January was no time to be reading serious stuff, it was the month that I did most of my reading on my phone. Reading on the phone is much easier on a crowded train in the morning. I didn’t really make any inroads into the pile of books next to my bed but I will in February (maybe!)
1. Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye – Alison Goodman
I’ve been meaning to read this for ages. Eon is gets involved in the struggle for the Empire, whilst trying to join with the dragons. There’s a lot going on here, and I enjoyed the ideas but it all felt a little bit too neat for me, with enough left unresolved for a sequel.
2. The Lunar Chronicles: Cinder – Marissa Meyer
I knew where it was going, but I liked Cinder and I liked that she wasn’t a walkover, I could have done with more shades of grey, this reminded me of sci-fi rather than dystopia, which was a nice change. This is clearly going to be a series and I’m looking forward to seeing what Meyer does with it.
3. Eona: Return of the Dragoneye – Alison Goodman
Of course I read the sequel!
4. The Clockwork Prince – Cassandra Clare
There’s a formula, girl, two boys, exciting adventures and love triangles ensue. Unlike the Mortal Instruments trilogy, this is more grown up, the triangle is more realistic, the characters have more shades of grey to them. I love Magus, even this more serious Magus and Woolsey Scott is a delight and it’s funny…
“Ah” said a voice from the doorway, “having your annual everyone-thinks-Will-is-a-lunatic meeting, are you?”
“It’s biannual,” said Jem. “And no, this is not that meeting.”
5. The Name of The Star
Loved it, loved it. Set in Whitechapel. Funny, thought provoking.
6. Call the Midwife – Jennifer Worth
Based on the author’s experience of being a midwife in the East End in the 50’s. It’s interesting and is great social history. Jennifer Worth was a nice middle class girl and that really comes across, she is quite patronising but they are worth reading.
6. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight – Jennifer E. Smith
Bookshelves of Doom is a dangerous blog. I read reviews, I buy books. This was one of them and I really enjoyed it. Even though it was set over 24 hours, it had a real sense of progress and of relationships working and growing. It’s set in London and there weren’t any glaring geographical errors so I didn’t get pulled out of the story (the wedding in the book is in Kensington, which isn’t that far from where I grew up so I would have noticed, though if it had been set in, say East London, I wouldn’t have noticed!). Anyway it was a lovely book and perfect for January.
7. How To Be a Woman – Caitlin Moran
The only book I read that was a physical book. This was a present from T&C at Christmas, I don’t know if Tina is reading/has read it but I am well aware of how much Christina liked it. I didn’t like it as much. Moran is clever and funny and writes well but. That’s it, there’s just a but, I can’t really tell you what it is, no I’ve thought about it and I can tell you what it is. The only thing I learnt is that Moran had really rubbish parents. Honestly, a mother should fucking notice if their 13 year old daughter has a period for three months and while I understand that they were poor and her mother had 8 children, the conditions she is describing would have a social worker reaching for a care plan. (While we’re here, sorry there’s no excuse for giving your child your second hand knickers to wear in anything other than an emergency!) I found myself admiring her as a person, for getting out and not being at all self pitying about it but other than that she wasn’t telling me anything I hadn’t already worked out for myself. Except the whole thing about calling her daughter’s vagina a bot-bot. Drives me nuts, use the proper word, for crying out loud, no it’s not a pretty word but it’s called a vagina. How can we expect children to be ok with their bodies when we are to embarrassed to use the right words to talk about our and their gentalia. Bot-bot indeed. Anyway, in conclusion, it’s worth reading because it’s funny and we should be allowed to be funny when discussing these things but it didn’t change my world any.
8. Ten Miles Past Normal – Frances O’Roark Dowell
I read this today, I’ve been in bed sick. It was fun and easy to read. It’s gonna be one of Lois’ birthday books this year!
Nic Dempsey 