Category: books

books, stats

(Nearly) All New January Stats

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On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 430

New books read this Month: 20

Books from the Library Book pile: 1

Books from the to-read pile: 6

Ebooks read: 7

Most read author: Donna Andrews

Books read this year: 20

Books bought: 8

Here we have the new look stats post.  I’ve pared back the categories – as I was finding it hard to work out what belonged in what category – and how to make it add up.  So I’m shifting the focus back to the actual physical pile – am I buying more books – than I’m reading from the backlog of real books.  But obviously this doesn’t include books that I’ve been sent for free.  So it still won’t add up – but the missing books from the total are either going to be books I bought and read straightaway or books I was sent for review.

But it’s the best way that I can come up with. The original purpose of the blog was to try and force me to deal with the backlog by buying less – so here we can keep track of whether I’m buying less.  As I said in last month’s stats, this is very much a work in progress, and I may still tweak it some more in the coming months.

As far as the New Year’s Resolutions go – No Classics and No Non Fiction – but I did read a library book.  Must Do Better.

books, new releases

Reminder: A Place for Us out today in Paperback

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Yes, I know, as if I haven’t gone on about Harriet Evans’ latest book enough already.  But for those of you who like a paperback in your hand – or who have a shelf of Harriet Evans they want to add to – A Place for Us is out today.

In case you missed my gushings about this already – it was on my Books of the Year List and I also did a bit of sleep deprived babbling about it after Part One and reviewed Part Two and Parts Three and Four too.

In case you can’t tell – I really liked it.  You should be able to get your copy all over the place – but here are some links: Foyles, Waterstones, Amazon and my page on My Independent Bookshop where you can also find various other books I’ve been raving about.

Book of the Week, books, Chick lit, new releases, reviews

Book of the Week: The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes

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What to say about this.  Really I should have been reading between Christmas and New Year – but as it had potential to be a weepy, I thought mixing it with nightshifts was a bad idea.  I had a meltdown over a relationship break-up at the start of a book during some nightshifts, so I thought I ought to avoid a book about a woman dying of cancer!  So, well rested and as emotionally stable as I ever get (that is to say, prone to tears when sad things happen or when people die in documentaries, even when I know it’s coming) I started in on this on commute to work.  And it nearly had me crying on the train not once, not twice, but three times.  On three separate train journeys.

Now I know what you’re saying: “Verity, why didn’t you stop reading the damn book on the train?” And the simple answer is that I couldn’t.  I had to know what happened next – how it all worked out for Rabbit and her family – and as I was on late shifts, the train was the only place where I was going to get a chance to do that.  But I did learn something – by the third train journey I’d scaled back the eyeliner and switched to waterproof mascara!

To go back to the beginning – The Plot.  Rabbit Hayes is dying.  She has cancer – it’s terminal – and the end is rushing towards her faster than anyone wants.  What will happen to her daughter Juliet? And to the rest of her tight-knit family?  But even though her mum and dad are still searching for a miracle, the reader always knows what’s going to happen to Rabbit.

Now I know that makes the book sound like a real downer – and like I said, I was in tears in places – but here’s the thing.  It’s not.  It’s funny and it’s rude and, most importantly, it’s life-affirming.  By the time it’s over, Rabbit may be gone – but you know that it’s ok and it’s going to be ok for everyone else too.  She was the glue that held her family together, but she’s helped them find a way to make it work without her.  And I don’t think that’s a spoiler.  You might cry for Rabbit – and be sad that it ended this way for her – but you’ll come away better for having known her.

I don’t usually do weepies.  The Boy is still borderline grumpy with me about the 2am crying fit that ensued at the end of The Fault in Our Stars after I insisted on staying up to read it to the end (Me: “I’ll have horrible dreams if I leave them like this” Him: “I don’t think reading til the end will make your dreams any more cheerful”).  There are a few books that I’ve studiously avoided reading because I know that they’re sad – and although I’ll read pretty much anything, I’d rather twiddle my thumbs than read anything from the “Tragic Lives” section of the bookshop. But this had such good reviews – and people whose books I love had raved about it – so I took the plunge, and I’m so glad I did.  Perhaps there are a few more books out there that I’ve been avoiding that I should be getting involved with. But maybe not on the train!

You can buy The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes everywhere.  It’s in Richard and Judy’s latest Book Club picks, so it’s in the Buy 1 get 1 for £1 promotion in W H Smith (or at least it was on Saturday), I’m expecting it to be all over the supermarkets and the high street book shops, but if you can’t wait or can’t be bothered to leave the house, you can buy it from Foyles or Waterstones or Amazon or Kindle or Kobo or my page on My Independent Bookshop (which gives money to my local Indie).

Book of the Week, books, fiction, reviews, Uncategorized

Book of the Week: Fin and Lady

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Welcome to a new feature for 2015 – a post on my favourite book of the previous week.  The inaugural Book of the Week is Cathleen Schine’s Fin and Lady – which I’ve had on my to-read list since it was recommended in the Emerald Street mailout in December 2013 (yes, that is the amount of lag the size of the to-read pile causes me).

Paperback copy of Fin and Lady
Not only is the book good – but the cover is pretty too!

Fin and Lady tells the story of Fin – who is orphaned at 11 and goes to live with his older half sister Lady.  Lady is glamorous and exotic and moves Fin from his grandparents’ farm in Connecticut to Greenwich Village – in 1964.  Through the book you see 1960s New York through Fin’s eyes – and watch as he looks after his sister as much as she looks after him.

Lady is a fascinating enigma through the book – she longs to be independent and free, but the late sixties hippy-commune-free love vibe doesn’t appeal to her.  She tells Fin she wants his help to pick a husband – but doesn’t like the advice he gives her.  I wasn’t dazzled by her the way that Fin was, but I still found her an interesting and engaging character – and I could totally see why 11-year-old Fin would have been absolutely bowled over by her.

I was fairly sure I knew what was going to happen, but I really enjoyed the journey to get there.  I would have liked to know more about what happened next to Fin, but the ending was still satisfying.  Fin and Lady made me laugh – and it made me teary-eyed. I also want to read more about New York in this period. I’ll definitely be keeping my eye open for more from Cathleen Schine.

books, stats

December Stats

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On Good Reads to-reads shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 430

New books* read in December: 33

Books from the Library Book pile: 0

Books from the to-read pile: 10

E-books: 16

Books read as soon as they arrived: 7

Most read author: Ngaio Marsh (five books)

Books* read this year: 290

Books bought: 9

Books acquired: 2

Ebooks acquired: 13

So there you have it – the end of another year’s reading.  You can see the full list of 2014 books here thanks to Goodreads – so you can find out what I read before the blog started.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s New Year’s Resolutions post, the format of this monthly review post will be changing in 2015 – so this is the final one in this style.  I’m hoping the revised version will be easier for me to put together, more engaging to read etc.  This blog is very much a learning process for me – and I don’t think the current format, though I’ve stuck with it through til the end of the year has been doing what I wanted it to.  And if you have any suggestions or requests please do put them in the comments.

* Total includes some short stories/novellas (8 this month – mainly Christmas themed!)

books, stats, The pile, Uncategorized

New Year’s Resolutions

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The start of a new year is always a time for reflection and making promises you may not keep, so why should this book blog be any different?  So here we go – five resolutions I’m going to try and keep in 2015…

1. Get the to-read pile down – obviously this had to be on here as it’s the most important thing and the reason for this blog.  I need to control of the pile. How many times do I read a book that’s been on the shelf for months only to kick myself that I didn’t read it sooner? Lots. Get the pile down, and that won’t happen.

2. Fill in some gaps in the Classics – I’ve never read Wuthering Heights. Or Tess of the D’urbervilles. Or David Copperfield (or any Dickens other than Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol). I should do something about this this year.

3. Read a non-fiction book each month – I’m not always terribly good at reading the non-fiction books sitting on my shelves – fiction (particularly comedy and romance) is often more appealing – I need to be better at this in 2015 as some of the books that have been on the pile the longest are non-fiction ones.

4. Read a library book each month – I’m embarrassed at the number of times some of the library books in the bag have been renewed. And I do want to read them. But sometimes I get obsessed with the reduction of the pile and reading a library book seems like a “waste” if you know what I mean.

5. Don’t get obsessed with stats and books read and pages read – I am sometimes guilty of measuring my reading too much in volume and not enjoyment. Setting a goal for a year is good – but it does lead to a slight obsession with trying to beat what you did last year. This sometimes messes with what I pick off the to-read pile.  Reading is for fun – a pleasure in my life – not about how many books or pages.

So there you are. I’ve tried not to be to ambitious – as you see from number 5 targets sometimes cause me more problems than they are worth. Also I get unaccountably rebellious about having to read something – and bounce off to read something else. In light of these resolutions, I’m going to rejig the monthly stats post this year – so December (publishing tomorrow, a day late to allow for New Year’s resolutions on the proper day) will be the last one in the old format.  And I’ll keep you posted on how I get on obviously.

Authors I love, books, reviews

2014 Highlights: Discoveries

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Every year there are a couple of authors I discover and then rattle through their back catalogue – in 2013 it was Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series, Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next books and Ann Granger’s Mitchell and Markby series.  So now we’re at the end of 2014, I had a look back at who my big discoveries have been this year.

Armistead Maupin – I read seven of Maupin’s Tales of the City books this year and only the fact that the others haven’t yet been published in covers that match the ones I already have stopped me buying the rest – my mania for sets and the size of the to-read pile have trumped my need to know what happened next for once!  This is another case of me kicking myself for not reading them sooner.  Several people I work with were so excited when The Days of Anna Madrigal came out in January that I had to go and see what it was that they were so enthusiastic about.  And I’m so glad I did – but equally perplexed that I hadn’t come across them before – this year I’ve seen so many articles about them or references to them in so many places, that I wonder if I was stupid not to have got on this band wagon earlier.  I lent Tales of the City to The Boy – and he rattled through it and loved it too.  Please Transworld, can we have Mary Anne in Autumn and The Days of Anna Madrigal in the same style as the others soon?

Angela Thirkell – I’ve now read all of Angela Thirkell’s books that have been reissued by Virago and am in the tricky position of trying to work out whether to start looking for the rest in second hand editions or wait for more reissues.  They are exactly the sort of book that appeals to me – witty comedies of manners set in a period of history that I love (hence my passion for Golden Age detective stories).  Having read Nancy Mitford’s novels this year as well (finally got around to them!) which are similar in some ways, I think I actually like Thirkell more – her characters are more sympathetic even if the world is a little too soft focus and happily-ever-after at times.

Gail Carriger – I discovered Ms Carriger and her works much later in the year than these other two – and have rattled my way through her back catalogue at breakneck speed.  Since I read a copy of her first Finishing School YA novel through NetGalley in late September I’ve read practically everything she’s published – that is to say two more Finishing School books, four Parasol Protectorate novels and three short stories.  I’m saving the last Parasol Protectorate novel and the novella prequel though – because I don’t want Alexia’s story to be over.  Unless something dreadful and disillusioning happens in Timeless, I suspect Carriger is going to join the list of authors that I pre-order as soon as the titles are announced so that I get their books asap.  She’s also my first venture into the world of Steampunk – and so who knows 2015’s discoveries could feature more authors from this area of fiction.

So thank you 2014 and here’s to 2015 and its discoveries – who knows what I’ll be raving about in twelve months time – it really could be anything!

books, reviews

The Books of the Year Post

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It’s that time of year again – where I look at the list of books that I’ve read this year and reflect on what my favourites have been.

At time of writing, I’ve given 39 books 5 stars on Goodreads* this year – here are my favourite five.

The Rosie Project – I read this right back at the start of the year on my birthday holiday in Rome.  I’ve since lent it to my sister, my parents and now my best friend from school.  I can’t see how anyone could fail to fall in love with Don – and his quest to find love and help Rosie is truly laugh out loud funny.  Certainly everyone that I’ve lent the book to so far has loved it.  The sequel, The Rosie Effect, doesn’t quite scale the heights of the original, but it is hard to compete with genius.

A Hundred Pieces of Me – I may have been a weeping wreck by the end, but I loved Lucy Dillon’s story about Gina.  I was very careful in my Goodreads review not to give too much of the plot away – because it really would spoil it – but this is well worth your time. In fact, this was one of the very first books I read this year (book 5 to be precise) and it’s stuck with me right until the end. Curl up in front of the fire – with a box of tissues – and a nice hot drink and enjoy.

Unfinished Symphony of You and Me – Lucy Robinson’s latest book nearly had me in tears on the train at several points – some tears of laughter and some… not.  Sally’s journey to become an opera singer is unputtdownable – and Barry-the-mad-housemate is a hoot.  Read my ravings about this from August here.  Since reading this, I’ve read one of Lucy Robinson’s other books (also brilliant) and have her other previous book waiting on the shelf.  I’m also really looking forward to reading her next book (The Day We Disappeared) when that comes out in March.

A Place For Us – This was another recipient of my overly emotional/sleep deprived ravings (find them here, here and here), but I seriously did love this book in its serialised form – the whole thing is due out in the New Year (January 15th) – and I really hope that it does fabulously well.  The Winters are a flawed but fascinating family – and Harriet Evans does such a great job of making you care about all of them – even the ones who seem initially less appealing. This beat the final Cazalet book into this list – partly because it felt to me like a sort of modern successor to them.

Clothes, Clothes, Clothes. Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys – Viv Albertine’s autobiography has really stuck in my mind since I read it.  She is so honest about herself and her motivations – in a way that you often don’t get in memoirs.  I picked it up because I don’t know much about the punk scene – but ended up being more interested in her post-punk life as she tried to work out what she wanted to do next and how she could balance her ideas and ideology with what society expected her to be doing. Women like her opened up so many opportunities for those of us who have followed – but this book wears that very lightly.  Sad and difficult in places, it was fascinating and compelling.

Honourable mentions to Where’d You Go, Bernadette?, What Would Mary Berry Do?, Fanny and Stella, The Grand Duchess of Nowhere and It’s Not Me, It’s You all of whom could so easily have been on this list.

Today’s links are mostly Foyles – because these are books you want to have actual copies of that you can lend – but you can also find my five top picks (and some of my other favourite books, new and old) over on my My Independent Bookshop page where you can buy and support local indies.

* That works out to somewhere around 14 percent of what I’ve read this year getting top rating.

 

books, reviews

Christmas Books

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Oh dear.  It’s two days from Christmas and I am no where near the bottom of my Christmas-themed book list – and I promised you a post about Christmas novels.  This is what comes of refusing to read Christmas-themed stuff until November.  Will I never learn?  On the brightside, I did actually manage to post about Christmas Short Stories back at the end of November.  So that’s a positive.

So what have I read since then that’s festive?*

Well I caught up on Jenny Colgan’s Christmas book from last year – Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop – which was fabulous.  I’ve only just managed to restrain myself from going out and buying this year’s dose of Rosie – The Christmas Surprise – by reminding myself a) I’m behind on the Christmas reading and b) I like actual copies of Jenny Colgan’s books – and it’s in hardback and thus Won’t Match.

I also enjoyed Katie Fforde’s Christmas offering – A Christmas Feast – which has a couple of novellas in it that I’ve read before (released at previous Christmases) but also a nice new novella and some other short stories.  The fact that some of the stories have been available as ebooks before may explain the bargain Kindle price (£1.19 at time of writing) and there’s definitely enough new stuff in it to pay that even if you’ve read a couple of the novellas before.  Christmassy but not cloying.

On the novella front, I’ve read and quite enjoyed Fiona Gibson’s How the In-Laws Wrecked Christmas (although I wanted more resolution – it just seemed to stop to me), Lyn Crain’s A Viennese Christmas (very straight up romance, not a lot of anything beyond the romance) and Manda Collins’ Once Upon A Christmas Kiss (a bit melodramatic and with a couple of abrupt character about faces but still readable) – and that’s about as far as I’ve got.

There are several Christmas books still waiting on the Kindle – so you may have to check my Goodreads reviews to see what I think of them – because I appreciate that there’s not a huge market for Christmas stories once the big day is over…

*Because this is so last minute, all my links are to kindle ebooks – so that you can actually get hold of any that take your fancy and get them in time!

Authors I love, Book News, books, reviews

The Grand Duchess of Nowhere

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This is where my review of Laurie Graham’s latest book The Grand Duchess of Nowhere would usually be – but in exciting news, I’ve actually reviewed it over on the wonderful Novelicious.  You can read my thoughts Ducky’s Adventures by clicking here.

And in case you’ve found your way over here after reading Novelicious and come to see what I write about – Hello!  It’s lovely to see you.  This blog started as a means of forcing me to take action against my burgeoning to-read pile and to try and control my book buying.  It hasn’t entirely worked.  You’ll find I post a weekly list of everything that I’ve read, a monthly update on the state of the pile and what I’ve bought and then other posts reviewing books that I’ve read, authors that I like and just general recommendations.

Please do go and read my review of The Grand Duchess – and then go and buy a copy.  And if you’ve already read (and I hope loved) Ducky’s story, then go and fill in a gap in your Laurie Graham back catalogue.  If you’re new to Ms Graham’s work, may I recommend Gone With the Windsors (my favourite) or At Sea or Mr Starlight.  But really they’re all good.