Reading Review: June 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly

The Furies by Katie Lowe

Total Library Books Read This Month: 2
Total Own Books Read This Month: 0
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 2

Total Library Books Read 2019: 14
Total Own Books Read 2019: 3
Overall Total Books Read 2019: 17

MY READ OF THE MONTH

The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly. This was my introduction to the Charlie Parker series. I’m very late to the series but I’m glad I found it through this book. I didn’t feel lost by making this my starting point, and it did set me up for the next book in the series, A Book of Bones.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 7 books read. I’ve really fallen behind on this challenge at the moment after receiving an influx in brand new library books, but I’d like to try and add at least a few more to this total. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4) by Agatha Christie
The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

  

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

Cover with your Favourite Colour – Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

Title is a Name – In this case, the title contains the name – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4) by Agatha Christie

Over 400 pages – The Woman in the Woods by John Connolly is 496 pages

GOODREADS

So far this year I’ve read 17 books.

GOALS

• I’m keeping up with my monthly update posts to keep track of my reading.

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So concludes June’s Reading Review. See you again next month

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Reading Review: May 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

     

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4) by Agatha Christie

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher

Total Library Books Read This Month: 1
Total Own Books Read This Month: 1
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 2

Total Library Books Read 2019: 12
Total Own Books Read 2019: 3
Overall Total Books Read 2019: 15

MY READ OF THE MONTH

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher has to be my choice for this month. What a great read. I loved every page and was sorry to reach the end, even though I found it tough to tear myself away from reading just one more chapter. Definitely one to consider if you’re in search of something good to read.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 6 books read. I’ve really fallen behind on this challenge at the moment after receiving an influx in brand new library books, but I’d like to try and add at least a few more to this total. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4) by Agatha Christie

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

 

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

Cover with your Favourite Colour – Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

Title is a Name – In this case, the title contains the name – The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Poirot #4) by Agatha Christie

GOODREADS

So far this year I’ve read 15 books.

GOALS

• I participated in Bout of Books. I always enjoy a good read-a-thon.
• I’m keeping up with my monthly update posts to keep track of my reading.

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So concludes May’s Reading Review. See you again next month

Bout of Books 25 (May 2019) Goals and Daily Progress Updates

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 13th and runs through Sunday, May 19th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, Twitter chats, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 25 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

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It’s Bout of Books time again! I always enjoy a read-a-thon, so hopefully this should be a good week of reading and blogging.

Time Devoted to Reading

I usually say half an hour per day, but hopefully just a starting point. I’d really like to read more.

My Goals

• To continue reading A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher
• To take part in Top Ten Tuesday this week, which has a page to screen theme
• To start another book, possibly one of the Charlie Parker series by John Connolly
• Keep track of my reading progress via daily blog updates
• Visit other blogs and no doubt add to my endless TBR list

Books to Read

• A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher
• A Book of Bones by John Connolly
• ???

Updates

Monday

I’m looking forward to sharing this week of reading and blogging during Bout of Books. I have a current read that I’m really enjoying, so that’s a good start. Let’s see how it goes…

Tuesday (Monday’s Progress)

I managed to get some great reading time in and read 50 pages of A Boy and His Dog… It’s a really great read, but there’s a note at the beginning asking that readers don’t give away any of the secrets so I’ll say no more for now.

Number of pages I’ve read today:  50
Total number of pages I’ve read:  50

Wednesday (Tuesday’s progress)

A day without reading? Not good.

Number of pages I’ve read today:  0
Total number of pages I’ve read:  50

Thursday (Wednesday’s progress)

Had a better day of reading and managed 40 pages. I don’t want to rush my book because I’m enjoying it so much. I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next.

Number of pages I’ve read today:  40
Total number of pages I’ve read:  90

Friday (Thursday’s progress)

Had a great time lost in my latest read. I think I’ll probably finish A Boy and His Dog… maybe today and I’ll definitely be sad to see it end. It’s been such a good read. Hope whatever I chose to start next proves to be just as good.

Number of pages I’ve read today:  75
Total number of pages I’ve read:  165

Saturday (Friday’s progress)

I’ve finished A Boy and His Dog… It was a great read. I didn’t know whether I’d have time to start a new book during this read-a-thon but it’s looking good.

Number of pages I’ve read today:  50
Total number of pages I’ve read:  215

Sunday (Saturday’s progress)

Oops, another day with no reading done!

Number of pages I’ve read today:  0
Total number of pages I’ve read:  215

Monday (Sunday’s progress and final thoughts)

Final Summary posted HERE.

 

Reading Review: April 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

       

Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff

Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield

Sleep by C. L. Taylor

Total Library Books Read This Month: 3
Total Own Books Read This Month: 0
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 3

Total Library Books Read 2019: 11
Total Own Books Read 2019: 2
Overall Total Books Read 2019: 13

MY READ OF THE MONTH

It’s a tough choice this month, but I think I’ll go with Sleep by C. L. Taylor. It kept turning the pages, in need of ‘just one more chapter’, and I haven’t read a book so quickly in quite a while, so it was a nice change for me.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 5 books read. I’ve really fallen behind on this challenge at the moment after receiving an influx in brand new library books, but I’d like to try and add at least a few more to this total. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

Cover with your Favourite Colour – Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

GOODREADS

So far this year I’ve read 13 books.

GOALS

• I think I covered ‘trying a variety of genres’ this month as my reading took in historical, post-apocalyptic and psychological thriller. This latter is definitely something I haven’t read too much of so far, but I enjoyed Sleep so much that I might try to read more in the genre in future.
• I’m keeping up with my monthly update posts to keep track of my reading.

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So concludes April’s Reading Review. See you again next month

Reading Review: March 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

   

The Last By Hanna Jameson

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon – Technically I don’t know whether this book should appear here as I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s occupied the majority of my reading time this month, so why not?

Total Library Books Read This Month: 2
Total Own Books Read This Month: 0
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 2

Total Library Books Read 2019: 8
Total Own Books Read 2019: 2
Overall Total Books Read 2019: 10

MY READ OF THE MONTH

I haven’t finished it yet because it’s such a massive book, but I have to name The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon as my Read of the Month.
I may have mentioned previously that when I collected this huge tome from the library I was amazed; I had no idea it was such a big book, and I decided that if it wasn’t really great then I’d take it back, because I didn’t want to keep carrying around such a heavy book (talk about laziness!).
And then I disappeared into this wonderfully created world of brave ladies and talking dragons and I was totally lost to reality. I begrudge having to put this book down, it’s so good.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 5 books read. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

Cover with your Favourite Colour – Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

GOODREADS

So far this year I’ve managed to read (almost) 10 books.

GOALS

• My reading goals have definitely fallen by the wayside in the face of my massive book, but I guess I’ll consider it an achievement to read such a huge book. When anyone asks me what I’m reading and I tell them how many pages it is I’ve been confronted by several looks of horror for some reason. They don’t know what they’re missing!

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So concludes March’s Reading Review. See you again next month

Reading Review: February 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

          

Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

The Familiars by Stacey Halls

Total Library Books Read This Month: 4
Total Own Books Read This Month: 0
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 4

Total Library Books Read 2019: 6
Total Own Books Read 2019: 2
Overall Total Books Read 2019: 8

MY READ OF THE MONTH

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. Perfect conclusion to a wonderful trilogy. As soon as I’d finished it I wanted to jump right back in at the beginning of the series. So good!

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 5 books read. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden
Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

Cover with your Favourite Colour – Taken at the Flood (Poirot #28) by Agatha Christie

GOODREADS

So far this year I’ve managed to read 8 books.

GOALS

• I haven’t managed to read any of my own books this month. That’s mainly because a huge pile of library requests arrived around the same time and as other people are waiting for them too I have to read them first.
• I’ve kept up with reviews so far.
• I still haven’t tried an audio book, although I keep looking at the library catalogue and there are several I would like to try. I just need to clear a few of the real book from my library pile first.

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So concludes February’s Reading Review. See you again next month

Reading Review: January 2019

Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.

BOOKS I’VE READ

              

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Total Library Books Read This Month:  2
Total Own Books Read This Month:  2
Overall Total Books Read This Month:  4

Total Library Books Read 2019:  2
Total Own Books Read 2019:  2
Overall Total Books Read 2019:  4

MY READ OF THE MONTH

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

It was a close run thing between The Stranger Diaries and The Girl in the Tower but in the end it had to be The Girl in the Tower. I loved almost everything about this book, and I cannot wait to delve straight back into the world of Vasya and Morozko in the final instalment of the trilogy. I really hope the library has copies in stock quickly.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

My total for this challenge is currently 4 books read. So far I’ve read:

The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (Poirot #35) by Agatha Christie
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

This year I’m having a go a something a little different – Beat the Backlist Bingo. I have no idea how many of these boxes I’ll manage to tick but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.

Book with under 1000 Ratings on GoodReads – 830 for The Stranger Diaries at time of Completion.

Part of a trilogy – The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

New-to-me Author – Kate Mascarenhas with The Psychology of Time Travel

GOODREADS

My target for 2019 is initially 20 books. This seems to be my usual starting point. I’ve kept it low because I love long books, and don’t want to feel that I need to rush my reading to meet a target – I like to take my time and enjoy my books. That said, this month I managed to read 4 books, which is quite a lot for me!

GOALS

• I’m off to a good start in that I actually managed to read two of my own books this month. I’ve said I want to read owned books before and never managed to do it because I have so many library books.
• I took part in my first read-a-thon of the year, Bout of Books, and am always on the lookout for another reading event to participate in.
• Sci-fi and Fantasy featured in my reading choices this month, so I’m indulging my enjoyment of those genres, and M. Poirot also made an appearance, so I’m still enjoying Agatha Christie novels.
• I’ve (mostly) kept up with reviews so far, which is quite good as I’ve read more this month than I usually do.
• Haven’t managed to try out an audio book yet, but I have looked at my library’s collection and there are a few potential selections on there, so I really will try and get around to it soon.

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So concludes January’s Reading Review. See you again next month