Luna's Book Blog 2021

[lunababymoonchild]

Being new here I'm not entirely sure how this works but here's what I've read so far.

 

1 The Dollmaker, Harriette Arnow - completed (paperback)

2 Small Spaces, Katherine Arden - completed (paperback)

3 The Seagull (Vera Stanhope, eight) - completed (paperback)

4 History of a Drowning Boy, Dennis Nilsen - completed (e-book)

5 Dark Voices, Katherine Arden - completed (paperback)

6 The Shape of Darkness, Laura Purcell - completed (hardback)

7 Bel-Ami, Guy de Maupassant - completed (paperback)

8 The Darkest Evening (Vera Stanhope 9), Ann Cleeves - completed (hardback)

9 The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers - completed (paperback)

10 The Desolations of Devil's Acre, Ransom Riggs - completed (hardback)

11 The House of the Dead, Fyodor Dostoevsky - completed (paperback and e-book)

12 Presumed Dead, Mason Cross - completed (paperback)

13 Declutter Your Mind: How to Stop Worrying, Relieve Anxiety, and Eliminate Negative Thinking, S.J. Scott, Barrie Davenport  - completed (paperback)

14 The Wee Free Men: A Tiffany Aching Novel (Discworld Novels), Terry Pratchett - completed (paperback)

15 The Drinker, Hans Fallada - completed (paperback)

16 The Four Swans, (book 6 Poldark series) Winston Graham - completed (paperback)

17 Nightshade, E S Thomson - completed (hardback)

18 The Voice Imitator, Thomas Bernhard - completed (paperback)

19 The Strings of Murder (Frey and McGray 1), Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

20 The Hunt (short story), Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

21 Maigret's Mistake, Georges Simenon - completed (paperback)

22 The Red Pony, (novella) John Steinbeck - completed (paperback)

23 The Pickwick Papers, Charles Dickens - completed (paperback)

24 A Fire in the Blood (Frey and McGray 2), Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

25 Kraken, China Miéville - completed (paperback)

26 Narcissus and Goldmund, Hermann Hesse - completed (paperback) 

27 Mrs England, Stacy Halls - completed (hardback)

28 Mrs Robinson's Disgrace, Kate Summerscale - completed (ebook)

29 Hunger, Knut Hamsun - completed (paperback)

30 Candide by Voltaire - completed (paperback)

31 A Mask of Shadows ((Frey and McGray 3)), Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

32 Chess Story, Stefan Zweig - completed (paperback)

33 The Messenger, Lois Lowry - completed (hardback, number 3 in the quartet) 

34 Death At The Boston Tea Party, Deryn Lake - completed (ebook)

35 In the Penal Colony, Franz Kafka - completed (paperback, short story)

36 Loch of the Dead (Frey and McGray 4)), Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

37 Maigret's Holiday, Georges Simenon - completed (paperback)

38 Rainbow in the Dark, Ronnie James Dio - completed (hardback)

39 The Old Manse (short story), Nathaniel Hawthorne - completed (paperback)

40 War and War, László Krasznahorkai - completed (paperback)

41 The Darker Arts, Oscar de Muriel - completed (paperback)

42 Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell-completed (paperback)

43 The Florentines, Paul Strathern - completed (hardback)

44 The Asylum, Karen Coles - completed (paperback)

45 Wise Blood, Flannery O'Connor - completed (paperback)

46 The Impossible Dead, Ian Rankin - completed (paperback) 

47 Dance of the Serpents, Oscar de Muriel - completed (e-book)

48 Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon - completed (paperback)

49 Case Study, Graeme Macrae Burnet - completed (hardback)

50 Carmilla, J Sheridan le Fanu - completed (e-book)

51 The Blind Owl, Sadegh Hedayat, Naveed Noori - completed (paperback)

52 The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson - completed (paperback)

53 Le Chants de Maldorer, Comte de Lautrémont - completed (paperback)

54 The Body, Stephen King  - completed (paperback, short story 200 pgs)

55 The Unvanquished, William Faulkner - completed (paperback)

56 Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë - completed (paperback)

57 Maigret Goes to School, Georges Simenon - completed (paperback)

58 The Story of the Year, Hans Christian Andersen - completed (e-book, short story)

59 Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, Friedrich Nietzsche - completed (paperback)

60 Spirits of the Season: Christmas Hauntings (Tales of the Weird), Tanya Kirk - completed (paperback)

61 The Sundays of Jean Dézert, Jean De La Ville De Mirmont - completed (paperback)

62 A Hero of Our Time, Mikhail Lermontov - completed (paperback)

63 Sunless Solstice: Strange Christmas Tales for the Longest Nights (Tales of the Weird) edited by Lucy Evans and Tanya Kirk - completed (paperback)

Edited December 28, 2022 by lunababymoonchild

[Hayley]

This is absolutely how this works . Reading logs are just your corner of the forum to keep track of your reading however you like! 
 

8 hours ago, lunababymoonchild said:

I seem to have posted this three times, would one of the mods delete two, please? Sorry!

Done and no need to apologise, it wasn’t your fault. It’s happened a couple of times recently, I think it’s related to some loading issues we were having, which is part of the reason we’re switching hosts! 
 

I loved Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy, have you read them? What did you think of Small Spaces and Dark Voices?

[lunababymoonchild]

41 minutes ago, Hayley said:

This is absolutely how this works . Reading logs are just your corner of the forum to keep track of your reading however you like! 
 

Done and no need to apologise, it wasn’t your fault. It’s happened a couple of times recently, I think it’s related to some loading issues we were having, which is part of the reason we’re switching hosts! 
 

I loved Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy, have you read them? What did you think of Small Spaces and Dark Voices?

 

Thank you very much.

 

I have read the Winternight Trilogy and loved them, I also liked Small Spaces and Dark Voices. I'll post reviews.

Edited January 31, 2021 by lunababymoonchild

[lunababymoonchild]

Links to reviews:

 

The Dollmaker : http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16510-the-dollmaker/ 

Small Spaces: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16508-small-spaces-katherine-arden/

History of a Drowning Boy : http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16511-history-of-a-drowning-boy/

Dead Voices: http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16509-dead-voices-katherine-arden/

The Shape of Darkness: The Shape of Darkness - Crime / Mystery / Thriller - Book Club Forum

Bel-Ami : Bel-Ami - The Classics - Book Club Forum 

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter : https://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/16576-the-heart-is-a-lonely-hunter/

The Desolations of Devil's Acre : The Desolations of Devil's Acre - Children's / Young Adult - Book Club Forum

The House of the Dead : The House of the Dead - The Classics - Book Club Forum

Presumed Dead : Presumed Dead - Crime / Mystery / Thriller - Book Club Forum

The Wee Free Men: A Tiffany Aching Novel (Discworld Novels) : The Wee Free Men: A Tiffany Aching Novel (Discworld Novels) - Children's / Young Adult - Book Club Forum

The Drinker : The Drinker - The Classics - Book Club Forum

Edited March 27, 2022 by lunababymoonchild

[lunababymoonchild]

This year I've read three books about men who were incarcerated :

 

History of a Drowning Boy, Dennis Nilsen

The House of the Dead, Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Drinker, Hans Fallada

 

This was unintentional.  Obviously I knew Dennis Nilsen was in jail but I had no idea that the other two were stories about men who had been jailed. I wonder what lead me to that?

[lunababymoonchild]

This popped up of my FB feed and I thought it would be good to discuss it. The article describes how I feel about reading challenging material - although I don't read as much YA as the author does.

 

Any opinions?

 

Reading Hard Books is Good, Actually (bookriot.com)

Edited June 12, 2021 by lunababymoonchild

[muggle not]

On 1/31/2021 at 5:10 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

 

Thank you very much.

 

I have read the Winternight Trilogy and loved them, I also liked Small Spaces and Dark Voices. I'll post reviews.

When the story ended in Book 3, Winter of the Witch, did you keep reading until there were no more pages. I found the remainder of the book to be very enlightening. as Arden explained how she came to write the series and explained where she got the idea. I was mind boggled to find that a lot of book 3 was based on actual facts.

I have liked everything Arden has written to date.

Edited June 14, 2021 by muggle not

[lunababymoonchild]

2 hours ago, muggle not said:

When the story ended in Book 3, Winter of the Witch, did you keep reading until there were no more pages. I found the remainder of the book to be very enlightening. as Arden explained how she came to write the series and explained where she got the idea. I was mind boggled to find that a lot of book 3 was based on actual facts.

I have liked everything Arden has written to date.

 

I did.  I was mind boggled too to find out how factual it was.

[lunababymoonchild]

I set a target at the beginning of the year of 62 books to read, because I read 61 books last year. I'm currently reading book 62 and will read possibly a couple more than that by the end of the year. 

 

It's the first time I have set a target and I really believed that I would not get close to it. I'm happy with my reading this year, I read quickly when I wanted to read quickly and read slowly when I wanted/needed to. I read a wide range of material and found authors new to me. I did not, however, read as much non-fiction as I'd like. There were only two DNFs this year one of which I definitely won't go back to (Stephen King's Rage) but one (Samuel Beckett's The Unnamable) I probably will. I enjoy struggling with my fiction so I might make this one the last one I read this year.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Viktober and would take part again. 

 

Here's hoping that 2022 is a better year than the last two.

Edited December 23, 2021 by lunababymoonchild
Sort out the line spacing

[Hayley]

On 15/12/2021 at 5:44 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

I set a target at the beginning of the year of 62 books to read, because I read 61 books last year. I'm currently reading book 62 and will read possibly a couple more than that by the end of the year. 

Wow, well done! Will you be setting a 2022 goal as well then?

 

On 15/12/2021 at 5:44 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

I thoroughly enjoyed Viktober and would take part again. 

Me too - definitely want that to be a yearly event now!

 

On 15/12/2021 at 5:44 PM, lunababymoonchild said:

Here's hoping that 2022 is a better year than the last two.

All fingers crossed.

[lunababymoonchild]

27 minutes ago, Hayley said:

Wow, well done! Will you be setting a 2022 goal as well then?

I probably will. It was a good thing for me.

 

28 minutes ago, Hayley said:

Me too - definitely want that to be a yearly event now!

 

I think we should