What’s on your bookshelf: December

Later than usual here are the books I have read so far in December. I’ve already published my list books of the year, a post that WordPress picked for their Freshly Pressed section where they showcase selected blogs. Not sure why, but very nice anyway, and it certainly drove a lot of traffic my wee blog.

Anyway, first up, The Wedding People by Alison Espach, which has been lying in my ‘tbr’ pile for ages. I finally picked it up, and once I got into it, found it both funny and moving and a really good read. The main character, Phoebe, turns up at a luxury hotel to find out there is a big wedding going on. As the blurb says:

When the bride discovers her elaborate destination wedding could be ruined by this sad stranger, she is furious. She has spent months accounting for every detail and every possible disaster – except for, well, Phoebe . . . Soon, both women find their best-laid plans derailed and an unlikely confidante in one another.

Next up is New Zealand author Gina Butson’s The Stars Are A Million Glittering Worlds, another book that has sat for a while. A young woman, Thea, goes to Guatamala to forget an incident back home in New Zealand. There she meets a couple who she makes friends with…and then tragedy strikes. Thea ends up making a new life in Tasmania, until the past comes back to haunt her. This was OK but the ending was a little unsatisfactory. Worth a read though.

First published in Japanese 25 years ago, The Dilemmas of Working Women by Fumio Yamamoto has now been translated into English. These five short stories are interesting, and depict the lives of these five in a very vivid way.

Recommended by Jo, I enjoyed Margaret Hickey’s Cutters End, a slow burning cold crime story set in a dying Australian town. I’m very glad to have found a ‘new series’ to settle down and work my way through – have got the next one from the library already.

Our neighbour lent me the first of the Slow Horses series by Mick Herron. I’ve enjoyed the series on Apple TV, and was happy to find that the actors playing most of the characters were spot on. It was fun, but I probably won’t read another one unless one fell across my path.

There was another wedding in Anne Tyler’s latest Three Days in June, which I really enjoyed. A divorced couple come together for their daughter’s wedding and uncover some truths. I loved this book – she is such a great writer.

And to end, a book (Murder at the Mill by M.B.Shaw) that has such a major error in it I almost didn’t finish it, but wanted to find out ‘who done it’. The author, editor and publisher seemed blissfully unaware that the legal system in Scotland is not the same as in England, for example, using the word ‘barrister’ for a lawyer in Scotland, and assuming one individual could work across the border in the courts. It was highly annoying, but at least that character…well, I won’t say….

And so to the voting…

• Alison Espach The Wedding People – 4 brides
• Gina Butson The Stars are a Million Glittering Worlds – 3.5 journeys
• Fumio Yamamoto The Dilemmas of Working Women – 3.5 working women
• Margaret Hickey Cutters End – 5 small Australian towns
• Mick Herron Slow Horses – 4 spies
• Anne Tyler Three Days in June – 5 weddings
• M.B Shaw Murder at the Mill – 2 portraits and the prize for the worst book I finished this year.

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