Reading List

I am beginning to feel as if this blog has turned into a “reading list” repository rather than a regularly updated, and even vaguely interesting, bookish blog but I shall charge ahead with my monthly post without too much remorse as there is clearly no point in promising to change my ways yet again!!

So it’s that time of the month once more and, luckily for Book Aid, this month’s donation was boosted by the recent arrival of Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series of books from the Book People which they have for sale at a mere £8.99. I’ve read a few blog posts recently about the series, and they’re the books that the recent True Blood series is based on, and at that price I could not resist… I’ve only read the first two so far and I hope Sookie grows on me or this could be a series that finds a new home as I'm not sure I can read all eight. Although I am such a finisher-completer personality that no doubt my December reading list will contain the next six!

Aaanway. Here’s the bit where I list What I Read in November and avoid guiltily promising to catch up on my reviews as that never seems to happen…

The Summer Tree & The Wandering Fire & The Darkest Road (Fionavar Tapestry) - Guy Gavriel Kay
Dry Store Room No. 1 - Richard Fortey
Pandaemonium - Christopher Brookmyre
Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town - Cory Doctorow
Dead Until Dark & Living Dead in Dallas - Charlaine Harris

October reading list and an apology

I feel as if I should hang a large "I Aten't Dead" note around my blog's virtual neck and my humble apologies for my utter lack of posting. I've been visiting friends who live in Toronto for the last couple of weeks and I write this post from Montréal, Quebec as Mr B and I come towards the end of our trip to Canada. We've been really lucky that the leaves are still on the trees so the countryside is a delight to drive through as the remnants of the Fall colours are incredible.

As well as doing some Toronto downtown exploring and obvious tourist things like dinner in the CN Tower, we were lucky enough to get tickets to see the Toronto Raptors win their first game of the season (Go Raptors!), visited Gananoque, Sandbanks National Park, Niagara Falls/Niagara-on-the-Lake and we've just spent a couple of nights in Québec City. Phew.

In contrast to the last couple of months, I've read a grand total of 13 books this month - although weirdly only one whilst I have actually been on holiday - s0 that's another £13 to my Book Aid fund which is now over the £100 mark! I've had a great time reading recently and nearly every book I read in October was the result of an amazon splurge where I bought books I knew I'd enjoy and race through. Rather shamefully I only blogged about the first book that I read this month and I really don't think I am going to get around to catching those posts up...

Reading List:
Past Imperfect - Julian Fellowes
Fables: Legends in Exile - Bill Willingham
Teremaire & Throne of Jade & Black Powder War & Empire of Ivory & Victory of Eagles - Naomi Novik
Unseen Academicals - Terry Pratchett
Grimspace - Ann Aguirre
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill
The Good Thief - Hannah Tinti
Ariel - Steven P Boyett
Singularity Sky - Charles Stross

July Reading List

Blimey - another great month's reading and I have to give credit to our new "reading chairs" for this. I just love snuggling up in them with a book and I wish we'd bought them ages ago!

When I was looking through the books I've read this month I was surprised to realise that seven of them were from the library - no wonder my TBR pile never seems to get any smaller! In total I read 14 books this so that means a donation of £14 to Book Aid International. My total so far this year is now £79 which I am really pleased with although other donations are, of course, very welcome ;)

July's reading list:
King of Foxes & Exile's Return - Raymond E. Feist
The Hazards of Hunting a Duke - Julia London
Splendid & How to Marry a Marquis - Julia Quinn
Arabella - Georgette Heyer
The Streets of Babylon - Carina Burman
Burma Chronicles - Guy Delisle
Dreams From My Father - Barack Obama
The American Future - Simon Schama
Sprig Muslin - Georgette Heyer
Lord of Scoundrels & Not Quite a Lady - Loretta Chase
World's End - Mark Chadbourne (first in a trilogy so I will review next month)

June breaks the record for number of books read and as a result I had great pleasure in making a £15 payment to Book Aid International.

Another really weird month of reading though with lots of romance (both human and faerie!), a bit of Sci-Fi, some more magic, superheroes and then several excellent books set during WW2. Looking back it really doesn't seem as if I can possibly have crammed so many books into what was a really busy month for me so clearly the answer is to pick books you are going to be able to effortlessly enjoy when you are feeling frazzled! The last six books of the month certainly fit that bill but hopefully I'll be back on track soon and feel able to tackle something a bit more challenging. Like most of my TBR pile!

Maus - Art Spiegelman
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
Wicked Lovely, Ink Exchange & Fragile Eternity - Melissa Marr
Soon I Will Be Invincible - Austin Grossman
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies
Instructions For Living Someone Else's Life - Mil Millington
Miss Wonderful & Mr Impossible - Loretta Chase
Mine till Midnight & Blue Eyed Devil - Lisa Kleypas
Lord Perfect - Loretta Chase
Talon of the Silver Hawk - Raymond E. Feist

May Reading List

So - ten books read this month at £1 each means a £10 donation to Book Aid which brings my total donated for this year so far to £50 plus another £14.10 in gift aid. I'm pretty impressed that already I've "fined" myself enough to send more than 40 books overseas and it's nice watching the total funds grow. I set myself a target of £150 for the year so either I need to read 100 books in seven months or encourage sponsorship!!

May's reading was quite heavy on the fantasy side with magic, dragons and werewolves all featuring:

The Dragonfly Pool - Eva Ibbotson
The Adamantine Palace - Stephen Deas
Son of the Shadows & Child of the Prophecy - Juliet Marillier
A Guide to the Birds of East Africa - Nicholas Drayson
Heir to Sevenwaters - Juliet Marillier
The City & The City - China Miéville
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher - Kate Summerscale
Bitten & Stolen - Kelley Armstrong

The inclusion of one non-fiction book was much needed and, now that my bookshelves are all organised, I'm looking forward to reading more non-fiction work in June. Famous last words as I have a birthday haul due and I have my fingers crossed for several books featuring dragons, magic or both!

April Reading List

A total of eleven books read this month and as you can see, it was a pretty mixed bag! I started with the glorious revolution then moved into the future and then headed back to a glut of regency romance to finish the month off.

What with being on holiday then general busy-ness, I didn't properly review all the books I read this month but (as usual) have told self to Do Better Next Month. I'm still working on my review of Neal Stephenson's trilogy and that should be out soon!

Quicksilver, Confusion and The System of the World - Neal Stephenson
The Understudy - David Nicholls
Halting State - Charles Stross
The Iron Man - Ted Hughes
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
When He Was Wicked and Mr Cavendish, I Presume - Julia Quinn
False Colours - Georgette Heyer
Sir Phillip, With Love - Julia Quinn

At £1 per book, that's also an £11 donation to Book Aid as part of my year of readers commitment.

March Reading List

I only read a very paltry (by my standards) seven books this month but that's £7 to Book Aid International which is better than nothing. Hopefully plenty of holiday reading in April will boost my read-rate although as I plan to read 2000+ pages of Neal Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy perhaps not! I have downloaded several books onto my iPod Touch and am very interested to see how reading on that device will pan out and I'll be back online in a couple of weeks!

Shadow's Edge & Beyond the Shadows - Brent Weeks
Forests of the Heart - Charles de Lint
Beyond All Frontiers - Emma Drummond
Hester's Story - Adele Geras
Waterland - Graham Swift
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler

February Reading List

I can't believe that another month has passed and that it's time to re-cap my reading list as well as to make my donation of £1 per book to Book Aid International as part of my commitment to the Year of Readers challenge.

I've been really busy this month and don't seem to have found time to post book reviews but I'll do my best to catch up today! I'd say I'll do better next month but I suspect that won't actually be the case! :D

Wildwood Dancing - Juliette Marillier
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
The Gone-Away World - Nick Harkaway
The Android's Dream - John Scalzi
The Convenient Marriage, The Nonesuch and Faros Daughter - Georgette Heyer
The Way of Shadows - Brent Weeks

The Year of Readers

As 2009 rolls in, it's time to mention that I am participating in The Year of Readers challenge. This initiative is the brainchild of Jodie Barker and aims to link the enjoyment of blogging and reading with raising money for literacy charities. All of the money raised between 1st January 2009 and 31st December 2009 will go towards each reader's nominated charity, helping someone else to develop a love of reading. If you are interested in learning more about the scheme then do visit the blog and feel free to sign up yourself!

My chosen charity is Book Aid International who work to increase access to books and information to support literacy, education and development in Sub Saharan Africa. I've set up a fund-raising page and will be self-sponsoring on a monthly basis at £1 for each book I read in 2009. I should probably mention to anyone who is also thinking about supporting Book Aid per book I read that this year's final tally was 133 so do your sums around that one! One off donations to Book Aid International are, of course, more than welcome too.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2009!

Peta x