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.

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 October, I managed to read 123 books which meant that I reached my target of reading 120 books in the year! And in November I managed to read 5, which brought me up to 128. So what is my total book count at the end of the year?

Well in December I managed to read 10 books so at the end of 2019, I have read 138 books. Good going I reckon. The most books I have ever read in a year.

So here are the December books listed in genre order.

Young Adults

Looking for Alaska by John Green

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Children’s

Harry Potter & the Cursed Child by J.K Rowling

Crime / Thriller

Death is a Welcome Guest by Louise Welsh

Verona by Jeffrey Deaver

Imposter by L.J Ross

Ryan’s Christmas by L.J Ross

Fiction

The Library of Lost & Found by Phaedra Patrick

Science Fiction

You have arrived at your Destination by Amor Towles

The Last Conversation by Paul Tremblay

One Sunday morning I was feeling lazy and stayed in bed and started to read Harry Potter & the Cursed Child and two hours later I had it finished.  This is the transcript of the play that is in London’s West End. It was a lovely story that focused on the children of Harry, Ron, and Hermione – the main protagonists of the original Harry Potter series.

After watching Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why television series, I decided that I would read the novel it was based on, which I had found in a local charity shop.  However, it was such a frustrating book to read but that was mainly because whoever put it in the charity shop had torn out pages of the book, which meant that if I had not had already watched the TV series, it would have been a difficult story to follow. Like who would do that to a book – and then have the audacity to take it to a charity shop to be sold on!! After I read it, I put it into the recycling bin.

Literature: November 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 October, I managed to read 123 books which meant that I reached my target of reading 120 books in the year! And in November I managed to read 5, which now brings me up to 128 - 8 more than my target.

I am listing the books by genre.

Autobiography

Peggy & Me by Miranda Hart

Science Fiction

Randomize by Andy Weir

Crime / Thriller

Crime Machine by Giles Blunt

Fiction

Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

Some of you may be saying, but didn’t Jane Austen write it? Well yes she did, but Joanna Trollope has written a more modernised version with the characters bringing the book into the 20^th Century. It was a good read but still prefer the original classic Austen version.

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.