Books Of The Year

I was pondering what I'd read during 2015 and struggling to decide on my book of the year, or even to narrow it down to a shortlist. Then, handily timed, came Janet's blog post about her 2015 reading. So I've borrowed Janet's categories (I did check first to see if she minded!) and here are my results.

Best Book You Read In 2015 (broken down by genre if necessary)

YA fiction
The Rest of Us Just Live Hereby Patrick Ness. This was easily one of the best books I read this year and it's a wonderful piece of YA fiction - clever, touching and dark.

Crime fiction
Mystery in Whiteby J. Jefferson Farjeon. Most of my crime fiction reading this year has been rereads so it seems a bit unfair to pick one of those. This was the perfect festive crime book - atmospheric, enthralling and very satisfying.

Non-fiction
I love Adam Nicolson's writing about nature - he's one of the few people who can really get the sense of a landscape onto the printed page - but I think on balance I liked Gentry: Six Hundred Years of a Peculiarly English Classbest out of his books I read this year. It's more obviously about people than nature, but it's also very much about how ties to land and the duty of care towards a place you're only a temporary custodian of can shape lives. Honorable mentions to H is for Hawk(one of my BGR picks from earlier in the year) and Empty Mansions,which although it tailed off a little towards the end, was a fascinating glimpse into a lost world of unbelievable wealth.

Literary fiction
I read very little of this genre as a rule - recommend me some good, non-pretentious options please! - but We Have Always Lived in the Castlewas a real highlight of the year. 

Romance
I really must do a proper blog post or two about romance fiction soon cos it has so many separate genres within it that I could list about another 6 categories. Laura Florand is always brilliant and she writes super fast which is always nice! Her Paris books just edge out the new La Vie en Roses series for me, so my pick of the year from her goes to All for You. Tessa Bailey's Make Meand Chase Mewere both enormous fun and I am dying to read book 3 but it's still £6 on Kindle and I'm having a stubborn strop about it because on US Amazon, the bundle of the entire trilogy is the same price. SO UNFAIR.

And onto the more specific choices!

Most Surprising (In A Good Way) Book of 2015
I'm going to go with Carry Onby Rainbow Rowell. I'm a huge fan of hers but I think Fangirl is possibly my least favourite of her books, so the prospect of a spinoff from it didn't massively thrill me. Also I was very wary of just how much of a Harry Potter ripoff it was going to come across as. I very soon forgot about that though and it's a book that totally stands (and dazzles) on its own merits.

Book You Read In 2015 That You Recommended Most To Others
The Martian. Not that many of my friends and family have similar reading tastes to me but this was a great book with pretty broad appeal, so I tipped quite a few of them off about it.

Best Series You Discovered In 2015
The Game On trilogy by Kristen Callihan. I read book 3 (The Game Plan) first, adored it and promptly snaffled up the other two. Turns out that if you tweet a book review which basically reads "NFL playing, tattoed, manbun-wearing, virgin, beta hero", I autobuy it. I love me a beta hero.

Favourite New Author You Discovered in 2015
I'd be tempted to whack Kristen Callihan on the list but it depends what she writes next - her previous books are all paranormal historical romance and I don't get on with paranormal. I had a massive Jessica Day Georgemoment in April (lots of her books were available via my Scribd subscription) and loved everything of hers - I've picked one of the Princess books for BGR but the Dragon series is also excellent and the Castle books remind me so much of Diana Wynne Jones and there can be few higher compliments than that!

Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love But Didn't
There weren't many huge disappointments this year but Janet has excellent taste in books so I was expecting her BGR choice, This is Not a Love Story, to be good and I really didn't like it.

Best Book That Was Out Of Your Comfort Zone Or Was A New Genre To You
S.by J.J. Abrams and Doug Dorst is probably out of most people's comfort zone - it's utterly unlike any other book I've ever come across. It's really worth the effort though.

Book You Read In 2015 That You're Most Likely To Read Again In 2016
Loads of them! If I like a book, I'm very likely to reread it so pretty much everything else I've mentioned in this post will get picked back up at some point.

Favourite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You've Read Previously
Take your pick from several of the above!

Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else
I think it's a tie between The Martian and S, both of which were BGR choices that I loved and would never have come across otherwise. Ooh, or possibly Longbournwhich was just as good as I'd been told it was.

Favourite Cover Of A Book In 2015
I don't own them, but I really want the new set of Penguin Nancy Mitford books. Those covers are stunning.

Book That Had The Greatest Impact On You In 2015
Call me shallow but I can't think of anything that was a standout.

Book You Can't BELIEVE You Waited Until 2015 To Read
Nothing is particularly springing to mind for this...um, does it count to say Carry On and The Rest of Us Only Live Here? Both authors are autobuys for me but the books were released in October and August respectively and I saved them both until the post-Christmas period, I think that deserves praise on my part!

Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Wow, I really can't think of anything in particular. I quite often want to fangirl with others about things I've just read but I can't recall any particular scenes.

Favourite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2015 (be it romantic, friendship, etc)
There's no concealing my love for Dominique Richard, one of Laura Florand's French chef characters, and he popped up again in All For You. (Spoiler: he's still amazing. Treat yourself to a secondhand pb copy of his book, The Chocolate Touch ) His relationship with Celie is part boss, part big brother and completely lovely. 
Mikey and Jared in The Rest of Us Just Live Here are my new favourite pair of friends though.

Most Memorable Character In A Book You Read In 2015
Mikey from The Rest of Us Just Live Here haunts me a little bit.

Genre You Read The Most From in 2015
Romance. It's always romance and only in part because they tend to be shorter and easier to glom. Having said that, I read a lot of shit this year and I really need to start being more selective about what I spend my time on.

Best 2015 Debut
Act Like Itby Lucy Parker was a very pleasant surprise and I'm really looking forward to seeing what she writes next.

Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2015
The Church Mice at Christmasis part of my Christmas Eve tradition and it is so much fun to read. Lovely story and inspired illustrations.

Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015
Loads of them! It's not hard to make me cry. I had a bit of a meltdown near the end of Adorkableand the start of The Shepherd's Crownmade me absolutely sob. Heartbreakingly poignant.

Book You Read in 2015 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out
Hmmm. Maybe S? Just on the basis that I had never even heard of it before reading it for BGR and I feel like it should be a lot better known. Also on that tack, I wish a lot more people knew about the existence of Laura Florand's books. They are a complete joy.

Total number of books read in 2015
338. Busiest month was April (59) as I was on holiday for a week and in a car for pretty much four solid days driving to Orkney and back. Quietest month was July with a feeble 13 - work kicked off big style and I had zero free time.


I don't do resolutions but in 2016 I definitely need to read more quality and less rubbish. 338 is a lot of books but it's surprising when I looked back at the list of titles just how few of them really made a mark. It's not a good sign when you read the title and author details and recall nothing about the plot and characters. And no, I don't have a bad memory. They just weren't very good! I'm open to any and all recommendations so please send them my way.

Christmas Is Coming

The run-up to Christmas is always extremely hectic at work and this year it was no different - I clocked up 80 hours over Halloween week, took a mild breather at the start of November and then it was full festive steam ahead, culminating in several 15 hour working days. Oof.  The plus side to all of this is that we shut up mid-December and I get to use up my annual leave by having three weeks off over the holidays.

It's not exactly peaceful to start with - I get no chance to do anything at home when I'm basically at work all the time, so when I'm finally off there's a lot of housework to catch up on! Also I don't know why but I always manage to forget about the pre-Christmas socialisation. I've been out for a party, a retirement meal, brunch, pub dinner and a birthday meal in the past six days! For shy old retiring me, that's quite some effort.

But the house is finally ready for Christmas and even if I do say so myself, it looks awfully pretty. My endless to-do lists are nearing completion and I am very much looking forward to a relaxing, fun, family time.


My stash of books to be read on Christmas Eve are waiting for me.



As it consists of Wodehouse books this year, I've christened my book tree the Whathohoho Tree.



I've even put baubles in the bathroom. Well, why not?



The stairs are garlanded



Appleyard London sent me this gorgeous Advent Bouquet which is brightening up the hall a treat. This is my usual spot in the house for fresh flowers but I was despairing of finding a Christmas bouquet I actually liked. This one is beautiful - the perfect solution!




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Advent calendar has nearly all been scoffed



Cards are up wherever I can fit them and Father Ted is being brightened up by some holly lights.




Altogether, things are looking festive and jolly.





I'm now ready for a whole lot of loafing around, snuggling with Phil and reading books. Bliss.

Party Time

Despite being a big old introvert who doesn't like parties, I made an exception for the work Christmas do. Well you have to, don't you? My colleagues are a lovely bunch, plus there was an open bar. Yoicks! I frocked up, whacked on some red lippy and went out.

If I were a proper organised sort of blogger, I'd no doubt have scheduled in a separate photoshoot outdoors, in daylight, in front of a colourful doorway to show off my outfit to optimum effect. Instead I completely forgot, got drunk and then flung my phone at someone at the very end of the night and shrieked "Don't take any pictures where I look fat!". Classy.

(Why, oh why, is red so hard to photograph? Admittedly we were in a fairly dark hotel lobby and both the photographer and subject had had a shandy or twelve but still, grrr.) This frock is the absolute perfect shade of red and I love it. You may have to see it in real life to appreciate what it actually looks like though.

London skyline tights FTW.

Dress - Dorothy Perkins
Heels - Shelly's, Spartoo
Bag - gift
Jacket - vintage, from Kinky Melon
Tights - can't remember! They're epic though.

Despite my antisocial tendencies, I had a lovely night. 

#photoanhour - A December Day

Finally! I've been meaning to join in with #photoanhour for flipping ages now but I always manage to either only realise it's on at about 4pm, or I have the world's most boring day, in which case there's very little point recording it for posterity.This weekend I woke up at a reasonable hour, checked Instagram, realised that Janet was taking part and decided to join in with the fun for once!

8.55am - I didn't really want to get out of bed so I spent a lazy quarter of an hour playing Hay Day on the iPad. That farm won't run itself y'know!

9.55am - Quick trip to the sorting office to collect a Mystery Surprise Parcel. It turned out to be a pair of earrings I'd forgotten that I'd ordered for my mum. Not quite as mysterious as I'd hoped for, but hey, at least that's all the presents here in time for Christmas.

10.55am - Char had arrived by this point, so we set out to Lark Lane for brunch at The Moon and Pea, one of my favourite places. They're fond of a kitsch decoration at the best of times so this rather fab tree fitted in nicely!

11.55am - Brunch! (ok, may have fudged the timings slightly on this one - it didn't take an hour to arrive. But full plate is more scenic than empty plate.) Char and I are both big proponents of the two-drink brunch.

12.55pm - Home, and Char was busy making friends with Phil.

1.55pm - It was a lovely peaceful sort of afternoon and evening, deliberately so. We were both much in need of some quiet time after a hectic few weeks, and I was desperately trying to crack on with my knitting. This jumper is taking so much longer than I expected. I basically knitted for 9 straight hours and only managed about 8 inches of sleeve.

2.55pm - We managed to get through an impressive four films. Home Alone (which Char had never seen), Pretty In Pink (which I'd never seen), Cube (which was amusingly rubbish) and then About Time (awww).

3.55pm - Are you starting to tell that I didn't move off the sofa all afternoon? Phil came for snuggles (and to kill my tape measure).

4.55pm - WHY WON'T YOU END?? Oh god, it feels like I've been knitting this jumper my entire life. I am so slow. It's not going to be done for Christmas. Still 1 1/2 sleeves to go, a neckline, and an initial on the front.

5.55pm - I removed myself from the sofa and put up some cards. This glittery beauty is from Lucy.

6.55pm - We were onto About Time by this point. Coffee, films and good company make for a very pleasant evening.

7.55pm - I'm such a rubbish hostess.

Me: "I totally can't be arsed cooking. Takeaway?"

This is Char's Pizza Consideration face.

8.55pm - Pizza was such a good call. And garlic bread. And sweet potato fries.

9.55pm - PRESENTS! I love seeing them all jaunty and colourful under the tree.

10.55pm - Still at the bastarding knitting and watching Match of the Day.

I did end up staying up for another couple of hours but it would have been exactly the same as the above photo, just with Hugh Grant's face on the tv (curse ITV for putting Notting Hill on at stupid o'clock). So there you have it: half an interesting day. Lots of knitting.

A Blogging Good Read - December

Joining me for Blogging Good Read this month are Emma from Miss Pond and Lucy from Books and Brooches. Without further ado, onto the reviews!

My pick was Rivers of Londonby Ben Aaronovitch:

It's London, but not entirely as we know it... This books is set in what is essentially the modern-day capital city but magic exists there, and it exists in a somewhat old fashioned way. Our hero, PC Peter Grant, has a run in with a ghost and gets drafted into a very small and specialised branch of the Met. It's run by a wizard and he sets about teaching Grant how to solve magical crimes.

I love a good police procedural book so that side obviously appeals to me, but I'm not a big fan of urban fantasy. Well, maybe that's not entirely true. I like it when it's done well - Neil Gaiman and this series for example - but not so much when it's all people in leather coats running around chasing faeries. This is a lot more grounded in reality and I love how the author weaves in a real sense of the city. The mythology is equally grounded in the location - rivers are also people, each with their own distinct character. Altogether it's a book (and a series) that I find enormously entertaining and satisfying.


What did Lucy think of it?

I was so pleased that this had been picked as this is one of my favourite series. I used to live in London so really enjoy reading about all the places I knew (minus the murder of course!). I've always enjoyed fantasy fiction and like how this merges police work with the fantastical. The idea of the rivers being human, all with different personalities is such an interesting concept. I enjoyed re-reading this and am looking forward to the next in the series due in 2016.

How about Emma?

I must admit, despite loving Harry Potter, fantasy books are not usually my first pick since my teen years. However, I was intrigued by Rivers of London, as it describes itself as an ‘urban fantasy,’ which I’m still not sure what one of those is but I did catch on to the type of story… The story follows Peter Grant, starting out as a trainee wizard and a detective constable, which of course makes his job a little (a lot) more interesting than it was before. I love how Aaronovitch pulls you into London as the story is told, you feel like you can almost smell the city his writing is so capturing. For those of you questioning the magic thing, think sophisticated Harry Potter… I loved it so much I’m on to the third book now.

Emma chose The Rules of Attractionby Bret Easton Ellis:

So this was my pick, I have loved Bret Easton Ellis for years but I know others who don’t, his writing is very marmite and in cases not for the faint hearted (American Psycho). ROA is a story about a couple of college students (mainly Sean, Paul and Lauren) and their completely meaningless existence of sex, drugs and parties. This is Ellis’ usual writing style and it’s quite refreshing to read something from the people directly involved in the story. This means you get the different sides of the story of the people involved in the same love triangle and to see how the same situations, words and actions are perceived completely differently depending on what the person wants it to be. It’s not for everyone and I understand why, it is almost written as a nothing book, you get nothing at the end from it but somehow something during the duration. For those of you who can’t be bothered at all check out the film from 2002, with Dawson from Dawson’s Creek in it. I’m glad I’ve finally read it (it’s been on my shelf for some time) but it doesn’t beat Ellis’ first novel Less Than Zero or American Psycho.

If this is a marmite book, I'm afraid I fall into the "strongly dislike" camp. Sorry Emma! I gave it a fair shot but I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't going to be my cup of tea and sure enough, it wasn't. He's clearly an accomplished author but it's not a style or genre I particularly enjoy and the best writing in the world isn't enough to get me beyond that.

What did Lucy think of it?

I did try to read this book, honestly I did. However after the first chapter I just couldn't continue. The occasional swearing and vulgarity don't bother me but this was filled with them and that's just not something I want or need to read. So unfortunately (for BGR) I did not finish this.

Lucy went for The Shepherd's Crownby Terry Pratchett:

I am a die hard Terry Pratchett fan since I first read Johnny and the Dead in Year 6 (a very long time ago!). His writing is always clever as well as funny and his characters are brilliantly written. Although I have no desire to go off and fight the fair folk, this book had me yearning for a stay in the countryside again.

Having grown up with his Discworld novels it feels like I know the characters personally, so some tears may have been shed whilst reading this. To condense how I felt about this book is extremely difficult, particularly as I didn't want to write any spoilers! Safe to say if you are a fan of the Discworld books you'll love it. If you haven't read any of them before I'd suggest starting with something earlier, as this has lots of inside jokes/parts which you may miss. I will miss the excitement of getting a new Terry Pratchett book and devouring it in one sitting, his death is a huge loss.

Did Emma enjoy it?

I read a lot of Pratchett as a kid, but grew out of it when gritty crime novels came into my hands as a teen (and my obsession with science began). So this was a bit of a reminder of how much I have missed reading his spell binding works and the sadness that no more Disc World novels will be released. I really don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it, but it was an emotional ride and I of course cried at the end. It is obvious from points that he had not completely finished the book, which was discussed before its release, but the story (beginning/middle/end) was there and still wonderful. A great book for the series to finish on I think!

I was a little bit torn before picking up this book. I love Terry Pratchett but I'm not a big fan of the witches books: my heart lies with the Guards series. As such, I haven't read any of the previous books featuring Tiffany Aching although I am familiar enough with most of the other characters.

In one way I got what I expected. I was irritated by the Nac Mac Feegles and I still don't love the witches the way I do the guards. And yes, there are certain parts where you can kinda tell that it wasn't properly finished before publication.  On the other hand, it's an absolutely wonderful book. All the very best things about Pratchett's writing shine through the whole story - it's funny, enthralling and hugely imaginative. It's also really emotional. I don't know if the knowledge of his fate coloured my reading of one particular plot strand but I didn't expect to be crying by page 36! It broke my heart.


Thanks so much Emma and Lucy! It was lovely to have you both taking part.

The book picks for next month are Swallows and Amazonsby Arthur Ransome, I Capture The Castleby Dodie Smith and The Readerby Bernhard Schlink.

The Chop

I braved hell last week.

I haven't been to the hairdressers for I don't know how long. 18 months? Probably longer than that. I hate people touching my hair and I can't abide small talk. I'm sure some of you can think of nothing nicer than being faffed over but I loathe it. Two of the hairdressers came over and stroked my hair and said how lovely it was. TWO. I genuinely had to fight my punching impulse. Uninvited hair-stroking is not ok, people.

Also did I mention I hate small talk?

The deed had to be done though. I have quite a lot of hair and it's also incredibly tatty. I don't have to do anything, it just gets into enormous (and painful) tangles. When it's as long as it was, it was a neverending battle to de-tatt it. And yup, it had got quite long.

I got it chopped.

Better pictures will follow at some point but for now, yay, hair chop!