2020 Wrap Up

What an insane year this has been, I have read a lot but no more than usual. I’m very glad to see the back of 2020 although I’m still terrified at what next year will bring, but I know I’ll be able to read some brilliant books no matter what!

Total books read: 50

A nice round amount! The list includes 7 books by Terry Pratchett and 6 rereads.

Favourite book: Circe by Madeline Miller

Least favourite book: The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan

Shortest Book: The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald (144 pages)

Longest Book: Rogues (collection of short stories) edited by George R.R. Martin & Gardner Dozois (913 pages)

Genre I read the most of: Historical Fiction or Fantasy

Favourite series: Tudor Legacy by Laura Andersen and A Song of Ice and Fire (of course!) by George R.R. Martin

Audiobooks: I listened to 12 audiobooks in total, I’ve definitely listened to less this year, I lost my motivation for them a bit and during lockdown I preferred to read physical books!

Favourite audiobook: The Time Travellers Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer, narrated by Mike Grady

I hope you all have a lovely New Year even though we can’t go out and celebrate! Here’s to a less strange 2021!!

Top Five Tuesday – Best book covers of 2020

It’s Top Five Tuesday which is hosted by Meeghan Reads, every week we’re given a book related topic and we choose our top five! This week we’ve got to pick our favourite book covers of the year:

1. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

2. We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet

3. Sanditon by Jane Austen

4. The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman

5. Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

What are some of your favourite covers from this year?

Winter Reading List

It’s winter and we don’t have long until Christmas! I love the warm fuzzy feeling of this time of year but January and February are usually a bit of a struggle so I’m going to fill it with great books!

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye – December

I didn’t get to this at the end of last month, I’ve just started it. It’s good, I like the writing style, it’s a twist on Jane Eyre, the heroine is obsessed with the book and finds herself in a similar situation to Jane herself.

Hogfather by Terry Pratchett – December

I wanted to read something Christmasy and this is perfect! I haven’t read it for years, it makes me lugh so much. The Hogfather has been killed by an insane assassin so Death had to take over his duties on the most important night of the year.

The Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapkowski – December/January

This is the second collection of short stories in The Witcher series, they’re set before the events of the main story. I really enjoyed the first book so I’m looking forward to these.

Jingo by Terry Pratchett – January

The Discworld is at war, and as the armies march towards each other Commander Vimes faces unpleasant foes who are out to get him. I think the City Watch books might be my favourite, I love the chaos of Ankh-Morpork.

Abandoned Child by Kitty Neale – January

Penny’s childhood was spent in the shadows of her mother s business schemes, feeling alone and unimportant. It fell to Lorna, her mother’s acquaintance, to take care of the lonely little girl, but the rejection always cut deep. When Penny was sixteen she left home with her cousin and moved to London but they get into some serious trouble.

We Must Be Brave by Frances Liardet – January/February

I’ve borrowed this from my Mum, it looks really good and incredibly emotional. It’s set in WWII on the south coast of England which is where I live, it’s a story about the love we feel for our children and how that can endure anything.

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett – February

Rincewind is back and he’s trying to save the Discworld’s last continent. He’s the only hero left so it’s down to him and his luggage to save the day!

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski – February

For over a century humans, dwarves, gnomes and elves have lived relatively peacefully together, but times have changed and the uneasy peace is over. War is brewing and a powerful child is being hunted for her powers. It’s up to Geralt to find her and protect her.

Anne Boleyn: 500 Years of Lies by Hayley Nolan – February

I don’t read non-fiction often but I am really looking forward to this. A new analysis of one of history’s most misrepresented women. I’ve been drawn to Anne Boleyn since I started reading Philippa Gregory’s books about the Tudors, I’m fully aware that they’re fiction but they sparked my interest. I’m really excited to read this!

Top Five Tuesday – Witches

It’s Top Five Tuesday which is hosted by Meeghan Reads, every week we’re given a book related topic and we choose our top five! This month is spooky themed for Halloween, this week we’ve got to pick our favourite books with witches in them. I love witches, I want to be one, so this is the perfect category for me!

1. Circe by Madeline Miller

I love Circe, she has amazing powers with herbs and plants, her potions and spells turned nyphs into monsters and mortal men into pigs who threw themselves off cliffs into the sea. She is not to be messed with! But Circe is also loving and used a lot of her magical energy protecting her son from Athena who wanted to do him harm.

2. Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

This is the first Discworld story with our witches; Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. It’s a spoof of Macbeth where our witches try to help the right person to the throne. It’s funny of course, I find Granny the funniest, she’s grumpy and set in her ways and just one glare can make most people tremble, but she cares really!

3. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman

The witches in this series are mysterious and almost mythical beings. They live in clans and fight with other clans if necessary. They can fly easily, they live for hundreds of years but don’t appear to age much and can be miles away from their daemons, unlike the humans of their world who have to stay within a few feet of their daemons. Serafina Pekkala is the main witch that we know, she sees something special in Lyra and promises to protect her, also she has a great name.

4. A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

I haven’t read this yet but it’s patiently waiting on my shelf! It follows a family of witches across five generations as they try to hide their secret and keep each other safe. I am very excited about this book!

5. The Familiars by Stacey Hall

I read this book recently and loved it, it’s set in the north of England when the witch trials were at their peak. It’s terrifying how those women were treated, most of them were just healers and midwives and wouldn’t do anyone any harm, the delusions of the King killed hundreds.

Autumn Reading List

This is a little bit late, but I completely forgot to do this at the beginning of September! I love autumn, especially this time when it’s still a bit sunny but there’s a chill in the air and the trees change to the most beautiful colours. Here’s what I’ll be reading this autumn:

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz – September

I’ve already finished this but like all the other books in the Millennium series, I loved it. My full review is here.

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett – September

We’re back with the witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg. They’re missing a third member of their coven and they follow one of the young women in their town who they think has potential. But she has run away to Ankh-Morpork to become an opera singer. Another brilliant and witty addition to the Discworld series.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy – September onwards

This is a massive book, but I’m determined, I have no idea how long it will take me but I don’t want to rush then get confused! It’s a classic novel, set in Russia. I’m only a little way in but I can follow it so far which is great.

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt – September/October

A married couple face a threat to their children and instead of letting the police deal with it, they take matters into their own hands. Natalie would do anything to protect her family but can they get away with their crime? I’m pretty excited about this!

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan – October

A heartbroken man, Anthony, spends his life collecting lost objects, hoping to one day reunite them with their owners, but he dies before completing his task. He leaves his house to his assistant Laura who is recently divorced and incredibly lonely. But she finds solace in Anthony’s lost things and getting them back to the people that miss them. It sounds like such a beautiful book already.

Big Sky by Kate Atkinson – October

It’s been nine years since the last Jackson Brodie novel, Jackson is still a private investigator and he’s living in a quiet seaside village with his dog and occasionally his teenage son. But as always things take a turn for the worse and Jackson comes across a sinister network that leads back to old mysteries. I love all of Kate Atkinson’s books and I’m sure this won’t be an exception.

Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett – November

We’re back in Ankh-Morpork with the City Watch. There’s been some suspicious murders in the city, it’s strange because the Assassins Guild isn’t responsible, there appears to be no motive and a strange clay has been found near the crime scenes. I really enjoy the Watch stories, they’re so chaotic!

The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski – November

The first Witcher book! I love the tv series so I’m very excited to read all of Geralt’s adventures. This is a group of short stories following Geralt as he fights monsters and discovers that maybe not all monstrous looking things are evil.

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye – November

This is a Gothic retelling of Jane Eyre. Jane Steele sees a lot of similarities between herlsef and her favourite character Jane Eyre. She too has a horrible aunt and schoolmaster, they call her wicked and she believes it’s true. When she flees she leaves her tormentors dead behind her. A classic turned into a revenge story, yes!

Top Five Tuesday – Opening Lines

A new Top Five Tuesday, the prompts are created by Bionic Book Worm. This week we get to pick our favourite opening lines

1. “Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling – Just iconic, I can practically recite the first chapter but this will always be in my mind. It just sums up the Durley’s so well, who wants to be normal? Not me!

2. “If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” – The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket – Never before had I read a book where the author tries to dissuade you from reading it, I love Snicket’s strange writing style.

3. “This is the bright candlelit room where the lifetimers are stored – shelf upon shelf of them, squat hourglasses, one for every living person, pouring their fine sand from the furture into the past.” – Mort by Terry Pratchett, I love the image this conjures up, and Death keeps an eye on all our hourglasses and comes to get us when our time is up.

4. “The shape of power is always the same; it is the shape of a tree. Root to tip, central trunk branching and re-branching, spreading wider in ever-thinner, searching fingers.” – The Power by Naomi Alderman, this opening line changes how I see power, as corrupting. The image of the tree is clever, trees are vital to our survival.

5. “The play – for which Briony had designed the posters, programmes and tickets, constructed the sales booth out of folding screen tipped on its side, and lined the collection box in red crepe paper – was written by her in a two day tempest of composition, causing her to miss a breakfast and a lunch.” – Atonement by Ian McEwan, I love how quick and almost frantic this is, it sums up Briony so perfectly, full of energy, creative and slightly obsessive.

I found this slightly harder than I thought but it was great getting half my books down to see if they had good openers! What are some of your favourites?

Top Five Tuesday – A-Z Authors

A new Top Five Tuesday, the prompts are created by Bionic Book Worm. This month’s topics are A-Z authors, this week it’s K-O. I did struggle with some of the letters this week!

K: Sue Monk Kidd

I discovered Sue Monk Kidd when I read The Secret Life of Bees a couple of summers ago. It was the perfect summer read, set in South Carolina in 1964, Lily and her ‘stand in mother’ Rosaleen go on the run when Rosaleen insults some horrible racists and faces a jail sentence. They find a place that Lily’s real mother visited, a safe place where three eccentric sisters look after bees. It’s such a profound story and you get to learn about bees!

L: C.S. Lewis

I used to love the Chronicles of Narnia, my favourite is of course The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the Pevensie children’s stories are the best of the bunch. I re-read some of them a while ago and they bring back a feeling of comfort and warmth. We still have my Mum’s set of books from when she was a child so they’re very precious.

M: Kate Morton

Possibly my favourite author ever! Every one of her books is beautiful, complex and full of brilliant characters. The first book I read was The Forgotten Garden which still remains my favourite, nothing can quite top my connection with the characters, especially Eliza Makepeace, a young girl from the early 1900s, a writer who was treated horribly by her family. The Lake House and The Clockmaker’s Daughter are some of my other favourites.

N: Naomi Alderman

I have only read one of her books but it is one of the most thought provoking books I’ve ever read. The Power is set both in the present and the future, young girls suddenly gain an ability to harness electricity and shock others, they realise they can awake this ability in women as well, evolution has worked in our favour to level the playing ground. But is a matriarchy any better? Humans are still violent and cruel at their core. This book really shook me, I want to read more of Naomi Alderman’s work.

P: Terry Pratchett

I couldn’t find anyone for O so I’ve chosen one of my favourite authors ever: Terry Pratchett. The world that he created is so chaotic, vibrant and funny, I couldn’t help but love the Discworld novels when I first discovered them. The first Pratchett book I read was The Carpet People which isn’t from the Discworld series but I still loved it. My favourites are probably Mort, Night Watch and Hogfather so far but I still have some left to read!

Spring TBR

Spring is finally here, hopefully it will be getting lighter and less cold. I’m looking forward to seeing all the flowers emerge and watch blossom fall from the trees. Here are the books I’ll be reading this season:

Lord and Ladies by Terry Pratchett – March

I started reading this a few days ago and it’s already making me giggle. We’re back with the witches and they are facing a threat from a different world, Elves have visited before but humans manage to banish them but now the doorway between worlds has weakened.

The Garden of Lost and Found by Harriet Evans – March

The book is set partly in the early 1900s and in modern day. A brilliant artist is found burning his most treasured paining in 1919, it is a painting of his children at his home in the garden that him and his wife made for them. Juliet is the great-granddaughter of the couple and is sent the key to Nightingale House. The house holds its mysteries close but Juliet is in search of answers. I am really looking forward to reading this, my Mum has leant it to me because she knows I’ll love it!

The Virgin’s War by Laura Andersen – April

This is the last book in the Tudor Legacy Trilogy, I still haven’t done my review for the second book, but I am loving this series. It’s a different take on Tudor history, Elizabeth I is on the throne but she has a daughter, Annabel. But war is brewing with Spain, partly fuelled by Elizabeth and Philip’s failed marriage. So Elizabeth will still have to deafeat the Spanish Armada. I’m very excited for this one.

Men At Arms by Terry Pratchett – April

Another City Watch story which are my favourites! Ankh-Morpork is a chaotic city and reading about the Watch trying to make sense of the chaos is such fun.

You by Caroline Kepnes – May

This looks both interesting and creepy at the same time. Stalkers are terrifying but it is easier for them to operate now when all our details are online. I think this is told from the stalkers point of view, this might creep me out too much but I’ll see.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald – May

A classic that I haven’t read before, I have seen the film but it was quite strange and I’m not sure I got the plot!

Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett – May/June

Another Rincewind tale with revolution, war and a falling empire. I’m excited to find out what Rincewind and his luggage get up to this time.

That’s my Spring sorted…what are some of your upcoming reads?

My Top Five Reads of 2019

It is almost the end of the year so I thought I would pick my favourite reads from 2019! It’s been my first full year of running this blog which has been really fun, I might try and post more next year.

1. Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin

I am fascinated by the history of Westeros and the Targaryens are the most interesting of them all. It is written like a history book but is still just as gripping as ASOIAF. I can’t wait for the second part to be published!

2. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley

This is the second book in the series and we follow Ally on her journey of discovery to Norway. I loved reading about Norway and some of its history and Ally is such a strong character, I really connected with her.

3. The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

I love the Millennium series, Lisbeth Salander is one of my favourite characters ever, she’s so complex and badass. This is the fifth book in the series and at the beginning we find Lisbeth in prison. She’s only there for a few months but she finds out that as a child she was almost involved in a experiment carried out on twins. They separated twin children and put them into families with different wealth and status. As always Mikael and Lisbeth investigate and get into serious danger!

4. Tangerine by Christine Mangan

Tangerine is set in the 1950’s in Tangier, Morocco. We meet Alice first, she followed her husband to Tangier but has struggled with the city. The stifling heat and the crowds cause her to panic. Then an old school friend arrives out of the blue and brings back dark memories. I loved how strange all the relationships were and then we were gradually told the reasons why, very well written.

5.Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett

My favourite Discworld books are probably the City Watch ones, in this story a cult of bitter citezens try to summon a dragon to attack the city. Dragons haven’t been seen for hundreds of years, but somehow they manage it. The City Watch consists of only a handful people, they are not respected by anyone and the laws are so corrupt that normally they barely have to do anything, but with the threat of the dragon they must step up. Witty, engaging and bonkers as always.

There they all are, Happy New Year everyone!

End of the Decade – My Favourite Books from the Past Ten Years!

It is so strange to think we are at the end of the 2010s, it’s been a pretty dodgy decade in many respects but I have read some fantastic books! Most of the books weren’t published in the last 10 years but it’s when I discovered them.

1. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

The fullness and complexity of these books and the characters has kept me coming back to it, I’ve read the first three books a few times already. The more you read it the more in depth you see the story. I am so happy I’ve found ASOIAF, even if it does make me cry a lot!

2. Dominion by C.J Sansom

The book is set in the 1950s in Britain except the Nazis have taken over, we never fought them. It is one of the most terrifying and genius books I’ve ever read. It felt so real, I was so distressed! Our main character works for the government and is unhappy with the changes taking place so he joins the freedom movement lead by Winston Churchill. He feeds them important files but then he gets involved with protecting a Jewish scientist who has been locked in an asylum. If the Nazis find out where he is, the world is doomed. I strongly recommend this book, it’s incredible.

3. The Millennium series by Stieg Larsson and David Lagercrantz

This series is so brilliant and dark, it’s terrifying at moments but it always comes back to the characters and how genius they are. Lisbeth who has had to fight her whole life against truly evil people who are still out to get her and Mikael who thrives on exposing conspiracies, which has got him into trouble a few times.

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zukos

Just genius, narrated by Death as he tells us about his run-ins with Liesel as she discovers her love of reading. Her foster father teaches her to read, soon she is stealing books from Nazi book burnings. Liesel lives in Germany during WWII and her world is made more dangerous when her foster family hide a Jewish man in their cellar. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read, I’d never read a book that centred around the innocent German people during WWII before and this was written superbly.

5. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins

These books have so many important themes about corruption and controlling governments and its such a chilling premise, children fighting to the death for the entertainment of the elite. As a reader it made me have a good look at our own media and how toxic it can be. Aside from that the characters are real and flawed and I love them.

6. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

This book is one of my favourites ever! It’s like my dream book with past lives/WWII but it’s better than anything I could have imagined. We follow Ursula through her life from birth to her many different deaths. In each life different choices are made. It’s such a magical book and so different from everything I had read from Kate Atkinson before, I’m so glad I found it!

7. The Long Earth series by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Sci-fi heaven, one day on Earth, hundreds of children disappeared at once, they moved to a parallel world with a devise that had gone viral on the internet. Soon adults realised what was happening and humanity was changed forever. Humanity spread out into the connected worlds where we made new homes for ourselves. In my favourite book of the series, scientists found a way to reach Mars and found its own string of parallels.

8. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This book is about Esther Greenwood’s struggle with mental health, Esther has moved to New York to try and be a journalist but soon finds herself breaking down. It is so powerful and such an important book, I’m very glad I read it.

9. The Power by Naomi Alderman

Just epic! Through some strange evolution young girls suddenly gain the power to channel electricity through their hands. They can shock others, hurt them and kill them. They can also release the gift in older women. A shift is happening, no longer are men more powerful. The book follows different young women and one young man on their journeys through this fascinating time. But is life better under woman’s rule or are all humans inherently corrupt?

10. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

I love this book so much! I read it this summer and fell in love with it. It’s a story about time and how precious stories are. How houses can hold memories forever but not always in a bad way, Birchwood Manor is a place of safety and comfort.

There we are, bring on the 2020s and all the books they will bring!