting book written by John F. Kennedy Jr.’s assistant. I enjoyed reading about the setting up of George magazine, and about John and Carolyn. I did find that Terenzio is a bit irritating at times but it didn’t stop me enjoying the book for the most part.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This is a beautiful novel, one that I think I’ll be reading again in the future. I was sent this for review so I’m hoping to get my thoughts written up and posted very soon.

The Way Back Home by Freya North

I was such a fan of Freya North’s novels when she was first published but I haven’t read anything by her for a few years now. I’m not sure when I bought this book but I found it on my kindle last week and decided to read it right away. I really enjoyed it, it isn’t my favourite book by her but it was a good read. I especially loved that Cat and Django from an earlier novel featured in this novel, it was nice to see how they both were.

  This week I’ve blogged seven times:

Sunday: Weekly Wrap-Up

Monday: Guest post by Paul E. Hardisty about the evolution of his protagonist Claymore Stryker as part of the Reconciliation for the Dead blog tour

Tuesday: Review of Little Deaths by Emma Flint

Wednesday: WWW Wednesday

Thursday: Review of The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

Friday: Review of The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett

Saturday: Stacking the Shelves

  This is what I’m currently reading:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I started reading this yesterday and am already engrossed. Eleanor Oliphant is a great character and it feels like she could be one of those characters that really stays with me after I finish the book.

The Light We Lost by Jill

I started reading this last night and it’s got me hooked. I’m intrigued by where the story is going and what happened between these two people.

The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis

This book is so gripping, it grabbed me on the first page and I begrudge having to put the book down when real life intervenes on my reading time.

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

This is another book that has been on my TBR for ages – I actually bought it when it was published but never got around to reading it. I’ve discovered the audio version is part of my subscription service so I’m part listening and part reading it. I’m really enjoying it and am intrigued to know where the story is going.

Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby

This is an incredible memoir of a top heart surgeon and I’ve been fascinated by the various surgeries that he has been involved with, or has pioneered himself. I’d recommend this book to everyone.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

I’ve read another chapter of this book this week and am really engrossed in it now. It’s a similar book to And the Band Played on by Randy Schilts, and some of the same people do feature but a different perspective is given so it’s fascinating. I do find it utterly horrifying how various political elements stopped the cause of AIDS being known sooner.

  Update on my TBR:

TBR at the start of January 2017: 1885 (see my State of the TBR post)

TBR in last week’s Wrap-Up: 1934

Additions:

Books bought/received for review/gifts: 8

Subtractions:

Books read this week: 4

Books I’m currently reading: 6

TBR Books culled this week: 0

Total:

TBR now stands at: 1932

Woo hoo! My TBR has gone down by two, which I’m very happy with. 🙂

  I’m linking this post up to Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Blog Share.  It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

  How has your week been? What have you been reading? Please share in the comments below. If you write a wrap-up on your blog please feel free to share the link. 🙂

  Weekly Wrap-Up (14 May) In happy news this week... I managed to have an hour out with my husband. The gorgeous weather coincided with his day off earlier this week so we went and sat in a lovely pub beer garden and had lunch outside.

[rathertoofondofbooks]

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.

What I’m reading now:

The Honeymoon by Tina Seskis

I started this book yesterday and it’s so good, I just want to sit and read all day long. Unfortunately, I can’t but I will be reading in every spare second I have today!

The Zero by Jess Walters

I found this book on my Kindle recently but I couldn’t remember buying it so I looked the synopsis up and it sounded interesting. I started reading it this week and I’m hooked. It’s based around the 9/11 terrorist attacks but it’s told through the viewpoint of a police officer who is losing chunks of time and becoming increasingly confused, so it’s all out of order and strange. It’s a great read so far though and I’d recommend it.

Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby

I was sent this book for review a couple of months ago and am finally reading it. It’s a brilliant memoir of a heart surgeon – his writing about the surgeries he’s been involved with are incredible.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

This is an outstanding book about the AIDS crisis. It’s a look at the doctors and scientists trying to figure out what this disease was, it looks at some of the people affected by AIDS and it’s such a powerful and moving read.

  What I recently finished reading:

Fairytale Interrupted by RoseMarie Terenzio

This is the memoir of John F. Kennedy Jr’s assistant and is an interesting read. It’s much more about RoseMarie but it’s fascinating to learn more about John and his wife, Carolyn. I also enjoyed reading about the setting up and launching of George magazine.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This book is wonderful, I’ve been completely enthralled with these characters and I didn’t want to come to the end of their story. I’ll be reviewing this on my blog soon.

The Way Back Home by Freya North

I found this on my Kindle the other day when I was re-organising it and decided to start reading right away. I really enjoyed this book, it’s not my favourite of Freya North’s book but it was a good read. I do love how characters from Freya North’s previous novels pop up in later books, and in this one it was Cat and Django so I did love finding out how they were both doing.

The Elephant in the Room by Jon Ronson

This is a very short book, just 52 pages long, about the run-up to the 2016 American Presidential election. It focuses on two or three people that are believed to have held a lot of influence with Donald Trump, and it makes for an interesting read.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

I found this on my Kindle too – shockingly it’d been on there since 2012! I’m annoyed that I didn’t pick it up until this week as once I started reading I absolutely fell in love with the story. It had me hooked all the way through and I immediately wanted to read the second book in the trilogy.

The Heroes’ Welcome by Louisa Young

This is the second book in the above series and I read it straight after the first book. I enjoyed this novel but it because it starts immediately where the first book finishes it feels like one book in my head. That’s not a bad thing though. I’m not looking forward to reading the third book and plan to get to that very soon.

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

This book is brilliant, I think it may even be my new favourite Sharon Bolton novel. I’m trying to get my review written at the moment so hopefully I’ll get that posted on here very soon.

  What I plan on reading next:

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

I’ve had this book on my TBR since it was first published and I’ve still not got around to reading it. I know that the next book in the series is coming out very soon so I’m keen to catch up.

  What are you reading at the moment? Have you finished any good books recently? Any books you’re looking forward to reading soon? Please feel free to join in with this meme and share your link below, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below.

WWW Wednesday (10 May) What are you reading today? WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading!

[rathertoofondofbooks]

  This week has been a quiet one for the most part with nothing major to write about so I’ll get straight on to my reading and blogging news…

  This week I’ve finished reading five books:

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

I loved this book – it’s one of those novels that grabs you on the first page and then the pace doesn’t really let up throughout. I’m thinking that I might try and review this one soon.

Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson

This book is incredible. It’s so powerful and brutal but compelling at the same time. I reviewed this for the blog tour this week so you can read my thoughts on it here if you’d like to.

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

I’ve had this book on my TBR for five years and finally picked it up this week. I’m annoyed at myself for not reading it sooner as I very much enjoyed it. So much so that I immediately picked up the second book in the trilogy…

The Heroes’ Welcome by Louisa Young

This is the second book in the above trilogy and has also been on my TBR for a while so I was really pleased that I enjoyed the first book and could get straight on with this one. The third book is now awaiting me on my TBR and I’m looking forward to reading that soon.

The Elephant in the Room by Jon Ronson

This is a very short book (52 pages) all about the run-up to the 2016 American presidential election and is very interesting. It predominantly looks at some of the men involved in the Trump campaign and how much influence they may have had.

    This week I’ve blogged six times:

Sunday: Weekly Wrap-Up

                Review of The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull for the blog tour

Monday: April Wrap-Up

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Wednesday: WWW Wednesday

                        Review of Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson for the blog tour

Saturday: Stacking the Shelves

  This is what I’m currently reading:

  Fairytale Interrupted by RoseMarie Terenzio

I can’t even remember when I got this book but it was on my TBR and I spotted it when sorting my kindle this week. I picked it up and was intrigued enough to keep reading. It’s a book about John F. Kennedy Jr by his PA. I’m about a quarter of the way through it at the moment and so far it’s predominantly about setting up the magazine George and is really interesting.

The Way Back Home by Freya North

This is another book that I noticed when sorting my Kindle out and decided to make it my next read. I’ve read 10% of it so far and am struggling to get into it but I’ve always enjoyed Freya North’s books so am going to give it a bit longer to see if it grabs me.

Fragile Lives by Stephen Westaby

I was sent this for review a couple of months ago and finally got to pick it up this week. It’s a hard read because of the subject matter but it’s fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading more.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This book is so beautiful and I hope to be able to read more of this week. I’m really enjoying it but am struggling to read the faint print at the moment. I’m considering buying the ebook book, or the audio book if there is one, so I can find out what happens.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

I read another couple of chapters of this book this week and am really engrossed in it. It’s a very powerful book and one I highly recommend.

Update on my TBR:

TBR at the start of January 2017: 1885 (see my State of the TBR post)

TBR in last week’s Wrap-Up: 1933

Additions:

Books bought/received for review/gifts: 12

Subtractions:

Books read this week: 5

Books I’m currently reading: 5

TBR Books culled this week: 1

Total:

TBR now stands at: 1934

I’m really pleased that I’ve very nearly broken even with my TBR this week! Obviously it’d be better if I was reading more books than I was acquiring but keeping my TBR steady is better than the numbers going up and up!

    I’m linking this post up to Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Blog Share.  It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

  How has your week been? What have you been reading? Please share in the comments below. If you write a wrap-up on your blog please feel free to share the link. 🙂

Weekly Wrap-Up (7 May) This week has been a quiet one for the most part with nothing major to write about so I'll get straight on to my reading and blogging news...

[rathertoofondofbooks]

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.

What I’m reading now:

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

I’ve had this book on my TBR since 2012 so I thought it was about time I finally picked it up. I’m really enjoying it and wishing I’d picked it up sooner!

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

I’m still very much enjoying this book but haven’t managed much reading from a screen, even my kindle, this week as my eyes have been really sore. I hope to get back to this very soon though as it’s such a great read.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This book has also fallen by the wayside a bit this week due to my fall last weekend as I’ve been struggling to hold print books even more than normal. I really hope I can get back to this soon as it’s a beautiful novel.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

I’ve read a bit more of this book this week and am still finding it such a powerful read. I really hope to have time to read a big chunk of it soon as I think it is a book to really make time for.

What I recently finished reading:

Block 46 by Johana Gustawsson

This book is one that will stay with me. It’s such a harrowing read at times and yet one that you can’t stop thinking about when you’re not reading it. I’m actually on the blog tour for this today so you can read my review here if you’d like to.

The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull

This book is wonderful – I enjoyed every single second of reading it and highly recommend you pick it up soon. I reviewed this for the blog tour this week so you can read that here if you want to know more.

Foxlowe by Eleanor Wasserberg

I’ve had this on my TBR for a little while now so when I spotted it was available on my audio subscription service I decided to listen to it. I really enjoy it and listened to it in just two sittings.

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

This book is brilliant, I can’t believe I’d not read it before now because once I picked it up I couldn’t put it down. There was so much in this short novel that I already feel like I want to read it again! I highly recommend this if you’ve not read it before.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

This is another novel that I listened to over the last week. I’m not sure what I was excepting this to be about but it turned out to be something different – I still really enjoyed it though. It’s a YA novel but it’s done really well and I now want to listen or read the author’s first novel.

Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines

I found this audio book very interesting. I already knew quite a lot about the people involved with Titanic but there were things I didn’t know that I learnt from this book, which were fascinating. I recommend this if you’re interested in Titanic.

What I plan on reading next:

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

I had this on pre-order and it arrived on my Kindle yesterday. I was so keen to start reading it immediately but need to finish one of my current reads first – hopefully I can start it today or tomorrow though!

  What are you reading at the moment? Have you finished any good books recently? Any books you’re looking forward to reading soon? Please feel free to join in with this meme and share your link below, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below.

WWW Wednesday (3 May) What are you reading today? WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading!

[rathertoofondofbooks]

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.

What I’m reading now:

Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull

I was thrilled when I was asked if I’d like to read and review this book for the blog tour as I love Rebecca Mascull’s writing. I started reading the book this week and I completely and utterly love it. My review will be on my blog on Monday so please look out for that then.

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

I’ve had this book on my TBR for a little while now but I spotted it on my audio book subscription service this week and decided to make it my new listen. I’m enjoying it so far, it’s an easy listen. It’s not quite what I thought it was going to be but it’s a good read.

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

I’m enjoying this book so much, it might even end up being my new favourite Sharon Bolton book (and that’s saying something as I LOVE all of her novels). I’m sure that had I not been having such a rough week I’d have read this in one sitting.

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The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This is such a beautiful book that I’m utterly adoring. I want to read it slowly to savour it but I’m sure it’s going to become a firm favourite of mine. I was lucky enough to get to interview Kay Langdale for the blog tour this week so you can read that here if you’d like to.

Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines

This is a really interesting book about the people who were involved in the design and building of Titanic through to the people onboard when it hit the iceberg. I knew a lot of the stories already but it’s still very moving to read about so many people who were caught up in the tragedy.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

I’ve not managed to read much of this book this week but I hope to get back to it very soon as I was finding it such a fascinating read.

  What I recently finished reading:

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

I read the first third of this book in short bursts as and when I could but then I got so involved in the story at that point that I simply couldn’t put it down and read the rest in one sitting yesterday afternoon. I’ll be writing a review of this soon once I’ve got my thoughts in order but it’s definitely a book I recommend.

Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison

I’m way older than the target audience for this book but I spotted the audio book on my subscription service this week and I was having such a bad day that it seemed like the perfect book to give my mood a lift. Georgia is one of those characters that can be so irritating and daft but you can’t help but love her.

No Turning Back by Tracy Buchanan

This is another book I found on audio in the last week and I enjoyed listening to it. It was one of those books that requires you to suspend disbelief a bit but it still a book that keeps you hooked.

What I plan on reading next:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I was thrilled to be sent an ARC of this book recently and can’t wait to read it. I hope to start it at some point over the next few days.

    What are you reading at the moment? Have you finished any good books recently? Any books you’re looking forward to reading soon? Please feel free to join in with this meme and share your link below, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below.

WWW Wednesday (26 April) What are you reading today? WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading!

[rathertoofondofbooks]

  Today I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Kay Landale’s The Comfort of Others and am very excited to be sharing an interview I’ve done with Kay.

Please tell my readers a little bit about yourself and your novel

The Comfort Of Others is my sixth novel. It tells the story of the friendship between an elderly woman, Minnie, and an eleven year old boy, Max. Both have issues that they need to come to terms with, and the novel is about how they approach that.

I live in Oxfordshire, am married and have four fledged children between the ages of nineteen and twenty four. When I’m not writing or reading I’m mostly walking or running, and my labradoodle Rocco is with me for all of the above – his favourite spot is beneath my writing desk.

I’m reading The Comfort of Others at the moment and am finding it very moving – in particular the way you show the loneliness of Max and Minnie, and the way it’s possible to find friends in the places you’d least expect. What inspired you to write it?

I’m so pleased that you are finding it moving – thank you.

Minnie was the character I started with. I was interested in portraying someone who has not lived the life she wanted to life, and who has been stigmatised by shame and secrecy. I wanted to explore how someone who was basically vulnerable and sinned against can manoeuvre themselves into a position where they see themselves as wholly at fault. I also wanted to think about how time can change the perspective by which something is viewed, and Rosemount was a means of ‘fastening’ Minnie into the period in which it all happened.

I was very conscious that Minnie wouldn’t open up to an adult and so I wanted to explore how a child – with a child’s unerring accuracy for truth – might be able to win her trust. Max is watchful; he is frequently just on the outside of things, and it was this shared quality which became the premise for their friendship.

I’m finding myself getting quite emotional at some of the things Max says but clearly doesn’t understand yet, but as an adult I see the bigger picture. I’m getting similar emotions coming up whilst reading Minnie’s story – from the way she’s looking back on her life and seeing things anew. Both characters feel like real people to me and I know I’m going to miss them when I finish reading. How did you find writing from the perspective of a young boy, and of an older lady?

I loved writing Max and Minnie.

Minnie came to me almost fully formed. I had such a strong sense of her girlhood – her exuberance, her zest for life – and of how her mother found that so very difficult. The emotional truth of her adult life also felt very immediate to me; her total withdrawal, her bruised reflections and her sadness that she has been so effectively snuffed out by her experiences.

I really enjoy writing from a child’s perspective. Most of my books contain this as a feature. What I loved about Max from the start was his desire to please; whether it’s his mother with her startling hair colours, the old man who gives him the dahlias, or Mrs Philips with her budgie and her buttered brazils. He is constantly trying to piece together the implications of his mother’s actions – which is the same as Minnie when she was a girl – and that kind of watchfulness was a very immersive writing experience.

How did you first come to be a writer?

When I was a child I always wanted to be a writer, and upon leaving university, I refined that into working with words, which I thought made a bit more (necessary) financial sense. I worked as a copywriter for a brand development consultancy, and then began having my children (four of them in five years).

I was totally rubbish at anything resembling controlled crying, and so when my children woke in the night, I would go and sit with them and just pat their backs or stroke their hair but not talk, as we all know how quickly that becomes a game of  i-spy. Sitting beside them in the darkness I began to think about the central character of my first novel – Martha – and basically began telling myself a story. I was working part-time at this point and realised that Martha was developing a hold on me when I would drive to work and be thinking about the plot rather than the meeting I was headed to. When my youngest child started nursery school, we realised we could just about make the numbers work as I could write without the cost of childcare, and so I resigned and began writing the book that became Redemption. For years I fitted my writing around school hours and term times, with lapses for example when they all got chicken pox in perfect sequence. Now that they have all fledged, my timetable is much more flexible. It was very disciplined in the early years!

It depends what stage of a book I’m at. If I’m mulling on the beginnings of an idea I don’t spend much time at my desk. I walk miles and I think, and have my notepad with me, and I tidy cupboards and wardrobes. I’m a big believer that if the mechanical, logical part of your brain is engaged, your creative thinking somehow is liberated.

When I’m writing a first draft, I’m very disciplined. I work most days and aim to have about three to four thousand useful words. That’s not always the case, especially if the plot takes a different turn and I need to pause to recalibrate. I’m very fond of a French phrase – Reculer per mieux sauter – which basically means to pause in order to jump better. I think it’s important to know when to do that.

When I reach the end of a book – the last 20,000 words – I get really obsessive and work much longer days and find it hard to think about anything else.

When I have a complete draft, I put it aside for a couple of weeks and catch up on everything I’ve neglected, and then return to it with fresh eyes and start editing and refining.

It never feels finished – I mostly get to a point where I can’t bear to look at it anymore!

What has your journey to publication been like?

I’ve been hugely lucky. My first book was published by a small indie publisher, Transita. My second book – which was very dark – did not get an English publisher but went to a three way auction in Germany and then Poland, which was pleasing. I learned some lessons from why that hadn’t worked for a UK audience, and then my third book was signed by Hodder and Stoughton, and they have remained my publishers ever since. I’m working on my eight book now and am hugely proud and thrilled to be part of Hodder’s team of writers. They have a wonderful mural at Carmelite House called the River of Authors which streams around the lifts at each floor. My name is next to John Lennon’s, which is when a school register alphabetised strategy really pays off!

What are you reading at the moment?

I’ve just finished Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End, Polly Clark’s Larchfield, and George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo. I re-read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, and now I’m reading Sarah Dunnant’s In the Name of the Family. I’ve got the new Elizabeth Strout on pre-order on Amazon and can’t wait for it to arrive!

If you were to be stranded on a desert island and could choose just one author’s books to read, who would you pick and why?

Virginia Woolf, no question. To The Lighthouse and Mrs Dalloway are two of my favourite books ever. Every sentence she is writes it so beautifully balanced, so loaded with psychological insight and with such an awareness of what it is to be alive; she would be sustaining company on a desert island.

Is there a question that you wish an interviewer would ask that you’ve never been asked? What’s your answer to that question?

That’s a very clever, very tricky question! I think it would probably need some analysis to answer correctly! I write obsessively about mothers, about mothering, about the ties that bind us. To be totally truthful I don’t know why this is such a preoccupation. I have the objective, lit-crit ability to see how much it features in my work – I found Minnie’s account of her mother’s death very moving to write and I hope it holds a truth about what we need to feel and hear as adult children – but I can’t subjectively tell you why that is the case.

How can people connect with you on social media?

Twitter @kaylangdale. I’m constantly vowing to be become better at it although am also mindful how it can suck up time. I always answer back, and really enjoy hearing from readers.

    The Comfort of Others is out now and available from all good bookshops or online at BookDepository.

The blog tour continues all this week and you can find the other stops here:

Interview with author @KayLangdale about The Comfort of Others #BlogTour @HodderBooks Today I'm thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Kay Landale's The Comfort of Others…

[rathertoofondofbooks]

  This week has been an okay week, it was nice not to have any medical appointments or treatment and to be able to just potter about at home.

I’ve not managed to read quite as much as usual as I spent time catching up on Broadchurch (I’m sad this has ended as I loved it) and Big Little Lies (I read the book when it first came out but I can only remember half of how it ends so I’m intrigued to see how it all turns out. No spoilers please as it doesn’t air in the UK until tomorrow night. I think the casting for this show has been perfect and has made it such a brilliant series. I’ll miss it when it ends). I don’t watch a lot of TV but when I find a programme I like I tend to get hooked until it’s finished.

As I’m writing this post it’s Friday afternoon… I’m finishing and scheduling this post early this week (I normally write and schedule in advance and then amend the night before it posts if I’ve started or finished any other books) as I’m hoping to go record shopping on Saturday morning with my husband. It’s Record Store Day and there are some fab-sounding records on the list that we’d love to get.  I’ll update my instagram with our purchases and will write about how it went in next Sunday’s wrap-up post. I’m so hoping I manage to go – I haven’t left the house, other than for a handful of medical appointments, in literally months as I’ve been too unwell so it would be brilliant to get out.

  This week I’ve finished reading three books:

No Turning Back by Tracy Buchanan

I’ve had this on my TBR since it was published and this week it caught my eye in my audio library and I decided to pick it up. I listened to it over a couple of days and enjoyed it.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

This was a really interesting listen that I very much enjoyed. It may seem odd to read a book about marathon running when I can’t walk more than a handful of tiny steps but there was so much in this book that really struck a chord with me. It’s interesting to read about his writing process too. I’d recommend this.

This Love by Dani Atkins

I read this book in two sittings and fell completely in love with the story. This is one of those books that stays in your mind after you finish reading and I think it’ll be a rare book that I re-read in the future. I reviewed this on my blog this week so you can read my thoughts here if you’d like to.

  This week I’ve blogged six times:

Sunday: Weekly Wrap-Up post

Monday: The Affair by Amanda Brooke

Tuesday: Interview with Jennifer Gilmour, author of Isolation Junction

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Wednesday: WWW Wednesday post

Thursday: Review of This Love by Dani Atkins

Saturday: Stacking the Shelves post

  This is what I’m currently reading:

Dead Woman Walking by Sharon Bolton

I pre-ordered this book when I first heard about it and then forgot when release day was so it was a fab surprise this week when it arrived on my Kindle. I’m already reading this and am hooked, it’s such a great premise for a novel.

Luuurve is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison

I love this series of books, it never fails to make me smile (even though I’m way older than the target audience) as it’s such fun writing. I was feeling really down yesterday after my fall so picked this up and it’s a perfect read for just now.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

This book is gorgeous, I can’t quite put into words how much I’m loving this book. I’m deliberately reading it slowly to savour it. I’m on the blog tour for this on Monday and have a lovely interview with Kay that I can’t wait to share.

  Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines

I’m still listening to the audio book of this and am finding it really interesting. Some of the things I knew and others I didn’t, the book is a really nice mix of stories about people involved in the building, or who were due to sail on the Titanic.

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

I’ve not picked this up much this week as I’ve been listening to more audio books. I’m really keen to know where this story is going though and really hope to pick this back up very soon.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

This is another book that’s suffered from me leaning more towards audio books this week but I was finding this absolutely fascinating and I really want to get back to it this week.

  Update on my TBR:

TBR at the start of January 2017: 1885 (see my State of the TBR post)

TBR in last week’s Wrap-Up: 1929

Additions:

Books bought/received for review/gifts: 12

Subtractions:

Books read this week: 3

Books I’m currently reading: 6

TBR Books culled this week: 0

Total:

TBR now stands at: 1941

  I’m linking this post up to Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Blog Share.  It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

  How has your week been? What have you been reading? Please share in the comments below. If you write a wrap-up on your blog please feel free to share the link. 🙂

Weekly Wrap-Up (23 April) This week has been an okay week, it was nice not to have any medical appointments or treatment and to be able to just potter about at home.

[rathertoofondofbooks]

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

A similar meme is run by Lipsyy Lost and Found where bloggers share This Week in Books #TWiB.

What I’m reading now:

Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines

This is my current audio book and I’m finding it really interesting. I’m over a quarter of the way through it and it really is focusing on various people involved in the Titanic – be it the wealthy people who would be traveling or the shipbuilders that worked on Titanic before she set sail.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

I’m on the blog tour for this next week and am interviewing Kay Langdale for that. I really wanted to read the book before then so I could also review the book if I can, and I have to say that this is a beautiful novel that I’m very much enjoying.

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

I had to put this book to one side for the last few days as I just haven’t been in the right frame of mind to read in this genre. I picked it up again last night though and found it very hard to put down so I’m sure I’ll be finishing this and writing my review very soon.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

This is such an interesting book – the way France has looked at the scientists, the doctors and the patients makes sure that this remains a very human book. It’s so powerful and incredibly moving.

  What I recently finished reading:

This Love by Dani Atkins

I finished reading this book yesterday afternoon and then spent 20 mins sobbing. It’s not often that a book affects me so much but I really got caught up in this novel. Once I’ve got myself composed I will be writing a glowing review of this gorgeous book.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

This was my recent audio book and I really did enjoy it. I bought it in a daily deal on a whim and I’m glad I did. It may seem a bit strange to read a book about running when I can barely even walk but I actually got a lot out of this book and would recommend it.

The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett

I had an ebook review copy of this book but decided to listen to the audio book and found the book much more engaging on audio. I’m in the middle of writing up my review now so hope to share that on my blog very soon.

The Affair by Amanda Brooke

I’ve already reviewed this book on my blog so you can read that here if you’d like to. I really enjoyed reading this book, it had more to the story than I was expecting and I’d recommend it.

  What I plan on reading next:

The Wild Air by Rebecca Mascull

I was so excited when I was offered this book for review and I just can’t wait any longer to read it, it sounds amazing!

Block 42 by Johana Gustawsson

I’m on the blog tour for this book at the start of May and have been looking forward to reading it ever since I first heard about it. I think this is going to be one of those impossible to put down books!

  What are you reading at the moment? Have you finished any good books recently? Any books you’re looking forward to reading soon? Please feel free to join in with this meme and share your link below, or if you don’t have a blog please share in the comments below.

WWW Wednesday (19 April) What are you reading today? WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. It’s open for anyone to join in and is a great way to share what you’ve been reading!

[rathertoofondofbooks]

This week has been a tough one for various reasons. It would have been my mum’s birthday this week so I always find that an emotional day. It’s a few years now since my mum died but that wave of grief still catches me unawares sometimes and it’s tough.

I also started some new treatment aimed at helping with my pain. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the treatment but it was certainly much harder than I thought it would be. I’m hopeful that it may help me manage my pain in the longer term though so will definitely be continuing with it. It was exhausting though – I was absolutely shattered for two days afterwards so spent a lot of time just resting and listening to audio books.

This week I’ve finished reading five books:

The People at Number 9 by Felicity Everett

I had a review copy of this to read but I ended up listening to it on audio and really enjoyed it. I hope to get my review written and posted soon.

The Affair by Amanda Brooke

I enjoyed this book – it was different to what I was expecting and kept me hooked all the way through. Hopefully I’ll get my review up in the next week or so.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

This is another book I had a review copy of but I ended up switching to audio part way though. I enjoyed this book but I’m not sure that I would have enjoyed it as much if I was reading it rather than listening. I’ll write my review once I’ve got my thoughts in order.

The Cows by Dawn O’Porter

I loved this book and can’t praise it highly enough. It was such an eye-opening and empowering read. I’ve already reviewed this for the blog tour so you can read my thoughts here if you’d like to.

SweetPea by C.J. Skuse

This is such a brilliant and unique book and I loved it. Rhiannon is such a great character! I highly recommend this book. I’ve reviewed SweetPea this week so you can read that here if you want to know more.

This week I’ve blogged seven times:

Sunday: Weekly Wrap-Up (9 April)

Monday: Review of Deconstructing Dirty Dancing by Stephen Lee Naish

Wednesday: WWW Wednesday

                        Review of The Cows by Dawn O’Porter for the Blog Tour

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Thursday: Review of SweetPea by C.J. Skuse

Friday: Review of Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller 

Saturday: Stacking the Shelves

This is what I’m currently reading:

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Titanic Lives by Richard Davenport-Hines

I’ve just started listening to this on audio but am finding it interesting so far. At the moment it’s not been hugely focused on the Titanic but it has set the background scene to what happened really well.

The Comfort of Others by Kay Langdale

I received a copy of this in the post on Thursday and started reading it yesterday afternoon. It’s such a lovely novel and I’m very much enjoying it.

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

I’ve not managed to read many print or ebooks this week with not feeling great so I’ve not picked this up for a couple of days but from the few chapters I read earlier in the week I am so keen to get back to this book to see what happens. It’s so good!

What I Talk about when I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami

This is my other current audio book and I’m really enjoying it. There is so much in this book about writing, and about how he came to be a runner and how the two things are linked for him. I’m getting so much out of this book and highly recommend it.

This Love by Dani Atkins

This is a gorgeous book that I’m absolutely loving. I had to put it down for a few days as I’ve been struggling to hold print books this week but I can’t wait to get back to it.

How to Survive a Plague by David France

This book is fascinating. It’s such a moving and powerful book about what happened during the Aids crisis in the 80s. It reminds me of Randy Schilts’ book And the Band Played On. I definitely recommend this book.

Update on my TBR…  

TBR at the start of January 2017: 1885 (see my State of the TBR post)

TBR in last week’s Wrap-Up: 1914

Additions:

Books bought/received for review/gifts: 12

Subtractions:

Books read this week: 5

Books I’m currently reading: 6

TBR Books culled this week: 2

Total:

TBR now stands at: 1929

I have a confession this week about the state of my TBR… the numbers won’t add up properly today because I discovered that I had a few audiobooks and a few books on my Kobo app from a while ago that I hadn’t ever added to my Goodreads and so hadn’t been counted in my TBR. These amounted to 16 books. Oops! So I have 1929 books on my TBR now and that is accurate it’s just that the sum won’t add up properly because of my error.

    I’m linking this post up to Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer’s Sunday Blog Share.  It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead.

  How has your week been? What have you been reading? Please share in the comments below. If you write a wrap-up on your blog please feel free to share the link. 🙂

Weekly Wrap-Up (16 April) This week has been a tough one for various reasons. It would have been my mum's birthday this week so I always find that an emotional day.