Just Shelved
A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer by Maxie Dara
Friends of Dorothy by Sandi Toksvig
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
I pushed through and finished All Fours and… I don’t know. I’m having some complicated feelings about it, and I’m not sure what I think. I relate to some bits of it and liked that it centres the experiences and sexuality of perimenopausal women, which is relatively rare as a book theme. So on the one hand I’m glad it exists and is exploring this neglected ground, but also I really didn’t like it all that much. The other three were much more successful, though. A Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer is a cosy mystery with a paranormal twist. Good characters and development, suspenseful, and had me invested. The Nightingale is one I’ve tried to read a few times but never finished, despite having heard so much praise. But I made a bigger effort this time and ended up listening to the whole book in a day because I was feeling ill and needed the distraction. It’s a great book, as expected, and even had me shedding a few tears. It’s heavy, of course it is, but full of love as well. Glad I read it. I’ve saved best for last though, because I absolutely ADORED Friends of Dorothy. It was everything I hoped for and more. I loved the story, I loved the characters, the intergenerational friendship is fantastic, the defying of stereotypes is brilliant, the sense of community felt warm and cosy, and it was absolutely hilarious. It was also read by Toksvig, who I could listen to non-stop perfectly happily, so there really wasn’t anything not to like. One of my favourite books of the year so far, hands down.
Currently Reading
Brit(ish) is my current adult in print read, which I’ve been reading whenever my kid and I are curled up to read and I’m not reading Wings of Fire. It’s good so far, but I’m not even halfway yet. I read The Nightingale this week and wanted more WWII, so I started listening to The Things We Cannot Say, which I’ve had on my TBR for years, and so far I’m enjoying it. I didn’t realize that it goes back and forth between past and present, and that the present includes a mom whose son is on the autism spectrum, so that’s been an interesting and unexpected bonus. Worth a read, for sure.
Up Next
Conviction by Denise Mina
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Into the Uncut Grass by Trevor Noah
I’ve added a bunch because I’ve been flitting around my various audiobooks apps to look at my options, and a bunch have maybe, possibly gotten my attention again. But then again, probably not. Who knows. I came across the reminder of Black and British in Brit(ish), and it also mentioned there’s a BBC program based on it that I still need to watch but wanted to save until I’d read the book…. so maybe that will be a good motivation to finally give it a try. Anyway, we’ll see!
That was it for my week! Snow, dragons, and quite a bit of reading! What about you guys? Have you read any of these? Any you want to read?
A weekly post that encourages bloggers to share what they have read in the past week, what they’re currently reading and books they’ve recently added to their TBRs. Originally started by Sheila at Book Journey, it is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. I also link up with The Sunday Salon post each week hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz (and sometimes include some of her content prompts).
I had to read the beginning of your post carefully – our school district’s mascot is the dragons, so I thought I was on a local page! LOL Grim Reaper’s Guide to Catching a Killer sounds fun – thanks for sharing!
Haha! Sorry for the confusion! Grim Reaper was a fun read, not super complex or overly literary, but enjoyable and quick. Exactly what I wanted from it!
Darn, I can’t find Friends of Dorothy in our library system, in print or on audio. I’ve been waiting for All Fours on audio for a while now.
We had snow yesterday, but not too much. I stayed home from work today, still sick with a mild cold of some sort, but need to go back tomorrow, so for now it’s off to bed for me!
Have a great week, reading and otherwise!
Yeah, Friends of Dorothy was impossible for me to find through the library in Canada as well, so I ended up using an audiobook credit on it because I really wanted to give it a try! I had a similar journey with All Fours – long wait! I hope your cold has cleared up and you’re feeling better!
Sandi Toksvig’s time as a presenter on a few seasons of the Great British Baking Show was my only connection with her. Good to hear she’s written a readable book. She has lots of other accomplishments too.
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Yeah, I loved that show as well! She’s quite a good author from what I’ve read so far – I also enjoyed her memoir last year. Thanks!
We had a bit of snow too, but unfortunately no dragons. Your assortment of books looks intriguing. I hope you enjoy them all. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
Haha! Yeah, the dragons definitely made the snow days more interesting!
It’s wonderful to see how much you enjoyed Friends of Dorothy. And the dragon day inspired by Erin and Wyatt sounds delightful, too.
You are on a reading roll. Good luck with your listening challenge.
I adored Friends of Dorothy and would definitely recommend it, particularly if you enjoy intergenerational friendships, found family, older characters and LGBTQ themes. So heartwarming!