Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Marlene at Reading Reality and the details are on her blog, as well as a huge amount of book reviews. Why not visit her blog if you haven’t already found it? The gorgeous graphic is also used courtesy of the site.

The idea is to share the books you are adding to your shelves, may they be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical stores or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course e-books!

I’ve been away on holiday near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. We had a brilliant time in a lodge overlooking Fleet Bay, part of the Solway Firth.

I bought these three paperbacks from a charity shop in Gatehouse of Fleet:

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton – Like her previous novel The Luminaries, which I loved, this book is set in a fictionalised New Zealand, primarily in and around a national park in the South Canterbury region. The title is taken from a line in Macbeth. It follows members of a guerilla gardening collective, Birnam Wood as, with the help of a charismatic tech billionaire, they undertake a new project on abandoned farmland.

Nutshell by Ian McEwan, a version of Hamlet. Trudy has betrayed her husband, John. She’s still in the marital home – a dilapidated, priceless London townhouse – but not with John. Instead, she’s with his brother, the profoundly banal Claude, and the two of them have a plan. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb. I’ve enjoyed some of McEwan’s books, but this one looks rather different and, having read a few pages, I’m not sure about it.

A Bit on the Side by William Trevor, a collection of twelve short stories. I don’t think I’ve read any of Trevor’s books, but I thought this one looks interesting, with stories about adultery, secret passions and domestic infidelities. ‘A treat … each meditate[s] on the subject of love – adulterous, unspoken, clandestine, sometimes cruel. Whether set in rural Ireland or London, their pages whisper of relished secrets and dreams foolishly clung to’ Mail on Sunday.

These are e-books I’ve either bought for 99p or acquired for free this month:

The Testaments – Margaret Atwood’s sequel picks up the story more than fifteen years after Offred stepped into the unknown, with the explosive testaments of three female narrators from Gilead. The Republic of Gilead is beginning to rot from within. At this crucial moment, two girls with radically different experiences of the regime come face to face with the legendary, ruthless Aunt Lydia. But how far will each go for what she believes?

Step by Step: The Life In My Journeys by Simon Reeve. I love his TV travel programmes, so this was a 99p must for me. It’s his autobiography describing how he has journeyed across epic landscapes, dodged bullets on frontlines, walked through minefields and been detained for spying by the KGB. His travels have taken him across jungles, deserts, mountains and oceans, and to some of the most beautiful, dangerous and remote regions of the world. He gives the full story behind some of his favourite expeditions, and traces his own inspiring personal journey back to leaving school without qualifications, teetering on a bridge, and then overcoming his challenges by climbing to a ‘Lost Valley’ and changing his life … step by step.

The First Witch of Boston by Andrea Catalano, her debut novel. This was free from Amazon Prime this month. It is based on the true story of Margaret Jones, the first woman to be found guilty of witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1646. When Thomas and Margaret Jones arrive from England to build a life in the New World Margaret’s skill with healing herbs rouses suspicion of black magic. Personal tragedies, religious hysteria, and wariness of the unknown turn most against her, and even the devotion Margaret and her husband share is at risk.

I enjoy historical fiction and Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill, (American title, The Elegant Witch) is one of my favourite novels. It tells the tale of witchcraft set in a wild inaccessible corner of Lancashire leading up to the trials of the famous Pendle witches in 1612. So, I thought it would be interesting to compare the two books.