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2017 Year in Review

2017 book year in review

1) Best 10 books

I have read so many good books this year that it was almost painful having to pick my favourites. It’s taken me ages to decide and I still keep changing my mind!

So before I change it again and in no particular order, I also have 11 because I just couldn’t choose only 10 :

2) For which book did you have expectations that were dashed?

Dark Matter. I’d been looking for this book for nearly 7 years! I forgot the author and the title so couldn’t find it at all, then I came across it in a charity shop earlier this year.

It was nearly as scary or creepy as I was hoping it would be and while it’s still an interesting story I was hoping for a really good chilling ghost tale.

3) Best new discovery, author or book?

Kim & Kim by Magdalene Visaggio. It’s a bright and fun graphic novel that’s basically Jen in space! Also the author Octavia E. Butler – I’m a massive sci-fi fan so I can’t understand why I haven’t heard of her before. I’m enjoying reading through her books, she’s absolutely brilliant.

4) What genre have you read the most?

Fantasy. This genre always seems to outweigh the others for me, even though my favourite genre is sci-fi. I think I find fantasy more comforting and easier to read, I need to use more brain power to read sci-fi!

5) Worst books you’ve read in 2017

Advent by James Treadwell. Kojiki by Keith Yatsuhashi. Both big messes that sound like they should have at least been fun to read, but really weren’t. I couldn’t even finish Kojiki, Advent I did finish but I wish I hadn’t wasted so much reading time on it.

6) What book surprised you?

The Great Passage by Shion Miura . A book about creating a dictionary that’s funny, warm, and engaging? I would never have believed it possible until I read this.

7)The book with the most interesting plot, characters, or structure

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, with an honourable mention for All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. Both of these have very odd plots and some brilliant characters.

8)The book that started off slow, but really picked up

I Never Meant to be a Rebel by Jessica Bell. It’s an autobiography and I don’t normally read them but the blurb for this one caught my attention. It took me ages to get into it but once I did I really enjoyed it.

9) Favourite series

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. I read all three books earlier this year and absolutely loved it.

Blackbird by Freda Warrington, fantasy series written in the 80’s. I love her writing so much, I think I read about 10 of her books last year. One of the highlights of my year was getting the first book in the series signed by her at the Sci-Fi weekender down in Wales!

10) Favourite stand-alone

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. It was different and fun and unique and like all good books, it’s a little bit daft! Normally I like finishing books so I can start the next one and I rush through them, but with this one, I wish it were twice as long.

11)The book everyone should read

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler. This is one of the best vampire stories I’ve read! Main character Shori has an intelligent, cold, analytical style which I enjoyed reading, and the whole story is quite serious, with no daftness in it. It makes a nice change from the normal over the top emotional vampire silliness!

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Books with Ghosts in Them

books with ghosts in

A Halloween influenced book list this month! These are a few of my favourite books with ghosts in 🙂

The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynn Jones

A ghost story told from the point of view of the ghost! The ghost is one of four sisters but she doesn’t remember which one she is, or how she came to be a ghost.

The characters in this book are brilliantly done, each of the sisters is unique and complex. It’s very well written and the story had me guessing right up to the end.

Four and Twenty Blackbirds (Eden Moore #1) by Cherie Priest

Eden Moore is a tough young woman who can see ghosts. For most of her life, she has had three dead women who appear when she is in danger and when she starts to investigate who they were she starts uncovering secrets about her past.

This is a moody and atmospheric ghost story from one of my favourite authors. I love the voice of the main character and there are lots of creepy moments, including the investigation of an abandoned and haunted mental hospital.

Cthulu and Other Monsters by Sam Stone

This one is a collection of short horror stories about monsters and Cthulu.

Sam Stone manages to skip between and combine genres without it being jarring. The stories in this collection are all horror stories but they also combine other genres too. Some are a bit steampunk, and some are more sci-fi, some set in the past and some in the present. She’s clearly full of ideas and there’s a lot of originality in these stories.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, known as Bod, is an orphan being raised by the dead in a graveyard. It’s written for children but has more than enough intelligence, humour and pathos for adults to enjoy it too.

If you want a book that’s full of ghosts then The Graveyard Book is it!

Rivers of London (Peter Grant/Rivers of London #1) by Ben Aaronovitch

Peter Grant is a probationary constable in London. When an eyewitness to a crime he’s talking to turns out to be a ghost, Peter uncovers a different side to London where gods, ghosts and magic are commonplace.

This is more of a supernatural police procedural than a spooky, ghostly book. But it’s funny and entertaining and had me gripped as Peter investigates the evil that’s rising in London.

The Haunting of Alaizabel Cray by Chris Wooding

I loved this book – it’s full of adventure and strong characters and there are plenty of genuinely scary moments. Plus, it has monsters and ghosts and airships! It’s supposed to be a young adults book but it certainly is suitable for grown-ups too.

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Books to Read in the Summer

Books to read in the summer

Time for another book list 🙂

The nights are starting to get shorter and it’s getting towards the last days of summer. One way to make that summer feeling last as long as possible for me is to read books set in hot countries or sunny weather.

I always try to read books that match the season where I am. I don’t like to read wintry books in summer, or autumn books in the spring. I find that I can’t lose myself in the atmosphere of the book as easily.  Does anyone else find that too?

And please share your recommendations! On here or Twitter or Facebook, I’m always looking for new books to read, and I found that my list of summery books isn’t actually that long.

Hunger Makes the Wolf by Alex Wells

Hunger Makes the Wolf is set on a desert planet, where a young woman is part of a mercenary biker gang. There is magic (space witches!), a rebellion of mistreated workers against the company that controls the planet, and a woman learning to be a leader. What more could you want!

Hunger Makes the Wolf on GoodReads

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

A post-apocalyptic story that starts on a beach that could be in the Caribbean it sounds so perfectly tropical. It’s actually set on America’s Gulf Coast, where teenager Nailer ekes out a living salvaging copper from the wrecks of the shipping industry.

Ship Breaker on GoodReads

Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Half a Yellow Sun tells the story of Biafra, a State that existed for three years in the sixties during a civil war in Nigeria. Three different narrators show us the human side of war and the effects it has on ordinary people.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a gifted storyteller, the subject matter means it’s not an easy read, but it is very readable, very interesting, and always stays sensitive.

Half of a Yellow Sun on GoodReads

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Another post-apocalyptic story, and one of my favourites, this is set in a world that has heated up due to global warming. Snowman is the last human surviving with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake in a world where it is too hot to go out in the midday sun.

Oryx and Crake on GoodReads

Instructions for a Heatwave by Maggie O’Farrell

A story about a family that has fallen apart. The disappearance of the father of the family slowly starts to bring the family back together. Set during the heat wave of 1976 this is a book full of interesting characters who all have secrets of their own.

Instructions for a Heatwave on GoodReads

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing

Mara and Dann is set in Africa thousands of years in the future. Mara lives in the last country on Earth that has not been swallowed by ice. But the food is running out and society is breaking down. In search of a better place to live Mara has to travel north, a hard and long journey that will take her to her limits.

Mara and Dann on GoodReads

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My Favourite Books with Tattooed Characters

books with tattooed characters

Tenuous link for my book list this month: I recently got a tattoo. So here is a list of my favourite books with tattooed characters in 🙂

It’s a lot shorter than I thought it would be, so if you have any suggestions please share them in the comments or on twitter.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

An obvious choice to kick off with, Lisbeth Salander is tattooed, independent, and doesn’t care what others think of her.

Under Locke by Mariana Zapata

A romance where the main character Iris works in a tattoo palour and the love interest is a tattooist. I’ve mentioned Mariana Zapta before on this blog, she’s one of my favourite slow burning romance writers out there.

This couple go from hating each other to being friends before finally falling in love and their journey is believable (for a romance novel) and sweet. I could have done without the motorbike gang stuff, but other than that this is a lovely story.

Lost for Words by Stephanie Butland

Loveday Cardew is a quiet, antisocial bookworm working in a small bookshop in York. She closes herself off from relationships and finds herself lost for words when she tries to talk to people.

But she wasn’t always this way, and through flashbacks and memories we find out what happened in Loveday’s past that has left her so guarded and reluctant to trust anyone.

I only picked this up because it’s about a bookworm with a nose ring and tattoos, and it’s set in York, a city that I love to visit. But this is a very thoughtful and beautifully written story, with flawed and interesting characters with a lot of depth to them.

One of my favourites of the year so far.

The Derby Girl (Getting Physical) by Tamara Morgan

Another romance, this time the main character Gretchen is a tattooed roller derby girl. I’m not blown away by the love interest, he’s a bit too corporate for my liking, but Gretchen is funny, feisty and flawed and I kinda want to be her.

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester

Sci-fi where the main character has a full face tattoo. I’m not sure I’d say I enjoyed this book, there’s some pretty grim stuff in it, but it’s thought provoking and interesting. It’s also the only sci-fi I could think of to add to this list!

Downside Ghosts by Stacia Kane

A series I think I’ve mentioned before, Downside Ghosts’ main character Chessie has full body tattoos that also help her work magic. It’s my favourite urban fantasy, and it has a bit of romance thrown in. The love interest Terrible is by far my favourite book boyfriend.

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Short Stories to read on Bank Holidays

banks holiday short stories

Hurray for the long weekend! But the most important thing to think about is what are you going to read?

These are my suggestions if you’re looking for something quick and fun that you can read when you get the chance for a sit-down and a nice cup of tea.

Please share your own favourites in the comments!

Zombie Novellas – David Moody and others

If you like Zombie stories, Infected Books published one short story a month last year. That’s 12 to choose from!

Find a full listing at Infected Books – Year of the Zombie, and choose your favourites.

Kim & Kim

Bright, loud and fun, Graphic Novel Kim & Kim follows two unlucky bounty hunters on their journeys across space.

It has two badass female main characters with realistic personalities and a strong friendship between them.

One of my favourites.

The Lady Astronaut of Mars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Elma York was an astronaut in her youth and led the way to colonise Mars.  Still living on Mars as she nears the end of her career she is given one last chance to go back into Space.

Beautiful and sweet, The Lady Astronaut of Mars is free to read online at Tor.com

Sing by Karin Tidbeck

Petr is a biologist studying a village of people living on a backwater planet. Aino’s physical disabilities have made her an outcast from that village,  but her singing voice captivates Petr from the moment he hears it.

A short, beautifully written and poignant story that will make you think.

Read for free at Tor.com

Hello, Moto by Nnedi Okora

In Hello, Moto, technology and magic merge into one very interesting story. It’s a lovely mix of sci-fi and fantasy, and it’s very short so good if you only have 10 minutes to spare.

You can read Hello, Moto for free at Tor.com

Tanglefoot (The Clockwork Century, #1.2) by Cherie Priest

Free to read online, Tanglefoot is a short steampunk story set in The Clockwork Century universe.

Edwin is a young boy living in hiding in the basement lab of an old inventor. As the inventor slowly slides into dementia, Edwin becomes more and more lonely, eventually building himself a robot friend he names Ted.

But robot Ted isn’t as friendly as Edwin hoped it would be.

I love Cherie Priest’s books, and this is a good starting point for the Clockwork Century series.

You can read Tanglefoot online for free at Subterranean Press

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Everyone should read this balanced, insightful, and very sensible short essay on feminism.

Please, someone, make it required reading in schools!

Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman

A short treat from Neil Gainman, this is a young adult tale about Odd who has to save Asgard from the Frost Giants. It was released for World Book Day nearly 10 years ago and has been a favourite of mine since.

Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

The inspiration for Dracula, I think this is better. It might seem cliched and obvious now, but this is the book that invented the cliches and provided the foundation for all the vampire stories that have followed it.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2.5) by Patrick Rothfuss

Don’t be put off by this little book being part of a series. It’s a standalone book that follows Auri, a mysterious girl that is one of the secondary characters in the main books.

Auri is a young woman that lives in the Underthing, forgotten passageways and lost rooms underneath a university. It’s a slow book, not much happens really, but it’s odd and bittersweet and I love it.

Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Two soldiers on opposite sides of a war fall in love and try to find a safe place to raise their child. A sci-fi graphic novel that’s original and thought-provoking, with unique and diverse characters.

It’s very popular, and definitely deserves all the praise it gets.

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Books with Dragons in them

Books with Dragons in

St George’s Day today! Which is my tenuous excuse for sharing some of my favourite books with dragons in them.

Please share your favourites in the comments, I feel like I don’t have enough dragons in my reading list.

The Copper Promise by Jen Williams

Sebastion and Wydrin are mercenary sell-swords who free a dragon-god whilst investigating a ruined citadel.

At first they try to ignore the problem they have created, but the dragon starts destroying towns and villages and leaving a path of destruction across the continent.

A refreshing and fun story, full of magic, adventure, fights and taverns. I’ve only started reading Jen Williams recently, but she’s jumped straight to the top of my favourite fantasy authors list.

The Hobbit

One of the most famous dragon stories thanks to the films that came out a few years ago. I much prefer the book though, shorter and better paced and without all the boring bits they added to be able to make three films out of it.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

Neither good nor evil the dragons in Earthsea are wise and long lived. Scornful of humans, they will only talk to Dragonlords, humans that understand the language of dragons.

Written in the 1960’s, the Earthsea series is one of the most influential and best-loved fantasies to be published. If you have never read it do yourself a favour and get a copy.

The Dragon Keeper (Rain Wild Chronicles, #1) by Robin Hobb

The Dragon Keeper follows a pack of dragons born so weak and deformed that they can’t fly or hunt for themselves. Tired of having to care for them the people of the Rain Wilds want to move them up river to a place where they can live away from humans.

Thymara is hired to be a Dragon Keeper, she has to care for and feed her dragon on the journey to her new home.

So if you like dragons this series is packed full of them, and Robin Hobb is a wonderful writer 🙂

Note – this series follows the Liveship Trader series, but I don’t think you need to have read that first (I hadn’t), and this series has far more dragon page time in it.

Guards! Guards! (Discworld #8) by Terry Pratchett

A secret brotherhood who want to gain control of Ankh-Morpork release a dragon into the city. Enter The Watch, the ragtag and incompetent town guards who have to restore order to the chaos.

This is one of Terry Pratchett’s best Discworld stories it has many of my favourite characters and is massively funny. If you want to laugh out loud, this is the one for you.

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My Favourite Romance Books

My Favourite Romance Book Covers

It’s February, it’s Valentine’s Day, it’s the perfect time to look at book romances!

I normally read sci-fi or fantasy novels but I do have a soft spot for romances, and if a book I’m reading has a bit of a romance in it even better 🙂

Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie

Jennifer Crusie has been my favourite romance writer since I was a teenager, and this is my favourite of her books.

Lucy Savage is divorcing her husband Bradley, Officer Zack Warren is trying to find him to arrest him for embezzlement. When someone shoots at Lucy and then blows up her car Zack decides he has to move into Lucy’s house to protect her.

It’s funny, fast-paced and entertaining with obvious attraction between the two characters that starts with conflict and a lot of banter, and builds slowly into the romance.

The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata

Mariana Zapata does slow burning romances so, so well. If you don’t like insta-love then this one is for you. It builds very slowly as the characters start out disliking each other but gradually become friends.

Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane

Downside Ghosts has one of my favourite book boyfriends in Terrible, a gruff  ‘enforcer’ working for the local drug lord who is more intelligent than he looks. He is also incredibly sweet and makes my heart melt.

It’s another slow-burner, in that it takes at least four books for them to sort themselves out, but there is enough magic, mysteries and ghost hunting going on for this series to be worth reading even if it didn’t have the romance.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

The book that inspired the brilliant Studio Ghibli film. In my opinion, the book is even better than the film because it goes much more in depth into Sophie’s family, and we also get a lot of Howl’s backstory and family history.

Sophie has magic of her own in the book and is a much stronger and more complex character in general. Howl is also a more interesting character and we can see Sophie and Howl’s relationship builds into mutual respect.

The romance is there, and it is sweet and believable, but it’s not overly important to the story.

Finders Keepers by Linnea Sinclair

Linnea Sinclair writes romantic sci-fi, and she does it well. The sci-fi side is big and adventurous and the romances are full of sparks.

Here, Captain Trilby Elliot is a down on her luck trader trying to patch up her old spaceship on an uninhabited planet. When another spaceship crash lands nearby she thinks she can steal parts to fix her own ship. But the pilot is still alive, and he commanders Trilby’s ship for his own.

I loved the characters, and the sci-fi plot is well developed and could just about stand on it’s own without the romance.

Garden Spells (Waverley Family #1) by Sarah Addison Allen

Sarah Addison Allen’s books are set in the real world but there is always something magical about them.

In Garden Spells the Waverly family has an apple tree in their garden, eat an apple and you will see your future.

Light and sweet, this is one to lose an afternoon in.

The Mammoth Book of Futuristic Romance

This is full of short sci-fi / romance stories. Some are good, some are not that great, but there are a couple in here that have stayed with me long after I finished reading.

The Derby Girl (Getting Physical, #2)

I play roller derby (with Wakey Wheeled Cats) and I like reading books set in the roller derby world.

This one is well written, the main character Gretchen is unusual and complex and love interest Jared has a bit more to him than the normal alpha male.

The romance is believable, Gretchen and Jared spark off each other and definitely don’t fall in love at first sight.

It’s a stand alone so there’s no need to read the first book if you don’t want to. I didn’t and I had no problems following this.

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My Favourite Books I Read in 2016

Best books of 2016

My 10 favourites from the 160 books I read in 2016. It looks like I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy and children’s / young adult books this year! I found a couple of new favourite authors – Margaret Atwood and Dianne Wynn Jones.

I don’t read many new releases because I buy a lot of second hand books. From all of these I think only one was released this year!

What were your favourites from this year? Comment or leave a link to your own blog post 🙂

We Should All Be Feminists  by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Everyone should read this balanced, insightful, and very sensible short essay on feminism. Please someone make it required reading in schools!

We Should All Be Feminists on GoodReads

Jacaranda (The Clockwork Century #6) by Cherie Priest

One of my favourite authors, her Clockwork Century series is a brilliant steampunk zombie adventure. Each of the books focuses on a different character and has it’s own story arc .

Jacaranda is a shortish book about a cursed hotel, and a nun and a padre that arrive to investigate the rumours.  It takes place 20 years after the main story arc and can easily be read on it’s own.

Jacaranda on GoodReads

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough

A short story about a family gathering in their childhood home as their father is dying from cancer. Very difficult subject matter but it’s handled sensitively and is beautifully written. Sarah Pinborough manages to keep the human side of the story the most important thing without being overly sentimental.

The Language of Dying on GoodReads

The Time of the Ghost by Diana Wynne Jones

A ghost story told from the point of view of the ghost! The ghost is one of four sisters but she doesn’t remember which one she is, or how she came to be a ghost.

The characters in this book are brilliantly done, each of the sisters is unique and complex. It’s very well written and the story had me guessing right up to the end.

The Time of the Ghost on GoodReads

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

A beautifully written atmospheric story about an introverted bookworm writing the biography of a famous writer. The story itself is nothing ground breaking but this is all about the way it’s told.

The Thirteenth Tale on GoodReads

Howl’s Moving Castle (Howl’s Moving Castle #1) by Diana Wynne Jones

I love the film but only recently found out it was originally a book. There are a lot of differences between the book and the film, which I like because it means if you’ve seen the film it won’t ruin the story in the book for you!

Howl’s Moving Castle on GoodReads

MaddAddam Series by Margaret Atwood

A man made plague sweeps the world and wipes out most of humanity. This is by far my favourite of all the series I’ve read this year. Each book has a different main character, and with them Margaret Atwood jumps backwards and forwards on the timeline, slowly filling us in on the story behind the plague.

The world before the plague is a near future version of our time with more advanced tech and genetically engineered species.  The rich live in compounds, walls and guards separating them from the poor ‘pleeblands’.  Atwood creates a scarily familiar, rich and well constructed world, before pulling it all to pieces.

MaddAddam series on GoodReads

Flora Segunda (Flora Trilogy #1) by Ysabeau S. Wilce

A gem of a book filled with magic, odd characters, and a house that has a mind of it’s own. It’s a children’s book but it has far more intelligence than most adult books I’ve read. Should be far more popular than it is.

Flora Segunda on GoodReads

Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

I waited far too long to read this. It’s very, very good, much better than the films.

Hunger Games Series on GoodReads

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor

I read this before Christmas and fell in love with Laini Taylor’s writing. A fantasy filled with magic, vengeful Angels, war, and Chimera.

Daughter of Smoke & Bone on GoodReads

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Christmas books for people that don’t like Christmas

Christmas Books

I actually do like Christmas, but I don’t like the overly sentimental, desperate to make you feel something rubbish that comes along with it.

The six books here are either set at Christmas, or have a wintery, dark feel to them. All of them offer something a bit different to the normal mass produced Christmas stories.

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow

by Peter Høeg, Tiina Nunnally (Translator)

There’s a lot of snow in this book, and it’s actually set over Christmas, though you wouldn’t know it because the main character Smilla is not interested in Christmas at all. It’s bleak and completely unsentimental, but the story about a six-year-old boy who falls off a roof is gripping.

Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow on GoodReads

The Last Wish

by Andrzej Sapkowski

Another one that’s not set at Christmas, because it’s set in another world entirely. A fantasy about a witcher, a man with magic powers who hunts monsters for money. This has been made into a video game and I can see why because it’s faced paced and fun to read. The perfect antidote to Christmas mush, I’ve just bought the next book in the series to read.

The Last Wish on GoodReads

The Sittaford Mystery

by Agatha Christie

There’s nothing better than a good Agatha Christie to read in the winter. This has all the usual elements, an impossible murder, a country house, a truck full of red herrings, and throws in a seance and a winter with a heavy snowfall. Christmas is there too, but blink and you’ll miss it.

The Sittaford Mystery on GoodReads

The Taxidermist’s Daughter

by Kate Mosse

Set in the Autumn and not at Winter, but it has dark stormy weather and an isolated house. The creepy Victorian atmosphere makes this perfect for reading at this time of year.

The Taxidermist’s Daughter on GoodReads

The Snow Child

by Eowyn Ivey

I don’t’ normally recommend books I haven’t read, but the description alone made me want to add this to this list. Jack and Mabel build a child out of snow.

The next morning, the snow child is gone–but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness.

The Book Thief

by Markus Zusak

A story “about the ability of books to feed the soul.” this is on the list because a small part of the book happens over Christmas. It’s set in Germany during World War II and it is narrated by Death. Worth reading just for how unusual that is, but the tale of a young girl who is living with a poor foster family and can’t resist stealing books for herself is both beautiful and heartbreaking. I can’t promise you won’t cry at this one, but it’s not cheap sentiment added just to get a reaction.

The Book Thief on GoodReads