Hayley

I'm saving A Christmas Journey by Anne Perry and I think I'm going to read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott this year too

I'm not sure how I feel about the new series. It could be brilliant and exciting, if it is actually based on Tolkien's work and in his style. On the other hand it could be an awful, badly written fantasy series full of gratuitous sex and violence, set in middle earth to attract viewers. I really hope not though, Tolkien created such a rich world, full of other stories to explore and I'd love to watch a really well done series on it.

@Madeleine I'm glad it wasn't just me, I've been trying to work out whether I'd missed something ever since I finished the book! You're right though, the books are just so much fun it's easy to forgive the confusing parts I've started reading another book I got from the library discard sale, The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman. I'm only 29 pages in but it's not going great so far, I'm hoping it picks up and doesn't end up as the first book of this year I couldn't finish!

Aww that's so nice! I played Myst a really long time ago but I remember enjoying it, I look forward to seeing what you think of the book!

I have quite a few updates today so I'll try to keep it all short! Firstly... I bought some books . I was in London and passing an Oxfam book shop I found some great books in a few years ago, so I couldn't resist. I found Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, the second book to A Discovery of Witches (my sister wants to read that one too so technically I got it for both of us!), The Dream Merchant by Isabel Hoving and Weaveworld by Clive Barker. Then I spotted The Invisible Library in another charity shop, I've wondered whether to get it for a while so ended up getting that too! Now onto reviews: Selected Tales by Edgar Allan Poe Comment: Surprisingly Varied This is a really pretty selection published by Heron books, pictures don't really do it justice because the light reflects off the gold pattern on the front. I had read some of the stories in the selection before (The Fall of the House of Usher, The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Tell-Tale Heart) and knew I could expect some really atmospheric, creepy tales perfect for the approach to Halloween. What I wasn't expecting was science fiction reminiscent of Jules Verne, though predating him (The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfall) and a treasure-hunting adventure (The Gold-Bug). There were plenty of creepy atmospheric stories too but I genuinely didn't know Poe wrote such a variety of styles and I really enjoyed them. I know there are quite a lot of collections of Edgar Allan Poe's stories but I would definitely recommend this one, Heron books are always really good value too. Black Country and Birmingham Ghost Stories by Brendan Hawthorne Comment: Short but interesting I actually bought this book for my boyfriend from a stand of books by local authors but I thought I'd give it a try for October. It;s a very short book, only 78 pages long and that's with photographs and illustrations. There are some interesting little stories of ghost sightings and strange experiences, written quite simply but with some obvious attempts to add some atmosphere to the scene. I wouldn't say it's the most amazing thing I've ever read but it was interesting to see some local legends and it was perfect for Halloween. The back of the book shows that there's a few different areas covered in this series, although I think they're all in the UK. It was worth a read. A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor Comment: Shocked and confused but still loved it This is the third book in the Chronicles of St Mary's and after the first two I knew it was going to be good. I loved it for the same reasons as the first two, the fast paced narrative weaving through a variety of well-researched periods of history and the slightly crazy edge the whole thing has. On the other hand I did find this one slightly more confusing than the others. I can't really say more without spoilers, which I'll include for those who've read it: For those who haven't I'll just say things got very complicated and I sort of lost the logic behind it. Despite that though it was still a really fun read and I'm really looking forward to getting the next one! . Witch and Wizard by James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnet Comment: An interesting concept but a lot of flaws I picked this book up from a library discard sale for 20p knowing that (although I'd never read anything by him before) James Patterson is famous for his thrillers and the dystopian fantasy concept of the book sounded interesting. I actually didn't even notice the book had a second author until I got it home because her name is so tiny and not included on the spine or the back. It has a slightly 1984 edge, where a new order has taken control and is banning books, art and music, creating a sterile and frankly boring environment. As the most free and imaginative of the community, they consistently target young people. The story follows two teenage siblings, Whit and Whisty, who've been arrested on suspicion of witchcraft. All this sounded really interesting and I still feel like it should have been but it had a lot of little issues that added up. The story is told in short sections which are narrated alternately by Whit and Whisty, but not necessarily one after the other. Sometimes there's a break and a new section but the same person is still narrating. I couldn't see any reason for this and it sometimes made it difficult to remember who was narrating. My second issue was in the dialogue and word choice generally. The way the teenagers speak in this just feels like someone much older imagining how teenagers speak, giving you occasionally odd and cringey moments which did not help the characters to feel very realistic. The magic also didn't seem very believable. Sometimes it's like an uncontrollable, internal, emotional force (which it really should have stayed) and sometimes it's like 'poof! you're a frog.' The lack of depth made it quite hard to care about the characters very much. And, finally, I felt like it copied some things from other books, which just felt a bit weird. As a character was being told to run as hard as they could at a brick wall to pass through to another world, all I could think about was Harry Potter's platform 9 3/4. At another point it practically lifts the 'speak friend and enter' scene straight from Lord of the Rings. It wasn't actually terrible. The idea behind it was good and I did want to find out what happened at the end. I also finished it in a couple of days - but I won't be rushing out to find the second book.

Glad to see you enjoyed your last couple of reads Athena I saw Turtles All the Way Down in shop recently and thought the title was brilliant, although I didn't know what it was about, it sounds interesting! Your other new books look great too. Is Myst related to the game? I do sometimes just not feel like writing book reviews, usually when I've been busy and just don't feel like I'm paying attention to what I'm writing. I actually have a few to catch up on now!

I'm glad you liked Never Let Me Go, I added it to my 'to read' list after reading The Buried Giant but, like @bobblybear said, I had heard The Buried Giant was very different to his other work so I was a bit worried I wouldn't like Never Let Me Go as much.

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine Comment: A brilliant concept. This is very much a book for people who love books. It's also very political and had what I thought was quite a unique way of portraying political activism, showing how you might be both disgusted by and sympathetic for certain actions. There was something that just stopped me loving this book and I think it's just that I felt as though it lacked a bit of necessary depth. There are some interesting features, like steampunk vehicles and automatons and brief mentions of huge conflicts in the past... but then they're never expanded on and for that reason they sort of fell a bit flat. I would say the same of some of the relationships in the book too, there are small hints at things developing but overall it just felt like after a tiny bit of hinting certain couples were just paired up for the rest of the book and that's the end of that. I would have loved it so much more if it just had that extra depth. Maybe things will be further explained in later books though, since I now know there are two more out and another on the way in the future. I did enjoy reading this though and the whole idea behind it is really interesting. It actually reminded me quite a lot of Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy, which I loved but haven't read for years. I will be looking out for the next book in the future . The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro Comment: Traditional, magical, philosophical I acquired this book completely by chance when I finished Ink and Bone while I was on a weekend camping trip. I went to look at a board of nearby walks at the campsite and realised they had a bookshelf labelled 'take a book, leave a book, they're free!' so I couldn't pass that perfect opportunity . I had looked at this book in the past and couldn't decide whether to buy it. The first thing I will say is it's not what I expected. My only experience of Ishiguro is The Remains of the Day which I read some of for my university course. If I had read the two books without knowing the author though I would never had guessed it was the same person. The Buried Giant is a cross between a traditional fairy tale (which it's told in the style of) and an Arthurian legend. There are dragons and ogres, pixies and knights of the round table and I loved that. I also loved the traditional fairy tale style, as though the narrator is telling you a story of the past. The reason I included 'philosophical' in my comment is because, at the heart of the story, it is about memory and truth. It really gets you thinking about questions like would things be better if we could forget the past? Is it better to know a truth that hurts? And even, if you knew that hurtful truth, how would you deal with it? There is a bigger, somewhat political angle to those questions but also a very personal one. I really felt for the couple at the centre of the story and their journey together that's both sweet and sad. It's an unusual book but I'm really glad I picked it up. I think I'm going to read my Edgar Allan Poe 'Selected Tales' next, since Poe seems an appropriate choice for October

I thought it was a trilogy too! I just started reading Ink and Bone, it's good to know you liked the other books @chesilbeach Eight books in a week sounds like a good holiday to me

Yes! I like your thinking . I'm glad you enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the book seems very thick so I think it will take me a while to read but it definitely sounds like my kind of book I thought I better come and do a quick review of my last three books before I completely forget... The Railway Detective by Edward Marston Comment: An easy good read This is the first book in the Railway Detective series and (luckily, since I bought the first five in a set) I really enjoyed reading it. There's nothing really groundbreaking or new in it, it follows a very traditional detective story format, but that's not really a bad thing if you like a good old-fashioned mystery. The book is set in the Victorian period and I think perhaps the author was purposely drawing on detective novels from that time. The pace was good, with a well-developed mystery and the main character was quite interesting, although maybe a little typical. Overall it was just a good, easy-to-read book and I am looking forward to seeing how the characters develop in the next one. Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch Comment: Magical but heart-breakingly real I was first attracted to this book by the cover, which is beautiful, and then by the fact that it's set in the Victorian period. There was also mention of dragons but I think it's worth pointing out (and it's honestly not a spoiler) that the dragon mentioned on the blurb is not a magical creature and there isn't actually any magic involved in the book. Even so, it does feel magical and that's probably because we follow (in first person) the main character, Jaffy, from a very young age and see the wonder with which he experiences Jamrach's menagerie and the array of animals to be found there. Then, as he gets a little older, we see the adventures of sailing to unknown lands. With all that in mind I expected this to be a fairly fun and light-hearted book when I picked it up but it really is not. It is probably the best portrayal of working class Victorian childhood I've ever read though and the innocence that Jaffy approaches and accepts his early life with is slightly heartbreaking in itself. As the book progresses things get really dark and quite deeply psychological, far more than I was expecting. For me, this was one of those books that really makes you feel something even after you've put it down. Even though it wasn't what I was expecting I'm very glad I picked it up and would definitely recommend it. The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde Comment: Clever, witty and unique There's a review from the Observer on the cover of this book that says 'It is great not just because it's very funny but also because it works properly as a whodunnit' and I think that sums up the very thing that's so perfect about this book. It's so funny and has such a crazy cast of characters, but somehow it's never ridiculous either. Jack Spratt, the detective of the series, is brilliant and so well developed you often forget about the joke of him being a nursery rhyme character, he's actually very likeable. The mystery itself was very well done, I had no idea what the conclusion was going to be and the detailed functioning of the police department was again very funny but also genuinely gripping. Fforde is quickly becoming one of my favourite authors, I can't wait to read another one of his books and see what he does next.

What a great find in the charity shop! And at four for 1€ too! Happy 9th BCF anniversary hope you're feeling better now!

I do have some reviews to do soon, I finished reading The Railway Detective by Edward Marston and Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch since I last posted. I've been on holiday and had so much to do since I got back but I will write them soon . Reading The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde at the moment and loving it. I was worried I wouldn't like it as much as the Thursday Next series but it's brilliant, just as funny. I've added three new books to my 'recently acquired' list too. I did try to tell myself I really shouldn't buy any more books until I've read more that are already on my shelf... but then I went to a charity shop with my sister and they had about 5 lovely hardback China Miéville books (an author I've wanted to try for ages) and a really nice hardback of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, which I've wanted to read for ages. They're all quite big books and I have no idea where they're going to go but I was quite proud of myself for only buying those three

It was so nice reading about how much you love your new apartment, I'm really happy for you! It's a shame about the smoke smell but I'm sure it will fade, maybe you could get some nice scented candles to help? New bookcases are always exciting

It's definitely worth reading, I think you'll like it. I'll be looking out for when you've read it, I'll be really interested to see what you think! His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet Comment: Innovative and believable This book was genuinely unlike any book I've ever read and I think I would have enjoyed it for that reason alone. It was also very well written and so believable that after a couple of chapters I actually checked the back of the book because I couldn't remember whether it was a true story! Unlike other books centred around a murder, the point of this one is not to work out who the murderer was, that is clear from the start, it's even stated in the blurb. The question is why Roderick Macrae committed the murders, what actually happened and who is telling the truth. Beginning with conflicting police statements about Roderick, the book moves on to Roderick's own memoir (which is the majority of the book) and then medical reports, part of a psychologist's memoir about the case and finally the trial, which is partly made of newspaper reports. All of this seemed very well researched and, as I said before, very believable. I think sometimes use of an untrustworthy narrator can end up being frustrating and unsatisfactory, but here it makes every statement more interesting as you end up trying to read between the lines and piece the stories together. It's a very psychological book and almost makes the reader work as part psychologist, part detective. It's also a little disturbing at times, there's some very dark subject matter and moments which are probably best described as uncomfortable. It is definitely worth reading, particularly if you're looking for quite a thought-provoking book and it would be a great book for discussion. Summer Knight by Jim Butcher Comment: Great story development This is the fourth book in the Dresden Files series and it was definitely my favourite one yet. The characters seemed to be much more developed, unique and interesting. The concept of the magical worlds also seemed to be more thought-out and better explained than previous books, as did the wizards's council. This one also definitely provided the most interesting account of the various magical creatures that exist. The mystery at the heart of the book was itself very good, very compelling and I couldn't guess the answer before the end. It also felt like it was part of a bigger story, which was something the first couple of books didn't really have. There are still some little things that annoy me slightly about the books, which I've probably mentioned before. Like the fact that every book has to have an instance of Harry holding the door for a woman and hoping they don't mind, because "he's very old fashioned like that." And that fact that nearly every female in sight seems to be stunningly beautiful and wearing very tight clothes, very little clothing, or nothing at all. But, at the same time, the plot is good, I like the variety of characters, the magical world, the magic itself, and in comparison to those good points the little negatives are easy to ignore.

I really hope the course through the National Learning Network works out, it sounds great! It's so silly that the other one requires you to be unemployed for six months. I know I'm really late with this but I just had to say your cross stitch is looking amazing

Thank you both. Quite a lot has happened since I last posted but, long story short, the hospital decided it wasn't safe for my Nan to go home, she has to go into a care home. There are a lot of positives, I know she'll be safer there and have constant access to the medical staff she needs to be healthy but, at the same time, it's hard not to feel sad about it. Bleak House by Charles Dickens Comment: Beautifully complex I should probably point out that I've used a picture of the original serialised edition of Bleak House rather than the one I read because I don't have a picture of my edition and couldn't find a decent one online. The one I actually read was from Guild publishing and it was a really nice edition, very pretty hardback in dark green and gold and it had a list of characters with a brief description at the front, which was useful. As the character list suggests, there are a LOT of characters in this book. In every Dickens book I've read I've really enjoyed the way that different character's lives, interesting in their own right, are intertwined to create the main body of the story. Bleak House is definitely the best example of this I've read. It's done in such a clever way, using so many characters with very distinct and memorable personalities. I thought it was interesting that the story is divided between the first person account of one of the characters (Ester Summerson) and a third person omniscient narrator. Often the latter was used to deliver the more damning social commentary on everything from the law system to politicians, to housing and treatment of the working class. Ester is a very positive character, possibly one some people might find too perfect but I thought the two parts balanced really well. I would definitely recommend this, it has such brilliant stories from different areas of life at the time, a really compelling mystery and some very tense page-turner moments. Like all of Dickens' books it also really pushes the message that individual acts of kindness can often have a great, far-reaching, impact. So it's a good choice if you need cheering up too. I decided to read His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet next, so far it's really interesting so looking forward to reviewing that!

Congratulations on the birth of your goddaughter! I hope she can come home soon. Great reviews for the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children books. I looked at them a while ago and you've made me really want to read them again!

A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor Comment: A bit of everything I think as soon as I saw 'Dr Max and the team visit Victorian London in search of Jack the Ripper' on the blurb, I was fairly convinced I was going to love this book. Like the first one it is completely crazy and you never quite know what to expect next. I don't think I've ever read a book where you're thrown into quite so many environments and different scenarios. It gives the book a very fast paced feel and it's a lot of fun. Aside from the fun though this books also throws you through a range of emotions. There's a really scary part (I really wasn't expecting something that freaky to happen!), a really sad part, a really shocking part and all kinds of relationship issues mixed in. It's crazy, but in a good way. I would definitely recommend this as a fun, fast-paced read, but one which also has a really good story at the heart of it. Can't wait to see what happens in the next one!

Thanks everyone. @Athena I did have a look to see if I could get a new battery but the one with the connection I need seemed to be out of stock everywhere! I will keep a look out but it's not too bad the way it is, there's usually somewhere to plug it in. @Madeleine No they haven't checked her ears as far as I know, I'll bring it up, thank you. Nobody has actually been able to speak to her doctor at the hospital yet, I suppose she's really busy. We were concerned that they didn't check for stroke as well, particularly as on the morning of one of her falls she had slurred speech and drooping on one side of her face and since then has been dragging one of her feet. She has had mini strokes in the past as well. It seems like no matter who you tell these things to they just get lost as new nurses and doctors etc. get involved. A lot of people have said about urine infections causing confusion but then her own doctor has been diagnosing her with it and giving her antibiotics for over 6 months, probably closer to a year and they don't seem to be helping very much. Maybe they can prescribe something stronger for them at the hospital though. I feel like it's too much to hope for that it could be so simple and solvable.

I think this is the best book-buying excuse I've seen hope you enjoy your new books!

Thank you, I hope you enjoy them if you do decide to read more Neil Gaiman books! So much has been happening since I last updated here I'm not sure where to start. For the last few weeks my Nan has been very unwell. She started having quite a lot of falls (one of which was so bad I don't even want to think about it. The paramedics took photographs of the house in case it was a crime scene.) She was then referred to a rehabilitation centre where she would see a physiotherapist and they would work out why she kept falling. She kept having periods of serious confusion while she was there though, saying things like her daughter was her sister and not being able to remember who she'd seen that day. She was given a dementia test but apparently answered 9 of the ten questions correctly so that was dismissed. Then, after four weeks, they said she had to leave, because that was the maximum time she could stay there. In that time we had rearranged her house to make it as safe as possible and it was arranged that she would have four carers a day to help her. With that and my family visiting between those times we thought she might be ok. Within a couple of weeks though the carers had to call out paramedics three times because she'd fallen again. Now she's in hospital, again, but nobody seems to be able to agree what's wrong or what the best thing to do is. The social worker who was in contact with my dad (because of the multiple falls) said she wasn't safe in a normal home environment. But the hospital are now suggesting everything that's wrong with her is down to a urine infection and she can come home any day now. Although it would be lovely to think it's as simple as the latter explanation, I just can't see it being the case. She has been a little forgetful and struggling to think of the word she wants to use for a while but she couldn't even answer when her own birthday was at the hospital and she often repeats the same question or comment three or four times in a row. I just can't see what the answer is, the whole situation has been so stressful and sad. Then I thought my laptop was broken. Luckily when I gave it to my boyfriend, who is much better with computers than me, he took the battery out and it worked again. I just can't use it not plugged in any more. But... that rant out of the way and on a happier note... Before all that happened I had a really nice couple of days in Hay-On-Wye with some friends. Obviously, being the town of books, I came back with some pretty and old editions, including: London Labour and the London Poor, vol.2 by Henry Mayhew (this is the one I was most excited about, I've only ever read sections of it online. It isn't dated but, based on other books, I definitely think it's nineteenth century) The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo The Heroes and The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins (I have already read this but it was on sale for £1 with the Kingsley and Hugo books and is much prettier than my old paperback copy) English Short Stories from the XVth to XXth Century, ed. Ernest Rhys Heroes of Welsh History by David W. Oates (I fell in love with the cover of this one, even though it's water damaged across one half, when I spotted it on a stall. It's a reprint from 1928) Before that I went to an event at Sarehole Mill (which is supposed to have been one of Tolkien's inspirations) and bought Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch, from a stall which was helping to raise money for the upkeep of the mill. I also saw that they had some pretty Heron hardback books in my local Oxfam so I bought the Selected Tales of Edgar Allan Poe and Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier. I completely forgot to do a review of A Symphony of Echoes so I'll do that soon. I'm reading Bleak House at the moment and really enjoying it. There's always something comforting about Dickens' books. I was thinking of doing a Discworld re-read soon as well. I didn't read them in order before so I think it would be interesting to do that. It's been a really long time since I read some of them too, and I want to make sure I haven't missed any!

I was looking for an article in a book called Victorian Science in Context (ed. Bernard Lightman) and spotted an essay titled 'Strange New Worlds of Space and Time: Late Victorian Science and Science Fiction' by Paul Fayter. I thought of this thread so I flicked through it and these are some of the books mentioned which haven't been discussed already: Mary Griffith- Three Hundred Years Hence (1836) Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward (1888) Frank Challice Constable - The Curse of Intellect (1895) Edwin Abbot - Flatland (1884) Percy Greg - Across the Zodiac (1880) Robert Cromie - A Plunge Into Space (1890) Hopefully some of those are useful

The Sealed Letter sounds very good, I think I might add it to my to-read list! I was actually looking at a book by Emma Donoghue a couple of weeks ago titled The Wonder. It sounded interesting but I'm not sure what time period it was set in.

I agree, I remember the actual creation of the monster being an unexpectedly short part of the book. Still, some people do claim it was the first science fiction novel and, either way, it's a good book. Interesting thought on the size of the monster. I definitely got the impression that the body parts were stolen rather than made from scratch. The monster was supposed to be about 8 foot tall I think, which isn't actually impossible for a human, just really unlikely. Maybe we're supposed to assume that the way he was put together, or the odd combination of parts made him unusually tall?

@KEV67 Yeah, there's a few Professor Challenger stories and they're all based on science in some way, with Challenger giving his scientific theories. Supposedly Arthur Conan Doyle much preferred writing about Challenger to Sherlock Holmes. When he killed Sherlock it was so he could focus on this other character, but then there was so much uproar and demand for Sherlock to come back he gave in and carried on with that instead. Without giving too much of the plots away: The Disintegration Machine,is literally about a scientist inventing a machine which can disintegrate a person and put them back together, quite an interesting early comment on weapons of mass destruction. The Poison Belt is about the what happens when the earth passes through a belt of poisonous ether (with Challenger and his friends watching the effects from a sealed room) and When the World Screamed is based on the idea that the mantle of the earth is actually a sentient being and if we could drill down far enough it could be alerted to the presence of humans. The Land of Mist is another Professor Challenger one, it's about the debate between science and spiritualism but it leans towards spiritualism more than science. There are some interesting examples of scientific experiments which attempt to prove or disprove the existence of spirits though as far as I can remember. Just thought maybe you could count Mary Shelley's Frankenstein too. Technically I think it's horror but I know there are people who argue it was the first real science fiction novel. I have The Invisible Man on my to-read list, it's one I'm really looking forward to