Balancing the Books – October 2023

janetemson

Nov 1

There are piles of leaves on the streets, piles of sweets in the house and piles of books in every room. October has been and gone and Autumn is settled in nicely, thank you very much.

It was a month of ups and downs books wise. Lots of lovely books arrived, lots of books were read. I should have been going to two book events in London but the train strikes stopped play. However I went to a lovely, intimate event at Waterstones York with partner in crime Jules Swain, where we got to chat to Katherine Heiny, author of Early Morning Riser, Standard Deviation and Games and Rituals.

I discovered that in Japan, this time of year is Dokusho no aki, the season of reading. which makes me love the country any more. I shall be doing my own mini dokusho no aki and gathering books around me to pass the days until winter sets in. When of course, it's the season to cosy up inside with a book and Jolabokaflod is just around the corner.

Luckily there's been a few arrivals to make sure I can see out the season of reading in style.

Here's what arrived in October:

Boundary Road by Ami Rao, sent for review by Everything With Words.
One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall, sent for review by Pan Macmillan.
Swimming for Beginners by Nicola Gill, sent for review by Bedford Square.
The Golden Mole by Katherine Rundell, sent for review by Faber.
The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer, sent for review by Pan Macmillan.
The Good Liars by Anita Frank, sent as a gift by My Chronicle Box.
A Midwinter's Tail by Lili Hayward, sent for review by Sphere.
All Souls by Saskia Hamilton, sent for review by Corsair.
Committed by Chris Merritt, sent for review by Wildfire.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, a treat from me to me because my train to London was cancelled.
The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett, sent for review by Viper.
Pinch Me by Francesca Ramsay.
The Fugitive of Gezi Park by Deniz Goran. Both of these were sent for review by Ortac Press.
The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina, sent for review by Manilla Press.
Locked Room Mysterys by various authors, very kindly sent by Big Green Books as part of his weekly Buy a Stranger a Book giveaway.
The Night in Question by Susan Fletcher, sent for review by Bantam.
The Bookseller of Inverness by S J McClean, a charity shop find.
The Wedding of the Year by Jill Mansell, sent for review by Headline.
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore, a purchase from Harper Collins (together with two Harper Muse Austen editions which don't count as they are additional copies of books I already own).
Frank & Red by Matt Coyne, sent for review by Headline.
Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny, a gift of sorts from Waterstones after attending a fabulous talk with Katherine at York.
Who Killed Father Christmas and Other Stories, edited by Martin Edwards, sent for review by the British Library.
Paper Cage by Tom Baragwanath, sent for review by Baskerville.
A Memoir of My Former Self by Hilary Mantel, sent for review by John Murray.
The Mysterious Mrs Hood by Kim Donovan, sent for review by Seven Dials.
The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston, another purchase from Harper Collins (it was 50% off, I had no choice).
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte, bought from the Bronte Parsonage.
Miss Austen Investigates by Jessica Bull, sent for review by Michael Joseph.
The Escape Room by L D Smithson, sent for review by Bantam.

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Here's what I read this month:

The Premonition by Banana Yoshimoto.
The Measure of Malice by various authors.
All Souls: Poems by Saskia Hamilton.
A Midwinter's Tail by Lili Hayward.
The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr.
Sylvester by Georgette Heyer.
What You Are Looking For is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, translated by Alison Watts.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry.
The Cat Who Solved Three Murders by L T Shearer.
Portable Magic by Emma Smith.

I also gave 6 books to my sister-in-law for her holidays, dropped 2 spare proofs off at my local bookshop and a bag of 11 books were palmed off onto a friend. So that's 29 in and 29 out. It had to happen one day and it has! A balance. I feel like I should buy a book to celebrate...

I hope you enjoyed whatever you read, and that you can enjoy your own dokusho no aki in November.