98. Everything’s Eventual by Stephen King (16th – 24th November) – the second book of King short stories I’ve read this year, and I would say not as strong as Full Dark, No Stars. I skipped a couple as I didn’t like them after a few pages. Okay, but I found it quite hard going.
99. The Fame Game by Lauren Conrad (24th November) – a far easier read and generally quite predictable but entertaining enough.
101. So It Is, by Liam Murray Bell. Set in Northern Ireland through the height of the Troubles and the beginning of the peace process, young Aoife has a difficult upbringing. An interesting read, albeit one with a very unusual and unpleasant theme of ways of exacting revenge. Perhaps an uncomfortable read for men! 3/5
102. Genie and Paul, by Natasha Soobramanien. I was looking forward to reading this, but was disappointed. Themed around the classic French story, Paul et Virginie, the story of a brother and sister uprooted from the island of Rodrigues left me flat. 2/5
103. Purge, by Sofi Oksanen. An elderly Estonian woman finds a young, dishevelled woman hiding in her garden and begins to unravel family secrets and lies. Set between 1940s and 1990s Estonia this is excellent, if at times almost too painful to read. With a running theme of sexual violence and betrayal, I can see why this is an award winner. 4/5
104. The Good Doctor, by Damon Galgut. Tautly written. Two white doctors working in a South African run-down, rural hospital post-apartheid have differing views on how to run things. A sense of doom is palatable from the first page. An excellent read, and won't be my last Damon Galgut. 4/5
105. The Vault, by Ruth Rendell. Inspector Wexford is now retired but finds himself in demand to help out on a tricky case in London, involving bodies found in a vault. I'll give this 3/5, but that is more for nostalgia than quality.
<snip>
* two no. 369 in previous post, so count fixed
374* The Know - Martina Cole 6/10
Headline (Hachette UK), 504 pages
<Crime> A pretty intense and compelling Cole tale about an impoverished family's connections to the underworld; and how such communities deal with a missing child.
375. Catwoman volume two (Chuck Dixon run) - Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Jim Balent etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 676 pages <Graphic Novel> Catwoman volume two #15-37, 0, Annuals #2-3 and Detective Comics #700. 376. Catwoman volume two (Doug Moench run) - Doug Moench, Jim Balent, Devin K Grayson etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 421 pages <Graphic Novel> Catwoman volume two #38-53 and Annual #4. Still just an OK series as Moench provides deeper secondary characters and some Catwoman-specific foes. 377. Catwoman volume two (Devin Grayson run) - Devin K Grayson Jim Balent, Chuck Dixon etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 529 pages, <Graphic Novel > Catwoman volume two #54-71, Chuck Dixon's 'Catwoman and Wildcat' #1-4 and Jim Balent's # 1,000,000.
378. Impulse (Mark Waid) - Mark Waid, Humbero Ramos, Anthony Williams etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 676 pages
<Graphic Novel> Impulse #1-71, Annual #1 and + Gross Out #1. From the pages of The Flash, Mark Waid produce this tongue-in-cheek book with main characters chronally displaced Impulse and Max Merucry. Highs and lows in regards to both content and comedy.
379. London On Film - Colin Sorensen 6/10
Museum Of London, 176 pages
<History>
A very interesting summary of the history of London on film with a foreword by Lord Attenborough.
380. Pop Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones 6/10
Transworld (Random House), 379 pages
<Pop Fiction>
Ultimately pure pop fiction.. But very readable and entertaining at that level. Tells the story of a fading pop agent creating a boy-band out of nothing and their rise to success, intersped with supposedly (as they are now in prin) true stories of the excesses of pop stars over the years, behind the scenes, from James Brown, Bros and Annie Lennox through to the likes of Madonna, Jay-Z and Amy Winehouse.
381. Harry Lipkin, Private Eye - Barry Fantoni 4/10
Anchor Books, 208 pages
<Dark Comedy> Tough talking, gun wielding, poker face, well experience private investigator Harry Lipkin… oh, and he's 87 years old! Could be better; saved by some very funny moments.
382. A Concise Chinese English Dictionary For Lovers - Xiaolu Guo 6/10
Vintage Books (Random House), 353 pages
<Dark Comedy > Off-beat and humourous, yet poignant love story told in the first person, in English by a Chinese woman who has just arrived in England and is learning English… a very original idea, that could have been better executed.
383. One Summer - David Baldacci 4/10
Pan Books (Pan MacMillan), 352 pages
<Family Drama> Textbook 'written for TV-movie' type family drama… as one amazing lone parent strives to bring up three kids by themselves despite facing many hurdles.
384. Gentlemen And Players - Joanne Harris 8/10
Black Swan (Random House), 509 pages
<Thriller> Another wonderful written and character driven Harris novel. A new term, a new group of teachers at a public school… the status quo in the langugae department is rocked by new ways of working, the installation of computers… and small but annoying occurences and accidents... but as these incidents begin to mount and get worse, there seems to be something awry afoot. Great read!
100. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen (24th-26th November) – I loved this as I’ve loved all of Dessen’s novels. It might be teen-fiction but it’s good.
So impressed I've got to 100, 20 books over my end of year target I was very much doubting my ability to make it when it took me nearly a month to get through The Stand in January!
350) Habits of the House - Fay Weldon
351) Christmas at the Beach Cafe - Lucy Diamond
352) Long Live The King - Fay Weldon
353) Vaccine Nation - David Lender
66. Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch. I listened to the audiobook version read by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He does a really good job with this series and his range of accents helps bring all the various characters to life.
I thought that Ben Aaronovitch might be running out of ideas now that we've reached book 4 of the Peter Grant series, but this was as fresh as ever and had a very surprising ending. My only criticism would be that the swearing in this book was very noticeable and to my mind was not really necessary.
91. The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri
92. The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories - Agatha Christie
93. The History of the World in Bite-Size Chunks - Emma Marriott
94. The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie
95. The Shining - Stephen King
96. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Agatha Christie
97. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
98. The Hollow - Agatha Christie
99. For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection - David Marsh
100. Mastering the Nikon D3000 - Darrell Young
Comments
99. The Fame Game by Lauren Conrad (24th November) – a far easier read and generally quite predictable but entertaining enough.
102. Genie and Paul, by Natasha Soobramanien. I was looking forward to reading this, but was disappointed. Themed around the classic French story, Paul et Virginie, the story of a brother and sister uprooted from the island of Rodrigues left me flat. 2/5
103. Purge, by Sofi Oksanen. An elderly Estonian woman finds a young, dishevelled woman hiding in her garden and begins to unravel family secrets and lies. Set between 1940s and 1990s Estonia this is excellent, if at times almost too painful to read. With a running theme of sexual violence and betrayal, I can see why this is an award winner. 4/5
104. The Good Doctor, by Damon Galgut. Tautly written. Two white doctors working in a South African run-down, rural hospital post-apartheid have differing views on how to run things. A sense of doom is palatable from the first page. An excellent read, and won't be my last Damon Galgut. 4/5
105. The Vault, by Ruth Rendell. Inspector Wexford is now retired but finds himself in demand to help out on a tricky case in London, involving bodies found in a vault. I'll give this 3/5, but that is more for nostalgia than quality.
60. Joyłand - Stephen King. I'm by no means a SK fangirl but this is my favourite book this year (so far).
375. Catwoman volume two (Chuck Dixon run) - Chuck Dixon, Doug Moench, Jim Balent etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 676 pages <Graphic Novel> Catwoman volume two #15-37, 0, Annuals #2-3 and Detective Comics #700.
376. Catwoman volume two (Doug Moench run) - Doug Moench, Jim Balent, Devin K Grayson etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 421 pages <Graphic Novel> Catwoman volume two #38-53 and Annual #4. Still just an OK series as Moench provides deeper secondary characters and some Catwoman-specific foes.
377. Catwoman volume two (Devin Grayson run) - Devin K Grayson Jim Balent, Chuck Dixon etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 529 pages, <Graphic Novel > Catwoman volume two #54-71, Chuck Dixon's 'Catwoman and Wildcat' #1-4 and Jim Balent's # 1,000,000.
378. Impulse (Mark Waid) - Mark Waid, Humbero Ramos, Anthony Williams etc. 4/10
D C Comics, 676 pages
<Graphic Novel> Impulse #1-71, Annual #1 and + Gross Out #1. From the pages of The Flash, Mark Waid produce this tongue-in-cheek book with main characters chronally displaced Impulse and Max Merucry. Highs and lows in regards to both content and comedy.
379. London On Film - Colin Sorensen 6/10
Museum Of London, 176 pages
<History>
A very interesting summary of the history of London on film with a foreword by Lord Attenborough.
380. Pop Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones 6/10
Transworld (Random House), 379 pages
<Pop Fiction>
Ultimately pure pop fiction.. But very readable and entertaining at that level. Tells the story of a fading pop agent creating a boy-band out of nothing and their rise to success, intersped with supposedly (as they are now in prin) true stories of the excesses of pop stars over the years, behind the scenes, from James Brown, Bros and Annie Lennox through to the likes of Madonna, Jay-Z and Amy Winehouse.
381. Harry Lipkin, Private Eye - Barry Fantoni 4/10
Anchor Books, 208 pages
<Dark Comedy> Tough talking, gun wielding, poker face, well experience private investigator Harry Lipkin… oh, and he's 87 years old! Could be better; saved by some very funny moments.
382. A Concise Chinese English Dictionary For Lovers - Xiaolu Guo 6/10
Vintage Books (Random House), 353 pages
<Dark Comedy > Off-beat and humourous, yet poignant love story told in the first person, in English by a Chinese woman who has just arrived in England and is learning English… a very original idea, that could have been better executed.
383. One Summer - David Baldacci 4/10
Pan Books (Pan MacMillan), 352 pages
<Family Drama> Textbook 'written for TV-movie' type family drama… as one amazing lone parent strives to bring up three kids by themselves despite facing many hurdles.
384. Gentlemen And Players - Joanne Harris 8/10
Black Swan (Random House), 509 pages
<Thriller> Another wonderful written and character driven Harris novel. A new term, a new group of teachers at a public school… the status quo in the langugae department is rocked by new ways of working, the installation of computers… and small but annoying occurences and accidents... but as these incidents begin to mount and get worse, there seems to be something awry afoot. Great read!
So impressed I've got to 100, 20 books over my end of year target
351) Christmas at the Beach Cafe - Lucy Diamond
352) Long Live The King - Fay Weldon
353) Vaccine Nation - David Lender
I thought that Ben Aaronovitch might be running out of ideas now that we've reached book 4 of the Peter Grant series, but this was as fresh as ever and had a very surprising ending. My only criticism would be that the swearing in this book was very noticeable and to my mind was not really necessary.
96. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Agatha Christie
97. A Tale for the Time Being - Ruth Ozeki
98. The Hollow - Agatha Christie
99. For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection - David Marsh
100. Mastering the Nikon D3000 - Darrell Young
I really enjoyed that too and the next one is just as good.