Peace2's forays for 2015

Setting out on my reading journey for 2015 with a mountain that needs to be reduced desperately and desperately hoping I can curb some of my book buying before I am permanently lost beneath a landslide. I started and finished last year (accidentally) with books that I wouldn't rate highly, but in between times the good outweighed the bad. I'm hoping for another 3-figure year too.

Ticker added I hope!

In 2014, I managed to read 168 books (my 'finished in 2014' collection shows slightly more than that because it includes things like travel books and crochet books that I'd used and for the moment finished with). Unfortunately I acquired about 500.... not good odds for building survival!

I would like to read 100 again this year but don't know whether I will get anywhere near as high as last year and I don't want to pressure the enjoyment out of the reading.

I have a list of '2015 reads' which was made in the middle of last year - I don't intend reading all of them, just 24 but to be selected from that list. A mere two a month, ha ha ha. For the most part they are long standing residents of the bookshelves. I'm going to amend the list slightly because there are a couple on there that I didn't read the earlier books in the series last year, so I'll swap them for something else at some point in the next few days.

I'm going to try and read one horror book a month (although they're likely to be not too terrifying). Having signed up for the Hallowe'en ReadaThing last year, I discovered that not all horror is too frightening for me and that some of it is quite enjoyable. So this year I've signed up for the Horror Challenge - but I'm going to only read books that are already in my collection or ones I can get from the library or from a friend. If I can't get a book for a particular month's theme then I'll make it through something else from my shelf.

I'm also going to try and join in with Morphy's Mightly Monthly Reads where I either have or can borrow a title. At the moment I have three, Tigana, Ringworld and The Chrysalids, and the library has a further three A Study in Scarlet, A Short History of Nearly Everything and Krakatoa (I think it was that one) - so with luck I'll be able to join in with those. I just need to figure out where I put Tigana and Ringworld....

Other than that, I aim to read one not-fiction book a month (not fiction as opposed to non-fiction to allow for the reading of a poetry book for example), and one graphic novel/comic book style book. I'd like to finish a few of the ongoing series and get rid of a few of the boxes of 'unread' books that are cluttering the bedroom. Get rid by reading and enjoying but not deeming them keepers that is!

So hopefully that's not too much to aim for...

Happy new year! I look forward to following your thoughts and hearing about your further adventures in the second-hand bookstores. Good luck with Mount TBR.

Sounds like a good plan!

Happy New Year! Good luck with following your reading plan, and enjoy the diversions that are bound to pop up along the way.

First Book of the Year finished - a graphic compilation of The Ultimates #1-6. The Ultimates vol 1: Super-human by Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch and Andrew Currie. From what I can find out the comics were originally issued in 2002, 6 years before Robert Downey Jr brought the role of Iron Man to the screen in the first Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. It's amusing to see that in a conversation between Cap and Fury, Fury makes a comment that his nose has been smashed more times than RDJ and there is a conversation in which the various characters discuss who might play them in a Hollywood movie (the only one they got right was Fury - could there be anyone else?)

It was interesting to see the ideas that had been 'pinched' from this series to use in the film and the parts that had been discarded. Overall I didn't particularly warm to the individual characters - most were quite self-serving (which to be fair they can be in other series as well). I'm quite keen to read the second volume of this run which I also have, but I'm supposed to hang on until next month to read my next one.

It's definitely time for another trip to the UK as last year I found this great bargain shop in one of the malls in Nottingham that does these compilations and they're very favourably priced. I get edgy whenever I get the chance to go back in case it's closed down since (I only found it last April but the mall it's in has more closed shops than open).

I gave this one four stars, but that may be because I read it after a book that really disappointed me and so it's cheered me up no end!

Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to following your reading this year, and to seeing whether you manage to reduce the mountain before the book landslide occurs!

>8 Sakerfalcon: Good New year wishes to you too. I'm being nagged quite a bit by family (who don't live with me) about the boxes of books - they did suggest actually just taking the boxes as they were to be disposed of. But I've Vetoed that (with a capital V), but I do need to make some headway... An intervention was threatened!

January Book #2 Parsifal's Page by Gerald Morris

This is the fourth book in The Squire's Tale series for children retelling some of the stories of the Knights of the Round Table. This one tells Sir Percival's story (Parsifal). Suitable I would say for children of around 8, the series has been a mixture of traditional and humorous. The stories are fine for the age group. I will keep an eye out for further titles, but for now I'm happy enough to leave it at this, but have passed them to a child in the family who likes history. My favourite quote from the book though does bear sharing (but I'll hide it in case anyone is worried about spoilers, although I don't think it would give too much away) "I am not completely certain whether I have just witnessed a proposal or a challenge, but I wish you both very happy." Made me smile anyway.

January Book #3 Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Not an easy read in terms of the events it details. The book is set in Nigeria, and tells the story of Kimbali, a nervous fifteen year old daughter brought up in a strict Catholic family. Her father is wealthy but very controlling, outside the family home he is seen as a great benefactor, looking after his employees and doing great deeds within his community. Within the family he is controlling and abusive and his wife and children suffer badly. By contrast, Auntie Ifeoma, his widowed sister brings her children up to question and to be free thinkers. They have none of the money or luxuries but a far richer existence. All this takes place against a background of corrupt government and rioting. Not an easy read, but definitely an interesting one.

>10 Peace2: that made me smile :)

>11 Peace2: I read Half of a Yellow Sun a few years back - it too was far from an easy read, but a very interesting one. I keep meaning to revisit Adichie, although (a bit like Khaled Hosseini) I'll admit i'm in no rush.

>12 imyril: I think I agree. It will take me a little while to get around to reading another by Adichie but with the knowledge that it will in likelihood be with the effort when I get there. I'm not planning on another Hosseini for a good while either, having managed two last year. As there are for the minute, no further books on Mount TBR by either that will help. ;p

January Book #4 Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

This book took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it. The story of a 60-something retired and widowed Major living in an English village, surrounded by a wealth of real characters, obnoxious, caring, arrogant, loving. This book touches on some deeper issues, but it is with a deft hand and interspersed with humour. I'm giving it four stars. I listened to the audio version read by Bill Wallis, who has a cracking Major's voice.

January Book #5 The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

I chose to read this book as part of my attempt to broaden my own reading which has led me to join the 'Horror' reading challenge - this month the challenge was to read a Gothic book. I think this fared better last time I read it back when I was at college, but I think my mood at the moment didn't particular appreciate the melodrama of this work which when combined with the fact that the writing of the time didn't use speech marks or line breaks between speakers, that it was fine to have a nine page paragraph and so on and so forth detracted from my ability to just relax and read. I didn't find it a difficult read in terms of comprehension, although I refered to the explanatory notes a few times to be sure I had the right meaning or to tell me the meaning of something I didn't know, I could have followed the story without them, but I found it a struggle to concentrate on separating out the speakers, the sense due to the different formatting to our modern conventions and so had to 'work' to stay on top of it.

On my first time of reading I was reading it as a comparison and to support some research into influences and similarities between other novels and the Gormenghast trilogy. I think back then I was more in tune with reading 'period' pieces anyway with all the different English and French literature courses that I was studying, also Gormenghast is huge (by comparison with this) - so this was probably a relief and I remember also dipping into some Kafka at the same sort of time - maybe I should go look up some of that at some point .... hmmm, probably at some point when Mount TBR is less in danger of toppling!

Well, I would say the one thing to come out of this is an appreciation for modern formatting and punctuation conventions and how they assist the reading experience.

So back into the fray I go as I try to finish something else...

>15 Peace2: I read Otranto for the first time recently, after visiting the Gothic exhibition at the British Library (which was excellent). While it was fun to read I thought it basically rather silly and some of the things that were probably supposed to be horrific were actually laughable. My strongest reaction upon finishing was "I can't believe no-one made this into an opera!" - it has all the melodrama, improbable plot points and doomed love to have made it a hit in the bel canto era.

>16 Sakerfalcon: It is completely over the top melodrama!

Okay, I'm feeling grumpy - I'd got 2/3 of the way through an audio version of Inkdeath and had to return it to the library as the next disc in the set wasn't working *sigh* Now have to wait for another copy to turn up.

Although on a better note - Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon turned up in the post today ready for next month's read - and yesterday was my Thingaversary so I figure that was not terrible timing.

>17 Peace2: happy Thingaversary!

>18 imyril: Thank you for your kind wishes on my first Thingaversary ;p I think I've been very restrained (and I'm glad I don't have to even attempt to meet your sort of quota for book buying for the occasion :D

Happy Thingaversary. By @pgmcc's logic you shouldn't need to buy much over 100 (or maybe 1000) books for a first thingaversary ;)

>20 hfglen: That was what was worrying me - I'm trying to reduce the book buying!

January Book #6 The Black Country by Alex Grecian

I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first in the series and that only earned 3 stars from me. The series seemed to have potential in the beginning but this book seemed to push the boundaries of acceptable for me. Like the first book, the author seems to relish giving details of people's injuries or the harm they do one another - in the first book it was to do with sewing people's lips shut (amongst other things), this time there are among other things a facial injury and the subsequent difficulties described in detail. There are other images that will stick with me as well. More irritating than that were the children in the story - none of them rang true for me, even given that children were more mature at the time. In this in particular, the 'pranks' of a 5 year old feel too old, the manipulations of a ten/twelve year old involved in a murder case seem farfetched. And the end result is too convenient by a mile everyone who is guilty either commits suicide, is accidentally or deliberately killed by someone who then goes on to die by one means or another, so that the detectives can return to London with the case solved and no need for arrests.

I will give the third part of the series The Devil's Workshop a try but only because I already have the book and the audiobook from the library, but if it seems that it's going the same way, I reserve the right not to have to finish it.

You have more patience than I. The first novel was so bad it went on my worst books of the year.

>21 Peace2:

If the Green Dragon enforcers question the number of books you have on hand for your Thingaversary, just tell them that the rest are hung up in customs.

>23 Bookmarque: I get this terrible guilt if I give up on a book that maybe on the next page it got better and I had missed something good. I only gave up on three books last year - all were audio books and it was a combination of no interest in the book and couldn't bear to 'listen' for the requisite number of hours, even if I was multi-tasking at the time! On the upside - this is helping me clear books from the shelves/boxes and so more are going out than staying so far this year (and even better going out than coming in *\0/* I do realize it's only the second week in January but I have to take every day as a step forward).

Having said that I did acquire another book today - my +1 for my Thingaversary so hopefully that will appease the enforcers, particularly if I assure everyone more will follow at some point no doubt before too long - two weeks of willpower is pretty good going for me! Today's was The Praxis by Walter Jon Williams and was acquired so that I could read The Sundering which has been lurking on my shelf for years without me realising it was the second in a series!

Hoping to finish a book later today so may well be back again this evening with any comments that seem relevant.

Done it! I've finally finished Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith!

Problem is I'm not entirely sure that it was worth it. I struggled through this one and frequently felt frustrated and then the ending was just plain old unsatisfactory - no answer at all. This was the third in the trilogy that began with Child 44. This particular work spans a period of 31 years beginning in 1950 and ending in 1981, although the initial period backtracks a little over Leo's relationship with Raisa and also introduces Jesse Austin, a visiting American who has communist beliefs. The main part of the story begins with Raisa leading a youth trip to the US in 1965 with both daughters as part of the trip. Things go wrong during the trip as people with other motives take actions that are unclear and the rest of the book, we are to believe is the fall-out of that situation.

I found this dragged, perhaps I just hadn't committed to it enough in the early stages, but overall by the end I didn't really care and found Leo Demidov harder and harder to comprehend. So yeah, final opinion - disappointing. Onward I go, with a smile, because this is a book that can leave the shelves lighter as it's not a keeper. :D

>26 Peace2: I've had Agent 6 on my tbr shelves for a while. The inclination to read it just hasn't hit me yet. Probably because I've seen a few reviews like this one.

>27 AHS-Wolfy: I'm sorry that I can't say anything to convince you otherwise, but I really did struggle to keep going with it but equally I couldn't quite put it down as too bad to be worth continuing.

January Book #8 The Devil's Workshop by Alex Grecian

Well, on the upside, I thought this was better than The Black Country and I managed to listen to it while doing other things in just 2 days because it was a little shorter. Still plenty of gruesome descriptions, still somewhat unbelievable solving of cases and credit given where it really wasn't due and convenient deaths rather than the need to bring to justice, with enough hanging over for the next title in the series - I however won't be looking for it when it comes out! I am done with the books that I had in this series and can with relief take them off the shelves and not have a regret or doubt.

January Book #9 The Prince in Waiting by John Christopher

This was a re-read from my teens. I read it in the early 1980s and it was first published in 1970 and I have to say I can see why it appealed then and I still enjoyed it today. That said it does have its faults, things that if it were written today I would probably be more critical of - one in particular is female representation, but I remember liking John Christopher's writing a lot back then and I don't remember any of the books I read having what would today be considered positive female representation, so I'm going to set that aside and enjoy it for what it is - in all honesty I don't remember many of the books that I read really having women that made me aspire to being like them. The story is set in a future England which has reverted, following a series of disasters brought about by radiation changes from the sun, to a semi-medieval/feudal society - small farming towns each with its own Prince and standing army which both defends the town and goes out to raid and try to take land and animals/crops from neighbouring towns. Machines are seen as works of evil and seers advise on what the Spirits predict will happen and deter people from making mechanical progress. The story revolves around Luke, the younger son of a Captain in the Army. His father becomes Prince, overthrowing the previous weak ruler and he finds himself in line to take over after his father. Luke is stubborn, prone to resentment and black moods, and has to overcome his own feelings to begin to learn what he will need to know when he is eventually grown. Things change sooner than expected and Luke finds his situation changing again.

The book is the first in a trilogy and at this point I'm looking forward to the next title Beyond the Burning Lands. I think if this book had been written more recently, it would probably have been at least twice as long. Although I remembered this title and various of the events within it, I can't for the life of me remember what happens next. Having made the comment above about female representation, I'm wondering if I've got that wrong as the front cover of the next book seems to show a female character, so perhaps there is a little more female representation than my memory suggests? Anyway, I hope to get to the next title either later this month or early next.

January Book #10 The Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella

When lawyer Samantha Sweeting finds a memo that she appears to have missed acting upon underneath the pile of papers on her desk, her world falls apart. Just as she's being offered a partnership in the firm, instead she finds herself running away from facing the fall out of the 50 million pound disaster that she appears to be responsible for. She finds herself in the middle of nowhere in a small English village being accidentally hired as a housekeeper. With a roof over her head, she has to learn quickly how to cook and clean, having done neither before. The book is lightly humorous, but in with it is a slightly more serious consideration - what in life is important? As a lawyer, Samantha was working 7 day weeks, boasting of how many over-nighters she needed to do. Time off was inconceivable, social life never happened. She dressed in smart black suits with her hair tied back and a blackberry always to hand and she thought she was happy and at the top of her game. After a couple of months as a housekeeper, she's fitter and healthier, with friends and a social life (as well as a budding romance) and then she gets the chance of not just her old job back, but an even better one.

Overall, I liked the book, it made me laugh a few times (possibly not as many as it was supposed to), and it's far from taxing. It needs to be read with an awareness that it is fiction, not everything is completely realistic - situations pushed to their extremes for dramatic effect. A light bit of fun for the most part with just that slight prod to consider what you think is most important - life or work - I know which is the case for me, but I also am very well aware how many different fields (not just lawyers) push employees towards the attitudes at the beginning of the story of working long hours at the expense of health and friendship. It made a nice change from some of the other things I've been reading of late.

>30 Peace2: I didn't read these as a teenager, but I have the trilogy sitting on my shelf. I'll have to give it a try. The tripods was rather stunning to me in its almost total lack of women when I reread it a few years ago, and I noticed that unlike more recent YA, it stuck to the action with very little portrayal of emotions, which I actually rather liked about it. You could tell how the characters were feeling without the author needing to spend pages going on about it.

>32 Sakerfalcon: I have The Tripods ready to re-read later in the year (or next year!) and I read The Lotus Caves last year and it does seem that women are a rare species in them all! Luke is a little introspective, but things still move at a fair pace - the whole trilogy has less than 500 pages and I can't imagine any of the modern ones managing to deal with emotions and action in that few, even allowing a 100 pages extra for the difference in typesetting - this does seem to be denser on the page than more modern styles. I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it - I'll keep my eye on your thread with interest to see your reaction.

>30 Peace2: Ouch... Book bullet. It sounds interesting, on the wishlist it goes!

>34 zjakkelien: Oops, sorry?

January Book #11 Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

Ended up not enjoying this trilogy as much as I thought I would. At the outset, I really liked the concept of reading characters out of books and into the real world, and later into the stories of books but over time the majority of the characters began to annoy and irritate me rather than anger (in the case of the bad guys) or gain my support (for the good guys) and the story began to flag. I put some of it down to the fact that I listened to the three books in audio format and each part was read by a different narrator and so each gave their own interpretation to the characters and so I was having to re-establish who was who, when they were given different accents or cadences, but having come to the end, I think the problem ran deeper and was actually in part with the pace of the writing itself and the drawing of the characters within the text. I also don't want to imply that any of the narrators did a bad job, because I don't think they did (although I think Brendan Fraser's interpretation of the second book would be my favourite of the three). I'm giving this one three stars at the moment, but in a day or two that may lower to 2 and a half, because it's a borderline rating at the moment, so I'm going to let it stew for a day or two before I commit finally.

I'll leave it a while before I tackle The Thief Lord which is the other Funke book on my shelf waiting to be read - no rush and plenty of others to entice me beforehand.

>36 Peace2: I think I made the right decision to stop at the first book. Your summing up sounds as if the same issues I had in book one continue. Am I right in thinking that these were translated from German? Or did I imagine that? I was wondering if they were translated, if they lost something in the translation?

>37 MrsLee: Yes, the books were translated from German and as to something being lost I'm not sure - maybe it's a stylistic thing? I guess what appeals to some...

January Book #12 Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella

This book was a real let-down for me. I've enjoyed the last few Sophie Kinsella books that I've read, although there has been more distance between them than this and the previous. In the end, I didn't really like any of the characters enough. I find Becky annoying and shallow - I have a vague recollection than years ago I read some of the earlier Shopaholic books and found the idea newer and fresher but that it wearied quickly. This is the fourth in the series and although I haven't read anything in between I just found the idea tired. Having said that I did finish it and at times I found sections amusing but not enough, so into the 'to go' pile it goes, along with another Shopaholic book that I'm not going to bother with at all. I think perhaps I prefer Ms Kinsella's stand-alone books for their humour.

Book #12 was swiftly followed by my first DNF of the year, although to be fair this was first abandoned last year.

I tried to pick back up Divine By Mistake by P.C. Cast but the writing and the characters in particular the main character Shannon are annoying, frustrating and I read to relax not to be made angry by the the quality of the workmanship within the novel. All the things that previously annoyed me about this book were still grating on my nerves and so I decided I didn't have to put up with it any longer and was more than happy to toss the book into the 'Leaving the House' box. On the upside - it was joined in the box by its two sequels :D I may save the rest of the family staging an intervention at this rate.

>40 Peace2: Some of the reviews for this book had put me off buying it when I saw it second hand; your failure to finish it justifies that decision for me!

>41 Sakerfalcon: I gave it two tries and at this point I would say it's not worth trying again for me. I got mine as part of a boxed set with its two sequels in a second hand shop and interestingly I've seen a couple more sets in there since and only the first ever seems to show any signs of wear... That may possibly speak for itself.

January Book #13 Lion's Head, Four Happiness by Xiaomei Martell

I've read a few books about people who lived or grew up during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and while interesting, this wouldn't rate on my personal scale as well as others. If a reader has a particular interest in food, then this is a real celebration of Chinese food and how it is such an integral part of Chinese life. This sheds relatively little light on the situation of Chinese society as a whole during the period. I'm tempted to say that in my experience it's faring badly after a relatively recent read of Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang which was one of my best non-fiction reads of last year and Mao's Last Dancer by Li Cunxin was one from 2013. This book is probably a third, maybe less, the size, so it couldn't possibly shed as much light or draw such a stark picture as that one. In some respects, Xiaomei doesn't draw the reader in enough to the fact that her mother brought up four daughters on her own after her father died and just how great the effect that would have had upon all of the family's prospects. Overall, it's not a terrible read, but far less of an emotional read than the other two mentioned.

I've also abandoned my second book of the year - an audio book this time The Devil's Paintbrush by Jake Arnott which just wasn't hitting the mark, so I'll return it to the library and if I change my mind I'll borrow it again later.

January Book #14 The Traveller by John Twelve Hawks

A lot of thoughts buzzing after listening to this book. In terms of the actual story, I didn't overly enjoy it and am not sure that I want to continue into the subsequent books in the series (particularly as the reviews seem to vary with a fair number indicating that the series deteriorates). However, that aside it does provoke thoughts about surveillance, privacy and current trends. Overall, this isn't going to be one of my favoured reads of the month and I'll be happy to turn my interests elsewhere, if I could just make a decision on what to do about the final book in the series which is already on the shelf.

>37 MrsLee: you're making me curious to read Cornelia Funke in the original German to give you an answer. I've been seeing Tonke Dragt in English bookstores recently - her sister taught at my school, and in some random twist I read The Letter for the King in German when I was at school and loved it (and now find I'd like to read it in the original Dutch). Clearly my decaying language skills are having one of their episodic twitches!

>45 imyril: If you do decide to read any of her work in German, I'd certainly be interested to hear what you thought (not that I could then do the same, but even so...)

>45 imyril: That's a classic! Did you know there is a sequel?

I feel the same as >46 Peace2:, if you do read it, let us know what you find. My daughter crystallized my thoughts for me on it. What I don't care for is, the characters respond as the plot needs them to, rather than as any normal person would respond. This is why I had a daughter, so she could speak my mind for me. ;)

>47 zjakkelien: I read both :). It's been such a long time I really can't remember them.

>48 MrsLee: it doesn't sound to me like language will improve them, but I need to polish the rust off so I'll see if I can find them. I'm going to Munich for Easter so I should be able to find it there anyway!

January Book #15 The Abortionist's Daughter by Elisabeth Hyde

I didn't enjoy this. At its core, this is a crime novel, a murder mystery. The Doctor died and it's a matter of finding out 'whodunnit'. Into the mix however, is thrown the fact that the Doctor in question is an abortion doctor with a not overly happy marriage to an attorney and a rocky relationship with her daughter. Then there is the stalker, the case the attorney is working on which affects his family, the religious zealot, the family and girl contemplating an abortion, drugs, police officers who aren't making the right decisions and all in all I ended up feeling like it was just an excuse to throw in 'an issue', particularly when it came to the Doctor's second child which really had very little purpose at all. If there's enough controversial issues it's bound to be good.... well, no, that wasn't how I felt about it at all and the fact that not only had I worked out who had done it early on, I was left stunned that the police didn't even see said person as a possible suspect. I'm glad to be done with it and more than happy to get rid of it.

Here's hoping that I get some better reads next month - of the 15 books read this month, there's only 2 that I'd consider keepers and six (including those two) that I'd say I thought were good along with a couple of okays and two DNFs (on top of the 15 finished)!

January Book #16 The Fantastic Dinosaur Adventure by Gerald Durrell

This was an illustrated children's book, written by Gerald Durrell who was well known for his work with endangered animals and at the Durrell Wildlife Park in Jersey (Channel Islands), formerly the Jersey Zoo. He is better known as a writer for works such as My Family and Other Animals and A Zoo in My Luggage.

This book is a simpler tale, aimed at a younger audience. Great-Uncle Lancelot invents a time-travelling balloon and along with his great niece and nephews, he travels back to the Ages of the Dinosaurs in pursuit of two thieves who have stolen another of his time-travelling balloons and intend using it to capture dinosaurs and bring them back to the present day. Needless to say, this is a story in which despite a number of setbacks, the good will prevail and the bad will get what they deserve, whether they're human or dinosaur. There are a number of nit-picky things I could criticise, but in all it's the kind of tale that would appeal to a young reader with a liking for dinosaurs. I'm tempted to try one of his novels or perhaps one of his more biographical works - have a vague recollection of reading one when I was at secondary school (I'm going to guess it was My Family and Other Animals) and not particularly enjoying it - but I wonder if with more maturity on my part and a greater sense of just how much he achieved if I might find it appealed more now.

>51 Peace2: I can only encourage you. I first met My Family and other animals in Standard 5 (7th grade) and loved it. That caused me to look out each subsequent book almost as soon as it came out, at least in paperback. And still I seem to have missed some! May I suggest you try his (fiction) The Mockery Bird somewhere near first? Several of his expedition books are pretty uninhibited in telling things exactly as they are, and to an extent this carries over into The Mockery Bird -- the shape of the island, for example (any more would be a spoiler). The only other thing I'll tell you about the novel is that anybody working in the tropics on something related to biology will recognize all the characters.

>52 hfglen: I shall keep my eyes open for finding something else by him as and when I wander but it might take me a while to get to it (shall I show you the TBR pile????) *grin*

January Book #17 The Food of Love by Anthony Capella

Hmmm, what to say about this one? It's a bit of a romance, sort of comedy of errors style - the shy Italian chef is in love with the beautiful American art student, while his best friend, the blasé but incapable of cooking waiter actually whisks her off her feet with the offer to cook for her. So the ensuing story involves the shy chef doing the cooking and the best friend passing said cooking off as his own and all the ensuing shenanigans that surround such a set up. It's not hilariously funny by any means, but in parts it is lightly amusing. If however, the reader is deeply enamoured of food, particularly real Italian food, then this shows a deep appreciation of the true wealth and variety of cooking and ingredients and towards the end semi-indirectly includes actual recipes.

Overall, not a terrible book, but not the sort I would rush to read again or would keep on my shelf.

January Book #18 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Slipping a short one in under the wire for the end of the month - can't see that I'm going to finish the others that I've got on the go. I'd not actually read this before although somewhere along the line I'd pick up the general idea of what it was about. My heart went out to George at the end of the story and Lennie. Very sad and made me cry.

January Summary

Books Read =18
Books Retained after reading = 2
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2015 = 16
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2014 = 6
Books abandoned = 2 (+2 accompanied them as sequels)
Series finished (or read as far as I intend to) = 6
Non-fiction Reads = 1
Fiction Reads = 17

Books acquired in January (not including library loans as these go back regardless of my feelings about them) = 8 (2 of these are for GD reads later in the year and 2 are missing volumes in series that I already own).

So on I go to February... hoping for some five star reads because I haven't had any yet this year.

February Book #1 Beyond the Burning Lands by John Christopher

This is the second in the series (following The Prince in Waiting read last month). A YA book, that like its predecessor, is probably a third the size of most YA books in series today - I think all three would make one of today's books! Men predominate still, although there is a scene or two of significance with a woman in which she says that she might be one of her father's treasures but she was also a person and she had no intention of being 'given' away like one of his other treasures unless she liked who she was being given to - which conveniently she did.

This is interesting in that more is revealed of the Seers' power and secrets in the early part of the book, before Luke returns to Winchester. Things transpire there that again throw Luke's family into some degree of turmoil (women truly are a throw-away commodity in terms of the plot), and subsequently Luke leaves Winchester again, heading through the Burning Lands to the land of the Wilsh. Attitudes on the other side of the Burning Lands are vastly different to those Luke and his companions are used to - attitudes towards polymufs and dwarfs, towards polymuf beasts, machines and also the war like nature of the people or lack thereof. I enjoyed it, but felt that a lot more could have been done with it. When compared with more modern YA novels, a lot more would have been done with the difference between the two types of community and their associated attitudes and the emotions that are engendered in the characters. We see everything through Luke's eyes and mind, with his prejudices. There is also a very brief foray into a third society - in the space of one chapter, Luke is taken to this third group, gets his first impression of their life, he is rescued and the society is we assume destroyed - a mere seventeen pages.

I'm inclined to say that were John Christopher writing today and submitting his books for publishing, that they would be seen more as the plan or outline of a story rather than the story in its entirety. Lots of the impact is left for the audience to fill in for themselves. Again I would say these need to be read with a view to the late '60s/early '70s period in mind that they were written in. They're an interesting idea and Luke is not always the nicest protagonist - although for the most part he owns his own faults of anger, judging by his own beliefs and acting without thinking which is at least something.

I'm not sure where would be a better place to ask this question, but in the interim (while I figure it out) I'll ask it here.

Does anyone use ReadItSwapIt in the UK? How well does it work? It's not really quite what I'm looking for, given the trying to reduce Mount TBR issues, but with the very sad demise of GreenMetropolis.com, I'm trying to come up with a way of getting rid of some of my excellent condition books or those that are harder to locate (I know that many of these will end up in the trash if I give them to the charity shops because they'll assume no one would want them because they're 'old') without permanently losing out financially and swapping is at least a step in the right direction.

February Book #2 Small Island by Andrea Levy

This jumped up the reading pile (not far as it was a library loan but still I tackled it ahead of the others) as @ahef1963 had recommended it over on the 'Next 5 reads' thread.
First thing to say is that it was a well justified recommendation and listening to the excellent narration just added even more to the book. For speed I did read a couple of chapters in the paperback that I also had and found myself hearing the narrator Debra Michaels and her intonation for each character. Sad, happy and amusing all coursed through me (along with a few other less pleasant emotions at times). How at cross purposes people's understanding and expectations of others are and how quick to draw judgement they are? This is one of my best reads so far this year (although there was a section with Bernard where I had to skip forward which I'm pretty sure people who know the story will know).

Re-reading this I haven't really enlightened anyone as to what the book is about. So it's set during WW2 and in the years afterwards and follows the life of two Jamaican immigrants Hortense and Gilbert as they move to England. The story also follows the life of Queenie Bligh, a white English woman and her husband Bernard (whose story is told only in the latter stages of the book). Gilbert Joseph served as an Airman during the war and when he returns to Jamaica, he can't settle and decides to move to England. Hortense marries him because she too wants to leave.

But England is not the wonderful place they both believe, ravaged by the destruction of war and still suffering the effects of rationing, it is neither the 'civilised place' they've come to believe, nor the welcoming Mother Country they've been taught about. Queenie is different to most women. Her husband has been away for years and she's heard nothing. Left to look after her father-in-law, a man who came home from WW1 suffering from such severe 'shell-shock' that he no longer speaks and can barely take care of himself at all, Queenie has to find a way to survive.

She takes in lodgers, and among the first is Airman Gilbert Joseph who she had met years before. And so lives intertwine, unexpected revelations occur, hatred and kindness and support and prejudice are all counterposed to weave the story.

February Book #3 The Ultimates : Homeland Security by Mark Millar et al.

Wow, well, these characters are in some ways so different to those I've come across in the Movies and in some of the other Marvel series (not that I'm as widely read as I'd like yet). Bruce Banner and Hank Pym both come across as pretty unlikeable on all counts, and I can't say that I like Betty Ross either. Fury is more hands-on on the ground. Clint and Natasha don't quite fit with the image I've developed of them so far, but they're not glaring opposites to my expectations either. There are moments that one assumes were taken and used in the movies as a shout-out to this incarnation of the Marvel characters. I'm curious to read further, but I don't think this is going to be one of my favourites.

Finished this morning...

February Book #4 Rough Crossings by Simon Schama

This is the first time I've listened to a non-fiction book and it worked well in that format for me - I'm not sure that would always be the case. Not an easy subject matter - the battle to end black slavery through the period of the American Revolution, the struggle of Abolitionists and the people who betrayed them and the freed Blacks. It was interesting,well written although many of the events it described were harrowing to hear of - even worse to experience. It followed the people involved from America to Nova Scotia in Canada and then onward to Sierra Leone. To someone who knew only the bare facts prior to reading, I found this informative and it appeared to be well-researched with supported evidence. I'd also recommend the audio version read by Paterson Joseph.

I'm struggling my way through another non-fiction audio now and I can't decide whether to stick with it. This time it's The Secret History of the World as laid down by the Secret Societies by Jonathan Black. I have a number of issues with this one. Obviously there is going to be some contention when dealing with Secret Histories and that I don't mind too much, I didn't expect to believe everything wholeheartedly. Some of the ideas are interesting concepts even if I don't agree, others are interesting because it's a new way of looking at something. Some of it strikes me as completely farfetched. This is presenting itself as true, as a non-fiction work and yet while there is the sense of some background to the author's claims, there's also not sufficient evidence being given - at times it smacks of my next door neighbour but one's third cousin twice removed's best friend's sister told me ....

I'm also not overly enamoured of the narrator, who sort of makes me want to go to sleep (not good because I've been listening to it in the car). I may just give up and return it to the library next time I go in - it's not like I don't have enough others to complete.

February Book #5 The Sword of the Spirits by John Christopher

I was absolutely certain I read this trilogy in my teens, but now having finished the final part I'm beginning to wonder if I only actually read the first or maybe the first two in the series as I had absolutely zero recollection of what went on in this part. Anyway, more importantly, I know now. Not what I was expecting. This is not a neatly rounded off piece with a happy ending but rather it ends with a dark threat. This book is in fact quite dark. Luke's darker side of selfishness comes out in force in his actions and rather than as Prince putting the good of his people first, Luke seeks out those who he knows can aid him in his search for revenge, appealing to the worse side of their natures. There was a lot of room for more plot development in this story, rather than rushing headlong from scene to scene, and at a mere 153 pages of actual story, this is far shorter and sticks much more to the major events rather than embellishing everyone's experiences.

As I've said before, John Christopher is not a producer of well-balanced female characters, however, the two who appear here Jenny and Blodwyn are key to Luke's descent from relatively stable Prince and ruler into revenge seeking and blood thirsty. Jenny's petty betrayal of her brother is the first trigger of Luke's behaviour, it's the wrong thing to do and she knows it, but it's also the truth that she tells. Blodwyn remains true and she will follow her own course of truth, she is willing to do the 'right thing' but refuses to deny Jenny's claim in private.

Luke becomes what everyone was afraid of, the reason why machines had been banned since the natural apocalypse that had shifted Britain back to its feudal state. Luke seeks machines in order to kill and is happy to use them with complete abandon to achieve his ends, nothing appeals to his better nature, no matter how many people, or who they are, lay down their lives before him. It is only providence of a natural earthquake or volcano that reseals the path between Klan Gothlen and the South that stops Luke's actions but in the meantime the story ends with Luke waiting for a new path to open and having joined Luke beyond the burning lands, the Seers become scientists and machines are in continued development.

The seeds of who Luke becomes in this have always been there over the course of the story, and so his descent is clear. The character I found harder to understand was Cymru, although he has made the occasional comment about machines or about his daughter being his greatest gift (like she is a possession rather than a human being), he also appeared to be a fairer ruler with there being none of the segregation in his court that is riddled throughout society in Winchester and yet with Luke's request for support, he quickly joins the fight and provides the weaponry and thinks little of joining Luke's battle against smaller less significant places and massacring the people there.

Overall quite a sad place to end in terms of how it leaves the future looking.

On the upside, after bringing home 5 books yesterday I have at least now finished 5 this month, so at least my book buying for the month is not getting ahead of my reading. Another plus, I can now start Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon at last - I've been looking forward to this one. And to round it out, I am for now at least, going to give up on The Secret History of the World as laid down by the Secret Societies because I don't think I have time for something I don't feel committed to.

February Book #6 The Sinner by Tess Gerritsen

When I started this, I thought it was a re-read, but I'd forgotten enough of the story that it may as well have been a first time read. This is early on in the series of Rizzoli and Isles arc, so as characters they are still growing into their partnership. The story begins with the murder of two nuns and gradually begins to widen and envelop other strange murders and become a more global issue. Although there are some horrible descriptions during autopsies and of the effects of certain diseases, this is a relatively easy read, nothing too brain taxing. The story hangs together for the most part fairly well, my only major problem with it would be how easy it was for a doctor to insert himself into the care of patients not his for the purposes of getting rid of witnesses. .

February Book #7 The Last Coyote by Michael Connelly

Maverick cop beats up his boss (apparently - I think this must be in a prior book because I don't remember it actually happening - so I either wasn't listening carefully enough or it was a given beforehand) and has been suspended from duty pending a series of meetings with a psychiatrist to ascertain his fitness to return to work. Meanwhile he starts to investigate a long outstanding crime and manages to cross the country between appointments with his psychiatrist to track down leads, go fishing and accuse people and meet attractive women and fall into bed with them whilst simultaneously causing havoc back home, being accused of murder and renovating his house which had been declared derelict beyond redemption following an earthquake. It was passably okay as entertainment, but not worth keeping.

February Book #8 Writers' Block by Judith Flanders

A crime novel of sorts with just the right amount of humour and romance thrown into the mix to not overwhelm it. The story centres around Sam Clair who works for a publishing company. She's currently focussed on two books from authors she's worked with for years, one appears to have branched into a new area of writing and come up with something truly disastrous and the other has a potential best-seller and series of lawsuits. Things twist onwards and all is not always at it seems. There's a few far-fetched moments, a few eye-rolling moments but overall, I enjoyed this as a bit of a light-hearted romp.

February Books #9 and #10 Noughts and Crosses and An Eye for an Eye by Malorie Blackman

I listened to the first of these and read the second. I actually think the first one lost something in its audio presentation, I didn't find the voices of the two presenters convincing in their roles and there was a point at which I almost gave up on it, but I had been lead to believe that this was an excellent YA series. I read a far amount of YA fiction and this hasn't ensnared my avid interest in the way of some other series, but equally it hasn't reached the unfinishable point on the scale either.

It is a story of discrimination - a Cross superior class and a nought under class, but there are too many stereotypes - almost all of the Crosses are single minded in their superiority and the noughts while not necessarily originally violent, resort to violence. The few characters who try to break down the barriers or treat other people with decency are, with the exception of Sephy and Callum, sidelined and glanced over with the barest brushstroke. Sephy and Callum's characters are also not drawn as well as they could have been. I didn't fully warm to Sephy until very late in the book, round about the time I began to lose touch with Callum's character. I felt sympathy for the two characters in their attempts to be true friends and their inability in their youthfulness, to see how life was different for the other - it was understandable that Callum saw all the 'things' that Sephy had while not being able to see the sad state of her family relationships and also that Sephy is drawn to the warmth and attention of Callum's family without understanding that they don't have the possessions.

By the second book, Sephy is both worn down and stronger in her independence and Jude who wasn't a character I'd had any sympathy for in the first book, had only deteriorated further. Minerva just comes across as weak and blind to the realities around them. This seems to add very little to the progress of the story, although perhaps its significance will be clearer after reading Knife Edge the next in the series.

As I already have the subsequent books in the series I do intend reading further, and I'm hoping that by reading and not listening I might find myself engaging more with the characters and finding the depth that seemed to be missing and perhaps also reflect the growing maturity of some of the principal characters and so will put down some of my disappointment in the start of this series to this particular audio book not working for me.

February Book #11 The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Technically a play and not a 'real book' I suppose. Anyway this was a re-read - I know I've both read and seen this on stage in the past and there's a vague possibility that it was a set text at some point. It didn't fare well this time. I listened to an audio version and I have to say that when they are many voices I find it very hard to track what's happening - I can manage two but this is not the first play that I've listened to and it's fallen a bit flat for me, clearly I need the visual input to go along with the auditory when a multitude of characters are involved. So this wasn't a good choice, but my poor reaction to it is based on the format. Although having said that even as a revisit I wasn't overly impressed with the story either. Overall I was disappointed.

February Book #12 The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon
Beware of spoilers below as there are certain things that may be considered spoilers that aren't behind the spoiler cuts because otherwise I couldn't really say very much.

Lou Arrendale is a fascinating character, his self-analysis of his own reaction to the world around him, of the meanings he takes and how he thinks that is not what is intended by others gives the reader a real insight. The reaction of the people around him is at times horrifying and at others reassuring - needless to say some people are truly awful while others are good people - they may not always get things right, but their intentions are sound. Most of this book did not, to my mind, read as 'Science Fiction' although I guess it earns its genre in the last chapter and epilogue with the actual Science/Medicine procedure and the trip to Space in the epilogue.

The pace of the book is generally sedate, as most of it is experienced with Lou, a slow growth of understanding and slow changes, most of it building up to Lou making his decision with regard to the procedures. I was disappointed in the fact that the aftermath was dealt with in one chapter and the epilogue which was only about 2 pages long - so 430+ pages with less than 30 to show the outcome of everything. Lou says what he has let go and where his focus is now, but there's no real depth to why that had to be so or what the other characters felt about that.

Crenshaw felt a little like a caricature villain and the 'General' was such a passing character he felt incongruous - almost 'wave a wand and fix things'.

In the end, I wanted something more from the book than it actually delivered. It felt like a lot of good, solid build-up for very little resolution. I wanted to be able to give it more because I did like it and it had me interested throughout, I just felt it ended to0 quickly leaving me dissatisfied.

February Book #13 The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

What a treat to listen to! Flavia is a real character (although I find it somewhat hard to believe that she is 11). I love her interest in chemistry and the way she reels off all the facts about the different poisons and compounds - there is something a little wicked in her enjoyment of all the gory details of their effects. It's a fun story, not totally believable as mentioned above, but a great diversion. The crime is, I would say, almost less important than Flavia's attempts to solve it.

>70 Peace2: Glad you enjoyed those. Sometimes we don't need believable, we just need characters we enjoy being with.

February Book #14 Pig-Heart Boy by Malorie Blackman

This is a YA story of a teenage boy who subsequent to an illness when he was younger is now suffering from heart disease, with his condition deteriorating and no sign of a transplant heart becoming available. Over the first part of the book, we see Cameron's life as he can keep up with his friends and how more and more he struggles with the things he wants to do. His father looks into all the options available to him and falls into contact with the pioneering Doctor Bryce who works with genetically engineered pigs with a view to transplanting the heart from a pig into a human. The book deals broadly with a number of issues - death/suffering from long term debilitating conditions, animal transplants, animal welfare, genetic engineering, the power of the media/public perception and opinion. It's a relatively light handed touch, not an in depth discussion of any of the issues, and all of them are dealt with from Cameron's point of view and level of understanding. There are some emotional points during the story as might be expected - both highs and lows. This isn't going to be a personal favourite of mine, but it's not a bad book.

And another DNF for the year - The Doll and other stories by Daphne du Maurier - I'm not sure whether it's the fact it's short stories, it's an audio book and the author's voice is hitting an aural blind spot (what would the correct term for that be?) or the stories themselves but I've made it through over half of the discs and I could tell you nothing about the stories - I know one was about a community on a remote Island (which rings a bell from a documentary I watched ages ago about St Kilda), one involved a priest and a girl I think was pregnant and another involved a young couple getting married although her father had discouraged it and then both ending up working opposing shift (she from 9 to 7 as a companion and he 7 to 9 as a night porter) but that's it.

>73 Peace2: LOL, I read that book, and I love du Maurier, but I don't remember any of those stories you mentioned! IIRC, there were only two or three stories which stood out for me. Another postmortem publication which probably shouldn't have been.

>74 MrsLee: I'm presuming the one about a Doll occurs towards the end of the collection because I don't remember a doll occuring in any of the stories yet! I did wonder whether the narrator was 'at fault' or whether it was the stories themselves (or me of course - inufficiently attentive listener) but if you don't remember any of the stories that I've mentioned that reassures me slightly that it might not JUST be me at least - although it also makes me wonder if I should stick with it to find the ones you did recollect!

>75 Peace2: It isn't just you. Here is the gist of my review, with the highlights of the stories I liked somewhat.

I have another collection of du Maurier short stories which are full of suspense, and I was hoping for more of the same, but the only story which came close was "The Happy Valley." Most of the rest are excellent studies on some of our darker personality traits and relationship killers. Very depressing stuff. One, "Frustration," was funny and reminded me of an O'Henry tale, another, "The Limpet," was excellent and a great portrayal of a manipulative personality. Other than those, these stories did not have much appeal for me.

>76 MrsLee: I don't remember any of those I don't think - although the ends/beginnings of stories washed over me and I can't remember the titles of any of them. Oh well, another to add to the DNF pile for the year - oops!

On a brighter note, I've finished another book

February Book #15 The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester

Also known as 'The Professor and the Madman : A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary', that title gives a much clearer idea of what the book is about. An American ex-soldier (surgeon-captain in the American Civil War), William Chester Minor, residing in London, is suffering from a form of insanity and murders a man on the way to his night shift job. When he is caught he admits the murder but also gives his reasons - he's being tormented and abused or at least so he believes - the reality is that in today's society he would probably have been diagnosed with schizophrenia. In court , both his guilt and his 'innocence' of the crime are agreed - that he could not be considered to be truly responsible for what he had done but that he was a great danger to the public and so he is sent to Broadmoor - an asylum for the criminally insane. Over his years there, while his paranoia continued, he made a home for himself, surrounded himself with books and research and began to send in submissions for the OED as it was gradually compiled by James Murray and his staff. Mr Murray did not at first realize where his associate was, and when he did realize, his first assumption was that he worked there in a medical capacity. When the confusions were past, however, Mr Murray still met up with Dr Minor and the two became friends of sorts.

This book combines the actual story of the creation of the many, many volumes of the Oxford English Dictionary alongside the story of William Chester Minor's time in Broadmoor and his subsequent repatriation to the US. It's interesting enough - it made me a little curious about the other contributors to the OED and whether any of them had interesting background stories. The book also serves to illustrate just what a huge achievement the creation of this dictionary really was : it took them five years to get to the words 'Ant'! It was the work of about 50 years to create it in its entirety and immediately they finished, it was necessary to start adding supplements and additions for new meanings for existing words and new words that had come into existence since work started.

The book is interesting, but won't go down on my list of 'best' non-fiction. I'm glad I read it, I learned some things I didn't know and I have a new appreciation for the dictionary on my shelf (even though it's not an OED).

>77 Peace2: Glad to read your review of that. Both my mother and husband read it and got through it, but didn't rave. I think it will move a bit further back on my TBR shelf for the time being. :)

>78 MrsLee: Glad to help!

February Book #16 The Blessing by Nancy Mitford

The Blessing of the title refers to Sigismond, the daughter of English, Grace and her French husband, Charles-Edouard and for much of the book he is anything but a blessing. Charles-Edouard does actually apparently love his wife, this however, is not enough to stop his adulterous ways and when Grace is faced very blatantly with the truth of that, she leaves him and returns to England. Sigi discovers that there are all sorts of advantages to being the child of separated parents and is a thoroughly spoilt little boy. The story has many humorous points and does somewhat centre around somewhat stereotypical portrayals of certain characters - when Grace speaks to her father about not being able to tolerate her husband's adultery, her father refers instead to her husband's bad luck - the bad luck of having being caught out in his adultery. The author has created a world focussing in on the minutae of gossip and status, of the differences between the French and the English in the post-war era and the differences between men and women. Overall, I didn't enjoy this as much as I enjoyed Pigeon Pie last year, but it still made me smile often enough to make it well-worth the listen and I shall be looking for further titles in the future.

February Book #17 Century by Sarah Singleton

The story centres around Mercy Verga who lives with her sister, father and two servants in a house called Century, but it's a twilight world where they get up as the sun sets and go to bed as it rises. Waking one morning to find a snowdrop on her pillow, she begins to question their existence. When she then meets Claudius, her uncle, a little of the truth is revealed, just enough to make sure that her questions become more intense and she begins to search for real answers to why they live as they do, why nothing ever changes, what happened to her mother and so on. Her father and governess try to resist her search, prevent her discovering more, but their resistance only fuels her need to find out the truth.

This is according to the cover of the book the debut by the author and it's also the winner of the 'Booktrust Teenage Prize'. As for my enjoyment of it, I was curious to find out the truth about what was really happening now and what had happened in the past to put them in this position but I didn't fully engage with it, some how the characters didn't feel fully formed and there were a few instances where I wanted to say well if that's the case what about this - for example, if all the clothes were gradually rotting away because the house had been isolated for so long, where was the food coming from, particularly at the end when the spell is broken and they promptly have a feast of roast chicken, potatoes, sprouts and parsnips - did they eat the same every day for the 100 years the spell was in place?

Another scene which made me uncomfortable in plot terms was when Thecla emerges from her grave smiling and happy that her daughter was about to release her. Mercy asks her mother for help and then tells her what has happened since her death and what she wants to do. Her mother then tells her almost the same thing in return and tells her to write everyone happy which just seemed somewhat pointless. Was the point really just to say that her mother despite being dead was also trapped by the spell and needed freeing?

So overall, not terrible, but not great either, and for me definitely not a keeper.

Final Book of the month! February Book #18 Tigerman by Nick Harkaway

This was a book bullet last year (in the sense that I remembered people talking positively about it) and so having seen a copy in the local library, I thought I'd give it a try (after asking if I'd got the right book). I didn't really know what to expect having never come across Nick Harkaway before - a little digging tells me the library has a copy of Angelmaker (at another branch) but the staff I spoke to in the local bookshop hadn't heard of him when I asked there.

So on to this book. Set on the fictional island of Mancreu, in what appear to be its final days, law is almost non-existent and Lester Ferris is the person left in place of an actual 'real' British consular presence after it stops being a British colony, with the brief to keep a low profile and keep the peace without causing more trouble. Ferris is an ex-soldier, a sergeant who had served in Afghanistan and he makes his way around the different island groups, making friends and acquaintances with the islanders, the Japanese scientist researching the impending environmental disaster and the man in charge of NatProMan (Nato and Allied Protection of Mancreu). However, his closest relationship is with 'the boy'. The boy is a local teenager, who Ferris wants to adopt and take away from the island, but who he actually knows very little about. He tries to be a father figure to the boy and finds himself getting more and more embroiled in trying to right wrongs in the island for the boy's sake.

There is lots of humor in the book and the book has a real unexpected (at least for me it was) twist at the end.

As my first foray into Nick Harkaway's work, I enjoyed it and would willing give something else by him a go.

February Summary

Books Read =18
Books Retained after reading = 3 (possibly 4 - haven't decided whether to hang on to Speed of Dark permanently yet
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2015 = 11
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2014 = 1
Books abandoned = 2
Series finished (or read as far as I intend to) = 2
Non-fiction Reads = 2
Fiction Reads = 15 (also 1 play)

Books acquired in February (not including library loans as these go back regardless of my feelings about them) = 15 (6 are missing volumes in series that I already own, also there was a gift set of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings in audio - perhaps that increases the quantity - I'm counting it as one although I suppose technically it could be 2 or 4?).

And so here comes March!

>81 Peace2: Glad you enjoyed your first Harkaway. I've read his other two but not got to that one yet but it is residing on the tbr shelves.

>83 AHS-Wolfy: Are the other two as good? Should I try to get hold of the one from the other branch of the library? Or dare I say it Amazon (eeek! Mount TBR is cringing on the other side of the room at the suggestion!)

>84 Peace2: I love all his novels. I know @pwaites didn't get a lot out of Angelmaker, and in retrospect she's absolutely on the money regards its flaws - and I think those are recurring flaws across the novels. So if you enjoyed Tigerman and the suck stick didn't leap out and smack you, dive on in. I think you'll enjoy them all. They get progressively sillier the earlier he wrote them, but Edie Banister (in Angelmaker) is one of my favourite fictional characters.

I really enjoyed both books. They're both quite different from each other. I was fortunate to read The Gone-Away World fairly soon after release and so avoided spoilers for the plot twist. I'd suggest being careful if you read the reviews if you are going to pick this one up as some of them just blatantly come out with it. It's a post-apocalyptic tale involving ninjas, pirates and mimes. How could anyone resist that? Angelmaker incorporates elements of steampunk and espionage of the James Bond variety. Both were wild, often meandering rides but extremely fun.

March Book #1 A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The first Sherlock Holmes book, it was relatively short and introduces the characters - telling us how Sherlock is so anti-social as well as such a good detective. I had forgotten how patchy Watson's health was at the beginning of the story after his service in Afghanistan. The story begins with the two characters meeting for the first time and agreeing to share rooms before introducing Lestrade and Gregson the two police detectives who need Sherlock's help to solve the murder of a man found with no visible injuries in a deserted building.

I think I was a bit disappointed by how little chance the reader would have had to solve the murder with Sherlock, trying to wind the clues together, but maybe it's just me that likes to try and figure out the 'why' and 'who' myself as I read, as if I could also be a detective.

March Book #2 Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

Technically this is part of a series, although I hadn't realized it until looking on LT. I certainly managed to get to know all I needed to about the characters without feeling like I had missed out something key to this particular story. It is the story of Anna, an Irish girl living in New York, set in the present day. Anna works in advertising for a beauty company and finds herself having to dress according to her brand (a brand she feels too old to dress like). When we first meet Anna, she is staying at her parents in Ireland following an accident. It isn't clear exactly what happened and that isn't revealed until later in the story.

I'm not going to say much about the plot line as to start talking would give away too much of what happens and would then spoil it. I avoided reading about the book and had wondered why certain tags were applied to it (although they are apt having read the story). Overall the book is humorous and fairly light reading, but it does touch on some very emotive subjects and the way in which they are handled I would imagine would not be too everyone's taste. The story starts and appears to be heading in one direction before taking a distinctly sharp turn, however, there is still lots of light and humor interspersed with the darker line.

Overall I enjoyed it, but wouldn't want to read this kind of thing too often and would say that this wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

March Book #3 Fergus Crane by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

This one is a children's book written and illustrated by the authors of The Edge Chronicles but for a slightly younger audience - I'd say this was for 7-9 year olds probably and The Edge series would be 10+. Fergus is an only child living with his mother after his father vanished years before when off exploring. The world he lives in is fantastical - he goes to school on a ship, a magical box brings messages to his bedroom window at night. All of this leads to various adventures, a meeting with a long lost uncle and Fergus needing to be brave and rescue others. I can't say too much more without giving the main events of the story away, but it has a happy ending and is a fun read for the age group and I love the way Chris Riddell's illustrations are always so fitting with the story. This is the first in a series called The Far-Flung Adventures (not touchstoned as it leads elsewhere) - but the other two titles currently available, Corby Flood and Hugo Pepper, appear to be about different children, so I'm not sure how 'tight' a series this is in terms of needing to read them together. If I come across the others, I may well add them to the collection with a view to passing them to younger relatives when the time is right.

March Book #4 61 hours by Lee Child

The story of an ex-military man, who lives off the grid more or less - no home base, no cell phone. Jack Reacher is travelling on a bus which crashes and from there he gets embroiled in the problems of the town he's taken to. A lawyer has been killed on a road out of town with only one witness, a retired lady living in the town. The town's police are tied into an agreement whereby if the siren sounds at the prison, they all have to move out to create a cordon around the prison while the prison staff deal with whatever the situation is - an escape, a riot etc. This leads to a situation in which there will be no one to protect the witness - so Reacher is co-opted. Meanwhile they are also trying to figure out what's happening with a biker group hanging out in an abandoned military installation that no one can remember the reasons around its origin. Obviously Reacher's outside contacts are useful on that front as well, so through in an international criminal as well and who better than Reacher to get to the bottom of all crimes, bring the perpetrators to some form of justice (not necessarily the arresting and court case kind) and there you go.

It was an okay read - it grasped my interest enough that I was going to keep reading, even when I found things a bit of a stretch. But I couldn't help smiling at the descriptions of Reacher... bearing in mind, the film Jack Reacher is based off the book character, I was busy picturing Tom Cruise in the role - until the character was described as being 6 feet five inches tall with hands the size of supermarket chickens - Tom Cruise - 6 feet five - well that doesn't compute in my brain and 'hands the size of supermarket chickens' - just a bizarre image settled in my head.

Still not terrible.

March Book #5 The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

So many a year ago, I remember that this was on a 'Books You Should Read This Year' at school - it also wasn't in the school library... I wonder what that meant. It was never a book that appealed to me, but now thirty years (approximately) later, I was curious. Why was it such a 'classic'? It's a curious book, I can see its appeal, the social status of different groups, the alienation, the teen thought processes, the inevitability and the fight against the inevitable. Is the future in our own hands or are we predestined by virtue of our background? How do we break free of the things that restrain our potential and how many of us even want to or realize that perhaps we 'should' want to?

S.E. Hinton was, according to various things that I've read, only 16 when she wrote this book. It's very insightful and provokes interesting trains of thought, but it's also quite repetitive in some of the things that are said, or is that just Ponyboy's character, that dwells on the same things over and over again and restates the same observations?s

I'm glad I got around to reading this, but I think perhaps my thoughts will solidify more over the coming days. I'm curious to see the film now as well, or maybe not because I think I'd cry at certain points if I had to watch certain things happen, (if you've read the book you'll know what I mean and if not, I don't want to spoil it in case you do later).

That was a casting gaffe that really had Reacher fans screaming for blood. I mean Jack has to have a foot or something on shrimpy old Tom. {eyeroll}

And yeah, reality does get stretched somewhat when Reacher's around, but I like them and just go with it.

>92 Bookmarque: I think in books like this one where Reacher is supposed to 'tower over' the bad guy, I can understand why fans would be so put out. It makes quite a big thing about Reacher being over a foot and a half taller than one of the bad guys - oops! Can't see Tom towering over someone by that much.

I liked the book as long as I didn't look too closely at the bends in reality around Reacher *grin* I'd certainly read another - which is probably a good thing as I'm pretty sure there's another couple on the TBR pile somewhere.

March Book #6 The Boy in the Smoke by Maureen Johnson

This was a prequel to the Shades of London series (which I've not come across before) written for World Book Day last year. It has me slightly curious to read more. After a near death experience, Stephen Dene, student at Eton, can see ghosts. At a bare 96 pages (including adverts for other books etc), it is just a taster. I presume this shows how Stephen becomes the character he will be in the main series of books. I actually found myself more interested in some of the characters who I know won't make it into the other books, like Gina and Peter. If I happen across The Name of the Star which is the first in the main series, I'll give it a try, but at this point I don't feel compelled to hunt it down immediately.

Yeah, you just have to allow Reacher his magical presence sometimes. But the thing is, a lot of his psyche and personality are bound up in his physicality. That he is so enormous gives him confidence over and above the average man. He takes risks most wouldn't just on that alone and so that someone shorter than me (I'm 5'9") could be believable as Reacher is pretty funny (like it was high cinema, right? lol). Not to mention he's blonde also, but that really wouldn't matter if they got a guy over 6'. The Rock might have pulled it off...also Hugh Jackson and I could totally see Clint Eastwood back in his Beguiled days.

>94 Peace2: I just read The name of the star and really enjoyed it. Definitely one of the better YA books I've found recently. (I've almost stopped reading in the category because so many of the books are clones of each other or too obsessed with romance.)

95 - You meant Hugh Jackman, right? :)

I enjoy Reacher as a certain type of reading palate* cleanser.

I hate that word. You have no idea what I had to go through to find the proper spelling of it.

Yeah, I did. I blame lack of coffee!

>96 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for that - I shall keep a more alert eye open looking for it! :D

>97 MrsLee: I pictured the right man! Well, who wouldn't?

March Book #7 Captain America Vol 1 by Ed Brubaker et al.

I'm no expert on the many Marvel Universes and incarnations, but I'm trying to experience what I can (given difficulties in getting hold of variations in order!). So this is relatively a more recent series and references a time during the War when SHIELD used a young man to create a 'way through' an alternate world to their destination in this. Unfortunately things went wrong and the people sent through were trapped en route... for decades. Skip to the present day, when those same people are then wrenched out of the alternate world and lives they had made for themselves and back into this world. In terms of characterisation, I'm not hugely keen on what I've seen so far, but if I manage to get hold of some of the others, I'll give them a go.

March Book #8 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

This was a re-read but it's been more than 20 years since I last visited it. I remember it being a real favourite when I first read it, but that was in the aftermath of several Jane Austen's that didn't personally hit the mark, so perhaps it benefitted from being 'not Jane Austen', although I also read Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell at the same period and that has stood the test of time.

So this time around, Wuthering Heights did not meet with quite such confirmed enthusiasm. One thing that struck me was how very unlikeable the characters often are, almost in their entirety at some point the characters behave appallingly towards others. Heathcliff's anger and general mistreatment of others is understandable in the early part of the book, but his behaviour festers and he continues it on through the generations. Catherine (the first) is actually quite manipulative and selfish, although she's also trapped in a societal position where some of the things she would be best to act on are forbidden to her.

I didn't dislike the book. It's interesting, it's different - these are not mundane people leading mundane lives - they're remarkably opposite to the characters in many books. Their vengeful and jealous behaviour is a real contrast to the very proper behaviour seen in some other books. I think I'll return to this again in another few years (probably not quite so many next time) because I'd be interested to see again how my feelings change next time. So I'm glad I came back to it, but sad that I don't like it as much as I did the first time around.

March Book #9 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

This is both a new book and a new author to me. I picked it to read (when I saw a copy) because I was collected a list of 'books to read' as I travelled about 7 years ago from various people that I met along the way. One person was very enthusiastic about making recommendations and this was one of them (and I finally got around to giving it a try).

It's a frightening thought that firemen aren't protecting the world from uncontrolled fires, but rather are firestarters - their job to burn books because governments only want people to see, hear, think, believe what they control. The story revolves around Montag, a fireman. We see his wife and her pitiful existence, obsessed by the media which surrounds her. Montag begins to lose faith in his job and life when he meets Clarisse and he begins to question all that he does.

It amazes me that this book was written back in 1953. There is a huge amount of prescience in this, it's unnerving.

I'm glad I finally found a copy and was able to borrow it.

>101 Peace2: My favorite scene from Wuthering Heights was in a Jasper Fforde novel. ;)

I too loved Fahrenheit 451 when I first read it, which wasn't too long ago.

March Book #10 Wait for Me! by Deborah Devonshire

I listened to the audio book of this read by Penelope Keith, who seemed to have the right kind of voice for the piece. This is the autobiography of the youngest of the Mitford sisters and Duchess of Devonshire who died last year. It was fascinating to listen to her story. Details and intricacies of her life. I really enjoyed it, plenty of humour, a light touch and quite down to earth about some of her life (even when it's things the rest of us are likely never to experience). She touches on some of the difficulties brought about by some of her sisters' political beliefs, but admits that although she loved her sisters, she couldn't understand their beliefs. She talks of the high times, parties, travel, friendships, the hard times financially, politically, living through war times, her husband's alcoholism and deaths of children, friends and family, but overall this is a very optimistic book even when dealing with things that must have been very difficult to live with at the time. It is not told in strictly chronological order but tends rather more to group similar events or people together and then rewind to cover a different aspect of her life.

She was a fascinating lady and her stories and anecdotes are, from my perspective, well worth listening to. She also touches on the work accomplished in saving Chatsworth House. I believe she's written books very specifically about Chatsworth House. It's stunning to imagine that at the time of her father in law's death, the family was hit with 80% of the estate being liable as death duties. The sheer volume of money and land that had to be acquired to retain any of the estate in the family is unbelievable - no wonder so many of the great country homes in Britain were either sold off or turned into businesses.

I'm glad I read this and I'm giving it four and a half stars.

I read Wait for Me a couple of years ago, and liked it, though not quite as much as you did. The amount that she accomplished in the management of Chatsworth is really impressive. I've been interested in the Mitfords since reading The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters, which is a fascinating collection.

>105 SylviaC: I think sometimes I just hit on a book at the right time and it's the 'right' book for my mood, the time I have etc if you know what I mean. :D

March Book #11 Bedsit Disco Queen by Tracey Thorn

So another autobiography and I enjoyed this one too. I wasn't a huge Everything But The Girl fan, but I did like some of their music and thought Tracey Thorn had a lovely voice. This book had been on my Amazon Wishlist for a while, and I'm not even sure what drew me to it there, but when I saw it in a charity shop a few weeks ago (sorry Amazon! not really!) I had to pick it up and give it a try. So it was an interesting read giving a little insight into the background behind her rise to fame and her life since. What I liked about it was that she seems quite down to earth, not a diva who blames all the things that went wrong on other people and not someone who feels 'entitled'. She worked hard at times, enjoyed her job (most of the time) and had periods of self-doubt. She made choices and had experiences, sometimes good, sometimes bad, some things were under her control and some weren't. The book also contains extracts from lyrics that she's written over the course of her career and there's a lot of meaning and feeling and the relevance to her life at the period she was writing comes through.

You've had a great patch!

I loved Wuthering Heights when I first read it as a teen, and - like you - tripped up over how awful they all are when I reread it about ten years later. It's probably time I went back for another visit; in spite of the character flaws, I still enjoyed the read.

I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting Fahrenheit 451 last year. As you say, it's so prescient it hurts. A properly thought-provoking novel - the commentary on conformity and technology/media as the opiates of the masses in particular...

Wait for Me sounds fascinating. I found I couldn't finish The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters (perhaps a mistake to try and read it in one go, and without something else to leaven it), but I've always been interested in Deborah and what she achieved at Chatsworth.

...and I can imagine that Tracey Thorn would be a bit of a contrast to the Duchess as a follow-on read. She always struck me as entirely down to earth :)

>108 imyril: It was definitely an interesting run.

Slight hiccup in the works - started listening to The Weed That Strings The Hangman's Bag borrowed from the library but got 4 discs in when there was a big scratch that ruined it, so it had to go on hold until I could get back to the library and try to borrow a paper copy - which I've now done, so hope to get through it shortly.

Next up was Dracula also in audio, however, the format wasn't working for me - I didn't like the voice used for Mina in particular but wasn't rapt with the male voice either. I've borrowed this in paper form as well, so will return to it shortly.

Next audio was a collection of ghost stories by MR James read by Derek Jacobi, however that one was so badly damaged I didn't even get half way through the first disc. Kind of annoying.

I'm now listening to A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki - three discs in and it's going well so far *fingers crossed*

March Book #12 365 Ways to Save the Earth by Philippe Bourseiller

I picked this one up in a garden centre because I was captivated by the photography. For that it was worth it. The '365 Ways to save the Earth' were somewhat less good. Firstly it appears to be aimed at an American audience, which means that some of the things were quite specific to that audience. Secondly, and this was even more significant, it was repetitive, once I'd got about half way through the book, the ideas were often repeats of things that had been said already. The messages are sound, there are some good ideas, I just felt like there could have been more variety.

Overall, not terrible and the repetition is probably less obvious if you read it a day at a time (the entries are dated) - time to forget between one use and the next. Lots of beautiful photographs. It's not going to replace The Earth From The Air in my heart though.

>109 Peace2: Oh, well, thanks for that rabbit trail! I went to Audible to look up your ghost stories read by Derek Jacobi (which I found, volumes 1 & 2 for about $15 total) and found a ton of books to add to my wish list!

>111 MrsLee: Ooops sorry - completely unintentional! Hope you enjoy nonetheless :D

March Book #13 The Cleaning Bible by Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie

Those in the UK may well be familiar with the authors of this from their forays into TV land when they tackle the cleaning in people's homes - reality TV is really not my thing but even I couldn't fail to come across them in passing. So in that respect, I'm not even sure why I picked this one up when I saw it a year or so ago in a charity shop. That said, I'm glad I did. It's not a riveting read particularly, but there are some interesting tips particularly in the light of my last finished read 365 Ways to Save the Earth. I read it fairly thoroughly and was relieved to find that while not quite so fastidious and single minded as the two of them, and distinctly more cluttered (books.... er....) that I had most of the important things down. There were bits I liked - stain removal ideas, less viciously chemical ways of cleaning (also less 'product' oriented - as in you'd be amazed what you can do with a bit of vinegar and bicarb and how many of those highly expensive and specialised cleaning products on the market could be replaced with one, the other or a mix). In the light of the push to release less very damaging chemicals into the environment, going back to using something simpler but effective - even things like the reminder to dust lightbulbs to improve the light they give out - it makes sense, but I'll be honest, it's one I forget to do and the newer longer lasting lightbulbs would make it more important. So not a bad 'how to' book at all.

It reminded me a little of my Mum's copy of Mrs Beeton's Book of Recipes and Household Management that she was given when she got married (without the recipes) and somewhat more up to date.

>113 Peace2: that actually sounds really useful. I might keep my eye open for it :) I've got a copy of the Country Women's Association cookbook somewhere that has all sorts of useful if old-fashioned remedies and cleaning suggestions in the back - it's a fascinating read! It's also the only cookbook I own that assumes you're catering for half the county and that you're more interested in quantities of ingredients than methods ;)

>114 imyril: If you ever really are catering for a large crowd, Indian Delights has a recipe for breyani to feed 800 people. Apparently such recipes are used quite often in the Durban Indian community.

>115 hfglen: Wow! That's a lot of people!

March Book #14 (and astonishingly Book #50 for 2015) The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

Something in me feels wrong when I say this was a fun read - it was a murder mystery, but I'm developing a real affection for Flavia De Luce. She's a great creation. This is definitely a string of book bullets from these parts, the mentions of Flavia and then happening across the first in the series a few weeks ago set me on the path to reading further. I am fairly confident that I will return to the series later in the year - if I can find further copies in the library or happen across any in the local shops.

>115 hfglen: if I ever have to feed that many people, I may declare it a BYO day :)

>116 Peace2: The really scary part is that every spice shop in Durban sells great big cauldrons that would hold that much breyani! (What Percy Weasley would say about the thickness of the base is unrecorded, as they're made from aluminium, not copper.)

March Summary

Books Read =14
Books Retained after reading = 4
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2015 = 6
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2014 = 2
Books abandoned = 1 (only counting 1 - as found different copies of the other 2 that were abandoned to try - have finished 1 and will hopefully finish other one next month)
Series finished (or read as far as I intend to) = 0
Non-fiction Reads = 4
Fiction Reads = 10

Books acquired in March (not including library loans as these go back regardless of my feelings about them) = 12 (need to buy less next month and read lots!)

First Quarter summary

Total Number of Books Read - 50
Books Retained after Reading - 9
Books that were on my shelf prior to 2015 - 33
Books borrowed from the library - 14 (that weren't audio to match existing titles on my shelf)
Books acquired - 35

Books by Male Authors - 23
Number of different male authors - 19
Books by Collaborations - 5
Books by Female Authors - 22
Number of different female authors - 19

Fiction - 42
Non-fiction - 7
Plays - 1

Although the book buying has improved greatly (last year I bought something like 3 to every one I read) - it's not quite as good as I thought as I'd been comparing books bought to books read - which put me 15 more read than bought, but when balanced with fourteen books read but borrowed from the library - that only makes me 1 ahead on books read from my TBR pile to books acquired and I kept 9 of the ones I'd read so that means there would be 8 more books in the house than at the start of the year - so therefore I'm relying on abandoned books of which there were 5 but only 1 was from the TBR pile (although its 2 sequels went with it). The imminent threat of avalanche is thus not abating... I must be more pro-active about this...

I am pleased with the variety and balance of male to female etc - seems I'm at a fairly good point there.

April Book #1 A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Interesting, disturbing, moving in turns. Two overlapping stories told as Ruth in Canada finds on the beach some remnants possibly washed out to see from Japan during the tsunami. Contained therein is Nao's diary. As Ruth reads the diary she learns of Nao's life in Japan. Nao had spent her early years in the US but when her father lost his job, her family had moved back to Japan. At school there Nao suffers terrible bullying - leading to some horrible scenes in the story - and so begins to contemplate suicide. As her story unfolds and we learn more and more of what goes on, Ruth's life and history is also revealed. It's strange towards the end, somewhat unresolved, but that is kind of the point. I think that it will continue to percolate for a while in my brain.

I'm really struggling with Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and his years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami. I just can't latch on to it in a way that makes me want to find out what happens next (or before). Has anyone else read it? Is it worth continuing or am I better making this my first abandon of the quarter?

April Book #2 The Motorcycle Diaries by Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

I have mixed feelings about this one. It was interesting in the sense of being a document of Guevara's journey around South America before he became the famous revolutionary. But there was also a part of me that felt the trip was wasted - he and his friend seemed more intent on who they could cadge food and drink and a place to stay without having to pay or work for it than on what they were seeing. At times it felt more like a recounting of drunken exploits, than insight. Yet clearly there are hints in here of the man he was to become - he takes notice of the poverty, of the dire need in the hospitals and what passes for medical care and such. So interesting but just a fleeting brush with the potential it could have had.

>122 Peace2: I've got a copy of this on TBR that I keep meaning to get to. I like the sound of it a lot. I'm afraid I haven't read the Murakami tho.

>125 imyril: It's certainly an interesting one.

I've given up on the Murakami for now and am trying to get into The Wasp Factory but I've been a bit put off by some of the comments made about it - I'm not sure that it's my kind of thing.

April Book #3 Corby Flood by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell

What a fun read (admittedly it's a kid's book). Corby and her family are on board the S.S.Euphonia on their way to take her and her brothers to Harbour Heights school. The Euphonia is a once grand cruise ship, now serving as a rusty old cargo ship with many things broken on it. I love the descriptions and details in this and the correlation between the illustrations and the descriptions. The vocabulary is great too - definitely a way to encourage youngsters to learn new words and to think about how they describe characters etc in their own writing - the word 'lugubrious' springs to mind! On board with the Captain and his first mate Jon-Jolyon Letchworth-Crisp who is every bit as smarmy as Corby describes him, are Arthur (third engineer and anything else Jon-Jolyon doesn't want to do), the 'man in Cabin 21', the Brotherhood of Clowns (Mr Times-Roman, Mr Garamond, Mr Bembo, Mr Franklin-Gothic and Mr Palantino) and the Hattenswillers. Adventures ensue as Corby pokes her curious nose where it isn't wanted, and ends up in trouble that she never dreamed of, but it all works out in the end.

This is the second in the Far-Flung Adventures (the first was Fergus Crane) and I shall definitely be keeping an eye out for the third.

April Book #4 Captain America and Bucky : The Life Story of Bucky Barnes

This isn't going to be a favourite. It's a hop, skip and jump through Bucky's life, far too shallow for my liking. Overall, I was disappointed.

>126 Peace2: I appreciated The Wasp Factory as an achievement (I'm not sure it's the sort of book you 'enjoy' exactly!), but you do need a pretty strong stomach literally and metaphorically.

>129 imyril: Is it indicative of the rest of his work? I think I'm going to give up on it - I'm not in the right mood for this kind of 'challenge' just now, but that is the second of his works that I've tried (I read Transition toward the end of 2013 I think) and not connected with, but I have another five on the TBR pile and I'm wondering if I should just shed them because I'm not the right reader. The others I've got are The Crow Road, Matter, The Steep Approach to Garbadale, Walking on Glass and Use of Weapons. I know you've been having a re-read of some of his titles, so any advice is welcome.

>130 Peace2: I've read mostly the Culture novels, of which Use of Weapons is a favourite and Matter I hated (and am still procrastinating about revisiting!) and only some early non-SF - of which Complicity struck me as most like the SF in tone and structure. The Wasp Factory reminded me more of early Ian McEwan in his deliberately shocking phase. I wasnt wild about Transition.

So I would say give the Culture a shot (and Use of Weapons is a fine starting point; it's deliberately more comical and OTT whilst still tackling tricky themes) before you give up on him entirely unless you hate the prose rather than the stories and characters - the latter are very distinct from novel to novel.

@pgmcc may have more insight into the non-SF titles.

>131 imyril: Thanks @imyril for the suggestion. I shall bear that in mind when making forthcoming reading choices and won't just throw them all out for now ;)

April Book #5 The Evil Eye by Joyce Carol Oates

I've had a run of abandons, so this was a case of 'well they're short stories/novellas I need to finish something and not give up on another' and really that was the only reason I finished this. Not my cup of tea at all. They are described as novellas of 'love gone wrong' - horrible. I'd actually picked this up because I was looking for a set of short stories that I could read for the Horror 'short stories' category for this month, and among several authors suggested, this was the only one who had a collection in the library when I went to borrow one, although this collection doesn't actually fit the 'horror' theme - which I hadn't realised at the time. I won't be trying any others by this author - I'm definitely not the reader she's writing for.

*fingers crossed I have a good run now!*

>133 Peace2: Perhaps it fits the "horror" theme in your reaction to the stories? ;)

>134 MrsLee: You could be right in that :D

Tucking into a real contrast now - Constellations : Stories of the Future edited by Malcolm Edwards - funny having two sets of short stories back to back - I'm not a big fan of the short story because I like to 'invest' in what I'm reading, but I figured this was a good chance to dabble in the writing of some more famous authors that I've not actually tried, like Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K Dick and J G Ballard (there's a title by Arthur C Clarke as well, but I read one by him last year - so he's not completely new to me)

Also The Restaurant At The End of The Universe and The Shapeshifter: Finding the Fox. Even if I end up not loving any of these, I'm not going to be quite so badly off as I was after the last few).

>122 Peace2: I too enjoyed A tale for the time being, and have added Ozeki's earlier two novels to my tbr pile.

>130 Peace2: Like imyril, I've read more of Banks' SF than his mainstream fiction. I did read The crow road which was quite good, about a boy and the tangled dynamics of his large family. It's probably his most popular and accessible novel (and had a TV miniseries made from it). However the only one of his non-SF novels that I loved enough to keep is Whit, although I haven't reread it for a long time. I'm the opposite of imyril when it comes to the SF novels on your pile - I loved Matter but didn't care for Use of weapons!

>136 Sakerfalcon: I think I'm the only person who didn't like Matter to be fair :) I just remember it feeling like drudgery to read - I do wonder if I'll find a completely different book when I finally firm my spine and revisit it ;)

>136 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for the advice. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with the other Ozeki novels - I shall follow your thread and keep my eyes out for when you get around to them with a view to whether I need to add them to my TBR pile (hoping it takes you a little while so I can reduce the pile a little more :) )

With regard to the Banks' books, I think I've come to a decision based on what everyone has said. I will try The Crow Road as have that one in audio, but I'll leave it a while. The others I'll give the fifty page test and if they haven't grabbed me in that time then I'll pass, but I'll take each one on its own merits. I'm not going to jump into that puddle just now, because I want to feel a bit more positive about my reading, so I'm going to try for a few that I'm more confident that I'll like enough to feel okay about even if they're not keepers. The TBR pile has plenty of stuff in it to choose from ;)

April Book #6 Red Mist by Patricia Cornwell

I was a bit dubious about this one as I started it. Clearly it's part of a bigger series, which I haven't read any of and this story does draw some details from the other - a character who has died before the book begins is closely connected with not just the main character but also with a number of other characters in the book and is the link between many of them. Putting that aside though, the bulk of the story is understandable, can be followed without knowledge of the preceding titles.

Kay Scarpetta is a medical examiner, caught up in a situation where she has been called to visit a prisoner in a Georgia prison who was associated with her late colleague Jack Fielding and whose daughter has relatively recently attempted to murder Kay. There are twists and turns but eventually the good guys figure out the truth.

I gave it three stars. Okay and readable but not one that I want to keep.

April Book #7 Constellations: Stories of the Future edited by Malcolm Edwards

I'm not the biggest fan of short stories, I prefer to invest in the same characters and really get to know them, but in this case the short story form suited the pieces in it very well. With titles written by well-known authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and J.G. Ballard amongst others, it was quite an illustrious bunch, although I'd only read some A.C.C. previously.

These were ideas and concepts pieces rather than characters, teasers and twists to get you trying to figure out where they were going or what was happening (or why). Some of the pieces worked better than others, but the ideas were diverse (not all ideas included are under the cut, but a general gist of some of them is given)- a society in which intelligence is forcibly limited, sail yachts powered by the sun's radiation, a world in which people have to live in cubicle sized living spaces, a society in which people pay vast sums of money for 'scenedows' - a window which has recorded ten years worth of life and countryside outside, because people are living in cities with no views, tourists travelling back in time to various historic events.

Plenty of variety, lots of ideas that probably wouldn't work over a novel length. I would actually say this is worth a read and hasn't suffered too much for already being 35 years old. I'm actually going to give this one four stars, despite not liking everything in it.

>139 Peace2: That's usually the reaction I have to Patricia Cornwall novels, too.

The first 10 or so of the Scarpetta series are good but then Cornwell "jumps the shark" and they become increasingly ridiculous. I stopped reading them then. Looks like the series is on 22 now so someone must still be reading them!

>142 infjsarah: This was #19... it was fine, but not enough to inspire me to rush out to get any others. My expectations were not high on starting, so that may have played a part in my final thoughts. ;)

April Book #8 Finding the Fox by Ali Sparkes

This is a children's/YA novel, the first in a series. It introduces Dax who has just begin to shapeshift into a fox at the beginning of the book. He is promptly whisked away to a school for children with 'talents' - although he is the only shapeshifter. Other talents include healing, telekinesis, speaking with spirits, casting glamours and the like. While there, he meets a number of other students, some of whom he develops friendships with, some of whom the opposite is the case. Danger appears to lurk outside the school's boundaries, but as Dax begins to settle into his new life, not everyone inside the school are all they appear to be. Overall, this is a good start to the series and I would be interested to see where it goes from this initial groundbreaking. Some things are obvious, laid on quite thick so you see them coming, but perhaps given the younger age (the 9-12 age I would suggest) that is right, at the same time, it is clearly setting up for bigger and wider things to come with not much clue as to what they might be. I would be interested if I happen across any further titles to see where the author goes next. I believe there are currently 5 in the series although I haven't seen any of the others in the shops here as yet. I will also pass this along to my nephew as I think it may appeal to him as well.

April Book #9 The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

I enjoyed this retelling of the story of Odysseus and Penelope from Penelope's point of view more than I expected. It was interesting to think of events from a female perspective - of her struggle for control, of a very male-dominated society. Although the maids' perspective was another interesting insight and the choral aspect of their retelling added to that, for me, some of the forms worked better than others.

April Book #10 The Diary of A Nobody by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith

I listened to the audio version of this read by Martin Jarvis. It was quick (4 CDS about 4 and a half hours). Written in 1892, it's the diary of Charles Pooter and his attempts to make his way in life and record it in his diary ready for publishing. It's a lightly comedic piece with plenty of puns. Charles Pooter is trying to better himself but the universe along with Pooter's friends, acquaintances and son seem to be well placed to stop things going smoothly.

April Book #11 Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

A dark piece set that I didn't 'enjoy' but it did get me thinking. I already had a rough idea what the book was about from things I'd heard, so the 'who' of the characters in the story was already apparent to me. It's strange to think of Ruth, Tommy and Kathy being so accepting of the world in which they live, of not questioning or rebelling. Is that nature or nurture? It's a story about friendship and loyalty and facing the life the characters are given. It doesn't hugely deal with the questions of the ethics of the situation the characters are in or with why and how the situation has arisen or even how it impacts on the people on the other side of the equation. Whilst we meet some of the guardians and hear their views, we don't ever see those completely outside this small segment of the world. An interesting piece, I'm glad that I read it as I've heard so much about it, but not quite what I was expecting.

I bet Diary of a Nobody would translate well to audio. When I read it in print, I could just imagine Pooter's pompous little voice talking.

>148 SylviaC: Martin Jarvis did a great job and yes, he was rather pompous - perfect for the character.

>147 Peace2: I've held off reading Never Let Me Go partly because I've seen the film, which I thought was really good, but I know what you mean about not really 'enjoying' it!

April Book #12 The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

I acquired this in the wake of having read The Girl Who Fell From The Sky at the beginning of last year. While I could (and probably did at the time) pick a few faults with that one, I liked it overall. This one, however, I liked less. The story centres around a Czechoslovakian house built between WW1 and WW2. The owner of the house Viktor Landauer is Jewish, while his wife, Liesel is not. Viktor begins an affair with a woman in Vienna and eventually events bring the woman, Katalin, to the house. The events of WW2 lead to the family leaving the house and the story continues to tell us what happened during the years of German occupation and then through the subsequent years afterwards.

For me, the premise was interesting, the delivery was disappointing. More of the book focuses on the sexual affairs of the people who pass through the house than seemed necessary and some of the real life atrocities are passed over in such a way as to almost trivialize them.

Another abandon - Outline by Rachel Cusk

Problem with this might have been the narrator as I was listening to an audio version, but it wasn't working for me and so after a disc and a half (of six) I gave it up as not for me.

Instead I've moved onto A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley - the third in the Flavia de Luce series.

April Book #13 The John Lennon Letters edited by Hunter Davies

This is a variable piece - it's interesting in part. John Lennon was an intriguing man, quite a force of nature and so there is a real variety of tone to the letters he wrote from lovely and caring to a few rants. The background story to the letters is also interesting, but - with some of the 'letters', it's a stretch that they're in there at all - postcards with nothing much more than - 'We're in X. Love John' (or John and Yoko and so on). The editor admits that he's taken liberties with the interpretation of the word 'Letters' and has included any sort of note that he could give any sort of context to. So overall mixed feelings - could have been much shorter and come out better for it.

April Book #14 A Red Herring Without Mustard by Alan Bradley

Another addition to the Flavia De Luce series - I'm loving these. Poor Old Flavia, still being tormented by her sisters, and stumbling over more dead bodies than is healthy for such a young person! Yet again she ponders the intricacies of all the ways in which the various crimes may have been committed and the reasons why. I expect the police which actually begin to employ her before we know it. ;)

It does strike me that Bishop's Lacey is somewhat like the village of Midsomer - far more murders than one might expect in such a small community.

April Book #15 Insurgent by Veronica Roth

This is a re-read from the end of March/beginning of April last year and the reason for the re-read was having seen the film so recently and being confused as the film hadn't tied in with how I had remembered the book, so I trotted home and dug out the book to have another read. So the film and the book are diverging paths even more than the first film and book did. Missing characters and sub plots out completely, changing who things happen to (because certain other characters don't exist among other reasons) and creating situations that are quite significantly different from those in the book. The film's ending is quite markedly different from the book - this does make me wonder if they are going to take part 3 in a different direction and perhaps resolve the unpopular with many readers ending to the series.

I had a quick look back at the comments I made last year after reading to see if my feelings about the book were significantly different. I think some of the things that niggled a little last year did so more last year - both Tris and Four expecting the other to listen to them and take note of their opinion and then not behaving similarly in return for instance. Overall though, still an enjoyable enough read not to be thrown out yet.

April Summary

Books Read =15
Books Retained after reading = 2
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2015 = 11
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2014 = 1
Books abandoned = 4
Series finished (or read as far as I intend to) = 0 (not intending reading Allegiant again at this point but may read it in the vicinity of the next film's release, also am actively seeking next books in series for 3 of the books read last month but apart from the next Flavia de Luce, I haven't located any - without visiting A***** which I'm trying not to do)
Non-fiction Reads = 2
Fiction Reads = 13

Books acquired in April(not including library loans as these go back regardless of my feelings about them) = 18 (Terrible!)

>154 Peace2: I'm glad you are still enjoying these! I love them. I haven't read the most recent, although I have it. Saving it for dessert sometime.

>157 MrsLee: I've just borrowed the audio version for #4 from the library so will get to that in a week or so depending on how the other loans progress. :D

May Book #1 The Wind Singer by William Nicholson

I'd say this was a young YA book or an older children's book. It begins in the city of Amaranth, where society is organised into colour bands based on your family rating. Higher scoring moves you and your family up through the society, getting more living space etc etc. The Hath family are Orange, they have a small home with two bedrooms, the baby sleeps on the landing. Mr Hath doesn't do well in the Annual Tests, so the family are always struggling to keep their 'rating'. The twins, Bowman and Kestrel are roughly in the middle of their class. PinPin (the baby) has her first testing and things do not go well, she doesn't speak (among other things), although she can and scores a zero rating. The twins arrive at school and have forgotten their homework and the teacher and Kestrel argue with Kestrel moving herself to the very bottom of the class and saying 'What more can you do to me than put me at the bottom?' Over the coming days they discover, what is worse than that and so the family rebel, but they rebel in order to fight for a better society. The twins and Mumpo another child who is at the bottom of the class, escape the city and go in search of the missing piece of the wind singer and so embark on a number of adventures and obstacles to be overcome.

It's different and an idea I've not come across before (not to say it isn't out there, but I've not seen it). There are some minor gripes, but overall I enjoyed it and think it would suit the younger audience well. I'm hoping to get to the next part of the trilogy later this month.

May Book #2 The Time Travelling Cat by Julia Jarman

If this hadn't been so short, I'd have given up on it. It's a children's book, in which Topher acquires a cat that he and his father name Ka. Intermittently the cat goes missing and is apparently travelling back in time to Ancient Egypt. Topher also travels back to Egypt in search of the cat. I didn't find it sufficiently engaging and don't intend passing it on. I know of better books to entice children into reading.

May Book #3 Winter Soldier: The Complete Collection by Ed Brubaker

Loved this - a reformed Bucky Barnes (mostly), post-retrieval from his Winter Soldier and post his taking up the mantle of Captain America. He's supposedly dead (there was a funeral) but in reality this was a way for him to go back underground and work in secret, taking Natasha, the Black Widow, with him. I enjoyed the interlacing of who he was with who he is, with his attempts to be better and to make up for the wrongs he committed while being The Winter Soldier. The arc ends on a sad note, however, there does appear (if I'm working out the chronology correctly) to be further issues written by Jason LaTour which I'm hoping may round a few things out. (It was 'the complete collection part that threw me - I assumed that that would be the lot. Hindsight makes me think the change of author is why they're collected separately. If anyone can advise me, any help would be appreciated).

>161 Peace2: Totally to do with the change of author and whole creative team by the looks of it. To round that particular series off you'd need Winter Soldier: The Electric Ghost which collects the final 5 issues. Though don't know for sure that it will tie up loose ends or not as here's the Amazon blurb:

All-new mission! All new creative team! All new status quo! Join writer Jason Latour (Loose Ends, WOLVERINE) and artist Nic Klein (Dancer, Viking, Doc Savage) as they take the reins of the critically acclaimed series! In the wake of the hunt for the Black Widow, a broken and beaten Winter Soldier begins perhaps his most personal mission yet: a quest for redemption. But as Bucky looks to make peace with his deadly past, a new villain from his future is out for war...and blood.

COLLECTING: Winter Soldier 15-19

>162 AHS-Wolfy: I can feel the pull of Amazon for this one.... :D

*Very Disgruntled HMPH!*

So I just started the 'unabridged' audio book of Slaves of the Mastery, planning it as a bit of a read along. Well, if it isn't abridged, I'd love to know what you call a book that has only 1 or 2 sentences from each paragraph. Definitely not a read along, so I'm abandoning the audio version and I'll just read it myself as I want the full book.

>164 Peace2: that's going to need a rather special definition, isn't it? Mr B is fond of reminding me that a certain Aussie branch of a particularly well-known fast food multinational advertised it's 100% Australian beef patties (TM).

The (TM) was crucial - under local law (they'd never get away with this in the UK), it neither required them to 100% beef or 100% Australian, and they weren't.

Perhaps this is unabridged (TM) ;)

My first thought on reading your post was I don't think they could do that in the UK - lol. It's amazing what they get away with really.

With regard to the abridged unabridged version - I think I'll mention it to the librarian when I return it (depending on who it is - some of the librarians are far more helpful than others.) and I'm pretty sure that will mean that the sequel which is also supposedly 'unabridged' but is about the same number of discs will be the same.

May Book #4 The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

This is the second in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It continues the journey of Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent across the universe from one imminent disaster to another in the company of Zaphod Beeblebrox, Trillian and Marvin the Paranoid Android. It's funny enough, but at times it just pushed too far, probably deliberately. I don't feel invested enough in the series at this point to worry that I don't have further sequels in the series, but I also don't rule out acquiring them if I happen across them.

>73 Peace2: >74 MrsLee: >75 Peace2: >76 MrsLee:

I am sorry @Peace2 did not enjoy The Doll. I would blame the narrator. (By the way, in the edition I have The Doll is the second story.)

I found it to be a wonderful collection, primarily because Du Maurier wrote them when she was aged between twenty and twenty-two and her understanding of human emotions and behaviours demonstrated in the stories belied her youth.

As @MrsLee pointed out in the extract from her review, the stories do concentrate on the darker traits of our personalities.

May Book #5 The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

Having heard plenty of enthusiasm for this, I decided to give it a go and I'm pleased that I did. It was a long but interesting read. At times I got a little bogged down and confused as to what was going on, I wonder if this was because I listened to it and some narrators were easier to submerse myself into than others. I don't really know what I expected from this book, but it wasn't this. The story jumps forward in time, from the main character Holly as a teen and among other periods, you visit her as a mother and grandmother and see how her life has changed to each period. I didn't particularly enjoy the Crispin Hershey period.

Overall, a good book if a little long and I'm pleased to have tried it and would consider further titles by the same author (I'm pretty sure Cloud Atlas is already sitting on the TBR pile, and the library have Ghostwritten I think). I would have liked a happier ending, but that's just me, I know there was a positive note in there so it's not a big complaint.

>168 pgmcc: Maybe at some point when the TBR pile is not quite so precarious, I shall try to track down a paper copy of the book and try it again in that case. The narrator certainly wasn't doing it any favours from my perspective but perhaps I'd like it more if I read it myself. It wouldn't be the first time that I've had to give up on an audio but then found that I can read it myself with more enjoyment.

>169 Peace2:
I enjoyed The Bone Clocks too. I thought the final section was unnecessary but, given that it was there, it was well written and conceived.

May Book #6 The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbotson

Firstly this is very much a children's book, so the following comments should be taken with that in mind. I found this very predictable. The initial idea of an island that can only connect to Platform 13 of King's Cross Station for nine days once every nine years and at that point allows persons of a magical nature (trolls, mermaids, witches, hags, fey etc) to leave 'Up There' and live contentedly on the island was fine. The idea that the nannies of the Prince would take the Prince to the real world and have him stolen is then the set up for the events of the book. The Prince is not discovered to be missing until they are on the boat back to the Island after the link has closed and so the King and Queen have to wait nine years before they send a rescue mission and then the people they choose are not those the rest of the Island think should have been chosen. The main action within the book revolves around the nine days that they spend trying to rescue the Prince and the kind of child they think he now is, along with the other people they meet on the way. I'm not going to say any more - I'm pretty sure that would give away too much. I find that Eva Ibbotson's bad guy characters are often heavily drawn (I read The Ghosts of Hiram late last year) and can't say that I'm a huge fan of her style so far. I wonder if books like Journey to The River Sea, The Dragonfly Pool and A Company of Swans would be more my style.

Speaking personally, so far I would rather read some of Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell's books as I find the quality of the writing and the plot more interesting.

>172 Peace2: I enjoyed Journey to the river sea and The star of Kazan, because their settings were so well-drawn and the characters were sympathetic without being too good to be true. A company of swans is first and foremost a romance novel; I believe it was originally published for adults and has been rebranded as YA. I'm not keen on that genre and even the interesting setting and ballet background couldn't make me love it.

>173 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for the advice - I have a couple more of her 'children's books' like those I've read so far left on the TBR pile along with A Company of Swans - I'll give them a try at some point if only to move them from the TBR pile - but I shall keep my eyes open for copies of Journey to the River Sea and The Star of Kazan as I think they might be more to my liking.

May Book #7 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

This is actually a re-read from not long after the book first came out and I'm pleased to say that I enjoyed it again. It is set just in 1946 and is in letter form. The story of several local people who lived through the Occupation of Guernsey by the German Army in World War 2 as they converse with Juliet Ashton, an English woman. Juliet is fascinated by their book group and then by their life under German rule and so begins their correspondence. Her interest and their responses lead her to travel to the island and while there she immerses herself into local life, digging further into their stories, both happy and sad. There are some very poignant moments, some that made me choke up while others make me smile.

>175 Peace2: I've read it three times now, and each time I reread it, I'm happy to rediscover how much I like it.

>175 Peace2: I remember enjoying that and finding it charming. Thank you for reassuring me it rereads well - I might revisit as an easy summer read.

May Book #8 I am half-sick of shadows by Alan Bradley

This is the fourth in the Flavia de Luce series and I'm still enjoying it - I particularly like Flavia's attempts to prove the existence of Father Christmas in this one. Aspects bring a real smile to my face and Flavia's chemical knowledge again is stunning - what that girl doesn't know! The Inspector is great too and was it my imagination or was there a brief softening of Daphne and Ophelia? Great characters but still don't want to go and live in Bishop's Lacey with its high mortality rate.

Have had to request the next in the series as the library doesn't have it at the main branch only at the branch which is about to move for renovations for a few months and so not everything will be readily available for a while - so although I hadn't intended tackling another De Luce until next month, I'm making an exception for fear of not being able to get my hands on it for a lot longer!

For all of it's trope, I still love Flavia. The juxtaposition of her innocence and intelligence is charming.

>179 MrsLee: I think it's becoming a definite case of knowing what I'm getting with Flavia, but for now I still find them fun. I'm not sure how many more there are in the series total but the library only have the one I've requested and then 1 more after that.

May Book #9 The Garden of Truth by E. Nesbit

This was a very short one - written by the author of The Railway Children and Five Children and It, but it's for adults. The story is one of a man and a woman who meet at an isolated health spa and at night they meet in their dreams in the garden, except for certain obstacles that are placed in their way. It's an odd little story, I didn't find the plot entirely satisfying and there wasn't really enough to immerse oneself into the characters either. Still a bit different and interesting to read something so very different to her children's novels. It did make me a little curious about her other writing (it's a long time since I've seen or read any of her work - I think the last was an abbreviated or amended version of The Railway Children that I was asked to read to a group of children and before that it was the film of Five Children and It with Eddie Izzard). I may revisit some of her children's classics at some point in the future.

Urgh! Two abandons in a day - The House at Riverton and Dear Life. I'm just not in the right mood for the Kate Morton and the other I just couldn't get into. I shall return them to the library and possibly borrow them again later, but right now, they're just not working for me.

And in brighter news, I finished one too....

May Book #10 Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E. Ambrose

This is an account of the first British men to see action as part of the D-Day Landings. D Company landed using gliders just after midnight with the goal of securing two bridges and holding them until the paratroopers arrived to relieve and support them. The book deals with the training and planning and what happened to the men after that night. It includes some of the details of the German troops in the area and also some of the things that have happened to both the troops involved and the bridges since June 6 1944.

Some parts of the stories in here made me cry and not just the obvious ones - some of the survival stories as well. This is about a very specific set of people and the first British troops to land, not on the beaches, but further inland as part of the Allied Invasion. The bravery is remarkable, but also the resilience and the determination - they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned (with very inferior equipment) but their training and their planning was what paid off and let them take advantage of every weakness and every chance that presented itself.

Stephen E. Ambrose also wrote Band of Brothers among other books. I may be tempted to try something else by him at some point.

May Book #11 The Beautiful Mysteryby Louise Penny

The first time I've come across this author although the book seems to be part of a larger series. Not that this was a huge problem. It was a police inspector arrives at very remote monastery to solve the murder type of book and despite not being familiar with Inspector Armand Gamache and his companions, it didn't really matter. I enjoyed this enough for the kind of book, but it wasn't really anything 'new'. A monk has been murdered in a closed convent, Gamache is called in to investigate and while doing so he has to deal not only with solving the case but also with the inevitable breakdown of the situation between the people travelling with him, uncovering who and why things are going wrong on their side, while simultaneously trying to figure out the same within the monastery. In all, I would read further books by the author if I happened across them.

May Book #12 Dracula by Bram Stoker

This book took me an age to get through and it was okay, I can't say I really enjoyed it or felt my time was well spent on it, but I'm satisfied that I've finished it. I found it quite slow and laborious as I picked my way through one diary entry after another, getting to see every point of view. I know some people see the portrayal of Mina as being wonderful as she's intelligent, but actually, and in this it may be me at fault, I found that somewhat negative - to me while yes Mina is definitely intelligent and pretty strong willed and determined to her credit, the fact that she is surrounded by a group of men who are willing to die to save her, because she is beautiful and oh so terribly surprising she's intelligent as well - such a rare specimen in womanhood clearly. After all one can expect women to be beautiful but not have two braincells worth rubbing together. I was surprised by how little Dracula was in the actual book - a vague threat in the background, visible after he's done his evil deeds for the most part. The menace of the character seemed to diminish as the book went on and the end I personally found almost anticlimatic. Overall, I felt it had more potential than it delivered, but maybe I missed something and had become disillusioned with it because it took me so long to get through it.

May Book #13 The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

This wasn't really what I was expecting at all - apart from the apocalyptic type event happening. It was in the adult section at our library, so I assumed it was an adult book. On LT, tagging suggests it's categorised elsewhere as young adult and it certainly read that way to me. The story is told from the perspective of Julia an almost twelve year old at the beginning of the story and is as much about her growing up and growing awareness of the people around her and the relationships between people as it is about the events happening on a global scale. It's fairly understated - Julia is not a girl prone to vast fits of emotion or anything like that. She's also somewhat on the outside socially. Julia's growing up is against the background of the world changing by degrees - the next is a spoiler, but it's one that's on the blurb of the book the world's rotation is slowing down and this has an impact on animal and plant life, gradually breaking down the long established norms of civilisation. This is not however a book filled with the violence of survivalist factions or doomsday fatalists, although there are mentions of various crimes and deaths. In fact more of the deaths in the story occur for 'normal' reasons than not and although there is a resigned fatalism to the book, there is alongside it a 'people are continuing to try and resolve this or come up with a way of making life better'.

Overall I liked it, but I found Julia a bit too detached for my liking - possibly that's me being entirely too fussy, given that the thought of an over-emotional teen would have had me throwing it to the other side of the room pretty quickly. So an interesting read.

>185 Peace2: I recall liking Dracula, but I was a moody teenager when I read it :) I've been meaning to reread it at some point, but I suspect my mileage will be a good deal less these days.

You're the first person to make The Age of Miracles sound appealing :) ...and you're right, it definitely wouldn't be if it involved a highly-strung teen at the heart of it!

May Book #14 Ignis by Gina Wilson

A children's book about a dragon who hasn't yet found his flame, despite being great at flying and having loads of friends etc. He sets out into the world believing he's not a real dragon until he can breathe real fire. He meets various characters along the way and tries other things but ultimately the search continues.

There's nothing really very new in the story itself, but this book raises up a notch with the lovely illustrations by P J Lynch.

May Book #15 The Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters

I listened to the audio book for this one, read byThe story is told by Amelia Peabody, an Egyptian archaeologist, who finds herself along with her husband and son, at the centre of a series of crimes - theft, murder, kidnapping. There is a balance of humour alongside the investigative nature, Amelia and her husband have a certain degree of amusing arrogance and their son Rameses, described as a loquacious eight year old, reminded me a little of Flavia De Luce in the way he tries to inveigle his way into the action and his mature way of thinking and reasoning - although he is not as central to the plot as Flavia.

This is part of a series but I haven't come across any of the others in at this point in either audio or paperback form, but I think if I do I'd be happy to read another.

May Summary

Books Read = 15
Books Retained after reading = 2
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2015 = 5
Books on my shelf prior to Jan 1st 2014 = 0
Books abandoned = 2 (not including Slaves of the Mastery here as I intend reading the paper version and only abandoned the abridged/unabridged version of the audio)
Series finished (or read as far as I intend to) = 3 (don't currently have any further titles in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series so will finish it at The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, also don't have any other Louise Penny's or Elizabeth Peters' titles - if I come across further titles, I may continue but not actively seeking them at this time)
Non-fiction Reads = 1
Fiction Reads = 14

Books acquired in May (not including library loans as these go back regardless of my feelings about them) = 13 (*sigh*)

First abandon of June is another audio. The Whole Day Through by Patrick Gale, I was struggling a bit with interest level in the story and the narrators but the current CD keeps being ejected from the player for faults and I just don't like it enough to keep battling to listen to it.

Instead it's on with Speaking from Among the Bones and good ol' Flavia de Luce!

June Book #1 Speaking From Among the Bones by Alan Bradley

More Flavia De Luce, more murder and mayhem in Bishop's Lacey. Sophie Aldred continues to do a great job of narration of these titles, and Alan Bradley keeps going in the well-trod path he has already marked out. It's a new story, but with all the familiar characters and in the same vein as those that have gone before. This doesn't disappoint.

Second DNF of the month In the Light of What We Know by Zia Haider Rahman - didn't particularly like the narrator's voice and so wasn't engaging. Have too many current library loans to spend more time on something that I don't think I'm going to want to finish.

June Book #2 The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis

Overall I enjoyed this, lightly humorous crime solving in Ancient Rome (and its territories - given time spent in British mines!), but at times it seemed to drag a bit and I was struggling to keep going as Falco began to irritate me a bit, then something would lift and I'd seem to race through a chunk. Not sure why that was, I couldn't put a finger on anything specific at fault with me or the book. Not sure whether to try continuing the series at some point or not.

June Book #3 The Winter Soldier : The Electric Ghost by Jason Latour and others.

I was disappointed with this. Last month I read The Winter Soldier: The Complete Collection but that was left on somewhat of a cliffhanger with regard to Bucky's relationship with Natasha and so I was very keen to see where they went with that, but this doesn't transition easily. Yes, it is Bucky in the events after that, but he then goes off on a complete tangent which then suddenly transitions back into a happy ending for the prior story. I found the story very patchy, the potential for something more, but ... it just didn't fully realize that potential for me.

Not sure where I'll go with next month's graphic read - probably back to something Cap related.

June Book #4 The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden by Jonas Jonasson

This was a light-hearted read, as mishap after mishap happens, central character Nombeko Mayeki deals with the outcome and soldiers on. Born in 1961, in a shack in Soweto, Nombeko's future looks anything but rosy. She, however, overcomes the difficulties and gets herself promoted in her first job and all seems to be going relatively speaking well, until she's knocked over by the drunken lead engineer of South Africa's nuclear program. When the judge finds her guilty of causing the accident, despite the fact that she was both on the pavement and he was drunk, she finds herself facing an unusual sentence.

The events in the story are far-fetched (to put it mildly) but putting aside that, there is a humour to the piece. Written by the same author as The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed out of a Window and Disappeared which is still on my TBR pile.

June Book #5 The Last Foundling by Tom H. Mackenzie

An autobiographical memoir written by one of the last children given to 'The Foundling Hospital' in the late 1930's by a mother who could not at the time take care of him. This is a memoir of both the mother and son involved. She tells of the hardships that led to the decision to give up her son and of her attempts to get into a position to retrieve him. He tells of times that went well and times that were horrible. It's a sign of his resilience that he made it so far in life and with so much forgiveness for the people along the way many of whom had wanted the best for him, but life had thrown obstacles in the way. Emotionally not an easy read, but although sad, overall by the end surprisingly positive in the face of adversity.

June Book #6 The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber

I listened to the audio version of this one narrated by Josh Cohen. The story was an interesting idea at first, although I had some reservations. I think my image of the aliens was very much influenced by the interpretation given to their voices by the narrator in addition to the information in the story itself.

Overall, I didn't like the main character Peter, and as the book progressed I found him less and less likeable. Comments to his wife on the situations that she was facing that she just needed to pray and then when her situation improves, his dislike of the fact she says she is thankful to God for some of the lesser things that have improved, gave me the impression of someone who had completely lost touch with her needs and suffering - perhaps that was the point.

There didn't seem to be any real reason for the sudden change and deterioration in the situations that his wife and the rest of the Earth were facing, beyond plot convenience and while yes, Peter was doing 'God's work' and was finding fulfilment in that, I still found his complete and utter detachment, for a portion of the book, from his wife's life bizarre.

It didn't feel like real Science Fiction or, although about a Christian Missionary bringing God's word to new communities, like a 'Christian Fiction'. One of those not completely definable books. I guess I also felt like it dragged for a while, so not going to be one of my favourites this year. Not sure whether I'd try another by the author, as despite finding certain points interesting, it didn't sustain my interest sufficiently for me to feel confident in wanting to read more.

June Book #7 Bottersnikes and Gumbles by S. A. Wakefield

Written in 1967, I first read this book when I was about 8 or so (in the second half of the '70s). I liked it then, and it's one of those books that I still like and love sharing with children (although I've read it this time just for me). The Bottersnikes are a 'community' of ugly and unkind characters who live on rubbish heaps on the edge of the Australian Bush, whose King can be regularly heard 'snonking' and giving orders such as 'Sit on his head'. By contrast, the Gumbles are a true community, that look out for each other, they're at one with their environment and work together. The Bottersnikes have numerous attempts at enslaving the Gumbles to do all of their work for them, but each time the Gumbles work together to escape and all is well until they are having too much fun and get distracted and are caught again. No fear of me willingly getting rid of this one.

June Book #8 Florence and Giles by John Harding

A modern take on the gothic horror style of book. Orphan half-siblings, Florence and Giles live with servants in a rambling great house with an abandoned tower. The story is told by Florence. The 'gothicness' of the setting works fine, the set up of the children in the house with servants and then the passing governesses similarly is fine. The unreliability of the narrator isn't apparent at first, which gives the story the depth and the 'horror' element. My biggest complaint - and it is a pretty big one - is Florence's speech pattern. She turns nouns and adjectives into verbs constantly - 'he restlessed', 'I up-bannistered', 'he curioused me a glance', 'I long-corridored my way through the house', 'he carelessed'. Over the course of the book, this just became more and more irritating and I was cringing more than enjoying the story.

June Book #9 Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

Great book, I didn't want to put it down until I'd figured out all the interlinking threads and found out what hope there might be for the future. I've not managed to give many things five stars so far this year, but this is one of the few.

I got an extra bookshelf today :D It meant I could get some of the books out of boxes and display them - and organise them - and then reorganise them for good measure and then fetch some more and try reorganising them again. *smiling*

I'm glad you liked Station Eleven, it's been one of my favourites this year, too.

New bookcases are fun!

I believe it is a requirement to post pictures of new bookshelves. *going to look at the charter*

>204 MrsLee: You are right. You will find the relevant paragraph in section 563, sub-section 244, clause 56 (a) iix.

Is it a law of nature or a requirement of the GD constitution (or perhaps both) that new bookshelves fill to overflowing within a week or 2 of arrival?

Week or 2....? That long - I still have books in boxes that wouldn't fit on the new shelf. Need to try and sort out a way to take said photo and upload it - will the weekend be soon enough if I promise that the shelf is already more or less full? There are a couple of spaces to make it look like I'm not a complete hoarder!

>207 Peace2:

There are a couple of spaces to make it look like I'm not a complete hoarder!

I think you are missing the point of LT. It is on LT that we are safe to admit to the world, well, to the LT world, and especially the GD world, that we are complete hoarders. In fact, it is more or less compulsory. If there are spaces on your shelf it could be enough for some group in GD to initiate an investigation.

I'll fix that before taking the photo in that case :D

As promised a photo of the new bookshelf (if this works) with room left for only one book - the one I'm reading or maybe the next one I get or.... :D

June Book #10 The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde

Twists and turns and lots of humour as Detective Inspector Jack Spratt and his colleague Mary Mary try to figure out who killed Humpty Dumpty - along the way a whole wealth of Nursery Rhyme and mythological/fairy tale characters make an appearance as Spratt tries not only to solve the crime, but also take care not to have the case taken from him but his more 'famous' rival Chimes. I wasn't really sure what to expect with this, but am now looking forward to trying out some more of Fforde's work - I've got The Eyre Affair and Shades of Grey on the shelf. I hope these are as good.

>210 Peace2: That is one very splendid bookcase, and some of us would be green with envy if we had the wherewithal and the space! Long may you enjoy it.

>211 Peace2: The Eyre Affair is excellent, and will introduce you to a detective by the name of Thursday Next, whom I hope you enjoy: there are at least six more stories of her published. Haven't read Shades of Grey, so can't comment on that.

>211 Peace2: Jasper Fforde is really good. The Thursday Next books are humourous and very enjoyable.
Shades of Grey is not - it's a dystopian novel. I enjoyed it but I know many Fforde readers didn't like it and its part 1 of a series and he seems to have gone very quiet on any sequels being produced.

>210 Peace2: I liked the second in that series better than the first and it's a shame that the planned third book hasn't yet seen the light of day. I haven't read anything else of Fforde's work yet though.

>212 hfglen: >213 infjsarah: I shall look forward to the Thursday Next books, unfortunately while I have the one, the library also has just one - Something Rotten - not sure why they do that - only by one book randomly from a series - not even the first.

Thanks for the heads up about Shades of Grey, I've read a few dystopias and liked them, so I shall read Shades of Grey with that in mind, rather than thinking of the others for comparison.

>214 AHS-Wolfy: I hadn't realised there was a second to the series..., I shall add it to my list of books to keep an eye out for, shame about the third in the series - disappointing when it's something you're looking forward to.

>212 hfglen: With regard to the bookshelf, I'm trying to decide whether I have room to keep the much smaller bookshelf that was in its place beforehand - where can I put it.... (no problem with what can I fill it with - although books seem not to fare so well long term on it - light shining through the wicker maybe? They seem to yellow and fox much more quickly even in shady rooms.

>210 Peace2: Lovely bookcase! I'm betting you can get at least four more books on there. ;)

>210 Peace2: Very nice bookcase.

with room left for only one book

We will be watching this space.

>215 Peace2: I'd be inclined to look at the wickerwork itself, especially if it is untreated / uncoated. If so, a hearty layer of marine varnish, possibly assisted by a lining of acid-free paper, would solve your problem. (As the wicker ages, it releases acid vapours which cause exactly the damage you describe to books, is what I'm thinking.)

>210 Peace2: Excellent book case, well stocked. Carry on the good work :)

>218 hfglen: Thank you for the suggestion, I shall look into applying 'marine varnish'. I'm glad I mentioned it now as I had no idea about the acid vapour or the varnish. It's a shame because the first books to be damaged by it were some that meant something to me. Since then I've been far more judicious about which books were put on the shelf and so it was only some of the ones that I've picked up in the charity shops that I imagine I will read and pass on.

>219 imyril: The stocking of said case was easier than getting a bookcase! :D

>221 Peace2: it always is :D

June Book #11 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

I actually studied this book when I was about 13 at school, but remembered little about it beyond it was about the First World War. I'm glad I came back to it now and re-read it, because I think the power of the writing, the horror of the experience was a lot more real and close to me now than it was when I was 13. Written from the perspective of a young German soldier as he ages through his experience of war, he's barely out of school, but as the war progresses and new recruits appear and he sees himself as old and them as 'babies' and this only adds to the awfulness. He sees no future for himself once the war is over, can't imagine how he could deal with all the things that have happened to and around him afterwards. The ending choked me up as did a number of the events throughout. This is not an easy read emotionally although a relatively short one.

>223 Peace2: this was one of the books that I regained from Mum's attic last summer (in German - I was meant to read it at school, but our German teacher ended up more or less ignoring the reading list; we read a (fictional) book about the German underground / resistance who tried to smuggle out Jews instead, which was fascinating). It sounds like I really should make the effort to finally read it - I can brush up my German as a bonus ;)

>224 imyril: I'd say definitely worth a read for both the perspective and the insight. I read it in English at school (only had English and French reading lists - nothing for German probably with good reason, pretty sure my German's never been good enough to read actual German novels). I must get some of the French ones on my shelves out and make a point of reading them, although I think I'd have to have a dictionary to hand pretty much all the time now.

>220 Peace2: Marine varnish is the stuff used to seal, for example, the decks and wooden underwater structure of yachts and the like. The point is that it provides a more impervious seal than almost anything else. But please note that even with the best will in the world, you'll need at least three coats if it is to work. Any decent hardware store, especially in a coastal or Great-Lake-shore town ought to have it, or stores catering to the sport rowing fraternity might help.

>226 hfglen: Thanks for the advice - I shall see what I can find. :D

>226 hfglen: in the US, Home Depot or Lowes will carry marine varnish.

>220 Peace2: It dawned on me in the middle of the night that the wicker bookcase might, after all, be just as innocent as the daylight. When were the browned books printed? The book that triggered the thought I'm having is one I acquired from the old dear I mentioned in the "joys"and "Acquisitions" threads, Aldous Huxley's Mountain Flowers, published 1967. This was right in the middle of about the worst period in the entire history of printing for dodgy paper, and this book shows the problem to an embarrassing degree. The colour plates are printed on art paper, which is mostly kaolin rather than fibre (so by the way, never ever let art paper get wet -- it then becomes a brick) and is much the same colour as it was when it left the printers'. But the text, oh my friend and ah my enemies, the text. Is on bog-standard 60s-70s paper, which was once more or less the same colour as the illustrations, but was made of wood fibre with a full dose of lignin, bleached with chlorine. This leaves lots of acid residues in the paper, which in consequence starts yellowing and going brittle immediately. Librarians looking after archival collections including material from the 60s and 70s have been known to be reduced to profanity and/or tears by this stuff. A good paper conservator will be able to discourse learnedly to you on how to rescue such books by de-acidifying, but if they're any good the first sentence will be something like, this process is iffy, takes ages and costs a fortune. Myself I haven't ever seen it done. Sorry pardon.

>229 hfglen: Paper would be mid-late '80s (1980s), some of them might be a little older, others younger, but the ones I was most upset by were the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake which had been my university copies that I was very fond of. I'm going to have to replace them at some point. because they're looking pretty grotty now. They weren't unduly expensive copies at the time - it's the sentimental aspect. I've got a second much smaller bookcase of the same wicker (same age - part of the same set) and the same thing is happening to the books on there (or was I've now taken the books off) and it was in a room that gets only the barest sunlight, and none of it direct, so I'm going to guess that the marine varnish is at the least worth a try, when I get chance to go on a hunt for it.

Thank you for your suggestions.

June Book #12 The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Listened to the audio version of this read by Rob Inglis and followed along with my illustrated copy when I had the time to relax. It's been about twenty years, maybe even more than that since I last read this, so it was great to come back to it, with almost fresh eyes - it was almost like experiencing it for the first time (and I'm one of the few who have seen none of the LOTR/Hobbit movies - well I saw a tiny bit of the first if I'm totally honest but that's all). I could just feel myself sinking into the world that Tolkien created. It's spurred on my desire to make it through the LOTR books as well (they were part of the same audiobook 'giftbox' - it feels strange calling it a giftbox when I bought it for myself!). Again I'll listen and follow along with the actual text whenever I have the opportunity to just relax with it, although I don't have illustrated books for the rest of the series - maybe I'll get my Bo Hanssen 'Lord of the Rings' music CD back out, and the book of Rodney Matthews art to immerse myself again. You never know once I've finished I might even try watching those films...

June Book #13 George's Marvellous Medicine by Roald Dahl

I'd not actually read this one before although I had read most of the others at some point either myself or to various children, but I needed to know the plot and characters of this one for something that I was doing and so decided to take affirmative action and race my way through it. Poor old George, suffering under the torment of a truly obnoxious Granny and so he conjures a plan.... a plan to make new medicine for Granny to make her better as clearly her old medicine is not improving her at all. With a wealth of bizarre ingredients, George creates his new concoction with interesting results. It's the usual Roald Dahl fare of poor put up on child and variously despotic adults or dire situations (although to be fair George's actual parents are fine in this one and they live adequately on a farm working hard). Needless to say the right people get their comeuppance in the end with numerous childishly entertaining situations and occurences along the way. Great for getting kids to love reading by reading this to them or for the newly confident - lots of great vocab and descriptions for detailing the true awfulness of Granny!

>231 Peace2: I have a great affection for The Hobbit, but struggled last time I read The Lord of the Rings - although I read it repeatedly in my childhood/teens. That said, the BBC radio serialisation remains awesome; I have no problem listening to The Lord of the Rings :)

>233 imyril: Isn't it strange how sometimes books work for us and sometimes they don't. I remember when I first tried The Hobbit I didn't get on with it, but when given The Lord of The Rings I devoured it and then came across the illustrated version of The Hobbit and made it through it. I'm hoping it won't have lost its appeal when I get to it. I'm going to make myself tackle a couple of other things first though to reduce Mount TBR rather than Mount TBRR!

June Book #14 Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell

I didn't like this as much as I'd hoped to and the main reason for that was that I didn't like Wallander and I really didn't feel like I needed to hear about his erotic dreams or his toileting habits! The crime solving part of the book was fine, interesting enough to keep me going, but Wallander, the man, put me off somewhat. I've got several other Wallander books on the TBR pile, including the next in the series and I'm in two minds as to whether to hang on to them and try them later or not. I think, having pondered the matter for the last couple of days, that I will give number 2 The Dogs of Riga a try before making a firm decision.

June Book #15 Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

What a very sad book! Frequently on the way through I was tempted to give up, not because it was badly written at all, but because watching Maud's desperate search and her fight with her own deteriorating condition (Alzheimer's) was painful. Watching her see her daughter on one occasion and be relieved to see her and the safety she offered only to have her forget who her daughter was or where they were moments later was a hard journey. Not an easy read, but a moving one.

June Summary

Total Number of Books Read : 15
Books Retained After Reading: 5

Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2015 : 4
Books on Shelf Prior to 1st Jan 2014 : 2

Books Abandoned : 2
Series Finished as far as I intend reading : 1

Non-Fiction Reads : 1
Fiction Reads : 14

Books acquired : 17 (this looks really bad but could have been much higher as was given very large collection with new bookshelf, but have given vast majority to someone else who I can 'borrow' them from later when my house is less in danger from them)

Second Quarter Summary

Total Number of Books Read : 45
Books Retained : 12

Books on Shelf prior to 1st January 2015 : 20
Borrowed from Library (but not to match existing titles on shelf) : 15

Books Acquired: 48

Total Number of Books by Male Authors : 22
Number of Different Male Authors : 19

Total Number of Books By a Collaboration: 6

Total Number of Books by Female Authors:17
Number of Different Female Authors: 17

Total Number of Fiction : 41
Total Number of Non-Fiction: 4

Overall not bad for the quarter. I think the main reason my female authors have suffered this month is a combination of what's been available at the library in audiobooks and also the fact I'm midway through so many series and have been trying to make progress on those sets.

As ever too many came in though.