November reading

How can it be December already? You tell me, please!

November has so far proven to be an all year low with regards to reading and listening. I have managed to listen to a measly three books and I haven't finished a single 'proper' book. I did start reading 'The paying guests' by Sarah Waters, one page at the time. Needless to say that I haven't got very far! I think I enjoy it.

I continued to listen to the crime series by Kristina Ohlsson I mentioned in my October reading post. The fourth book in the series is 'Hostage'. I found this  quite disturbing and  I had to take breaks to digest the story. It deals with the hijacking of a plane travelling from Stockholm to New York. The demands of the hijacker(s) is directed at both the Swedish and US government. The book is long but only spans the duration the actual flight and is quite intense. If you are an anxious flyer, it may not be for you. The book is well researched the author clearly knows her topic, which is not all that surprising if you look at her biography. There is an interesting afterword by the author, which I liked.

I swiftly moved on to the currently last book in the series, 'Chosen'. This book begins with the murder of a preschool teacher outside the school of the Salomon community.  This is followed swiftly by the abduction and murder of two boys from the same school. It is a complicated story with unexpected twists that takes the reader from Stockholm to Israel and a quick stopover in London.

The series on the whole is quite something. If you are looking for a crime series that is not formulaic, this is it. The characters continue to develop throughout, they mature and age and you almost risk becoming attached to each of them, fancying that you might quite like to meet for a cuppa and a chat.

The last book I finished this month is a young adult fiction novel, the third instalment of Miss Peregrine's peculiar children series, 'Library of souls'. The author's name is Ransom Riggs. I have listened to the previous two novels, of which I particularly enjoyed the first. In this last book, Jacob, Emma and Addison (a talking dog) are searching for their friends (abducted in a previous novel). To be honest, it was not a great book but reasonably entertaining. The book is narrated by Jacob and unfortunately, the narrator makes him sound like an obnoxious know-it all (and better) teenager. I guess he is. Imagine a sixteen year old James Bond on steroids. Jacob pretty much single handedly defeats an army of evil creatures and frees the entire children's population of peculiardom. Still, I was entertained for a good while, which is always a bonus.

I have been saving up Christopher Brookmyre's 'Bedlam'. I love Christopher Brookmyre and I am looking forward to reading the book soon.

In case you have been wondering, the building site is now definitely looking like a (big) room, the kitchen is partially fitted and the bifold doors will be installed on Saturday. We have several buckets of white emulsion and hopefully will manage to get some of it on the walls before long. I am hoping to start moving food, pans and other kitchen stuff into the new cupboards so that we have a bit more space to move around the house. Everything is piled up everywhere. There is so much stuff in my living room that I can't sit properly in my yellow armchair. There is no foot room but I can wedge my bum in the seat and drape my legs over the side of the sofa, which is pushed right up against the chair. Getting in and out of the chair involves a great deal of agility and core strength but it is still my favourite chair and I can see the telly between the back of a chair, almost the  entire screen.

That's all for now! Thanks for stopping by and reading my assorted thoughts. I noticed that I picked up a few new followers, welcome, it is good to see you.