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 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 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 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 Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 34/52

Six books last week; that's 31st March to the 6th of April.  Four I'd read before; only two were new to me.

Caradoc's Quest was one of those.  It's part of the Six World's Saga, one of which I read and enjoyed in my early teens.  It's set in a future where humanity has gone to stars, populating six planets which circle two twinned stars.  All religion has been lost - no religion but Christianity appears to have ever existed - and the heros are general trying to bring Christanity back.  I'm an atheist, but I attended a Catholic school, and I'll tell you this for nothing; the Bible is pretty epic.  If you ignore any real life implications and just read it as a story it's a long, winding saga about one family and the shenanigans they get up to.  If the book was the one ring, this thing would be fun than Tolkien.  The Qu'ran and the Torah are the same; they're very broadly the same story, literally the same family.  The Torah disagrees on the point of Jesus, and the Qu'ran splits off on the point of whether it was Isaac or Ishmael that Abraham/Ibrahim tried to sacrifice before god called 'psych!'.  If you've read The Handmaid's Tale then allow me to point out that this is the story used to justify the handmaid's; Sarah, Abraham's wife believed she was too older to bear children, so she encouraged Abraham to have a child with a concubine.  Later, she was actually able to have a son.  The latter was Isaac, the former Ishmael.  So it does seem odd that the society of The Handmaid's Tale is based on Christianity, when this particular story would better suit their needs in the Islamic interpretation.  Though, on second thought, it's not that odd; they were using whatever they could to justify what they wanted to do, rather than letting conclusions come from information.  Reminds me of an argument I had with an ex-housemate; he insisted that being gay was wrong because "it's in the Bible"; when I asked him about adultery and shellfish he claimed those examples were irrelevant because "people don't care about those".  Totally incapable of recognising his own circular logic there.

American Gods is a book I first read a few years ago; it's set in a world where Gods work based on belief and many travellers brought their gods to America with them.  The old Gods are going to war with the new Gods, and there's a whole boatload of symbolism, as well as some lampshade-hanging on how similar many of the stories are.

Clare in the Community - season 6 and 7 this week - is a radio show, with the titular Clare voiced by Sally Phillips.  She's lovely.  I particularly like her work in Smack the Pony.

Neil Patrick Harris' Choose Your Own Autobiography is another book I've read before.  It have the audiobook, which loses something in the translation; I'm tempted to borrow the physical book from the library, especially after reading this lovely review by Emily Short.

Finally, Sleep Tight is the other book which was new to me; it's an audiobook I was given by the author, so I do need to write a specific post for it!

In Which We Discuss Books I Read in my 27th Year, Week 33/52

Seven books last week!  That's the 24th to the 30th of March.

I found the first three Georgia Nicolson books in The Works for 50p each.  Actually, they had the other six or seven in the series as well, but I found they stop being fun after the first few.  That or I grew out of them.  I first read them when I was fifteen, so it may be that the first three snuck into my field of view just in time.

The Works sells books which couldn't be sold in bigger stores - that's why they're so much cheaper.  I think someone must have put in a order for all the books when Louise Rennison died, expecting them to sell.  Sad.

I also read the Artemis Fowl books as a teenager, but I'd not read the graphic novel before.  I feel like it loses something in the translation; the scene with Butler and the troll is less badass without Foaly's commentary, and the secret code from the bottom of the pages is missing.

I also read Dolores Claiborne as a teenager.  That's one I need to write a longer post on, since it's part of my Stephen King project.  You won't be seeing any more posts for a bit; the next one, Nightmares and Dreamscapes is over 900 pages.  I've also read that one before - again, as a teenager if I recall correctly.

I didn't read The Naughtiest Girl in the School as a teenager; I actually read it when I was seven.  It was the first book I ever read, in fact.  This was the abridged audiobook, with a full voice cast.  It was quite nice actually hearing the piano pieces - I'd totally forgotten about that.

The Darkest Minds was a new one to me; another audiobook, one that my partner recommended.  It picked up a lot near the end, but I'm not feeling a huge urge to listen to the sequels.