The Book Post – October

Alrighty, toward the end of last month there were flights and nights in hotels and I’ve spent the last couple of weeks on holiday in Vietnam and Singapore – so with plenty of time in planes (and some overly wet weather in Hoi An), plenty of reading was done. It’s fair to say my reading mojo is back.

So without further palaver, here’s what I’ve been reading since we last spoke …

Out of Africa, by Karen Blixen (writing as Isak Dinesen)

Before getting into this book (a book club choice) I have to admit to having never seen the movie of the same name – I’m that reverse snob who rarely watches (or reads) movies (or books) that have won awards. As such I wasn’t sure whether I’d like this one – a book club choice – or not.

I shouldn’t have worried. While I didn’t love this one, I enjoyed it immensely. It’s beautiful, lyrical, melancholic, and brought colonial Nairobi to life with some passages and (mental) images staying with me long after I finished it. In many ways, it’s a love story, although the love is not spoken and a sort of quiet grief speaks to that.

The Night She Disappeared, Lisa Jewell

Told from the viewpoint of 3 different women over 2 timelines it would have been easy for this one to go wrong. Instead, Jewell deftly manages it all and escalates the pace exactly when it needs to escalate, yet still manages to leave one surprise for the end. A great read.

A Town Like Clarence, by Stella Quinn

This one was a recommendation from my mother (hi Mum!) and I’m glad she told me about it. Contemporary romance in a small town, rural setting – what more could you want? Oh yes, a cute wanna-be farmer, a little-bit-broken pilot, and a cast of great characters all in a northern rivers setting.

The Last Devil To Die, by Richard Osman

The latest in Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, this is a masterclass in cosy crime. This one had everything – a well-plotted mystery, the right number of twists, laugh-out-loud moments (inconvenient when reading on a plane), and more than a few where I also had to dab (discreetly) at my eyes. Add to that the characters we’ve come to know and love over the previous books made this my read of the month in a month where there was plenty of competition.

Reinventing Emily Brown, by Jodi Gibson

Before I say anything more on this, I’ll preface it by telling you that Jodi is a fellow indie and, I think, one of the hardest working and most generous – in terms of helping fellow aspiring authors – authors I know. I’ve been following Emily’s progress through drafts and Jodi has done a fantastic job with her. A great read.

As an aside I can learn a lot from her about the right way to launch a book – hint, it’s not finish it and publish it without telling anyone else about it.

Murder in the Highlands, by Debbie Young

I found this one in a Bookbub special and only picked it up as I’ve read others in the series and while I’ve thought them a bit meh, got this to see what others (who are selling way more books than me) were doing in the cozy crime genre. To be honest, as I was reading I had my structural editor’s voice in my ear – and this one would have been improved by that. Just saying.

Anyways it was the perfect length to fill a flight from Singapore to Hanoi.

Evil in Emerald by A.M. Stuart

I think the Harriet Gordon mysteries could be my favourite historical series. Set in 1910 (or thereabouts), after being imprisoned in Holloway for being a suffragette, Harriet has found herself in Singapore living with her brother, a local headmaster, and helping out the police from time to time with some typing – and through that, the investigations.

Stuart has lived and worked in Singapore and knows her way around research; as such she sets the scene of colonial Singapore brilliantly.

This one is the third in the series and while they can be read alone, I’d recommend starting at the beginning with Singapore Sapphire.

To Kill A Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

I recall reading this in high school – I guess we all had to read it back then. I would have been 16 so we’re talking 40 years ago. Back then I read it, wrote the essays, and got good marks – in those days I always got good marks. But while I could write about what they wanted me to write about, and thought I understood what I was supposed to understand, I didn’t enjoy the book, I didn’t appreciate the book, and looking back, while I got it, I don’t think I really *got* it. I think I was like Jem, and knew how the world should be but couldn’t quite understand why it wasn’t that way. Rereading it now for book club, I got it, really got it.. and appreciated it and wrote my Goodreads review with tears in my eyes.

A fantastic book club choice that I can’t wait to discuss.

Go Set A Watchman, by Harper Lee

I didn’t mean to read this one, but, well, it was raining a lot in Hoi An and there was this one day where we barely got out of the hotel.

I didn’t love this – indeed, there are plenty of problems with this novel and at times it felt disjointed with repeat phrases found in Mockingbird. In some ways, though it was as thought-provoking as Mockingbird as Scout (now grown up) cruelly discovers that things are rarely as clearcut as they seem and heroes are human.

One Moment In Time, by Shari Low

While I had an idea of how this one was going to go, it didn’t detract at all from my enjoyment of it. Low has a way of making you turn the next page … and then the next. I inhaled this one sitting in the Chinese restaurant at Da Nang airport while waiting drinking beer and waiting for a delayed flight to Singapore.

Six Days, by Shari Low

The blurb reads:

Gemma knows that she and Finn are destined to be together. They are soulmates. But then, on their wedding day, he never arrives at the church.

Gemma is convinced Finn wouldn’t abandon her like this and feels sure something terrible has happened, but no one else is convinced. Even the police aren’t concerned, telling Gemma most people who disappear usually turn up in a week… assuming they want to be found, that is.

For the next six days Gemma frantically searches for Finn, even though every shocking revelation is telling her to give up on him. Before long, even she begins to doubt her own memories of their love.

How long can she hold on to her faith in Finn if everyone is telling her to let him go?

I devoured this on the flight from Da Nang to Singapore.

No Ex Before Marriage, by Portia Mackintosh

A perfect, easy rainy day read.

Escape to Starshine Cove, by Debbie Johnson

I adored Johnson’s Comfort Food Cafe series and hope we meet more characters from Starshine Cove in future novels. A close second in my favourite read of the month awards.

Foodie Read

Comfort Eating, by Grace Dent

The foods we turn to behind closed doors are deeply personal, steeped in nostalgia and topped with a healthy dollop of guilty pleasure. Comfort Eating finds Grace Dent inviting readers to her kitchen table to discover what makes the things we really eat so delicious.

I’ve long been a fan of Dent’s food writing for The Guardian (UK) and her podcast Comfort Eating where she invites celebrities to her house to talk about their comfort food – the food they eat when no one is looking, the food that makes them blush to say out loud.

It’s about why cheese, bread, chocolate, and potatoes can feel like a big warm cuddle, and it’s about how food memories are rarely associated with salad and often made better with butter – real butter. (In fact, Dent refused a celebrity who wanted to bring along grilled steak and asparagus).

It also got us talking and whiled away some more airport waiting time.

Your turn…

Deb, Donna, Sue, and I would love you to share what you’ve been reading…the linky is below.