Literature: October Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and September, I managed to read 115 books.  And in October I managed to read 8, which now brings me up to 123 which means I have hit my target of 120! Which is fantastic – wonder how many more I will read in the last two months of the year.

In July I listed the books my genre as I had read so man books, and have decided to do the same again.

Autobiography

Open Door by Maud Kells

Science Fiction

Emergency Skin by N.K Jemison

Crime / Thriller

Penshaw by L.J Ross

The Devil’s Work by Mark Edwards

Borderlands by L.J Ross

A Lovely Way to Burn by Louise Welsh

Children

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robyn Talley

Fiction

At the Wedding by Matt Dunn

My favourite book this month was Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robyn Talley – this is a book about racism in The 1950s which focuses on two girls –the first one is a black girl who is part of a group of 8 who start to attend an all-white school and the second girl is one of those pupils in the all-white school who opposes the ‘negroes’ coming into their space. This book talks of hardship, friendship and the crossing of lines. It is a very well written brave book and one which I would recommend to others to read – both adults and children.

Literature: September Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and August, I managed to read 108 books.  And in September I managed to read 7, which now brings me up to 115 which means I have only 5 more to read till I hit my target!

In July I listed the books my genre as I had read so man books, and have decided to do the same again.

Christian

7 Myths of Singleness by Sam Allberry

Science Fiction

Ark by Veronica Roth

Summer Frost by Black Crouch

Crime / Thriller

Beware of the Past by Joy Ellis

Five Bloody Hearts by Joy Ellis

Children

The Inca Trail by Vivien Whitfield

The Color of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J Harris

There is a new genre which has popped up this month – Science Fiction. I don’t normally read this genre as I don’t really like, but I came across a series called Forward Collection which has been described on Goodreads with the following:

“For some, it's the end of the world. For others, it's just the beginning. With brilliant imagination, today's most visionary writers point to where the future is headed-whether plotting a high-tech casino heist, exploring the boundaries of a video game, or debating the very definition of identity. From the darkly comic to the chilling, they share common DNA. They all look forward”

Ark & Summer Frost are the first two books in the series with the former focusing on the destruction of the Earth and the latter focuses on a game developer who gets obsessed with one of his characters who he brings to life.

They were both interesting reads and an introduction to the genre of Science Fiction. There are 7 more books in the collection, so will continue to read them to see what happens.

Literature: August Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and July, I managed to read 96 books.  And in August I managed to read 12, which now brings me up to 108  - so only another 12 til I reach my target!

In July I listed the books my genre as I had read so man books, and have decided to do the same again for August, so here goes:

Christian

A Reasonable Faith by Tony Campolo

The Everyday Gospel by Tim Chester

Everything Happens for a Reason by Kate Bowler

Decisions Made Simple by Tim Chester

One Hour Bible by Philip Law

Fiction

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

The Spinster Wife by Christina McKenna

Crime / Thriller

The Lucky Ones by Mark Edwards

The Stolen Boys by Joy Ellis

The Fields of Grief: Giles Blunt

Children

Joe All Alone by Joanna Nadir

The Weight of Water by Sarah Crossan

The weirdest book I read in August was Matt Haig’s “How to Stop Time”, I very nearly gave up on it, but hate not finishing books so I persevered. It was really weird I still don’t really know what to make of it, but I won’t be recommending it to others or reading it again.

My favourite book was Sarah Crossan’s “The Weight of Water” – this is a children’s book written in the voice of a girl who has come to England with her mother from Poland to seek a better life. However it wasn’t written in prose, it was written in verse and the story flowed so well through the different pages which made it feel like one big poem instead of stilted verses. I will definitely recommend this to others – children and adults alike.

Literature: July Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and June, I managed to read 70 books.  And throughout the past month due to being sick and off work for a couple of weeks I managed to read 26 books which bring me up to 96 books.

Because I have read 26 I have decided this time just to list the books under the genres instead of unpacking them at the end.

So here goes:

Christian

• Safely Home by Randy Alcorn
• James for You by Sam Allberry
• 5 Things to Pray for Your Church by Rachel Jones
• Happiness by J.C Ryle

Fiction

• Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey

Crime / Thriller

• Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
• The Delicate Storm by Giles Blunt
• Black Fly Season by Giles Blunt
• Good and Valuable Consideration by Lee Child & Joseph Finder
• Cleaning the Gold by Lee Child & Karin Slaughter
• Faking the Murderer by Lee Child & Kathy Reichs
• The Magpies by Mark Edwards
• Murder of the Magpies by Mark Edwards
• The Last of the Magpies by Mark Edwards
• Follow Me Home by Mark Edwards
• Because She Loves Me by Mark Edwards
• The Lost Daughters by Joy Ellis
• The Murderers Son by Joy Ellis
• The Fourth Friend by Joy Ellis
• The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis
• The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz
• The Chain by Adrain McKinty

Autobiography

• Stumble to Rise by Gina Whitlock Fletcher
• The Yorkshire Shepherdess by Amanda Owens
• Words Escape Me by Sandy Semple

Non-Fiction

• Spilling the Beans on the Cat’s Pajamas by Judy Parkinson

So as you can see the most read books fall under the Crime genre and some authors have appeared more than once – Giles Blunt, Lee Child, Mark Edwards, and Joy Ellis.

The four books by Joy Ellis are in a series which follows DI Jackman & DS Evans who are part of the Fenland Police. I really enjoyed these books and was drawn to the characters and how all of them within the team just look out for each other as family. They are very well written books and it makes me want to read the other series available by Joy Ellis.

Three of the books by Mark Edwards is in a series - The Magpies, Murder of the Magpies and Last of the Magpies – with the first two being short stories. These are very well written books and revolve around two characters who are having issues with their neighbours who are making their life total misery. On reading this I decided I would be nice to all my neighbours in case they turn out to be like the ones in this series.

Adrian McKinty has written a few books which have a following but he has never had a breakthrough novel until now with The Chain which has been on the Saturday Times Bestseller List for three weeks in a row (so far), and it is being made into a movie. Not bad going for a man from Northern Ireland. And it is an amazing book and I don’t want to give much away about it but just now that for every child kidnapped, another must be taken. Otherwise The Chain will be broken. A must-read book.

Out of the 26 books read this month, one thing is noticeable – there were no children’s books read – and I usually try to read one each month! Just got caught up in the crime wave!!

Literature: June Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and May, I managed to read 55 books.  And throughout June I managed to read 15 books so have read 70 books so far which means apparently I am 11 books ahead of schedule.

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Autobiography
• Christian
• Crime
• Children’s
• Chicklit
• Humour
• Self-Help

The 15 books I have read in June are:

• Lost & Found by Lynda Bellingham
• Pleasing God: Kay Smith
• Forty Words of Sorrow: Giles Blunt
• The Angel Knew Papa & the Dog: Douglas Kaine McKelvey
• The Note: Zoe Folbigg
• The Moor: LJ Ross
• The List that Changed My Life: Olivia Beirne
• Kensuke’s Kingdom: Michael Morpurgo
• The Boy Who Could do what he Liked: David Baddiel
• Spectacles by Sue Perkins
• Six Degrees of Assassination by M.J Alridge
• The Power of TED by David Emerald
• The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness by Timothy Keller
• Guiltless by Viveca Sten
• Who is This Man? By John Ortberg

So what genre fits what book?  

Under the genre of crime fiction I read Forty Words of Sorrow by Giles Blunt which is the first in the Detective John Cardinal series which I have loved watching on TV and now am going to enjoy reading the book series. 

I also read The Moor by LJ Ross which is number 12 in the DI Ryan series set in Northumberland. She is still at her best in the writing – the books never get dull and I can’t wait until the next one comes out.

Also under the genre of crime was Six Degrees of Assassination by M.J Alridge and the third in the Sandhamn Murders by Viveca Sten “Guiltless”. This is another great crime series, this time set in Sweden and again am looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

A month cannot go past really without me reading a children’s book and this month they were “The Angel Knew Papa & the Dog” by Douglas Kaine McKelvey, “The Boy who Could do what he Wanted” by David Baddiel and “Kensuke’s Kingdom” by Michael Morpurgo.

As a Christian, I believe it is important to not just read the Bible but also expand your knowledge of Jesus and the Bible by reading other Christian books, and this month I have read “Pleasing God” by Kay Smith, “The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness” by Timothy Keller (my second time of reading both these books – and on the second time I learned more then I did on the first reading – always good to re-read books) and finally “Who is this Man?” by Timothy Keller.

In the autobiography genre, I read “Lost & Found” by Lynda Bellingham – the Oxo mum and “Spectacles” by Sue Perkins. They were both great reads. I was reading Spectacles on the Eurostar on the way home from France and according to my sister who was sitting beside me, I affronted myself and her by laughing out loud - Sue is as brilliant on paper as she is on television.

My favourite book this month was “The list that Changed my Life” by Olivia Beirne. I did not really know what this book was about but bought it as it looked good and it was so good I read it within 2.5 hours. However, after reading the first couple of pages I nearly didn’t read it as one of the characters has MS and as someone with MS I did not really want to read a book about the illness – but I carried on anyway, and am so glad I did. This book does not focus on MS, it is a book about a sister promising to do everything her older sibling can no longer do which results in a journey that will change her life forever. Such an uplifting book and it helps raise awareness of MS, which is always needed.

Literature: May Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. Between January and April, I managed to read 45. And throughout the past month, I managed to read 10 books which now brings me to 55 books.

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Christian
• Children’s
• Romance
• Short Stories
• Crime / Thriller
• Autobiography

The 10 books I have read in May are:

• Love Me Not by M.J Arlidge
• The Racehorse who Disappeared by Clare Balding
• Lyrebird by Cecilia Ahern
• The Racehorse who wouldn’t Gallop by Clare Balding
• The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes
• Down to the Woods by M.J Arlidge
• Running Blind by M.J Arlidge
• Enabling Church by Gordon Temple
• The Hunt by Bear Grylls
• Life on Air by David Attenborough

So what genre fits what book?   Well one of them crosses over two genres with the Running Blind by M.J Arlidge being a crime short story.

Also under the genre of crime fiction I have read The Wrong Kind of Blood by Declan Hughes. This was the first book I read by this Irish author and I enjoyed it and looking forward to reading more about Private Investigator Ed Loy, the main character in this book about betrayal, loss, lust, drugs, etc.

I also read Love Me Not, Down to the Woods and Running Blind in the DI Helen Grace series by M.J Arlidge.  I love this series and highly recommend it to others who love crime fiction.  I also read The Hunt which is the third book in the Will Jaegar series by Bear Grylls which follows the hunt of German leaders who are keen to start a Fourth Reich and go back to the Nazi era. It is a good book, not as good as the first book in the series, but is better than the second one.

Children’s books are great to read, not just because they are short but also because they are usually really good fun stories and Clare Balding’s books on Racehorses are just that and I enjoyed reading The Racehorse who Disappeared and The Racehorse who wouldn’t Gallop. I read them out of sequence but it didn’t matter as though they follow the same horse and little girl they do standalone by themselves as well. Clare is not just a smiley TV presenter, she is a great writer too.

In the autobiography genre, I read Life on Air by David Attenborough – a British Legend. His wildlife programs are fantastic and this book gives you a behind the scenes look at David’s career, his climbing the ladder within the BBC, the start of his wildlife adventures and what happened when he was out filming the programs. David tells a lot of humour stories about what happened to him and his team and you could them getting up to antics.

Literature: April Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. In the first few months, I read 31 books. And throughout the past month I managed to read 14 books which now brings me to 45 books which now means I am 6 books ahead of schedule.

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Christian
• Crime
• Short Stories
• Autobiography
• Children’s

The 14 books I have read in April are:

• When Darkness Seems My Closet Friend by Mark Meynell
• Bullseye by James Patterson
• To School Through the Fields by Alice Taylor
• The 45% Hangover by Stuart McBride
• Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks
• I Married a Soldier by Brenda Hale
• Pop Goes the Weasel by M.J Arlidge
• The Doll’s House by M.J Arlidge
• The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean by Laura Williamson
• The President is Missing by Bill Clinton
• The Girl Who Thought She was a Dog by Clare Balding
• Liar Liar by M.J Arlidge
• Little Boy Blue by M.J Arlidge
• Hide and Seek by M.J Arlidge

So what genre fits what book?   Well one of them crosses over two genres with the 45% Hangover being both a short story and a crime novel.

Also under the genre of crime fiction I have read Bullseye by James Patterson which is number 9 in the Michael Bennet Series and The President is Missing by Bill Clinton but also co-penned by James Patterson. The latter book was interesting enough but lacked substance for me, kind of got lost halfway through and it was quite a slow read.

I also read books 2-6 in the DI Helen Grace series by M.J Arlidge which are brilliant books set in Southampton and once you have finished one you want to read the next one to find out what’s going to happen next. I really recommend this series and am looking forward to reading the next two books in the series. There are also two short stories in this series and I have one more of these to read.

Who would have known that Tom Hanks was a great author as well as a fantastic actor – well it’s true he is and his Short Story collection The Uncommon Type is brilliant – very different stories and there was only one which I didn’t like, but the rest were good.

The best book I read this month was When Darkness Seems my Closet Friend by Mark Meynell. This is a Christian book which is a reflection on life and ministry with Depression. It is the best Christian book on depression that I have ever read. Mark combines real life experiences along with bible verses and truths. It really made me think and is one I would give to anyone who suffers from depression or even family members of depression sufferers as it goes give you a peak in what it’s like to live with depression.

Literature: March Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

At the beginning of 2019, I set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, which means I need to read about 2 a week. In January and February, I read 21 books. Which was a good start.

Throughout the past month I managed to read 10 books which now brings me to 31.

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Crime
• Biography
• Christian
• Psychology
• Short Stories
• Children’s
• Self-Help

The 10 books I have read in March are:

• Closed Circles by Viveca Sten
• The Test by Brian O’Driscoll
• Northanger Abbey by Val McDermaid
• The Invisible Child: Tove Jansson
• The Ministry of a Messy House by Amanda Robbie
• If I Can’t, God Can by Catherine Campbell
• He Fights for You: Max Lucado
• The Power of the Other: Dr Henry Cloud
• A Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart
• The Fourth Man by Lee Child

So what genre fits what book?   Well one of them fits two genres as The Fourth Man is a short crime story which is the next chapter in the life of Jack Reacher. This short story sees Jack going to Australia which is unusual as normally he travels around America trying to stay out of trouble, though as trouble has a happening of finding him, he isn’t good at that!

Also under the genre of crime fiction, I read Closed Circles which is the second book of the Sandhamn Series by Viveca Sten.  This series is set in Sweden and one I have recently been getting in to. It is great and looking forward to reading more.

The Christian Books I read were The Ministry of a Messy House by Amanda Robbie, If I Can’t, God Can by Catherine Campbell and He Fights for You by Max Lucado. All good books but the best one of the three of these was Catherine Campbell’s – telling well known stories from the Bible alongside stories of real people – it was very interesting and I highly recommend it.

I have previously read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and loved it, so when I saw that Val McDermaid had written a modern version of the book I was intrigued and decided to read it. It’s the same story as the original book but it is set in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival and uses social media for the main means of communication.

The best book I read this month was The Boy Made of Blocks by Keith Stuart which tells the story of a father who has an autistic son and his inability to cope with that and childhood memories led to the breakdown of his marriage and moving from the family home. Over the course of the novel, he connects with son using Minecraft. It is a lovely story about family, growth, and love.

Christianity: Left Turns

Life has a habit of sometimes dealing out bad cards to us either with health issues, marriage problems, redundancy, a breakdown in relationships with friends and/or family, etc. and during these times we can often wonder what God is up to? and asking God, where are you in all of this?

Well God is always with us. Through all the left turns that happen in our lives, we need to cling to the fact that God has an all-embracing plan that is eternal, comprehensive and invincible. And more than that we are part of His plan.

God knows everything about our circumstances, we know what we are going through – nothing surprises Him – there are no accidents that sneak in and take God by surprise as He is in total control – although sometimes it does not seem like it. But He is always there with us in our pain and struggles.

Sometimes I wish God would tell me what His plans are for me – but God doesn’t tell us everything we want to know, but He does tell us all we need to know in order for us to trust Him – and all we need to know is that He loves us dearly, we are His children.

God is not a distant and unconcerned deity. He is close by always and our circumstances are not hidden from his gentle gaze. As Psalm 139 says He knows when we sit when we rise, what we thing, where we go, where we rest, where the path we are walking goes and even the words we speak before we say them.

Oh, how I wish sometimes He would stop me from saying some of the things I say, as they can be embarrassing, hurtful, etc. and I later regret saying a lot of things and wish I could take them back.

God knows everything about us, even the little insignificant and neglected details of our lives – He knows more about us then we do and He sees deep down into our hearts and sees our pain and can comfort us when no other person can.

But the great thing is that even though God knows the best things about us, He also knows the worst about is and yet He still loves us all the same. This is such a source of immense comfort.

God is always present. 

Christianity: Dark Times

In the dark times of our lives, we all can cling to the hope of God as the one stable in life is the unchangeable reality of God in whom we can trust – He is our rock, our fortress, and our strong deliverer.

We can trust and rely on God more than we can in another human being. Friends and family can let us down but God never will. God has been with us from the beginning and will be with us until the end.  Psalm 90 v 2 “Before the mountains were born or brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God”

God will never hurt us and he will never leave us. Family and friends can hurt us and also they can walk away from us – even and especially when we are in times of darkness as sometimes they do not know what to say, they say the wrong things or they just can’t cope being in the darkness with you so they walk away instead of trying to bring you into the light. Are people like that true friends? God will never ever walk away – he comes into the darkness with us and shines a light to help us find our way out.

What we need to remember when people walk away from us – it is not our fault, it says more about their character than it does about ours – they are not reliable or strong – bur God is.

I admit here that I have walked away from people but I usually do it in order to protect myself which is probably very selfish on my part. I sometimes walk away from people before they have the chance to walk away from me as I don’t want to get hurt by them.

I have never walked away from anyone who has been grieving or recently diagnosed with a chronic/terminal illness – I couldn’t do that – OK I may not know what to say to them but I always try to let them know I am here for them and thinking of them – AND I always pray for them. 

Christianity: What is the Bible?

It is the Word of God but as Psalm 19 v 7-9 tells us, the Bible is:

• The law of the Lord
• The statutes of the Lord
• The fear of the Lord
• The decrees of the Lord

The words in the Bible are the “very words of God” (Romans 3 v 2) and as 2 Timothy 3 v 16 tells us all Scripture is “God-breathed”

The Bible is reliable, trustworthy, perfect, radiant, pure and sure (Psalm 12 v 6)

The Word of the Lord endures forever. It helps us in any situation from the darkest of times to the most joyous and all those times in between. There is a verse for any situation we may find us in – a verse to help us and to guide us. 

Christianity: God's Sovereignty

I have always believed things happen for a reason and I am where I am because God put me there – However, I don’t think I ever realised how much God’s sovereignty affected my everyday life.

God made the world and everything in it (Acts 17 v 2-26) which includes my neighbours, work colleagues, relatives, friends, church, etc. etc. He made them all. He doesn’t need us, but we need Him – He gives all of us every breath that we take and he has marked out how long every person will live and where we will live just like he knew when we would be born and where we would be born.

I live where I live for a reason, I have been where I have been for a reason, I work where I work for a reason, and My Church is my Church for a reason. That reason is that God has put me in those places. He put me in the office I am in for a reason, I work to who I work to for a reason – God made it all happen, and He did it for a reason. We may never know the reason why we are where we are but sometimes it isn’t for us to know – we are just small cogs in this world.

In God’s sovereignty, what is going on in history is that God is reaching out to people so that they will reach out to Him.

One of the reasons why God places us where he places us is so we can reach out to people. God put me in my place of work so that I can bless my colleagues and managers by working hard and working honestly.  – Oh how I fail at this at times, but I am only human. And God can do things through us that we may never know about.

First and foremost I am where I am so others can hear the gospel and see Jesus in me – and oh I know I need to better in that, but with God all things are possible!!!

It is no accident that I know the people I do and what is wonderful for me as someone who was adopted as a child is to know that it is no accident that I was adopted and it is no accident that I was adopted into the family I am in – it is all because God put me there for a reason.

We need to believe that God is in charge of what desk we sit at, who lives in the house beside us etc. We need to understand that God has put people around us because He wants them to hear the gospel. We need to grasp God’s sovereignty.

Also, there is a reason that you are reading this! 

Christianity: Attributes of God

Awesome

Beautiful

Compassionate

Deliverer

Eternal

Faithful

Gracious

Holy

Infinite

Just

King

Loving

Merciful

Name above all names

Omnipresent, Omniscient & Omnipotent

Patient

Quickening Spirit

Righteous

Saviour

True

Unchangeable

Victorious

Wise

Xenophile

Yahweh

Zealous

Literature: February Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

So this is a new year and I have set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, so I need to read a lot each month and in February I only managed to read seven  - but then February is a short month so not enough days to read!!!

That means that since January I have now read 21 books so just another 99 to go!!

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Crime
• Christine
• Children’s
• Biography
• Short Story
• Thriller

So the seven books I read in February are:

1. Honest Evangelism by Rico Tice
2. No Way Out by Joel Goldman
3. The Dead Man by Joel Goldman
4. Christmas Comes to Moominland by Alex Haridi
5. Choir by Gareth Malone
6. Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
7. Girl in the Mirror by Cecilia Ahern

So what genre fits what book?  

Under the genre of Crime Fiction, I read the last two in the Jack Davis series by Joel Goldman. However I made a mistake and No Way Out which is the third book in the series first, and then I read the second book The Dead Man. Really these books should be read in order as they do follow on from each other – but it was OK I didn’t get too confused. They are great books and looking forward to see if Joel Goldman writes anymore in the series.

Out of these seven books I struggled with two of them, the first one being Girl in the Mirror by Cecilia Ahern which is a collection of two short stories, which are both quite weird and I did not get into them at all. Glad they were short stories though!

The other one was Before the Fall by Noah Hawley which was confusing because it jumped between people and time lines and took a while to get into. However, in the end it was quite interesting. But not sure I would read anymore of his books. 

Literature: January Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

So this is a new year and I have set myself the task on Goodreads to read 120 books this year, so I need to read a lot each month and in January I managed to make a good start and read 14 books.

I love reading across genres, and this month the genres I have read are:

• Children’s
• Short Story
• True Story
• Contemporary Fiction
• Crime
• Christian

The 14 books I have read in January are:

1. Toro! Toro! By Michael Morpurgo
2. Shine by Jodi Picoult
3. The Girl with the Lost Smile by Miranda Hart
4. Farm Boy by Michael Morpurgo
5. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop
6. A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley
7. Invest Your Suffering by Paul Mallard
8. Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
9. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence
10. Kaspar: Prince of Cats by Michael Morpurgo
11. In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart by Ruth Graham
12. Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham
13. Longstone by L.J Ross
14. No Way Back by M.J Aldridge

So what genre fits what book?   Well one of them fits two genres as No Way Back by M.J Aldridge is a short crime story which tells the story of Detective Inspector Helen Grace. Aldridge has written seven novels about Helen Grace – I have read number one which is called Eeny Meeny and I loved it, so looking forward to reading the next six.

Also under the genre of crime fiction, I read Longstone which is book nine in the DCI Ryan series by LJ Ross. I love this series and the characters are great as well.

As you may see I like Michael Morpurgo books, having previously read two in December, this month I managed to read three – Toro! Toro! Farm Boy and Kaspar: Prince of Cats. My favourite out of those three was Kaspar: Prince of Cats – it was just such a sweet story of friendship.  

Two of these books were written by people who are better known as a comedienne (Miranda Hart) and actress Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls fame who wrote Someday, Someday Maybe. To be honest, although their books were good I think I prefer them as a comedienne and an actress.

The best book I read this month was A Long Way Home which is a true story of Saroo Brierley and how he got lost in his home country of India after being separated from his brother and after not being able to find his way home to his family due to not knowing exactly where he lived, he ended up being adopted by an Australian couple. This is a brilliant book and the movie Lion which was inspired by this book is a fantastic movie as well.   

Literature: December Books

Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.

So here we go for December.  After reading 13 books in the previous two months, I only read six in the month of December. I was disappointed at this amount, but I was back to work after being sick so didn’t have as much time on my hands.

Again these books vary across genres including:

• Short Story
• Children’s
• Crime
• Christian

So the 6 books I read in December 2018 were:

1. It Never Leaves You by Luca Veste
2. Billy the Kid by Michael Morpurgo
3. The Hermitage by L.J Ross
4. The Dancing Bear by Michael Morpurgo
5. Be Loyal: Following the King of Kings by Warren Wiersbe
6. The Broken Way: Ann Voskamp

So what genre fits what book?   Well one of them fits two genres as It Never Leaves You by Luca Veste is a short crime story which tells the story of Detectives Murphy and Rossi who while waiting for a suspect to come home take the opportunity to discuss the past cases they are never able to forget.

Also under the genre of crime fiction, I read The Hermitage which is Book 8 in the DCI Ryan series by LJ Ross. I love this series and the characters are great as well.

The Dancing Bear and Billy the Kid are both Children’s books written by the fantastic Michael Morpurgo who has written many many books, with some of them even been made into movies and plays such as the fantastic War Horse.

And by process of elimination, it is easy to guess that the last two books Be Loyal and The Broken Way are both Christian Books.  Instead of writing individual reviews for all the books I have read, I am just going to condense them into what I have read each month.