Reviews – Page 2 – What Cathy Read Next…

On the blog last week

Monday – I published a guest post by author Paul Linggood about his recently published novel The Boy on the Sofa.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a freebie on the theme of Fall/Autumn. My take on the topic was Books Linked to Autumn Events.

Wednesday – As always #WWWWednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Thursday – I published my review of historical novel The Marchesa by Sarah Dunant.

Friday – I shared my review of A Monster in the Ash by Susie Gordon as part of the blog tour.

Saturday – I joined other gardeners for #SixonSaturday sharing six things from my garden this week. Plus it being the first Saturday of the month I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a bookish chain from Life of M by Rachel Cusk to The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain.

New on my shelves

In 1969, the Hotel Inter-Continental Kabul opened for the first time: a glistening white box, high on a hill, that symbolised Afghans’ hopes for a more prosperous future.

In the decades since, its staff have kept working through multiple coups, a Soviet occupation, civil war, the US-led invasion, and the rise, fall and rise of the Taliban.

Here Lyse Doucet offers a vividly human history of modern Afghanistan through the lives of the people who have kept the Inter-Con running. It is the story of a hotel, and the story of a people.

The Bohemian Queen by Jean Findlay (ARC, Scotland Street Press)

Set against the backdrop of political intrigue, religious conflict and exile, the novel leads to 1620 as young Queen Elizabeth, heavily pregnant with her fifth child, flees Prague following the Battle of White Mountain. Married to Frederick, Elector Palatine, Elizabeth had accepted the crown of Bohemia in a move that would plunge Europe into decades of war.

But exile does not diminish her influence. Through court politics, diplomacy and dynastic ambition, Elizabeth continues to shape the future of Europe while giving birth to eight more children, ensuring her descendants become woven into the ruling houses of an emerging continent. She is a survivor, a mother, a leader and a friend of the great philosopher, René Descartes.

It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own #6Degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post. You can also check out links to posts on X using the hashtag #6Degrees.

This month’s starting book is Life of M by Rachel Cusk. It’s a book I haven’t read and probably won’t but the blurb tells me it’s about a film star – referred to only as M – who agrees to let an author write her autobiography. Links from each title will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

I’m using an obvious alphabetical connection for my first link, N or M? by Agatha Christie, a book in her Tommy & Tuppence series.

In V is for Venom for Kathryn Harkup, the follow-up to A is for Arsenic, the author explores the science behind fourteen poisons used by Christie to despatch characters in her crime novels.

One of the toxic substances described is taxine, a chemical that can be extracted from yew trees. At one point in The Mystery of Yew Tree House by Lesley Thomson, a character remarks, ‘I can’t see the attraction of holidaying in a village. They are described as idyllic, but they are places of poison.

Yew trees are often associated with graveyards. In The House on Graveyard Lane by Martin Edwards (originally entitled Sepulchre Street), private investigator Rachel Savernake attempts to discover the reason behind the grisly death of surreal artist Damaris Gethin, a murder predicted by the victim herself.

Staying with burial places, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is the first book in his ‘The Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ series. Daniel, the son of an antiquarian book dealer, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind by one Julian Carax. However when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he discovers someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written.

There’s another shocking literary discovery in The Readers’ Room by Antoine Laurain, translated by Emily Boyce and Jane Aitken. The police begin to investigate a series of murders strangely reminiscent of those described in a debut crime novel submitted to a French publishing house. What’s more, the author’s identity is unknown.

My chain has taken me from a biography of an unnamed film star to a book by an unknown author. Where did your chain take you?