What’s on your bookshelf: July

Thistles and Kiwis

So it is time again for a review of the month’s reading, a post to contribute to the what’s on your bookshelf challenge is hosted by fellow bloggers  Deb, Sue, Donna and Jo. The idea is to share what you’re reading, what you’ve enjoyed lately share – why they resonated with you, how they made you feel, who are your favourite authors and what you recommend. Posting a day early on Thursday evening NZ time as it suits my schedule a bit better.

First up, Devils’s Garden by Aline Templeton, a detective story set in a fictitious town in the Scottish borders. This is number three in the series, but it was easy enough to pick up on regular characters. DCI Kelso Strang hears that an old friend from his police college days suspects there is corruption in her local station, and sends down an undercover policewoman from Edinburgh to investigate. It was a decent story with enough intrigue to keep me interested to the end. If I see another in the series in the library I might pick it up.

I had been recommended Stella Rimington’s books and luckily found one in the library. For those of you who don’t know, she was Director General of MI5, and brings her knowledge of the world of espionage to her novels. The Devil’s Bargain starts in 1988, where a policeman takes a brive and let’s in a man called Igor into the UK. Many years later he recognises the man who is now an MP. He has been a sleeper agent, and with the changes in the country he comes from, his handler is no longer around, but one man knows his secret… Anyway, it was a good and there were some great little details.

Elly Griffiths appeared twice this month – fist in the form of an audio book The Outcast Dead, the sixth in the Ruth Galloway Series, which got me through ironing, cooking and other housework – and second The Stanger Diaries, the prequel to The Postscript Murders. This is such a fun book, with lots of humour and a great story. The book is told in several voices: the policewoman investigating a murder, the teacher who is a suspect, and the policewoman’s daughter. It is a great tale of murder, secrets and even better, I did not guess who the murderer was until the end.

In contrast, I really struggled to finish Fourteen Days, a collaborative novel edited by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston. The book takes place over 14 days during the Covid lockdowns in New York, where neighbours gather each evening on the roof of their building to share stories. Each section was written by various well-known writers such as John Grisham and Celeste Ng. I found this book a bit tedious and over long, and read things in between as otherwise I don’t think I could have finished it.

Are there any Donna Leon fans out there? If so, do you agree that her latest books are a bit dark and have lost their sparkle? Anyway, the 33rd Brunetti novel is here, and centres around teenage gangs, stolen treasures, an historical tragedy and uncovering secrets. I miss the earlier books with their descriptions of food and the family, but it is still a good read.

Finally, when we were up in Auckland, I went to the second hand bookshop in Devonport, and found a copy of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. It was the same edition I had as a child, and I remember the illustrations well, particularly for some reason, the poem My Shadow. I loved that this copy had been awarded as a special prize too.

So that is my most recent reading – what have you read recently? Here are my ratings using the scheme we use in the book club I am part of, items related to the book out of 5.

  • Aline Templeton Devils’s Garden 4 Scottish border towns
  • Stella Rimington The Devil’s Bargain 4 spies
  • Elly Griffiths The Stranger Diaries 5 diaries
  • Ed Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston Fourteen Days 3 stories
  • Donna Leon A Refiner’s Fire 3 bronze statues
  • Robert Louis Stevenson A Child’s Garden of Verses – no rating, just a lot of memories.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis. If you want to get in touch, email me on thistlesandkiwis@gmail.com or lofgren@thistlesandkiwis.com

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

26 Comments

  2. well done on finding Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, I would love to find a copy of that book, I loved his stories as a child… such a good story teller!

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  4. I am also a fan of A Child’s Garden of Verses: what a fun find! Elly Griffiths books have been eluding me: I have only read two and simply cannot find any more – will keep on searching for them 🙂

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  5. Hi, Barbara – Thank you for joining us for What’s On Your Bookshelf with this great selection of books. I’m sorry to hear that you struggled with Fourteen Days (as I was one of the recommenders for that book). It definitely is not for everyone, but several of the stories still run through my mind several months later. So it definitely had impact on me. Still, my apologies.<3

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    1. Oh gosh you shouldn’t apologise! I was really looking forward to reading it but after the first third, I had had enough. Sometimes it is the mood we are in too of course, but I just found it hard going after a while.

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  7. Hi Barbara, some good books here in particular Devil’s Garden. I’m sure the author would have some stories to tell having been in MI5. I though I had read all of Elly Griffiths, Ruth Galloway series but don’t recall this one, I will have to look it up. Thanks as always for supporting What’s On Your Bookshelf? and providing interesting reads to explore. Have a lovely weekend x

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  9. I need to keep an eye out for The Stranger Diaries. It was only while reading the Postscript Murders that I realised there must have been an earlier book in the series.

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  10. I see my library has some of the Kelso Strang books – they’re on my list for the future. Sometimes Scottish police dramas have something those from down south don’t.

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  12. I’m a huge Elly Griffiths fan too Barbara so will have to check if I’ve read these ones!! A great haul for the month and your ratings always make me smile :). Thanks for joining us for #WOYBS, it’s always great to have your reviews.

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  13. Pingback: If we were having coffee…or even a cup of tea… – Thistles and Kiwis

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