Kylie

I just found out some news that might interest you, Kay. There's another expansion pack being released for Marrying Mr Darcy. It's an Emma expansion! I found it on Kickstarter—it looks like the people who donated will be receiving it soon, so hopefully it will be available for the rest of us soon (I'm still looking for someone to play MMD with me! ).

I finished The Strange Crime of John Boulnois by GK Chesterton and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. About to start reading Now We Are Six by AA Milne. I chose a short book so I can finish it by the end of the year and therefore achieve my goal of reading more books than I bought in 2015.

Congrats on reading 100 books, Tim! I've only ever managed that once, and I've never come remotely close to doing it again. I'd love to know how I did it the first time! Under the Skin is on my 'priority list' for next year. I'm determined to read it soon!

Welcome back Laura! So glad to have you here again. Congrats on the addition to your family. I'm glad to see you've already been busily making him into a reader (I'm doing the same to my niece ).

I was always particularly fond of this one. My schools were so boring compared to American schools!

You're doing very well in this challenge, June. How did you find Hiroshima? I'm keen to read this one day.

I think he likes staying at my friend's place. They have cats and dogs and generally more activity, so Jasper probably enjoys having a bit of an active lifestyle for a while. His cats are outdoor cats, though, and they nearly always pass on fleas to my boy. My friend and I usually FaceTime (Mac version of Skype) so yeah, I always get to see him.

I don't really read picture books (I give plenty to my niece as gifts, but her parents read them to her ). But from your list I love The Giving Tree and The Monster at the End of This Book. I love the illustrations in Winnie the Pooh. Ooh, and I remember loving Wombat Stew by Marcia Vaughan. Graeme Base is a wonderful Australian author and illustrator of books such as Animalia and The Eleventh Hour.

Here's an article mentioning some new releases in 2016. I've summarised some of the new books below, but please be sure to check out the link, as there are many I haven't mentioned below. Julian Barnes The Noise of Time (January) 'Set in 1930s Russia, The Noise of Time is about the life of the composer Shostakovich.' Yann Martel The High Mountains of Portugal (February) 'It is about a quest for a lost relic which takes the reader from Africa in the 1600s to contemporary North America.' Jessie Burton The Muse (July) 'The Muse is set during the Spanish Civil War and 30 years later in London. It tells the story of a young Caribbean immigrant and a bohemian artist.' Stella Gibbons Pure Juliet (January) A lost novel! 'It tells the story of a teenager who runs away from the life her parents have planned for her.' Philip Norman Macca: The Life of Paul McCartney 'The first full biography written with Paul McCartney's approval and with access to his close family and friends.' (Kylie says: Wasn't Barry Miles' Many Years from Now authorised by Paul?)

No, not yet. It's on my wishlist. Have you read it? I've only really read Blaine Harden's Escape from Camp 14.

Your favourite read of the year? Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, closely followed by Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee. And although I 'only' gave it a rating of 9/10, I'm going to include Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves. It's the most unique, intriguing, disturbing, exciting, difficult and rewarding book I've ever read. Your favourite author of the year? Very difficult! There's no way I can choose one. I'd probably choose Agatha Christie for consistently excellent stories. Alan Bradley, Boris Akunin, MRC Kasasian and Daphne du Maurier were authors I'd never previously read, and I absolutely loved them all. Patricia Highsmith was predictably brilliant and is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Your most read author of the year? Lois Lowry, with 5 books (the final 3 books in The Giver quartet, and two Anastasia Krupnik books). Your favourite book cover of the year? I'm quite partial to the covers for Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series and Chris Priestley's Tales of Terror from the Black Ship. The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? I still have a problem with abandoning books, but Inkspell and Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke have been testing me. I started reading Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel early in the year but only read 100 or so pages. I loved it and intend to finish it, but it's a kind of heavy-going non-fiction book, so I found it difficult to pick up and read. The book that most disappointed you? Underground by Haruki Murakami. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time and it was really rather terrible. The book basically comprises interviews with victims of the Tokyo subway sarin gas attack. It's a fascinating historical event, but Murakami's poor execution made it very dull. The funniest book of the year? Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. Loved it! Your favourite literary character this year? The narrator of Rebecca was a favourite, as she reminded me a lot of myself. I also loved the witty exchanges between Sydney Grice and March Middleton in MRC Kasasian's Gower Street Detective series. Your favourite children's book this year? Hmm...I'd have to say Roald Dahl's Rhyme Stew. Wonderful! Your favourite classic of the year? Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I'd wanted to read it for years, and I had a feeling I'd love it. It totally lived up to the wonderful things I'd heard about it. Your favourite non-fiction book this year? The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. Absolutely fascinating account of serial killer Ted Bundy. Your favourite biography this year? I didn't read any biographies this year. Your favourite collection of short stories this year? I only read one collection of short stories this year: Chris Priestley's Tales of Terror from the Black Ship, but it probably would have been my favourite even if I'd read other collections. I love Priestley's Tales of Terror books and wish he'd write more! Your favourite poetry collection this year? Only read Roald Dahl's Rhyme Stew, which was awesome. Your favourite illustrated book of the year? I read Quentin Blake's A Christmas Carol at the beginning of the year. I adore Quentin Blake and love A Christmas Carol, so I was always going to love this edition. Your favourite publisher of the year? I'm going to say HarperCollins for their lovely editions of Agatha Christie's novels. I still have many to collect, but I'm getting there! Your favourite audiobook of the year? I don't listen to audiobooks. Your favourite re-read of the year? Quentin Blake's A Christmas Carol (although this illustrated edition was new to me, I've read the story many times) and Norton Juster's The Dot and the Line, which is a gorgeous little book.

For those of you on Goodreads, you can check out 'My Year in Books'. It's pretty cool. Here's mine.

I'm expecting my TBR pile to reach 2,000 by mid February.

I don't have any series that I want to start, but there are a few I want to continue, so I might answer with those, if that's OK. Boris Akunin Erast Fandorin Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce Kerry Greenwood Phryne Fisher Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse Terry Pratchett Discworld I'm hoping to read two books from each series, but three from Charlaine Harris (which will mean I finally finish the series).

That's true, and I suppose that's the ultimate reason why I haven't bought them - I just don't have the money!

I'm re-watching them now, Kell. I know the special takes place in a different era, but I felt like immersing myself in the show again. Currently watching the last episode of the first series.

Very true, Claire!

Is everyone getting excited for the new Sherlock? I am! I'm contemplating going to the cinema to see it; otherwise I'll have to wait too long. It'll be shown in cinemas here at 11.30 am on the 2nd of January, which I think is quite close to the UK air time.

I ended up looking it up and it turns out I was confusing Skeleton Crew with Night Shift (I always confuse them). I'm nearly positive that I've read Skeleton Crew before, but none of the titles sounded familiar when I looked it up. But the stories in Night Shift (including the two I asked you about) are very familiar to me. I think I must have read the book 2 or 3 times. Either that or the stories were so creepy that they really had a lasting effect on me! Anyway, the reason I asked about The Lawnmower Man is because my mum has a gardener that comes to her place occasionally to mow her lawns. She kept calling him The Lawnmower Man (not knowing anything about Stephen King) and I had to ask her to stop because it kept reminding me of the creepy dude in that story. Now she calls him by his actual name. I'm still reading Inkdeath. Determined to finish it by the end of the year, even though I'm busy with work. Also reading a novella (actually, just noticed that it's two short stories) by GK Chesterton called The Strange Crime of John Boulnois.

Not boring at all, Michelle. I've been tempted to keep mine simple, but I've put so much working into keeping my lists updated that it seems a shame not to keep going. Will 2016 be the Year of the Graphic Novel for you? I'm very much looking forward to reading your thoughts about them. Sandman sounds great. Will definitely be looking into it.

Thanks for the info, James. It sounds intriguing! I'm afraid a lot of it would go over my head, though, because I've only read a few of his novels. Still might check it out though.

I read the book after seeing the poster. I thought it was hugely disappointing (rather boring). The poster is much better.

Maybe I just talk about books so much that it seems like I read more than I do. If I spent less time online, I'd have more time for reading!

Huzzah! I've finished setting up my reading log for 2016. I'm looking forward to another great year of reading! Happy reading in 2016, everyone.

Blank post