Tag: Monthly Summary

This month’s reading has been dominated by the amazing book, Far from the Tree. Its slow pace and the density of new knowledge lead me to crave lighter, faster paced books to read alongside it. This contributed to an increased number of average reads this month, but I don’t regret that – there is only so much brilliance you can take in one month!

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in February:

Far From the Tree by Andrew Solomon 

The Mussel Feast by Birgit Vanderbeke 

Moffie by André Carl Van Der Merwe 

The Universe Versus Alex Woods by Gavin Extence 

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Blooms of Darkness by Aharon Appelfeld 

The Good Father by Noah Hawley 

BBC Good Food Cookery Book Set 

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan

Abandoned Books: The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons, The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis, Herzog by Saul Bellow

Plans for March

Tomorrow I’m going to a new book club for the first time. I’m very excited about the prospect of meeting a new group of book loving people and really hope that it works out. For our first meeting we’ve read The Hare With Amber Eyes. I’ll let you know my thoughts (and hopefully theirs) next week. Our second book is Cloud Atlas, so I’m looking forward to re-reading that and seeing if I still love it as much as I did on its release.

I also hope to read most of these:

Watership Down by Richard Adams

Mr Mee by Andrew Crumey

Magda by Meike Zervogel

Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver

The Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight by Gina Ochsner

John Saturnall’s Feast by Lawrence Norfolk

Amity & Sorrow by Peggy Riley

The Death of Bees by Lisa O’Donnell

Have you read any of these books?

I hope you have a wonderful March!

The last two months have flown by, with the majority of my reads being very good. The only one that stood out above the others was The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf, a scary insight into what might happen if parents could choose the sex of their child.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in December and January:

The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf 

Doppler by Erlend Loe 

Jerusalem by Gonçalo Tavares 

War with the Newts by Karel Capek 

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami 

Lamb by Bonnie Nadzam 

Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb 

The Thief by Fuminori Nakamura 

Merivel by Rose Tremain

Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson 

A Trick I Learned From Dead Men by Kitty Alderidge 

Roseanna by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo 

Abandoned: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, The Tale of Raw Head and Bloody Bones by Jack Wolf, Sarah Thornhill by Kate Grenville, Canada by Richard Ford, Parallel Stories by Peter Nádas

Plans for February

I have no firm plans for the next few weeks, but these books are calling to me strongly at the moment:

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper

Hunger by Knut Hamsun

Far From The Tree by Andrew Solomon

Moffie by André Carl van der Merwe

The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen

The Good Father by Noah Hawley

I’m also continuing to make my way through A Suitable Boy, although it is proving a challenge at the moment. Hopefully I’ll fall back in love with it again soon.

I hope you have a wonderful month!

November has been a fantastic reading month for me. I read a string of fantastic books and have been enjoying a diverse range of subject matters. Variety really is the spice of life and I’m going to continue to seek out stranger books in the future.

Book of the Month

In any other month these two books would have been ‘Book of the Month’; so I’ll highlight them here too:

.

Books Reviewed in November

People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry 

The Cook by Wayne Macauley 

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Green (audio book) 

Parallel Stories by Peter Nádas
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Canada by Richard Ford

I’ll probably mix things up with a few shorter books, but I haven’t decided what they’ll be yet. Luckily I’ve finished most of the books in my sidebar so I still have lots of books to tell you about.

Have a wonderful December!

The colder weather of the last month encouraged me to spend more time inside, curled up with a book, and so I read more than twice as much as I did in September. Overall they were a fairly mixed bag, but the majority were entertaining enough to satisfy me. I’m currently enjoying half term with my boys and so don’t have time to write reviews, but I’ll let you know about all the books I’ve read once the schools have gone back.

Book of the Month

Books Reviewed in October:

In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw 

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng 

So Big by Edna Ferber 

Arcadia by Lauren Groff 

The Creator by Guðrún Eva Mínervudóttir 

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Swimming Home by Deborah Levy 

The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman 

The Portrait by Iain Pears 

Plans for November

I plan to take part in German literature month organised by Lizzy and Caroline. I’ve already read The Cow by Beat Sterni and am making good progress with The Swarm by Frank Schätzing. I may try to squeeze in another German book before the end of the month too.

I also hope to read most of these:

The First Century After Beatrice by Amin Maalouf

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

The Testimony by James Smythe

The Human Part by Kari Hotakainen

Jerusalem by GM Tavares

The Cook by Wayne Macauley

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson

I hope you have a wonderful November!

The last two months have been very busy for me so I’ve read about half as much as I normally would. I’m not worried about this as I had a fantastic summer with my family and there have been lots of great reads in there, but now the weather has made a turn for the worse I’m making up for my poor summer and have read 4 books in the last week. I’ll tell you all about them soon!

Books of the Month

Books Reviewed in August/September

Native Son by Richard Wright 

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt 

The Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks 

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore 

Thinking in Numbers by Daniel Tammet 

Restoration by Rose Tremain 

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien 

The War of the Wives by Tamar Cohen 

The Plague by Albert Camus 

The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya 

Communion Town by Sam Thompson 

Plans for October

I hope to finish sampling the Booker shortlist and write a post summarising my thoughts before the winner is announced on the 15th October.

I also hope to read most of these books:

Merivel by Rose Tremain

So Big by Edna Ferber

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Jamilia by Chingiz Aitmatov

Arcadia by Lauren Groff

Hard-Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World by Haruki Murakami

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Have you read any of these?

I hope that you have a wonderful October!