Bride of the Book God

Drum roll please.

I have finished a whole book. Really. *Fanfare*

OK, so it was a re-read of The Shining for a book club I never made it too, but I have broken a month-long slump and hope that it’s the start of getting back to normal.

I also abandoned a book, again one I was reading for The Horror Book Club, and again I didn’t make it to the meeting (this time because I was a bit unwell). This was also a re-read, of I Am Legend which I had read before and liked but this time round found just far too bleak for the mood I have been in recently. Sticking to my guns over not going on with things I’m not enjoying because there are so many books and life is already too short to get to them all.

Still buying of course 😀

• Witches of Lychford by Paul Cornell
• Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian  Faulks
• The Elder Ice and Broken Meats by David Hambling
• Thirteen Guests by J Jefferson Farjeon
• The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes

Those were all Kindle books so I can pretend they’re not real. I also pre-ordered a couple of books but I’ll talk about them when they finally appear on my device.

But hurrah! I’ve read a book!!

Still buying. Still reading. Still ahead of annual target.

Still not finishing anything 😦

Since my last post I’ve started reading a fifth book,  a non-fiction piece that I’m not sure I’ll review (or even mention at the moment because Complex Feelings), and I have added the following to Mount TBR:

• The Relic Guild by the lovely Ed Cox; and
• A Hero at the End of the World (signed) by the equally lovely Erin Claiborne

Both bought as a result of readings at the SRFC at the end of August. Love that group, not sure my credit card agrees 😀

Then on Tuesday I found myself stuck in Birmingham with quite a lot of time to kill before my train back to London, and the splendid New Street branch of Waterstones beckoned and I couldn’t walk out without buying something, so this happened:

• Gorsky by Vesna Goldsworthy (I keep wanting to call it Grosky for some bizarre reason)
• The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber
• Here Comes a Chopper by Gladys Mitchell

The first two were on my wish-list already but the Mitchell was a lovely surprise; she is one of my absolute favourite crime writers and I have never come across this one before so this was exciting.

And finally, just because I could:

• The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander
• Three Views of Crystal Water by Katherine Govier

Really must do better 🙂

So here’s the thing. Every time this week I have sat down to read a book I have fallen asleep, regardless of the time of day and (mostly) regardless of location i.e. I haven’t fallen asleep on public transport. Yet. Well, not because I was reading anyway.

But I’m still ahead of my target to read a book a week so I’m not panicking. Also yet.

Of course not reading – or, to be more accurate, not finishing – books hasn’t stopped me from bringing more into the house (mostly but not exclusively invisible Kindle books). This week I have managed to get a hold of:

• The Verse of Sibilant Shadows by JM Guillen – almost entirely because it has a really cool title
• The Case of the Imaginary Detective by Karen Joy Fowler
• The Whitehall Mandarin by Edward Wilson
• The Girl Who Wasn’t There by Ferdinand von Shirach
• The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher
• The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

And despite the fact that I have made no or little progress with the three books I was reading this time last week I have started a fourth – Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris, largely because I am so taken with Bryan Fuller’s TV series Hannibal (which is based on the characters and bits of the plot but isn’t a direct adaptation) that I thought I would pick up the only book in the series I hadn’t yet read, especially as it was kicking around.

Hopefully a better story to tell next week 🙂

Very little reading done this week for reasons which I can’t easily identify but probably have something to do with Life 🙂

I am making good progress with The Shining but wasn’t able to make it to the book club meeting which was probably just as well; enjoying it hugely – I just love Stephen King, always have.

I have continued to add to the Invisible TBR pile that is my Kindle app with the following:

• Shutter Man by Richard Montanari – the ninth Byrne and Balzano book, a series i have become mildly obsessed with this year;
• Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand – acid folk band recording in country house with dark secrets;
• In Plain Sight by Dan Davies – the life and lies of Jimmy Savile, an exploration of the dreadful sexual crimes of a man who was once really huge on UK TV. reading this because of an long-standing interest in true crime but also it has been nominated for a major non-fiction award;
• The Fifth Heart by Dan Simmons – another gothic historical literary chunkster featuring Sherlock Holmes and Henry James;
• Open Season by Archer Mayor – this is the first of 23 or so Joe Gunther mysteries set in New England; I know nothing about this author but it was mentioned in an article about S3 of True Detective and where it might (should) be set and it sounded intriguing.

Must do better 😀