Nollaig

I think it sounds a bit childish ABC 123.

True I suppose. I must have a proper look at the Graphic Novels thread. I'm wondering has Blankets been mentioned. Been meaning to give that one a go for aaaaaages.

Happy reading in 2016, Gaia!

Happy reading in 2016 I've seen some of the graphic novel discussion going round the place. I've read some Japanese manga (not quite the same but similar) but I find them more difficult to focus on than regular books so Ive never heavily gotten into them - I find it too easy to skim and not pay enough attention to whats going on in the pictures. Hope you enjoy your new venture into reading them!

Haven't finished any more books in the last 4 days, so I think my number for the year might be sticking at 123. Which, realistically, beats both targets I set myself - originally 100, upped to 120 about halfway through the year when I realised 100 wouldnt be a problem.

I don't think I'll be participating (brilliant start, I know!) because I have a friend coming over Saturday.

Yep, I do the same. I had a few really bad years up until this year. Im determined to get in an least an hour's reading every day no matter what this year. I find, whatever the other distraction might be, if I just make myself pick up a book, I will actually happily read it for a while.... it's picking it up is the problem!

I haven't been able to focus on reading over the last few days. Might try finish Spill Simmer Falter Wither today, but 123 is a good number so I might keep it to kickstart the new reading year tomorrow

Happy reading in 2016 Chalie! Looking forward to stealing ideas from your reading lists

I'm now up to 123 and hoping to hit 125 before the end of the year

[Contemporary] Irish Counties Challenge Full county/author/book listings and reviews be followed here. #1 Cork - Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume - 3/5 - Asking For It by Louise O'Neill - - Distress Signals by Catherine Ryan Howard 4/5 #2 Donegal - The Black Snow by Paul Lynch - 5/5 - Bogmail by Patrick McGinley - 3/5 #3 Tyrone - About Sisterland by Martina Devlin 3/5 - The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien #4 Westmeath - Long Time, No See by Dermot Healy 3/5 #5 Kildare - The Herbalist by Niamh Boyce - 5/5 #6 Tipperary - The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan - 4/5 #7 Kerry - The Last Days Of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlin - 5/5 #8 Wexford* - The Guns of Easter by Gerard Whelan #9 Derry* - The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna - 4/5 #10 Down - A Parachute in the Lime Tree by Annemarie Neary - 3/5 #11 Antrim - Time Present and Time Past by Deirdre Madden - 3/5 #12 Longford - Solace by Belinda McKeon - 5/5 #13 Roscommon - The Deposition of Father McGreevy by Brian O'Doherty - 2/5 #14 Wicklow - Foster by Claire Keegan 3/5

Sherlock's on the telly, so watching that

It's honestly a beautiful story

Yesterday I bought myself Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume and The Thing About December by Donal Ryan

Today was Winter in Ireland, 5/6 degrees. Back up to 12 tomorrow. Since yesterday we've had very high winds and heavy rain and hail. Yesterday the wind tore the paper bags I was carrying, at the handles. Got soaked yesterday and today! Wish the rain would stop at least.

Andre Rieu doing some Christmas carols on the telly

I'm onto The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes, the first set of short stories. Looking forward to these and hoping they won't have so much background set in foreign countries featuring tons of exotic backstories for characters getting arrested! It's a bit like reading two different stories. Also reading Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Not very far in yet.

Statistics (updated monthly) Books and authors: Tree books: 7 E-books: 88 Total books: 95 Total authors: 84 Previously unread authors: 75/95 (79%) Irish authors: 14 Previously unread Irish authors: 14/14 (100%) Categories: Adult Fiction: 79 Non-Fiction: 1 Young Adult Fiction: 11 Translated/Foreign Novels: 1 Irish Counties Challenge: 14 Comic Collections: 4 Ratings: Five stars: 14 Four stars: 30 Three stars: 36 Two stars: 10 One star: 4

Favourite Quotes: In order to keep this post short, and so I can build it up over the coming years, I'll put previous years' quotes in Spoiler tags, to be expanded and collapsed as necessary. The quotes themselves contain no spoilers! 2015 2016

Still tropical. Heavy rain, strong winds, temperatures between 11-13 degrees.

Demanding in its length but a great read. I finished All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Really read like a John Green knockoff with no heart. Read A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle (I nearly typed 'by Sherlock Holmes!') I'd never read any Sherlock novels/stories before, but since a friend of mine got me a beautiful complete works collector's edition, I decided to get them on my tablet (the book is too big, pretty and heavy to read out of) and start them. LOVED A Study In Scarlet and am now onto The Sign of the Four.

I enjoyed it, but that doesn't mean it was good. I rate out of 5 by enjoyment, not by objective quality You should definitely try Dark Matter!

Wishlist (General) Hollow World - Michael J. Sullivan The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman Exchange - Paul Magrs The Future Of Us - Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler The Dynamite Room by Jason Hewitt Something by Wally Lamb maybe The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell (maybe) All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr The Old Man And The Sea - Ernest Hemmingway Quiet - Susan Cain Malcolm Gladwell - The Tipping Point The Quick - Lauren Own Love Virtually - Daniel Glattaeur The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks Just a Geek - Wil Wheaton Wool - Hugh Howey Something by Marcus Sedgwick Tomorrow, When The War Began - John Marsden Cat Out Of Hell - Lynne Truss The Memory Box - Eva Lesko Natiello Death Of A Superhero - Anthony McCarten The Man In The Window - Jon Cohen How Dogs Love Us - Gregory Berns The Glass Arrow - Kristen Simmons The Year of the Rat - Clare Furniss Me & Mr. J - Rachel McIntyre Cut Both Ways - Carrie Mesrobian Flawed - Kate Avelynn Finding Bethany - Glen Klinkhart To Serve Them All My Days - R. F. Delderfield We Are All Made Of Stars - Rowan Coleman How To Build A Girl - Caitlin Moran - Louis Sachar Future Perfect - Jen Larsen Trouble - Non Pratt The Curvy Girls Club - Michele Gorman The One I Left Behind - Jennifer McMahon Timebound - Rysa Walker His First, His Second - A. D. Davies The Fire Sermon - Francesca Haig Summer At Shell Cottage - Lucy Diamond The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies by Martin Millar The Language of Flowers - by Vanessa Diffenbaugh The Wall - Marlen Haushofer Fractured series - Teri Teri Blood and Feather - Lou Morgan The Dead House - Dawn Kurtagich Broken Dolls - Tyrolin Puxty (Paula) Something by Raymond Carver (Anna) The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (Janet, book #2) Wishlist (Irish Authors) Under The Hawthorne Tree - Marita Conlon-McKenna Noah Barleywater Runs Away - John Boyne The Book of Evidence - John Banville Foster - Claire Keegan Star Of The Sea - Joseph O'Connor The Accident Season - Moïra Fowley-Doyle The Apple Tart of Hope - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald Young Skins - Colin Barrett The Big Chapel - Thomas Kilroy City Of Bohane - Kevin Barry The Green Road - Anne Enright The Story Of Lucy Gault - William Trevor Something by Pauline McLynn The Talk Of The Town - Ardal O'Hanlon Bird in the Snow - Michael Harding Seeds of Doubt - James Ryan The Little Hammer - John Kelly Death and Plenty - Brian Leyden Something by John McGahern Pretending - Caroline Williams The House Where It Happened - Martina Devlin Thy Tears Might Cease - Michael Farrell After The Rising - Orna Ross The Sea & The Silence - Peter Cunningham The Field - John B. Keane Mistaken - Neil Jordan The Dancers Dancing - Éilís Ní Dhuibhne To School Through The Fields - Alice Taylor Borderlands - Brian McGilloway The Butcher Boy - Patrick McCabe Thirteen Ways of Looking - Colum McCann

To Be Read The Thing About December - Donal Ryan (ICC) We Were Liars - E. Lockhart The Guest Cat - Takashi Hiraide The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton Long Lankin - Lindsey Barraclough - on hold The 10PM Question - Kate De Goldi The Bees - Laline Paull The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris The First 15 Lives Of Harry August - Claire North Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick The Undertaker's Daughter - Kate Mayfield The Bullet - Mary Louise Kelly Edge Of Dark Water - Joe R. Lansdale Skin - Kathe Koja Under The Poppy - Kathe Koja Disenchanted - Robert Kroese The Dark Water - Helen Moorhouse The Jester - James Patterson Twilight Robbery - Frances Hardinge The Crimson Petal & The White - Michael Faber A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing - Eimear McBride Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides Beyond Belief - Colm O'Gorman (ICC) Campari For Breakfast - Sara Crowe The Reckoning - Sarah Pinborough The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton Pieces Of Sky - Trinity Doyle

2015 Reading Log *** Green is read Yellow is in progress Grey is upcoming soon Red is abandoned (ICC) is Irish Counties Challenge *** Rating System Goodreads rating system. Based entirely on how much I enjoy a book, not on objective quality (because who am I to judge that!) 1/5 - Didn't like it 2/5 - It was okay 3/5 - Liked it 4/5 - Loved it 5/5 - It was amazing January (11) 1. Follow You Home - Mark Edwards - 3/5 2. Spill Simmer Falter Wither - Sara Baume 4/5 3. The Mammy - Brendan O'Carroll 3/5 4. Someone To Save You - Paul Pilkington 3/5 5. Under The Skin - Michael Faber 2/5 6. Our Endless Numbered Days - Claire Fuller 5/5 7. Wish Me Dead - Helen Grant 2/5 8. Mrs Brown's Family Handbook - Brendan O'Carroll 3/5 9. Birdman - Mo Hayder 3/5 10. An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth - Chris Hadfield 4/5 11. I'm Travelling Alone - Samuel Bjork 3/5 February (10) 12. The Black Snow - Paul Lynch 5/5 (ICC) 13. About Sisterland - Martina Devlin 3/5 (ICC) 14. The Love That Split The World - Emily Henry 3/5 15. The Girl With No Past - Kathryn Croft (2/5) 16. Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe - Cullen Bunn 4/5 17. Breeding Ground - Sarah Pinborough 3/5 18. Beside Myself - Ann Morgan 5/5 19. The Treatment - Mo Hayder 5/5 20. Ancestor - Scott Sigler 4/5 21. DeadPool Classic #1 3/5 March (12) 22. The Death of Bunny Munro - Nick Cave 3/5 23. Viral - Helen Fitzgerald 1/5 24. Coldbrook - Tim Lebbon 4/5 25. Because You'll Never Meet Me - Leah Thomas 5/5 26. Long Time, No See - Dermot Healy 3/5 (ICC) 27. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs 5/5 28. The Herbalist - Niamh Boyce 5/5 (ICC) 29. The Spinning Heart - Donal Ryan 4/5 (ICC) 30. Hollow City - Ransom Riggs 3/5 31. Bogmail - Patrick McGinley 3/5 (ICC) 32. A Parachute in the Lime Tree - Annemarie Neary 3/5 (ICC) 33. Radiance - Catherynne M. Valente 5/5 April (9) 34. The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah 4/5 35. Time Present and Time Past - Deirdre Madden 3/5 (ICC) 36. The Ice Twins - S.K. Tremayne 1/5 37. Behind Closed Doors - B. A. Paris 3/5 38. All The Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders 4/5 39. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories - Angela Carter 2/5 40. The 39 Steps - John Buchan 3/5 41. Me Before You - Jojo Moyles 4/5 42. The Missing - C. L. Taylor 4/5 May (11) 43. The Thing Itself - Adam Roberts 5/5 44. Push - Sapphire 4/5 45. Bete - Adam Roberts 3/5 46. The Quality of Silence - Rosamund Lupton - 3/5 47. Sleeping Giants - Sylvain Neuvel 3/5 48. Hex - Thomas Olde Heuvelt 4/5 49. The Dumb House - John Burnside 3/5 50. The Girl With All The Gifts - M. R. Carey 5/5 51. Sister - Rosamund Lupton 2/5 52. The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan - 4/5 53. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks 4/5 June (13) 54. The Driver's Seat - Muriel Spark 4/5 55. The Demonologist - Andrew Pyper 2/5 56. The Deadly Space Between - Patricia Duncker 2/5 57. We Should Hang Out Sometime - Josh Sundquist 5/5 58. The Wrong Train - Jeremy De Quidt 4/5 59. The Butterfly Garden - Dot Hutchison 3/5 60. The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge 3/5 61. The Man From Primrose Lane - James Renner 4/5 62. Solace - Belinda McKeon 5/5 (ICC) 63. The Third Policeman - Flann O'Brien 2/5 (ICC) 64. A Little Life - Hanya Yanigahara 5/5 65. The People in the Trees - Hanya Yanagihara 3/5 66. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Phillip K. Dick 3/5 July (11) 67. Distress Signals - Catherine Ryan Howard 4/5 68. The Woman in Cabin 10 - Ruth Ware 3/5 69. Foster - Claire Keegan (ICC) 3/5 70. The Deposition of Father McGreevy - Brian O'Doherty (ICC) 2/5 71. The Damage Done - Linda Newbery 4/5 72. Calvin & Hobbes - Bill Watterson 4/5 73. The Many Selves of Katherine North - Emma Geen 4/5 74. The Kind Worth Killing - Peter Swanson 3/5 75. Quarter Past Two on a Wednesday Afternoon - Linda Newbery 3/5 76. The Library at Mount Char - Scott Hawkins 3/5 77. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry 4/5 August (10) 78. I See You - Clare Mackintosh 4/5 79. Adulthood is a Myth - Sarah Andersen 5/5 80. Disclaimer - Renee Knight 2/5 81. 14 Days To Die - A. B. Whelan 1/5 82. Disappearance at Devil's Rock - Paul Tremblay 4/5 83. Before I Go To Sleep - S. J. Watson 3/5 84. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty 4/5 85. The Mist - Stephen King 3/5 86. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch 3/5 87. Lying in Wait - Liz Nugent 3/5 September (9) The Family Man - T.J. Lebbon 1/5 DNF 88. Monsters - Emerald Fennell 4/5 89. All Fall Down - Tom Bale 2/5 90. Salem's Lot - Stephen King 4/5 91. Naomi's Room - Jonathan Aycliffe 4/5 92. After Me Comes The Flood - Sarah Perry 1/5 93. Danse Macabre - Laura M. Hughes 4/5 94. Rawblood - Catriona Ward 3/5 95.The Hatching - Ezekiel Boone 4/5 96. Black Eyed Susans - Julia Heaberlin 3/5 October (5) 97. The Couple Next Door - Shari Lapena 2/5 98. A Head Full of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay 3/5 99. Never Alone - Elizabeth Haynes 2/5 100. The Travelling Bag - Susan Hill 3/5 101. We Eat Our Own - Kea Wilson 3/5 November (9) 102. Holding - Graham Norton 3/5 103. Thin Air - Michelle Paver 4/5 104. The Lottery - Shirley Jackson 2/5 105. The Wonder - Emma Donoghue 4/5 106. Murder At the Old Vicarage - Jill McGown - 3/5 107. In The Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes 4/5 108. The Smell of Other People's Houses - Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock 4/5 109. The Light of the Fireflies - Paul Pen 2/5 110. The Call of Cthulu and other Weird Tales - Lovecraft 3/5 111. One Monday Morning - Jennifer Burke 3/5 112. The Call - Peadar O'Guillín December (0) Total read: 112/120