Finally I am starting to read more than two short books a month.

All books are works of fiction.

The Books

Charles Dickens: Great Expectations – A boy comes into a great deal of money without knowing who gave it to him, and encounters the love and prejudices that wealth brings. Very good, if wordy.

Daphne du Maurier: Rebecca – Accepting a sudden proposal of marriage from a wealthy widower, the heroine does not realise just how much the dead first wife is kept alive by the actions of those who loved her, and will struggle to find her own identity in a house that time forgot. A regular idea made alluring by fantastic writing.

Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus – Two magicians, forced by their mentors to compete against one another, find themselves competing in circus. Their paranormal work ensures the protection of the place and their fellow artists, but who will win and stay around is still undecided. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, however do be prepared for the dull middle.

Irving Bacheller: The Light In The Clearing – A young boy from a poor family learns how to live in an unequal world, especially when it comes to those around him. Not bad, though it could do with less accented dialogue.

Kimberly Derting: The Last Echo – Violet and her team take on a man who kidnaps girls to be his girlfriend, and this time it’s more personal than ever before. The best book of the series so far.

An interesting month for reading. I liked all the books I read, in fact most of them I loved. I read a classic, a modern classic, and another older book, making this possibly the most historic month of reading I’ve ever had. My favourite was definitely The Night Circus, but Rebecca was a strong contender, had the plot been less straightforward it would have been in my list of books from which I take my best five of the year. I’m very much looking forward to reading the rest of Du Maurier’s work. My least favourite book was The Light In The Clearing, it took me ages to read because for so long it bumbles along. But there are no books I didn’t like this month, and that is always something to celebrate.

Quotation Report

The Baynes family of The Light In The Clearing demonstrate how well, in the absence of knowledge of a foreign language, a word can be substituted for the plural “snags”, and as the Pocket family of Great Expectations shows, a woman brought up in the 1800s to be a thing of beauty and nothing else, was perfectly useless when it came to, well, anything at all. Whilst the heroine of Rebecca reminds us of the sad truth that we have for many years neglected the needs of our elders.

I’m looking forward to the great possibility of reading more books now that summer is almost upon us, and I look at the new world Dickens and du Maurier have opened up for me with relish.

This few book thing is likely to be repeated until summer…

All books are works of fiction.

The Books

Asko Sahlberg: The Brothers – Two siblings return home after fighting on opposite sides of the war, but there are even greater tensions about than theirs. Brilliant.

Jodie Griffin: Forbidden Fantasies – After 15 years of marriage Jess has discovered the desire to spice up her and her husband’s sex life. Good as an introduction to erotic romance.

Two novellas read, although I have almost finished Great Expectations and am halfway through another book. The Sahlberg yet again proved that Peirene Press are a treasure of a publisher, and intrigued me about Finnish literature. As with the previous year, it’s likely that Peirene’s books will be a major contender for my top five. The Griffin was a good choice for my venture into romance as I really wanted to push my limits, but a lot of books are a no go. The faithful nature of it kept it just within my comfort level while ensuring I experienced quite the difference.

Quotation Report

None this time.

I’m aware I’ve lost pretty much everyone since I stopped posting regularly, but of course I cannot put blogging before studying just right now and so that will simply have to be the way it is.

A difficult month twas February. Illness, birthdays, a lack of motivation, and sheer mental exhaustion held me back from picking up a book on many days. But I am happy that I’m one step closer to my Chadwick goal, and that I got through an amazing book that’s currently on everyone’s radar. And I’m currently halfway through a forgotten early 20th century novel that is proving rather intriguing – I look forward to covering it on the blog soon.

All books are fiction.

The Books

Elizabeth Chadwick: The Marsh King’s Daughter – Nicholas and Miriel meet when Nicholas is running away from royalty and Miriel is attempting to run away from a controlling environment. When Miriel runs off with Nicholas’s stolen gold it puts a spanner in their friendship. A very good and rather different tale from Chadwick.

Eowyn Ivey: The Snow Child – Mabel and Jack, a couple in a weakened relationship, create a girl out of snow and the next day it appears she’s come to life. A beautiful story of discovering each other and of learning to live and let live.

For once I can’t say there was a favourite, as while the ratings I gave both books were different there was not much in it and any issues I had with either where very minor. The Marsh King’s Daughter reminded me, as always, that reading Chadwick’s work is what I want to do until I finish them, and The Snow Child introduced me to debut author Ivey, who I look forward to reading in the future as her talent suggests that she has a lot to give.

Quotation Report

None this time.

I am so happy it is now March. The days have started getting longer again and the sun has already provided a few quite warm days. With this as it is I am looking forward to getting more done, including more reading.

This month has been good. I’ve managed to make progress on finding a proper balance between studying and other things, as the number of books I read shows. Although, that said, I don’t know if I’ll be able to repeat this in February, no matter the lesser amount of days in it. The rush of motivation caused by its being the start of a new year definitely helped.

The Books

Non-Fiction

Duane W Roller: Cleopatra – A biography of the queen using only primary sources. Has its issues, but is not bad at all.

Glynis Ridley: The Discovery Of Jeanne Baret – The story of the first woman to sail the globe. Full of speculation, but then there is very little evidence to go on. Very enjoyable nonetheless.

Fiction

Aimee Bender: The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake – A girl discovers she can feel other’s feelings when she eats food made by them. A bit on the wacky side towards the end, but a very good book in total

Charlaine Harris: Living Dead In Dallas – Sookie’s off to find out what happened to a vampire clan member while a cult has sprung up. The series is getting good.

Shannon Stacey: Undeniably Yours – Beth finds out she’s pregnant, but while Kevin is very happy, she just wants her freedsom back. Not as good as the other two in the series by a long shot.

My favourite, by rating, is The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – but experience-wise, I think I enjoyed The Discovery Of Jeanne Baret the most. The sailing element reminded me of The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, which is my favourite Narnia book, and the information and social history were sublime. The giveaway I hosted for the book failed miserably, but that hasn’t put me off the idea. Sad to say I didn’t enjoy Undeniably Yours at all, and I’m glad I read it last instead of second (its original place in the series) because if it had been my first experience of Stacey, I would never have read her other works. And if you’ve read my reviews of Exclusively Yours and Yours To Keep you’ll know that I’m a big fan of her Kowalski family and that she’s the author who made me want to keep reading romance after my initial venture.

Quotation Report

None this time.

2012, so far you’ve been good to me, and I’d like to think that in my limited student way, I’ve been good to you. Let’s keep it up.

This year I read 54 books, 6 less than last year. Of those I wrote 51 reviews, some yet to be posted. This year’s study meant that I didn’t have so much time to read so I was unable to fulfill my goal of reading more than in 2010. Of the 54 books that I read, 51 are included in this round-up, the remaining 3 excluded for reasons such as they were so short and so bad I didn’t really consider them to be proper books. Of the books I read, 6 were non-fiction.

Done in the style of last year’s round-up. It was particularly difficult choosing which books should be in my best of list this year, and in a way I feel I’ve cheated by putting in two similar books and two Austen novels, but I would be lying if I had chosen not to include them.

As always, books that have been reviewed have a line underneath them and the title links to the review.

The Best Of The Best

• Ally Condie: Matched – Cassia has never questioned her world, but a botch in the system that shows teenagers who they will marry introduces her to the idea that everything may not be a perfect as it seems. Brilliant.
• Jane Austen: Emma – A woman who is a little obsessed with match-making causes a few problems before meeting her own match. Utterly fantastic.
• Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey – Gothic-novel-obsessed Catherine finds her hero easily and although her friends may cause a few problems, things go rather swimmingly, just as Austen says they will. In my opinion the Austen to rival Pride And Prejudice.
• Julia Strachey: Cheerful Weather For The Wedding – A short story about the goings on of a family on the day of the daughter’s wedding. Very funny with a poigniant ending.
• Lauren Oliver: Delirium – Lena falls in love in a world where love is considered a disease. Oliver surpasses her previous brilliance.

The Rest Of The List

5

• Elizabeth Chadwick: The Wild Hunt
• Elle Newmark: The Sandalwood Tree
• J B: Zor
• J K Rowling: Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
• Louise Douglas: The Secrets Between Us
• Véronique Olmi: Beside The Sea

4.5

• Alois Hotschnig: Maybe This Time
• Elizabeth Chadwick: Lords Of The White Castle
• Jan van Mersbergen: Tomorrow Pamplona
• Julie Kagawa: The Iron King
• Lian Hearn: Grass For His Pillow
• Lynne McTaggart: The Bond
• Marghanita Laski: The Victorian Chaise-Longue
• Sarah Haynes: Things He Never Knew
• Shannon Stacey: Exclusively Yours
• Shannon Stacey: Yours To Keep

4

• Alex Bell: Lex Trent Fighting With Fire
• Antonia Fraser: Marie Antoinette – The Journey
• Cat Clarke: Entangled
• Kimberly Derting: Desires Of The Dead
• Lian Hearn: Across The Nightingale Floor
• Richard Rex: The Tudors
• Shelley Munro: The Spurned Viscountess
• Taylor Stevens: The Informationist

3.5

• Barbara Longley: Heart Of The Druid Laird
• Charlaine Harris: Dead Until Dark
• Charlotte Brontë: Villette
• David Eddings: Guardians Of The West
• Elizabeth Chadwick: The Running Vixen
• Ella Drake: Jaq’s Harp
• Ella Drake: Silver Bound
• Katharine A Russell: Deed So
• Kenneth Cameron: The Bohemian Girl
• Lee Carroll: Black Swan Rising

3

• Claire Robyns: Second-Guessing Fate
• Danielle Trussoni: Angelology
• David Starkey: Henry – Virtuous Prince
• Freya North: Chances
• The Hippie: Snowflake Obsidian
• Jennifer Greene: No More Mr. Nice Guy
• Julie Kagawa: The Iron Daughter

2.5

• Elizabeth Gaskell: North And South
• G W Bernard: Anne Boleyn – Fatal Attractions
• Lauren Kate: Torment

2

• Madeleine Thien: Certainty

1

• Priya Basil: The Obscure Logic Of The Heart

This year for me and reading was to take it steady and not compromise on study. I certainly achieved that as my monthly round-ups showed. I also wanted to start on my journey to read more non-fiction and this I achieved also. I didn’t sign up for any challenges which was a good decision. I read North And South, one of the classics I was particular about reading in 2011, and I made a start on Harry Potter (reading Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone), Tales Of The Otori (Across The Nightingale Floor and Grass For His Pillow), and Elizabeth Chadwick’s work (Lords Of The White Castle, The Wild Hunt, and The Running Vixen). Unfortunately I didn’t read any holy books but everything considered, I’m happy with my work towards the goals I set.

But the biggest thing was romance, and in this I have come further than I thought. Not only did I make a start in breaking into the genre, in order to say I had truly expanded my horizons, but I also discovered some authors who I will carry on reading.

Quotation Report

In Lex Trent Fighting With Fire, something is obviously going on, but then something generally is. And in Cheerful Weather For The Wedding, Tom reminds us that emerald green socks are most certainly not appropriate attire for a marriage ceremony, while his aunt learns that if you assign the same bedroom to a number of people, somewhere down the vicar is going to see the school-teacher’s folded underwear.

In Deed So, Sarah Jane wants to read a bodice ripper, whatever that is, and in Lords Of The White Castle, Fulke feels his family is eccentric for his parents wanting privacy in the bedroom. Well, it is the late 1100s after all. Also in Lords Of The White Castle, Oonagh’s dog is used to its mistress’s meetings turning into sexual conquests. When one looms it leaves the room with a bored sigh. In Northanger Abbey, while Austen critises the critics, Isabella spends time saying she’s not interested in two men before practically running down the street on their trail. And as we all know, a person is going to be very happy on meeting someone they haven’t bothered to see for years than they possibly would be had they made a point of staying friends if you don’t believe it, ask Mrs Allen and Mrs Thorpe. Don’t expect a satisfactory answer though, these women’s conversations are never the result of two people talking on the same subject.

In Snowflake Obsidian, Willow makes the assumption that whoever said blondes had more fun was likely referring to Marilyn Monroe and a steam vent. And in Dead Until Dark Sookie has trouble telling whether a vampire is unconscious or dead – it’s difficult to tell the difference.

In Exclusively Yours, Keri muses over the idea that if her old cheerleading squad hadn’t used curling irons and aerosols, global warming might not have happened.

Margaret Hale, from North And South might advise you to be careful when talking about vulgarity because if there is any chance that the man whose proposal you recently turned down should walk in you may end up talking of knobsticks in order to quell the look on his face that suggests he thought you were meaning he himself is vulgar. And while Iman, from The Obscure Logic Of The Heart, may find parenting instinctive, evidence would suggest that her husband needs to watch nature programmes in order to gain an idea of how to do things.

In Emma, Mr Knightley amply addresses the fact that one can be no less than extremely positive of another’s dancing while that person is in the room. And while anyone else might take a few moments to agree to dancing down the passage between rooms when a building has little space, when Mr Woodhouse is around it will take a while as he will go on about draughts that no one else can sense.

In the next few days I’ll be writing a general look-back at 2011 and will also be posting the rest of my film watchings.

What was your favourite/were your favourite books you read in 2011?