My Week in Books – 2nd April 2023

whatcathyreadnext

MyWeekinBooksOn What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I published my review of Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry.

Tuesday – I shared my publication day review of science fiction novel, A Brief History of Living Forever by Jaroslav Kalfar.  

Wednesday – As always WWW Wednesday 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. 

Saturday – I took part in the #6Degrees of Separation meme forging a literary chain from Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen to Death of a Gossip by M. C. Beaton. 

New arrivals

The Blood of OthersThe Blood of Others by Graham Hurley (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Dieppe, August 1942. A catastrophe no headline dared admit.

Plans are underway for the boldest raid yet on Nazi-occupied France. Over six thousand men will storm ashore to take the port of Dieppe. Lives will change in an instant – both on the beaches and in distant capitals.

Annie Wrenne, working at Lord Mountbatten’s cloak-and-dagger Combined Operations headquarters, is privy to the top secret plans for the daring cross-Channel raid.

Young Canadian journalist George Hogan, protege of influential Lord Beaverbrook, faces a crucial assignment that will test him to breaking point.

And Abwehr intelligence officer Wilhelm Schultz is baiting a trap to lure thousands of Allied troops to their deaths…

Three lives linked by Operation Jubilee: the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942. Over six thousand men will storm the heavily defended French beaches. Less than half of them will make it back alive.

The WallThe Wall (City of Victory #3) by Adrian Goldsworthy (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Britannia, AD 117: Roman centurion Flavius Ferox is trying to live a quiet life of dignified leisure, overseeing his wife’s estate and doing his best to resist the urge to murder an annoying neighbour – until someone else does it for him. Dragged back into a life of violence, Ferox finds himself chasing raiders, fighting chieftains and negotiating with kings, journeying far into the north just as war breaks out.

With the new emperor, Hadrian, sending agents from Rome, the whole world seems to be changing: old friends become enemies, enemies claim they are friends, and new and deadly threats lurk in the shadows.

When, five years later, Hadrian himself comes to Britannia to inspect his great wall, a new war erupts suddenly, dividing tribes and families. Ferox is the only one who can save the emperor – but with his family, and his own life, in danger, Ferox must first decide whose side he is on…

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Book Review: God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu
  • Book Review: The Drums of War (Thomas Tallant #3) by Michael Ward
  • Book Review: Elizabeth Finch by Julian Barnes
  • My Five Favourite March 2023 Reads

#6Degrees of Separation From Born to Run to Death of a Gossip

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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 six degrees 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 Twitter using the hashtag #6Degrees.

Born To RunThis month’s starting book is a memoir, Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen. I’ve not read it but I am familiar with Springsteen’s music.

I’ve taken as inspiration for my first link the third line of the lyrics of ‘Born To Run’ – ‘Sprung from cages out on highway nine’.  Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke is the first in her ‘Highway 59’ thriller series.

Sticking with American highways and thrillers, Poor Boy Road by James L. Weaver sees former mob enforcer Jake Caldwell hunting down a ruthless drug lord in Missouri.

Jake’s best friend is the local sheriff, known as Bear. A bear (this time one named Aloysius) is the companion of Sebastian Flyte in Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

Sebastian’s younger sister is called Cordelia which is also the name of a character in Shakespeare’s King Lear. Learwife by JR Thorp imagines the life of Lear’s Queen following her banishment to an abbey.

Another reimagining of the life of a female character from one of Shakespeare’s plays is Lady MacBethad by Isabelle Schuler.

And on a slightly lighter note, Death of a Gossip by M. C. Beaton is the first in her series of crime novels featuring Scottish village cop, Hamish Macbeth.

My chain has taken me from America to Scotland. Where did your chain take you?

#6Degrees of Separation Apr