Ben

High praise indeed.

Have a good reading year, pontalba!

Good news! Yeah, I won't be reading them 'at once' as such, there will likely be very little flicking between at all. Just like to be prepared. Oh my! Wonder if they have individual costumes and specialities and everything.

Absolutely adored When Breath Becomes Air. Thought it was a wonderful little book and one of my top ten favourites in 2016. Hope you're getting on well with it, Hayley.

I've been wanting to read something by Anne for a while now - and have heard great things about The Tenant. Yeah it's not normally me, and it's likely that I won't flick between them that much (will probably finish individually) but I just want to keep reading, you know?

Louis Creed, who had lost his father at three and who had never known a grandfather, never expected to find a father as he entered his middle age, but that was exactly what happened. Pet Sematary by Stephen King.

Still haven't got around to The Night Manager but recently read The Spy Who Came In from the Cold and thought it was very good indeed. Will definitely be one to keep on the TV adaptations radar...

You're not going to get chastised here LP. My plan to not book buy this year is going AWFULLY anyway.

Okay, so just because I'm still ill and struggling with both The Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Alone in Berlin, I've decided to get a THIRD book on the go. *sighs* This is not normally like me, but just by the nature of the books I'm currently reading - and the run-down feeling that is affecting my reading negatively - I'm also going to have a go with Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Have wanted to stick in to more King for a long time now, so here goes... Synopsis The house looked right, felt right to Dr Louis Creed. Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive threat. But behind the house and far away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path up into the woods where generations of local children have processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their dear departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding.

Thanks you two. Not yet, but I'll get there. Good luck with your offer - and your attempts at keeping distracted - peacefield, must be awful waiting around to find out if you've been successful. Really quiet couple of days for me, have just been watching some snooker, keeping warm in front of our wood-burner, reading in bits and pieces... I'm honestly still not feeling great - still got a lot of pain behind my eyes/head and bloody painful toothache to boot?! - but trying to rest up. Still have the weekend to get myself up to scratch, and I'm going to need it. Was planning on going out with the girlfriend on Saturday, possibly to the flicks and definitely for some food, but as I'll be seeing her later (after class) I'm not sure how this will pan out. In all fairness, despite wanting to stay in/rest up, it might do me good to try get out and do something. *shrugs*

I tried this late(ish) last year (got a Netgalley copy) and found it... well, kinda' boring if I'm honest. Only got about a quarter of the way through and couldn't stomach the rest. I imagine that I probably wasn't in the mood for it, but hey ho. *shrugs* Judging from your review I should come back to it and give it the space and time it likely deserves.

Didn't know you could do it that route as well, don't tend to get newsletters. It's good that there's plenty of options though. Everyone loves an early look at a new release. I know, but I do want to review or at least share my general thoughts on a lot of the books I read this year, On Beauty included! Just need to chuck this flu that I've got and I'll get 'round to catching up with writing reviews.

Caught up with the second season of Quantico before it returns after it's mid-season break in a few days.

LOVE this anecdote.

I've just remembered today that I agreed to continue the Classics Challenge over from 2016, because even though I don't think 2017 has an 'official' version as such, the girlfriend and I got through all 12 last year and thought it might be something fun to continue. (To keep us reading all those books we should have read already.) So for January (it was my choice, as we alternate) it's going to be The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I've never actually read anything from Anne Bronte, so looking forward to this one. That's if I haven't already left it a bit late. Synopsis Gilbert Markham is deeply intrigued by Helen Graham, a beautiful and secretive young widow who has moved into nearby Wildfell Hall with her young son. He is quick to offer Helen his friendship, but when her reclusive behavior becomes the subject of local gossip and speculation, Gilbert begins to wonder whether his trust in her has been misplaced. It is only when she allows Gilbert to read her diary that the truth is revealed and the shocking details of her past.

In all fairness, I think you'd easily be able to get yourself on lists for ARCs. Any blogger who writes good reviews (semi-consistently) can usually snag themselves a book or two. I'm not consistent - and to be fair I don't ask for that many - but it's mostly knowing the right people. I have very good links with the likes of Vintage Books and Faber on Twitter - including good relationships with their respective publicity people... so I tend to get lucky. *shrugs* I know it's not always a nice feeling to actually ask, but the people who deal with individual releases of books are normally contactable via email. Dropping them a line saying you're a book blogger who would love to review so-and-so if possible generally does the trick at first (then you'll start getting them contacting YOU instead of having to ask). Of course with most of the major releases it's not always possible unless you have already proved yourself reliable on the review-posting front or have established good links with them, but a lot of the time publishers are more than willing to dish out copies. It's good publicity for them, too. I'm a bit rubbish with Netgalley but don't use it often (tend to find the e-books badly formatted and most of what I want is easier to find in tree form!), but honestly, if you want to get on more lists just know the right people, form the right relationships with publishers and publicists, and you should have no problem. You write great, honest reviews, and at the end of the day that's all they're usually after. Hi Claire! It's coming, I promise! I've been under the weather this week so haven't written any proper reviews, but I shall get to this one soon for you.

Received another ARC in the post this morning, this time from Faber. They have sent me a copy of Paul Auster's new one - 4 3 2 1 (out January 31). I've enjoyed some of his shorter, slipstream stuff before now, but this is a 850+ page sprawling exploration of family, love and all the things in between. Looks like it could be an absolute cracker - we'll have to see... Synopsis Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four identical Fergusons made of the same DNA, four boys who are the same boy, go on to lead four parallel and entirely different lives. Family fortunes diverge. Athletic skills and sex lives and friendships and intellectual passions contrast. Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, yet each Amy and each Ferguson have a relationship like no other. Meanwhile, readers will take in each Ferguson’s pleasures and ache from each Ferguson’s pains, as the mortal plot of each Ferguson’s life rushes on. As inventive and dexterously constructed as anything Paul Auster has ever written, yet with a passion for realism and a great tenderness and fierce attachment to history and to life itself that readers have never seen from Auster before. 4 3 2 1 is a marvelous and unforgettably affecting tour de force... -- Sounds properly bonkers.

It had certainly been a while end to the autumn. The Loney by Andrew Hurley.

Oooh, Russian Magic Tales sounds very good - will be interested to know what you think. As for The Devil in the Marshalsea - great pick! I read this a couple of years ago and thought it was fantastic. Still need to get around to the sequel at some stage... *sighs* Also, no need to justify (unless it's to yourself) on here, Hayley! We're all just as bad.

Cool photos, Janet. Love Hot Fuzz. Completely bonkers film. Interesting to see you've bought a Betjeman collection. One of my grandma's favourite poets - she absolutely loves his stuff. Enjoy your new books anyway.

Sadly ill... Full of cold and was actually physically sick through the night. Had managed to brave most of this week at work (bit of sniffles never hurt anyone!) but unfortunately had to ring in this morning - and because of actual sickness was advised to not go in tomorrow either. It's frustrating - I'd honestly rather be busy/not feeling unwell/at work, but what can you do? *shrugs* Going to spend a few days resting up, reading when I feel up to it, probably watching sport on the telly and drinking copious amounts of tea.

Thanks Noll, I actually thought of you when I picked it up, probably because it's so mysterious and atmospheric. Will let you know how I get on.

Finished David Mitchell's Slade House yesterday - which was good, but I think I've missed out by not reading The Bone Clocks first (didn't realise I needed to). Been unwell this week so not felt like reading much, but plodding away. Have started The Loney by Andrew Hurley and I'm very interested to see where it goes...

Well I just watched Novak Djokovic get dispatched in the second round of the Australian Open by a wildcard so that was fun.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting till I get better before I properly review David Mitchell's Slade House - which I did enjoy, but which I also feel lost something because I haven't read The Bone Clocks (my fault, didn't realise I needed to) and through its disjointed narrative - I'm going to have a go with Andrew Hurley's The Loney. It looks fab but has also had some disappointing reviews, so interested to see how I get on... Synopsis If it had another name, I never knew, but the locals called it the Loney - that strange nowhere between the Wyre and the Lune where Hanny and I went every Easter time with Mummer, Farther, Mr and Mrs Belderboss and Father Wilfred, the parish priest. It was impossible to truly know the place. It changed with each influx and retreat, and the neap tides would reveal the skeletons of those who thought they could escape its insidious currents. No one ever went near the water. No one apart from us, that is. I suppose I always knew that what happened there wouldn't stay hidden for ever, no matter how much I wanted it to. No matter how hard I tried to forget... -- Reckon I'll really like this.