What I've been reading in January (non-library)

Lest you think I only read things about libraries, here's what else I've been reading this month. (Don't you love it when you can use the word "lest" in a sentence? Actually I think that's the first time I ever have.) A lot of the books I read are usually books I've read before and am rereading for the second or twenty second time. This month, mostly because of getting lots of lovely books for Christmas, I only read new books.

Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections. I'd heard good things about this book, but I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to, mainly because I didn't find any of the characters likeable (I know this was probably the point).

Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World. A nice book that introduces philosophers and their ideas in a way that's very readable. I read Gaarder's Through a Glass, Darkly years ago, which was also very good.

P.D. James, Children of Men. The first e-book I've borrowed from the library! And a very good choice it turned out to be - thought-provoking and a real pageturner. Turns out the film (which I watched first) changed a lot of the story, but both are great in my opinion!

Mrs Stephen Fry, Mrs Fry's Diary. Very funny, very silly, and now I won't watch QI in the same way ever again!

Peter Straub, Shadowland. I thought I'd give this a try as I'd previously read Straub and King's collaborations, The Talisman and Black House, with Black House being one of my favourite books. I'm a big fan of Stephen King but I hadn't read anything by Straub before. I enjoyed the start when they were at school, but as Tom started having visions and it all got more supernatural I got a bit confused. (I mostly like fantasy/supernatural stuff.) It did pick up again, and I think maybe worth a re-read at some point.

Michael Macintyre, Live and Laughing. Say what you want about Michael Macintyre being the kind of comedian that grannys like, I think he's hilahrious :) This was another e-book I've read on my phone, I liked having something on there that I could dip in and out of without worrying I'd forget what was going on if I didn't read for a while.

J.M. Barrie, Peter and Wendy. Another e-book. I'd of course seen the Disney film of Peter Pan, but never read the book. I suppose I read quite a lot of "children's" stories, but I'd be sad if the day came when I stopped enjoying them!

'Old books' on stock.xchng