Tag: Currently Reading

My Week in Books – 20th December 2020

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MyWeekinBooks

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I shared some thoughts on historical novels published in 2020 that might be contenders for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2021. 

Tuesday –  This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books On My Winter 2020/21 TBR. I also shared my review of the first in a new series set in the Viking age, A Time For Swords by Matthew Harffy, as part of the blog tour.

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next…as well as have a good nose around to see what other bloggers are reading. I also published my review of The Running Wolf by Helen Steadman.

Thursday –  I took part in the 2020 edition of the My Life in Books meme. 

Saturday – I shared my review of The Diabolical Bones (The Brontë Mysteries #2) by Bella Ellis.

 As always, thanks to everyone who has liked, commented on or so shared my blog posts on social media.

New arrivals

The High-Rise DiverThe High-Rise Diver by Julia von Lucadou, trans. by Sharmila Cohen (eARC, courtesy of World Editions via NetGalley)

Big Sister is watching you…

Riva is a “high-rise diver,” a top athlete with millions of fans, and a perfectly functioning human on all levels. Suddenly she rebels, breaking her contract and refusing to train. Cameras are everywhere in her world, but she doesn’t know her every move is being watched by Hitomi, the psychologist tasked with reining Riva back in.  Unquestionably loyal to the system, Hitomi’s own life is at stake: should she fail to deliver, she will be banned to the “peripheries,” the filthy outskirts of society.

For readers of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Circle, and Brave New World, this chilling dystopia constructs a world uncomfortably close to our own, in which performance is everything.

51PUQUXiz5LThe Girl at the Back of the Bus by Suzette D. Harrison (eARC, courtesy of Bookouture via NetGalley) 

Montgomery, Alabama, 1955. On a cold December evening, Mattie Banks packs a suitcase and leaves her family home. Sixteen years old and pregnant, she has already made the mistake that will ruin her life and disgrace her widowed mother. Boarding the 2857 bus, she sits with her case on her lap, hoping that the driver will take her away from disaster. Instead, Mattie witnesses an act of bravery by a woman named Rosa Parks that changes everything. But as Mattie strives to turn her life around, the dangers that first led her to run are never far away. Forging a new life in a harsh world at constant risk of exposure, Mattie will need to fight to keep her baby safe.

Atlanta, Georgia, present day.  Ashlee Turner is going home. Her relationship in ruins, her career held back by prejudice, she is returning to the family who have always been her rock. But Ashlee’s home is not the safe haven she remembers. Her beloved grandmother is dying and is determined to share her story before she leaves… When Ashlee finds a stack of yellowing letters hidden in her nana’s closet, she can’t help the curiosity that compels her to read, and she uncovers an old secret that could wreak havoc on her already grieving family. As she tries to make sense of what she has learned, Ashlee faces a devastating choice: to protect her loved ones from the revelations, or honor her grandmother’s wishes and follow the path to the truth, no matter where it may lead.

Dublin's GirlDublin’s Girl by Eimear Lawlor (eARC, courtesy of Aria via NetGalley)

Falling in love with the enemy is the ultimate act of betrayal…

1917 – A farm girl from Cavan, Veronica McDermott is desperate to find more to life than peeling potatoes. Persuading her family to let her stay with her aunt and uncle in Dublin so she can attend secretarial college, she has no idea what she is getting into. Recruited by Fr Michael O’Flanagan to type for Eamon De Valera, Veronica is soon caught up in the danger and intrigue of those fighing for Ireland’s independence from Britain.

The attentions of a handsome British soldier, Major Harry Fairfax, do not go unnoticed by Veronica’s superiors. But when Veronica is tasked with earning his affections to gather intelligence for Sinn Féin, it isn’t long before her loyalty to her countrymen and her feelings for Harry are in conflict. To choose one is to betray the other…

The Forgotten Life of Arthur PettingerThe Forgotten Life of Arthur Pettinger by Suzanne Fortin (eARC, courtesy of Aria via NetGalley)

Sometimes the past won’t stay hidden, it demands to be uncovered…

Arthur Pettinger’s memory isn’t what it used to be. He can’t always remember the names of his grandchildren, where he lives or which way round his slippers go. He does remember Maryse though, a woman he hasn’t seen for decades, but whose face he will never forget.

When Arthur’s granddaughter, Maddy moves in along with her daughter Esther, it’s her first step towards pulling her life back together. But when Esther makes a video with Arthur, the hunt for the mysterious Maryse goes viral.

There’s only one person who can help Maddy track down this woman – the one that got away, Joe. Their quest takes them to France, and into the heart of the French Resistance.

When the only way to move forwards is to look back, will this family finally be able to?

On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading

Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Book Review: Winterkill (Dark Iceland #6) by Ragnar Jónasson
  • Top Ten Tuesday
  • Waiting on Wednesday
  • Book Review: The Long Traverse by John Buchan

#WWWWednesday – 16th December 2020

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WWWWednesdays

Hosted by Taking on a World of Words, this meme is all about the three Ws:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

Why not join in too?  Leave a comment with your link at Taking on a World of Words and then go blog hopping!

Currently reading

A NetGalley ARC and an audiobook…

Small Great ThingsSmall Great Things by Jodi Picoult (audiobook)

Ruth Jefferson is a labour and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family – especially her teenage son – as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others – and themselves – might be wrong.

The Diabolical BonesThe Diabolical Bones (Brontë Sisters Mystery #2) by Bella Ellis (eARC, courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley)

It’s Christmas 1845 and Haworth is in the grip of a freezing winter. Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë are rather losing interest in detecting until they hear of a shocking discovery: the bones of a child have been found interred within the walls of a local house, Top Withens Hall, home to the scandalous and brutish Bradshaw family.

When the sisters set off to find out more, they are confronted with an increasingly complex and sinister case, which leads them into the dark world of orphanages, and onto the trail of other lost, and likely murdered children. After another local boy goes missing, Charlotte, Emily and Anne vow to find him before it’s too late.

But in order to do so, they must face their most despicable and wicked adversary yet – one that would not hesitate to cause them the gravest of harm…

Recently finished

Links from the titles will take you to my reviews

The Smallest Man by Frances Quinn (proof copy, courtesy of Simon & Schuster) 

Liar by Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, trans. by Sondra Silverston

A Time For Swords by Matthew Harffy (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

The Running Wolf by Helen Steadman (review copy, courtesy of the author and Impress Books)

Winterkill (Dark Iceland #6) by Ragnar Jónasson, trans. by David Warriner (eARC, courtesy of Orenda Books) 

Easter weekend is approaching, and snow is gently falling in Siglufjörður, the northernmost town in Iceland, as crowds of tourists arrive to visit the majestic ski slopes. Ari Thór Arason is now a police inspector, but he’s separated from his girlfriend, who lives in Sweden with their three-year-old son. A family reunion is planned for the holiday, but a violent blizzard is threatening and there is an unsettling chill in the air.

Three days before Easter, a nineteen-year-old local girl falls to her death from the balcony of a house on the main street. A perplexing entry in her diary suggests that this may not be an accident, and when an old man in a local nursing home writes ‘She was murdered’ again and again on the wall of his room, there is every suggestion that something more sinister lies at the heart of her death…

As the extreme weather closes in, cutting the power and access to Siglufjörður, Ari Thór must piece together the puzzle to reveal a horrible truth… one that will leave no one unscathed. (Review to follow for blog tour)

What Cathy (will) Read Next

The Long TraverseThe Long Traverse by John Buchan 

This enchanting adventure tells the story of Donald, a boy spending his summer holidays in the Canadian countryside. Negog, a Native American Indian, acts as Donald’s companion and guide conjuring up a strange mist from a magic fire and bringing to life visions from the past. Through these boyish adventures peopled with Vikings, gold prospectors, Indians and Eskimos, Donald learns more about Canadian history than school has ever taught him.