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Hayley's Reading in 2017


Hayley

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I always feel excited starting a new book blog  :mrgreen: I have a good feeling about my reading this year, with some great looking books on my shelf to start me off (but more on that in the next post...) 

 

I've set a Goodreads goal of 50 books this year (again) because eventually I will actually reach it  :P

 

 

 

On My Shelf:

 

Abercrombie, Joe. Best Served Cold

Abercrombie, Joe. Half a King

Abercrombie, Joe. Half the World

Abercrombie, Joe. Red Country

Adams, Douglas. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Adams, Douglas. Life, The Universe and Everything

Adams, Douglas. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish

Ballantyne, R.M. The Coral Island

Banks, Iain. The Bridge

Banks, Iain M. The Algebraist

Banks, Iain M. Consider Phlebas

Banks Iain M. Excession

Banks Iain M. Feersum Endjinn

Banks Iain M. Inversions

Banks, Iain M. Look to Windward

Banks Iain M. Matter

Banks Iain M. The Player of Games

Banks Iain M. Use of Weapons

Beckett, Simon. Written in the Bone

Breverton, Terry. Breverton's Phantasmagoria: A Compendium of Monsters, Myths and Legends

British Myths and Legends vol. 1: Marvels and Magic. ed. Richard Barber

British Myths and Legends vol. 2: Heroes and Saints. "

British Myths and Legends vol 3. History and Romance. "

Butcher, Jim. Summer Knight

Byatt, A.S. The Children's Book

Carrell, J.L. The Shakespeare Curse

Christie, Agatha. Murder on the Orient Express 

Dickens, Charles. Bleak House

Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby

Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop

Dickens, Charles. The Pickwick Papers

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Return of Sherlock Holmes

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Valley of Fear

Doyle, Arthur Conan. His Last Bow

Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes

Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers

Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose 

Fasman, Jon. The Geographer's Library

Faulks, Sebastian. Birdsong

Galbraith, Robert. The Silkworm

Gaylin, Alison. Into the Dark

Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows

Grossmith, George and Weedon. The Diary of a Nobody

Hardie, Titania. The Rose Labyrinth

Hardy, Thomas. Under the Greenwood Tree

Harkness, Deborah. A Discovery of Witches

Irish Ghost Stories ed. David Stuart Davies

le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man

Marston, Edward. The Excursion Train

Marston, Edward. The Frost Fair

Marston, Edward. The Iron Horse

Marston, Edward. Murder on the Brighton Express

Marston, Edward. The Railway Detective

Marston, Edward. The Railway Viaduct

More, Thomas. Utopia

Morton, Kate. The Distant Hours

Mosse, Kate. Citadel

Owen, Lauren. The Quick

Peake, Mervyn. Titus Groan

Peake, Mervyn. Gormenghast

Peake, Mervyn. Titus Alone

Paterson, James. Witch and Wizard

The Penguin Book of English Short Stories Ed. Christopher Dolley 

Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov ed. Robert Chandler

Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men

Tolkien, J.R.R. Tree and Leaf, Smith of Wooton Major, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth

Verne, Jules. Five Weeks in a Balloon

Verne, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon

Verne, Jules. Round the Moon

Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

Wells, H.G. The Time Machine

Wells, H.G. The Island of Dr. Moreau

Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds

Wells, H.G. The First Men in the Moon

Wells, H.G. The Invisible Man

 

Acquired 2017:

 

Aaronovitch, Ben. The Furthest Station

Aaronovitch, Ben. The Hanging Tree

Atwood, Margaret. Alias Grace

Birch, Carol. Jamrach's Menagerie

Brontë, Anne. Agnes Grey

Brontë, Anne. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Brontë, Charlotte. The Professor

Brontë, Charlotte. Shirley

Brontë, Charlotte. Villette

Butcher, Jim. Blood Rites

Butcher, Jim. Dead Beat

Butcher, Jim. Death Masks

Butcher, Jim. Proven Guilty

Caine, Rachel, Ink and Bone

Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

De Muriel, Oscar. Mask of Shadows

Fforde, Jasper. The Big Over Easy

Fforde, Jasper. Lost in a Good Book

Fforde, Jasper. The Well of Lost Plots

Gaiman, Neil. Fragile Things

Gaiman, Neil. Smoke and Mirrors

Hardinge, Francis. The Lie Tree

Hodgson, Antonia. The Devil in the Marshalsea

Ishiguro, Kazuo, The Buried Giant

Macrae Burnet, Graeme. His Bloody Project

Miéville, China. Kraken

Miéville, China. The Scar

Perry, Anne. Bedford Square

Pulley, Natasha. The Watchmaker of Filigree Street

Pratchett, Terry. I Shall Wear Midnight

Pullman, Phillip. Lyra's Oxford

Ruickbie, Leo. The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters

Taylor, Jodi. A Trail Through Time

Taylor, Jodie. A Second Chance

Taylor, Jodie. A Symphony of Echoes 

Edited by Hayley
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Ok, first update of 2017  :smile:

 

The reason I'm particularly excited about the books on my shelf (actually quite a few of them are stacked on the floor while I try to make room...) is this... 

 

post-8023-0-81231600-1483473848_thumb.jpg

 

(I have no idea why it's sideways... it was the right way up when I started  :doh: )

 

These are my new books for 2017! My sister bought The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch for me and the others I ordered with some money I was given for Christmas.

 

They're mostly sequels to books I've already read, apart from the two Neil Gaiman ones which are short story collections (which I've wanted to read for ages!) and The Big Over Easy which is the first book in Fforde's Nursery Crime series. I just had to try it after The Eyre Affair which was so crazy and fun, hopefully it will be as good  :smile:

 

So lots to be excited about starting this year's reading! I'm not far from finishing Irish Ghost Stories now and I'll still be reading the books borrowed from my friend before I start on the new stack but I'm really looking forward to getting started on it :D   

 

 

 

 

 

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Hope it's okay to post Hayley. Anyway, wishing you a very Happy Reading Year in 2017  :hug:I've got the Nursery Crimes to read too .. I'm looking forward to it :)

I set a too high target at Goodreads last year (which meant they nagged me to death .. ALL year! :lol:) so I've tried to be more realistic this year .. hopefully :blush2: Good luck to you anyway  :smile:   

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Ooh, what great books in the pictures! Well I've not actually read any of them, I've only read The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde but like you, I fully intend to read more by him! And the Jim Butcher books look great, I have a few books by him waiting to be read :smile2: 

 

I hope you have a fabulous reading year in 2017! :smile2:  :readingtwo:

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Thanks everyone!  :smile:

I am really looking forward to the Jasper Fforde books, The Eyre Affair was so brilliantly crazy I need to see what he's going to write next  :D

 

I haven't had access to my laptop for the last few days (which is why it's taken me so long to reply!) because I ended up going on a spontaneous camping trip to Snowdonia. I did bring a book with me but I was so tired at the end of each day I just fell asleep without reading any so, although it was a lovely trip, I'm looking forward to getting back to my books now :D  

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Thank you Chrissy and Noll  :smile:

 

Time for the first review of the thread! I thought I'd try using pictures this year and make everything nice and neat so hopefully it will work out ok...

 

post-8023-0-09138000-1484752855_thumb.jpg

 

Irish Ghost Stories - Edited by David Stuart Davies

 

Comment: A Good Mix - Suitably Spooky

 

I was mostly drawn to this book by all the famous Victorian names on the front cover, particularly Bram Stoker because although I really liked 'Dracula', I've never read anything else by him. I wasn't disappointed by the Bram Stoker stories included in the collection, ('The Judge's House' and 'The Secret of Growing Old') in fact, I think they are probably the most scary (or creepy, at least) of the stories included. My two favourite stories though were probably 'What was it?' by Fitz James O'Brien and 'The Ghost at the Rath' by Rosa Mulholland and I don't think I've heard of either author before. Looking up the authors I didn't know was actually a really interesting part of reading this book (Mulholland, I found out, was encouraged by Charles Dickens to publish her work) and I do wish that more authors who are a little less well-known were included. There are ten in total and four I would say are well known (Sheridan le Fanu, Bram Stoker, W.B.Yeats and Oscar Wilde). More than half the book is taken up by Sheridan le Fanu, for example, which is understandable in a way because he's famous for his ghost stories but by the time I got to the last couple of his stories I did feel like I wanted to hurry on to something different.

Overall though it gave a good mix of styles and it was particularly interesting to me because of the era so I enjoyed it and would recommend it :smile:  

 

I've started Russian Magic Tales: from Pushkin to Platonov now and so far it seems really good!

 

I also had to add two new books to my 'Acquired 2017' list because I spotted The Devil in the Marshalsea in a charity shop and it's one of those books I've picked up a few times but never bought and then I went into The Works (not for myself, someone asked me if I could see if they had any diaries) and I saw The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters reduced from £14.99 to £3! I'm justifying buying more books with how good a deal that was so I don't feel guilty  :D

 

 

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I've started Russian Magic Tales: from Pushkin to Platonov now and so far it seems really good!

 

I also had to add two new books to my 'Acquired 2017' list because I spotted The Devil in the Marshalsea in a charity shop and it's one of those books I've picked up a few times but never bought and then I went into The Works (not for myself, someone asked me if I could see if they had any diaries) and I saw The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters reduced from £14.99 to £3! I'm justifying buying more books with how good a deal that was so I don't feel guilty  :D

 

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. :lol:

 

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Thanks Athena!  :smile:

 

 

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*

 

Oooh there's a sequel!? Glad to hear you liked it so much, I'm happy I finally picked it up now! 

 

Second review of the year time  :smile:

 

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Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov - Edited by Robert Chandler

 

Comment: Brilliantly Assembled

 

I know my comment for this might seem a strange one but the thing that really stood out to me while reading this book is the way it's put together. I knew from the blurb that the magic tales included are a mixture of original oral tales collected by folklorists and reworkings of other oral tales by prominent Russian authors. Until I started reading though I didn't realise that the tales are organised by date, taking you from the earliest collected oral tales through to the early twentieth-century and on to the soviet period. This really makes you feel like you can understand the way in which the tales progressed and changed through time. As well as this the stories are divided into sections by author and each author has a concise and interesting little biography, letting you know the context in which the tales were written and the potential influences behind them. There's a great range of authors too, about 15 in total, all with such incredible life stories and different styles.

The tales themselves were very good too with some really interesting imagery and moral messages. My favourites were probably the ones related to the 'Mistress of the Copper Mountain' with her underground world where even the grass and trees are carved from coloured stone. This book would be brilliant for anybody interested in the history of folklore and fairy tale, anyone interested in Russian literature or even anyone who wants some interesting short stories.

I would definitely recommend  :smile:

 

 

I started reading A Discovery of Witches a couple of days ago. Part of me is a little bit worried it might turn into a cheesy romance. So far it's mostly about books though so it's not going too badly  :giggle2:

 

 

 

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I loved the Devil in the Marshalsea, the sequel's good too and there's a third book as well.

 

Ooooh both good to know! I'm looking forward to this book a lot more since I mentioned it on here  :D

 

 

 

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A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

 

Comment: Great idea but many flaws

 

I'm a little on the fence about this book. There is a lot going on and while I got really wrapped up in some threads of the story there were others I was really unimpressed with. There are two main plots to follow. One is about a mysterious magic book (the one I liked) and the other is a romance which, in my opinion, was far too unbelievable (yes, more so than the magic book :P ) and took away from characters I would otherwise have liked.

There are also very clear themes of sexism and racism in the book. The way it dealt with the racism issue wasn't too bad but some of the sexism comments made me cringe. It felt like the author was trying far too hard to point out that she agreed with gender equality at times when the story was getting a bit sketchy on the subject. On the other hand I really liked the settings, the magic was interesting, there's lots of books involved which is always a good thing and the mystery did keep me hooked. I am considering buying the next book, because I do want to find out how this mystery turns out. Ultimately this was a very easy read with interesting aspects and a good mystery but it had a lot holding me back from loving it too.

 

I have one more borrowed book left to read, Written in Bone by Simon Beckett. It looks like it should be quite good but I also can't wait to finish it because I've been waiting to read Ben Aaronovitch's The Hanging Tree for ages and it is definitely next on the list :readingtwo:  

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