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vivdunstanMy end of year full reading recap will be posted on my main blog - and a link to it posted here - by Hogmanay. In the meantime, here is my complete list of books finished this year, including 4 newly finished since my last post.
Of the newly finished ones, Alice's Oxford was a little bit too speculative for my taste, and plagued with an overly small font. But I did find a lot to enjoy, and am very glad I read it. Though I wanted clearer maps, to understand the geography. I've only been to Oxford a couple of times.
Wintering promised so much but was ultimately extremely disappointing. It stretched the concept of "wintering" to breaking point, and was repeatedly too self indulgent and written from a position of great privilege which the author seemed quite unaware of. Some good bits in there, and at times her writing was truly beautiful. But in the end, nope, not good. And a very poor ending.
The Doctor Who book about River Song's introductory episodes is one in the "Black Archive" series of episode analysis books from Obverse Books. I liked a lot about this, but was frustrated by how much the author ended up writing about things outside the two episodes, including River Song's wider arc, Steven Moffat's writing more generally, and paraphrasing rather too many science books. In the end I gave it 3/5 stars, but it's not one of the best "Black Archive" books for me.
The King of Elfland's Daughter was my book club read for December. I'm very glad I read it. It's a classic fantasy, which has influenced many other authors, including Tolkien. But it had flaws. It's more descriptive-driven than either plot-driven or character-driven. And with a positively glacial pace of story I found it hard to stay engaged and keep reading through to the end. Yet overall glad that I read it. And I loved one character especially. But I don't think I will ever reread it.
- An Academy for Liars by Alexis Henderson
- Don't Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
- Egyptian Myths: Meet the Gods, Goddesses, and Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt by Jean Menzies
- Tutankhamun: The Treasures of the Tomb by Zahi Hawass
- ABBA: The Treasures by Ingmarie Halling and Carl Magnus Palm
- Captive Queen: The Decrypted History of Mary, Queen of Scots by Jade Scott
- A Middle-earth Album: Paintings by Joan Wyatt Inspired by Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by Joan Wyatt
- Could You Survive Midsomer? – A Winter's Murder: An Official Midsomer Murders Interactive Novel by Simon Brew
- Eerie East Anglia: Fearful Tales of Field and Fen by Edward Parnell
- Introducing Shakespeare: A Graphic Guide by Nick Groom
- Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
- The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
- Colostle Complete Edition by Nich Angell
- Wild Card: Let the Tarot Tell Your Story by Jen Cownie and Fiona Lensvelt
- Insomniacs After School volume 5 (manga) by Makoto Ojiro
- Doctor Who: The Ruby's Curse by Alex Kingston and Jacqueline Rayner
- Notebook by Tom Cox
- Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono
- Winter's Heart (Wheel of Time book 9) by Robert Jordan
- Insomniacs After School volume 6 (manga) by Makoto Ojiro
- Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
- Belladonna by Adalyn Grace
- The Wee Free Men (Discworld book 30) by Terry Pratchett
- Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading by Lucy Mangan
- You Are Here: A Brief Guide to the World by Nicholas Crane
- The Water Road: A Narrowboat Odyssey through England by Paul Gogarty
- The Silvery Tay: paintings and sketches from a Scottish river by Keith Brockie
- Portrait of the East Neuk by Lorn Macintyre and Peter Adamson
- Mountain Reflections by Keith Brockie
- Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
- City of Vengeance (Cesare Aldo book 1) by D.V. Bishop
- Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown
- Delirium's Party: A Little Endless Storybook by Jill Thompson
- The Haunted Trail: Classic Tales of the Rambling Weird by Weird Walk
- Manga Classics Sherlock Holmes volume 1 A Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle, Crystal S. Chan and Julien Choy
- Glenshee: Glen of the Fairies by Antony Mackenzie Smith
- Insomniacs After School volume 7 (manga) by Makoto Ojiro
- Forgotten Churches: Exploring England's Hidden Treasures by Luke Sherlock
- Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
- The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
- The Fiddle in Scottish Culture: Aspects of the Tradition by Katherine Campbell
- Voices of Scottish Librarians: The Evolution of a Profession and its Response to Changing Times edited by Ian MacDougall
- Doctor Who: The Twelfth Doctor: Volume 1: Terrorformer (graphic novel)
- Some of Us Just Fall: On Nature and Not Getting Better by Polly Atkin
- The Whisperwicks: The Labyrinth of Lost and Found by Jordan Lees
- Katabasis by RF Kuang
- Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
- Mr Villain's Day Off volume 1 (manga) by Yuu Morikawa
- Born With Teeth (play script) by Liz Duffy Adams
- A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny
- A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
- Doctor Who Tales of Terror (short story anthology)
- Crossroads of Twilight (Wheel of Time book 10) by Robert Jordan
- Alice's Oxford: People and Places that Inspired Wonderland by Peter Hunt
- Wintering: How I learned to flourish when life became frozen by Katherine May
- Silence in the Library / The Forest of the Dead by Dale Smith
- The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany
Of the newly finished ones, Alice's Oxford was a little bit too speculative for my taste, and plagued with an overly small font. But I did find a lot to enjoy, and am very glad I read it. Though I wanted clearer maps, to understand the geography. I've only been to Oxford a couple of times.
Wintering promised so much but was ultimately extremely disappointing. It stretched the concept of "wintering" to breaking point, and was repeatedly too self indulgent and written from a position of great privilege which the author seemed quite unaware of. Some good bits in there, and at times her writing was truly beautiful. But in the end, nope, not good. And a very poor ending.
The Doctor Who book about River Song's introductory episodes is one in the "Black Archive" series of episode analysis books from Obverse Books. I liked a lot about this, but was frustrated by how much the author ended up writing about things outside the two episodes, including River Song's wider arc, Steven Moffat's writing more generally, and paraphrasing rather too many science books. In the end I gave it 3/5 stars, but it's not one of the best "Black Archive" books for me.
The King of Elfland's Daughter was my book club read for December. I'm very glad I read it. It's a classic fantasy, which has influenced many other authors, including Tolkien. But it had flaws. It's more descriptive-driven than either plot-driven or character-driven. And with a positively glacial pace of story I found it hard to stay engaged and keep reading through to the end. Yet overall glad that I read it. And I loved one character especially. But I don't think I will ever reread it.