Hogfather by Terry Prachett

This was one of my Christmas reads. You can’t deny that Terry Prachett’s books are funny and very imaginative. I enjoyed this book but I’m not sure when I’ll read more.

I like the humour and the unique world but I never really knew what was going on and there seemed to be parts I didn’t understand -in the bathroom at the end?- unless that’s the point! 

There are a lot of Discworld novels and I have a lot of books to read so no plans to read more yet.

Christmas Reads Update

I’ve just finished one of my Christmas Reads: Christmas At Little Beach Street Bakery is a heart warming novel, with just the right mix of realism and feel good fiction. It was like catching up with old friends. I love the Little Beach Street books and I recommend them!

I am still reading Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and enjoying it, it’s bizarre but funny,  I’m surprised that I’ve got into the story and have no idea how it’s going to end.

 

I’m getting into the Christmas spirit now I’m looking forward to watching my favourite Christmas films: Miracle on 34th Street and Elf.

On Christmas Eve I watch The Muppets’ Christmas Carol and that film is the best for getting ready for Christmas.

I don’t know if I’ll have chance to post on here later this week, with work and then Christmas so I’d like to say:

Thank you all  for reading this post and if you’re a follower/have read my other posts thank you 🙂

I hope you have a great Christmas. And get some lovely books to read

Howards End by E. M. Forster

This isn’t my copy of Howard’s End, I had my copy from a charity shop in Truro in July. I’m surprised that I’ve actually now read two books I bought in July, usually they end up on my shelf for a while unless I start them straight away. This is my copy:

I love buying old classic books. I bought this  because I liked E. M. Forster’s other book A Room With A view. I only started reading Howard’s End because there was a tv adaption on the bbc recently and I got sucked into it and really enjoyed it. My only problem was at the end I was left wondering what was the point of the story?

My Review of Howard’s End by E. M. Forster

Reading a classic book is akin to wrapping up in a favourite blanket, with a hot soothing drink and a gorgeous fire burning in the grate. (I don’t have a fire but you catch my drift.)

Reading Howard’s End I enjoyed the characters and the themes and like A Room With A View there’s a lot of reading between the lines. The novel feels like a theory or a lesson about life, our life or maybe life as it was during Forster’s time? However it’s completely organic and it’s not a novel written just for the sake of the message/theme, it’s also an engaging drama/story.

The language is very poetic and the story, while not seeming to have a definite plot, has drama and problems enough to keep me reading on until the last page. And I cared about the characters and wanted to read on to see what happened next.

The tv series was almost an exact replica of the book, give or take a scene. It is very faithful but as with most adaptions it can never really capture or reproduce the ambience, the mood of the book. The ending of the series left me confused, I didn’t get it. But the ending of the book made perfect sense to me, everything just seemed to come full circle.

Will you enjoy this book? I love classic books. This is a book about characters, there’s no racing blockbuster plot but it’s also not a yarn with excessive description. E. M. Forster writes naturally a story with characters that live off the page and a tale that seems to write itself.

 

Beat The Backlist 2018

I heard about this through Cassie Winters and I’m doing this challenge next year. I have so many books on my tbr and it never gets smaller. This challenge was started by NovelKnight  and the rule is that you can only read books published prior to 2018.

I’ve compiled a list of books but I only read what I’m in the mood to read so it’s not a rigid plan more of a guideline really. (I’m imagining Captain Barbossa as I write those words)

I’ve read quite a lot of books this year so I should able to read a good amount of  books from my tbr this year as well as reading others, maybe another challenge. I’m thinking maybe I’ll read 20 and that gives me about 10 outside the challenge or off this list I could read.

Here’s my list so far, it’s very much a work in progress:

1. The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo
2. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
3. Eragon by Christopher
4. Uncommon type by Tom Hanks
5. Three quarters of the orange by Joanne Harris
6. Master of Shadows by Neil Oliver
7. Assasins’ Apprentice by Robin Hobb
8. Solar Bones by Mike McCormack
9. The Fry Chronicles
10. The Black Moon by Winston Graham
11. Morganville series next books when I figure out which ones I’ve read (2)
12. A Dance of dragons 2: After the Feast by George R. R. Martin
13. Raven Black by Anne Cleeves
14. Ink Death by Cornelia Funke
15. The Raven’s Head by Karen Maitland
16. A Parrot In A Pepper Tree by Chris Stewart (ebook)
17. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
18. Dickens
19. The Chisellers, The Granny by Brendan O’Carroll (2 ebooks)
20. Affinity by Sarah Waters
21. Shirley by Charlotte Bronte? Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy?
22. The Last Runaway by Tracey Chevalier
23. The Brontes (non fiction)
24. That Elusive Something by Sam Kates
25. Secret Santa book
26. and other books

I have these Dickens books: David Copperfield, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosty Shop (ebook).

So there we go. Looking forward to it, I just need to convince myself to read them in 2018 now because I always find something else I want to read more.

I’ve signed up and I’m in the Dewey Dragons group!

My Christmas Reads

Once I’ve finished one of my current books (Howard’s End) I’ll be starting my Christmas reads. I usually just read A Christmas Carol but this year I have more to add to my reading list:

Christmas at Little Beach Street Bakery by Jenny Colgan

It’s Christmas in the Cornish coastal village of Mount Polbearne – a time for family, friends and feasting.

Polly Waterford loves running the Little Beach Street Bakery. She’s at her happiest when she’s creating delicious treats and the festive season always inspires her to bake and knead something extra special for the village residents. In fact, the only thing she loves more than her bakery is curling up with her gorgeous boyfriend, Huckle. She’s determined that this Christmas is going to be their best one yet, but life doesn’t always work out as planned…

When Polly’s best friend Kerensa turns up with a secret that threatens the life Polly and Huckle have built together, the future begins to look uncertain. And then a face from Polly’s past reappears and things become even more complicated. Polly can usually find solace in baking but she has a feeling that’s not going to be enough this time. Can she get things back on track so that everyone has a merry Christmas?

This is the third book featuring Polly and her puffin Neil. I loved the other books set at Little Beach Street, they’re lighthearted stories with a bit of drama and an amazing setting off the Cornish coast at Mount Polbearne/St Micheal’s Mount. I have been looking forward to reading this next instalment, I’ve missed the characters, it’s going to be one of those feel-good books that is perfect for this dark (weather wise) time of year. I don’t often read books like this but it’s a balm sometimes. I know I have quite a few books on the go but I usually read these ones very quickly because I can’t put them down.

Hogfather by Terry Prachett

It’s the night before Hogswatch. And it’s too quiet.

Where is the big jolly fat man? There are those who believe and those who don’t, but either way it’s not right to find Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho. Superstition makes things work in Discworld, and undermining it can have Consequences, particularly on the last night of the year when the time is turning. Susan the gothic governess has got to sort everything out by morning, otherwise there won’t be a morning. Ever again…

The 20th Discworld novel is a festive feast of darkness and Death (but with jolly robins and tinsel too). As they say: ‘You’d better watch out…

I’m hoping to start this book first, I’ve tried reading it before and you may think I’m mad for trying again but sometimes when I try a book for the second time I get into it. I still haven’t watched the tv series but I might. I read one Terry Prachett and enjoyed it but haven’t managed to get into any others. So I may end up giving up this book but I will try it again.

Ghost Of Christmas Past and Other Festive Tales by Sam Kates

Four festive tales of the supernatural, apocalyptic and blood-sucking variety—an antidote for anyone who occasionally finds Christmas overly sentimental or commercialised and likes to escape to somewhere darker.
In Ghosts of Christmas Past, a newly-wed couple spend every Christmas in the same remote country cottage. It’s their ‘thing’ and they’re not about to let tragedy get in the way.
In I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, a small boy creeps downstairs to see his mother in the embrace of a crimson-robed stranger. But Jake’s not convinced: since when did Santa have long teeth and red, glinting eyes? 
In Rottin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Nia decorates the tree while her parents look on. But this is not just another Christmas—it is the time of The Cleansing, the time when family life and the world as we know it are ending. 
In Christmas ‘Midst the Zombie Apocalypse, two survivors sit out winter on the edge of an overrun city. Their efforts to enjoy Christmas Day as normally as possible turn out to be a mistake; a potentially fatal one.

I’ve always wanted to read Christmas horror stories and when I found out an author I liked had one I had to put it on my reading list. I’ve read and enjoyed The Cleansing which is book one of a trilogy (one I haven’t finished) so I know that this is going to be good.

Charles Dickens

This time of year just seems like the time to read Dickens, last year I bought a copy of Complete Ghost Stories which has Christmas themed stories including A Christmas Carol. I don’t think I’ll get around to reading the entire book but I have to read A Christmas Carol, it’s become a tradition (sorry to admit but I have  to watch the Muppets’ version every Christmas eve for the song- ‘one more sleep ’til Christmas’). I did have another Dickens book of stories but they’re very obscure and I couldn’t finish them, its’ hidden in my pile of books somewhere.

I don’t actually remember if I have a physical copy of A Christmas Carol, this is how bad my pile of books is, I’ve forgotten what I have and I’m trying not to have a blind panic and go through my stacks of books to find two.

So that’s the plan, it never goes to plan 🙂 I didn’t plan for this list to feature alternative  Christmas reading, not warm and fuzzy reads but odd: if you count Hogfather and Sam Kates’ book. But then how often do I read warm and fuzzy? More recently. Maybe not often enough.

What will you be reading this festive time? Have you read any Dickens?