Happy New Year!!!!

I hope you all had a rather marvellous festive season and managed to stay well and healthy. And also, books...did Santa bring you any? Did you celebrate Jolabokaflod? When I was a bookseller everyone assumed I would buy books for myself at Christmas. I am not joking when I say I NEVER received a book at Christmas when I was a bookseller. And so one year, I chose a book for myself, wrapped it up and put it under the tree ready to be unwrapped on Christmas morning.

This year, I was very lucky and received lots of lovely books. I also received a bout of the covid, which was less wanted and am currently self-isolating. But going back to the books, I thought it might be time to update my To Be Read list with all these lovely new purchases. If you missed one of the previous editions of my To Be Read Pile, then I've listed them below:

My 2021 To Be Read Pile

My Autumn 2021 To Be Read Pile

Books on Kindle to be Read (5 Books)

• Maybe in Another Life - Taylor Jenkins Reid - This author continues to blow me away and this is an older novel with all the Sliding Doors feels.
• Northern Lights - Nora Roberts - You know all about my obsession with living in Alaska, well this should help with that.
• A Rose Petal Summer - Katie Fforde - Treated myself to this as part of a 99p offer. I love this author and given the amount of chocolate digestive biscuits I consume, could well audition for the part of a Katie Fforde heroine. Comforting.
• One by One - Ruth Ware - Thriller from The Woman in Cabin 10. Looking forward to a good page turner.
• Cover Art by Vanessa Westerman - The author has reached out and asked me to review this crime novel set around chocolate.

Big Read Books (10 Books)

• Emma by Jane Austen - Made into a number of successful films, my favourite being the Kate Beckinsale version. The film Clueless was based on this novel.
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - I read this years ago and love Dickens. Very excited to read this again.
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy - Excited to be reading this as part of a buddy read with my good friend over on Instagram @fictionaddictionangela. The last time we read a book together we discussed Butterball Turkeys.
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte - I haven't read this in years, but my parents got me a beautiful clothbound classic. Can't wait, will be humming the Kate Bush song the whole time I am reading this.
• Hard Times by Charles Dickens - my well-read father in law, says this is one of his favourite books.
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Whilst we had covid, we watched the 1946 film and it was eerie. I'll be donning my wedding dress to read this
• The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - I read this years ago and loved it. Can't wait to re-read it.
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens - This is a book about a magician....now its not! It's the next logical step up from Oliver Twist
• Dracula by Bram Stoker - My lovely friend Dannie, knowing I love Dracula bought this from the the town where Dracula first lands in England, Whitby. This is a beautiful edition complete with maps, illustrations and character guides.
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins - Atmospheric, gothic, looking forward to reading this so much

Physical Books (24 Books)

• The Summer Without You by Karen Swan - Picked this up second-hand to read on holiday and promptly left it behind. This feels like a summer read.
• A Special Relationship by Douglas Kennedy - One of my favourite authors, beautifully written novels.
• The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict - Given to me as a present on the 1st December by my lovely in-laws. This book is a puzzle within a mystery (wrapped in an enigma).
• Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries edited by Martin Edwards - A collection of short stories from the British Crime Library series. A series which I love and feature on the blog often.
• I Wish it could be Christmas Everyday by Milly Johnson - Who doesn't?
• The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories edited by Jessica Harrison - I've definitely upped my short story collections this year and it is a beautiful book.
• The Christmas Escape by Sarah Morgan - I swear I punched the air when I got this, in a celebratory way, nothing violent. I've been wanting to read this all Christmas
• Underneath the Christmas Tree by Heidi Swan - How many Christmas books are too many? Asking for a friend.
• Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer - Nothing to see here, no not a Christmas book at all.
• A Surprise for Christmas edited by Martin Edwards - My word what's that over there. It's certainly not a Christmas book.
• The Anonymous Venetian by Donna Leon - Phew! Death at La Fenice made it onto my Top 3 reads of last year. I loved it so much I asked Santa to bring me the next two novels in the series.
• Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon - Another wonderful Christmas present. I have been immensely lucky this year.
• The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain - Sentimental value for this book, it has been on my wish list for ages.
• The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett - I loved The Appeal so much and couldn't wait to read this author's next book.
• Holy Island by L.J.Ross - my friend over on Instagram disappeared down a hole of L.J.Ross books. i've never read one and can't wait to start this.
• Mrs England by Stacey Halls - Love, love, love the writing of Stacey Halls. Interestingly we used to have a neighbour called Mrs England, so I'll think of her when I'm reading it. She was obsessed with bins....a lot.
• Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse - I've wanted to read this since I spotted it in hardback and I believe it was a Waterstone's crime book of the month in January. Think psychological thriller.
• The Dark by Emma Haughton - I'm reading this at the moment and its another psychological thriller...set in the Antarctic. I'm having some very weird dream and I'm blaming it on this book.
• A Line to Kill by Anthony Horowitz - Have my in-laws learnt nothing from the whole Midnight's Children debacle? Seriously I will give that book back one day. In the meantime this is our family's book group choice.
• Village Secret by Julie Houston - I'm taking part in a book tour for this novel and am very excited to read this. The book will be published in April.
• Nine Lives by Peter Swanson - Last year I disappeared down a rabbit hole of crime fiction thanks to Peter Swanson's rules for a Perfect Murder. Can't wait to read this
• The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham - Long time readers know I am a huge fan of the British Crime Library series and one author who pops up usually in the short story collections is Margery Allingham. Looking forward to trying this author for the first time.

And that is the lot. 42 books by my reckoning, with 8 of them being Christmassy books. This may give you some idea about what is coming up on the blog. (Christmas!)

Have a great week.