Brian.

The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday (2/5) Ryan Holiday is marketer, entrepreneur, and writer who likes to talk and write about Stoicism and what benefits it can have in the modern world. I've seen a few of his YouTube videos and I have an interest in Stoicism so I have bought a few of his books. I picked this up yesterday afternoon as I was feeling a bit bored and fancied something different. By early evening I had finished the book and while that is usually a good sign, in this case it is not. The book isn't bad, there just isn't much substance to it and could easily have fitted into an essay. The core message is good but at times it is poorly argued. Holiday uses a lot of examples from history and while the American ones are not particularly familiar to me a few of the European ones are. Viktor Frankl is a great example of Stoicism but Margaret Thatcher and Erwin Rommel I would arge are not. In the end this was a big disappointment, I had expected more and I wonder if this is another case of an 'internet blogger' expanding a little on their blog posts and turning it into a book.

I had hoped to update this weekly, slipped a little bit last week as I didn't get as much reading in as I hoped. In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood (4/5) A side effect of watching the TV series Vikings is that I became aware how little I knew about British history, expecially the early leaders and their provenance. I saw this book online and thought it looked like a good primer on the dark ages so picked it up. What I wasn't aware of at the time is that it was written as an accompaniment to a BBC TV series from the late 70's, early 80's. The people the book picks out to explore are Boadicea, King Arthur, Sutton-Hoo man, Offa, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe, Ethelred the Unready, and William the Conqueror. All of these are covered in an introductory level of detail and provides good information backed up with sources. The writing is engaging and I found this to be a great toe dip into the huge subject of the dark ages. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (5/5) After decades of reading this book is has final achieved something that no other book has. It made me cry. On the surface this is a very simple tale about a grumpy old man called Ove who is the local busybody and thinks everyone else is an idiot. We learn that he lives alone after the death of his wife and decides in a rather matter of fact way that he should kill himself. This isn't done in a depressing way because apart from anger Ove doesn't really do emotions. Not wanting to cause any inconvenience he cleans the house and leaves instructions for what to do after his death. I don't want to write anything else for fear of spoiling it but the book was a solid 4/5 for me until the final chapter when it had me in tears and bumped itself up to a 5/5.

Checked checked this out and it looks really good, I'll have to get a copy for myself.

I think I'm the only person who can make sense of my shelves. I have a section of fine press books and those I want to keep but the rest are kind of all over the place but it makes odd sense to me. Nothing is in genre order or alphabetical but they are arranged roughly by book height as I like the maching aesthetic.

Awesome, my 2 favourite things, books and tea

Good luck with your reading year. It's good to see someone else on here reading as much non fiction as I do.

Happy reading for 2020 Gaia.

Definitely abandon books you don’t like, life is too short. I generally give a book 50-100 pages and if I still hate it, it gets DNF’d. My dark ages book is a much slower read as it’s packed with information so as a result I read about 100 pages yesterday.

I've had a very strong start to the year and read 3 books already, I don't think I've ever started a year strongly before. One of the threee is an audiobook as I have decided to make more of an effort to listen to audiobooks this year. Some people don't think audiobooks count but I don't subcribe to that way of thinking. An Inconvenient Death by Miles Goslett (3/5) A non-fiction book investigating the death of Dr David Kelly shortly after he inadvertently went head-to-head with the UK government's claims that Iraq could launch a biological or chemical weapon within 45 minutes. Kelly was probably the foremost expert in the UK when it came to biological weapons and was regularly engaged in weapons inspections in Iraq. An off the record discussion he had with a journalist was quoted in an article and lead to him being called before a select committee hearing and being questioned extensively. Goslett covers this apsect of the story in the first parts of the book but then goes into great detail about inconsistencies and suspicious things surrounding his suicide.I generally don't go in for conspiracy theories but a decent sized group of highly qualified doctors have questioned some of the findings and these questions have never been properly answered. Their doubts sound perfectly reasonable and really did make me think that there is something suspicious about the whole affair. I found the book interesting enough but it did get a bit repetitive after a while. Another issue I had with it is that Goslett seems to really go after inconsistencies in accounts given by Dr Kelly's wife. I understand bringing them up once but he really takes aim at her and almost tries to imply she may have had something to do with his death which is in bad taste at best. Witness accounts are notoriously unreliable, especially when there is a strong emotional connection. Red Dwarf Omnibus by Grant Naylor (5/5) This was an audiobook 'read' and I have read both Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers and Better Than Life before as stand alone books. This audiobook mashes both those books together and also some other parts from the TV show into one big story covering the Red Dwarf world. It is narrated by Chris Barrie who is frankly superb and I listened to this over the course of 2 nights while at work. I love everything about this, the story is great, the characters strong, the performance superb, and to top it all off it's really funny as well. I would highly recommend this to any Red Dwarf fan. Police by Jo Nesbo (5/5) Starting this book, the 10th book in the Harry Hole series I was struck that I had forgot exactly what had occured at the end of the last book. I thought this was a bit odd until I checked out my goodreads account and realised there has been three and a half year gap between my reading of book 9 and 10. As I really enjoyed the series so far this seems like a huge gap but I fell in love with Wallander in the inbetween years and he took priority for me over Harry Hole. Back to the book, this is a big one at 640 pages which encompasses a multitude of interlinked plots. I don't really think I can say anything else without spoiling it but Nesbo uses a lot of misdirection to keep you guessing as to what is going on. From memory this is also by far the darkest of the Harry Hole books and a part of the book had me pretty gutted at the outcome of one incident. It's not perfect and I understand some of the criticism in reviews I have read since finishing it but I just could not put it down. I rarely spend the entire day reading but yesterday I just had to finish it and for this reason I have to give it 5/5.

I just had to finish Police before I went to bed last night so my pages for Friday was in the region of 480 pages. I plan to make a start on In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood at some point today.

I had forgotten that the read-a-thin was this weekend but I have spent most of the day so far read Police by Jo Nesbo. I would estimate I’ve read about 300 pages so far and I’m hoping to finish the book tonight.

I finished up with 68 books read in 2019 which I am very happy with given how slowly I started the year.

I finished my first book of 2020 this morning and then this afternoon I made a start on Police by Jo Nesbo.

The only things I can work out from the pictures is that it seems to be the work of John or Jean Calvin. Given the date of 1594 probably John Calvin and it could be a biblical text. As Hayley said above you are best taking it to a professional.

Last set of mini reviews for the year. Killing Floor by Lee Child (3/5) I picked this one up at a local charity shop as a work colleague said I should give the Jack Reacher series a go. Despite being quite a big book (525 pages) I read it fairly quickly as the pace keeps things interesting enough. I initially found the very short sentences a bit grating but after a while got used to them and from then on had no problems with the writing style. The book was entertaining enough to keep me interested but as usual with these kinds of books the action is a bit ridiculous and I found some of the other characters, especially the love interest, pretty one dimensional. I will probably read the next book in the series at some point in the future. No Way Down by Graham Bowley (4/5) A non-fiction book telling the story of the 2008 climbing season on K2 and the events that lead up to the deaths of 11 climbers. I really like books about super high altitude climbing and this is one of the best ones I have read. Differently from a lot of books on the subject this one is written by a journalist instead of a climber and its helps in 2 main ways. Firstly, being a trained writer the book is better written than most. Secondly, Bowley tries to approach the story from a neutral viewpoint and presents the differing accounts as they are leaving the reader to make any judgments. The events sound harrowing and further reading on the subject and K2 in particular indicate that this kind of thing will happen again. K2 is a much harder mountain to climb than Everest, more and more climbers will low levels of experience are attempting it and this will only result in more deaths. Anyone attempting to climb K2 should read this first in my opinion. Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre (1/5) One of the 1001 list books. I hated it, I wanted to abandon it 3 or 4 times but for some reason I stuck it out. When I finished it I threw it across the room. The writing style is painful to read, the story is all over the place and its frankly a mess.

I managed to finish it yesterday and celebrated by throwing it across the room.

I've started with Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre and although I am only 50 pages into it I am really struggling to get on with it.

For reading I would always recommend going for a dedicated e-reader over a tablet as the screen is definitely easier on the eyes. I also really like the fact that it's distraction free, something you have already picked up on. When I read on an e-reader it's all I do but whenever I use a phone, tablet, or computer of some kind I always find myself getting distracted by the internet.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all

67 and I may finish the 68th by the end of the year with any luck.

I love these kind of threads. Favourite read? Probably The Spy & the Traitor by Ben Macintyre Favourite author? A tough one as there is only one author I have read more than once but the person who's writing has stuck in my mind most is George Eliot. Most read author? Frederick Forsyth Favourite book cover? Book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? Milkman by Anna Burns. I just couldn't tolerate the writing style. I found it too grating. Book you liked the least (if different to book abandoned)? As above, Milkman. Book that most disappointed you?
 The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe. Its the first Poe I've read and as he is considered one of the greats I expected to like it far more than I did. It hasn't put me off his work though. Funniest book?
 A Beer in the Loire by Tommy Barnes. An unexpectedly good read with loads of laugh mainly focused around a misbehaving dog called Bert. Favourite literary character? Silas Marner. As soon as I started to read about him I could see him in my minds eye perfectly. 
Favourite children's book?
 N/A Favourite classic?
 Probably Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. None of the classics really rocked my boat and I would say Silas Marner but I want to add some variety into my answers. Favourite non-fiction book?
 Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. Probably the best account of Chernobyl ever written in my opinion. Favourite biography?
 Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, a fascinating insight into how Nike came to be what they are today. Favourite collection of short stories? N/A 
Favourite poetry collection?
 N/A Favourite illustrated book?
 N/A Favourite publisher?
 If I had to choose, Penguin. Favourite audiobook? Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings. I'm still not a lover of audiobooks but I am listening to more and more each year. Favourite re-read? Despite my aim to re-read some of my favourite books I failed miserably with this one and has zero re-reads this year.

Audible have a one day only sale, selected books for only £3.00, not sure if you need to be a member or not.

Decided my next book will be the first Jack Reacher book, Killing Floor by Lee Child.

Perfect reading weather.

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (4/5) This was the first book I received from The Willoughby Book Club and is quite a departure from what I would probably choose for myself. A flu pandemic has struck the world and as a result almost everyone has died. The book flicks between a group of traveling actors in the modern day dystopia and what happen in the daysand months before the pandemic struck.This includies the death of a famous actor on stage of a heart attack and the people peripherally connected to this event. As the book progresses we find out what came of these connections the characters have with each other and how the events following the flu has changed them. As stated above this isn't the kind of book I pick up to read of my own volition but I found it really enjoyable. The post pandemic world is really well written and I found it easy to visualise it in my minds eye. The characters were pretty well developed but I can't say I particularly cared for any of them as there are quite a lot of them. Shoe Dog by Phil Knight (5/5) I found this amongst a pile of books which has been discarded on public transport and decided I might like to read it one day. It has sat on my bookshelf for about a year until I picked it up yesterday to read. I don't recall ever reading a business memoir before so I didn't really know what to expect and although obviously I have heard of Nike I knew nothing of their history. This is the first book in as long as I can remember that I have read in pretty much one sitting. It is extremely well written and contains just the right level of detail to keep things interesting. Over the course of the book I learned loads of stuff about Nike that I didn't know and was surprised to learn that after the 'sweatshop' controversy they developed a water based adhesive which was much safer for factory workers. They then made this adhesive available to all their competitors. Despite really liking this book there are still some things about Nike that I don't like but these things are not unique to them and are common to pretty much every big corporation. At this point I must remember that I am reviewing the book and not the company or the man, and for this reason the book gets 5 stars from me.