Jump to content

Vodkafan's Reading Blog 2018


vodkafan

Recommended Posts

Welcome to my  2018 reading experience,    Ah, last year was terrible  for reading. But, I am still here!  So  no big changes  in format for this year,  no reading challenges just a mass of books on my TBR to get through, mostly carried over unchanged from previous  couple of years.  And I still haven't mastered the link thingy yet , so reviews are found buried in the following pages: sorry if that is confusing to anybody.


(k) denotes kindle ebook
® denotes book read primarily for research purposes
 keeping the same simple rating system this year:
1/5: I didn't like it
2/5: It was okay
3/5: I liked it
4/5: I really liked it
5/5: It was amazing!

 

Books Read in 2018

 

January

Night Lamp  Jack Vance  (re-read)

To Live Forever  Jack Vance  (re-read)

S.T.A.R. Flight  EC Tubb       2/5

The American Henry James   5/5

February

A Ticket To Oblivion  Edward Marston  2/5

Destination Void  Frank Herbert  ABANDONED

March

The Serpent Jane Gaskill  3/5

April

May 

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street  Natasha Pulley 4/5

The Way We Live Now  Anthony Trollope 3/5

Wyst- Alastor 1716  Jack Vance 4/5 (re-read)

June

Ready Player One    Ernest Cline 2/5

At Home                   Bill Bryson  3/5

July

Jamrach's Menagerie  Carol Birch 5/5

Under The Eagle  Simon Scarrow  1/5

Son Of The Tree   Jack Vance      2/5

August

The Historian Elizabeth Kostova  3/5

Coster Girls & Mudlarks Belinda Hollyer (edited) 4/5

The Newgate Calender  G T Wilkinson  3/5 

September

The Siege Of Krishnapur JG Farrell  3/5

The Gray Prince Jack Vance   (RE-read)  3/5

Night Frost  R D Wingfield  1/5

Night Lamp Jack Vance (re-read)

The Book Of The Dead  John Lloyd, John Michelson  3/5

October

The Languages Of Pao  Jack Vance  (re-read 4/5)

Mayhem  Sarah Pinborough  4/5

Mortal Engines Philip Reeves 3/5

Little Women Louisa May Alcott  ABANDONED

November

Pure Andrew Miller  4/5

The Rivers Of London  Ben Aaronovitch 4/5

Alone In Berlin Hans Fallada  4/5

A Christmas Journey Anne Perry 1/5

December

 The Jesus Incident Frank Herbert (and someone else) ABANDONED

 

Edited by vodkafan
addition
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The TBR Pile organised!

 

Victorian authors, obscure works and classics

 

The Poor Gentleman                                     Hendrick Conscience    

Two On A Tower      

The Return Of The Native

A Laodician

A Pair Of Blue Eyes

Jude The Obscure

The Woodlanders

Far From The Madding Crowd                         all above by

The Mayor of Casterbridge                             Thomas Hardy 

Post Haste                                                    RM Ballantyne           

Autobiography Of Anthony Trollope

Lady Anna

Miss Mackenzie                                                4 above by

The Way We Live Now                                  Anthony Trollope       

Twelve Years A Slave                                    Solomon Northup         

Letters Of Two Brides                                       Balzac                   

Birds Of Prey

Charlotte's Inheritance

Run To Earth A Novel

The Doctor's Wife

Lady Audley's Secret                                    Mary Elizabeth Braddon 

Little Dorrit                                                    Charles Dickens

The Mill On The Floss

Madame Bovary

Tess of The d'urbervilles

Lady Susan

   Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters

The Last Man

Maria, Or The Wrongs Of Woman

Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

The Perpetual Curate

Equality

Looking Backward 2000-1887

Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde
Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irvine

Shirley

Bleak House 
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde 
The Moonstone 
The Woman In White 
Ruth

The Importance Of Being Earnest 
Basil
Les Miserables 
Mrs Oliphant

Confessions Of An English Opium Eater Thomas De Quincey 

Testament Of Youth                                        Vera Brittain
 

 

 

Books set in Victorian times by modern authors

 

Under A Cloud-Soft Sky

The Singing Winds

Shelter From The Storm

Snow Angels

Pure - Andrew Miller

The Road To Samarcand                                 Patrick O'Brian 

 

 

 

Reference works and 18th-19th century history, social history

 

London The Biography                                Peter Ackroyd

The Siege Of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell

The Dictionary Of London

Raj Lawrence James

The Age of Revolution 1789-1848 
The Age Of Capital 1848-1875 
The Age Of Empire 1875-1914 

Slavery A New Global History Jeremy Black
Balti Britain - Ziauddin Sardar

Asians In Britain  400 years of History  Rozina Visram

 

 

       

 

Random must reads

 

 

 

Nice To See It To See It Nice                      Brian Viner 

It's A Small Medium And Outsize World  John Taylor

Connections

Rules For Virgins

The Life And Loves Of A She Devil

The Passion Of New Eve

The Haunted Hotel

Ten Interesting Things About Human Behaviour 

Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth  (autobiography)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman (biography of Paul Erdos) 

The White Mists Of Power Kristine Kathryn Rusch         

I Think I'm OK

Undercover: The True Story Of Britain's Secret Police

King Solomon's Carpet  Barbara Vine

A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark

Good Behaviour  Molly Keane

Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
One Day David Nichols

Geisha Liza Dalby
In The Heart Of The Sea Nathanial Philbrick
Spycatcher Peter Wright
Rivers Of London Ben Aaronovitch
The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans
The German Invasion Of Norway Geirr H Haarr

Accidents In The Home Tessa Hadley
Devoted Ladies Molly Keane
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
Lord Of The Flies William Golding
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Untying The Knot Linda Gillard

One of Our Thursdays Is Missing,
Thursday Next First Among Sequels,
Something Rotten,
The Well Of Lost Plots,
Lost In A Good Book,
The Eyre Affair 
Jasper Fforde

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson

Alone In Berlin

The Terror 
Round the Bend

Two Eggs On My Plate Oluf Reed Olsen
Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 
Nerd Do Well Simon Pegg
Forensic Clues To Murder Brian Marriner 
The Voyage Out Virginia Woolf 
The Book Of The Dead

The Serpent

The Dragon

Atlan

The City        all by Jane Gaskell

Renoir My Father Jean Renoir

Shopping, Seduction And Mr Selfridge  Lindy Woodhead

7 Trips Through Time And Space  anthology

Night Watch Andrew m Stephenson

At Home   Bill Bryson

Dorian Will Self

 

 

 

SF

Out Of Time-Five tales of Time Travel

Strange Loops

The Time Travel Megapack

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov

The Green Brain Frank Herbert
The Steampunk megapack (26 stories)
Viridis
Lady Of Devices A Steampunk Adventure
Steampunk Erotica

Best New SF 25
Meeting At Infinity John Brunner

Foundation                                                       Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun                                                 Isaac Asimov

Of All Possible Worlds William Tenn 
The Makeshift Rocket Poul Anderson 
Life The Universe and Everything
More Than Super-Human AE VAN Vogt 

Edited by vodkafan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Hayley said:

You have some brilliant books on your list and some I really want to read this year too. Hope you have a great reading year! :)

 

Thanks Hayley. I will drop in on your blog and have a look what books you have on your list to inspire me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Hayley said:

I read a book last year that you might like actually, Jamrach's Menagerie. It's set in the Victorian period and very well written. I'd be happy to send you my copy if you'd like to try it?

Oh yes please. Do you want to do a swap for something on my list(s) ?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Happy Reading in 2018 ! :)

 

Hurray for Jasper Fforde and Henry James ; I`m up to date and feverishly waiting for the next Fforde, but keep meanng to get round to more Henry James. :)

 

Thanks Little Pixie you too! The American has been fantastic, I am near the end and at a most critical turn of events! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The American                                 5/5

Henry James

 

I loved this book! By Golly that is the way to write a story! Create some characters then make them real so that the reader starts to care what happens to them. Create a simple central scenario that gives them all motivation to move the plot along. Then contrive a set of events that tests all the characters to their very limits and beyond. 

None of the principal characters remains the same by the end of the story. I really like that in a book. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Little Pixie said:

Have you read The Wings of the Dove ? I read the last 30-40 pages like it was a trashy thriller, hunched over and feverishly turning the pages to find out what happens. :)

 

No I will have to add that one to my list thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

I have had a small purge of books and a few DVDs on my shelves. About 40 books to go. Sadly most of them only recently acquired that never even made it onto my official TBR list, so I don't even have the satisfaction of seeing that go down significantly. Then the same day I promptly walked into Oxfam and bought 4 more books! They are all about Victorian subjects so I could not resist them. One is a history of Regent Street in London published in 1975 , complete with many old photographs and reproductions of original architect's plans etc,. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 13.1.2018 at 3:23 PM, vodkafan said:

Welcome to my  2018 reading experience,    Ah, last year was terrible  for reading. But, I am still here! 

 

Oh but where else would we ever go.... :D  I'm sorry that last year was not a good reading year for you. Here's hoping this one will be a much better! :readingtwo:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, frankie said:

 

Oh but where else would we ever go.... :D  I'm sorry that last year was not a good reading year for you. Here's hoping this one will be a much better! :readingtwo:

 

Thanks Frankie hope yours is good too!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, vodkafan said:

I have had a small purge of books and a few DVDs on my shelves. About 40 books to go. Sadly most of them only recently acquired that never even made it onto my official TBR list, so I don't even have the satisfaction of seeing that go down significantly. Then the same day I promptly walked into Oxfam and bought 4 more books! They are all about Victorian subjects so I could not resist them. One is a history of Regent Street in London published in 1975 , complete with many old photographs and reproductions of original architect's plans etc,. 

 

Books are an addiction, but such a great one. I can understand your inability to resist. But hey, we're all made of flesh and blood, right? Temptation can overwhelm us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Alexander the Great said:

 

Books are an addiction, but such a great one. I can understand your inability to resist. But hey, we're all made of flesh and blood, right? Temptation can overwhelm us.

 

It sure can!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Ticket To Oblivion                  2/5

Edward Marston

 

A quick read in the popular "Railway Detective" series.  Detective Inspector Colbeck this time has to solve the mystery of a young lady and her maid who have disappeared seemingly into thin air after boarding a train but not getting off at the destination. 

These books are a formula but they are enjoyable simple stories.  I like the setting and it makes one think of how world-changing the advent of the railways was back then. I have read four of them now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...