Friday 27 February 2015

Books read in February

Yet another month seems to have whizzed by. I know February is a shorter month but even so, where did it go? Only seems like yesterday I was talking about books read in January and here I am with my February books. Seven this month, almost eight to be honest because if I put my mind to it I could probably finish my present book - The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney - by the 1st. March, but I have no intention of doing so as the book is too good to rush like that.

Anyway. These are the books I read in February:

7. The Quiet Game - Greg Iles

8. Cycle of the Werewolf - Stephen King. An illustrated novella about werewolf activity in Maine. Enjoyable. Beautiful illustrations.

9. Gaudy Night - Dorothy L. Sayers

10. Dear Fatty - Dawn French. Her autobiography. Quite enjoyable, written in the form of letters, I *think* to Jennifer Saunders. Some of them anyway. Slighty confusing. But not bad, not quite as good as her fiction in my opinion. Slightly reinforced my not so great opinion of autobiographies by 'slebs', (although I gather the author prefers the book to be thought of as 'memoirs').

11. Walking Home: My Family and Other Rambles - Clare Balding. Clare has been doing a radio programme for many years where she walks with various interesting people. In this book she talks about these programmes, interesting tit-bits etc., plus recounts a walk she tried to do with her brother. Clare Balding's writing style is 'friendly' if that's possible, she informs and entertains and makes you laugh all at the same time. Loved this book.

12. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie. The first book in the 'Tommy and Tuppence' series, this was written in 1922 and it does show its age a little, equating the Labour party with the communists and the IRA. All great fun though, loads of intrigue, twists and turns, I knew exactly who the villain of the piece was all the way through but it didn't spoil my enjoyment one little bit. I shall read more in this series.

13. The Virago Book of Women Travellers edited by Mary Morris and Larry O'Connor.

As will be seen I've not reviewed everything I've read this month. I may have mentioned before that I decided at the beginning of this year not to. I suffer from stiffness of neck and shoulders due to cervical spondylosis and can't cope with massive amounts of typing. I plan to review books for challenges and anything I really love, but other books will just get a mention here in the monthly round-up.

My reading month has once again been eclectic. Two vintage crime yarns, a modern thriller and a horror novella covers the fiction. All of those were good. I'm very pleased with three non-fictions this month, those were all good too. Also pleased with two more books read for the Mount TBR challenge, bringing my total to five so far and almost six as my current read will count as well. That's well ahead of where I should be if I'm aiming for twenty four books at the end of this year.

So, favourite book of the month? Easy this time, it's:


Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers was brilliant. Loved it to bits.

An honorable second:


Walking Home by Clare Balding was delightful. I'd recommend it to anyone to be honest.

Hope everyone has a good reading month? Next month I'm looking forward to the start of Carl's Once Upon a Time 'fantasy' challenge and have half a dozen books lined up for that. Happy reading!

~~~oOo~~~

8 comments:

DesLily said...

looks like another good reading month! I think Winter does that for many people! I would have guessed that the Sayers book was your favorite!!

Kailana said...

2015 is definitely flying by! It looks like you are having a great reading year so far. :)

Kay said...

A very nice mix, Cath. I can't remember anything about that Christie book. I think I've read it. Maybe. The first Christie book I read was a Tommy and Tuppence book - POSTERN OF FATE, I think. I almost didn't read another. Not that it wasn't good, but I kept looking for a little French guy (or Belgian) or an old lady knitting. LOL

BooksPlease said...

Lots of good books, Cath. I've read seven this month too! I like the way you've given a summary of your thoughts on the non-review books - it's a good idea. I agree that the Tommy & Tuppence book is dated and I'm not at all keen on AC's spy/conspiracy theory books and I think she got increasingly depressed about modern life and how things had changed as she got older. I wonder what she would think now!

I'm looking forward to reading Gaudy Night, but first I'm going to read Strong Poison, which has a very similar cover to Gaudy Night - it looks like the same woman's legs, but walking out of the picture.

Nikki - Notes of Life said...

I keep meaning to pick up Walking Home by Clare Balding as I read her autobiography a while back and really enjoyed it. I agree, she does have a friendly writing style.

Cath said...

Pat: Yeah, I certainly loved that Sayers book.

Kelly: I think I've enjoyed every book I've read so far this year and several have been excellent.

Kay: Postern of Fate is the last in the T&T series. I brought it home from the library, found out it was the last, and took it back unread. Got the first book instead.

Margaret: I think last year I reviewed almost all of the 100 books I read. I simply couldn't do that this year so I'm hoping this way will work ok.

I didn't realise that the T&T books were spy based before I started. It was ok but I like AC's crime books I think.

Oh gosh... I really don't like the new DLS covers at all. I can't see how they're relevant to the individual titles.

Nikki-ann: Walking Home is just delightful!

Nan said...

I have this little scheme to read the Harriet Vane books in order. I really love DLS. Will look into the walking book. Sounds like something I would love.

Cath said...

Nan: That's exactly what I'm doing with the HV books. Busman's Honeymoon is next and then the Jill Paton Walsh books. And I really think you would *love* Clare Balding's walking book.