Angelic Paranoia

What I Just Finished Reading
A Fatal Mistake by Faith Martin. There are 8 books in this series and it turns out my library has all of them as ebooks. They are all now in my wish list in order and I do plan to read my way through them all. I enjoyed this one more than the previous one, now the characters and setting are established.

Nosy Neighbours by Freya Sampson. I've read her two previous books and then discovered she had written another. So I read it and I enjoyed it, but I think I enjoyed her previous books more.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Fatal Flaw by Faith Martin. Book three in the series. All I've really read so far is the murder and the set up of the story. I feel like I know what to expect from these books now and it's not going to be particularly unexpected.

Making It So by Patrick Stewart. I think someone else is reading through the 'Fatal' series before me, so while I was waiting I remembered America had a bank holiday and maybe that would be an occasion for a Kobo sale. It was, and this book was 99p. So far I'm still on his childhood, but it is really interesting because it's proper post-war northern working class.

What I'm Reading Next
A Fatal Secret by Faith Martin. Inevitably I'll be onto book four at some point once I've finished the other two.

What I Just Finished Reading
The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella. This started off interesting, with the main character being burnt out due to the ridiculous amount of work she had to do. And then turns into a story about things that are and have happened in the place she used to go on holiday as a child. All of which were fine. But then there was a romance in it, which I knew would happen as it does in all her books. It's just a shame because the characters and stories are so interesting and the inevitable spoils it a bit.

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett. This is a sequel to her first book, which I enjoyed. This one I didn't as much because the people annoyed me. I'm not surprised they were struggling for members if their emails and texts are anything to go by. I do like the epistolary storytelling though.

A Load of Old Balls by James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski. I bought this because it was on offer during the Olympics. And then I was too busy during the Olympics to read because there was sport on all the time. I finally got round to reading it and I really enjoyed it. It was interesting talking about various things that have gone on with sport. I have since forgotten everything in it, though.

What I'm Currently Reading
A Fatal Obsession by Faith Martin. This was a random pick from books I've had around for ages and can't remember why I bought them, but it had something to do with it being 99p. I had been putting this one off since it was the first in a series and that is a slippery slope. I've only just started it, but it's interesting since it's a police murder mystery set in Oxford in the 1960s.

What I'm Reading Next
Whatever I feel like from my unread books on my eBook reader. I can't currently read any of the physical books I need to read as they're currently in the hamster cage propping up platforms while I decide where things should go.

What I Just Finished Reading
Grave Expectations by Alice Bell. This was a random choice because it sounded good. And it was. It's about a woman who sees ghosts and solves murder mysteries, although it doesn't go as well as it does in the true crime podcasts she likes. There is a sequel to this, which the library does not have and is not yet cheap enough on Kobo.

Help Me! by Marianne Power. Another random choice. I thought I'd like it and I did so much that I read it in two days. It's non-fiction: the author decides to improve her life by reading and following twelve self-help books in a year. It starts off reasonably, then goes to the woo-woo books and completely off the rails.

What I'm Currently Reading
Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry. A random charity shop fine, it's the autobiography of the first 20 years of his life. He's very wordy: He spends about four pages talking about how much he loves music and how much he wishes he could sing, for example. It's a long book and a bit hard going, but now I'm more than halfway through I'm
determined to finish.

What I'm Reading Next
A Load of Old Balls by James Harkin and Anna Ptaszynski. I just went on Kobo to double check a book's title and found this was only £1.99. I've been wanting to read it since the hardback came out (under a different title). It's two of the QI Elves talking about sport, so it should be interesting.

What I Just Finished Reading
A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths. This is the first book in a series about a girl at boarding school in the 1930s who solves murder mysteries. It was alright, but the school was so awful that I have no desire to read any more books about that school.

Calling the Shots by Sue Barker. This was really interesting because I knew nothing about her beyond winning Roland Garros once. She talks about all the sports she was presenting for at one point and it explained why I thought she presented everything when I was a child: those were all the sports I watched!

A 1930s Childhood by Colin G Maggs. This was a short book. It was interesting, but quite a bit of it was repeated, which made sense because some of it came under multiple chapters. But I don't know that it needed to be repeated.

What I'm Currently Reading
Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. I went to my collection of books to read, pulled this one out and then discovered it had a bookmark in it. It's a collection of short stories, so it doesn't matter where I got to. But it would be good to finish it.

What I'm Reading Next
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett. Because I checked my Kobo wishlist and found this one was £1.99. Much as I'm excited to read it, I had just started the book above and really ought to finish it first.

What I Just Finished Reading
Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil by James Swallow.
I bought this because it was 99p and because it was Riker and Troi. I started it and struggled, then decided I was going to finish or give up0 on all the books I was reading on my Kobo and this was one of them. I did finished it, but it was still ultimately set before the first series of Picard and therefore all about Romulans and synthetics. I couldn't find a way to care about them in this book any more than I had in the series.

How to Argue with a Racist by Adam Rutherford.
I went to add this one to my spreadsheet and couldn't find the 'acquired' entry in order to add it to the 'read' entry. Turns out it's because I bought it in 2021 and my spreadsheet starts in 2022. I had started it, but got bored and stopped. This time round I found it interesting, talking about race and genetics and how we can't infer anything at all really.

What I'm Currently Reading
The Innocents by Francesca Segal.
I just started it today and have so far only read one chapter. I had it on my Kobo wishlist and then it was reduced to 99p, so I bought it. I have no idea why I added it because it seems to be a bit romance-y.

What I'm Reading Next
I did put a hold on a library ebook. So that, if it comes in. Or it would be good to read one of the physical books I have taking up space. I have now read all of my currently reading books on my Kobo, so I have plenty of other choices. But I looked at them the other day and didn't fancy any of them. The trouble is I have nothing to read...

What I Just Finished Reading
Murder at Bletchley Park by Christina Koning. I saw this title on the library ebook site and thought ooh, I went to Bletchley Park last year and I like murder mysteries. And then it was hardly set at Bletchley Park and a lot more about the Blitz instead. There was a lot of stuff going on about the detective's life and sometimes some bits of the mystery would come up. It turns out this was the 8th in the series, so maybe if I'd read more I'd be more interested in his life. But I wasn't. And when he announced the murderer was obvious I couldn't remember who the person was. So I think I'll give the rest in the series a miss.

What I'm Currently Reading
We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman. I did a bit of putting (ebook) library holds on anything that sounded interesting and then had to wait a few weeks for them. And consequently have no idea what they're about or why I put a hold on them. I'm halfway through this, have no idea why I put a hold on it, but I am enjoying it. It's about a woman from New York who is a playwright, gets her big break and then it all goes wrong and she runs away to LA.

What I'm Reading Next
Kiss Her Once for Me by Alison Cochrun. No idea what this is about or why I put a hold on it, but it looks like it's coming up soon, so it'll probably be the book I'm reading next.

So far I've read three books that I acquired last year and have acquired nine books this year that I haven't yet read. But in my defence, I did go to a second-hand bookshop, and looked at Kobo's 99p/£1.99 books on sale. I know I could theoretically do neither of those things, but I just don't think it's possible to go a whole year without buying books, even though I have enough to read between books I already have but haven't read, and the library.