My Top Ten Most-Owned Authors

One of the vloggers that I follow on Booktube did a film on this theme, and so I thought I would follow suit and do my own list of Top Ten Most Owned Authors. I own hundreds of books, so this list took a while to compile, but here goes:

In Pick of the Pops-style.....

(10) Rebecca Shaw: 9 books.

Cosy little stories about a small English village community and the goings-on within it. It's like the radio soap 'The Archers' but in book form. The novels are a great way to escape grim reality and I enjoy having a quick read of one now and again.

I own: A Village Dilemma, The New Rector, Scandal in the Village, Talk of the Village, Trouble in the Village, Village Gossip, Village Matters, Village Secrets, The Village Show.

(9=) Somerset Maugham: 10 books.

Many of Maugham's novels and short stories were based on his experiences in India and Asia during the First World War, as well as some characters symbolising other real-life figures (one of whom was the novelist Thomas Hardy). My favourite Maugham novel is 'The Magician'.

I own: Cakes and Ale, The Narrow Corner, Catalina, Liza of Lambeth, Ashenden, The Painted Veil, Up at the Villa, The Magician, Christmas Holiday, Don Fernando.

(9=) Anthony Trollope: 10 books.

One of my favourite 19th century authors - I particularly love the Palliser series of novels. 

I own: Can You Forgive Her, Phineas Finn, the Eustace Diamonds, Phineas Redux, The Prime Minister, The Duke's Children, Framley Parsonage, The Small House at Allington, Barchester Towers, He Knew He Was Right.

(7) Anthony Powell: 12 books.

One of my favourite book series of all time is the 'Dance to the Music of Time' series. Within this series, the twelve books (meant to represent the twelve months of the year) are split into seasons (three books per season). The stories follow characters in a (sometimes) comic take on upper class and bohemian England in the mid-twentieth century. The narrative is that of Nick Jenkins who, in being reunited with his former school class-mates, face up to war and its consequences. Highly recommend reading these books.

I own: A Question of Upbringing, A Buyer's Market, The Acceptance World, At Lady Molly's, Casanova's Chinese Restaurant, The Kindly Ones, The Valley of Bones, The Soldier's Art, The Military Philosophers, Books Do Furnish A Room, Temporary Kings, Hearing Secret Harmonies.

(6) Maeve Binchy: 13 books.

Light-reading which I usually enjoy when I am convalescing from illness or at times when my brain can't cope with anything else too heavy-going. Lovely escapist novels following a community based in Ireland. 

I own: The Glass Lake, Evening Class, Nights of Rain and Stars, Scarlet Feather, Whitethorn Woods, The Copper Beech, Light a Penny Candle, Dublin 4, Tara Road, Victoria Line Central Line, Minding Frankie, Heart and Soul, Full House.

(4=) Agatha Christie: 15 books.

There are times when nothing beats an old-fashioned murder-mystery, and other than Conan Doyle, Christie is - in my mind - one of the masters of crime fiction. Love Miss Marple, the old lady detective who rumbles crimes in the rural chocolate-box English village of St Mary Mead, and I love Poirot, the dashing Belgian detective. Have had these books for years - many belonged to my Gran - and admittedly I haven't read them in years, but I really should do again.

I own: Postern of Fate, Five Little Pigs, They Do It With Mirrors, Poirot Investigates, The Moving Finger, A Pocketful of Rye, At Bertram's Hotel, Hickory Dickory Dock, The Secret of Chimneys, Cat Among the Pigeons, Ten Little ******* (have to asterisk the actual word in the title of my copy as it was OK to use it when it was published - a very long time ago! -  but it is an unacceptable word to use nowadays), The Big Four, Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, Miss Marple's Final Cases, Nemesis.

(4=) PG Wodehouse: 15 books.

English humour at its very best! Love Wodehouse! Usually turn to a Jeeves and Wooster or Blandings novel when Uni work is getting me down/ is too heavy and I need an instant cheer-me-up remedy. 

I own: The Mating Season, Ring for Jeeves, Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit, Aunts Aren't Gentlemen, Thank You Jeeves, Joy in the Morning, The Inimitable Jeeves, Very Good Jeeves, Carry On Jeeves, Laughing Gas, Blandings Castle and Elsewhere, The Luck of the Bodkins, A Pelican at Blandings, Something Fresh, Summer Lightning.

(3) Jean Plaidy: 16 books.

Plaidy is one of my favourite historical fiction authors. She brings events and characters to life in a way that I wish my history teacher had done at school! My favourite books of hers are those which deal with the Tudors, but the ones based on Queen Victoria are also extremely good. I really want more of her novels......of which there are LOADS!!

I own: The Young Elizabeth, The Young Mary, Passage to Pontefract, The Captive of Kensington Palace, the Queen and Lord M, The Queen's Husband, The Widow of Windsor, The King's Secret Matter, Uneasy Lies the Head, Katherine the Virgin Widow, The Shadow of the Pomegranate, Murder Most Royal, Mary Queen of France, The Sixth Wife, Saint Thomas's Eve, The Thistle and the Rose.

(2) Charles Dickens: 19 books.

My favourite author of all time! Love Dickens, love his characters, comedy, symbolism, and descriptiveness. Favourite Dickens novel - that is a very hard one - David Copperfield, I think! 

I own: Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, The Old Curiosity Shop, Our Mutual Friend, Bleak House, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, Complete Ghost Stories, Sketches by Boz, The Haunted House, Martin Chuzzlewit, Hard Times, Nicholas Nickleby, A Tale of Two Cities, Barnaby RudNo.1ge, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Little Dorrit, Master Humphrey's Clock.

WHICH LEADS US ONTO..........

.......MY MOST-OWNED AUTHOR, WHO IS..........

(1) Alexander McCall Smith: 21 books.

AMS (as I shall call him for short) lives locally to me, in Edinburgh, which is where the Scotland Street of his novels is located (and yes it is a real street)! For this reason, I can imagine the characters and their sense of comic superiority over the Glaswegians that AMS mentions now and again, as well as the locations in which his characters visit, escape from, fall down stairs, get their wholesome food provisions. The Scotland Street series is well-worth reading whether or not you have been to Edinburgh; '44 Scotland Street' was Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 a couple of years ago. AMS also wrote two other series: The Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, and the Isabel Dalhousie series (Sunday Philosophy Club) - very different from each other, but I think that is what makes AMS such a diverse author. Love them all, and am aware that I have many more books to collect in the Detective Agency and Dalhousie serieses (is that a word?) which I must top up soon. Very highly recommend. Very funny, very identifiable, great escapism.

I own: 2 1/2 Pillars of Wisdom (Von Igelfeld Trilogy), No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Morality for Beautiful Girls, In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, Friends Lovers Chocolate, The Sunday Philosophy Club, The Right Attitude to Rain, The Careful Use of Compliments, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday, 44 Scotland Street, Bertie Plays the Blues, The Cleverness of Ladies, Espresso Tales, The Importance of Being Seven, Love Over Scotland, The Perils of Morning Coffee, Sunshine on Scotland Street, Tears of the Giraffe, The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, The World According to Bertie.

So there we have it. Near contenders for the Top 10 included: Thomas Hardy, Georgette Heyer, Barbara Taylor-Bradford (I own 8 books of each), and Jane Austen, EF Benson, and Elizabeth Chadwick (I own 6 books of each).

I may repeat this list next year, when I have bought even more books, to see if my Top 10 changes or not. I doubt Dickens will - I have bought every novel I can lay my hands on by him!

Let me know in the comments which authors feature in your Top 10 lists of Most-Owned Authors, I would love to hear different lists.

Thanks for reading! 

Book Review: 'The Girl in the Red Coat', by Kate Hamer.

A fantastic and compelling debut novel by Kate Hamer which I read in one day because I could not put the book down!

The story is related via two first-person narrators, Beth Wakeford, and her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, with aspects from each narrative overlapping through the author's clever use of motifs (the colour red, spiders, fog, open fields, and "strings").  That a chilling event has occurred is evident from the beginning of the novel with Beth setting the scene for the suspense and emotion which increase as the narrative gathers momentum. The book is extremely well-written, with identifiable and likeable characters - even the 'baddies' elicited a degree of sympathy from me. 

There are gaps in Carmel's narrative at certain points which, although I found a little confusing, actually serve the purpose in reflecting the character's disorientation very well as she, and the reader, adapt to life after her fateful trip when life changed forever for her and her family.

It's thrilling, it's exciting, and it is heart-wrenching - a real roller-coaster which keeps you turning those pages. 

** Thank you Waterstones and Faber & Faber  for sending me an Advance Reader Copy  to read in exchange for an honest review. **

Book Review: 'Ready Player One', by Ernest Cline.

"Then I paused and spent a moment staring at my immersion rig. I'd been so proud of all this high-tech hardware when I had first purchased it. But over the past few months, I'd come to see my rig for what it was: an elaborate contraption for deceiving my senses, to allow me to live in a world that didn't exist. Each component of my rig was a bar in the cell where I had willingly imprisoned myself".


This novel takes computer gaming to a whole new level (no pun intended!). Based in the year 2044, people log onto the OASIS virtual world where they lead completely different lives, go to school, get real qualifications, and 'hang out'. In fact, OASIS seems to *be* the main form of socialization in this futuristic year, where everybody from youths to elderly people don their haptic gloves, wear visors, and sit in their special suits in their haptic chairs shutting out reality and living out better lives than they really have.

That is, until OASIS's founder, Jim Halliday, dies and leaves his whole fortune hidden within the game, in the form of an Easter Egg Hunt, for 'gunters' to find; the winner acquiring billions of dollars as well as control of the OASIS world. Wade Watts, the protagonist, decides to undertake the challenge of looking for the prize "egg", undergoing several trials and threats in the process chiefly from the "Sixers" (the 'baddies') - an enemy communications conglomerate and service provider - who are itching to gain control of this virtual world and run it for capitalist reasons.

Sci-fi is not really my genre, but yet I really liked this book. There are a lot of references to 1980s pop culture and video games (as this was Halliday's favourite and happiest era, and one in which he based his Hunt on), and the characters are likeable - even if, in our world, Wade could be considered a bit "weird"! The author keeps the suspense moving through a fast-paced narrative, related from the viewpoint of Wade himself, with one or two twists in the storyline; the many diversions that Wade ("Parzival") takes from his Hunt for the prize and the choices he makes ensure that this book is a real page-turner as well as one which saw me yelling at the pages in frustration with him!

I think I would have enjoyed the novel more if I didn't know the outcome of the adventure at the beginning of the book, if the author had instead left the reader wondering whether he would succeed or not, finding out at the very end. Personally, for me, it kind of dampened the excitement level a little. However, that said, it was still addictive reading, and I am glad I took up this recommendation from Booktube. 

Mission Not-Buying-Books: Failure.

Well, things started off okay, until I happened to be passing Waterstone's, and there just happened to be a deal on, and the four books I have recently added to my TBR list were available through this deal.

Oops.

Another weekend feeding my reading habit. Maybe next week will be more successful.

Yet another ARC to review - happy days!

So, this morning I am ploughing through Plutarch's story of  Coriolanus when the doorbell rings. It's my long-suffering post-lady  (she seems to always be delivering me books I have ordered online for my degree), clutching yet another parcel for me. This time, instead of it containing another textbook of critical essays, it contained the above ARC/pre-proof novel direct from the publishers  (Faber and Faber) which I have to read and provide an honest review. What a lovely surprise! Of course that set me off excitement-wise, and subsequently, not much concentration went into Plutarch after this! 

Watch this space for a review; I'm half way through Ready Player One, which I hope to finish tomorrow on completion of which I will get going on it.  

Next challenge is to get through a weekend without buying any books - I have failed so far this year.......

The other books in my life.....

So, when I'm not reading for pleasure, this is what I'm doing. This was what today had in store for me - an analysis of Shakespeare's tragedy, Coriolanus, for Uni. My next essay is a critical analysis of this play and also Brecht's adaptation, talking about context and the image of the body in them. Started off not liking this play too much but the more I am reading it, it is growing on me. So much reading!  So many academic essays to decipher!

In other news, I have just started Ernest Cline's book Ready Player One which I am interspersing with Shakespeare to balance things out. Will write a review when i eventually get it read! 

Book Review: 'The City', by Dean Koontz.

** I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review** 

"In our lives, we come to moments of great significance that we fail to recognize, the meaning of which does not occur to us for many years. Each of us has his own agenda and focuses on it, and therefore we are often blind to what is before our eyes".

Having never read Dean Koontz before, I came to this novel with an open mind whilst taking notes of other reviews left on Goodreads. I have to say that I absolutely LOVED this novel; it was *BRILLIANT*! Where do I start with what I liked about it?

- I loved the descriptive narrative; it was so easy to get to know each character properly, thereby allowing me to identify with them and build up an empathy with them. On finishing the novel, I felt like I knew the Bledsoes/Kirks, Mr. Yoshioka and Mrs. Lorenzo almost as if they were real people. I also loved the author's use of chiaroscuro and gothic/supernatural features to increase the feeling of sensationalism and suspense in the novel. 

- I loved the motif of the eye and seeing which occurred throughout the novel in different forms: Fiona's blue-purple eyes, the eye from the stuffed toy, the painted eye of Fabritius's 'The Goldfinch', the circular shape cast by the pen-torch. Someone was always watching no matter where Jonah was.....

- The chapters being short was another bonus. This meant that I could pick the book up and put it down (however reluctantly) at my convenience, without willing long-winded chapters to end. In addition, the short chapters increased the book's pace, as events gained momentum in the lead up to the "single earth-shattering event". This story was such a page-turner though, that before I knew where I was, I had read 200 pages in a couple of hours. It is that gripping and absorbing.

- I have learned a new word: "eidetic"!

As I have to give an honest review, I should also pick up on negatives - but to be quite truthful, I can't think of any! The only thing would be the sudden exit of Mrs Nozawa, Mr Tamazaki and Dr. Mace-Maskil from the storyline. I was left wondering what happened to them - especially the nutty professor - whose appearance in the novel suggested that he was part of the 'gang' but who drifted out of the text almost as rapidly as he stormed into it. Maybe the author intended the ending to be somewhat ambiguous, but it left me feeling that ends maybe weren't as neatly tied up as they should be. But, as I say - maybe the author meant this, providing an uneasy uncertainty over the life of the city, a place where: "No matter what happens, disaster piled on calamity, no matter what, everything will be okay in the long run". Or will it.....?

Had to give this five stars, and am now adding a pile of Koontz novels to my TBR list. A fantastic but creepy novel which I will DEFINITELY be recommending to others.

Many thanks to Goodreads and Harper Collins Publishers for sending me this.

Book Review: 'The Bees', by Laline Paull.

"Accept, Obey and Serve [..] A flora may not make Wax for she is impure, nor work with Propolis for she is clumsy, nor may she ever forage for she has no taste, but only may she clean, and all may command her labour".

Flora 717 is one such flora-kin bee, deemed as the lowest of the low within the hive hierarchy, and only fit to carry her dead sister bees to the morgue or clean in Sanitation. In a community where "only the Queen may breed", this novel follows Flora's life from her hatching in the 'Arrivals Hall' as, one-by-one, she smashes each of the laws which determine her class and role - often leading her into scrapes, from which she must escape or risk death.

This novel is so well-written, and the language so lyrical, that it was so easy to identify with Flora 717, the author's bee-eye view offering a different perspective on issues which affect our environment and wildlife (such as insecticides), and the effect that these chemicals can have on the production of honey and the survival of the bees. Suddenly other insects and birds become enemies, even the slow slug, and the wars fought between the bees and these predators - as well as the 'civil wars' within the hive - make this book a real page-turner. I was hooked and sacrificed many hours' sleep just to find out what was going to happen!

I'm glad that I read this book - it is wonderful. It's different, but that is part of its charm and what makes it so memorable. The characters may be bees, but many of their issues have parallels in our human world: class and power struggles, attack, deception, working all hours in order to provide for families, and the emotion of love and sacrifice.

A fantastic debut novel! I don't think I will ever see bees in the same light again from now on.

The temptation was too great.....

....that despite me saying, that after my last Book Buying Binge that that would be my lot for the immediate future, I just happened to be passing Blackwell's bookshop in the centre of Edinburgh this afternoon, and they just happened to have a deal on novels, and the bookshelves kind of......called.....me in, and I ended up buying these three beauties:

Have been wanting Kerouac's On The Road for AGES, so I am chuffed that it was included in the deal. Likewise, the Orwell book has been on my Goodreads TBR list for at least three years. As far as Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain is concerned, this is a new author and title to me - haven't heard of this book before, but from the blurb on the back, it sounds great. I will do a proper Book Haul report on these three in my next blog. 

For now, I have a Saturday evening in with The Bees. Perfect! 

My next read.....

Wow! Today I have finished reading two of the novels I started on Tuesday. Apparently I'm seven books ahead of target on my Goodreads challenge for this year, so I'm feeling pretty happy.

Not one to be book-less for any length of time, I have chosen to start reading one of the booms from my recent book-buying binge. After using the elaborate choosing system of Eeny Meeny Miney Mo, this is my next read.

This is one of the Waterstones Book Club novels, based in a beehive and is reviewed as being The Handmaiden's Tale meets The Hunger Games. Sounds interesting......watch out for my review.

Book Review: 'The Girl on the Train', by Paula Hawkins

I had heard so many enthusiastic reviews about this novel, both on Booktube and on Goodreads that I decided to see for myself if it matched the hype. I'm not really a contemporary fiction fan, my genre being the classics and the nineteenth century, but I have to say, I haven't enjoyed a book as much as this in ages. I literally could not put it down, so much so that I managed to put sugar in the curry sauce for dinner instead of salt! It is THAT gripping. 

The polyphonic narratives from Rachel, Megan, and Anna almost take the form of police statements, as if the reader is part of a jury to whom they are relating events, times of events, particular details; this narrative bringing to mind the type used by Wilkie Collins in The Woman In White, also a suspense/murder/crime novel but from the last century. The plot line twists and turns, unlike the straightness of a typical railway line - trains and railways playing a large part in the setting of this novel, and I have to say, the ending made me actually YELL at the characters involved..... I won't say any more in case of spoilers. Suffice to say, I am exhausted! Phew!

Fantastic book, highly recommended! I'm going to be raving about this one for weeks.

Book Review: 'The One Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared' by Jonas Jonasson.

"You might think he could have made up his mind earlier, and been man enough to tell the others of his decision. But Allan Karlsson had never been given to pondering things too long.

So the idea had barely taken hold in the old man's head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old People's Home [..] and stepped out -into the flowerbed.

This manoeuvre required a bit of effort, since Allan was one hundred years old. On this very day, in fact. There was less than an hour to go before his birthday party would begin in the lounge of the Old People's Home [..] It was only the Birthday Boy himself who didn't intend to turn up". 

This hilarious comedy, which is blended with some twentieth century history, combines fictional characters with real-life characters and events, both of which intermingle in the most far-fetched ways. Taking on the form of two parallel narratives, one telling of Allan's present life, and the other of his personal history, you get the impression of time-travelling whilst realising that behind every elderly person is a story of personal adventure, survival and hardship: " I haven't always been a hundred years old" . You're never too old to have an adventure in life.

I loved this book; this author has my humour 'down to a tee'. The characters are loveable rogues, especially the protagonist Allan, and the ways in which they bluffed themselves out of trouble on multiple occasions gave me several laugh out loud moments.

I would rate it more as an adult novel than YA as some of the historical bits could be a bit 'dry' for younger readers, but it has definitely motivated me to read Jonasson's other book The Girl Who Saved The King of Sweden. Absolutely brilliant!

Book Review: 'Foe' by J.M. Coetzee

Straight from Defoe's narrative 'Robinson Crusoe', I plunged into 'Foe' mainly because these two books make up a section of my Uni degree. 

In 'Foe', Susan Barton becomes a castaway, being washed up on Cruso's (sic) island, where the intelligent, pious Crusoe portrayed by Defoe has become a grumpy, unfriendly man, and where Friday is portrayed as a mute simpleton, in an almost Conradian way. In saying that, the theme of 'Foe' seems to centre on the lack of words/speech given to him in Defoe's novel; how the oppressed (both women and "savages") are not given the power of speech, their muteness allowing others to effectively write their life stories for them, thereby denying them their freedom and true identity. This can be seen in Susan's frequent musings as to whether Friday is actually a cannibal, and is depicted symbolically by Friday's large empty mouth - devoid of tongue, devoid of words. This "black hole" is then paralleled to a black pupil of an eye, blackness into which nothing can be seen, and truth is concealed. I got to thinking of Kurtz's deathbed scene in Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' where he died with his mouth open "giving him a voracious aspect". Could Friday's black hole of a mouth symbolise "the horror! the horror!" exclaimed by Kurtz? Also, just as Kurtz's final words were uninterpretable (is that a word?), those of Friday - the an incomprehensible "stream" of water that exits his mouth in the last scene - and indeed the last section of the book, are too. Hmmmm. Stuff to think about there. 

The ending of the book is a bit strange; almost taking the form of an alternative storyline, parallelling the author Foe's desire to reshape Susan's actual narrative in order to sell books and escape from bankruptcy. It's basically a battle of authority over a narrative. The end section is so unlike the rest of the novel, it left me totally confused!

So, on first reading, it appears to me as a book addressing the art of novel-writing, whilst introducing political issues, such as slavery and the misery of oppression. It's a quick read, and a good little novel to append onto any reading of Defoe's classic masterpiece. But very, very different!

Book review: 'The Sandcastle' by Iris Murdoch

This is the first Iris Murdoch book I have read and I know it will not be the last. One word sums up The Sandcastle to me, and that word is WOW!! Loved it, loved it, loved it!

Set around a boy's school and its staff, we meet Mor, his rather forceful wife, Nan, and their two teenage offspring, Don and Felicity. This seems to be quite a dysfunctional family in a way, especially Felicity who believes she has a special "gift". Then enters into the story some of the school staff, Revvy Evvy, Demoyte, Hensman and the stuttering art master, Bledyard. Finally there is Rain, the artist who has been commissioned to paint the portrait of Demoyte, and who stirs things up amid St Bride's school at the same time.

I didn't find this book particulary sombre, but a real page-turner. I loved the characters, loved some of the comic moments of the story, loved the plot and loved the suspense. And who really was that gypsy tramp?

Would highly recommend, especially if, like me, this is your first encounter with Iris Murdoch

February 2015 Book Haul.

Sometimes I don't realise how bad my reading addiction is until I take stock of the sheer number of tomes I have bought within a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for student discounts!

Having visited three bookshops so far this month (and it's only 11th February - not even halfway through yet!), here is my book haul for the month (I really can't justify buying many more until March now!).

1. The Bees by Laline Paull. This is one of the Waterstone's Book Club (WBC) books that I thought sounded quite fun. Very different from what I usually read, but I'm feeling open-minded about it. Looks like it is a thriller, so that's exciting!

2. Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey. Another WBC book which, according to the reviews, looks like a genre-crossing detective tale. Hmmm.

3. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton. The last of the WBC books I have bought this month. The cover artwork enticed me to buy it - yes I know books shouldn't be judged by their covers - but it is intriguing. Containing suspense and a gripping plot-line, I think I'm going to enjoy this one too. Ooh which one to read first?!

4. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. I bought this on recommendation by Jen Campbell on Booktube; again a different type of novel to that which I usually read, but hey - it's nice to escape from the usual sometimes. It's all about 80s pop culture, a decade that I grew up in, so that's a great start.

5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. For being a classics nut, I can't believe that I haven't read this yet. It's been on my TBR list for ages.

6. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Now, I have read this but it was years and years ago, and I fancied a new copy ahead of the release of her new book in July.

7. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Really looking forward to getting stuck into this one. I absolutely loved Crime and Punishment and adore dark Russian fiction. Want to get even more Dostoyevsky novels, as they are gripping and real page-turners. Hoping this one is the same.

8. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. Another classic which I have not read. Felt embarrassed admitting it, so I bought it.

9. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. another novel that I have read but only on my Kindle, and I really REALLY wanted a physical copy. It's one of my favourites.

10. Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. Yet another neglected classic. Love Hardy and his lyrical, aesthetic prose and so I'm looking forward to reading this novel - the only one of his that, until now, I didn't own.

11. The Divine Comedy by Dante. Absolutely loved Inferno so it was essential that I bought this. Essential,  I say.

12. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. One of the two Hugo novels I bought this month. I've seen the film many times but yet have not read the book - purchasing this will allow me to remedy that!

13. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. This has been on my TBR list for longer than I can remember. It's had raving reviews, so I'm looking forward to enjoying it for myself.

14. Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T.E. Lawrence. I bought this because I hadn't heard of this author before, and was intrigued by it being "of high literary aspiration" and which resembles the writing styles of Dostoyevsky, Melville, Eliot, and Joyce. It "tells of the campaign against the Turks in the Middle East" - a war novel which sounds to me like it is along a similar vein to Richard Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North which I loved.

15. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo. The second Hugo novel I have bought this month. Have seen the musical, have the soundtrack on CD, but needed the book. It is MASSIVE though!

16. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro. Quite enjoyed his novel Never Let Me Go so thought I would try another of his books.

17. Parade's End by Ford Maddox Ford. I have this on Kindle but I wanted it in physical form - that way I might get past the first few pages! (I find it easier reading from paper pages than a screen). It's a novel about the Great War and the destruction and reconstruction that arose from it, focusing on the life of the protagonist Christopher Tietjens. It is another large tome, but I have enjoyed what I have read so far.

18. Dr Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. I loved the film, read the book in Senior School, but wanted my own copy. This book was banned in the Soviet Union until 1988, and tells of the life and loves of a poet-physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. Yuri Zhivago finds himself caught between the Whites and the Reds, and in love with the beautiful Lara. I just know I'm going to need tissues handy when I re-read this.

And that's it! See what I mean? I've had a binge this month, but I'm looking forward to many pleasurable hours working my way through that little lot.

Will post reviews on the books whenever I finish them. Even if that is months away!

Local Literary Legends, Part 2.

The front entrance to Abbotsford House.

In my previous LLL blog, I posted a picture of the small house in George Square, wherein the great Sir Walter Scott resided for a short time. This blog is going to show his other house, Abbotsford House, near Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, his main residence. I'm lucky enough to have this treasure only 35 minutes from my home.

Having bought the land, and having overseen the building of this Scottish Baronial country house on the banks of the River Tweed, this was the place which provided Scott with his inspiration for the many novels he wrote, including Rob Roy, Ivanhoe, Waverley, and the Bride of Lammermoor, to name but a few. It was opened to the public in 1833, only a few months after the great author's death. Major events are run here throughout the year, these can be seen here.

Scott's study/library from where he wrote his novels.

And yet more books in his sitting room!

Scott's dining room where he entertained William and Dorothy Wordsworth several times. Scott also died in this room, having had his bed moved in so that he could enjoy the lovely view over the River Tweed in his dying moments.

A visit here is highly recommended. All guests are issued with their own Walkman type tour guide, so the house can be visited at each guest's own pace. I took my family there and we spent over three hours wandering around the house and the gardens. There is also a gift shop, café, and lavatories. In addition, there is ample wheelchair access, as the public are only allowed in the rooms on the ground floor.

Abbotsford House, back view from the River Tweed.

Filling up my Books Are My Bag bag....

I'm wandering through the shopping mall and lo and behold! Right before my eyes there is Bookworld,  a discount bookshop, currently offering EVEN LARGER savings on lots of lovely literature.

Just as well I had my BAMB bag with me as I bought....well......several!

Over the past three weeks I think I have bought fifteen books (from my Goodreads TBR pile) from bookstores. I had better get reading them before my next book-buying-binge beckons.

What I am reading now.....

OK, well, at Uni I am researching Shakespeare's tragedy 'Coriolanus' and so I have decided that my 'read for pleasure' book should be a comedy, to set the balance. Soooooo....... I have plumped for this one.

I have heard differing reviews of it, but it has been on my TBR shelf for way too long, so now is the time to enjoy Allan's adventures. Will let you know what I think of it when I finish it.

Local Literary Legends, Part 1.

I'm really lucky living where I do, as more or less around every corner is the birthplace, house, rented accommodation, university, or even tombstone of literary legends.

For a start, this is the house where Sir Walter Scott lived for a time, situated within the Edinburgh University campus in George Square:

 Can just imagine him writing 'Waverley' or 'Ivanhoe' in there!

Right next door to him, lived.......

....Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I've got quite a nice mental image of Walter and Arthur doffing their caps to each other as they leave their homes every morning!

Edinburgh also was the home of Robert Louis Stevenson - his old house is now a Bed and Breakfast, but I will try to get a good photo of it to add to my blog. In addition, contemporary authors base their novels here: Ian Rankin, and Alexander McCall Smith (one of my favourite modern authors), for example.

Not only are there monuments of where literary legends lived, but we have the tomb of a Romantic novelist as well.  Here is the grave of the notorious English Opium Eater, which you can find in St Cuthbert's churchyard, near Lothian Road (the west end of Princes Street). One of my favourite quotes from his Confessions is:

Me standing by De Quincey's grave.

"Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without".

   Can't argue with that!

Book Review: The Complete Ghost Stories, by Charles Dickens.

"Tom gazed at the chair; and suddenly as he looked at it, a most extraordinary change seemed to come over it. The carving of the back gradually assumed the lineaments and expression of an old shrivelled human face, the damask cushion became an antique, flapped waistcoat; the round knobs grew into a couple of feet, encased in red cloth slippers; and the old chair looked like a very ugly old man of the previous century, with arms akimbo".  'The Queer Chair'.

This collection of seventeen short stories and three novellas, including  'A Christmas Carol', 'The Haunted House', and 'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain', magically blend Dickens' sense of humour with the suspense and thrills of invisible, haunting figures and their spells. As with most short stories, I found that I was better dipping in and out of this book, reading one or two tales before taking a break and returning for more; although it was nice to be able to read a different length of Dickens' work than that found in the weighty tomes I am reading for my Masters dissertation!

Best story:  'The Ghosts of the Mail'  because it is based in Edinburgh, where I live, and I can picture exactly where the supernatural scene the narrator sees is played out. Least favourite story: the novella  'The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain'  - where Redlaw takes on a similarity to Scrooge, and Milly is the typical Dickens "model woman". I had to re-read sections of this novella in order to try and re-gain my sense of direction with where I was with it - maybe a second reading would make it clearer.

So, in all, I would give this four-and-a-half stars out of five. A brilliant read for dark winter nights (most of the tales take place around Christmas time), but not right before bed!

Let me loose in here....

How amazing does this place look? Plenty of potential texts with which to fill my Books Are My Bag bag! I ended up with a 105 year old copy of Dickens' 'Sketches by Boz', a real treasure. I could have bought much more but my spending spree was curtailed. Oh well, next time!

This is Armchair Books in West Port, Edinburgh, just up from the Grassmarket. It is well worth a visit, stocking everything from Mr Beeton's 'Household Management', very old copies of Robert Burns, Walter Scott, and William Shakespeare to Harry Potter and 'Game of Thrones'.

An ideal way to spend an hour or three, in my opinion!

Introduction time.

Hi folks,

I have been inspired by the people I follow on Booktube to set up a blog reviewing the books which I hungrily consume at variable rate. Being extremely camera shy, I have decided to resort to Blogger rather than upload to a YouTube channel - I'm not one of these hip and trendy young people!

About myself: I am studying for a Masters degree in English Literature at the moment, hoping on completion to proceed with my studies towards a PhD. My favourite genre is the Nineteenth Century Novel, and I am hoping to do my Masters dissertation on something to do with the Gothic and Charles Dickens. However, I do boast an eclectic book collection, with over 400 books swamping my creaking bookshelves.

My aim is to leave reviews as often as I can on here and on Goodreads - I hope people find them useful, and that through them I help others to find their new favourite book. 

Reading is an adventure you can go on from the comfort of your sofa/bed/nook. Sit back and enjoy!