February 2016 Reading Round-Up

Trying to stick to my resolution and read only from my TBR pile, but a few slipped through the net (in addition to the usual review copies).

Picture from mirabiledictu.org

TBR on the shelves:

1. Andrew McMillan: Physical
2. Petina Gappah: The Book of Memory
3. Denise Mina: Gods and Beasts
4. Klaus Vater: Am Abgrund (Es geschah in Berlin 1934)

Netgalley Guilt:

1. Claire Vaye Watkins: Gold Fame Citrus – DNF
2. Asne Seiersted: One of Us
3. Simon Booker: Without Trace
4. Jeanne M. Dams: Blood Will Tell
5. Massimo Marino: Daimones (Part 1)
6. Melissa Harisson: Rain – Four Walks in the English Weather
7. Hideo Yokoyama: Six Four

Review copies sent by publishers:

1. Karl Ove Knausgaard: Some Rain Must Fall
2. He Jiahong: Black Holes
3. Yusuf Toropov: Jihadi- A Love Story
4. James Oswald: The Damage Done
5. Kate Medina: Fire Damage

Slipped through the net:

1. Amanda Jennings: In Her Wake
2. N. J. Fountain: Painkiller
3. Fred Vargas: Temps Glaciaires

Male/female ratio: 9 male/ 9 women and one not known

English language/translated (or foreign) ratio: 13 in English/ 6  translated

Many good reads this month, but the most unforgettable (and unsettling) book of the month: Asne Seiersted’s account of the Norwegian massacre in 2011.

As you may have noticed, I am also a little behind on reviews, because I’ve been trying to work, write and go skiing with children on holidays. On the days when they weren’t ill and demanding my attention, or else I was coming down with flu yet trying to concentrate enough to write a professional article. Reading, however, proved the perfect antidote to tired muscles and brains!

In terms of writing, I have not progressed much this month with the middle and end, but I have edited the opening of my novel, written a synopsis and found a (temporary?) title. I have also submitted some poems (and had one accepted), so it’s been a month of timid progress.