In 2010 I started blogging and reviewing books which means that at the end of this year I will have been doing this for 15 years. I had, actually, reviewed the odd book on Amazon prior to 2010 but at the start of this year I was asked by my sister to review books for a website that she and her husband were running. I think that they made a little money on it when someone linked through from the review to Amazon but it was also that my sister wanted to share her love of books. I soon started reviewing regularly and then took to blogging about books and reading and I haven’t stopped since, although I now have my own website. I enjoy talking about books and sharing my views and even if this site isn’t as popular as some others that isn’t particularly important to me – although it is nice to know that people do read and find useful the reviews that I publish.
So, as well as working, bringing up children, having my first grandchild, blogging and reviewing I managed to read 447 books in the year – I cannot imagine where I got the energy ! This year my books were recorded in the same notebook as that for 2009 (see here).
The first book that I read in the year was Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews which is the first in a series of American cosy crime novels where the main character is an ornamental blacksmith. In this book she is also involved in arranging some family weddings, reconnecting her estranged parents, falling in love and, of course, solving a murder. There are lots of these small town cosy crime novels set in both the UK and USA but I like this series because the writing is fun to read. I review a book later in the series here.
The last book I finished reading in the year is an alternative history novel SS-GB by Len Deighton. The author wrote thrillers and spy novels but this book is set after WW2 and imagines what would happen had Germany won the war and invaded Britain. I recommend it highly. A few authors have explored this theme and I talk about some of them in this review here.
There are a few gems in this year’s reading among the cosy crime, romantic suspense and romances which made up the bulk of my reading. I read two contemporary novels by a favourite author, Margaret Forster, Keeping the World Away and Over. In fantasy, I read a new duology by another favourite author, Barbara Hambly, Sisters of the Raven and Circle of the Moon which are about women’s magic. A great biography The Road to Nab End by William Woodruff and another by Roberta Taylor Too Many Mothers both of which look at a childhood in poverty. There was a new fantasy novel by Guy Gavriel Kay called Under Heaven – I buy all his books as soon as they are released in hardback which I do for few other writers. I also read Carol Shield’s book The Stone Diaries which I think is her best. I read some history, Killing Dragons by Fergus Fleming which is about early European attempts to climb mountains and Ungrateful Daughters by Maureen Waller which is about Mary and Anne, the daughters of James II who became queens at his expense.
It was a full year in 2010 and it marked the beginning of an activity which has been an important part of my life since then.
Anne Is Reading 