Latest Library Loots & Publishers Parcels

I haven’t quite finished ‘Her Fearful Symmetry’ which is hard to believe as it is so gripping but I spent last night watching The Rocky Horror Show in Wimbledon and so didn’t get a word of reading done in the evening. Will crack on and finish at lunch as have to read The Law and the Lady by Sunday, which I don’t think will be difficult as am sure will be another of Wilkie Collins books that leaves you hooked and unable to do anything other than turn pages, well and maybe make a cup of tea or two! 

So instead of doing anything on either of those thought would share not what I have bought of late as I did that the other week (and been on a book buying ban ever since). Instead what I have recently pilfered from the library. Pilfered is the wrong word as I am borrowing them, it just sounds good, maybe I have been spending too much time in the fictional 1880’s? 

• Kill the Grief by Caroline Rance – I have wanted to read this ever since I saw Jackie’s review on Farmlanebooks. I love the line in the blurb “from the bleak Wirral shore, to the screams of the operating theatre, and from a backstreet gin shop to the dungeons of the gaol” sounds very me, so will be following the fictional story of nurse Mary Helsall soon.  I wanted so much for it to count as Sensation fiction but sadly its 100 years too early, still is a perfect read to have alongside as is quite dark and disturbing, not for the faint hearted.
• The Frozen Deep & A Rogue’s Life both by Wilkie Collins – Not his sensational fiction but can still fit them in as they are both very quick reads and would like to try some ‘non-sensation’ works of his.
• Duplicate Death by Georgette Heyer – I didn’t get on too well with ‘Simon the Coldheart’ so swapped it for some of Heyer’s crime fiction, hoping this one will be much more up my street. 
• Q & A by Vikas Swarup – The Converted One wanted this and I will probably give it a whirl afterwards. I refused to see the film at the cinema for my own silly stubborn reasons but borrowed the DVD from a friend and we thought it was amazing!

There have also been some arrivals from some publishers I wanted to mention. The very lovely people at Duckworth publishing has seen my blog on Julie and Julia – The Movie the other day and sent me ‘My Life in France’ by Julia Childs which made me do a squeak of glee. They also sent me ‘War on the Margins’ which is about Jersey during the war and the Nazi’s occupation of it. I loved ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ and found the subject of these islands in that time fascinating so this should be brilliant.

You will also see that I have not one but two copies of the latest Louis De Bernieres (I have not read anything of his yet, is that shocking?) novel, well collection of stories, ‘Notwithstanding: Stories from an English Village’ which is based on his time growing up in rural England. This isn’t a memoir though as the author is “plagued by a novelist’s inability to stick to the truth”. The characters sound wonderful… “English village was a place where a lady might dress as a man in plus fours and spend her time shooting squirrels with a twelve bore, or keep a vast menagerie in her house. A retired general might give up wearing clothes, a spiritualist might live in a cottage with her sister and the ghost of her husband, and people might think it quite natural to confide in a spider that lives in a potting shed.” I am not sure I will be able to hold myself back from reading this for long. Which is a good thing for all of you as the spare copy is for a giveaway I shall do on the day!

What have you acquired of late? Have you read any of these or anything by the authors? As always, do let me know your thoughts, I best get off here and start reading!