Happy New Year!! Last year I read twenty five books, so this year my goal is twenty six. So far I own twenty three books that I have not yet read, so here’s what you can expect to be reviewed this year (providing that I have the time, energy and self-confidence to do so)
Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter
I’m quite excited about this one, you’re given information about a murder at the same rate as the investigators. The author invites you to solve the case before you finish the book, wish me luck.
Blurb: In October 2003, Luke Ryder was found dead in the garden of the family home in London, leaving behind a wealthy older widow and three stepchildren. Nobody saw anything.
Now secrets will be revealed – live on camera.
Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence on Infamous, a true-crime show – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on? Or does the truth lie closer to home?
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Started reading this a while back when I was a lot younger but hope to finish it this year and maybe read more poetry in general, although admittedly it isn’t an area of literature I’m particularly interested in.
Short Stories in Spanish by Olly Richards
Is what it says on the tin…. I need to expand my Spanish reading skills and vocabulary for my upcoming A-level exam.
The Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London
I’ve read Call of the Wild before but never White Fang. Not really my type of book but it’s a classic so I might as well see what it’s about.
Blurb: Buck has not read the newspapers. If he had, he’d have known that for good strong dogs like him trouble is brewing. Man has found gold and because of that Buck is kidnapped and dragged away from his sunny home to become a sledge dog in the harsh and freezing North. With strength, imagination and cunning on his side Buck must fight for survival. But will he ever trust Man again?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Managed to avoid having to read this for GCSE but once again it is a well known classic so hopefully worth the read, despite the complaints of my peers.
Blurb: Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you ca hit ’em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.
You Are a Mathematician by David Wells
This is a book about mathematics that encourages you to solve problems littered about the book as you read it. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of nerdy fun reading this.
Gilded by Marissa Meyer
A retelling of the fairytale Rumpelstiltskin, I’ve read Meyer’s Heartless about the Queen of Hearts and loved it so I have high hopes for this one.
Blurb: Cursed by the god of lies, a miller’s daughter has developed a talent for storytelling – but are all of her tales as false as they appear?
Bowie’s Books by John O’Connell
I took a sneak peek and have only read one book on Bowie’s top 100 so I’m looking forward to some good book recommendations.
Blurb: Three years before he died, David Bowie made a list of the one hundred books that had transformed his life – from Madame Bovary to A Clockwork Orange, the Iliad to the Beano. In Bowie’s Books, John O’Connell explores this list in the form of one hundred short essays, each offering a perspective on one of the greatest minds of an era.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I tried reading this a while back and found it incredibly dense and slow to get going, hoping to give it another go this year
Blurb: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice…
Children of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse Dune (Books 3-6 of the Dune series) by Frank Herbert
I’ve read books one and two of this series and with part two of the film coming out soon I thought I’d finish off the series.
The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel
As a feminist I’m always interested in undoing societies erasure of women in history, I’m hoping to expand my knowledge of female artist beyond Frida Kahlo and Georgia O’Keeffe
Blurb: The story of art as it’s never been told before, from the renaissance to the present day, with over 300 works of art.
How many women artists do you know? Who makes art history? Did women even work as artists before the twentieth century? And what is the Baroque anyway?
Spectrum Women (edited by) Barb Cook & Dr. Michelle Garnett
I’m awaiting an autism assessment and am aware of the lack of research into autism in women, I thought I’d read this book as an insight to others, the ignorance of women in healthcare or possibly myself.
Blurb: Barb Cook and 14 other Spectrum Women describe life from a female autistic perspective, and present empowering, helpful, and supportive insights from their personal experience for fellow autistic women. Dr Michelle Garnett’s comments validate and expand the experiences described from a clinician’s perspective, and provide extensive recommendations.
The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness
This is the second book in the Chaos Walking series. I completely devoured the first (would recommend to any and all YA readers) and am hoping that this one is just as good.
Blurb: Fleeing before a relentless army, Todd and Viola once again face their worst enemy, Mayor Prentiss.
Immediately imprisoned and separated from Viola, Todd is forced to learn the ways of the Mayor’s new order.
And then, one day, the bombs begin to explode…
An Episode of Sparrows by Rumer Godden
I bought this book in a charity shop mainly because the cover was pretty, no idea what to expect.
Blurb: The really important people in this book are not grown-ups but children. What is more, the children give one a sense of being rather larger than the grown-ups; they feel more intensely, they are more brightly coloured, and they have, in fact, more common sense. Which is how it should be.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Seen this book all over booktok and got bought the beautiful cloth bound penguin classic by my boyfriend. Can’t wait to read it.
Space The Human Story by Tim Peake
I loved Tim Peake’s ‘Ask An Astronaut’ and have always been fascinated by space. I was bought this as a signed copy for Christmas.
Blurb: Only 628 people in human history have left Earth. This is their story.
Good Morning Midnight by Jean Rhys
Saw someone recommend this on Instagram and I’ve been meaning to read more classics written by female novelists. This sounds like a good exploration into feminine independence.
Blurb: In 1930s Paris, where one cheap hotel room is very like another, a young woman is teaching herself indifference. She has escaped personal tragedy and has come to France to find courage and seek independence. She tells herself to expect nothing, especially not kindness, least of all from men. Tomorrow, she resolves, she will dye her hair blonde.
Lady Audley’s Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Another classic written by a woman, I was bought this by a friend and had previously never heard of it, but it sounds right up my street.
(Bloody Long) Blurb: Miss Lucy Graham is a newcomer to the parish of Audley. She may be an impoverished governess, but she is also kind and ineffably beautiful. When Sir Michael Audley sets eyes upon her he finds himself in the grip of ‘the terrible fever called love’. Their courtship raises eyebrows, but Sir Audley has set his heart on the sweet-natured girl, and before long they marry. Appearances, however, can be deceiving; and Sir Michael’s nephew, Robert, begins to suspect that his new aunt is not all she seems. His investigations into her murky past soon bring shocking secrets to the surface…
David Bowie Made Me Gay by Darryl W. Bullock
Another book bought for me by a friend who knows me unexpectedly well. Pretty sure you can figure a couple things out about me from my owning of this book too…
Blurb: From Sia to Elton John, Dusty Springfield to Little Richard, LGBT voices have changed the course of modern music. But in a world before they gained understanding and a place in the mainstream, how did queer musicians lay the foundations for those who came after? David Bowie Made Me Gay reveals the inspiring and often heartbreaking stories of the internationally renowned stars, as well as lesser-known names, who blazed a trail, and emphasises the need to keep up the fight for equality in the spotlight.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
This one has been recommended to me many times by many people and I will always be a sucker for a sci-fi time travel novel.
Blurb: ‘Are you listening?’ Kazu continued. ‘When you return to the past, you must drink the entire cup before the coffee goes cold.’
‘Uh, I don’t actually like coffee that much.’
Kazu opened her eyes wider and brought her face an inch or so from the tip of Fumiko’s nose.
‘This is the one rule you have to absolutely obey,’ she said in a low voice.
Cain’s Jawbone by Torquemada
Now this ones interesting. One hundred pages in the wrong order, it is recommended that you cut them out and stick them on your wall to try and arrange the story in the right order and solve the mystery. Only four people have ever solved it, so I doubt I will but it’s worth a try.
Blurb: Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations… but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada’s murder mystery?