Here we go then, we are staring down the barrel of the last 3 months of 2016. The end may be in sight for my reading challenge and I am three-quarters of the way through at this point and three-quarters through the end of the year is a great place to be. I do not want to tempt fate and say I am on course, because who knows what might happen.
But for September I have still been in Christmas quite a lot, especially as I got to revisit Holly Martin – Christmas Under a Starlit Sky. A perfect Christmas read.
I also had time to pop into see Beth and young Leo in Bella Osborne – Christmas Cheer: Willow Cottage. This is a book I picked up earlier in the year, but it is one that is being released in parts which can work with some books, not so much with others and makes the story slightly disjointed. This is the case with this book, but I still want to know what happens so will hold out until 2017 for part three. I wish I had found the book later so I could have read it as a whole.
I have also revisited the delightful Flavia in Alan Bradley – Speaking From Among the Bones. It is a pleasure to immerse yourself in a series of books and not have to worry about reviewing them, not that I mind reviewing, but it is nice to get your teeth into something different as much as it is with the familiar.
Another revisit was Holly Hepburn – Autumn at The Star and Sixpence and another part released novel, but I am enjoying this one especially as when I discovered Holly Hepburn earlier this year I had a few to bring me up to date with The Star and Sixpence. I only have a few weeks to wait until the final part, but for recommendation purpose it is another which needs to be read as a whole novel.
Back to some murder with the latest Poirot story from the pen of a well-known contemporary author Sophie Hannah – Closed Casket. I thought it was very good and in the spirit of a Christie novel, and providing you can remember this with the book then you will enjoy it for what it is – a good old-fashioned murder mystery.
Which leads me to Anthony Horowitz – Magpie Murders. If you like your murder mysteries – if you like the clues and the red herrings, then this is certainly the book for you. It is a book within a book and a mystery within many more. The beauty of this book is it makes you think about every murder mystery you have read before and question what you thought you knew. Clever!
The previous two books were set in a certain period of time and I do like my historical fiction and in September I eventually got round to reading Kate Williams – The Storms of War. I have a beautifully signed book after having seen her at the Guildford Book Festival last year, but have just got round to picking it up. I look forward to reading the next in the series as I move into the Roaring Twenties.
2016 seems to be a year for going back to familiar authors you know and ultimately love. So was the case with Emma Hannigan – The Perfect Gift. I have not read as many as I thought I had of this author but I do know that when I pick up a book from her, I am going to get a read which is open, honest and compelling. Yet more to discover from this author no doubt who is not afraid of tackling the most sensitive of subjects.
So that was Septmber and I end it reading a book which is not to be published until January 2017 and that seems like months away!
The Book Jotter 