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.