In this video I talk about all the physical books I acquired in September 2019, why I acquired them, how my bid to avoid acquiring more is going, the problem with firsts-in-series, and my habit of buying books for my dream life…
Books mentioned:
Beyond the Footpath, by Clare Gogerty
Nevertell, by Katharine Orton
Gideon the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Crops in Tight Spots, by Alex Mitchell
Gardening with Wild Plants, by Julian Slatcher
This one is about three witches who reluctantly act as fairy godmothers to the heir to the throne, whisking him away so that he’s safe from the new king, and then equally reluctantly trying to work out what’s gone wrong in their kingdom and fix it. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Equal Rites but it’s still my second favourite so far from my Discworld listening project.
The least relatable of Laura Vanderkam’s books in my opinion. If you’re not a high-earner with children I’d definitely start with 168 Hours or Off the Clock, but if you want more practical examples of how to use Laura’s advice about time management this one is worthwhile.
This is a very interestingly structured book moving through multiple viewpoints to present us with multiple endings! Definitely worthwhile for those who want to have intellectual thoughts about their fiction reading.
This is about an American living in 1990s London, falling in love with a very dodgy bloke despite warnings from pretty much everyone she knows. I wasn’t that into the story but loved the trip back in time – it was contemporary at the time it was published.
This is more of a short story than a book, told from the point of view of Jude’s twin sister Taryn, explaining the choices she made during The Cruel Prince. It was interesting but very brief!
I found this to be an easy, engaging read and would have rated it more highly except that I don’t think it’s aged well. There’s a relationship with a large age gap that I can’t condone and the depiction of the main character’s veganism doesn’t seem fair now.
This is a thriller about a 12 year old boy living on the streets of London who finds a winning lottery ticket. He is too young to claim the prize but when he tries to get someone to help him, he finds himself being pursued by people who’d do anything to get their hands on his winnings.
Carla moves to a new school and is determined to be more interesting, which means avoiding getting pigeonholed as one of the brainy, plain girls and making friends with the cool kids. But her insecurity and desperation to be liked leads her to feel pressured to start taking drugs. I was expecting this to be grittier than it was but it was still a good read, surprisingly funny in places.
If you would like a rom com about decent people, missed connections, and finding ‘the one’, you must read this. I loved it.
This is the sequel to Sofia Khan is Not Obliged, which I read last month (??), and I found it to be very, very different in tone. I didn’t have a problem with the direction it took, but I found that a lot of what I loved about the first book was missing here. This meant that although I could appreciate what the author was trying to do, it ultimately fell short of meeting my expectations.
