One book, two books, three books….another meme

Several of my blogging friends have participated in this meme so I thought I would give it a try.

1] The book I am currently reading:

Prince by Rory Clements, which I am reading on my Kindle. I am really enjoying this rattling good adventure story set in Elizabethan London, full of historical details and gunpowder plots. 

2] The last book I finished:

The Cleansing Flames by R.N.Morris.

3] The next book I want to read:

The Somme Stations by Andrew Martin which has been recommended by Rob Kitchin from The View from the Blue House. This will be the fourth book I will have read from that 2011 CWA Ellis Peters Award shortlist.

4] The last book I bought:

Unwanted by Kristina Ohlsson. I saw that Ohlsson’s third book had been shortlisted for the Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2011 so naturally with my total lack of sales resistance I had to buy her debut novel, the first to be translated into English by Sarah Death.

5] The last book I was given:

A Deception at Lyme by Carrie Bebris. Usually I am given books by the wonderfully generous Maxine, Countess Petrona, whom I owe enough postal charges to revive the Greek economy, but this one was sent totally unsolicited from the publishers in New York, who must have looked at a map and said he lives near Lyme.

A Deception at Lyme is the sixth mystery in the Mr and Mrs Darcy series, so obviously Jane Austen fans must really like these books. I might read this one as the blurb on the front flap reads: In Jane Austen’s Persuasion, the Cobb-Lyme’s famous sea wall…….I have visited Lyme Regis several times, and despite once walking on the windswept Cobb have never yet met Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Darcy or even Jane Austen. [Photos of  Lyme Regis, with a view towards the Cobb, and The Cobb Gate Fish Bar!]

6] Which was the last book you borrowed from the library? 

We haven’t used our local library since it was used to collect signatures for political petitions. 

7] What is the most recent e-book you read?

I am reading an e-book at the moment, Prince by Rory Clements, and the e-book I read before that was Devil’s Peak by Deon Meyer. I looked at the paperback edition of Devil’s Peak in a bookshop and noticed it had a very small font. I would have struggled to read that, but on my KindleI was able to increase the font size to something that was suitable for my elderly eyes.

8] What is the last translated book you read?

This was Misterioso by Arne Dahl, the first in the Intercrime series.

9] What was the first book you read this year?

It was The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards, the fourth book in his superb Lake District series featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Cold Case unit, and local historian Daniel Kind. I am looking forward to reading  the next book in the series, The Hanging Wood.

10] Which book are at the top of my winter festival present list? 

The Hanging Woods by Martin Edwards would be a good choice as it would add some symmetry to my reading year, and I definitely want to continue reading the Lake District series.

11] Which so far unpublished book are you most looking forward to reading?

A difficult choice, but probably Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olsen to see if he maintains the standard set in Mercy, and if we learn a little more about Carl Morck’s mysterious assistant  Assad.

Links to some of the other memes on this theme  The View from the Blue House, Petrona, Reactions to Reading, Mysteries in Paradise,  Books Please and The Game’s Afoot.