The pile

Books Incoming: mid January

I suppose technically it’s late January now, but hey, I make the rules! Anyway, here is a quick look at the latest additions to the physical tbr pile!

So arriving this week are a couple of books I ordered for my birthday – The Tortoise and the Hare in a delightful Virago Hardback edition – to match the others as seen on the shelf last week. Or not quite match as the case may be but you know what I mean. The copy of Greg Jenner‘s Ask A Historian is a signed one that I ordered ages ago, but for reasons has only just appeared this week and the Anne de Courcy is the one I mentioned buying in the Vanderbilt-adjacent recommendsday post. The other four are the result of a trip to The Works on Monday, where I remain pathologically unable to resist their three for £5 offer and then added in the short history of Europe because it was super cheap (and not in the deal). My lack of willpower really should be legendary at this point shouldn’t it! Anyway, as always these will pop up on the week in books list sooner or later – Tortoise and the Hare potentially sooner because I read an email newsletter about it the other day that prompted me to buy a copy – and in fact this is the second copy that I have bought – because the first one (from Amazon) never made it to me – the delivery tracker tells me that it was damaged in transit and returned, which is quite something.

books, stats

April Stats

Books read this month: 32*

New books: 37

Re-reads: 5

Books from the to-read pile: 8

NetGalley books read: 4

Kindle Unlimited read: 1

Ebooks: 6

Library books: 8 (all ebooks)

Audiobooks: 5

Non-fiction books: 4

Favourite book this month: Dial A for Aunties by Jessie Q Sutanto

Most read author: Georgette Heyer with a bunch of audiobooks or Rosie Danan with two new reads

Books bought: about 9

Books read in 2021: 134

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 602

A fairly steady month in reading in the end – Irritatingly the Duncan MacMaster Fahrenheit Zine isn’t in goodreads – even though the Jo Perry equivalent was, so I’m going to have to figure out a way of counting that in future months when I’ve forgotten it’s not in the raw goodreads count. Wish me luck with that! Probably not as much progress on the NetGalley list as I should have, but there’s been a lot going on in the world and my brain has been a little fried. Here’s hoping May is better.

Bonus picture: Some bluebells in the woods the other weekend.

Bluebells in a wood

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (5 this month)

books, stats

March Stats

Books read this month: 34*

New books: 31

Re-reads: 3

Books from the to-read pile: 6

NetGalley books read: 3

Kindle Unlimited read: 10

Ebooks: 1

Library books: 11 (all ebooks)

Audiobooks: 3

Non-fiction books: 1

Favourite book this month: Act Your Age, Eve Brown

Most read author: Probably Georgette Heyer – as two of the audiobooks were rereads of her and I think they’re longer than the two Nisha Sharma books I read

Books bought: 9 I think

Books read in 2021: 100

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 601

I’m not even sure I have anything witty or interesting to say this month – all I’ve done is read, run around the park and work… and that’s been the story of the last year!

Bonus picture: some blossom in the park in the early morning sunshine on the 31st

Blossoms on a tree and sky

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (9 this month)

books, stats

February Stats

Books read this month: 33*

New books: 29

Re-reads: 4

Books from the to-read pile: 2

NetGalley books read: 6

Kindle Unlimited read: 5

Ebooks: 12

Library books: 6 (all ebooks )

Audiobooks: 2

Non-fiction books: 5

Favourite book this month: Boyfriend Material!

Most read author: Laurie R King

Books bought: About 16 including pre-orders. But I deserved them!

Books read in 2021: 65

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 597

There was so much going on behind the scenes in February. I can’t even explain how much. But the key point is that at least February is short and I made it out the otherside and into March… hmmmm

Bonus picture: The spare room bookshelves – where the children’s books live…

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (2 this month)

books, stats

January Stats

Books read this month: 31*

New books: 27

Re-reads: 4

Books from the to-read pile: 6

NetGalley books read: 4

Kindle Unlimited read: 3

Ebooks: 12

Library books: 6  (all ebooks except 1 borrowed at a hotel)

Non-fiction books: 4

Favourite book this month: I mean I read He Shall Thunder in the Sky twice. And the Falcon at the Portal too, but of the stuff I hadn’t read before, it’s hard. Maybe The House in the Cerulean Sea.

Most read author: Elizabeth Peters by a country mile. 3000+ pages, plus more than a dozen hours of audiobook time…

Books bought: I mean I think 8 new ones, plus ebooks of a couple of Amelia Peabody books that I borrowed from the library first time out

Books read in 2021: 31

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 595

I mean basically lets just call it the month of the Peabody-Emersons. Because so much of my reading this month was from that series – and it was all I wanted to read for long periods. And I’m not even sorry about it.

Bonus picture: The bonus picture this month is another snowy picture from the start of last week, and was taken by my dad. Some people would say that it’s Christmassy and Not Right for January, but I just think it looks so quintessentially British countryside in winter that I just had to use it.

A snowy church steeple

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels ( 4this month)

books, stats

December Stats

New books read this month: 38*

Books from the to-read pile: 13

Ebooks read: 10

NetGalley books read: 2

Library books: 13 (all ebooks)

Non-fiction books: 6

Favourite book this month: In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren and The Gift of the Magpie by Donna Andrews

Most read author: hard to tell because I spent most of the month reading books for my missing US states and I had a no repeats rule and the only author with more than one book on the list was Rainbow Rowell (a novella for Nebraska and a novella in a fairytale retellings series) and neither were long. On pages probably Nora Roberts because Black Hills was loooooooong

Books bought: still not counting

Books read in 2020: 393

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 589

So here we are. The end of another year. My books total is ever so slightly down on last year (393 to 402) which considering I didn’t have my usual summer holiday sunlounger reading time (and I’ve been commuting around 50% less since March) is actually quite impressive. As usual I’ll probably tweak the format of my stats when I get to the end of January, but I haven’t figured out how yet, so that can be a suprise in a month’s time. And  I’ve got a few more look back/lookahead posts coming, but in the meantime, Happy New Year and may 2021 be a better year.

Bonus picture: Here’s the view from our attic at midnight, as seemingly people all over town unloaded a tonne of fireworks into the sky to celebrate the end of 2020.

Fireworks seen from roof height

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (4 this month)

books, stats

November Stats

New books read this month: 35*

Books from the to-read pile: 5

Ebooks read: 16

NetGalley books read: 4

Library books: 10

Non-fiction books: 4

Favourite book this month: Life, Death and Cellos by Isabel Rogers (and the sequel Bold as Brass!)

Most read author: Barbara Ross – six books in the Maine Clambake series!

Books bought: still not counting

Books read in 2020: 353

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 581

Bonus picture: Central London during lockdown – this was lunchtime on Sunday the 15th, which would usually have been shopper central.

View down Oxford Street to Oxford Circus

Bonus picture 2 – the read across the US map – will I manage 10 states in the next month? I feel like it may be a bridge too far…

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (4 this month)

books, stats

October Stats

New books read this month: 31*

Books from the to-read pile: 7

Ebooks read: 8

NetGalley books read: 9

Library books: 7

Non-fiction books: 8

Favourite book this month: Murder on Cold Street by Sherry Thomas or Team of Five by Kate Andersen Brower

Most read author: Raina Telgemaier by numbers (three graphic novels) but Jennifer Crusie by length

Books bought: still not counting

Books read in 2020: 329

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 577

A strong month for me in reading in the end, even if parts of it were truly awful in my normal life. I very nearly met my (self-imposed) NetGalley target of 10 and I’ve resisted the urge to request more stuff from there, so my November list is nice and short and achievable and should allow me to work towards meeting my end of year goals.

Bonus picture: Speaking of end of year goals, here’s the latest progress on the 50 states challenge

Map of the US with 37 states coloured in

*Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (4 this month)

books, stats

September Stats

New books read this month: 30*

Books from the to-read pile: 6

Ebooks read: 9

NetGalley books read: 5

Library books: 10 (all ebooks)

Non-fiction books: 4

Favourite book this month: Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Most read author: Catherine Bybee (all three of the Most Likely too Trilogy

Books bought: still not counting

Books read in 2020: 287

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 579

So I started strongly on the NetGalley front – and then petered out when a bunch of library holds came in and library loans started to come due. But two of the ebooks were advance copies from authors (but not via NetGalley) so they sort of count right?! And the physical pile isn’t getting much smaller either. So for October, I need to focus on reading books I already own, rather than getting distracted by Kindle Unlimited and the library…

Bonus picture: Another picture from my staycation at the start of the month – this was in Skipton.

Lake surrounded by trees

Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (3 this month)

 

books, stats

August Stats

New books read this month: 34*

Books from the to-read pile: 10

Ebooks read: 8

NetGalley books read: 7

Audiobooks: 1

Library books: 8 (all ebooks)

Non-fiction books: 4

Favourite book this month: V for Victory or the latest Vinyl Detective novel

Most read author: George Bellairs – 4 more Inspector Littlejohn mysteries

Books bought: still not counting

Books read in 2020: 256

Books on the Goodreads to-read shelf (I don’t have copies of all of these!): 578

So the summer holidays are over and the schools are going back, and I’m actually fairly pleased with what I read last month. I didn’t quite manage as many NetGalley books as I wanted, but I have a couple that I’m nearly finished, so I’m going to keep that momentum going forward in September. I need to keep working at the actual physical book pile too because although I’m not counting, I can see the books arriving…

Bonus picture: I finally got halfway through my bookshelf tracker this month, only 6 weeks behind schedule to fill it up before the end of the year. Wish me luck everyone…

Drawing of a bookshelf with books on half the shelves coloured in

Includes some short stories/novellas/comics/graphic novels (4 this month)