Tuesday, 22 January 2019

In 2018 I Mostly Read . . .

The reading list for 2018:

December 2018 - on to a re-read of another series, ahead of the new addition - this time the Rivers of London books . . . made it through the first five (all read before, but great stuff).

November - December 2018 - back to books that have been on my bookshelf for a very long time (this time unread ones). Made it through the first three books in Andre Norton's Witch World series (Witch World, Web of the Witch World, Year of the Unicorn). Quite enjoyed them, but couldn't quite bring myself to continue with the other five (at least I need a break!).

October - November 2018 - inspired by Discovery of Witches on tv, time for a re-read of Deborah Harkness All Soul's Trilogy - good stuff! Followed that with her latest linked book Time's Convert - odd book, no real story, nice to read about the characters, but got a bit fed up with it in the end.

September 2018 - Back to Diana Wynne Jones and Howl's Moving Castle and its follow-up Castle in the Air, both a bit 'fairy-tale' but good entertaining reads - these ones will stay on the bookcase!

September 2018 - a couple of books on the kindle by the St Mary's series author Jodi Taylor - the Frogmorton Farm series The Nothing Girl and The Something Girl, basically rom-coms but with a fantasy overtone (invisible talking horses anyone?). Quite enjoyed them mind you, both were 'galloping' reads :)

August 2018 - an unread kindle purchase - The Limpet Syndrome: How to Survive the Afterlife. Entertaining enough for 99p and kept my attention to the end, although I wasn't that taken with the main character. Did enjoy the pigeons! Also just kind of stopped leaving it to part 2 to carry on the story, only I'm not inclined to pay £2.99 for it.

August 2018 - more Diana Wynne Jones with the Magid series follow-up The Merlin Conspiracy - ok, but just not that riveting - bookcase to charity shop methinks.

July 2018 - First off, Diana Wynne Jones Deep Secret - a re-read of one of her Magid books from the bookshelf - enjoyed this one, engaging characters, some nice links to the Babylon nursery rhyme, kept my attention all the way through - this is a keeper!

July 2018 - Started dipping in to Pratchett's A Slip of the Keyboard, a selection of snippets of his non-fiction writing - amusing stuff, although still more to read. Decided I needed to do some sorting through of books I had in analogue and on digital - so would do some re-reading of the stuff physically on my shelves and decide if I wanted to keep it, and also tackle some of my kindle backlog.

January-July 2018 - Was still making my way through the Discworld series and on the later ones; Making Money was pretty good, but the plot wasn't as tight as it could be, in Unseen Academicals it begins to really become apparent that the Pratchett of old is leaving us, and by Raising Steam his lightness of touch really had gone - some nice ideas, but it took me forever to read, and I reached the end with some relief that it was all over! A disappointing end to such brilliance - I still have the Tiffany Aching series to re-read, but might leave them for a while - not sure if I'll be able to bring myself to read his last book The Shepherd's Crown.

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