Hayley

I watched The Witches with my niece and was surprised at how freaky the mouse transformation scenes are, I don't remember them being that bad when I watched it as a kid!

A game about books and magic, with a good plot and nice art, sounds great! I'm going to have a look for this

The Almanac is such a pretty book isn't it? I was looking at it in Waterstones recently and was very tempted, there are just so many great books out this year! Hard Boiled Wonderland at the End of the World looks really interesting too. It sounds pretty crazy and I usually like that

I need a ‘like’ button for this I have Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell on my shelf too, so glad to hear you’re enjoying it! The length has led to me putting it off a bit, it’s not the kind of book you can pop into your bag!

I agree with you completely about The Graveyard Book. Gaiman has such a brilliantly vivid imagination, I would have loved to know more about a lot of the characters, but what was there was perfect.

Wow, that is a huge project! I can imagine it is still considerably more relaxing than teaching though, I hope you have fun with it! I had to look up the Iberian Chiffchaff but what a pretty little bird! I have seen raptors while on holiday around the UK but never from my garden, I would be very impressed with that one! 'Kerwick' is a much better representation of the sound than my attempt. I looked up the Tawny Owl call and that is definitely it, so thank you! Now I know! I would love to actually see them, I have tried but no luck so far. I don't live in the countryside either, I live in Birmingham, so it would have been very odd if we had Barn Owls.

I've been meaning to read this for such a long time. I don't remember much about it from my childhood but I do remember all of the characters, which probably says a lot about how brilliant and distinctive they are! I'm a bit late but happy reading for 2019!

Exciting! How is it so far? I've added Where the Crawdads Sing to my 'to-read' list too

I'll be really interested to see what you think about Aspects of British Political History and The Old Ways. I read a review about Macfarlane recently that suggested his writing on nature is really beautiful and special. The Way We Live Now is on my 'to-read' list too so I'm glad you're enjoying it! What is your current birding project? I was excited to see a nuthatch in the garden for the last few days. I'm sure you're looking at much rarer birds but I'd never seen one so close before! Someone also told me that there's a barn owl living in the tree opposite my house. I'm not convinced about that though because I'm fairly sure barn owls make quite a spooky noise and the owl noises I hear are more like the stereotypical 'terwit … whoooo.' Anyway, I hope you have a great reading year!

@Athena, @karen.d, you both read loads! I managed to finish 'Heroes of Welsh History' and read 'Showboat World.' On the down side, I'm now 3 books behind with my reviews!

Hi, welcome to the forum!

When I first started reading them I didn't go in any order at all, I just read whichever one I got my hands on next. Last year I realised that I couldn't really remember which ones I hadn't read (I have been reading them since I was about 13, so that was quite a long time ago!) and I thought it would be interesting to read them in the order they were published, partly to make sure I'd read all of them and partly to see whether I noticed any more connections between the books doing it that way. It is actually really easy to move between the characters from book to book. So far the most interesting thing I've noticed, reading them in publication order, is how you can see the personalities of the characters developing. For example, the Granny Weatherwax of Equal Rites feels very different to the Granny Weatherwax of later novels, much less sure of herself. You can also really see Discworld growing into all the distinctive regions that become familiar later on. And thank you, I hope you have a great reading year too! The subtitle does give me great hope for the humour in the actual books!

Yes, Bleak House has such a good example of this!

I actually came here to say The Murder of Roger Ackroyd too. I don't know where my copy is either but I'm fairly sure it's a shock final chapter reveal, and it's a notoriously difficult mystery to solve. You could also go for any of the Sherlock Holmes stories, they always have a big reveal at the end. I think The Hound of the Baskervilles would make a good discussion, or, if you wanted to go for a shorter story, The Speckled Band is good (although the murderer is much easier to work out than the method in that one!) It sounds like a really fun idea, you'll have to let us know how it works out!

This is a really interesting topic! If I see a book synopsis that sounds amazing I would likely get that book without checking reviews first, I’d only go and search for reviews if I was unsure about a book and trying to make my mind up. One of the things about goodreads though (although it’s very useful for finding reviews) is it’s really easy to end up looking at reviews you didn’t intentionally seek out. For example I might be completely convinced about a book, go to add it to my ‘to read’ list on goodreads and notice it doesn’t have many stars, which does make you sceptical before you’ve even read the book. Something that I’ve noticed recently (mainly via twitter) is the opinion that people shouldn’t post negative reviews of books. I understand where that opinion’s coming from, because not everyone likes the same books and it you could potentially influence a books sales with a bad review but... I just can’t quite agree with it. As long as you say why you didn’t like it, I think it’s far better to be honest!

I'm glad you didn't have either of the books from the Secret Book Club! I've read 'The Odessa File' by Frederick Forsyth and that was really good so hopefully 'The Fox' will be too. 'Dead Mountain' sounds like a really intriguing mystery, it's a shame that the end felt a bit disappointing

I'm glad you enjoyed your first book of the year! It sounds like quite an emotional read.

I can't believe it's nearly the read-a-thon, last week went really fast! I think I'm probably going to have finished 'Lies Sleeping' by Friday, so during the read-a-thon I want to finish reading 'Heroes of Welsh History' (started last month, with about half the book left to read) and then I think either 'The Wind in the Willows' (which has been on my TBR for an embarrassingly long time) or Jack Vance's 'Showboat World.' All three would be nice but I think that might be a bit ambitious

Thank you @Athena ! I've had the Douglas Adams books on my shelf for a while and, although I was really excited to get them, I want to love them so much that I'm reluctant to read them in case I don't! I'm reading Ben Aaronovitch's Lies Sleeping at the moment and it's as brilliant as I expected. I now have that problem where I really want to read it but also don't want it to end!

A spare one, just in case. Ok, my 2019 book blog is open!

I'll be continuing my Discworld re-read (where not all of the books are re-reads but I can't actually remember which ones I haven't read...) this year. I only read four last year so quite a long way to go still! 1. The Colour of Magic2. The Light Fantastic3. Equal Rites 4. Mort 5. Sourcery 6. Wyrd Sisters 7. Pyramids 8. Guards! Guards! 9. Faust Eric 10. Moving Pictures 11. Reaper Man 12. Witches Abroad 13. Small Gods 14. Lords and Ladies 15. Men at Arms 16. Soul Music 17. Interesting times 18. Maskerade 19. Feet of Clay 20. Hogfather 21. Jingo 22. The Last Continent 23. Carpe Jugulum 24. The Fifth Elephant 25. The Truth 26. Thief of Time 27. The Last Hero 28. The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents 29. Night Watch 30. The Wee Free Men 31. Monstrous Regiment 32. A Hat Full of Sky 33. Going Postal 34. Thud! 35. Wintersmith 36. Making Money 37. Unseen Academicals 38. I Shall Wear Midnight 39. Snuff 40. Raising Steam 41. The Shepherd's Crown

Yay, new book blog at last! On My Shelf: Abercrombie, Joe. Best Served Cold Abercrombie, Joe. Half a King Abercrombie, Joe. Half the World Abercrombie, Joe. Red Country Adams, Douglas. The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Adams, Douglas. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Adams, Douglas. Life, The Universe and Everything Arden, Katherine. The Girl in the Tower Adams, Douglas. So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish Ballantyne, R.M. The Coral Island Banks, Iain. The Bridge Banks, Iain M. The Algebraist Banks Iain M. Excession Banks Iain M. Feersum Endjinn Banks Iain M. Inversions Banks, Iain M. Look to Windward Banks Iain M. Matter Banks Iain M. The Player of Games Banks Iain M. Use of Weapons Barker, Clive. Weaveworld Brennan, Marie, A Natural History of Dragons British Myths and Legends vol. 1: Marvels and Magic. ed. Richard Barber British Myths and Legends vol. 2: Heroes and Saints. " British Myths and Legends vol 3. History and Romance. " Brontë, Anne. Agnes Grey Brontë, Anne. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Brontë, Charlotte. The Professor Brontë, Charlotte. Shirley Brontë, Charlotte. Villette Burton, Jessie. The Muse Butcher, Jim. Blood Rites Butcher, Jim. Dead Beat Butcher, Jim. Proven Guilty Byatt, A.S. The Children's Book Christie, Agatha. Murder on the Orient Express Clarke, Susanna. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Clarke, Susanna, The Ladies of Grace Adieu Connolly, John. The Book of Lost Things Dickens, Charles. Christmas Stories Vol. 1 Dickens, Charles. Nicholas Nickleby Dickens, Charles. The Old Curiosity Shop Dickens, Charles. The Pickwick Papers Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Sign of Four Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Return of Sherlock Holmes Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Hound of the Baskervilles Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Valley of Fear Doyle, Arthur Conan. His Last Bow Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes Dumas, Alexandre. The Three Musketeers Eco, Umberto. The Name of the Rose Evans, Claire. The Fourteenth Letter Faulks, Sebastian. Birdsong Gaylin, Alison. Into the Dark Grahame, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows Grossmith, George and Weedon. The Diary of a Nobody Hardie, Titania. The Rose Labyrinth Hardy, Thomas. Under the Greenwood Tree Harkness, Deborah. Shadow of Night Hill, Susan. The Woman in Black Hoving, Isabel. The Dream Merchant Jemisin, N.K. The Obelisk Gate Jemisin, N.K. The Stone Sky le Carre, John. A Most Wanted Man Lynch, Scott, The Lies of Locke Lamora Marston, Edward. The Iron Horse Marston, Edward. Murder on the Brighton Express Marston, Edward. The Railway Viaduct Miéville, China. Kraken Miéville, China. The Scar Mirless, Hope. Lud -in-the-Mist More, Thomas. Utopia Morton, Kate. The Distant Hours Mosse, Kate. Citadel Owen, Lauren. The Quick Peake, Mervyn. Titus Groan Peake, Mervyn. Gormenghast Peake, Mervyn. Titus Alone The Penguin Book of English Short Stories Ed. Christopher Dolley Perry, Sarah, Melmoth Pratchett, Terry. I Shall Wear Midnight Price, Steven, By Gaslight Purcell, Laura. The Corset Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Ruickbie, Leo. The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters Russel, Craig. Brother Grimm Setterfield, Diane. The Thirteenth Tale Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men Taylor, Jodi, And the Rest is History Taylor, Jodi. A Trail Through Time Tolkien, J.R.R. Tree and Leaf, Smith of Wooton Major, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Vance, Jack, City of the Chasch Vance, Jack, The Dirdir Vance, Jack, Emphyrio Vance, Jack, The Eyes of the Overworld Vance, Jack, The Gray Prince Vance, Jack, The Green Pearl Vance, Jack, The Houses of Iszm Vance, Jack, Madouc Vance, Jack, The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph Vance, Jack, Rhialto the Marvellous Vance, Jack, Servants of the fiddleh Vance, Jack, Showboat World Vance, Jack, To Live Forever Vance, Jack, Wyst:Alastor 1716 Verne, Jules. Five Weeks in a Balloon Verne, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon Verne, Jules. Round the Moon Verne, Jules. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea Wells, H.G. The Time Machine Wells, H.G. The Island of Dr. Moreau Wells, H.G. The War of the Worlds Wells, H.G. The First Men in the Moon Wells, H.G. The Invisible Man Acquired in 2019: Fforde, Jasper. Early Riser Littlewood, Alice. The Hidden People Martin, Andrew. Soot Last year I acquired 47 new books and read 14 of them. Since they have now all been moved to the 'on my shelf' list, I really need to start clearing those shelves and not getting more books!

I need to do two very quick reviews before ending this thread and starting my new 2019 one! Mort by Terry Pratchett- 4/5 - I really liked it This is the book where Death really emerges as a character, and what a brilliant character! I don't think any other author has made Death as funny and relatable as Terry Pratchett did. In this book he takes on an apprentice, Mort. When Death decides to have a bit of a break and leave Mort to his new job, things quickly become complicated. It's another very funny, wildly fantastical Discworld novel with a great cast of characters (including Binky, which is a great name for Death's white horse). It isn't my favourite Discworld book. I think there are others with even better characters, deeper world-building and more emotion, but it's a great book all the same. Ghosts of Christmas Past ed. Tim Martin 3/5 - I liked it This book succeeds in giving the impression of ghost stories told around a winter fire. However, it didn't feel like a particularly special collection, which is why I only gave it three stars. Some of the stories stood out much more than others, some I didn't feel like I really understood (like 'The Step', which seemed quite long in comparison to the others but had an ending that seemed so random I actually went back to the beginning to make sure I hadn't missed anything.) I wouldn't say that any of the stories were actually very scary, considering the blurb promises a mixture of 'terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre.' Some of them are actually quite funny, albeit in a dark humour sort of way (like 'The Ghost of the Blue Chamber' and Neil Gaiman's 'Nicholas Was' - although I'd read the latter before in Gaiman's 'Trigger Warning'.) It was interesting and a good December read, but I probably wouldn't read it again. And that finishes my 2018 reading, with a total of 35 books read. Time to see if I can beat that in 2019!

Hope you have a great reading year! You have lots of books on your tbr list that I want to read too so can't wait to see what you think! Your new challenge sounds good too, it will be interesting to see what books you pick for each category!

Hope you have a great reading year! I didn't realise The Winter of the Witch was out now! I have 'The Girl in the Tower' on my shelf, I think I'll have to read it next and then go and get 'The Winter of the Witch'. I hope it's as good as the first one!