My Week in Books – 26th May 2024

My Week in Books

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I made a visit Down The TBR Hole to decide the whether books I’ve still to read should stay or go. Spoiler: most of them stayed!

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Authors I’d Love A New Book From

Wednesday – I published my review of The Small Museum by Jody Cooksley as part of the blog tour. And 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.

Thursday – To celebrate mark the start of the General Election campaign in the UK, I shared a list of Ten Novels About Politics

Friday – I published my long overdue review of All Day at the Movies by Fiona Kidman.

Saturday – I shared an update on my progress with this year’s When Are You Reading? Challenge


New arrivals

The Heart in WinterThe Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (eARC, Canongate via NetGalley)

He was ready to die for love. He just needed to find the right girl.

October, 1891. Butte, Montana. A hard winter approaches across the Rocky Mountains. The city is rich on copper mines and rampant with vice and debauchery among a hard-living crowd of immigrant Irish workers.

Here we find Tom Rourke, a young poet and balladmaker, but also a doper, a drinker and a fearsome degenerate. Just as he feels his life is heading nowhere fast, Polly Gillespie arrives in town as the new bride of the devout mine captain Long Anthony Harrington.

A thunderbolt love affair takes spark between Tom and Polly and they strike out west on a stolen horse, moving through the badlands of Montana and Idaho. Briefly an idyll of wild romance perfects itself. But a posse of deranged Cornish gunsmen are soon in hot pursuit of the lovers, and closing in fast . . .

The Days of Our BirthThe Days of Our Birth by Charlie Laidlaw (eARC, courtesy of the author)

It was a perfect relationship until time pulled them apart.

The Days of Our Birth delves into the intricate bond between Peter and Sarah as they navigate their formative years. Spanning from their sixth birthday through two decades, the narrative unfolds against the backdrop of Sarah’s placement on the autism spectrum.

With a blend of humour and poignancy, the book intricately weaves together themes of love and friendship, unravelling the tale of two individuals who grapple with their emotions for each other, even though they remain unacknowledged.

A beautiful story sensitively told about how love and friendship can conquer everything, including time, to a point.

In This Ravishing WorldIn This Ravishing World by Nina Schuyler (eARC, Regal House via NetGalley)

In This Ravishing World is a sweeping, impassioned short story collection, ringing out with joy, despair, and hope for the natural world. Nine connected stories unfold, bringing together an unforgettable cast of dreamers, escapists, activists, and artists, creating a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis.

An older woman who has spent her entire life fighting for the planet sinks into despair. A young boy is determined to bring the natural world to his bleak urban reality. A scientist working to solve the plastic problem grapples with whether to have a child. A ballet dancer endeavors to inhabit the consciousness of a rat.

In This Ravishing World is a full-throated chorus— with Nature joining in— marveling at the exquisite beauty of our world, and pleading, raging, and ultimately urging all of its inhabitants toward activism and resistance.


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading


Planned posts

  • Book Review: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
  • Book Review: The Zone of Interest by Martin Amis
  • Book Review: Estella’s Revenge by Barbara Havelocke
  • #6Degrees of Separation
  • Blog Tour/Giveaway: Code Name Kingfisher by Liz Kessler

My Week in Books – 19th May 2024

My Week in Books

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Monday – I shared my review of How to Make A Bomb: A Novel by Rupert Thomson

Tuesday – I went off-piste for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday with Books Set in Workplaces.

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.

Thursday – I shared my experience of attending recordings of BBC Radio 4’s Bookclub 

Friday – I published my review of historical novel, A Plague of Serpents by K. J. Maitland.

Saturday – I shared my review of Absolutely & Forever by Rose Tremain, one of the books on the shortlist for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024.


New arrivals

Book cover of Cabaret Macabre by Tom MeadCabaret Macabre by Tom Mead (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Hampshire, 1938. Victor Silvius is confined in a private sanatorium after attacking prominent judge Sir Giles Drury. When Sir Giles starts receiving sinister threatening letters, his wife suspects Silvius. Meanwhile, Silvius’ sister Caroline is convinced her brother is about to be murdered… by none other than his old nemesis Sir Giles.

Caroline seeks the advice of Scotland Yard’s Inspector Flint, while the Drurys, eager to avoid a scandal, turn to Joseph Spector. Spector, renowned magician turned sleuth, has an uncanny knack for solving complicated crimes – but this case will test his powers of deduction to their limits.

At a snowbound English country house, a body is found is impossible circumstances, and a killer’s bullet is fired through a locked window without breaking the glass. Spector and Flint’s investigations soon collide as they find themselves trapped by the snowstorm where anyone could be the next victim – or the killer…

Book cover of Six Lives by Lavie TidharSix Lives by Lavie Tidhar (eARC, Head of Zeus via NetGalley)

Six lives, connected through blood and history, each rooted in the dirt of their inheritance, look to the future, and what it might hold.

THE GUANO MERCHANT
In 1855, Edward Feebes travels to the guano islands of South America, to investigate an irregularity in the accounts of the House of Feebes & Co.

THE BLACKMAILER
In 1912, post-mortem photographer and reluctant blackmailer Annie Connolly plots her escape from Ireland to America on board the Titanic.

THE IDEALIST
In 1933, idealistic Edgar Waverley faces a choice of the heart when he becomes embroiled in a country house murder.

THE SPY
In 1964, hapless KGB agent Vasily Sokolov makes his career conjuring valuable information from worthless detritus.

THE MOVIE STAR
In 1987, actor Mariam Khouri looks back at ‘Black Dirt’, the movie that lifted her from the streets of Cairo.

THE HEIRESS
In 2012, Isabelle Feebes attempts to break with her poisonous heritage once and for all. Can she forge a new life for herself in the New World? Can you ever truly escape your past?


On What Cathy Read Next this week

Currently reading


Planned posts

  • Blog Tour/Book Review: The Small Museum by Jody Cooksley
  • Book Review: Estella’s Revenge by Barbara Havelocke