More January 2023 Reading

I managed to do some more reading/audiobooking this month. Not as much as I liked, but I feel pleased over my reading so far in 2023. Will I be able to do more? Big "ha!" and "we shall see", but I did more reading (let's not mention how many books I bought/requested from publishers in the time in between...)

So, let me chat quickly about these two reads and I'll let you be on your way. Now, before I go further, I bought both of these but one of the titles (The Postscripts Murders by Elly Griffiths) was gifted to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review/reaction.

First Reads of 2023

I'm not going to review EVERYTHING I read this year, but I wanted to touch on a few things that I have read in 2023 as it feels weirdly out of my comfort zone and yet, feels perfectly normal (though am not sure why). 

I am reading collections of short stories. I don't feel like I see a lot of these in bookshops or online unless there are linked to a Brand (whether that be a successful author or a character/series) or if it's indie collection or for charity. Maybe am not looking in the right places, so if you know of an awesome collection of short stories, shout them at me as I always like to discover new authors and styles. 

So, at the time of writing this, I have read three and about to start a fourth (after that, I think I will be diving into novels - I am eyeing The Postscript Murders by Effy Griffiths and An Autobiography by Agatha Christie. I won't affiliate link them to Bookshop.org till I have read them). And I thought it would be nice to pop in, say hi, write these up SUPER quick and be on my merry way.

Audiobook Review - The Burning Chambers

• Title And Author: The Burning Chambers by Kate Mosse
• Publisher: MacMillian
• Physical, eBook or Audiobook: Audiobook
• Bought, Borrowed or Gifted: Borrowed from local library via BorrowBox
• Length: 608 Pages or 17 Hours 12 Minutes

I’m not much of a historical fiction reader. I don’t know why, but I do tend to struggle with reading this and it makes me take longer to reading it (look at how long I’ve been reading Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare at the moment to prove my point). But the past few months (late last year), The Burning Chambers have been calling to me. So has a few other historical fiction novels. But when I saw this was on my library’s BorrowBox app, I decided to go for it and try upping the speed of the reader (something I don’t do normally, but I thought I would try as the reader, Hattie Morahan, has a slower tone to her reading so I thought me upping the speed to 1.25 and, on some occasions, 1.5 will be useful). 

The first is an epic historical saga, The Burning Chambers is set in Carcassonne 1562 where nineteen year old Minou receives a myserteous letter at her father’s bookshop: SHE KNOWS THAT YOU LIVE. 

Before she has time to decipher the message, a chance encounter with Piet, a young Huguenots convert on a dangerous mission . Meeting him changes her destiny and soon, the two find themselves wound together at Toulouse several months later when religious tensions between Huguenots and Catholics react boiling point…

And all the while, the dangerous mistress of Puivert is waiting, desperate to find a missing document and her eyes are slowly turning towards Toulouse and onto Minou and her family…