The ABC Murders – by Agatha Christie

8 11 2022

I watched an adaptation of this on TV years ago, and yet couldn’t remember what happened, so I was able to go into this completely free of spoilers!

Poirot received a letter from “ABC” telling him a murder is going to be committed in Andover on a specific date, it happens, and the victims name begins with A. So when he receives a follow-up letter threatening a murder in Bexhill, it’s taken as more than a hoax! You can see the pattern forming for yourself…

Thought to be the work of a maniac, Poirot is still keen to find reason, he insists that even a maniac will have a perceived logic behind what he or she is doing. So even when an arrest is eventually made, for Poirot the mystery was not solved until he had discovered why.

Obviously it’s a mystery, so I’m not going to tell you much more. I was worried it was going to be a bit sedate when something was revealed relatively early on, but not to worry, it’s as clever as any of her others that I’ve read so far!


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The Lazy Genius Way – by Kendra Adachi

20 10 2022

I’ve been following @thelazygenius on Instagram for a fair while now, and so was familiar with her way of thinking. I was very keen to try her book which goes through the thirteen Lazy Genius principles, all revolving around the idea of being genius about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t.

She talked through each one, gave examples, case studies, and emphasised that the most important element is that YOU decide what matters, and that’s going to be different to what matters to others, it’s about what matters to you. This is not a cult!

To give you an idea of what some of these mean:

  • Decide Once
    • If you’re struggling with decision fatigue, reduce the number of decisions you have to make by making a decision once for something that happens repeatedly, so you don’t have to keep on deciding. This can be as simple as “on Friday we’ll always have pizza for dinner”, or “We’ll always give the teacher a box of chocolates at the end of the year”, so you don’t have to stress about what you’re going to do each time these things come around. I grew up with us having the same thing for dinner each day of the week, my mum was already doing this! But because it’s about what matters for you, and that can change, you might find that you need to change that decision later on, and that’s ok!
  • Start Small
    • Don’t be overwhelmed by something massive when you can just focus on something small to begin with so you’re not facing a whole mountain in one go. Maybe you want to spring clean the house, that’s a big job, even a room might seem like a lot, so just start with one set of shelves, once that’s done, you can build on it. It’s like the phrase “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
  • Ask the Magic Question
    • My friend Steph taught me this under different terminology a few years back, and it’s brilliant. The Magic Question is simply “What can I do now to make life easier later?”. For me this is sometimes just doing some jobs on a Friday evening so that I don’t have to do them on a Saturday morning, or writing all my birthday cards at the start of the month so they’re all written, addressed and by the door when needed (that also sort of falls under the principle of “Batch It”!). Steph would sometimes find something she’d put in her bag the night before and say “Oh thanks yesterday-Steph!”, or would do something saying she was doing it for tomorrow-Steph, which are phrases that initially tickled me, but really did stick!

The author, real name Kendra, is a Christian, but for the most part this isn’t a Christian book. On her Instagram she recently said:

“I love Jesus for what it’s worth, but that’s not worth much for a lot of people these days and I get that. Christians for sure need a new PR plan. I don’t talk about my faith online much (because you can strategize about laundry without believing in God), but it also feels weird to do a “this is me!” post without mentioning the most important thing to me. So there it is. I love and follow Jesus, and also every single person is welcome here.⁠”

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj1XgR7uBmZ/

Most of the book is secular, but she occasionally drops in Christian anecdotes/thoughts, particularly towards the end, in ways which I found really helpful. One of the things I found the most special was her take on the Footprints poem (which was hugely popular on Christian bookmarks in the 1990s) – I won’t type the whole thing out, but happy to share if you’re interested!

I easily gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads, and it’s not the sort of book I’ll read just once. She’s also recently published a book about Lazy Genius-ing your kitchen, which I look forward to trying out!

If it’s not immediately clear – I’m a big fan of this book!!!


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The Road Trip – by Beth O’Leary

8 10 2022

Having read The Flat Share at the start of the year, I was keen to read more of Beth O’Leary, and a friend completely raved about this one, so I thought I’d go for it next!

Addie and her sister Deb are driving from Chichester to Scotland for a friend’s wedding, with a randomer who also needed a lift, but very early on a car rams into the back of them. In the car are Addie’s ex and his friend, on their way to the same wedding, and so with their car not driveable, the girls agree to take them too. Thus we end up with five people in a mini for many, many hours.

The book then starts telling two stories in parallel, both the story of the drive, and the story of how Addie and Dylan met, fell in love, and eventually split about 18 months prior to this trip.

Only a couple of minor negatives: I didn’t like Dylan at the start, he was massively into poetry, something I’ve never quite understood and so just found him a bit pompous, but it wasn’t so much it was overwhelming and it soon settled down. My other apprehension at the start was whether they were falling in lust rather than love, but things did deepen over time, so I let them off.

But really they were nothing compared to the positives; it was really well told, it’s rare a book keeps me awake – normally I fall asleep when I read! But I found myself still awake at midnight reading 50-70 pages at a time and just flew through it, I enjoyed the relationships developing between characters, and some of the side characters were really fun too. A very enjoyable read.


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Black and British: A short, essential history – by David Olusoga

28 09 2022

There is a version of this book which is over 600 pages, and goes into a lot more detail, but as someone who struggled with history at school and is very slow to read non fiction I would never consider even trying to read it. So I was delighted to find that there was a children’s version of the book that would cover it more at my level – the words are more spaced out too!

It covers black British history as far back as the Romans, then jumping forward to the Tudors and working through from there to the 20th Century. It’s a great resource covering so much that we weren’t taught in school, or in other ways we learn about our country.

One of the things that stood out to me the most was that the celebrated abolition of the slave trade in 1807 was not the end of slavery; it was only the trade that became illegal at that point, but it can tend to be talked about it like everything was done at that point.

The book is also full of illustrations and images to help follow what’s going on. It’s a really accessible book, and so if like me, history isn’t your thing, this is a non-scary way of learning a bit more. I think I’ll need to read it a couple more times over the years for a refresh, but it’s not difficult to read!


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How To Kill Your Family – by Bella Mackie

13 09 2022

Grace was brought up by her mum, who had a fling with a stupidly wealthy businessman, who wanted nothing to do with her when he found out she was expecting, and neither did the rest of the family.

Grace is now an adult, her mother has passed away, and she’s ready to take her revenge, by killing off every member of the family she should have been a part of.

This isn’t just someone going on a random killing spree. Each member of the family is carefully considered as to the best way for them to meet their end: What does she know about them? How can she make it look like an accident? She is meticulous in her plans.

So when you hear that she’s writing her story from prison, you would assume it all went wrong, but surprisingly, she’s been incarcerated for a murder she didn’t actually commit!

I really enjoyed this, some bits were somewhat harrowing, but the creativity was wonderful!

There was one point in the book where a jump in the timeline wasn’t as smooth as it might have been, though while the way the ending was a little odd in the way it was told, the ending itself was good!


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Where The Crawdads Sing – by Delia Owens

12 08 2022

It was one of those books that everyone seemed to be reading, that was on the shelves at Tesco every time I went, that they were making a film about; and yet every time I read the blurb, it just sounded a bit dull. But so many people were raving about it and recommending it to me, I gave in, got a copy at my next food shop, and gave it a go.

The story is told as two parallel timelines across the 1950s and 60s, meeting up at the end of the book.

  • In the first, Kya lives in a shack in the marshes, just outside a small town. As a small girl, her family gradually leave, and she lives an isolated life, selling mussels to get by, and collecting feathers, shells and all sorts of things from the marsh.
  • In the second, a body is found by the old fire tower by two young boys, and the challenge is to work out if it was an accident or murder, and if so, who did it?

I really enjoyed that she included a map of the area inside the front cover, to help you keep track of things, I always appreciate a diagram in a book!

It’s beautifully told; to repeat the NYT Book Review quote from the back cover: “Painfully beautiful… At once a murder mystery, a coming-of-age narrative and a celebration of nature.”

A strange combination of keeping you guessing, but being warm at the same time. I guess the lesson is, don’t judge a book by it’s blurb!!!


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The Man Who Died Twice – by Richard Osman

16 07 2022

Yes it’s another murder mystery, but it was so nice to spend time with the guys in the Thursday Murder Club again!

More murders this time around, and some stolen diamonds too, as well as involvement from MI5 – plenty of drama! That said, it’s still the lovely heart-warming group of friends living in a retirement village, with all their eccentricities and quirks, alongside some very British references! There are many twists and turns as the book progresses, that kept me guessing ’til the end.

I really don’t want to say any more, to avoid spoilers, but there is so much to enjoy, do give it a go!


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The Windsor Knot – by S.J. Bennett

25 06 2022

Two years ago I started reading Agatha Christie, and since seem to have got well into the world of murder mysteries, including Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club, and currently binge-watching Death In Paradise on BBC iPlayer. When I found one out there was a murder mystery with Her Majesty The Queen as the person trying to solve the crime, I couldn’t resist!

The morning after a “Dine and Sleep” at Windsor Castle, the visiting pianist is found dead in his room. Of course there is immediately an investigation by the appropriate authorities, but the Queen isn’t sure they’re going down the right path, so on the down-low and with the help of her assistant private secretary Rozie, she makes some enquiries of her own.

It was quite endearing, though I wish maybe the Queen had had a little more air-time than she did. There was there was a fair amount of time given to Rozie as obviously the Queen herself couldn’t be making contact with sources without attracting attention. That said, Rozie, was a good character, and it didn’t detract from the plot at all, just as someone who is a big fan of the Queen, I clearly just wanted to read more of her.

It’s set in spring 2016 so covers events like her 90th birthday, a brief visit from the Obama’s, mentions the upcoming Brexit referendum, and of course, Prince Philip is still on the scene, which made for some excellent moments. There were some lovely references to the respect the Queen gets from the military and her staff, “not because of what she is, but who she is”, which was a nice reflection on her

It was a bit of an easy/trashy read, and I enjoyed it, that said, I’m not sure I’d read a sequel. Much like the Obama-Biden mysteries, it’s fun, but one is probably enough.


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Girl, Woman, Other – by Bernardine Evaristo

1 06 2022

Another book I picked up in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, in an attempt to educate myself and read more widely. But as a slow reader, and wanting to mix the books in with my other reading, I’m still working through them.

I’m sad to say, I was not fond of this book. My main issue with it, which was also an issue with Normal People, The Colour Purple, and Freckles, is that none of the speech has quote marks. I do not understand what this achieves other than making the book really hard to follow what’s happening, and to get into in general, which makes it take much longer to read. This one didn’t even have full stops; the only breaks were paragraph breaks where the narration just flowed through. It did have commas, thank goodness, but to be honest I felt lucky to get even them!

The story is broken into four sections, each of which has three subsections, each about a different woman. The groups of three are people who are linked to each other, but each story is quite separate. Then there are a few looser links between some of the women across the four sections. In a way it felt more like a set of short stories than one continuous one, which maybe explains why it just felt a bit like it didn’t really go anywhere. There is then a section at the end which I thought might tie it all together, but just visited in on some of the characters who happen to be at the same party, some of whom I struggled to remember their back story as there had been so many in between. After the end section there is an epilogue which ties two more ends together, but again I hadn’t been desperately wondering what happened to them.

I wonder if it’s just too high brow for me. It’s a Booker Prize winner, so clearly is deemed to be excellent. I’ve only ever read one other Booker Prize winner which was Life of Pi, and I truly loved it, which is why I wasn’t completely put off trying this one, but I may take a moment before deciding to try another. I’ve had slightly more success with the Costa Coffee Book Awards and the Books Are My Bag Readers’ Awards, so maybe they’re more my level!


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The Comfort Book – by Matt Haig

23 04 2022

Matt Haig has written some stupendously good books including Reasons to Stay Alive, Notes on a Nervous Planet, The Humans, and The Truth Pixie; so my expectations were extremely high!

He describes this book as a collection of thoughts that have kept him afloat; have comforted him. It’s a mixture of mostly his own stuff, but also some quotes from others at times.

It’s good, it’s certainly what I needed after the misery of The Bell Jar last week, but something felt lacking. I wonder if this is just because I was expecting too much, or was in a different place to when I’ve read other ones, but to me some bits felt a bit repetitive, and there was a greater focus on some certain philosophies and religions than there has been in his other books, which I guess just shows where he’s at at the moment.

But I don’t want to be too negative, ‘cos if I hadn’t read his other stuff I imagine I’d have loved this! Of course, I have some favourite quotes:

  • “No physical appearance is worth not eating pasta for.”
  • “You don’t stop the rain by telling it to stop. Sometimes you just have to let it pour, let it soak you to the skin. It never rains for ever.”
  • “I hope this email finds you well but, you know what, it is okay if it doesn’t because we all have bad days.”
  • “Forgiving other people is great practice for forgiving yourself when the time comes.”
  • “Introversion is not something you fix via extroversion. You fix it by seeing it as something not to be fixed.”
  • “When a dog lies in the sun I imagine it does it without guilt, because as far as I can tell dogs seem more in tune with their own needs.”
  • “Maybe we aren’t meant to know everything about our lives. And maybe that’s perfectly okay.”

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