Busy, busy, busy… and meanwhile at Shiny…

My poor blog – I’ve been neglecting it of late, life’s been so busy!  The next couple of weeks should be easier, although my priority will be supporting my daughter in her GCSE revision. Still, we did manage to get to IKEA earlier this week, and I now have a rather lovely new armchair/rug/coffee table combo for the refurbished conservatory, plus a laptop desk and chair to go in there too. Needless to say, the moment the chair was set upright, it had a cat on it!

Meanwhile, I there are a couple of recent reviews at Shiny, I haven’t linked to here yet….

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

Claire’s first novel, Our Endless Numbered Days, was my book of the year two years ago, so I was crossing my fingers for her second novel. It certainly delivered!

It’s the story of Ingrid and Gil, their daughters and stormy relationship, which is thrown into limbo when Ingrid disappears.

The story takes turns between Gil and the girls in the present day, after Gil has an accident, and Ingrid telling her side in letters – which she hides in Gil’s books.

This is a warts and all, no compromise novel, but one written in such lovely prose that doesn’t give away its secrets easily.

Read my full review HERE.


Auntie Poldi and the Sicilan Lions by Mario Giordano

I’m very glad to have met the irrepressible Auntie Poldi! Poldi is the nickname of Isolde Oberreiter, a widowed and childless, sixty-year-old German costume designer from Munich, who had been married to Guiseppe from Sicily – where she moves to wait out her final years with a sea view.

However, no sooner is she installed there, that she gets involved in local ‘business’ when the young man who does some odd jobs for her goes missing.

Auntie Poldi gets stuck in in a way that would horrify Miss Marple, using all her feminine wiles to get her way – much to her nephew’s horror – he is narrating her story to us.

It’s a joy to read a modern crime novel with a sense of humour – they are few and far between, so I savoured this one with its unconventional leading lady. Highly recommended, and I hope there are more to come.

Read my full review HERE.

2 thoughts on “Busy, busy, busy… and meanwhile at Shiny…

  1. AnnaBookBel says:

    That’s the plan – although my daughter has colonised the window ledges for all her GCSE files and the little desk at the mo. Come the summer, it’s mine again!

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