February’s #CurrentlyReading Bookshelf
Coming up on the next Kaffeeklatsch…Watch this space next week.
I’ll be chatting about The Forgotten Girls , The Poison Artist and Missing Pieces.
So tell me…
What’s on your bookshelf this month?
So I thought I would give you a quick update on my August reads. Winter has been a very busy season for me this year and life has done its utmost to crumble the cookie. But I have been reading a few juicy reads, gotten addicted to a delicious new crime series and fallen down a delightful – but addictive and consuming – reading rabbit hole.
Recently Read/ing
Perfect People by Peter James
*finished in a redeye-inducing all nighter binge-read*
When a young couple learn they are both carriers of a gene likely to give their children a rare genetic disease, they visit a secret clinic for a ‘designer baby’. But it does not all work out as planned….
Citadel by Kate Mosse
*currently deliciously savouring each wordful*
1942. Occupied France. A time of courage, betrayal, loyalty – and love.
1942, Nazi-occupied France. Sandrine, a spirited and courageous nineteen-year-old, finds herself drawn into a Resistance group in Carcassonne – codenamed ‘Citadel’ – made up of ordinary women who are prepared to risk everything for what is right.
And when she meets Raoul, they discover a shared passion for the cause, for their homeland, and for each other.
But in a world where the enemy now lies in every shadow – where neighbour informs on neighbour; where friends disappear without warning and often without trace – love can demand the highest price of all.
Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson
*currently letting this mind twister twist my mind*
Memories define us. So what if you lost yours every time you went to sleep? Welcome to Christine’s life.
Christine wakes up every morning in an unfamiliar bed with an unfamiliar man. She looks in the mirror and sees an unfamiliar, middle- aged face. And every morning, the man she has woken up with must explain that he is Ben, he is her husband, she is forty-seven years old, and a terrible accident two decades earlier decimated her ability to form new memories.
But it’s the phone call from a Dr. Nash, a neurologist who claims to be working with Christine without her husband’s knowledge, that directs her to her journal, hidden in the back of her closet. For the past few weeks, Christine has been recording her daily activities—tearful mornings with Ben, sessions with Dr. Nash, flashes of scenes from her former life—and rereading past entries, relearning the facts of her life as retold by the husband she is completely dependent upon. As the entries build up, Christine asks many questions. What was life like before the accident? Why did she and Ben never have a child? What has happened to Christine’s best friend? And what exactly was the horrific accident that caused such a profound loss of memory?
Every day, Christine must begin again the reconstruction of her past. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more un- believable it seems.
Reviews on these three books next week Wednesday right here on Kim’s Kaffeeklatsch.
Death by Chocolate Reads (highly addictive crime thriller reading)
Chelsea Cain and her “Gretchen Lowell series”
Portland detective Archie Sheridan spent years tracking Gretchen Lowell, a beautiful and brutal serial killer known as the Beauty Killer. In the end, she was the one who caught him…and tortured him…and then let him go. Why did Gretchen spare Archie’s life and then turn herself in? This question keeps him up all night—and keeps him coming back to visit Gretchen in prison every week. But Archie also needs Gretchen, as new murder cases he’s solving keep leading him back to his former captor. Read this mystery thriller series and discover the creepiest serial killer you’ve ever encountered.
*Voraciously Consumed*
#1 Heartsick
#2 Sweetheart
#3 Evil at Heart
*Currently Salivating Over*
#4 The Night Season
*On The Night Stand*
#5 Kill You Twice
#6 Let Me Go
Review on this decadently addictive series coming on the first Wednesday of October right here on Kim’s Kaffeeklatsch.
Reading Rabbit Hole
I have been let into the Cool readers group….a not so secret society that gives readers first glimpses into new books before they get published…
I know you want the down-low and pronto:
I am talking about Net Galley.
I recently heard about Net Galley through a fellow book addict/crime writer, Rebecca Bradley. (If you haven’t checked out her blog, Murder down to a Tea, – tell me that isn’t an amazing blog name for a British crime writer! 😉 – do yourself a favour and go check it out.)
After digging around the Net Galley site I knew I wanted in. I signed up. Then I requested some books I wanted and waited for the tick of approval from the publishers. The first two books I got were:
Phantom Instinct by Meg Gardiner
When your own eyes betray you, who can you trust?
In Edgar Award-winning author Meg Gardiner’s new stand-alone thriller, an injured cop and an ex-thief hunt down a killer nobody else believes exists.
What Came Before by Anna George
David Forrester and Elle Nolan are sophisticated, mature people who don’t understand love. They live in a world where love is revered but marriages commonly end in divorce, or worse.
Over the course of one ill-fated night, David and Elle recount the journey of their love affair.
And it begins with David admitting into his dictaphone to the killing of Elle.
Visceral and compelling, What Came Before creates a chilling modern portrait of the dark side of love.
So look out for the reviews on Kim’s Kaffeeklatsch right here, coming in a post this month.
What have you been reading in August?
What books were greedily gorged on?
What books are you deliciously savouring?
What books are on your night stand for September?
As Old Mr. Frost sets in and unpacks for a chilly winter I am still making my way through the Scandinavian crime series. I have a few on my bedside table at the moment and Mind’s Eye is the latest I have finished.
Mind’s Eye (Hakan Nesser)
This is an intriguing story premise. A woman is drowned in a bath, her husband with no memory of the previous night, finds her in the early hours of the morning. He calls the police. After questioning, the police arrest him as the prime suspect. The problem is that he is not even sure that he didn’t do it. He has no memory of the night.
The first half of the book is fast-flowing as the trial begins. The husband is found guilty and is committed to an insane asylum. But within weeks he is found murdered.
Now the police have to reinvestigate the original murder as all their suspicions are turned on their end.
The strongest part of this book for me was the characterisation of the characters. The part that let me down was that there was not a strong sense of place or setting. I loved the premise of the story and the puzzle at the heart of these murders. The author kept me in the dark right up until the end. This kept me turning the pages. I wanted this mystery solved and the real killer caught.
However I did feel that that author held back more than he should. His main character Inspector Van Veeteren leads the investigation with all the cards held to his chest not even letting in his own investigating team in on his suspicions. This gives the reader the feeling of a “smirking” arrogant main character who leaves little about him left to like.
The mystery at the heart of this story kept me turning the pages. I had to keep reading to find out who the killer was. However, although this is the first in a series I am not sure I would read book 2 because I don’t like the series protagonist.
So for the well-thought out mystery element of who the killer is and the strong characterisation this book gets 3 stars and 3 Irish coffees from me.
Recommended coffee
Irish Coffee
“I can envision a small cottage somewhere, with a lot of writing paper, and a dog, and a fireplace and maybe enough money to give myself some Irish coffee now and then and entertain my two friends.”
– Lt Richard Van de Geer
Tell me what are you reading this week?
What coffee are you indulging in?
I have 2 addictions which I have to indulge in daily:
1. Caffeine
2. Books
I start my morning with caffeine and end my night with books. I drink a lot of coffee. I drink so much that I invested in a top of the range Delonghi Magnifica Automatic Cappucino/Espresso Coffee Machine (Amazon) which has a permanent residence in my writing cave.
I read a lot of books, of every genre and every persuasion. I have a well-used library card, piles of books next to my bed (because my 6 bedside drawers are already full of books), two full book shelves and a bursting digital bookshelf on my kindle.
I also read exceptionally fast, the advantages of having a photographic memory, but sometimes I read too fast: you know those times when a story is so delicious that you want to indulge every eyeful of words like eating a delicious chocolate cake with slow mouthfuls. So I read 4-6 books at the same time. This way I can jump in and out of stories, lengthen out each delicious story morsel but still fill that gnawing craving for story. It also means I always have a story on the go at any time of day or night.
So I have decided to start a new Wednesday feature (I might miss a week here and there depending on how busy my own story-writing mode is going) on the blog called: Kim’s Kaffeeklatsch.
kaf·fee·klatsch (kf-klch, -kläch, kôf-)
n.
Variant of coffee klatch.kaf•fee•klatsch or kaf•fee klatsch (ˈkɑ fiˌklɑtʃ, -ˌklætʃ, ˈkɔ-) also coffee klatsch
n.
a social gathering for informal conversation at which coffee is served.
[1885–90; < German; see coffee, klatsch]
Don't you just love that word: kaffeeklatsch ?
Good conversation, books and coffee…this is a good afternoon.
I also chose this word in a nod to my maternal side. You might not know it, but I am half German (yes I am fluent in German) and really there is no better description for this new fortnightly feature.
You see…this feature is not just about me: what books are in my reading pile or what coffee flavour I am drinking but also about You, my reader, my follower and my friend.
Every 2nd Wednesday I am going to share with you what I am reading and what I am drinking, but I want to indulge in the "klatsch" of this feature: I want you to tell me what you are reading and what you are drinking each week.
So join me tomorrow for the debut of Kim’s Kaffeeklatsch to find out what I am reading and drinking this week…don’t forget to pour yourself some coffee and bring your books…let’s klatsch books and caffeine.
Kim Koning 