Snailmail
General Snailmail was sadly lacking this week! I had plenty outgoing but the only incoming envelopes held junk mail offers for home insurance, and there was the usual smattering of takeaway menus.
CurryMail
Recently a friend was telling me about Curry for Change , a project which aims to raise awareness of world hunger through encouraging both food businesses and individuals to host fundraising curry nights.
She had attended a pop-up restaurant event around this time last year, and knowing that I enjoy a) a good curry, and b) a good fundraiser; she thought I might like to get involved. Of course, I did!
I signed up, pledging to host a curry night in September, and am eager to try out some of the tasty looking recipes shared on the site in preparation for the big event.
I’ll share more about my night nearer the time, but if you’d like to know more or are interested in participating, you can visit the Curry for Change website, or visit them on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
BookMail
On the other hand, there’s been NO shortage of books!!
The last week has certainly brought a lot of BookMail, arriving from a variety of sources.
First up, Tarn Richardson sent me a signed copy of his book The Fallen, along with some signed promo cards; one which he added a cheeky wee personalised message to.
The Fallen is book two of The Dark Hand trilogy , a fantasy horror inspired by WW1 events in Italy.
Set in 1915, Demonic possessions are sweeping across Rome and the Vatican’s Eagle Fountain is running red with blood. Something evil is coming…. Only Poldek Tacit, the Catholic Church’s most determined and unhinged Inquisitor can hope to push back the forces of evil and unite those for good. But what happens when Tacit finds that the path he walks has already been prophesised and that where it leads threatens the very future of a world on the edge of the abyss?
The Fallen will draw you into a dark and captivating world full of demons, werewolves, ritualistic terror and fast-paced action.
It looks like an exciting read, and Offspring #2 has his eye on it after I’m finished reading it.
ReadersFirst is a regular source of my BookMail, as I enter their weekly draws by leaving my First Impressions, after downloading and reading opening chapters.
A large number of the books they promote are by up and coming authors, and there’s always 1 or 2 that catch my eye.
It’s also a great way to expand my reading horizons as I find myself reading and enjoying books and genres that I may not necessarily pick up on my own.
A DARKLY HILARIOUS LOVE STORY ABOUT FACING FEARS – ONE SNAKE / SPIDER / POTENTIALLY UNSTABLE FOURTH FLOOR BALCONY AT A TIME.
Published by Hot Key Books, A Semi Definitive List of WORST Nightmares is Krystal Sutherland‘s second novel, and it has much to live up to after the triumph of her debut Our Chemical Hearts.
Esther Solar is unusual. It’s not just her outfits (always a costume – Red Riding Hood today) or her family, with their unique and weird obsessions. When Esther is mugged by Jonah, an old classmate, he takes everything she has, including her phone and her private list of worst nightmares. Jonah returns the phone, with nothing left in it but his number. Esther knows she shouldn’t phone Jonah – but she does.
Jonah sets Esther a challenge: to work through her list of fears together, facing one terrifying fear at a time, plus one that surprises them both…
Jens Lapidus has certainly made a name for himself in the increasingly popular Swedish noir genre, having authored three of the country’s top crime thrillers in the past decade, and Stockholm Delete looks to be carrying on his success. Having read the suspense-filled first chapters of this legal thriller I can’t wait to read on!
Emilie Jansson has just been made partner at a prestigious law firm when she is asked to work with an unusual partner. Teddy is an ex-con trying to stay on the right side of the law while working as the firm’s fixer and Special Investigator. Meanwhile, a body is discovered in a remote house in the country after what looks like an attempted robbery – and a severely wounded man found near the scene is soon in the frame for murder. Emilie takes on the role of his defence lawyer. But when the trail of evidence leads back to her partner Teddy’s wayward past, Emilie begins to wonder what she’s taken on… In Stockholm Delete, Emilie and Teddy become entangled in a complex and dangerous web with deep connections to Stockholm’s criminal underworld. Both will be tested in terrible ways. But can they survive long enough to uncover the truth?
Full of intrigue; this thriller, from an author who has lived the life of a criminal lawyer, is wonderfully dark. Likened to the writing of Karin Slaughter and Steig Larrson, I am eager to read more.
I was recently approached by the lovely people at Duckworth, who asked if I would be interested in reading and reviewing David Bergen‘s new novel Stranger, to be published in September.
Íso is a young Guatemalan woman who meets a charming doctor, Eric. When an accident forces him to unexpectedly return to America, Íso is left brokenhearted and pregnant. But her dreams of raising her newborn come to a halt when her daughter is abducted. Determined to reclaim her stolen child, Íso makes her way north, descending into a world full of danger.
In a place of shifting boundaries, she must decide who she can trust, aware that a wrong decision could mean losing her daughter forever.
Stranger is a story in which the themes of immigration and refugees, exploitation and vulnerability, rich and poor collide to make a powerful and affecting novel; leaving us with the question:
Just how many borders would you cross to reclaim your child?
In a period when the subject of immigration is on many people’s agenda, the timely publication of books such as Stranger can only help others sympathize with the plight of many immigrants; who’s only want for their families is for them to be safe and secure, together.
Bergen’s electrifying story of barriers and privilege merges modern race and identity politics with a pinch of magic realism, ultimately asking – in a world full of strangers – how much are we prepared to let the borders that we draw entrap us?
I fully expect this to be a provocative and heart-wrenching tale, and am eager to share my thoughts with you.
My final BookMail of the week arrived courtesy of Penguin Random House Children’s division.
Having recently entered a goodreads giveaway for the most recent Andy McNab novel Silent Weapon, the second in the Teen/YA Sean Barker series. I was suitably excited to receive notification that I was one of winners to receive a shiny new copy AND also a copy of the original Street Soldier book, which was first in the series.
Although I have devoured a few Andy McNab offerings over the years, I haven’t yet read any of the teen-aimed books. I am eager to see how they stack up.
Mr. Crafty has also expressed an interest in reading these, so we may well have a guest post in the offing!
6 print copies seem rather a lot, so I probably shouldn’t mention the 3 E-books I also acquired this week too…
Still, at least that long bus journey home from the new job is good for something! I’m getting around an extra hour and a half reading time a day!!
Are you reading anything at present that you’d recommend?
As always, thanks for stopping by.
Hugs,
Crafty xxx
Each box comes in sturdy outer packaging.
