Bookmarked... #26

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...


Here we are, at the start of yet another year and hopefully one full of good books and plenty of reading! Here's what I've been reading over the last 7 days.

Finished

The Dry - Jane Harper
A great debut thriller, I'm on the blog tour for this and my review will be up tomorrow.

Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
One of my favorite books but I'm not a fan of the television adaptations, not even the one with Joan Hickson.

Currently Reading

The Fireman by Joe Hill
I've owned this since the day it came out but have put off reading it. No longer! I am going to take my time over this one.

Up Next

The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman
I've been meaning to start this series since book 1 was released. I'm going to at least make a start by reading book 1!

The Witch's Kiss - Katharine & Elizabeth Corr
I'm on the blog tour for the 2nd book in the series so this is a reread for me to refresh my memory.

Books That Kept Me 'Up All Night' In 2016...

It's been a pretty awful year this year, to put it mildly! Life on the blog hasn't exactly been wonderful but 2017 promises to be better. I won't be gallivanting about as much next year, hopefully, so posting will be a lot more regular than this year. Before I post my 'Best Of...' lists I wanted to put together a list of my 'five clocks' books, and there's been a few! It may have been a bad blogging year but it certainly hasn't been a bad reading year. The list includes my top re-reads (marked with a *) and is in alphabetical order, mostly...

13 Minutes - Sarah Pinborough

A Child of Books - Oliver Jeffers & Sam Winston

A Fever Of The Blood - Oscar de Muriel

A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms - George R R Martin

A Perilous Beginning - Deanna Raybourn

A Portable Shelter  - Kirsty Logan

Alice - Christina Henry

All About Pumpkin - Natasha Farrant

*And Then There Were None

The Apprentice Witch - James Nicol

Barefoot On The Wind - Zoe Marriott

Becoming Unbecoming - Una 

Behind Closed Doors - B A Paris

Blackfin Sky - Kat Ellis

Blue Lily Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater

*Cinder - Marissa Meyer

The Creeper Man - Dawn Kurtagich

Cress - Marissa Meyer

*Crown of Midnight - Sarah J Maas

The Damage Done - James Oswald

The Darkest Part Of The Forest - Holly Black 

The Day The Crayons Came Home - Drew Daywalt & Oliver Jeffers

The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater

Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days)

Fables: Homeland

Fables: March Of The Wooden Soldiers

Fables: The Mean Seasons

Fables: Wolves

Golden Son - Pierce Brown

The Hawley Book Of The Dead - Chrysler Szarlan

The Imaginary - A. F. Harrold  & Emily Gravett

In The Woods - Tana French

Lockwood & Co. - The Screaming Staircase - Jonathan Stroud

Luna: New Moon - Ian McDonald

The Marriage Lie - Kimberley Belle

*The Mysterious Affair At Styles

*The Mysterious Mr. Quin

Natural Causes - James Oswald
*The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

Orbiting Jupiter - Gary D Schmidt

*The Owl Service - Alan Garner 

Painkiller - N J Fountain

Phoenix - S F Said

Poppy Pym & The Double Jinx - Laura Wood

Prayer For The Dead - James Oswald

Rat Queens Vol. I

*Red Rising - Pierce Brown

Saga Vol. I

Saga Vol. II

Saga Vol. III

Saga Vol. IV

Saga Vol. V 

Shadow Magic - Joshua Khan

Shadows On The Moon - Zoe Marriott

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying Of The Light - Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom of The Wicked - Derek Landy

Skulduggery Pleasant: The Last Stand Of Dead Men - Derek Landy

Tadpole's Promise (picture book)

Things The Grandchildren Should Know

Time For Jas - Natasha Farrant

The Unquiet House - Alison Littlewood

The Whispers Of Wilderwood Hall - Karen McCombie

Bookmarked... #17

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

I have completely lost track of my reading. I have bookmarks in so many books and I think I finished 3 books recently but I honestly can't remember.

Finished Recently

Currently Bookmarked

Book Haul #124, Or The One With Good Intentions...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

I was full of good intentions this week, with everything... Absolutely nothing happened though :( No blogging, not much reading and no progress on my decluttering project! After my rituximab infusion last week this week was a steroid injection directly into my knee joint, it hasn't helped and in fact feels worse. I'm struggling to get out of bed in the mornings just now but I'm ever hopeful things will improve soon. I have my 2nd rituximab infusion on Monday though so wish me luck!

Another one of my prepaid preorders arrived this week, the Cat Valente, and it's so nice seeing the whole series lined up on my shelf. Completely unnecessary but I bought the gorgeous special edition of The Lie Tree, all I need now is the US hardcover and I'll have a complete set! My Agatha Christie project continues too and I've decided I might as well buy the ones I really want to read so long as I don't go nuts... Not a bad week overall, 3 books for review and 3 books bought (sort of).

Bought

For Review

So That Was... #2 - February

What a great month for reading! I've had nine '5 clock' books this month, thirteen '4 clock' books and just one dud (a '2 clock' freebie on Kindle) so I think I might have really got into a rhythm with my reading at the moment. Of course, whether this carries on throughout the rest of the year remains to be seen! Having so many high rated reads also makes it impossible to pick a favorite book of the month so I've picked 3, and that was too hard... I narrowed it down even more by not including rereads which helped a teeny tiny bit!

I managed to read slightly more books from my own shelves this month (yay!) and despite still not having my replacement Kindle have read 6 books whilst hunched over the Kindle app on my phone.

Statistics

Total Books Read 28

Adult 12
YA 12
Middle Grade 0
Picture Books 5

Format

Hardcover 8
Paperback 14
Kindle 7

Source

Own 15
Library 7
Review 1
Kindle 6

Reviews

Behind Closed Doors - B A Paris 
The Sin Eater's Daughter - Melinda Salisbury
The Sleeping Prince - Melinda Salisbury

Favorites Of The Month

Challenge Update

Goodreads 72/275

TBR Pile Challenge 12/50

Retelling Challenge 6/26

Books Bought

Tommy & Tuppence - Agatha Christie

 

Bookmarked... #16

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

More great reading over the last 14 days! I don't want to jinx it but I don't think I've had a bad read yet this year and my 5 star reads seem to be happening frequently. Maybe I've found my reading groove? Either that or my non-planning plan of what to read by choosing at random is working...

Finished

Currently Reading

Up Next

Book Haul #122, Or The One Where I Gave In And Bought Books...

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly event hosted on Tynga's Reviews where we can share what new books we've picked up this past week be they bought, borrowed or downloaded. There are also lots of other 'book haul' memes out there for you to choose from!

So yes, as you may have gathered I finally caved and bought books but in my defence it was a bargain too good to refuse... Excuses, excuses but as I'm attempting to work my way through all of Agatha Christie's books it had to be done. I got all five of the Tommy & Tuppence books for less than $10/£7! It was school vacation here and the twins turned six, we made a cake for them again this year and I think it turned out pretty well! They certainly enjoyed it anyway...

Netgalley

Flawed - Cecelia Ahern

Heir To The Sky - Amanda Sun

Serafina & The Black Cloak - Robert Beatty

The Madwoman Upstairs - Catherine Lowell

No One Knows - J T Ellison

The Sudden Appearance Of Hope - Claire North

From Titan

A Gathering Of Shadows

Nod

Bought

The Secret Adversary

Partners In Crime

N Or M?

By The Pricking Of My Thumbs

Postern Of Fate

Bookmarked... #15

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

Not quite as much reading time this week but I have read some great books! Yet again I'm kicking myself over taking so long to read a series and yep, that series is The Lunar Chronicles! I'm away this week, school vacation time again, so I could well have finished Cress by now too...

Finished

Currently Reading

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

First, there were ten - a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal - and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion...

I expect hundreds if not thousands of people were inspired to read And Then There Were None after the recent BBC adaptation starring Aidan Turner and Charles Dance amongst others. And Then There Were None is undoubtedly Agatha Christie's best selling book ever, indeed it's thought to be the seventh best selling book of all time! I started reading Agatha Christie when I was 11 and staying at my grandmother's house. Wanting something to read but not feeling ready to dive into the books of Catherine Cookson and Danielle Steele I picked up And Then There Were None and fell in love. It was the first grown-up mystery I had ever read. Previous experience up to then was limited mostly to Nancy Drew and the Famous Five so this was completely amazing.

Christie writes mystery as if she was born to do it. All of her books, this one included, are fairly short but pack a lot into them. This is the third or fourth time I've read this one and I still get caught up in the rhyme and the mystery, of who is next and who is the murderer. I had completely forgotten about the extra chapter at the end involving the full confession of the murderer thrown out to sea in a bottle. I remember being completely shocked at who it was on the first time of reading but of course, looking at it through adult eyes, there's only really one candidate.

This has turned out to be a not-review really but it has inspired me to launch into a personal reading project for the year and that's to re-read all the Christies I read in my teen years and then to start on all the stories I never got round to so look out for a lot more of Agatha Christie appearing on the Outsider in the future!

Ten little Indian Boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Indian Boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Indian Boys traveling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven^.
Seven little Indian Boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Indian Boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Indian Boys going in for law;
One got in Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Indian Boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Indian Boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Indian Boys sitting in the sun;
One got frizzled up and then there was one.
One little Indian Boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none.

And Then There Were None - Agatha Christie

Publisher - HarperCollins

Release date - November 1939

Find - Goodreads | Book Depository

Bookmarked... #12

The return of the (mostly) weekly post letting you all know what I'm reading and have lined up for the week! It's my own version of Sheila at Book Journey's It's Monday What Are You Reading (now hosted by Kathryn at Book Date) and I have her permission to rename it for my own nefarious reasons...

Bout of Books may be long over now but I kept up the reading last week and managed to finish six books, although The Robber Bridegroom is in a book with just 64 pages... January is always a good month for reading for me, I haven't had time to get disillusioned by the stacks and stacks of books around me so hopefully I'll get ahead on my Goodreads challenge enough that I don't need to worry about it.

This week has started off well too. I currently have bookmarks (real & electronic) in four books all of which enjoying. My enjoyment of short stories continues so I'm loving Best of Apex magazine and Hawley Book of the Dead is one of those books that seems to appear to be a book written just for you because you can't find anything wrong with it! No idea what's up next but it's not as if I'll run out of books to choose from. I'm on a blog tour for the next book in Melinda Salisbury's series, The Sleeping Prince, so thought I better reread The Sin Eater's Daughter now rather than waiting to the last minute.

Finished Last Week

And Then There Were None

Blue Diablo

I Know Who Did It

Return To The Secret Garden

The Robber Bridegroom

Skulduggery Pleasant: Kingdom Of The Wicked

Currently Reading

Best of Apex Magazine

The Hawley Book Of The Dead

Luna: New Moon

The Sin Eater's Daughter