In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 19/52

17th - 23rd December

7 books last week!  All but This Side of Paradise were audiobooks, that I'd read before, though I do really like this new performance of A Christmas Carol which audible were giving away for free.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Weeks 15-18 out of 52

Week 15 - 19th to 25th November

Week 16 - 26th November to 2nd December

Week 17 - 3rd December to 9th December

Week 18 - 10th December to 16th December

Presented without comment, too busy/tired.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 14/52

Only one book last week - 12th to 18th November.  Little Myth Marker, one of the Myth Adventures books which I originally read as a teenager.

It's so nice being able to read them all over again.  I didn't actually realise until now that this one was written before I was born!

In Which We Discuss the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

This post has been a long time coming, and I apologise for that.  I read - or rather, listened to - this book between the 11th and 13th of September this year. 

Sports Memorabilia

I first read it around 2010, and I remember liking it.  There's a lot I didn't get though.  I don't think I knew that Tom Gordon is a real person, for instance, and I didn't realise it took place on the Appalachian Trail.



 I'm currently doing a virtual walk of the Appalachian Trail - you just go here and tell it how many miles you've walked, and it tracks how far along you are - so it was pretty interesting to read about it with a little more knowledge.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is fairly short;  I remember it as being 200-300 pages, and the audiobook is only 6 hours long.  That might be one of the reasons I like it; Stephen King makes it worth the journey, but I have a very short attention span.

Here's an update of the list!

- 15/6/13

Carrie - 1974 -  June 15th 2013
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014


- 15/6/13 to 17/8/14 - 9

Roadwork - 1981 - 23rd August 2014
Danse Macabre - 1981 - 7th September 2014
- BONUS: Small World (Tabitha King) - 10th September 2014
Cujo - 1981 - 20th September 2014
The Running Man - 1982- 22nd September 2014
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982 - 30th September 2014
Creepshow - 1982 - 1st October 2014
Different Seasons - 1982  - 24th October 2014

- 17/8/14 to 25/10/14 - 8 (17)

Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983
The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984 

- 25/10/14/14 to 14/07/2015 - 5 (22)

Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987 

- 14/7/15 to 18/10/2015 - 5 (27)

The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky  - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989 

- 18/10/2015 to 22/12/2015 - 3 (30)

Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991 
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992
Nightmares and Dreamscapes - 1993

- 22/12/2015 to 24/4/2016 - 6 (36)
 
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996
The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Dark Tower: Little Sisters of Eluria (Legend) - 1998
Bag of Bones - 1998
Storm of the Century - 1998
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
  
- 24/4/2016 to 14/11/16 - 6 (47)
 
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999

"Riding the Bullet" - 2000  
On Writing - 2000 
Secret Windows - 2000 
The Plant - 2000      
Dreamcatcher - 2001

Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001
Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003  
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004
Faithful - 2004
- BONUS: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill) - Jan 2005
- BONUS: Josie and Jack (Kelly Braffet)  - Feb 2005
- BONUS: We're All in This Together (Owen King) - 2005

The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007
Duma Key - 2008

Just After Sunset - 2008 
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009     
Under the Dome - 2009
Blockade Billy - 2010

Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011    
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011
"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012

The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012 
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass"  (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013

Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014      
Revival - November 2014

Finders Keepers - 2015
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - 2015
End of Watch - 2016

Cool, I'm 47 books through!  That's  51% !  I'm more than halfway through!  And it only took three years!  I'll be done before the end of the decade at this rate!

The next one is Hearts in Atlantis, which will, hopefully, be another short-ish one.  Six short stories/novellas.  I've not read it before, although one of the stories was also included in Six Stories.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 13/52

Four books last week - 5th to the 11th of November.  Two audiobooks, one that I'd read before, and two on kindle, including on that I'd read before.

Herding Hemingway's Cats is a nice popular genetics book, and I found that listening to it - even without paying a huge amount of attention - really helped clarify concepts for me which later came up in lectures.  I already had an overview, so it was easier to get on with the little details.  I also re-listened to About a Boy.  I'm so glad it's now studied in schools; there's so much to discuss in it.

I also read The Ex-Factor, a very silly book in which four friends decide to set each other up with their exes rather than risk another Tinder date.  It was 99p on Kindle.

Finally, I re-read Myth-ing Persons, the fifth in the Myth Adventures series.  I just looked it up, and apparently there are nineteen books in total.

I found out on the 16th that Sheri Tepper died on the 22nd of October.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 12/52

Two books last week, one a reread, one I don't think I had actually read before.  The Martian which I last read back in May, and Hit or Myth, which I apparently missed when I read the series as a teenager.  I'm quite enjoying reading the series through again!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 11/52

I did not read a single book this week (22nd to 28th October).  I have been reading, I just haven't finished anything.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 10/52

Three books last week, from the 15th to the 21st of October.  Hyperbole and a Half I'd read before.  I hadn't read this specific collection of Sophie Hannah poems, but there are a lot from her previous collections in here.  Math on Trial was totally new to me, but quite interesting.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Weeks 6 - 9 Out of 52

17th - 23rd September

It's been a busy fortnight three weeks month!

24th - 30th September

1st to 7th October

8th to 14th October

The Myths and 500 Kingdoms series' I've read before, although, surprisingly, I had never actually read Myth Directions before.

I'm just going to leave the images here - it's been crazy!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 5/52

9 books last week, probably because I spent most of it on the Megabus.  10th to the 16th of September.

Four audiobooks, three of which I'd read before; Thud, Snuff and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.  Map of Bones is the one I'd not read before.

A realisation from Snuff:  Young Sam reminds me a lot of the kid from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.  You're constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for him to be frightened of goblins or something...and then he just doesn't.

Bin Ich Klein? is the first book in German that I've ever read.  It's aimed at toddlers, which is about my language level.  I liked it!

The Good Study Guide is a pretty useful resource; I read that and Origin of Species to get back into the habit of studying before my course starts on Monday (though I do already have my first assignment...).

I was pretty disappointed by Light of the Fireflies.  It involved reprehensible people doing shitty things in the name of love.  The one voice of reason is raped and murdered.

It also featured someone brushing their teeth with the foam someone else had spat out, which strikes me as one of the most disgusting things imaginable.  It seems even more disgusting than consuming something gross, I suspect because toothpaste is the stuff you clean yourself with.  At least if you eat something disgusting you can clean yourself afterwards.  When the thing you clean yourself with is disgusting then there's no escape.

The language and metaphors were also incredibly clumsy, although, to be fair, it's translated from the Spanish, so perhaps it's not coming across well.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 4/52

Three books last week - 3rd to the 9th of September.  All books I'd read before, two audiobooks, and one on Kindle.

Play or Die was the kindle book, and it's one of the few I've actually reviewed on Goodreads. Undercover Economist is a non-fiction work on how economics can explain everyday things, while The Fifth Elephant is the last City Watch book before Night Watch.

A thought occured to me the other day; the City Watch series (or, loop) from Guards! Guards! to Night Watch is a stable time loop, a la Final Fantasy VIII, and it's the story of Vimes becoming a self-made man.  He's first influenced by the original John Keel.  Some of it sticks - he never lets the Beast out - but it's not enough, and he slumps into an alcoholic depression for the next thirty years.  In Guards! Guards! he's inspired by Carrot; he wants to live up to Carrots ideals, and the Watch finally has the power to start being the kind of force he wants it to be.  Vetinari begins to take an interest; begins to use Vimes as another instrument to focus the city how he wants.  Finally, after a few years of those two, Vimes influences his own younger self.  Only once he has reached that point can he move on with his life; his son is born immediately afterwards.

In Which We Discuss Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones was first published in 1998, shortly before my 10th birthday. It has a lot in common with Rebecca, another book I read a few years ago, although it treats the core elements differently.

This is one of the many novels in which the main character is a writer. If I recall correctly, this was the book where I first found out that King’s novels weren’t published in written order, though it might have been Lisey's Story; sometimes, he wrote too prolifically and would stash a few, as the character Mike Noonan does. When I started this project I did consider making the effort to find out the order in which the novels were actually written and to read them in that order, but I came to the conclusion that that would be unreasonably difficult.

The other day I thought about the fact that Shakespeare’s plays begin to have happier, more optimistic endings as he got older. That was one of the reasons I wanted to read an author’s work in chronological order; to see how it changed as they aged. When I did this with Lisa Jewell a few years ago there were a number of changes. What stood out most was her concern about children, after she had her own.

King’s writing is so prolific that I actually find it harder to step back and see trends. It’s like trying to watch a plant growing by staring at it for every hour of the day. There are trends; for instance, Rage and Carrie, both about teenagers, were written when King was younger – although The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which focuses on a young girl, was published in 1999, when King was 52 and presumably written when he was at least in his 40s. His children make a difference as well; many characters are openly based on King’s family, and he does have a gift for observation.

I remembered Bag of Bones wrong; the first time I read it, it felt like it was a lot more about Sara and a lot less about Maddie. This time, I was waiting for the whole bit with Maddie to get out of the way so we could get to the main story about Sara. I was about three hours from the end – audiobook – when I finally twigged that Maddie was part of the main story.

The audiobook includes an interview with King on the topic of audiobooks. When he first wanted to listen to them, very few unabridged recordings were available, so he would pay his children $18 for each ninety-minute tape recording of a book he wanted to have read. It really is no wonder that King’s two sons, Owen King and Joe Hill, both grew up to be authors.

What is interesting is that relatively few of King’s characters are LGBT, despite the fact that his daughter Naomi is openly gay. Naomi’s life is less open than her brothers’, as she is less of a public figure. Perhaps King also considers her life to be private. I didn't realise, until I read this article, that she's a wheelchair user.  I'm not sure at which point in her life she began using a wheelchair, but it would be interesting to see if King's characters start using them more after that point.  So far, I think it's only been Paul Sheldon in Misery.

The next work of King’s is The Storm of the Century, a TV series for which he wrote the script. I’ve decided that while I will try to watch the series, I won’t try to hunt down the script to read it. I’ll be moving on to The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon – another book I’ve read before.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 3/52

Five books last week! That’s the 27th August to the 3rd September – and yes, I realise I’m writing this on the 7th of September! I’m moving to Manchester in eight days, which involves a lot of wrapping things up. For instance, returning my last West Midlands library book. I’d returned all the books I’d borrowed from Sandwell, Dudley, and Solihull, so that only left House of Leaves to go back to Birmingham. I finished rereading it this week and then took it back. It was a little anti-climactic, really.

I feel like I took in more of the book this time; I noticed little things like the substitution of the word ‘heal’ for ‘heel’. A few notes from my journal;

- If Johnny is the minotaur then his footnotes are the roars, echoing around the House of Leaves. This also indicates a communication through time, a la For the Time Being.
- Navidson doesn’t feel that the tapes really capture the true scope of the house. Really, films not capturing the fullness of a ‘house of leaves’ (book)?

I finished rereading (listening to) Feet of Clay and Jingo this week. Both books in the Ankh-Morpork City Watch sub-series of the Discworld.

Some comments from my diary about Men at Arms; Dorlf reminds me a lot of Simony from Small Gods. They’re both the kind of atheists who spend a lot of time thinking about god. I also spent some time wondering if Cheery is trans, since her genitals are never discussed. She might be; it’s totally irrelevant what genitalia she has, both in and out of universe. She wants to present as female, so she does.

I nearly cried when Big Fido died, the poor mad bastard. He so desperately wanted to be a fallen angel rather than an ascending ape, a la Science of the Discworld. That’s what his wolf thing was about.

In the alternate timeline of Jingo, Vimes dies on the barricades of Ankh-Morpork. Since he’s not yet seen it from the other side, as he will in Night Watch, he’s likely having flashbacks to the first one and watching Keel die, especially when his fellow Watchmen start dying around him. TV Tropes also points out some specific tearjerkers in the order in which the characters die; Detritus immediately after Cheery, as if he waded into a group to avenge her. Visit alongside other Watchmen, finally accepted. Carrot immediately before Vimes, as if he took a the blow for him.

Reg Shoe as well; imagine the flashbacks he’ll be having to the Glorious 25th of May.

Pretties is the second in the Uglies series, another one which I’ve read before. I do like Shay, and it’s a pretty good version.

Bag of Bones I’ll be writing a longer post about later.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 2/52

Four books this week - 20th to 26th August.

I picked up The Girl with all the Gifts after reading an article in a local newspaper, calling for extras to play the zombies. The movie – which was written at the same time as the book – is being filmed near here.

The book was interesting – I loved the method by which they became zombies – but very sad. Since I’m about to begin a genetics degree, Caroline was an interesting character. In her place, would I go that far? Probably not….

Career of Evil is the latest in the Cormoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling). Not as intriguing as, for instance, Sophie Hannah’s mysteries, but compelling enough. And, again, it does lend some legitimency to picturing Harry Potter the Auror as a hard-boiled detective!

The Last Girlfriend on Earth is one of my favourite short story collections. I’ve read it quite a few times over the last few years, so there’s not a lot to add here. It’s just a really well-written collection based on an interesting idea.

Finally, Men at Arms. It’s a shame about Cuddy, though it does begin to establish Detritus, Angua, and all the other characters who become the backbone of the Watch.

In Which We Discuss Wizard and Glass and the Little Sisters of Eluria

Wizard and Glass and Little Sisters of Eluria are a novel and a short story set in the world of the Dark Tower. Wizard and Glass was published in 1997 while Little Sisters was published in the Legends anthology in 1998.

I actually read Legends way back in 2004 or so because it also included the Discworld short story, The Sea and Little Fishes. I hadn’t read any of the Dark Tower books at that point, so it didn’t make a huge impression on me, aside from creeping me out a little. The one that did make an impression was Terry Goodkind’s Debt of Bones; maybe I should actually read his Sword of Truth series!

Both stories are set in Roland’s past, for the most part; Little Sisters entirely, and Wizard and Glass almost entirely, apart from the opening and ending. At some point in Wizard and Glass the characters travel to the world of The Stand, while the titular Little Sisters speak in Tak’s language at times.

After this point, King took a brief break from the Dark Tower; the next book in the series, Wolves of the Calla, wasn’t published until 2003. So, the next book I’ll be reading – or listening to, rather – is Bag of Bones, another book I’ve read before.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 28th Year, Week 1/52

10 books last week!  Well, slightly over a week; the 11th to the 19th of August.  This was a leap year, so my birthday was on the Friday not the Thursday.

Six rereads.  I'm reading (listening) to the City Watch books of the Discworld series in order, starting with Night Watch which adds a sad poignancy to the first few.  Poor young Sam.  It's interesting to observe that Sam is a man made by Keel, Carrot, and Vetinari, and then, ultimately, by himself.

How to be Good is one of my favourite of Nick Hornby's novels.  For a man who writes in a genre known as "lad lit" he writes excellent women.  Which kind of indicates that the people who try to gender genres are idiots.  I've also listened to The Upside of Rationality before; it's one of the first audiobooks I ever owned.

I started listening to Yes Please the other day when I walked the Birmingham-Worcester canal, from Birmingham to Worcester.  30 miles.  I also listened to Guards Guards during this trip.  The wisest line in the whole book is "your divorce will be like your marriage".  I've never been married or divorced, but that's certainly true in my experience.

The Silkworm is the second in the Cormoran Strike series.  I got it for Christmas and only just got around to finishing it.  I'm trying to get books off my unread pile before I move so I don't have to carry the bloody things!

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar is my favourite of Roald Dahl's works, with some competition from Danny the Champion of the World.  I did notice some interesting similarities with The Great Gatsby.  Henry Sugar is like the Benjamin Button version of Jay Gatz; a playboy who finds a goal, devotes all his time an energy to it, and finds he's a better person with a meaningful existence.  As opposed to starting as poor and ambitious, finding a goal, devoting all your time and energy to it, and becoming a playboy.

Unseemly Science is the second i the Gas Lit Empire series.  I'm re-listening to them all, eventually.

I read Cursed Child in the first hour of my birthday.  Cried five times!

Little Sisters of Eluria has a slightly longer post to come.

Finally, Men Explain Things to Me.  Very short, took about an hour and a half to read.  For my feminist bookclub; definitely good for bringing righteous feminist anger.  The next book is Atlas Shrugged, which I really look forward to discussing!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 52/52

Four books last week; the last week before my next birthday!  4th to the 10th of August.

Two rereads, both audiobooks; The Bullet Catcher's Daugher and Poison.  I listened to Poison on the OneClickDigital app, which let me borrow it from my local library.  Unfortunately, it doesn't let me change the bloody speed, which was very irritating.  Some people have found a way to listen to the files on other apps, but that would involve having a cable which let me link my phone to my PC, which I do not.  My cables only charge.

There'll be a longer post to come on Wizard and Glass.  I'm really into The Dark Tower series now, but it'll be a while until the next one, once I've finished rereading Little Sisters of Eluria.

Finally, What If...All the Boys Wanted You?.  A Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style book aimed at teenage girls.  Very silly.  Tends to forget which bits you will and won't have already read on each path, so some elements are nonsensical and come out of nowhere.  I read all of it, using my normal method of pencil marks and folding pages over.

I'll start my 28th year posts a week after my birthday...on Friday the 19th of August.  See you then!

During my 26th year I read a total of 261 books over these 52 weeks, at an average of 5.05 per week or 0.72 per day.  Here's a graph.

 

26th Year

During my 27th year I read a total of 303 books, at an average of 5.83 per week or .83 per day, so a little faster, which surprises me considering that I was studying for most of it!  Here's another graph.

27th Year

Another spike around Christmas/New years, but even that pattern is a bit of a push.  My unread pile is down to 42 books, with 15 of those being physical books.  I'm moving to Manchester on the 19th of September, so I'm going to focus on getting those down before I go so I don't have to carry them.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 51/52

Five books last week!  That's30th July to the 3rd of August.

Two were audiobooks I've read before; Kind of Cruel and Blind Faith.  I also reread The Gift of Fear, which is the kind of book you need to review every so often.  It's pretty useful, to have it reconfirmed that you can and should trust your own instincts, over being 'polite'.

The Regulators and Six Stories were both new to me, and I wrote a longer post on them here.

In Which We Discuss Desperation, The Regulators, Six Stories, and the Dark Tower

Warning!  Spoilers for the Chronicles of Narnia Below!

Desperation and the Regulators were a very interesting concept that I’ve not seen done elsewhere.  They were published at the same time in 1996, one openly written by King, the other purporting to be by his long-dead alias, Richard Bachman, the manuscript having been found by his widow and published posthumously.  Both include the same characters – including Cynthia, of Rose Madder – though they’re in slightly different situations, with, for example, parents swapping places with children in one nuclear unit.

In Desperation, a small town is slaughtered en mass by the sheriff who then begins luring other victims in.  One of the characters, David, made a vow to God when a friend of his didn’t die, and is thus enlisted as God’s representative, to save the town.  His thoughts on this reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman’s The Problem with Susan, a story about the elder Susan Pevensie after her family die at the end of the Narnia series.  

In Good Omens – by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman – it is stated that, if God is omniscient and all-powerful, there cannot be a war between good and evil.  There can only be one long, unfathomable game of solitaire.  Both Susan and Desperation reminded me of that; both point out that their respective gods could have prevented the accident in the first place, but didn’t.  Not a tame lion.

The Regulators involves an autistic boy who is given reality warping powers by the same unpleasant being who is behind the events of Desperation.  I do wonder if the Regulators isnt’t real at all; if, instead, Tak has just moved the world sideways, into one in which he can try something new.  We see in Wizard and Glass, after all, that sideways worlds exist.  As well as in that short story where Little Tall became the home of the zombie apocalypse.

I found Desperation to be one of the more horrifying of King’s novels, on the basis of one single line.  Long before the events of either book, there was a cave-in which trapped seventy Chinese workers.  No one tried to get them out, and when asked why, a character explains “because they were Chinese”.  The line’s delivered as a criticism of the people of the time, not as a justifiable reason, or at least, that’s how I took it.

Six Stories is a special edition of, well, six stories, published in a limited run of 1100 volumes, each signed by King.  I cheated; the stories were later published in Everything’s Eventual and Hearts in Atlantis, so I read those versions instead.  They’re heavily edited, in some cases, but I viewed this as an acceptable compromise, given the difficulty and expense it would take to track down one of those limited editions. 

Although I’d read Everything’s Eventual before, and thus had read five of the six stories, the only one I really remembered was Autopsy Room 4.  Possibly because of my fear of locked-in syndrome (I’m also cleithrophobic and trypophobic – don’t google image search that last one).  I quite liked Luckey Quarter [sic], I think because it was slightly more optimistic than King’s normal work.

I’ve already started Wizard and Glass, the next book published by King, and the fourth part of the Dark Tower Series.   Then I’ll reread Little Sisters of Eluria, and there’ll be a long, long stretch before I get to Song of Susannah, which was published in 2004, immediately before The Dark Tower.  The final (or, at least, most recent) book of the series was published in 2012.

Interesting, the first book I read in 2016 was the first book of King’s published in the 1990s; Four Past Midnight.  There are only six books left in the decade after Little Sisters of Eluria; Bag of Bones, Storm of the Century, Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, The New Lieutenant’s Rap, Hearts in Atlantis, and Blood and Smoke.   The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is pretty short, especially for a King novel, and Hearts in Atlantis only contains six stories.  The New Lieutenant’s Rap is also a short story.  I’ll aim to finish those by the end of this year.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 50/52

Nine books last week - 21st to the 27th of June.  And only two weeks till my birthday!

Eight o those were audio books, seven of which I've read before because I've run out of new ones.  Payday on the 8th of August, and my subscription rolls over on the 21st...so a bit of time until I get my hands on some new ones.

I'm listening to the Spilling CID series at random right now, because I do enjoy the mysteries.  Sophie Hannah's stories remind me of that little story about the woman who meets the man of her dreams at her grandmother's funeral and then goes home and murders her great uncle, so he'll be invited to that one.  Completely insane characters, but the mystery somehow works.

I liked The Red Zeppelin a lot more than I thought I would.  It's the second in a series, and involves a lady MI5 agent who disguises herself as a man.  It's set in the 1930s, which makes it somewhat reminiscent of the Gas-Lit Empire series.  I loved the performance of the voice actress, who does a proper transatlantic accent throughout.  I'm not usually a fan of the genre, but this was rather good!

Finally, Stiletto, the second part in the Checquy series.  A very long wait, and a bit of a slog to get through; it's pretty long!  I felt like, at times, the author forgot what he'd already explained and repeated himself a bit.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 49/52

Four books last week, two of the rereads, two of the them audiobooks (not the same two).  This is the week from 14th to 20th July.

The rereads were A Blink of the Screen and Atlas Shrugged.  A Blink of the Screen is a collection of Pratchett's short stories, including the High Meggas, which inspired The Long Earth.  I really need to read that series; it's such a good story!

Both Atlas Shrugged and Wild Swans I listened to while catching Pokemon.  Weirdly, Pokemon Go has really helped with listening to long audiobooks, and with getting through my unread list on Audible.  Probably because my attention's less focused on it, so I don't fret about how long the story is.

The Floating Prince is a collection of fairytales which are available on Wikisource.org.  It's an excellent collection, which I read in quiet moments at work.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 48/52

Seven books last week!  That's the 7th to the 13th of July.

Jewel is the first in the Lone City series while White Rose is the second.  The Wishing Well is a short story from within the same universe, and House of the Stone is a longer piece which takes place between books 1 and 2.  The final part of the trilogy is due to be published in October.

I rather enjoyed the series, as you might have guessed.  It has a lot in common with The Handmaid's Tale, in that young girls are forced to act as surrogates for wealthy women.  These young girls are selected and taken from the poorest communities based on the presence of 'augeries' - the power to affect colour, shape, and growth.

I've seen the series criticised for its focus on the beauty of the young girls and the luxury of their surroundings.  I don't think that makes the series shallow; they're criticising a society which includes materialism and opulence, like The Hunger Games.  Atwood was criticising a different population with some overlapping traits.

I reread The Magician's Nephew, the first/sixth book in the Chronicles of Narnia depending on how you count them.  My personal favourite is probably The Horse and His Boy or the two which focus on Prince Caspian's journies; maybe I'll reread the entire series.

I also reread The Basic Eight, one of my favourites, while being tattooed.  It definitely helped with distracting me!

Finally, The Narrow Bed, another reread.  Still a dumb premise but well-told at least.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 47/52

Eight books last week - 29th June to 6th July.  Four audiobooks, two of them new and two of them rereads.

The Undomestic Goddess and Wee Free Men were both rereads, as was Mary Poppins (via Kindle).  I really need to make some gingerbread!

I listened to The Fire Sermon for the first time and really enjoyed it.  I'm taking my time looking up the second one because the third isn't out yet.

The Dragons of Crumbling Castle was a collection of Terry Pratchett's short stories, most of which were unfamiliar to me.  I'm less of a fan of Pratchett's early work, though this was very enjoyable.

The Girl in the Photograph has been on my unread pile for a while; it focuses on the same issues as The Yellow Wallpaper.

I finally got around to reading (well, listening to) The Maze Runner on a recommendation from a friend.  It took me a while to get into it, but I went out and borrowed the sequels from the library afterwards.

Finally, Snow White Must Die; an interesting German crime novel.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 46/52

Six books last week; that's the 23rd to the 29th of June.

Four were rereads.  Lorna Doone is one of my favourite novels and on this readthrough I realised something that makes it even better.  John Ridd is explicitly writing as man in his fifties.  When he describes himself and Lorna and teenagers, and says things like he never again saw a spring flower without thinking of her, he isn't saying that as a teenager, but as a man in his fifties about the woman he's been married to for thirty years.

Catching Fire is the second book of the Hunger Games trilogy.  I named my hedgehog after Johanna; I love her, especially as portrayed by Jenna Malone in the movie.

Making Money and Trigger Warning are both books I've read before.

I'd never read Desperation before now but I really enjoyed it.  I need to write a proper post about it, though that may need to wait until I've finished The Regulators.

Finally, I read When Marnie was There after watching the Studio Ghibli movie.  I felt like the movie was simpler and more beautiful.  I also liked the mix of cultures in the movie; Marnie remained English though the setting and other characters were updated to Japan.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 45/52

Only three books last week - the 19th to the 22nd of June.  You'd think I'd have been quicker writing the post, huh?

Uglies is the first of a trilogy by Scott Westerfeld which I've read before.  I enjoyed the audio-performance, especially since the main characters name, Tally, is pronounced almost the same way as mine.

Past Mortem is another I've read before, though this time it was as an audiobook.  The performance wasn't particularly noteworthy, which at least means it wasn't bad.  I wish I could get Dead Famous as an audiobook.

Finally, Foodist.  It's another one of those books which begins by declaiming all diets and then suggesting new food rules which are totally a lifestyle change and completely distinguishable from a diet.  In fairness, this is one of the better ones.  Most of what I took from it was "buy good ingredients", "make your plate at least half vegetables" and to have some "home court" habits which will work to maintain your weight when everything else goes crazy.  Mine is mostly walking; I've found if I walk more than 15,000 steps a day I consistently lose weight.  I imagine 10,000 per day would be suitable for maintaining a low weight.  I'm also trying to eat more vegetables and go to farmer's markets, and I've found a local bakery where they actually mix up the dough, don't add any preservatives or e-numbers, and just go ahead and bake it right there.  It tastes amazing.  I'm also trying to chew each mouthful 20-25 times, which I find does help me to appreciate food more and to notice when I'm full sooner.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 44/52

Seven books this week - Thursday 9th June to Wednesday 15th!

Four audiobooks, all of which I'd read before, though I hadn't listened to The Colour of Magic or The Lottie Project before.  I used to own paperback copies of both.

Evil Games I read for a bookclub which I didn't attend.  It was pretty good!  Marsons used 'female' and 'male' a little less, and her sentence structure was more grammatically correct, though still not perfect.

How to Win Friends and Influence People is another one I've read before.  I love Dale Carnegie's writing style, and I've found the advice in the book to be very useful.  Some of it may seem obvious to someone who is good at talking to people, and I'd say that's a compliment.  Some of us need to be told these things!

Finally, Northanger Abbey.  I'm reading this for a book group; I suggested something by Austen, as I've never gotten along with her, but I know lots of people love her books, so clearly I'm missing something.

I loved Northanger Abbey.  It amazed me how little has changed, socially speaking.  

In Which We Discuss Insomnia, Rose Madder, and the Green Mile

I've been getting really behind on these posts, huh?

Recently, I've read Insomnia (on Kindle) and listened to Rose Madder and The Green Mile as audiobooks, hence the speed.  Audiobooks always go quicker, now I've gotten used to listening on 3x speed.

All three were books I'd read before.  Insomnia only once; I remembered being surprised that someone as old as Ralph could be the protagonist, something James Smythe echoes in his own article on the book.  I also hadn't read any of the Dark Tower series when I first read this book, so all of those references went totally over my head.  They're a lot more meaningful now, and I'm sure that will be even more true once I've read all of the Dark Tower novels.

Rose Madder, as I've mentioned before, is my favourite of Stephen King's novels.  I've read and listened to it several times.  I love the life-building aspect of it, how Rose escapes and builds something good for herself.  I also love Blair Brown's performance.

I'd forgotten how horrifying The Green Mile was, particularly Delacroix's death.  I have the film on dvd as well, though I've not rewatched it yet.  Hearing the description was somehow worse than watching it or just reading it.  Delacroix, despite being a rapist and a murderer is the closest thing the novel has to a clown, and his death is utterly heartrending.

The Green Mile was published, Dickens-style, as a series of short novels, with the ending unknown even to the author as they were written and published.  I've always liked Dickens; for his tenacity - there's a lovely story in How to Win Friends and Influence People about how, as a poor teenager, he wrote his first novel and sent it to a publisher in secret, because he was so embarrassed about thinking his work might be good enough to be published -and for the fact that he was always blatantly in it for the money, at least in part.  I don't think creating art for the money is a bad thing.  Nor do Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, or Terry Pratchett.  I like that Dickens responded to audience reactions as the novel went along, and that he set up his own magazines to self-publish.  Dickens was a pretty cool guy.

There's a reference to Dickens in Rose Madder.  I remember noticing it, but I can't recall what it is.  I remember it seemed interesting, in light of the Dickens-style publishing of The Green Mile.  I also hadn't realised that Dickens was a big deal in America, especially at the time he was publishing, not until I listened to the introduction.

I've started keeping a bullet journal, which I love, so I've added a Stephen King page (or three) to it.  It's taking me about a year and a half to read a decade of his writing, so I should be done by 2020 - apart from the books he'll write between now and then!

The next one is Desperation; I haven't read it before.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 43/52

Five books last week - 2nd June to 8th June.

Ghost Moth, Silent Scream, and The Double Clue (the book with no image) are books I all read for bookclubs which I didn't end up attending.  I didn't really get Ghost Moth; I didn't understand why Katherine had any dilemma.  She wasn't really into her fiance, so why not just leave him for the guy she liked?  There was never an explanation given for that.

The Double Clue was the first collection of Hercule Poirot stories I've ever read.  I'm definitely a Holmes girl, but they were pretty good!

Silent Scream is set in the Black Country, and I do wonder if it was self-published.  The story-telling is excellent, but the author's grammar isn't brilliant.  She uses commas incorrectly quite a few times, and she's got a really irritating habit of referring to people as "males" and "females" outside of biological concepts.  i.e., "the female corpse" would work, because you're identifying the characteristics of something that is now inanimate, in a biological context, but "the female walked into the room" sounds weird, because you're now talking about a human, in a social context, while identifying her biologically.  It's a weird tic.

The Devil Wears Prada is a book I keep reading, even though it annoys me.  Something about the experience appeals to me, clearly.  I got the audiobook this time.

The Green Mile I'd read before, but I'd forgotten how utterly horrifying it was, particularly Delacroix's death.  While we know he's a rapist and a murderer, that's offscreen; onscreen, he's the closest thing we have to a clown, which makes it particularly heart-rending, quite apart from the sheer horror of what happens to him.

I have this as both an audiobook and a kindle book (because I forgot about one when I bought the other) but I only listened to the audio.  I really need to write an update for my Stephen King project; I'm three books behind!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 42/52

 Six books between the 26th May and 1st of June.

Three audiobooks, all of which I'd read before, though I hadn't listened to the audiobook of Americanah before.  The Rules I'd read previously.  The Butterfly Club I hadn't.  It's aimed at very young readers, but still quite enjoyable; I read it over one night.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 41/52

Eight books last week!  That's the 19th to the 25th of May.  Four audiobooks, one on Kobo and three on Kindle.

I finished off the Girls series, one of my favourites from Jacqueline Wilson.  Speaking of favourites, Ring, Rose Madder, and Gibbons Decline and Fall are all books I've loved for years.  Soldier Girl is a bit newer; I've read it three times over the past five or six years, and I love the character of Molly.

Finally, Not Your Mother's Rules and Why Men Ask Dumb Dating Questions.  I recently went through a break-u - hence the comfort-reading - and a friend lent these to me.  They were interesting.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 40/52

11 books last week; that's from the 12th to the 18th of May.

Only five were audiobooks; Shelter, The Great Unexpected, Girls in Love, Girls Under Pressure, and A Hopscotch Summer.

I'm quite glad I listened to The Great Unexpected again; the first time I was in a hurry to get through it and get it off my unread pile, so I didn't follow the story very well.  This time was much more enjoyable.

Two of these I read for bookclubs; Hot Feminist and A Dreadful Murder.  Hot Feminist was for the Birmingham Fems bookclub, which meets this Saturday.  It was interesting, though I did find it quite annoying the way the author kept repeating that she'd never tell anyone they were doing feminism wrong, but people who cared about certain things were stupid.

A Dreadful Murder was disappointing.  It claims to use modern detective skills to solve a hundred year old murder; instead, it just describes the murder.  At least it was a 'Quick Read'.  This was for a bookclub at my local library.  Each month they choose a theme, this one being 'crime'.  I've got a few others to get through.

The bookclub is held in the Children's Library, and while we were in there I spotted The Glass Bird Girl and Doll Bones.  Doll Bones was creepy, though unnecessarily so.  They were doing exactly what the doll wanted, so there was no need for her to go about being creepy all the time.  The Glass Bird Girl was repeatedly compared to Enid Blyton's boarding school stories, on the cover and in reviews, in a kind of desperate, pathetic way.  I wouldn't compare the series to those books any more than I'd compare Harry Potter to them.  So what if they're all set in a boarding school?  That's really not the important element.

NPCs and Insomnia are both books I've read before.  NPCs is fun, about a group of NPCs who end up taking over from the player characters, when the player characters die horribly.  There's a sequel I'd quite like to look into. 

I read Insomnia as part of my Stephen King project.  I was surprised to learn how much I'd forgotten, although considering the book is over 900 pages it wasn't really that surprising.  I'll write a longer post about it later.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 39/52

Six books last week!  That's the 5th to the 11th of May!

Two of these books were for a bookclub; Tudors for Dummies and the Boleyn Inheritance, the latter of which focuses on Anne of Cleves and Katherine Howard, Henry VIII's fourth and fifth wives.  Tudors for Dummies offers a very broad overview; at one point it refers to Katherine of Aragon as both Elizabeth and Mary's mother, which obviously isn't the case.

Heir Apparent is one of my favourite books.  Deadly Pink is the sequel, and I read the prequel, User Unfriendly two weeks ago.  All three take place within virtual reality games.

Finally, listening to Beside Myself was a very unpleasant experience.  It's an interesting book, about a pair of twins who swap places.  One refuses to swap back.  That makes an intriguing point about domestic abuse; once the twin is labelled as "the bad twin" it doesn't matter what she actually does, she's always in the wrong.  I just hate stories in which someone isn't believed; I find them immensely frustrating.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 38/52

Seven books last week!  That's from the 28th April to the 4th of May.

Five audiobooks - those things have really increased the amount I read - one kindle book, and one paperback.

I signed up to attend two bookclubs at my local library; one is reading The Tilted World and the other is reading anything on the theme 'royalty', hence my rereading The Other Boleyn Girl.

The Martian was just so awesome I had to listen to it again. 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane was okay; like Coraline crossed with Fire and Hemlock.

Here's the Story is the first audiobook I ever got, if I recall correctly.  I like Maureen McCormick and the Brady Bunch; I think she's a very brave woman, who's done well to fight her way out of the issues she's dealt with.

Love Lessons is another one I listened to recently but wanted to hear again.  Nation is just a truly wonderful book.

Sorry this one's so short.  I'll try to be a bit more thorough next week!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 37/52

Eight books last week!  That's 21st April to 27th April.

Five of these were audiobooks, which I do tend to get through quite quickly; mostly because I listen to them on double speed or faster.  Two of the others I've been working on for a while, and just happened to finish them this week.  The last one, User Unfriendly, is pretty short, and part of a series I've read a few times before.

Redshirts is a book I've read a few times before.  Listening to it was interesting; it really brought home how often the author describes the characters as having 'said' something.  It became very repetitive after a while.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a collection of short stories, which I wrote a longer post about here. 

A Tale for the Time Being is an odd one.  It's about a teenage girl living in Japan, and the author finding her diary, and then time goes a bit odd.  An interesting one. 

The Forgetting Time reminded me a lot of Shelter; it shares the same themes of motherood and dealing with a difficult, unhappy child.

I've spoken about The Forbidden Game before; I finished off the series this week.

Finally, Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping and Development.  I only read the first 300 pages, as they were on general game theory while the otehr 600 were on designing with a specific system which I'm not using (I'm using RPGMaker 2003 right now).  It's a really great guide.

In Which We Discuss a Readathon

I learned, last Friday, that a regular 24-hour readathon is a thing.  As far as I understand it, people just all agree to spend 24 hours reading as much as they can.

Unfortunately, as I say, I found out about this on Friday.  The Readathon was scheduled for Saturday, when I already had plans.  Plans which precluded reading.

I decided that I'd do my own mini-readathon, starting at 7pm on the Saturday - when I began a three-hour train journey - and ending at 7pm on Sunday.  During that time I read the following;

• Pages 226 to 300 of Jeremy Gibson's Introduction to Game Design, Prototyping and Development.  This was a great book.  I didn't read the other six hundred pages because they get into the knitty-gritty of programming a game with Unity, and I'm currently working with RPGMaker 2K3, so not something I need to study right now.  This was a library book; when I'm ready to code a game with Unity I'll buy my own copy and read the rest.
• Pages 693 to 897 of Nightmares and Dreamscapes.  I wrote a longer post on this here.  It was nice to finish it!
• The final four hours of The Chase.  This as an audiobook, and four hours represented about two thirds. 
• I also started listening to The Forgetting Time.  I'm not sure how far I got through it, because I stopped keeping track after a while.

That's a pretty paltry effort for me.  If I'd known about the event sooner I'd have cleared my schedule, like I did that week I read thirty books just to prove I could.  There's another event happening on the 22nd of October.  I've marked it on my calender so I can take part properly!  Of course, assuming I pass all my exams and get into my first choice of university, I'll probably be quite busy....but we'll see how things go.

In Which We Discuss Nightmares and Dreamscapes

Nightmares and Dreamscapes is a collection of twenty-four short stories, first published in September of 1993, though many of the individual stories were published earlier, at least one as early as 1971.  I first read it in 2010, and I was surprised to find I'd forgotten a number of excellent stories from this volume.

I remembered a few - Dolan's Cadillac, Chattery Teeth, Popsy, Dedication, and Sorry Right Number all stuck with me.  I did manage to totally forgot about Stephen King's take on Sherlock Holmes, and about The Moving Finger, which is spectacularly creepy.

In 1993 Stephen King was forty-six.  By this point he was over his severe addiction phase and in the process of managing it.  His eldest daughter was twenty-three while his youngest son, Owen, was sixteen.  The collection includes an essay on twelve-year-old Owen's experience with little league, something which isn't really a thing in Britain.  We play rounders.  I actually don't know the rules of baseball, which really affected my enjoyment of the essay.  I did enjoy reading about the coach, who pointed out that having been part of a team with kids from different walks of life, in a situation where all that matters is what you do, is something that stays with you.  That was lovely.

I also liked learning that, like Stephen King himself, Owen King was over six feet tall as a teenager.  I don't know many people, other than myself, who reach their full growth before their teens.  I'm only 5'6, but that was pretty big for a twelve-year-old.

I've now finished 36 books out of 93, which puts me 39% of the way through this project.  It's only taken me three years so far.

- 15/6/13

Carrie - 1974 -  June 15th 2013
'Salem's Lot - 1975 - June 30th 2013
The Shining - 1977 - July 28th 2013
Rage - 1977 - July 31st 2013
Night Shift - 1978 - August 28th 2013
The Stand - 1978 - March 20th 2014
The Long Walk - 1979 - March 23rd 2014
The Dead Zone - 1979 - June 2014
Firestarter - 1980 - August 16th 2014


- 15/6/13 to 17/8/14 - 9

Roadwork - 1981 - 23rd August 2014
Danse Macabre - 1981 - 7th September 2014
- BONUS: Small World (Tabitha King) - 10th September 2014
Cujo - 1981 - 20th September 2014
The Running Man - 1982- 22nd September 2014
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - 1982 - 30th September 2014
Creepshow - 1982 - 1st October 2014
Different Seasons - 1982  - 24th October 2014

- 17/8/14 to 25/10/14 - 8 (17)

Christine - 1983
Pet Sematary - 1983
Cycle of the Werewolf - 1983
The Talisman - 1984
Thinner - 1984 

- 25/10/14/14 to 14/07/2015 - 5 (22)

Skeleton Crew - 1985
It - 1986
The Eyes of the Dragon - 1987
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - 1987
Misery - 1987 

- 14/7/15 to 18/10/2015 - 5 (27)

The Tommyknockers - 1987
Nightmares in the Sky  - 1988
The Dark Half - 1989 

- 18/10/2015 to 22/12/2015 - 3 (30)

Four Past Midnight - 1990
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands - 1991 
Needful Things - 1991
Gerald's Game - 1992
Dolores Claiborne - 1992
Nightmares and Dreamscapes - 1993

- 22/12/2015 to 24/4/2016 - 6 (36)
 
Insomnia - 1994
Rose Madder - 1995
The Green Mile - 1996
Desperation - 1996

The Regulators - 1996
Six Stories - 1997
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - 1997
Dark Tower: Little Sisters of Eluria (Legend) - 1998
Bag of Bones - 1998

Storm of the Century - 1998
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon - 1999
The New Lieutenant's Rap - 1999
Hearts in Atlantis - 1999
Blood and Smoke - 1999

"Riding the Bullet" - 2000  
On Writing - 2000 
Secret Windows - 2000 
The Plant - 2000      
Dreamcatcher - 2001

Black House (with Peter Straub) -2001
Everything's Eventual - 2002
From a Buick 8 - 2002
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla - 2003  
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah - 2004

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower - 2004
Faithful - 2004
- BONUS: 20th Century Ghosts (Joe Hill) - Jan 2005
- BONUS: Josie and Jack (Kelly Braffet)  - Feb 2005
- BONUS: We're All in This Together (Owen King) - 2005

The Colorado Kid - 2005
Cell - 2006
Lisey's Story - 2006
Blaze - 2007
Duma Key - 2008

Just After Sunset - 2008 
Stephen King Goes to the Movies - 2009
Ur - 2009     
Under the Dome - 2009
Blockade Billy - 2010

Full Dark, No Stars - 2010
Mile 81 - 2011    
11/22/63 - 2011
American Vampire (with Scott Snyder) - 2011
"Throttle" (with Joe Hill) - 2012

The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole - 2012 
A Face in the Crowd (with Stewart O'Nan) - 2012
"In the Tall Grass"  (with Joe Hill) - 2012
"GUNS" - 2013
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County - 2013

Joyland - 2013
The Dark Man: An Illustrated Poem - 2013
Doctor Sleep - 2013
Mr. Mercedes - 2014      
Revival - November 2014

Finders Keepers - 2015
The Bazaar of Bad Dreams - 2015
End of Watch - 2016

After Insomnia I'll be reading Rose Madder, my favourite of Stephen King's work.  I have the audiobook, which is an amazing performance.  I also have The Green Mile as an audiobook and as a Kindle book, because I forgot about one of them when I bought the other.  I normally avoid doing that, but now that I have at least I can experiment with Amazon's whispersync feature.  Then another three I've not read before, after which I can finally get on with The Tower series.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 36/52

Five books last week - 14th to 20th of April.  All but one were books I'd read before.

The Hunter is a book I first read as a teenager.  Last year, I picked up all three books in the series on Audible.  They're pretty short; 5-7 hours each.  The story focuses on Jenny, who is beloved by Julian, a Shadow Man.  Something of a Norse god/demon whose people inspired myths like those of alien abductions and dark elves.  I like the fact that - spoiler - although Jenny is tempted by Julian she acknowledges that his way of pursuing her isn't healthy, and rejects the idea of a relationship with him.  Considering it's a supernatural romance - that, fyi, predates Twilight by over a decade - it's a pretty healthy take on it.  I also like that it's about a group of friends rather than just one girl.

I've described The Rosie Project as 'Sheldon Cooper woos Zooey Deschanel', which is doing the book a bit of a disservice.  Don Tillman, the hero, is implied to be autistic and is definitely non-neurotypical, though he makes it work for him and has not actually been diagnosed.  He doesn't seem to have felt the need.  Don decides he needs companionship and begins his 'wife project', meting Rosie who he quickly decides is a totally unsuitable companion.  She's not a manic-pixie dreamgirl, beyond the fact that she does shake up Don's life and what he believed he wanted.  She's a normal girl who's somewhat accepting of Don, though not magically accepting.  It's a very sweet relationship and a fun book.  I enjoyed the audiobook, which is narrated in an Australian accent.  The book's written by an Australian and set in Australia, so that makes sense.

Going Postal was another one I listened to as an audiobook.  It's part of the Discworld series and is the first to star one of the new main characters, Moist Von Lipwig.  I quite like Moist, although I will always love Granny Weatherwax and Vimes more.

Light as a Feather is another book I first read as a teenager.  It's so nineties; about a woman who sets up a weight-loss support chat room which quickly blossoms into a small company.  There are boyfriend shenanigans and mean bosses, and investors who say she's too fat to promote her own company and hire a bitchy, thin woman to pretend to be Orla for TV appearances.  The good people get their dramatic victory and the bad people get their well-deserved comeuppance, and it's all very silly and fun.

The Language of Power is the first new book I finished this week.  It's the fourth of the Steerswoman series, which has been published very, very slowly since 1992.  The Language of Power was released in 2004, so I expect to be able to read the sequel any year now.  It's such a good series; I hope she does wrap it up soon.

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 35/52

Only three books last week - 7th to 13th April - and two of those were audiobooks.

Thief of Time is one I first read as a teenager.  It's a Discworld novel which explains any lack of continuity in the main series in a way which is rather genius.  The auditors show up again, along with Susan.  Very enjoyable.

The Cuckoo's Calling is the first in JK Rowling's Cormoran Strike series.  I like to imagine that Harry Potter's life as an auror is something like this.  The fact that JK Rowling wrote a hard-boiled detective novel makes this fanfic, where Dudley grew up to be a gay social worker and Hermione is a wizard social worker, while Harry is a grizzled old cop, more legitimate.

Pretty Little Mistakes is a choose your own adventure book.  It has a branching plotline, so each branch is rather short, maybe seven entries at most.  I like the way that 'good' choices don't always work out, and you're not always punished for bad choices - that's what life is like.  Sometimes you're gay, which is another nice choice.

In Which We Discuss Sleep Tight

I listened to this as an audiobook, so one issue became apparent immediately.  Two main characters are sisters, performing similar jobs.  The author does not often refer to them by their first names during scenes, or at least, not throughout.  The reader does not differentiate between them vocally.  So I end up listening to a few scenes with only the faintest idea of who was talking.  I actually listened to the first three hours, got hopelessly confused, and then started it again from the beginning so I could understand what was happening.

Once I got over that issue I quite enjoyed the book, as you can tell from my rating.  It focuses on a murder investigation, with some callbacks to an earlier event in the character's lives.  I did wonder if this book was a sequel to one which described the events of that book, but it doesn't appear to be - they really are just internal callbacks.

The murderer is an unusual one.  He reminded me a little of The Collector, although we spend much less time in this killer's head.  Nor is the book as memorable as The Collector; I finished it two weeks ago and I would now struggle to summarise the denouement.   This does mean I'll get to read it and enjoy the mystery again - possibly following it slightly better - so that's not altogether a downside.

I do quite enjoy mystery and crime stories, as you might be able to tell from my shelves.  This one didn't disappoint me; the mystery was quite intriguing and overall it was enjoyable journey of discovery.

I received an Audible code for this book from the author, hence why I stuck with it and made a point of writing a review of it.  I was not disappointed to have read it, and nor did I feel like I had to force myself to complete it.