It’s been a very Terry Pratchett month, as I’ve made good progress on my read-through of the full discworld series. I’ve also bought and started several other books, but I’m only including books here that I have finished each month, so hopefully I’ll be able to include those next month… I’ve noticed that I’m not reading very much nonfiction at the moment! But I’m sure I’ll come back to that later in the year.
Wyrd Sisters; Guards, Guards!; Pyramids; Maskerade; Eric; Moving Pictures
I thought the Pratchetts had been put into order since we moved house a couple of years ago, but discovered that I was wrong! The first few were right, but the middle few were very out of sequence. I found this out by reading Maskerade too early, and wondering how come I'd missed Greebo's (temporary) transformation in an earlier book. Realising that there were at least 4 books to go before I should have read it easily explained my confusion!
I’m assured that we do have a proper illustrated copy of Eric somewhere, but I couldn’t find it - its large size means that it doesn’t fit on the shelf with the standard paperbacks, and we suspect it’s somewhere out in my garden office. That being the case, I picked up a new small-size illustrated version so that the series is complete on the shelf, and so I could read it without having to go exploring the depths of the Room of Doom… I’ve read most discworld books at least a couple of times, but have only ever read Eric once before - presumably because it doesn’t fit on the usual shelf in either our or my dad’s collections! It’s good to see Rincewind making another appearance, along with his Luggage, and being utterly hopeless at everything except running away - as usual.
Because of the kind of paper and printing, this copy of Eric has a distinctive smell, so is ticking off that item in the 52 Book Challenge,
[2. Bibliosmia: a smelly book]
I’ve also started reading through the Tiffany Aching sub-series, completing The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full of Sky, Wintersmith, and I Shall Wear Midnight so far. Although I know these are officially Discworld books, I prefer to read them as a separate series rather than as part of the main set.
Summarising all the Pratchetts like this makes it look as though I didn't read very much this month - but in fact I managed to tick off ten Discworld books in April, so that's rather better than I thought.
A Patchwork of Clues by Sally Goldenbaum [audiobook]
This was a fairly impulsive loan from the library as I was about to embark on yet more long driving. It's an enjoyable cosy crime tale in which a quilting group gets drawn in to solving the murder of a local college professor who is found dead one morning at the back door of the quilting store. The author seems to enjoy dwelling on the intricacies of patchwork quilting at least as much as on solving murders, but as I've always had an unexplored interest in the hobby, that was mostly fine for me even if it occasionally felt somewhat laboured. I'm not usually great at working out whodunnit, but the reveal wasn't entirely surprising when it came, having been fairly well signposted throughout.
It seems this is the first in a short series of 'Queen Bee Quilt Shop' mysteries - I might see if the other two are also available, but am not sure I'll prioritise them.
Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala
I generally enjoy books set in a foodie environment, and this was no exception! Lila has moved back to her hometown after a bad breakup, and is trying to help turn the family’s restaurant around. When her ex-boyfriend, the local food critic, dies during a meal there, all sorts of suspicions are aroused, and Lila’s relationships with her own family and friends are put to the test. This was an enjoyable read, with a cast of fun and interesting characters. Lila herself is generally sympathetic, and recognises some of her own flaws - although whether she manages to learn from them is another matter! I’ll keep an eye out for the next in the series.
I haven't done well at matching titles to 52 Book Challenge criteria this month - there are quite a few options with several of the books I've read, but I'll try and actively tick a few more off in the next few months so that I know what I need to make sure I include towards the end of the year.
Comments