What’s on our shelves: A spooky seasonal special, a card game, a pool-side holiday read, and more…

Want to read more? Here’s how to place a library request for Rosemary’s Baby on Aspen Discovery. 

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

The bookclub I attend is scheduled to convene on 31st October, so the book choices were between the horror / thrillers Ira Levin’s Rosemary’s Baby or Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho, with the former taking the win.

It was a very quick read, completed in one and a bit sessions. This is due in part to being a bookclub-friendly 256 pages, but also because it was hard to put down once started and the anticipation builds pace.

Set in New York City’s Upper West Side (as is American Psycho), the cast of monsters includes the devil’s spawn and Satan’s followers of traditional horror stories, as well as some very modern society and NYC monsters too.

The ego, ambition and selfishness of Rosemary’s husband. The lack of bodily autonomy, consent, and decision-making for Rosemary, as well as later manipulation of her mothering instinct. There’s gas-lighting, misinformation and mistrust around medical advice, misogyny, and isolation in a city of millions.

This all made for a very compelling read, followed immediately by watching the iconic film starring Mia Farrow. The film did a great job of translating the book to screen, although much of my sense of thrill was of course muted by just having finished the novel.

Lauren Purton, Marketing Executive – PTFS Europe 

The Catteni Sequence by Anne McCaffrey (4 in series)

I love survival/post-apocalyptic tales and sci-fi and this one unusually combines both. This series has a great active female protagonist who is never weak or feeble – which makes a nice change. Plus points are the very well expressed characters and the plotline is interesting – an alien invasion force makes humans slaves and drops them on a planet to “see if it’s habitable.” My only critique is that it is strongly a romance novel at times – two main characters – so different! Hate each other at first, but attracted… BLAH BLAH. I just ignored that stuff, But it does dull my star rating to 3/5.

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – PTFS Europe

Series: The Gentlemen, Netflix 2024

If you enjoy the usual Guy Ritchie crime movie then this is a much watch. Very amusing, if dark. The regional accents are delightful. 5/5

Sam Goldsmith, Business Development Manager – PTFS Europe

Deceive Me by Karen Cole

I finished this book whilst on my recent holiday. The wonder of what the outcome was going to be and what had happened to Grace with the twists throughout the novel kept my interest peaked. A very easy to read psychological type thriller, set in Cyprus, with an ending that I certainly could never have predicted. To be honest, the ending of the story had a strong emotional impact on me due to a personal reason I can associate with. A tale of a happy family on the surface but with secrets exposed throughout, this novel keeps the reader guessing until the very end.

Fiona Borthwick, Head of Sales and Account Management – PTFS Europe

An update from Helen’s ‘To Be Finished’ shelf

I started to read Richard Osman’s The Last Devil to Die and then received an advance copy of Susan Dennard’s third volume of The Luminaries series, The Whispering Night, so I had to drop all and read it. This happens to me a lot. I am also listening to Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Stalin but got tired of all the murder and paranoia so switched to some Terry Pratchett to cheer myself up a bit. I will eventually go back to Stalin.
I haven’t reviewed any of these as I’ve already used up far too much space but I enjoyed them all for different reasons.

Helen Symington, Sales Executive – PTFS Europe

Board game: Punto designed by Bernhard Weber

Published in English by Gamewright (Dutch, French and German editions also available)
Punto is like Connect Four – but more. It’s the same principle: to win, you need four of your colour in a row, either horizontally, vertically or diagonally. But instead of tokens, you have cards with dots from 1 to 9. To stop another player from completing their row, you don’t have to block them at each end: instead you can cover one of their cards right in the middle (hehehe!) as long as your card has more dots than theirs. But they could still win if you only draw a 1 from your deck!
I like it because: it’s quick to play, simple yet fun, and so small it’s very easy to carry.

Aude Charillon, Customer Services Consultant – PTFS Europe