So November is gone in the blink of an eye. Quite a bit of it was spent with the outside hidden away by a blanket of fog. Perfect reading weather. However if I had done more actual reading then I wouldn’t have found myself in the position of being surrounded by books and having to find a way to accommodate them all, but we can’t have everything. The tree made it’s appearance at the end of November. We usually wait until at least 1st December (or the oneth as my six year old calls it), but given that was during the week, we opted for earlier. I did my designated role of waiting for the kids to finish decorating and then evenly distributed the baubles. As for books, not so many arrived as last month, the lockdown effect no doubt. Not as many were read as I would have liked but we can’t have everything…

So here’s what came into the Emson Grotto this month:

1. The Last Thing to Burn by Will Dean, sent for review by Harper Collins.
2. The Summer Job by Lizzy Dent, sent for review by Viking.
3. The Winter Garden by Heidi Swain, sent for review by Simon and Schuster.
4. The Guest List by Lucy Foley, a treat from me to me.
5. A Surprise for Christmas edited by Martin Edwards, sent for review by the British Library.
6. The Game by Luca Veste, sent for review by Simon and Schuster.
7. Dangerous Women by Hope Adams, sent for review by the author.
8. The Imposter by Anna Wharton, sent for review by Mantle.
9. Charlotte by Helen Moffett, sent for review by Manilla Press.
10. Letters from the Dead by Sam Hurcom, sent for review by Orion.
11. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, sent for review by Bloomsbury.
12. The Strays of Paris by Jane Smiley, sent for review by Mantle.
13. The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson, sent for review by HQ.
14. The Beloved Children by Tina Jackson, sent for review by Fahrenheit Press.
15. The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, sent for review by Viper Books.
16. The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths, sent as part of a subscription box for review.
17. The Lost Gallows by John Dickson Carr, sent for review by the British Library.
18. Panenka by Ronan Hession, sent for review by Bluemoose Books.
19. The Runes of Destiny by Christina Courtney, sent for review by Headline.
20. Lightseekers by Femi Kayode, sent for review by Bloomsbury.
21. You, Me & the Sea by Elizabeth Haynes, sent for review by Emma Dowson.
22. There’s No Story There by Inez Holden.
23. Where Stands A Winged Sentry by Margaret Kennedy, both this and the previous book were sent for review by Handheld Press.

Here’s what I managed to read:

1. The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman.
2. Whispers in the Dark by Chris McDonald.
3. The Thief on the Winged Horse by Kate Mascarenhas.
4. Letters from the Dead by Sam Hurcom.
5. Ex Libris by Michiko Kakutani.

I also sent off 4 books to a bookshop collecting gifts for women prisoners, lent out 1 to a school mum friend and sent 2 off to booklovers around the country. So that’s 23 in and 12 out. Half way there, more or less. Until next time, Seasons Greetings and I hope your December is all you hope it to be.