Literature: September Books

 

Every month instead of writing individual book reviews for the books I had read, I just post a list of those books.  At the beginning of the year, I set a target of reading 60 books but due to lockdown and having more time on my hands, I actually hit that target in April so I increased my target to 100, and by end of July, I had read 102. Instead of increasing my target again, I decided I would just read for the sake of reading.

Most months in 2020 I have been able to read 10 or more books, but in September I only managed to read 7 books.  So what books did I read?

Crime

Past Tense by  Lee Child

Christian

Darkness Visible by William Styron

Fiction

The Librarian by Sally Vickers

Short Stories

Notting Hill Carnival by Candice Carly Williams

The little dreams of Lara Cliffe by Milly Johnson

Non-Fiction

Why you should read Children’s Books by Katherine Rundell

The Prison Doctor – Life Inside by Amanda Brown

None of these books really stood out to be this month. To be honest I am struggling to get the enthusiasm and concentration to read at the minute and am not sure why, think it maybe because I am suffering from fatigue – which is why there are a couple of short stories in there.

Literature: August Books

Every month instead of writing individual book reviews for the books I had read, I just post a list of those books.  At the beginning of the year, I set a target of reading 60 books but due to lockdown and having more time on my hands, I actually hit that target in April so I increased my target to 100 and by the end of July I had read 102. Instead of increasing my target again, I decided I would just read for the sake of reading.

Most months in 2020 I have been able to read 10 or more books, but in August I only managed to read 9 books.  And in total, I have now read 113 in 2020. So what books did I read in August?

Crime

Raven Black by Ann Cleeves

Dying Light by Joy Ellis

The Gift for Dying by M.J Alridge

Christian

Walking Backwards by Jeff Lucas

The Art of Rest by Adam Mabry

Short Stories

Cut Off by Mark Billingham

Looking for Captain Poldark by Rowan Coleman

A Fresh Start by Fanny Blake et al

Non-Fiction

52 Times Britain was a Bellend by James Felton

 

The whole title of James Felton’s book is ’52 Times Britain was a Bellend:  The history you didn’t get Taught at School’. It is a fully illustrated book chronicling 52 of the most stupid and weird things the Brits have done to the world and then conveniently forgetting all about them! This includes:

• Starting wars with China when they didn’t buy enough of our class A drugs
• Inventing a law so we didn’t have to return objects they had blatantly stolen from other countries
• Casually create muzzles for women
• And almost going to war over a crime committed by a pig!
• Despite the title of the book being a bit rude! I did enjoy this book and seeing history from another side – it was funny and eye-opening at the same time!

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.

In January I set myself the target of reading 60 books however in March I increased this target to 100 because I was already nearing the target. I had thought about increasing my target after getting closer to having read 100 books, but even though by the end of June I had already ready 89, I decided I would not bother upping my target and instead of reading towards a goal, I would just read for the sake of reading itself.

In July I managed to read 13 which has brought my total now up to 102. So what books did I read?

Short Stories

Valentine’s Day at the Café at the End of the Pier by Helen J Rolfe

Spring at the Café at the End of the Pier by Helen J Rolfe

Autumn at the Café at the End of the Pier by Helen J Rolfe

Summer at the Café at the End of the Pier by Helen J Rolfe

Christmas at the Café at the End of the Pier by Helen J Rolfe

Fiction

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

Christian

A Place of Healing by Joni Eareckson Tada

Titus for You by Tim Chester

Spurgeon’s Sorrow by Zack Erswine

Joyful Hope: Jean Gibson

Crime

Down Among the Down by Damien Boyd

Lockdown by Peter May

Non-Fiction

It’s Not ok to feel Blue by Scarlett Curtis

 

One evening I started to read ‘Valentine’s Day at the End of the Café’ and about 2 hours later I had read all five books in the series, so addicted was I to find out what happened next to the main characters. They are great wee books and easy reads as you can see – just wee light chick lit books.

The most interesting book I read in July was Peter May’s ‘Lockdown’. Written just after the Ebola Crisis a few years ago Peter May wrote this book in which the whole world would go into lockdown due to a pandemic which was killing hundreds of people, however the publishers said that the storyline was ridiculous and something like that would never happen – ha, welcome to 2020 where the whole world basically went into lockdown due to flu pandemic which was killing hundreds of people. So when this happened, what did the publishers do? Yes you guessed it, they published May’s book hoping many people would be intrigued and buy it – which seemed to work as many people have read it. It is basically a crime drama set in the backdrop of a flu pandemic, and while not being a masterpiece it is still an interesting read and one with a very charismatic main character who pulls you into the story.

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.

In January I set myself the target of reading 60 books however in March I increased this target to 100 because I was already nearing the target. And then again in May, I thought I should increase the target as was only 23 books away from my target having read 77 books.  Now it is the end of June and I have managed to read another 13, taking me up to 89 – so will reassess target in July but may go up to 145 as my friend said that since I read 139 in 2019 then I should try and read more than that in 2020.

So what have I read in June then?

Short Stories

The Beach Wedding by Dorothy Koomson

Non-Fiction

These are the Hands by Michael Rosen

Fiction

Where the Crawdads sing by Delia Owens

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Christmas on the Little Cornish Isles by Phillips Ashley

Christian

In the Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliott

Traveling Light by Max Lucado

Soul Ties by David Cross

Revelation For You by Tim Chester

Galatians For You by Timothy Keller

Crime

The Midnight Line by Lee Child

Lies that Bind Us: Andrew Hart

On My Life by Angela Carter

These are the Hands by Michael Rosen is a compilation book by people from the NHS writing poems in reflection on the work that they have done in their time working within the NHS. It was a good book and interesting seeing how people see their work and the positives and negatives they face every day. The poems are a mixture of sadness and happiness and seem to be a true reflection of the work within the NHS.

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.

In January I set myself the target of reading 60 books however in March I increased this target to 100 because I was already nearing the target. Now we are in May and I think I may have to increase the target again soon as I am only 23 books away from 100.  My friends said that since I read 139 last year then I should try and read more than that – so I may increase my target to 145.

But for now, I will concentrate on the books I read in May – lockdown is giving me the time to read more. So in May I have read 17 books which now brings my total number of books read so far in 2020 to 77.

So what have I read in May? Here goes:

Christian

Isaiah 43 Explained by Mitch Glaser

The Stories we tell by Mike Cosper

A Woman’s Battle for Grace by Cheryl Broderson

Deep Magic, Dragons and Talking Mice by Alister McGrath

Discipleship in the Present Tense by James Smith

Fiction

Normal People by Sally Rooney

Crime

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

Night School by Lee Child

I’m Watching You by Teresa Driscoll

The Shrine by LJ Ross

Here to Stay by Mark Edwards

Short Stories

The Great Summer Sewing Bee by Alex Brown

The Donor by Clare McIntosh

20 Minutes Earlier by Daniel Hurst

Clean Break by Tammy Cohen

Non-Fiction

Turning Left Around the World by David C Moore

Becoming by Michelle Obama

The worst book this month, in my opinion, was The Bat by Jo Nesbo, people rave about this author and how could he is but this book was disappointing and did not make me want to read the others in the Harry Hole series.

There have been many TV/Movie adaptations of books and some have been disappointing and some have actually been better than the book. Well one Friday night I started watching Sally Rooney’s Normal People on BBC and after episode 7 decided I wanted to read the book, so that night and the next morning I read the book and then finished the series on TV. So which one was better? Well in my opinion the TV adaptation stays quite true to the book with a few variations in there for dramatic purposes – so I can’t actually say one was better than the other – they were both good but I did like the ending of the TV series better than the book  - it was more emotional and drawn out. Overall, 10 out of 10 to the director, writers, and the cast of the TV series – a  job well done.

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.

In January I set myself the target of reading 60 books which I said I would review within the first couple of months with the view of raising the target depending on how I was getting on with reading, as sometimes I can go through phases where I just can’t concentrate on reading. However, in March I upped this target to 100 as between January and March I had already read 40.

And in the month of April, I managed to read another 20 bringing my total read books up to 60, so it is a good job I upped my target for the year since I had already met my original target within 4 months!

So what have I read in April? Here goes:

Christian

Facing Cancer by Adrian Adger

God’s Discipline by Tim Chester

Rediscovering Joy by Tim Chester

Where is God in a Coronavirus world by John Lennox     

The Ascension: Humanity in the Presence of God by Tim Chester

Crown of Thrones by Tim Chester

The Five Marks of Mission by Chris Wright

Ordinary Hero by Tim Chester

Psalms for You by Christopher Ash

Children’s

The Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll

Itch by Simon Mayo

Fiction

Everything I know about Love by Dolly Alderton

The Second Worse Restaurant in France by Alexander McCall Smith

Non-Fiction

Seven Signs of Life by Aoife Abbey

Bookwork by Lucy Managan

The Prison Doctor by Amanda Brown

Crime

In the Shadow of the Power by Viveca Sten

Ravenhill by John Steele

Death’s Door by Paul Finch

Young Adult

One of us is Lying by Karen McManus

The most popular genre this month seems to have been Christian Books with Tim Chester being the main guy after having read five of his books. Tim Chester is a great writer and gets into the heart of the subject he is writing about.

In the summer I bought his book Ordinary Hero before I realised that I had actually read it in 2012. I had no memory of reading which doesn’t say much for my memory. However, I am glad I bought it again and re-read it as it is a great book which points to the cross and resurrection of Jesus and shows how they provide the pattern for discipleship today calling Christians to a radical new way of living,

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.

In January I set myself the target of reading 60 books which I said I would review within the first couple of months with the view of raising the target depending on how I was getting on with reading, as sometimes I can go through phases where I just can’t concentrate on reading.

In January I managed to read 12 books and in February I read 12 books which brought the total to 24. And now in March I have managed to read 16 which brings the total up to 40. I had made the decision to review the total in March in a view of increasing my total, so I have decided to increase the total to 100.

So now after reading 40 books, I now have 60 more to read. And now we are in lockdown and more time to read, well may get to that total sooner rather than later!

So what have I read in March? Here goes:

Christian

Uncovered by Jonathan Carswell

Finding More by Rico Tice

Praying the Promises by Max Lucado

Enjoying God by Tim Chester

Crime

In the Heat of the Moment by Viveca Sten

In Harm’s Way by Viveca Sten

Until the Night by Giles Blunt

Young Adult

Dear Martin by Nic Stone    

                                             

Children’s

The Owl who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson

Josie Smith by Magdalen Nash

Josie Smith at the Seaside by Magdalen Nash

Josie and Eileen by Magdalen Nash

Josie Smith at Christmas by Magdalen Nash

Fiction

The Word Game by Steena Holmes

Postscript by Cecilia Ahern

Non-Fiction

A History of the World in 21 Women by Jenni Murray

This month I decided to go down memory lane into my childhood and read books which I read when I was a small child which included the Josie Smith books and also a great wee book about The Owl Who was Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson. This is such a sweet book about guess what, an owl who was afraid of the dark and with the help of a few friends overcame his fear and embraced his life as a night owl.

The stand out book for me this month was Dear Martin by Nic Stone. Dear Martin tells the story of a young man called Justyce who is top of his class and to go to an Ivy League college, but then everything goes wrong when he is arrested just because he was black. And this sets him on a downward spiral. To help him through Justyce looks to the readings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for answers and starts a journal to Dr. King to help him work out his problems.

It is a very interesting book which discusses the issues of race and mistaken identity, and a recommended read, not just for young adults but for readers of all ages.