I started this on 30th December but only finished on 5th of this month so to solve issues on numbering for the year, it's a half.
Thorough, unbiased, mostly spoiler free reviews of the books I happen to read. Strangely popular in Czechia on Tuesdays...
Sunday, 12 January 2025
2025 book number 0.5- The Deep- Nick Cutter
Saturday, 4 January 2025
2024 picks of the year
This (last year) has been a good year for reading for me. I've completed 107 books and got a good start on number 108. I've read a good mix of genres and have really enjoyed the vast majority. There were 4 that I managed to finish despite hating (they were shortish) and my first DNF since I started the blog. All my full reviews are a simple scroll away.
In the order that I read them, my top 10 for the year are
Another novella, this one told from the point of view of a mountain lion living above LA. I love that weirdness like this is now available in mainstream book shops.
Paul Auster's final novel is as good as anything else he's written. A beautiful and moving character study.
Adam Nevill's All the Fiends of Hell is one of the two most terrifying reads of the year. Possibly the scariest book he's written to date, with some truly hair-raising set pieces
I expected to hate this but loved it. A gorgeously told story of Shakespeare's son's death.
The other one of the most terrifying books I read this year. It had me jumping at shadows looking for Other Mommy.
This one is genuinely disturbing. Great writing and needs to be experienced to be believed.
Based on the true story of a medical hoax where a woman was allegedly giving birth to rabbits. This is an odd one, brilliantly told. The eponymous Mary might be the most mistreated character I've read about all year.
Cthulu, mysterious corporations, black magic detectives in the big city. This book has it all. One of the most mind-bending things I've read in years.
Finally, this one- a crime story without cops. Brilliantly written. It turned my internal narrator into the cast of Father Ted. A multi-layered story of small town secrets in Ireland.
So there we have it, the 10 best books I read last year.
The DNF was Almost White by Simon Thirsk. The worst book I finished by an absolute country mile was The Breast by Philip Roth. How that guy has a career in literature is an absolute mystery to me if that is typical of his work.
Wednesday, 1 January 2025
Number 107- House of Slaughter vol 3- The Butcher's Return- Tynion et al
Numbers 103 a,b and c- Ghost stories for Christmas- Galley beggar pocket books
These were my Christmas day read (I said I was playing catch up). They arrived in early November but were far too pretty to open, so I waited till Christmas day to unwrap them and the books were just as pretty inside the packaging.
Number 103- All My Precious Madness- Mark Bowles
Quick bit of housekeeping, need to post the last few books from last year. Starting with this-
From that minimalist cover, regular readers of this blog will know this is a Galley Beggar Press book.
This is Bowles's first novel and I have to say he knows how to string a sentence together. Whether he knows how to plot a novel is up for question.
In this book, the narrator rails against modern society and all the ills he perceives. We follow him back and forward through his life in a series of flashbacks and digressions. He becomes more and more annoyed by a particular man he sees as being the symbol of all that's wrong until he snaps and takes violent action.
It's frequently very funny and he does make some valid points. But it is a bit rambly and didn't always hold my interest.
The final section was certainly the most compulsive in the book.
It's beautifully written, as are all GBP books, but this one didn't completely hit the mark for me.
6/10 - less ramble, more plot please.