I’ve been busy with work since the latter part of November. It’s taking up a lot of my time and energy that I usually would have used for my hobbies, but I can only shrug it off and hope for the best by the year’s end. Anyway, I wasn’t able to read my target books for the month, which is a shame since I’ve been pretty consistent.
I did manage to buy some books though, so all hope is not lost.
Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by the Reading Reality blog and posted every Saturday. Bloggers will be sharing the books (of any format) which they bought, borrowed, or were given that week. I don’t buy books that often, so I’ll be collating all my purchases and posting about them on the last Saturday of the month (provided I did buy something).
Physical
1. The Rose in My Garden (Read)
- Author: Arnold Lobel
- Bought on: 9 November 2023
A wonderful cumulative picture book that slowly builds to create a lush garden filled with hollyhocks, marigolds, sunflowers, zinnias, and even a mouse being chased by a cat!
Personal note – This is a bittersweet book for me, not because it’s a sad story or anything, but my late grandmother had this photocopied from the library for me. She knew I loved this book, and I happily spent time to color in the images while reading it over and over again. I’ve been searching for this book for some time, and I’m absolutely glad to have found this.
2. The Devil’s Flute Murders
- Author: Seishi Yokomizo
- Bought on: 4 November 2023
An ingenious and highly atmospheric classic whodunit from Japan’s master of crime. Amid the rubble of post-war Tokyo, inside the grand Tsubaki house, a once-noble family is in mourning. The old viscount Tsubaki, a brooding, troubled composer, has been found dead. When the family gather for a divination to conjure the spirit of their departed patriarch, death visits the house once more, and the brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi is called in to investigate. But before he can get to the truth Kindaichi must uncover the Tsubakis’ most disturbing secrets, while the gruesome murders continue.
3. The Village of Eight Graves
- Author: Seishi Yokomizo
- Bought on: 4 November 2023
Nestled deep in the mist-shrouded mountains, The Village of Eight Graves takes its name from a bloody legend: in the sixteenth century eight samurai, who had taken refuge there along with a secret treasure, were murdered by the inhabitants, bringing a terrible curse down upon their village. Centuries later a mysterious young man named Tatsuya arrives in town, bringing a spate of deadly poisonings in his wake. The inimitably scruffy and brilliant Kosuke Kindaichi investigates.
4. Death on Gokumon Island
- Author: Seishi Yokomizo
- Bought on: 14 November 2023
Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can. As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs. Loosely inspired by Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the fiendish Death on Gokumon Island is perhaps the most highly regarded of all the great Seishi Yokomizo’s classic Japanese mysteries.
E-book/Audiobook
1. Murder on the Salsette
- Author: Edward Marston
- Bought on: 9 November 2023
Bombay, 1909. Genevieve Masefield and George Dillman make a living as detectives aboard the early twentieth century’s most extravagant ocean liners. From the members of first class in all their finery, to the card cheats and pickpockets plying their trade, they’ve experienced more than their share of humanity. For their latest voyage, the Salsette boasts a pair of travellers who feign ignorance of each other but there is clearly no love lost between them. Then there’s an elderly man whose powers of deduction may be based on more earthly techniques than the mystical energy he claims to possess. And there’s a young woman and her mother who find their way into the middle of every bit of trouble aboard. The lives of this group of travellers are set to intersect in ways none of them could have foreseen on dry land – including in a murder.
Have you read any one of these? What books did you buy this month?
