Book Review: Police at the Funeral ★★★★

Published in 1931 Allingham wrote her mysteries in the height of the golden age of crime fiction, a time when mysteries were supposed to adhere to certain rules. The authors at the time did like to surprise their readers though by finding ways to solve the crime that would be entirely unexpected. Cue Allingham's Police at the Funeral.

Albert Campion, an upperclass professional socialite (but with enough brains to class himself as an adventurer and detective) is called upon to help solve the mystery of his friend Joyce's uncle Andrew's death, found drowned in the river, there are suspicious circumstances, and along with his chum Inspector Oates, Campion solves the mystery with flair.

I bought this book years ago, and should have read it in 2009 when I was writing about Margery Allingham as part of my undergraduate dissertation, but for some reason I never got around to it, and I really don't know why because I absolutely love Campion as a character and all the stories he features in. He manages to appear the fool at all times until he pulls an absolutely genius solution out of the bag. He is constantly fooling people into believing that he hasn't the capacity to be of any threat, when in actual fact he is a very good judge of character. I love that allingham has created such a versatile character.

If you prefer your aristocrats to fulfil the stereotypes but still capable of doing some crime bashing, Campion is rumoured to be a parody of Dorothy L Sayers' Lord Peter Wimsey, who is rather more as you would expect for a gentleman detective, no hopping out of fireplaces for him.

Police at the Funeral surprises me every time with how clever it is, even when I know how it will end and who has committed the crimes I smile to myself as I read it or watch an adaptation, and marvel at the skill there is to be found in golden age crime fiction. The construction is marvellous, you are presented each clue in turn, but the most probable solutions seems far fetched, but is it?

I love when a classic mystery can boggle the mind, and boggled my mind was.

★★★★

The Book Jar

Now, in case you don't know me very well, you may not be aware of the extent of my TBR pile. I can't really call it a pile any more because it takes up a whole bookcase (though I now have new shelves, so it takes up 8 cubes, which sounds nicer) and is somewhat out of control.
I may tell you the number...177, though that does include eBooks, they aren't all sat on the shelves.

Anyway, this is definitely out of hand, and as much as I try to read them, I do get overwhelmed and sometimes haven't a clue what to read next.

Last week I decided enough was enough, I had just finished Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and I had had my YA fix and couldn't for the life of me decide what to read next. In panic mode I started watching YouTube book recommendations, picking random books off my shelves and then putting them back, I simply couldn't decide. I had seen a couple of videos on YouTube about making a Book Jar, so I decided this was the solution.

I opened a document on the computer and got to typing, thank god I already keep a record or I could have spent ages looking at each book in turn. I grabbed some pretty coloured paper a la Rincey Reads, printed and trimmed each slip, folded them up and popped them into a pretty jar from Laura Ashley.

I actually ended up reading a library book next, but I have my jar all ready and waiting for the next time I really haven't a clue what to read, I will simply pull out a slip and then grab the book.

Problem solved...I hope!

The Best of Omens ★★★★★

This was my 26th book of 2012, and my World Book Night book.

I love Neil Gaiman's work, I have written about him before (American Gods, The Graveyard Book) but I had never read any Terry Pratchett. I had had him recommended to me time and time again, but had simply never got around to reading his work. The writing in this novel is fascinating as both authors collaborate and manage to create a story that is both hilariouisly funny and a gripping adventure at the same time. They manage to do so while making sure they read as one voice, and it has inspired me to pick up more of Pratchett's work.

The story follows a slightly suspect bunch of characters, a demon, an angel, a witchfinder, a witch, the four bikers of the apocolypse and the eleven year old anti-christ as they all either help to or fight to stop armageddon from occuring some time after tea next saturday. As you can imagine it is fraught with adventure and hilarious circumstances. I especially loved the use of the stereo as a means for communication between the firey depths of hell and the surface.

The story took me quite a long time to read, though this does not by any means suggest I didnt like it, in fact i loved it and would happily read it again now. It is quirky and funny and also very complex, there is a lot of information packed into each paragraph, with pop culture references and historical and religious references too. The story reminds me of the film Dogma, but better. I love that there are multiple story lines with multiple groups of characters that all come together at the end, it really does help to create the feeling of impending armageddon.

The novel was a great choice for World Book Night as it is something a bit different being of the fantasy genre. It is something i believe many would never pick up by themselves, but if they enjoyed it could open a whole new genre up for them to try.

★★★★★

Mid Year Update

So it is over half way through the year now, and I am thinking maybe we should have a little update on my reading challenge progress.

So far I have read 39 books, the list of these books can be found in the "Project 2013" page which is liked to the right, or of course on my Goodreads page, linked to the left.

I am 14 books behind, and to some this would be a disaster, but I have already pulled this back once this year from being 10 books behind (and then let it slip for various reasons) so I am not too worried, but I am also not so determined to finish this challenge either.

This year has been pretty awful so far, I have never believed in unlucky numbers, but maybe the whole 13 is a bad number thing has got something behind it, there have been a lot of things going wrong so far so in light of those I am not going to beat myself up if I don't hit my target.

Now don't get me wrong, I am still trying to get as close as possible, I just wont be too upset if I don't hit it.

In terms of other updates, I have spent the past few days writing and scheduling a whole bunch of book reviews from last years challenge. They aren't going to be posted in the order that I have read the books I am afraid because I may have forgotten to take some pictures (I am in the process of retaking them now) but I aim to have a good chunk of the reviews I want to write posted over the next few months. If you do want to see what order I read them in, they are listed correctly on the Project 2012 page to the right.

I am working on a backlog of about 45 books from last year, and then I want to catch up to the ones from this year, so depending on how many I can sit and write at once (I managed 8 last weekend) I am aiming to have at least one a week, maybe two, to allow for me to get on with other things in life too.

So how is your reading challenge going? Have you hit a slump or are you powering through?

Librarians make the best detectives ★★★★

The Aurora Teagarden mysteries compose of eight seperate stories all of which occur in the town of Lawrenceton, Georgia, and are solved by the local librarian Aurora Teagarden. 

Harris wrote these before her sojourn into fantasy crime fiction with the Sookie Stackhouse books, and she really excels at writing standard crime fiction, the writing doesn't feel awkward like it sometimes can in her other work, an although not entirely realistic all the time, it doesn't feel too contrived either. Auroras character has a good balance between firm strengths and realistic weaknesses and as the stories progress she grows as a character demonstrating plenty of gumption, I suspect she also grows as Harris grew into being an author.

So how does a librarian get mixed up in solving crimes? By being a font of knowledge of course. In Real Murders, the first of eight novels, Aurora is a member of a true crime fan club where they discuss real life criminals like detectives would, examining evidence. At one of the meetings a murder occurs and Aurora finds the body, being a potential suspect and being a professional know it all (im allowed to say that when I am one) she begins to investigate to help clear herself of suspicion. 

This was the first book I finished on my Kobo, it got me really excited to read on it, I bought the whole collection in two omnibuses and read about one per day. They are incredibly quick reads but also addictive, I was sad when the last one was finished because I simply wanted more!

The only real disappointments I felt we're Harris's need to create drama in Roe's love life mid way through the series (she is known for not allowing her characters to be happy for too long), and that the importance of the crime to the plot varies between stories. As mysteries go these we're light and fluffy while still having some integrity and I often didn't guess the criminal, either through cleverness or being content to float along with the story.

If you are looking to read a new series I recommend you give this one a try.

I give the series as a whole ★★★★

Currently Reading

So lets catch up. I've had a very busy year, I wont go into why, but I have done a lot of reading. I have so far this year read 39 books, almost twice the amount I had this time last year. I have been making my own notes about them but I obviously haven't been posting, and I wont promise to for various reasons, but I hope to post a bit more over the next 6 months now things have settled down a bit.

Lets start with what I am currently reading.

As I am sure you are aware Philippa Gregory's The White Queen has been made into a BBC television series, 10 parts I believe. I loved The White Queen and have a review for it here, I also have read The Red Queen, though did not enjoy it as much. The television show is actually bringing together the first four books in the Cousins War series, and as I have only read two, I thought I had better hurry up and catch up to the show.

I am about 3 chapters in to The Lady of the Rivers, which is so far ok, I don't love it as much as The White Queen, nor dislike it as much as The Red Queen.
I shall pass verdict once I have finished.

I have also been really interested in non fiction reads lately, I am not sure what it is about them, as it is only recently (by recent I mean maybe the past year) that I have been drawn to them. I have always been someone who enjoys learning and as I am now out of education I suppose I am fulfilling that desire for knowledge.
Also I will admit I simply like to knows lots of random information so that I can pull it out of my head when everyone else least expects it.

So far Food Myths is interesting, each myth is spoken about for a couple of pages, with some quick key facts at the end. It feels very quick to read because each chapter is essentially one myth.
I am enjoying the writing style, it's to the point and slightly humorous, and I love to know stuff about food.
It is win win!

How about you, what have you been reading lately? Any recommendations for me?

Death of a Gossip ★★

Death of a Gossip is a crime novel by the author of the Agatha Raisin books, M. C. Beaton. The series of novels follows Hamish Macbeth, a countryside constable based in the Scottish Highlands as he bumbles through the solving of murders in his area.

The story of Death of a Gossip starts with an introduction to all of the individual characters, we meet them as they travel to Scotland to partake in fishing lessons from a fishing school local to Lochdubh, the town where the story is set. The many characters, as with most whodunnit's have different motives for being there, and they are gradually revealed throughout the story. The gossip of the title is Lady Jane Winters, a bolshy woman who on joining the fishing school begins to drop hints about knowing more than she should about the other students.

This is the first in the series, and as I love Beaton's other books I really hoped I would enjoy this one, but unfortunately I didn't. The story lacked connection between the main character and the rest of the characters as Hamish is painted as an outsider, a bit too weird to be of interest to the visitors to the town. Because of this he comes across as a secondary character, we don't really know him very well and Beaton doesn't make many efforts to make us want to get to know him.

The solution to the mystery was also a weakness for this mystery, it felt rushed and sudden and came out of nowhere, with hardly any set up. This made the proportions of the story feel terribly imbalanced, there was too much plot before the murder for the actual murder to feel intriguing, the real mystery lay with the different characters and their motives for visiting Scotland.

Although I didn't enjoy this story, I will definitely give the Hamish Macbeth stories another go just to be sure, they have potential, this one just wasn't quite there!

★★

Go Kobo

I wanted to make sure I had written my Reading On The Go blog post before I wrote this one, mainly because I feel that this is a supplement to that post and my opinions on the whole about reading on the go haven't changed since I have recieved this gadget.

In May I had my twenty-fourth birthday, and I was very lucky that my other half wanted to treat me to an e-reader. Having been against the Kindle for such a long time I was a bit nervous when he first said he wanted to get an e-reader, but relieved that he had paid attention and knew that if I did get a reader I would want a Kobo.

Why a Kobo you may ask, well as you probably know I am a Librarian, Amazon quite famously restricts which file formats can be placed on a Kindle, and library books from my library are some of those affected. If you are lucky enough to have a library service which uses Overdrive you probably don't have that problem, but it isn't a widespread service here in the UK. Any restriction to eBooks is a huge no-no for me!

I had been admiring the Kobo for about a year since it came to my attention during my dissertation. Firstly I was attracted to the freedom it allows you, then the features available for a low price point, and then the fact that they are a darn sight prettier than the kindle. I recieved the black touch version which costs around £80, much cheaper than a touch screen Kindle, and the features have really impressed me. It was incredibly easy to set up, I already had a Kobo account (which was also easy to set up) and it synced all of my books quickly using Kobo desktop after inputting a couple of details into the reader to register it.
I also use Calibre to sync books which I haven't purchased from Kobo (for when I'm being a bit sneaky) and Adobe Digital Editions to add library books to my reader, all of which recognise the device quickly without prompting and are easy to transfer either specific files or groups of files to.

I find I generally use my reader when out and about, especially during breaks at work, but also when I am just sitting at home. It enables me to read really long books without carrying the weight of one with me, I doubt I would have read Game of Thrones quite so quickly if I hadn't had this! The light weight also means that if I am really tired, too tired to properly hold a large book open, but just want to read one more chapter, the weight doesn't stop me reading before I am ready.

I shall be updating you as I go with more posts on my Kobo, but for the time I have had it I have fallen in love with it!

The only problem is it does prompt a few case purchases :)

2013 / 100

Hello!

It is months since I posted, I know. I just logged into blogger and realised I have 3 book reviews already written that I forgot to schedule too, quite frustrating!

I am going to update you today on my reading challenge progress, in case you don't follow me on Goodreads, 

I stomped all over it last year! 

OH YEAHH!!

I read 70 books last year, SEVENTY! My target was 52, a book per week, and I surpassed it several months before the end of the year.

I am so proud of myself, considering 2011 was such a fail year for reading I really feel that I have accomplished something by managing to read so many great books.

Obviously I didn't come anywhere close to reviewing all of those books and some of them were really great and deserve some attention, so I might do mini reviews with my quick thoughts on them, maybe 5 at a time just so you are up to date. My GoodReads account though is up to date, and all the books I read in 2012 are on the 52 of 2012 bookshelf.

I also expanded my horizons last year and ventured into eBooks. 22 of the books I read in 2012 were eBooks, pretty good considering I didn't get my ereader until my birthday in May. It really helped me to change my reading habits, and I have a post about it in draft too which I will post for you soon.

I didn't read many of the books currently on my TBR shelves in 2012, mainly because I actually started to use the library again properly. Working there more means that I am constantly finding new books I want to read, at one point I had my limit of 30 books on loan, and a couple on my Mum's card too, and I read 29 library books last year (and still have 20-odd on my shelves that I haven't got around to yet), yay for libraries!

So for 2013 I have set myself a new challenge, I am going to try to read 100 books this year, this amounts to about 2 per week, which is very doable (I often finished 3 books a week last year, obviously depending on the length) while still remaining a challenge.

Although I have found it a lot easier to read this year, to find time and space to read, the reason blogging fas fallen to the wayside is because reading has taken over quite a lot of my spare time, I am working a lot more than I was this time last year, and have a lot less spare time so I am spending it wisely. Reading is now something I choose over television and often YouTube which is how I want things to be.

I have signed up to several yearly challenges as part of the GoodReads 2013 Reading Challenge group and I am trying to read as many books from my TBR shelves as possible to fulfil those challenges. I would love to read at least one quarter of the books on my TBR list (which currently stands at 150 books, yep, thats a lot!) and I really want to tick off some classic novels this year, I own several that I haven't read yet and I really, really want to.

So for the forthcoming year, I hope to read 100 books, a good proportion of which are currently sitting unloved on my shelves, and I hope to review them in batches, maybe a weekly, fortnightly or monthly round up would be best.

Have you set yourself any reading challenges for 2013?

Believe six impossible things before breakfast ★★★★

 


Obviously, this isn't about that White Queen, but is about the York Queen in the War of the Roses.

The White Queen follows Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner and a widow who charms the new king Edward IV into marrying her with her astounding beauty and a bit of her mothers witchcraft. The story tracks her struggles through the Wars of the Roses over the space of thirty years in which the House of York and the House of Lancaster fought over the English throne in the mid-1400's. The novel is the first in the Cousins War series by Philippa Gregory which covers both houses, with sequels featuring Margaret Beaufort, the Lancaster Queen, Elizabeth's mother Jacquetta and future titles will go on to cover her daughter Elizabeth of York and her contemporaries.

The novel is at its core a historical romance with a bit of mystery and plotting thrown in for good measure. Throughout the story there is a constant reminder of Elizabeth and Edwards love for each other and their relationship always appears strong even when they are separated.

Obviously a good chunk of content is about the actual wars that were occurring during the time period, and for me this was a particularly confusing time. Many of the characters involved have similar names, and as I said in my review of The Constant Princess I am slowly trying to read some historical fiction in order to improve my knowledge of British history (for more about why I started reading them, click here!) In case you too have issues with keeping history straight in your head or you simply aren't aware, to summarise a very long period of time, initially we had Lancasters on the throne, the Yorks took the throne, and then the Lancasters took it back, and that was the start of the Tudor period where both the Lancasters and Yorks were joined by marriage. We follow a good amount of this political shuffling through Elizabeth, even though she is a woman and away from the actual action, Gregory shows us that women often had ways of finding out what was going on around them even though they themselves were not always directly privy to that information.

During all of the hoo-ha with the swapping of the throne between houses, there was a lot of sneaky behaviour and deception going on and it is this which lead me to be so interested in this book in particular. The mysteries in this woman's life are many, she managed to rise up the ranks very suddenly and charmed both king and court completely, her mother was accused of witchcraft as she herself was, and her sons were the Princes in the Tower, one of the great unsolved mysteries of the Tower of London. Philippa Gregory isn't afraid of taking mysteries like these and turning them into a strong, gripping plot and I can honestly say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

As with the Constant Princess the book was a little hard going at the beginning because you are grappling with so many characters, but I found this story in particular much easier to grip onto than the others. There are several references to magic within the novel as Elizabeth believes herself to be descended from the water goddess Melusina. Although initially this felt like a tacked on plot device that wouldn't necessarily add to the story and instead detract from the factual parts of the tale, Gregory uses it as a tool to overcome some of the mysteries surrounding Elizabeth's life and they are relied upon fairly heavily to tell her version of the story.
The magic is portrayed as a natural born skill that is innate to the women in this line of the family and integral to the characters themselves. It isn't explained in an unnecessary way, it is simply a skill that the women of the family use when they come into hardship. The very frank use of the magic in the story actually lends itself to being more believable, and almost innocent, it doesn't actually feel like cheating at any point in the story when Elizabeth comes across a hardship and her mothers guidance helps her to embrace her ancestry and take on the waters, a metaphor for using her magical influence to sway events. Gregory has managed to use this rumour in history to develop the queen into an empowered woman who will not allow the time that she has been born into to dictate how her life should be affected.

Gregory still manages however to keep the story grounded. Her reputation for research allows her to seamlessly join together the fantastical elements and the facts, and although she has to take a stance on the mysteries surrounding the wars which could or could not be correct Gregory manages to keep the reader believing that this could have been what happened. The story sucks you in because it is so convincing. The time period was full of drama and ups and downs that lend themselves fabulously to the plot allowing for a pace that keeps you reading. In particular I loved her stance on the Prince's in the Tower, as it creates presence of mind for Elizabeths character, showing she isn't just bowing to the stronger, superior men, but is taking steps to control events.

The book had me interested in continuing to read the series with The Red Queen, The Lady of the Rivers, and The Kingmakers Daughter which is released this year. I am especially excited for The White Princess, about her daughter which is rumoured to be due for release in 2013 after a plot point is revealed towards the end of this book. It should prove interesting indeed!
★★★★