Another Year of Reading from Home

[Simon]

Well the title says it all.
I seem to have once again amassed an extensive to read pile at home so this year I'm going to work my way through them. This means however no book buying this year. This is going to be hard. I may even see if I can knock a few of those books I've got saved on my "abandoned until a later date" shelf.

[Susy]

No book buying....How? How are you going to manage that??
Wishing you the best of luck Simon. Hope you have an amazing reading year. May you discover some gems in that pile of yours!

[Simon]

Thanks Susy. I have to do this every couple of years to ensure I keep the number of books to a manageable number. I have about 150 unread books lying I various places around the house so I'm not going to have too much problem finding something to read.
That said there is nothing like the frisson of enjoyment of reading a book you've just got from a shop.

[Evonne]

I have an odd assortment of old books - books bought from used book stores that have been published 100ish years ago. I love the tattered old covers and yellowing pages! The smell! Love. Anyhow, many of them haven't been read-by-me yet, so that's on my list.

[Blagica , Challenges]

Good luck in the coming year!

[Blagica , Challenges]

Hoping you had fun getting lost in some pages in your first month!

[Susy]

Simon wrote: "Thanks Susy. I have to do this every couple of years to ensure I keep the number of books to a manageable number. I have about 150 unread books lying I various places around the house so I'm not going to have too much problem finding something to read.
That said there is nothing like the frisson of enjoyment of reading a book you've just got from a shop."

So true!
How is your goal going so far Simon?

[Simon]

Susy wrote: "How is your goal going so far Simon?"

So far I've managed to clear 8 books from my to read pile though unfortunately half of them seem to have been Christmas presents from last year. Such is life.

Read in January

[Susy]

Simon wrote: "Susy wrote: "How is your goal going so far Simon?"

So far I've managed to clear 8 books from my to read pile though unfortunately half of them seem to have been Christmas presents from last year. ..."

lol

8 books read is a great start though even if they're not all dust bunnies :)

[Blagica , Challenges]

You are doing great! Hoping March is a great month for you.

[Simon]

The rest of February and all of March's reading.



Once again a mixed bag but it does represent the kind of gadfly mind that I have.

[Blagica , Challenges]

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand. I hope that April brings you many more five star reads. Do you have a stand out book so far this year?

[Simon]

I think I probably enjoyed The Looking Glass War the most. It's an often overlooked book in the Smiley series because Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold are such big beasts either side of it.
In Looking Glass War we begin to see just how murky the spy game is and just how dirty Smiley's hands are.

[Blagica , Challenges]

“Reading brings us unknown friends” While the warm weather is coming I hope you make some new friends in May! You are doing great keep it up!

[Simon]

I suddenly released today I hadn't posted on here for a while. Life and books have a habit of getting in the way sometimes. That and the fact that its all too easy to forget the website with the ease of the mobile App.

So here we go
Books read in May and June



]

[Blagica , Challenges]

Awesome job so far! Do you have a favorite book or a book you still can't wait to read?

[Simon]

Blagica wrote: "Awesome job so far! Do you have a favorite book or a book you still can't wait to read?"
I think upto the end of June I would have to say that the best of the year have to be the Black Monday Murders. Such an original graphic novel.

[Simon]

Time for July's reads





Another mixed bag of a month but a good one. I finally managed to read all of Le Carres Smiley series though the last two were maybe not the strongest in the series.

The stand out book of the month and the year so far though was Captain Corelli's Mandolin. This has been on my book case for a while after being recommended to me by a friend. I just never got round to reading it because its a what I thought was a romance that was turned into a bad Nick Cage movie. That said I thought I would give myself a challenge and see what it was like. I could always chuck it if it went nowhere.
Within 5 pages though I was hooked. de Bernieres writing was juts amazing and the story was noting like the blurb on the back said it would be. A simply sublime story

[Simon]

August was a bit of a slow month. It took me quite a while to get into another book after finishing Captain Corelli's Mandolin last month.

I was really quite disappointed by this book. It just felt quite bloated and slow.

This was the surprise of the moth for me. I was not expecting much but it was a complete joy in the end.

Not strictly a book but hey as the book comes from a TV series I'm going to count this anyway.

[Simon]

As another month closes in its time for a review of what I've read.


I Find Iain M Banks' Culture series somewhat patchy, some are better then others, this though is one of the better ones. Up there with Surface Detail.


A little bit of politics and Humour, well why not. As an NHS minion its great to see someone defending it rather then attaching it.


An interesting book. American politics remains, for for this none American at least, a vastly interesting diversion to the Brexit debacle in the UK at the moment.


Its Bob Woodward so why wouldn't you read it. A great look at the dysfunctionality at the hear of the Trump administration.


A bit of an experiment and a bit of a disappointment. Not actually bad but not really good either.


Gert is dead, Long live Gert. Skottie Youngs final outing in this bonkers take on the little girl lost in Fairyland trope. Maybee not as strong as previous entries but really enjoyable none the less.


Re-reads prior to


Simply the best Graphic Novel series around at the moment. The multi Eisner award winning books are simply a must read.

Another varied and enjoyable month of reading.

[Blagica , Challenges]

You are on your way to having a great year in books! Do you have a book you still can't wait to read?

[Simon]

Blagica wrote: "You are on your way to having a great year in books! Do you have a book you still can't wait to read?"

I think I'm most looking forward to Haruki Murakami's new book coming out later this week.


I'm also looking forward to getting round to the only two Kazuo Ishiguro novels I haven't read yet
and

[Blagica , Challenges]

All these look interesting have fun!

[Simon]

October and November's books.


the final part of Jeff Lamire's descender series was slightly deflating in some ways but sets up the next series well. The graphics in this series though have been stunning.


Larry Kramers play about the AIDS crisis in the 80s.


Three books about America, a slight fascination of mine though I'm not sure there isn't an element of schadenfreude involved in my enjoyment of some of Americas woes.


An enjoyable bit of translated Fiction. Its always good to try to see the world from some other countries point of view.



C S Lewis at his best and worst.


very nearly as good as the film


Prep for more study. I must be mad.


De-stress reads.

[Simon]

I don't really think I'm going to get any other books finished between now and the New Year so I'm going to claim this as a year finished.
I managed to read a further 5 books this month

Not Singer's best writing by any means. Too broad and not enough focus for my tastes but there were some interesting things in the book.

Beeching's story of being a Christian and coming out. Very moving and honest.

A promising premise and great graphics but let down by not being long enough to give the characters time to breath.

Music, poetry and black history. A really great read.

A fun collection of Postcards that should resonate with all book lovers.

Well I can't claim that I managed to achieve my goal of reading only what I had in my house on the 1st of January 2018 but I will say that at least 75% of them were.

My highlight of the year?
Finishing off the complete George Smiley series even though the last couple were not as strong as The Spy who Came in from the Cold, The Looking Glass War or Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy.

Looking forward to seeing what the new year brings. Still undecided as to what my challenge might be though I might just go with a bugger it approach and just read whatever jumps out at me. No change there then