For the last time this year…

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent December’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

“A pity she was so fond of snooping. ‘Knowledge is power,’ she used to say, and I used to tell her ‘If you want to be liked, miss, don’t you be a Poll Pry,’ but she only laughed at me.”

The Art School Murders by Moray Dalton (1943)

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She would curl up in a secluded corner and read story after story, while her father worked nearby in companionable silence. For Evie – like her father – old stories and legends meant escape into another world, one of boundless possibilities and far horizons.

Circle of Shadows by Marisa Linton (2025)

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“Art’s important at a time like this. It gives human life its value. It’s what we’re fighting for.”

Appointment in Paris by Jane Thynne (2025)

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There was something in the Bible about casting out fear. If you could cast out fear, everything would be all right. But you couldn’t do it. Too many people were frightened of too many things.

Alice by Elizabeth Eliot (1949)

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“The most difficult thing in this world,” he said, “is to know where one’s duty lies, for duty is a mechanism of the mind, and the heart is forever stepping in and playing havoc with one’s resolutions.”

The Bishop Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine (1929)

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“Always, everywhere, the Wolves gather on the frontiers, waiting. It needs only that a man should lower his eye for a moment, and they will be in to strip the bones. Rome is failing, my children.”

The Silver Branch by Rosemary Sutcliff (1957)

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“You think you are brave, because you do not cry to others to help you, but no one,” and here her voice broke down to a whisper, “no one can withstand cruelty on their own. It is vain to think you can do so. There are times when it is a kind and courageous act to cry out, to tell the world what is happening, to warn other victims…”

The Book of Human Skin by Michelle Lovric (2010)

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We use the same word, ‘story’, to describe a verifiable matter of fact, a self-proclaimed work of the imagination, and the brazen lie. Did we never foresee a problem?

The Tower by Thea Lenarduzzi (2025)

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“That’s…very noble of you.”

He shrugs. “Maybe. Because if I’ve learned one thing from history, it’s that there’s no point holding on to something when it wants to be free.”

The Inn at Penglas Cove by Lauren Westwood (2026)

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Grief is complicated. Doesn’t matter whether you think you have a right to feel it. Doesn’t matter how long you’ve carried it. Grief burrows away inside you and sometimes it helps to talk.

The Shapeshifter’s Daughter by Sally Magnusson (2025)

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He wondered how much kinder all humanity would be if any day the rich and powerful might find themselves the lowest of the low, and those they used to trample suddenly in charge.

The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson (2026)

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Favourite books read in December:

Circle of Shadows and The Inn at Penglas Cove

Authors read for the first time in December:

Moray Dalton, Marisa Linton, Elizabeth Eliot, S.S. Van Dine, Liam Higginson, Thea Lenarduzzi, Lauren Westwood

Places visited in my December reading:

England, France, Italy, Peru, US, Scotland, Wales

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Reading notes: December was a good month of reading for me. I’m pleased that I managed to read two books for Dean Street December (Alice and The Art School Murders) and one for Doorstoppers in December (The Book of Human Skin as well as making a start on my January NetGalley books. I haven’t had time to review everything I read this month, but I do at least have most of the reviews written and scheduled. I’m looking forward to starting a fresh new year of reading tomorrow!

What did you read in December? Do you have any plans for January?

Happy New Year!

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent November’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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Over centuries, literature has served as a refuge for the weary, a space where individuals could confront their fears, process trauma, or simply escape into a world kinder than their own.

100 Books to Live By by Joseph Piercy (2025)

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‘Yes, ’tis a powerful thing, fear. But never forget that loneliness gives you strength. You can spend your life observing others, on the outside looking in. You end up learning a lot about human nature that way.’

The Last Love Song by Lucinda Riley (2025)

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‘God, Elva, I could kick myself. It’s the first rule of detective fiction – never delay questioning a suspect, because they’re bound to be bumped off before you get to them.’

The Christmas Clue by Nicola Upson (2025)

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Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.

Surfacing by Margaret Atwood (1972)

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‘I do,’ I say. ‘Art is generally about love, one way or another, don’t you think? Every book. Every song. Every film. All of us trying to live with it. Or get over it. Or wonder why we’ve never had it. Not necessarily love in a sexual sense. Love between parents and children. Love for a place.’

Air by John Boyne (2025)

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Lotus blossoms had to rise from the depths of murky waters in order to bloom. They were survivors. And so was she.

Ghosts of Grayhaven by Amy Newbold and Lark Wright (2025)

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But, as is often the case, some people do not take the advice solicited so passionately from their loved ones, yet find themselves considering the same advice if offered to them by another party…

The Twelve Days of Christmas by Susan Stokes-Chapman (2025)

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Fear can resemble a crackling sound in a frozen ditch.

The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas (1963)

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“Is it a ruin now? I love ruins. The ancient sadness of them – the knowledge one is treading through history.”

All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles (2025)

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Some people are so righteous in their minds they can’t accept mistakes in others. They would rather cradle condemnation at their breasts than help someone in trouble. He can’t understand that kind of bitterness at all.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (2025)

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How had she reached such a state, Cheryl wondered, as they made their laborious way down the stairs, when a few kindly meant words of a stranger were all that stopped her sinking to the floor in despair.

The Token by Sharon Bolton (2025)

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All love is war, if you are one of the weapons.

No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes (2025)

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If one man does not make a move, the other must, and by permitting the adversary to make the attack one learns something about him.

The Big Four by Agatha Christie (1927)

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With all my heart, I envied those to whom the night was nothing. A fleeting mind full of dreams and nothing, nothing more. Rest and refreshment. The quiet lost hours of the night. But for me it was not so.

The Inn Closes for Christmas by Cledwyn Hughes (1947)

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There is an old German saying: there are always grounds for hope, it just has to be the right hope.

Tales from the Underworld by Hans Fallada (2014)

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Favourite books read in November:

The Twelve Days of Christmas and Seascraper

Authors read for the first time in November:

Nicola Upson, Joseph Piercy, Benjamin Wood, KJ Charles, Cledwyn Hughes, Amy Newbold and Lark Wright

Places visited in my November reading:

England, Ancient Greece, Norway, US, Canada, Ireland, Germany, Wales, France, Italy

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Reading notes: I’ve read a lot more this month than I have over the last few months, which is largely due to Novellas in November. I read five novellas, all of which I enjoyed to varying degrees. One of them counted towards Margaret Atwood Reading Month too and I also managed to read books for German Literature Month and Nonfiction November, as well as joining in with all the nonfiction weekly topics. Other than that, I read a few Christmas books and some review copies from my NetGalley shelf.

There are two more events coming up in December – Doorstoppers in December hosted by Laura Tisdall, a chance for us to read some of the bigger books on our shelves after a month devoted to the shorter ones in November, and Dean Street Press December, hosted as ever by Liz. December and the end of the year also means I’ll be posting my annual preview of upcoming historical fiction releases for the year ahead, as well as revealing my books of the year for 2025 – so look out for both of those posts later in the month!

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What did you read in November? Do you have any plans for your December reading?

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent October’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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Very old vampires are anachronisms: they are living history, bringing the past right into the present, with all the traumas of the past. Every one of us who has written about a vampire knows our own vampire very well, because each reflects something of what we thought of humanity at the time we wrote them.

White Teeth, Red Blood: Selected Vampiric Verses by various authors (2025)

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And so they strolled on over the sand, happy in each other’s company but with their minds full of things they should have said, but didn’t.

A Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Solving a Murder by F.H. Petford (2025)

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So, give me the unknown any day. Forget what other people learned, discover something new, something no one else knows, that’s when you make a name for yourself. That’s when the big people come looking for you.

Monstrous Tales by various authors (2025)
(Quote from Boneless by Janice Hallett)

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‘Nor I!’ Granmere laughed again. ‘Thou wouldst never set out to do the impossible?’

Simon reflected. ‘Nay, I think not, sir. Yet I believe that there is very little that is impossible. There is always a way.’

Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer (1925)

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I was captivated. Each wasp knows its function and performs it: no doubts, no mistakes, no misunderstandings. The beautiful logic of insect lives. A million miles from the messy irrationality of human beings.

Rainforest by Michelle Paver (2025)

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“It’s sometimes a mistake to remember too much,” said Mitchell Dane. “Half the people in the world make their own troubles by forgetting what they ought to remember, and then they keep ’em alive by remembering what they ought to forget.”

The Black Cabinet by Patricia Wentworth (1925)

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But then, I told myself, trying to make sense of it, is that not the case with all of the places, things, and people we dream of, that they seem mundanely familiar and at the same time inexpressibly strange?

Venetian Vespers by John Banville (2025)

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I thought of it, afterwards, with astonished guilt. I told myself that it is impossible to dissect your friends and separate the good from the bad, that you accept them as they are, imperfect as they are.

The Odd Flamingo by Nina Bawden (1954)

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But the brightest lights shine only against the darkest of backgrounds…

Murder Most Haunted by Emma Mason (2025)

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Favourite books read this month:

The Black Cabinet and Monstrous Tales

Authors read for the first time this month:

F.H. Petford, Emma Mason, Sunyi Dean, Jenn Ashworth, Abir Mukherjee – and too many poets to list them all here!

Places visited in my October reading:

England, France, Germany, Scotland, Wales, Italy, Mexico

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Reading notes: My October reading has been devoted mainly to books for 1925 Club and also the RIP XX challenge, so lots of dark, atmospheric or ghostly reads this month! November is always a busy month in the book blogging calendar (I wrote about my plans here) and I’m looking forward to joining in with Nonfiction November, Novellas in November and, if I have time, Margaret Atwood Reading Month and German Literature Month.

What did you read in October? Do you have any plans for November?

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent September’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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‘The pandemic was such a strange time,’ she murmured. ‘Everyone in the world lived through a nightmare. So much uncertainty and fear for the future. We couldn’t take anything for granted. Not even in Midwinter. A village like nowhere else.’

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards (2025)

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Therein, she thought, lies the unbearable solitude of a lie: you’re alone when you tell it, alone when you live it, alone when you try to dismantle it.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan (2025)

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Kuzunoha may be shown looking sorrowful and with her head downcast, but her eyes are wide open. And neither of them has been painted in. If the finishing touches are the most important part of a painting, then looking at this one will really show you just how important the eyes are to a human face.

Murder at the Black Cat Cafe by Seishi Yokomizo (1947)

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‘That’s life, Gabriel. None of us knows the full consequences of our decisions. History is the history of unintended consequences. Life is random, unpredictable.’

The Predicament by William Boyd (2025)

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It grew late, later than Mattis usually stayed up. All the same, he didn’t feel like going to bed, and went on strolling about outside. When you had something on your mind it was even worse, lying in bed twisting and turning.

The Birds by Tarjei Vesaas (1957)

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Poems take us to all kinds of strange and surprising intimacies in the past; they invite us into unexpected empathy with individuals and moments far away.

A History of England in 25 Poems by Catherine Clarke (2025)

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Favourite books read in September:

Buckeye, A History of England in 25 Poems, The Predicament and The Birds

Authors read for the first time in September:

Patrick Ryan, Catherine Clarke, Tarjei Vesaas

Places visited in my September reading:

England, US, Japan, Guatemala, Germany, Norway

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Reading notes: This was another slower month for me in terms of the number of books I finished, but I enjoyed them all and loved most of them, which is the most important thing. It was also good to discover some new authors and to add Guatemala, a completely new setting for me, to my list of countries visited! I read two books that counted towards the RIP XX challenge and have lots more lined up for October – although I don’t know how many I’ll have time for because October also means 1925 Club, the latest club year hosted by Karen and Simon, which is always something to look forward to!

What did you read in September? Do you have any plans for October?

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent August’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

“We all wear masks,” he said, in a voice that was soft but impossible to ignore. “Every single one of us. And for different reasons. Some, to conceal. Others, to deceive. But masks are funny things. The very presence of a mask tells us there is something behind it.”

The House at Devil’s Neck by Tom Mead (2025)

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“No, my friend, I am not drunk. I have just been to the dentist, and need not return for another six months! Is it not the most beautiful thought?”

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe by Agatha Christie (1940)

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Did evil have wants and needs? Surely not, surely that would make it too human. No longer a tug from the depths of the abyss, but something sentient that could surface in anyone.

The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (2017)

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Karma is a natural consequence. Badness accrues. It affects the way you live your life, how you perceive the world. When you do evil things, you see the world as petty and selfish and cruel.

Katabasis by RF Kuang (2025)

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“My goodness, are you all one family?”

“Yes, all one family,” Henny spoke up. “I’m Henrietta, Henny for short; I’m ten. Ella’s twelve, Sarah is eight, Charlotte is six and Gertie is four.”

“A step-and-stairs family!” The librarian laughed and the tiny freckles on her pert nose seemed to laugh with her.

“That’s a good name for us,” said Ella. “Some people call us an all-of-a-kind family.”

All-of-a-Kind-Family by Sydney Taylor (1951)

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I also toyed with the idea of installing electricity, but Vow Cave was ‘four poles’ away from the nearest house, and the cost was prohibitive. Since then I have sometimes wondered whether this absence of electricity was not a blessing in disguise: does not a dwelling without it breathe more freely? Some of the tension of modern life is due, I think, to the fact that people surround themselves day and night with the pulsations of electricity in one form or other.

The Living Stones: Cornwall by Ithell Colquhoun (1957)

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Favourite books read in August:

The Silent Companions and All-of-a-Kind Family

Authors read for the first time in August:

RF Kuang, Sydney Taylor

Places visited in my August reading:

England, US, Hell

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Reading notes: I didn’t finish as many books as usual in August, for various reasons, but on a more positive note I completed the 20 Books of Summer challenge for only the second time in my nine years of participating. I’ll be posting a summary of the challenge next week, but for now I can say that being flexible is the key to success!

In September (and October), I’m looking forward to joining in with RIP (Readers Imbibing Peril). It’s the 20th year of RIP and it has been hosted by @perilreaders on Instagram for the last few years, but I’ve noticed plenty of book bloggers still taking part as well. I won’t be posting a list in advance, but I have plenty of dark, spooky reads lined up for the next two months!

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How was your August? Do you have any plans for September?

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent July’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

Nobody likes to feel a fool. We believe what we want to believe, which is whatever serves us best.

The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson (2025)

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Man’s immortality is not to live forever; for that wish is born of fear. Each moment free from fear makes a man immortal.

Fire From Heaven by Mary Renault (1969)

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I learned later that this wasn’t quite the truth. I came eventually to see that what goes on between two people behind closed doors is hard to prove, that there is one law for the rich and another for the poor. There is an age at which one comes to an understanding of hypocrisy, and I hadn’t reached it then.

Sinners by Elizabeth Fremantle (2025)

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Power, without the consent of those over whom it is exercised, is a fraud that cannot long endure, a delicate balance between fear and rebellion, which may suddenly be overset when enough men become aware that they all think alike.

The Lily and the Lion by Maurice Druon (1959)

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One thing can safely be said about an archaeological packing. It consists mainly of books. What books to take, what books can be taken, what books there are room for, what books can (with agony!) be left behind. I am firmly convinced that all archaeologists pack in the following manner: They decide on the maximum number of suitcases that a long-suffering Wagon Lit Company will permit them to take. They then fill these suitcases to the brim with books. They then, reluctantly, take out a few books, and fill in the space thus obtained with shirt, pyjamas, socks, etc.

Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie (1946)

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A long hump rose from the ground, which Jess knew to be one of numerous barrows that dotted the slopes and heights of these stark uplands. But while she had no fear of the stone circle where she lived, these particular stones formed the entrance to a mysterious long barrow which had a demonic reputation, and although the chamber behind them would provide essential shelter from the approaching storm, the whole structure filled her with deep apprehension.

The House of Seymour by Joanna Hickson (2025)

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Lydia shook her head to think of it. For far from Love at First Sight, for her, it had been Dislike at First Conversation.

How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days by Sophie Irwin (2025)

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Not all people were the same. Life was like the river. How you perceived it depended upon you viewpoint. And what you saw, like the automaton wren, was not always the truth, because truth was not always absolute; it had its own nuances.

The Emerald Shawl by Louise Douglas (2025)

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History is rich and interesting exactly because humans are, and while our modern life loves a binary, especially between good and evil, the reality is we all have the capacity for exciting and mundane, moral and immoral, smart and stupid.

Masquerade Balls in Regency England by Anne Glover (2025)

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Perhaps all detectives were mildly unsettling. Perhaps they needed to be, to get the job done.

No Life for a Lady by Hannah Dolby (2023)

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I have never been able to describe even my fictitious characters except by their actions. It has always seemed to me that in a novel the reader should be allowed to imagine a character in any way he chooses: I do not want to supply him with ready-made illustrations.

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)

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Favourite books read in July:

Sinners, The Art of a Lie, Come, Tell Me How You Live, The Emerald Shawl, No Life for a Lady (yes, I found it difficult to choose this month!)

Authors read for the first time in July:

Anne Glover, Graham Greene, Hannah Dolby

Places visited in my July reading:

Italy, England, Macedonia, Greece, France, Syria

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Reading notes: Most of my reading in July was for the 20 Books of Summer challenge. I have now read 17 books for the challenge, which means I only have to read 3 more in August. I just need to find time to catch up with posting my reviews! I was pleased that I also managed to incorporate a French novel (The Lily and the Lion) into my July reading for Emma’s Paris in July event!

I have no plans for August other than finishing 20 Books of Summer. It’s Women in Translation month, which I do usually try to take part in, but I’m not sure if I have anything suitable on the TBR at the moment. I’ll see what happens!

What did you read in July? Do you have any plans for August?

A selection of quotes and pictures to represent June’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

~

He’d be better off reading detective stories than going to Miss Covey’s English Grammar class. After all, there are worse places to find an education than crime fiction.

A Schooling in Murder by Andrew Taylor (2025)

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“Yes, I learned to hate, Peter, and that is worse than being sick, or starved, or thirsty, or in pain.”

Jennie by Paul Gallico (1950)

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I was a child of the outdoors, a wild thing, made more of mud and scrapes than manners and poise. My father did not try to change that. He knew, because he was the same, that trying to make me something I was not would be like trying to alter the flow of a river by standing in the water and shouting.

The Rush by Beth Lewis (2025)

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“The amount of time you spent together probably matters, but less time doesn’t mean less love. Whether it’s a day or year, human or cat, and even if we may never see them again, there are those who are irreplaceable in our lives.”

We’ll Prescribe you a Cat by Syou Ishida (2023)

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If you feel that you have been humiliated, you have got to learn to dare to yell and scream that you feel that way. Women have become paralysed. It’s the culture. It’s the culture that has made us all lose the courage to be ourselves when we are hurt – to really yell and scream.

The Stepdaughter by Caroline Blackwood (1976)

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‘The world?‘ Cassandra gave a small laugh, as if at the follies of youth. ‘I regret to inform you that the world does not think of any of us as much as we all like to think.’ It was at least true that at her own time of life, it did not give a jot. ‘As for the minuscule circles in which we both live…It may be true that you have created a minor diversion. But for what do we live but to create sport for our neighbours?’

The Elopement by Gill Hornby (2025)

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He knows very well that this is what it is to be an artist. Success is built upon the backs of many failures. You must turn the page; you must try again.

These Wicked Devices by Matthew Plampin (2025)

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“Do you think a murderer ought to be a happy man?”

Miss Marple coughed. “Well, they usually have been in my experience.”

“I don’t suppose your experience has gone very far,” said Mr Rafiel.

In this assumption, as Miss Marple could have told him, he was wrong. But she forebore to contest his statement. Gentlemen, she knew, did not like to be put right in their facts.

A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie (1964)

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His living room, about eight tatami mats in size, was littered with books, as usual. While many were architecture-related, the vast majority were mystery novels. More than seemed reasonable, actually.

AUTHOR: So many books. As always.

KURIHARA: That does seem to be where most of my money goes.

Strange Houses by Uketsu (2021)

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It is a world of confidence, even amongst those who lack the good looks or wisdom or godliness to have earned it. It is not a world I am comfortable in, but I have had to find a way through. Theirs is a black-and-white world of certainties: of good and bad, and right and wrong. To them, I am wicked. So they strung me up in front of a baying crowd. But none of them had ever been in my shoes.

The Mourning Necklace by Kate Foster (2025)

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‘But I think that everyone should do all the things they shouldn’t do – and then, they won’t.’

Dr. Parry laughed as he rose reluctantly from the old creaking basket-chair. ‘It takes a doctor to disentangle that,’ he said. ‘But I imagine you refer to moral inoculation.’

‘Yes,’ nodded Helen. ‘Like being vaccinated against small-pox.’

The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White (1933)

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His words were meant to chill me, and they did. But I wouldn’t tell him what ghosts there were waiting in the night for me, sometimes even in the day. ‘Which of us isn’t haunted by our past?’ I said, at last. ‘We each have one, after all. You can’t live and not have a past.’

Love and Other Poisons by Lesley McDowell (2025)

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Favourite books read in June:

The Rush, The Mourning Necklace and The Spiral Staircase

Authors read for the first time this month:

Beth Lewis, Syou Ishida, Caroline Blackwood

Places visited in my June reading:

England, Scotland, Wales, USA, Japan, Canada, Italy, a fictional Caribbean island

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Reading notes: June was another good month of reading for me, helped by having a week off work at the beginning of the month, and my 20 Books of Summer also got off to a great start. I’ve read nine books from my list so far, which gives me hope that I’ll be able to complete the challenge this year! I’m also pleased that I was able to contribute two cat-related posts to Mallika’s Reading the Meow event.

In July, I will be continuing with 20 Books of Summer and I have a book lined up for the Read Christie 2025 challenge as well. I’m also hoping I can catch up with posting my outstanding reviews!

What did you read in June? Do you have any plans for July?