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Thanks for all the messages and recommendations. I really hope 2014 is going to be a great reading year for me. I have started reading 'The Honey Guide' by Richard Crompton and know I won't finish it tomorrow so it will become my first read of 2014. It is the authors debut novel and made it into the Telegraph's best books of 2013. I picked it up in the summer when it was part of Waterstones book club. I am about 50 pages in and really like it thus far. Am off now to do a little more reading before bed.

Well I think that is everything set up so I declare my 2014 Reading Log open for business!! Good luck to everyone with their reading this year and hope you drop by and say hello from time to time.

So that puts my total books unread at the start of 2014 at 86 books, which based on my reading speed from last year would take around 4 and a quarter years to clear. Hence the maximum of 10 book purchases this year to try and reduce my list. Books Purchased in 2014 (4 left) Love From Both Sides - Nick Spalding Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer One Summer: 1927 - Bill Bryson I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes Books given as gifts in 2014 (including those bought with vouchers) The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion Apple Tree Yard - Louise Dougherty The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton Love, Love Me Do - Mark Haysom Blood & Beauty - Sarah Dunant Won on BCF February Crime Month The Lost - Claire Mcgowan Until You're Mine - Samantha Hayes

TBR Pile - Paperbacks Start of 2014 - 37 books Currently - 37 books Charlotte Street - Danny Wallace Too Close to Home - Linwood Barclay Blood at the Bookies - Simon Brett Carte Blanche - Jeffery Deaver The Pirate's Daughter - Margaret Cezair-Thompson The Rapture - Liz Jensen Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith The Fry Chronicles - Stephen Fry Drowning Man - Michael Robotham Darkhouse - Alex Barclay Grave Sight - Charlaine Harris The Honey Guide - Richard Crompton A Cricketing Life - Christopher Martin Jenkins Oh Dear Silvia - Dawn French Death Trip - Lee Weeks Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern The Hypnotist - Lars Kepler The Universe Versus Alex Woods - Gavin Extence A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseni Brixton Beach - Roma Tearne The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skoot Tideline - Penny Hancock Skippy Dies - Paul Murray Six Suspects - Vikus Swarup The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenger The Memory Keeper's Daughter - Kim Edward Fingersmith - Sarah Walters Orpheus Rising - Christopher Brookmyre The Horse With My Name - Christoper Brookmyre Belfast Confidential - Christopher Brookmyre The Twilight Time - Karen Campbell Count to Ten - Karen Rose The Taliban Cricket Club - Timeri N. Murari in the Woods - Tanya French The Caller - Alex Barclay Heart Sick & Sweetheart - Chelsea Cain The Prophecy - Chris Kuzneski Purchased in 2014 The Rosie Project - Graham Simsion Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doherty Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick The Lost - Claire Mcgowan Until You're Mine - Samantha Hayes

TBR Pile - Hardbacks Start of 2014 - 14 books Currently - 13 books My Autobiography - Alex Ferguson Is it Just Me? - Miranda Hart My Time - Bradley Wiggins Camp David - David Walliams Booky Wook 2 - Russell Brand My Spin on Cricket - Richie Benaud Why Do I Say These Things - Jonathon Ross Being Freddie - Andrew Flintoff Twirlymen - Amol Rajan Cricket: A Modern Anthology - Jonathon Agnew The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova Two Caravans - Marina Lewycka One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night - Christopher Brookmyre The Sacred Art of Stealing - Christopher Brookmyre Purchased in 2014 The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton

TBR Pile - Kindle Books Start of 2014 - 35 books Currently - 33 books Trap Line - Carl Hiaasen Rush of Blood - Mark Billingham Bloodline - Mark Billingham Th Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling The Executioner - Chris Carter The Night Stalker - Chris Carter Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel Lawless - Matt Bondurant White Bones - Graham Masterton The Debt - Simon Kernick The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson Life of Pi - Yann Martel Blood Brother - J.A. Kearley Into the Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes The Stranger's Child - Alan Hollinghurst Perfect People - Peter James The Sealed Letter - Emma Donoghue Look at Me - Jennifer Egan The Dogs of Rome - Conor Fitzgerald Back of Beyond - C.J. Box May I Have Your Attention Please - James Cordon Nemesis - Jo Nesbo The Leopard - Jo Nesbo Afterwards - Rosamund Lupton The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga Let the Right One In - John Advide Lindqvist Ordinary Thunderstorms - William Boyd The Book Thief - Markus Zusak Playing the Game - Simon Gould The Blasphemer - Nigel Farndale The Shadow Project - Scott Mariani Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry The Hanging Shed - Gordon Ferris The Trophy Taker - Lee Weeks Purchased in 2014 Love From Both Sides - Nick Spalding The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer I Am Pilgrim - Terry Hayes

Books Read in 2014 - 24 [Kindle eBooks - 5 Paperbacks - 5 Library Books - 12 Hardbacks - 2] January The Honey Guide - Richard Crompton - 8/10 Trap Line - Carl Hiaasen and Bill Montalbano - 6/10 Charlotte Street - Danny Wallace - 6/10 February My Autobiography - Alex Ferguson - 4/10 The Blasphemer - Nigel Farndale - 7/10 This is Life - Dan Rhodes - 10/10 Love From Both Sides - Nick Spalding - 7/10 Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock - Matthew Quick - 8/10 March The Rosie Project - Graeme Simsion -9/10 The Executioner - Chris Carter - 8/10 April The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer - 7/10 Stone Bruises - Simon Beckett - 6/10 Bad Monkey - Carl Hiaasen - 8/10 May The Radleys - Matt Haig - 6/10 Who is Tom Ditto? - Danny Wallace - 9/10 June July Live the Night - Dennis Lehane - 9/10 The Facts of Life and Death - Belinda Bauer - 7/10 August Moonlight Mile - Dennis Lehane - 8/10 The Girl With All the Gifts - M.R. Carey - 9/10 Love and Sleepless Nights - Nick Spalding - 8/10 September Love Under Different Skies - Nick Spalding - 8/10 October Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty - 9/10 November KP: The Autobiography - Kevin Pietersen - 4/10 December The Miniaturist - Jessie Burton - 7/10

So here we are at the start of another new year and another new book blog. As you can see below my reading picked up a little last year after a big dip in 2012. There was a valid reason in that my son came into the world but now as he is slightly older I do have a little more time for reading. No real specific reading goals this year, just to read more than I did last year. Don't think I will be back anywhere near 30 books again but one can but try. I do have one big goal though and that is to buy less than 10 books this year (excluding any bought with vouchers given to me for Birthdays etc). This is fuelled by my ever growing TBR pile that this year I will list below as a constant reminder to myself to stop buying books!! All my previous book blogs since I joined BCF four years ago can be found by clicking the links below should you wish for some crazy reason to peruse them. Previous Blogs 2010 - 30 books read (BCF blog - Here) 2011 - 39 books read (BCF blog - Here) 2012 - 11 books read (BCF blog - Here) 2013 - 19 books read (BCF blog - Here)

Thanks Athena. Hope you enjoy it when you get around to reading it and will look forward to hearing your thoughts on it too.

I did enjoy it but also highly recommend Lost at Sea as find that a really interesting read. Hope now that I have talked you into it you enjoy it.

Them: Adventures with Extremists - Jon Ronson Synopsis - Amazon THEM began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Jon had got to know some of them – Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen – he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In THEM, Jon sets out, with the help of the extremists, to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic, and along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and witnesses international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California. THEM is a fascinating and entertaining exploration of extremism, in which Jon learns some alarming things about the looking-glass world of ‘them’ and ‘us’. Are the extremists on to something? Or has Jon become one of THEM? Review After recently finishing my first Jon Ronson book and really enjoying it I couldn't help but snap this up when I saw it for 99p in the Kindle post Christmas Sales. In this book rather than a collection of random stories Jon goes in search of a secret organisation that many people believe to be ruling the world. He talks to many groups of extremists that believe this ranging from the Klu Klux Klan, through Catholic preachers to people like David Icke. Whilst all have differing views on who this ruling body is they all believe it to be true. In the book Jon talks to them about why they hold these beliefs whilst also trying to find the secret group. Whilst this may sound a lit fanciful what Jon uncovers is interesting and surprising and certainly raises some interesting questions. I found the first half of the book to be stronger and more entertaining than the latter half but I certainly enjoyed reading it and learning some new things. I didn't enjoy it as much as Lost at Sea but I think that could be because that book was little snippets of stories, all highly interesting where this focuses solely on one over-arching theme. I would recommend this book as an interesting read and at 99p is currently a bargain. I will certainly be reading Ronson's other books at some point in the future too. 7/10

The Man Who Forgot His Wife - John O'Farrell Synopsis - Amazon Lots of husbands forget things: they forget that their wife had an important meeting that morning; they forget to pick up the dry cleaning; some of them even forget their wedding anniversary. But Vaughan has forgotten he even has a wife. Her name, her face, their history together, everything she has ever told him, everything he has said to her - it has all gone, mysteriously wiped in one catastrophic moment of memory loss. And now he has rediscovered her - only to find out that they are getting divorced. The Man Who Forgot His Wife is the funny, moving and poignant story of a man who has done just that. And who will try anything to turn back the clock and have one last chance to reclaim his life. Review I am a big fan of John O'Farrell and have read all of his previous work. This book follows Vaughan a man who one day whilst travelling on the tube experiences a rare neurological condition that effectively resets his memory. This means he cannot remember anything of his previous life, including his own name. The first part of the book deals with this issue as Vaughan tries to discover who he is. Once he has achieved this the rest of the book is about him trying to remember his family and previous life As hi memory does start to come back we are made aware there are probably some parts he would rather forget. I found the book enjoyable to read and whilst not as overtly amusing as much of his previous work still made me chuckle on a regular basis. Initially I didn't like the character of Vaughan but as the story progressed he grew on me, unlike his best friend who I found annoying throughout. The action is pretty fast paced and does draw to a neat if a bit predictable conclusion. Overall I would recommend this book to others as an enjoyable read but don't think it is O'Farrell's best work. 8/10

Thanks Poppy. Unfortunately don't think I own any short stories.

I have managed to finish 'Them' by Jon Ronson which I picked up in the Kindle sale earlier in the week. I brought it after enjoying 'Lost at Sea' earlier in the year. Now have a couple of reviews to post and will try and get these done later. Maybe I can push through one more book before the year and this blog ends. I have now read 99 books in the 4 years since joining the forum, which I know some read in one year but still quite pleased with myself.

So the start of the Christmas holidays has given me enough spare time to finish the last third of 'The Man Who Forgot his Wife' by John O'Farrell and I will post a review shortly. I want to try and squeeze one more book in before the new year, just have to choose one.

Alex - Pierre Lemaitre Synopsis Amazon In kidnapping cases, the first few hours are crucial. After that, the chances of being found alive go from slim to nearly none. Alex Prévost - beautiful, resourceful, tough - may be no ordinary victim, but her time is running out. Commandant Camille Verhœven and his detectives have nothing to go on: no suspect, no lead, rapidly diminishing hope. All they know is that a girl was snatched off the streets of Paris and bundled into a white van. The enigma that is the fate of Alex will keep Verhœven guessing until the bitter, bitter end. And before long, saving her life will be the least of his worries. Review This is another book I picked up with some birthday vouchers back in August and at the time was being heavily plugged in my local Waterstones. I thought it looked interesting and decided to give it a go. I am meant to be reading another book currently but picked it up when my Kindle was on charge and then ended up being hooked on it and finishing it in a week, which during term time is no mean feat for me. The story involves Alex who is kidnapped right at the start of the book by an unknown man for reasons that are initially unclear. The story then unfolds and over the next 300 pages has many twists and turns. I genuinely didn't see most of them coming either, which is unusual as I have read so much in this genre. The book is divided into three sections and they are really clear with each one starting with a huge twist on the plot that changed how I felt about characters and where the story was going. I enjoyed the writers style and mainly liked his main character, Inspector Verhoeven. The story is very fast paced with and had me constantly changing opinions on characters and motives. I raced through it and thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Th book however is not without its problems. Firstly, the translation. I feel that it has been done quite poorly and there are a few too many glaring errors for my liking. It didn't ruin the book for me but did sometimes stop the story flowing. Surely a decent translation from French shouldn't be that tricky in this day and age? Secondly the book is brutally violent. The methods used by characters to dispatch victims are incredibly cruel and the author pulls no punches in describing them and the latter third of the book also leads to some shocking discoveries about Alex's childhood. These don't detract from the book overall for me, just lower the score by 1 mark and I eagerly look forward to Lemaitre's second book due out next year. Hopefully with a better translation. I definitely recommend this book to fans of the crime genre as it is a different take on a well told tale. 8/10

Lost at Sea - Jon Ronson Synopsis - Amazon Jon Ronson has been on patrol with America’s real-life superheroes and to a UFO convention in the Nevada desert with Robbie Williams. He’s met a man who tried to split the atom in his kitchen and asked a conscious robot if she’s got a soul. Fascinated by madness, strange behaviour and the human mind, Jon has spent his life exploring mysterious events and meeting extraordinary people. Collected here from various sources (including the Guardian and GQ) are the best of his adventures. Frequently hilarious, sometimes disturbing, always entertaining, these fascinating stories of the chaos that lies on the fringe of our daily lives will have you wondering just what we’re capable of. Review I picked this book up with some book vouchers I received for my birthday as I had been looking at it for a while. I haven't read any of Ronson's work before but found the synopsis interesting. The book is a collection of articles Ronson has had printed over a serveral year period. They range in scope from going UFO spotting with Robbie Williams to talking to the leader of a cult. In each article Ronson really gets to know the lead characters and draws interesting information from them. The articles are incredibly varied and I found each completely enthralling and interesting and Ronson's style very readable and engaging. I read the book over several months dipping into an article here and there and would certainly recommend this book to others. 9/10

I finished 'Lost at Sea' by Jon Ronson yesterday. It is a collection of his articles written for various newspapers over the past few years. I have been reading the odd story here and there since I got the book in August and finally finished it yesterday, I really enjoyed it and will post a full review soon.

I have made a start on the Man Who Forgot his Wife by John O'Farrell.

Where'd You Go Bernadette Synopsis - Amazon Bernadette Fox is notorious. To Elgie Branch, a Microsoft wunderkind, she's his hilarious, volatile, talented, troubled wife. To fellow mothers at the school gate, she's a menace. To design experts, she's a revolutionary architect. And to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, quite simply, mum. Then Bernadette disappears. And Bee must take a trip to the end of the earth to find her. Review I had thought about picking up this book ever since I first caught sight of the cover and read the blurb but Poppy's recent review and the fact it was reduced to £1.99 on kindle finally pushed me over the edge. The story is told from the perspective of 15 year old Bee but includes extracts from emails, letters and reports from other characters throughout the story. I really like the was the story is written and inter-mixed with all these other forms of writing as we learn so much more about each character and their story. The characters in the story are excellent and really amusing. I could easily picture each of them and what their lives would be like. Bee's mum, Bernadette, is the main focus of the book and she is a quirky ex-architect who showed enormous promise early on in her career and then suddenly gave everything up. Bernadette is such a funny and well written character and I really enjoyed finding out everything I could about her and her husband Elgie. The book is fairly short and very easy to read, I raced through it in a couple of days as I was simply enjoying it so much. It is written in short sections or extracts and one flows into the other brilliantly. The story is amusing but also at points very sad. This is definitely my favourite book of the year so far and one I would highly recommend to others. It does have an unusual style but it is definitely worth sticking with and reading. 9/10

We had fantastic weather thanks. I haven't yet picked up This Life yet but am sure I will get around to it soon.

Hi all, lots of chat going on here. Have been away on a trip with my class on the Isle of Wight for the last week so been out of communication. My username comes from when I was joining hotmail years ago it was one that was suggested and have since used it for nearly everything. Don't know why really? Being a male I would say I didn't think the book was chick-lit at all and has quite a unique style. I did indeed discover Gold randomly a few years ago and me and Poppy do share a passion for his books. Gold was fantastic!! Review to come soon, i promise

Well I have finished Wher'ed You Go Bernadette late last night. Its the quickest I have read a book in quite a while and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Will post a full review soon but agree with Bobblybear it is also my favourite book of the year so far. What to start next???

I have made a start on 'Wher'ed You Go Bernadette?' and am really enjoying it so far. About 30% in but really like thestyle and the way we find out new information from emails, characters and letters.

I Am the Secret Footballer - The Secret Footballer Synopsis Amazon It is often said that 95% of what happens in football takes place behind closed doors. Many of these stories I shouldn't be telling you. But I will. Who is The Secret Footballer? Only a few people know the true identity of the man inside the game. But whoever he is - and whoever he plays for - he is always honest, fearless and opinionated. Here he reveals everything you need to know about the hidden world of professional football, and what it's really like to do the job that most of us can only dream of. Review I picked this book up when it was on offer for £1 on kindle earlier this year. I had read many of the secret footballers columns in the Guardian and found them interesting and insightful. The book is a series of chapters about different areas of football that the secret footballer attempts to lift the lid on. I found some of the chapters of the book genuinely interesting and informative whilst others i found plain dull. I do feel there is just a little too much self pity in the book for my taste and whilst I do sympathise with some of the side-effects of playing modern football many people have horrible parts to their jobs. Overall I wouldn't recommend this book as a good read about what goes on behind closed doors in the modern game but merely an ok toilet read that has some interesting stories. 5/10