Books of 2022 – February

Hello again, you lovely lot. We made it through February! The days are getting longer, and slightly warmer, there’s the occasional day of sunshine (like today) and we’re trying very hard not to read the news.

Let’s stick to books, eh? How’s that old TBR pile looking?

Books read (6)

• The Goodbye Coast – Joe Ide  [ARC pbk, W&N, blog tour ]
• The Interview – CM Ewan  [hbk, Macmillan, blog tour]
• And Your Enemies Closer – Rob Parker  [audio, Audible sub]
• Sourdough: or Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market– Robin Sloan [pbk, own copy]
• The Untold Story – Genevieve Cogman [e-ARC, Macmillan]
• Coasting: Running Around the Coast of Britain – Life, Love and (Very) Loose Plans – Elise Downing  [audio, Audible sub]

Solid month for reading. Couple of great blog tour books in there. The Goodbye Coast was a great bit of noir, and The Interview was a fantastic high-paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller.

I bought Sourdough at the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco when we were there a couple of years ago, and it’s been on my shelf since then. A rainy Saturday afternoon and I polished it off in a single sitting. I love Robin Sloan’s work – he also has an excellent newsletter which I highly recommend.

Got through two audiobooks as well. Rob Parker’s superb And Your Enemies Closer is the sequel to his Far From The Tree, both brilliantly narrated by Warren Brown of Luther fame. Hugely recommended.

I also listened to Elise Downing’s Coasting, a tale of her adventure running 5000 miles around the coast of Britain. Narrated by the author, this is a fascinating insight into what it’s like to spend ten months or so running and walking a huge distance. There seemed to be a lot of stops for cake, which I approve of.

Books bought

• Vine Street – Dom Nolan [ebook]
• The Lighthouse – Fran Dorricott [ebook]
• What Goes Around – Emily Chappell [ebook]
• Fifty Words For Snow – Nancy Campbell [pbk, Adventurous Ink subscription]
• Coasting: Running Around the Coast of Britain – Life, Love and (Very) Loose Plans – Elise Downing  [audio, Audible sub]
• How to Destroy the Universe: And 34 other really interesting uses of physics – Paul Parsons [ebook]

I picked up a hardback copy of Dom Nolan’s Vine Street over Christmas, but it’s a chonky boi so I jumped at the chance for a 99p kindle version. The Lighthouse was a pre-order from months ago, looks really good.

What Goes Around is the story of a London cycle courier, and has been on my amazon wishlist for more years than I care to think. Popped up on sale so picked that one up too.

Fifty Words For Snow is part of my Adventurous Ink ‘Slow Ink’ subscription. I must have talked about this before, but if not, go check out the site. Tim Frennaux (lovely chap, met him at a Sidetracked event last year) expertly curates some superb adventure books, as well as hosting interviews with some of the authors. Can often be found on Instagram talking about books, sometimes in a snowy woodland, once from up a tree. Avid wearer of caps. Lovely bloke, as I say.

How To Destroy The Universe popped up on an email newsletter somewhere and sounded fascinating. Another one for the ever-growing Kindle TBR pile. At least it doesn’t take up shelf space, of which I am rapidly running out.

Books received (3)

• The Kaiju Preservation Society – John Scalzi [ARC pbk, Tor]
• The Paris Apartment – Lucy Foley [hbk, HarperCollins, blog tour]
• Gallant – VE Schwab [ARC pbk, Titan Books]

Big fan of Scalzi’s books, so excited to see The Kaiju Preservation Society land on the doormat. The Paris Apartment is for a blogtour next week (eek, best get reading) and is excellent thus far.

Finally, a much-coveted advance copy of VE Schwab’s latest, Gallant. Very much looking forward to reading that one.

So, that was February in books. Have you read any of those? Any take your fancy?

What have you been reading lately?