Compared to April, my reading in May was shameful. I read a total of four books, two of them being very short and the other two jam-packed with text right up to the margins. After having shunned non-fiction books for a while I found myself craving them so the two latter books were historical accounts. And that was my failing – although I absolutely loved the first it was very long, and the last didn’t live up to my expectations at all so I trailed through it at snail pace. But it’s taught me more than ever that what I want to read may not always be what I should read.

The Books

Non-Fiction

Alison Weir: The Princes In The Tower – Alison Weir looks at all the contemporary evidence afresh to come to a conclusion as to whether or not Edward V and his brother were killed by their uncle, Richard III. Or so says the book – in reality this is an incredibly biased account full of selfish assumptions by a woman who should know better. Useful for the source information but if you’re wanting to know about the events there are plenty of other books to choose from and personally I’d recommend you do that.

Lisa See: On Gold Mountain – Lisa See presents the story of her Chinese-American family’s rise to business success from the initial journey of her great-grandfather to America in the late 1800’s to the present day situation of his descendents. A fabulous tale of adventure, hardship, forbidden love, antiques and lingerie sharing the same space, and the birth of modern-day America written with the poetic language of a novel.

Fiction

C S Lewis: The Horse And His Boy (The Chronicles Of Narnia) – A child runs away with a talking horse to find the land in which the horse grew up. Along the way they meet a princess who is also running away to Narnia with her own talking horse. Together they must get past the obstacles between them and their destination. A nice short story to add to the series, but skip-able.

C S Lewis: Prince Caspian (The Chronicles Of Narnia) – Narnia has changed a lot since the four children from our world ruled there. Caspian, the rightful king, must find a way to win back the land from his usurping uncle – and about his person is Queen Susan’s horn which, when blown, will summon the sovereigns of old to his aid. A very different Narnia but still compelling.

The best of the bunch was On Gold Mountain – I’ve been raving about it to anyone who’ll listen. It was so different to See’s Peony In Love which you may remember I didn’t like too much. I’ve reached the point in The Chronicles Of Narnia where the series starts to lose it’s appeal to me but I will carry on until the end.

Quotation Report

If you use Shasta of The Horse And His Boy as your case of reference you will never explore the area to the south of your home because if you go just a little way, a little little way, south, and find it uninteresting then surely further south will be just as boring. Of course this does not apply to you if you live by the sea – exploring the sea would be interesting, and possibly fatal. And while the majority of the world’s population would agree that when you’re dead that’s it, Lasaraleen of Calormen, the country south of Narnia, thinks that a good course of action is to kill a traitor and then, afterwards, feed them only bread and water. Edmund, the King of Narnia, at the time of Prince Caspian, shows us that the phrases we think are modern aren’t always so when he says “it will be more of a sucks for him if I win, and less of a let-down for us all if I fail”. And Lucy points out that girls don’t have maps in their heads like boys because their minds have a bit more substance.

So I had a lot of willing this month, I just didn’t place it well. I’ve lined up some easier reads for June.

My initial plan was to post a round-up every three months, but judging by the number of bloggers posting monthly ones and by my own longer-than-usual list of books for a month, I’ve decided to go with the majority and post monthly. This may inhibit the quality of my Quotation Reports (I’ve given the feature an official name) but it will mean that there are less books for you, my readers, to wade through here.

I’m now formally splitting my round-up posts into two sections where before they just ran on from one to the other. The first section will deal with the books, the second the quotations. There will be, on either side, an introduction (this is it for April) and ending.

All books are non-fiction. As always the books are ordered by author’s first name and the books reviewed written in italics.

The Books

C S Lewis: The Magician’s Nephew (The Chronicles Of Narnia) – Two children, on the demands of an eccentric “magician”, use rings to transport themselves to other worlds. They meet a witch – who they bring back to our world and who causes much alarm when she tries to take over London using ancient means – and a lion who is creating a new land. Contains many parallels with the Bible. A fantastic fantasy for children that can be enjoyed by adults alike.

C S Lewis: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe (The Chronicles Of Narnia) – Lucy finds that the wardrobe in the spare room has no back, in fact walking through it leads one to a mysterious new world. Once her siblings finally believe her stories and join her in Narnia the White Queen’s power begins to weaken, but they will still have to fight to save Narnia from everlasting winter. A classic that’s well deserving of it’s status.

Jane Austen: Sense And Sensibility – Elinor and Marianne are both very different sisters looking for very different men. But one thing they would agree on, especially now, is that their men should be proper gentlemen. Not as good as Pride And Prejudice and takes a while to get going, but well worth the read.

Lisa See: Peony In Love – A lovestruck and romantic-dreamer teenager dies because of an opera and must learn more about love and life before she can move on. The main character is practically an anti-heroine and the plot difficult to get through but the writing is exquisite.

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief – Death relays the story of a girl growing up in Nazi Germany in a place where people just want to live their lives. Incredible story-telling and use of language, engrossing story, and even illustrations – this book has it all.

Victoria Hislop: The Return – A woman travels to Spain for dance lessons but didn’t realise the extent of her family history. The Ramirez family were split up; they were jailed, left in solitude, travellers, in a country in turmoil. And because of the children: a teacher, a matador, a guitarist, and a flamenco dancer, there is a connection with Sonia that will change her life. An engaging tale set against a factual and horrifying backdrop.

I can’t believe I read so many books in one month – 6 is a record for me. Albeit that two were short. If I had to pick a favourite it would probably be a toss up between The Return and The Book Thief. I love The Chronicles Of Narnia but somehow citing a children’s fantasy instead of historical fiction that deals with war seems wrong.

I participated in the Read-A-Thon which accounts for the two C S Lewis’ but because of the problems with scheduling time I’m not sure if I’d do it again. This month seemed so long in reading terms, however!

Quotation Report

Apparentally, if Polly of The Magician’s Nephew is anything to go by, if you bring an evil witch queen from one world to your own, it’s fine to go home to dinner and leave her where she is. No matter if she’s intending to start her take-over of your world in the morning. And Elinor of Sense And Sensibility reckons it’s fine to tell your sister she can’t write a letter to her mother on the same day you do, no matter if you’re both at an age where petty issues like this should have ended long ago. Though you should trust her if she tells you never to wait in a shop queue if the man currently being served is looking for a toothpick case. He might be a while.

One round-up per month? Well I’ve managed it this time but I have a feeling the next will be shorter.

Is it too late to post this? I’m not sure, but I wanted to all the same to document the books I’ve read that would otherwise get little mention here.

Some time in January 2009 I made a resolution, to read more. I had hardly read for the past few years, a handful of books at the most, and I wanted to change that. As a child I’d been a bookworm.

Every summer since 2006 I’ve read Lisa Jewell’s new release, but apart from those and a couple of historical fictions I excluded myself from the world I once loved. That needed to change.

I had an awkward start as I chose a heavy-going factual book on Tudor history. Although I enjoyed it immensely it took a good couple of months to finish as I started to get bogged down and count down pages until the end. I read 27 books of which many were short. I never set myself a goal, though somewhere around the 15 mark I pressed myself for 20, then 25. I’ve set a goal of 40 for 2010.

I kept a database of the books I read with details of page numbers and genre. Late in the year I also started making a note of the dates I begun and finished them. As before I’ve linked those reviewed to their pages.

Non-Fiction

Alison Weir: The Six Wives Of Henry VIII – An in-depth look into an area of the monarch’s life he’d probably rather we’d forget. Very interesting and informative.

Alison Weir: Children Of England – The personal lives of Edward VI, Lady Jane Grey, Mary I, and Elizabeth I (up until her sister’s death). Fascinating but frustrating, as the print is far too small.

Lorna Byrne: Angels In My Hair – The autobiography of a woman who has seen angels since birth. Contains thought-provoking concepts.

Fiction

Adele Parks: Love Lies – A woman runs off with a popstar after her boyfriend fails to propose but soon starts to realise that money doesn’t buy happiness. A good moral for wannabes but very predictable.

Alison Weir: The Lady Elizabeth – Queen Elizabeth I’s life from birth to coronation. Little in the way of fiction, falls back too much on factual information. Weir should stick to factual books.

Celia Rees: Pirates! – The upper-class daughter of a trading merchant is sent to the Caribbean where she escapes her betrothal by running away with her servant-girl in tow. Whether this is really suitable for teenage readers I’ve yet to decide.

Elizabeth Chadwick: Shadows And Strongholds – A boy is educated to be a squire and later on marries his guardian’s daughter. Not quite the romantic novel described, more about border-control, but good nonetheless.

Freya North: Secrets – A bankrupt single parent flees the city to become a house-sitter. It’s not a spoiler to say she gets together with its owner, it’s chick-lit after all. The book is good until the formally cool and savvy woman becomes weak and ditzy.

J R R Tolkein: The Hobbit – Some dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit travel to the mountains to claim the castle back from the dragon. Surprisingly under whelming for all the praise.

Jennifer Donnelly: A Gathering Light – A promising writer seeks freedom from the burdens placed upon her by lack of money and her mother’s death. It’s a good read, but don’t be bought by the murder mentioned on the back, it doesn’t get much airtime and is only a subplot. Titled “A Northern Light” in America.

Lesley Downer: The Last Concubine – An ordinary citizen is plucked from her village by a princess who takes her to live in the Shogun’s palace. She must escape when civil war begins and find her way back home. Worthy of throwing across a room, the book is mostly full of journeying and constant flash backs you’ve already read about. The ending is gushy and damsel-like.

Lisa Jewell: The Truth About Melody Browne – A hypnotist awakens memories a woman had long forgotten and she sets out to discover who she is and where she came from. Not bad but not Lisa. Contains jarring errors which suggest Lisa Jewell should immerse herself in culture for a while.

Marian Keyes: This Charming Man – Four women live their lives all with the shadow of an Irish politician hanging over them. This book shocked me the most, which is surprising for a chick-lit.

Paulo Coelho: The Alchemist – A young boy travels to distant lands to seek the treasure he has discovered lurks there. Revolves around faith and spirituality without the oft-used religious pressure. Potentially life-changing.

Paulo Coelho: Eleven Minutes – A Brazilian woman goes to Switzerland as a dancer but turns to prostitution. She finds herself questioning what makes people happy through the various experiences she has. High on sex and very different to The Alchemist.

Philip Pullman: The Ruby In The Smoke (Sally Lockhart Quartet) – Sally is on the hit list of someone she doesn’t know, for reasons she’s unsure of. It seems many want her dead. She takes cover with an unlikely bunch of friends while researching her father’s life. I read this as a teenager and reading it years later I found it not as compelling, though that’s likely an issue of age.

Philip Pullman: The Shadow In The North (Sally Lockhart Quartet) – A good mystery that’s unfortunately bogged down with financial phrases too high-brow for the teenage target audience. Tends to drag heavily.

Rani Manicka: Touching Earth – A boy becomes engrossed by a dream and as an adult invites people to join him in a drug den, thinking it will please the goddess created from that dream. People who were once happy become despairing. Beautiful descriptions but there are an incredible amount of spelling and grammar errors in this book, so much so that at times fluent speakers speak broken English.

Sadie Jones: The Outcast – A young man arrives home from jail after setting fire to the village church. His family life is wretched but perhaps not as much as that of the girl who’s waiting for him. Full of angst but incredible.

Sadie Jones: Small Wars – A soldier posted to Cyprus becomes affected by the oft-unnecessary violence around him, causing his family pain in the proceedings. Pales in comparison to The Outcast.

Sheila O’Flanagan: Someone Special – A traveller goes back to Ireland to look after her mother and has to fend off sibling rivalries while trying to determine how she feels about her best friend. Quite long for a chick-lit.

Simon Montefiore: Sashenka – A rebellious Jewish teenager finds hope in Marxism, and grows up to be hunted, eventually losing everything because of it. The backdrop wasn’t introduced well enough for anyone unaccustomed to Russian history.

Stephenie Meyer: Twilight – A human falls in love with a vampire who’s often on the verge of killing her despite trying to be a “vegetarian”. Good writing, many damsel moments, much better than the film.

Stephenie Meyer: New Moon – A whole book of filler material seemingly designed to keep the saga in the charts.

Stephenie Meyer: Eclipse – Another book of filler material seemingly designed to keep the saga in the charts.

Stephenie Meyer: Breaking Dawn – A much drawn out but equally compelling end to the saga. Induces yawning and speed-reading alternatively.

Terry Pratchett: Sourcery – The eighth son of an eighth son of an eighth son steals the arch chancellor’s hat and goes on a rampage. Humour in heavy doses, sometimes too much.

My favourite book of the year was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, it was so different to anything I’d read before, both in written style and subject. Worst was The Last Concubine by Lesley Downer. I know many loved it but I was so glad when it was over, though it did provide beautiful descriptions of the landscape. Love Lies by Adele Parks provided the quotation “But I do believe in myself, except when I don’t” and Sourcery by Terry Pratchett introduced the idea of libidos having a vocal opinion on the genital dereliction of wizards.

All in all I’m pleased with what I achieved from such a loosely set resolution. It is in fact the only resolution I’ve ever kept.

Eager to trump myself with a larger number of books read this year, I’ve been reading as much as I can. I have reviewed several of these books – the reviews will be posted in due course. I’ve alphabetised by the authors’ first names and then book title except in the cases of series, the order of which isn’t difficult to figure out. The rest of the post (quotation information) ends directly after the short paragraph on Philippa Gregory’s book.

All the books listed are works of fiction.

Celia Rees: Sovay – More about the French Revolution than the life of a female Highwayman, and barely a chapter on the love reported on the cover, the book doesn’t really know which plot it wants to follow so instead puts three topics inside one binding and hopes for the best. It should have settled with aiming for average.

David Eddings: Pawn Of Prophecy (The Belgariad) – A young boy, a sorceress, the sorceress’ wolf-like father and the local blacksmith (who wasn’t invited, or was he…) pick up a burly bearded man, a thin clean-shaven spy, and a man who talks to horses (but is by no means a Doctor Dolittle), and set out to their first port of call in what will be a long journey here, there, back again, and back again again. Confused much? You will be. Slow and secretive (the information comes later in the series) but funny and a promising beginning to a drawn out saga.

David Eddings: Queen Of Sorcery (The Belgariad) – The already diverse bunch meet up with an assortment of people including a hapless bowman, a knight who speaks in thee and thy, and a spoilt princess, continuing their journey and meeting snake people.

David Eddings: Magician’s Gambit (The Belgariad) – Again more people join, again more road is travelled, and a major part of the story is resolved. You also meet a child called Errand, named appropriately because he only ever says “errand”. That word encompasses the meaning of every word, apparently.

David Eddings: Castle Of Wizardry (The Belgariad) – The only book in the series not to have a climax due to the build up for book five; the spoilt princess gets savvy and blushes a lot, and the main character gets sick of the story. He probably pleaded with the author to let him be a shop keeper in a Chick-Lit.

David Eddings: Enchanter’s End Game (The Belgariad) – The only book that has a serious problem, book five sadly makes little of the major event spoken about, only lending it a couple of pages. The afterword, however, is fantastic and it’s nice to know that although you’ve left the characters there’s a whole other series including them waiting in a bookshop near you.

Freya North: Love Rules – When Thea falls in love with Saul everything comes together, but when Alice marries Mark, because she wants a better relationship, everything looks bleak. Both women are just about happy with their lot but they could do with considering other possible notions than they do. Could life be different to what they think? Not your usual Chick-Lit, boring to begin with, busy by the end, and issue-addressing.

Jane Austen: Persuasion – A woman who turned down her lover’s proposal because of family pressure sees hope when he appears again eight years down the line, but does he still want her or is there someone else on his radar? Rather a lot different to Pride And Prejudice and quite dull, but it is well documented that Austen was dying at the time of writing.

Jane Austen: Pride And Prejudice – Two men enter the lives of a family of five girls causing havoc in the heart of one and belated havoc in the heart of another who takes them more at face value. A funny social commentary that really is as fabulous as proclaimed.

Paulo Coelho: Veronika Decides To Die – A young girl with a good life sees no difference in her future and decides to leave the world. She finds purpose and reason while in a hospital after her attempt fails – but has only a few days to live. Like Eleven Minutes it’s no The Alchemist but it has a good moral to tell and isn’t as daunting a read as it looks.

Philip Pullman: The Butterfly Tattoo – Chris meets Jenny when she gatecrashes an event at Oxford University; they begin a relationship, but all too soon they lose contact and fate will have it that they will never meet again until it’s too late. A good short story that doesn’t promise happiness and doesn’t provide it.

Philip Pullman: Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) – Lyra hides in the wardrobe and learns secrets about the universe no adult would wittingly have told her. Then her friend goes missing, and she plans to rescue him. What “The Gobblers” do to children is unknown but it’s wrong and Lyra sets out to find her friend and maybe even learn more about Dust and the city in the sky. Better when read at a young age, and not as good as the next in the series, but how can you say no to Iorek the big friendly bear?

Philippa Gregory: The Other Boleyn Girl – Mary Boleyn tells the story of her own rise to favour and then her sister’s, filling in the gaps with pages of weepy memories of the king’s first wife while playing down the Reformation. An utter disaster of a book full of assumptions and an overwhelming bias against facts and Anne Boleyn.

Are you glad that’s over? I am, to me writing short summaries is like a footballer spending an entire match on the substitute bench. I want to write more like the man wants to stretch his muscles for more than just goal celebrations.

The following are not spoilers.

If Silk of The Belgariad complains about the makeshift camp being too domestic don’t listen, he’s going to go and get some clothes that need repairing regardless. Belgarath may ask others why 2 and 2 makes 4 but when it comes down to it, he hasn’t a clue himself. And Garion will say that he hasn’t been peeking at the naked Ce’Nedra but when the second voice in his head tells him it’ll help confuse the evil god he’ll blush, and the voice reckons it’ll irritate the god as much as it irritates himself anyway, so it’s not all bad.

Elizabeth Bennet of Pride And Prejudice knows it’s probably not a good idea to go against your mother in 19th Century England, but if your father says that he will never speak to you again if you do marry Mr Collins, what option do you have? And speaking of mothers, Alice of Love Rules made a faux-pas by saying “bloody” in her mother-in-law’s presence; while Saul’s thinking that if he clicks on that dodgy-looking link he might get a sexually-transmitted computer virus. Lucky then that he knows the site is far from the one he’s looking for.

Personally it doesn’t take my fancy, but Lyra of His Dark Materials found a piece of seal-meat in her pocket, another’s coat it seems, and enjoyed it very much. And if David Eddings is anything to go by, the excitement to oneself caused by your characters suddenly making swift progress up a steep hill results in most words of a sentence ending in -ly.

And that’s it for this quarter.