My reading year has started quite nicely. I decided I wanted to scale back a bit and read a bit less compulsively in 2024, so this winter I'm enjoying a bit of jigsaw puzzling and reacquainting myself with cryptic crosswords as well as reading books and so far it's working, apart from the fact that I don't seem to be 'buying' less books. I'm just a sucker for a book bargain, that's my problem.
So, I read eight books in January and these are they:
1. The Awakening - Nora Roberts
2. Children of Time - Adrian Tchaikovsky
3. Nature Tales for Winter Nights ed. by Nancy Campbell. This promised more than it delivered, and annoyed me because it gave the title of the essay or short piece of fiction at the start but not the author. So you had to flick to the end of the piece to see who had written it. There were, however, one or two very nice pieces in this collection and I'm sure it would suit others more than it did me.
4. Vesper Flights - Helen MacDonald. More enjoyable nature themed essays than the previous book, beautiful writing and reflections on nature in modern life.
5. The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. A reread brought on by watching Lucy Worsley's latest three part documentary series on the author. It was so well done and so watchable. She mentioned that this was the last collection written by Conan-Doyle and how weird it was, so of course I had to grab my copy for a reread. Very good and yes, very weird! Recommend The Adventure of the Creeping Man and the Sussex Vampire one but all are good.
7. A Death in Door County - Annelise Ryan (to be reviewed)
8. Elephants Can Remember - Agatha Christie (to be reviewed)
So, five fiction books read and three non-fiction. I've mixed the fiction genres quite a bit - fantasy, sci-fi, murder mysteries and short stories. Plus three non-fictions, one of which will make my best non-fiction list of 2024. So that's not bad, is it? You can't sask for much more than that.
Two favourite books this month:
And:
So, onwards into February, and I'm currently reading these two:
Happy reading in February. It's our cold month in the UK and I gather there has been some mention of snow mid-month. We'll see, I have a hibernating nature in winter so that may be what my February plans are. Stay safe.
18 comments:
A very nice varied month! I definitely want to read the Mudlarking book.
As I may have said, I am not a big fan of Nora's paranormal books but I think you would like the one I just read, The Inheritance. While I got tired of the ghosts that could choose music suitable for every occasion, I loved the big house in Maine on the ocean that the heroine had inherited.
I really like the variety in your reading, Cath! A few that I've enjoyed myself, and a few I'd like to read. It's funny you'd mention jigsaw puzzles and other 'brain exercises.' I've been doing that sort of thing myself and enjoying it. It's nice to flex those brain muscles!
Hi Cath, I know what you mean about book buying. It's so tempting and I have been doing well this year but that's because I subssribe to kindle unlimited and audible where you can download alot of free books but are they really free since I pay a monthly subscription. But without kindle unlimited and audible I shudder to think what I would be doing in terms of book buying.
Great that you have read 8 books in January and two that you really liked. I am having good luck too so far. One has to choose wisely and there are alot of new writers out there that are really talented.
Nice list of books you've read, Cath. Lots of variety. I totally understand about the book buying and bargains. Sigh. Hope you guys have a good February and then, hopefully, spring will be on the way.
As I can't resist temptation, we don't tend to go into book shops any more and I have even tried to avoid charity shop trawling whenever possible!
Looking forward to seeing what you thought of the AC and AR books, especially the latter as I'm not too sure what to make of it after reading the FF premise!!
I keep reading about impending snow too, but can't find any mention of it on the more trusted weather forecasts. It will be nice to think that now we are retired, we can have a lie in and listen to everyone else trying to dig their cars out for work :)
Constance: I made the mistake of popping to Fantastic Fiction to look up Inheritance, only to discover that it's on offer at 99p at the moment. I'm sure you can guess the rest...
Margot: Thank you, as you know I do like to ring the changes.
I do think it's good to 'flex those brain muscles' as you so aptly put it. As well as jigsaws and crosswords I also like the online games, Wordle and Clickword. Even as a teenager I loved playing Scrabble so I think wordgames are my thing!
Kathy: I don't do Kindle Unlimited but often wonder if I should. I think I missed the boat though as I already have so many books on my Kindle and KU would only add to the number. If I'd done it years ago it would've been a good idea.
Like you, I try to choose new books wisely. But yes, there're a lot of new authors appearing on the scene. Katie Lumsden did an excellent new video recently of historicals she eagerly anticipates for 2024 - I wanted at least two thirds of them. LOL
Kay: Thank you. It's so hard to resist a bargain!
They're talking about February being a hard month here, possibly right the way through March as well. We'll see. Perhaps all my hoarded books will come in handy! You have a good February too.
Yvonne: No, I don't do charity shop trawling any more either, although I always bought more jigsaw puzzles in those than books. LOL
I'll try to get to reviewing the AR and AC books asap. The AR was certainly different. :-)
I don't know where Peter is getting his snowmageddon forecasts from but he said earlier that a very cold snap could last until April. I sincerely hope not. Keep warm!
You read a nice mix of books in January. I've been doing more mood reading this year and not worrying so much about lists. It's been nice. And it's funny that you just read a Death in Door Country... I just checked out the sequel, Death in the Dark Woods. So that's one of the books I'll be reading this month. And I wish I could just stay inside and hibernate through the entire winter! :D
I recently finished Vesper Flights, which I had been reading off and on since October. I liked it a lot.
I sent Glen a link to your Mudlarking review and he is very interested in the book. Since we are not buying (paper) books right now, he will have time to think about it. We like the UK edition so will probably get it at Blackwells toward the end of the year. He also liked the list of books in that same post and wrote some of them down and bought an ebook copy of 1700 - Scenes from London Life by Maureen Waller. He is reading another book by Waller right now... London 1945: Life in the Debris of War.
I have not yet read Elephants Can Remember. I look forward to your review.
That's an interesting start to the year, Cath. I wish I could match your three nonfiction titles, but I can't get started this year on NF for some reason. I managed only one and it was a shortish memoir. I have downloaded am Kindle Store "sample" of Mudlarking and read a few pages of that this morning (It's got a whole different cover than the UK version and the title has been shortened to Mudlark). It's really well written and I'll probably end up buying the e-book soon. Happy February!
Lark: I like to mix the books up a bit. :-) Book-wise I have 'aims' this year but they're personal ones and not written in tablets of stone, so I'm basically mood reading and if books fit my 'aims' then that's good, if not, it's no big deal.
I hope you enjoy Death in the Dark Woods! I gather it's a Bigfoot story. :-)
Tracy: I found Vesper Flights to be very thought provoking, partly because of how well it was written. I'm glad you liked it.
I hope Glen enjoys Mudlarking when he gets to it. I thought it was fascinating. How funny that he's reading another book by Maureen Waller at this very moment. That's quite a coincidence! I'll look that one up as I don't know it, I have not, in fact, read anything at all by her.
Sam: I think I'm so much in the habit of reading non-fiction now that it's become second nature. It never used to be and like you I struggled with it. I think the trick has become to find non-fiction that is attuned to my interests and that is written in a style that will engage me. I've become pretty good at it but still make many mistakes. Mudlarking is very 'me' though, as was The Accidental Detectorist last year. Both have a history/archaeology bent and I love both those subjects. Happy February to you too!
Nice coincidence and how can you go wrong for 99p? I think Nora's language is unnecessarily crude at times but she is certainly a good storyteller, even if her heroines and heroes are almost interchangeable from book to book.
When I read a book in which the heroine inherits a mysterious old mansion, I alternate between envy (wow, my books could finally have their own library and none would be inaccessible in the attic) and prudence (how would I heat and clean such a big house). I guess the key is to inherit money as well as the house!
Constance: Very nice coincidence because I notice NR's Kindle books are not often on offer. Yes, LOL, the heroines and heros are pretty much interchangeable, but she spins a decent yarn, although I could not live on a diet composed entirely of her books.
We think alike re the inheriting of large old mansions... or villas in Italy, another typical trope. Although one might imagine the heating bill would not be so big in the south of Italy...
Post a Comment