pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,497
Karma: 306214458
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
My goal is to buy fewer books than I read. And so end up with fewer unread books.
Last year I managed to reduce my TBR pile by 135 books!
I start 2022 with 756 books on my TBR pile.
Books removed from TBR
Read and Reading
- December 31st, 2021: Poor Tom is Cold by Maureen Jennings - £0.99 - 3/5 - 271pp
OK, but a bit heavy handed in the plot setup
- January 5th: The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison - £1.99 - 5/5 - 145pp
Most enjoyable silly SF
- January 7th: Naughty: Nine Tales of Christmas Crime by Steve Hockensmith - Free - 5/5 - 175pp
Just what was advertised - fun Christmas Crime tales.
- January 8th: Four To Score by Janet Evanovich - Free - 3/5 - 203pp
OK, but a bit silly. Discarded 11 other freebies in the series.
- January 11th: Strange Attractors by Jeffrey A. Carver - Free - 4/5 - 286pp
An enjoyable adventure SF.
- January 15th: Interzone #218 (Sep/Oct 2008) - £2.26 - 3/5 - 143pp
An OK collection of SF short stories.
- January 16th: Diamonds in the Sky edited by Mike Brotherton - Free - 3/5 - 208pp
Some stories too much astronomy and not enough story, but OK.
- January 22nd: Life, the Universe, and Everything by Douglas Adams - £1.61 - 4/5 - 166pp
Quite fun
- January 28th: The Ebb Tide by Robert Louis Stevenson & Osbourne - £0.02 - 3/5 - 140pp
Much better than The Wrong Box, but that's the best I can say.
- February 4th: Dragon Time and Other Stories by Ruth Nestvold - Free - 4/5 - 80pp
Some enjoyable fantasy stories
- February 5th: Hard Fought by Greg Bear - £0.66 - 3/5 - 146pp
Some interesting far future SF, but I found it ultimately unsatisfying.
- February 6th: Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell - £0.99 - 4/5 - 252pp
Gruesome, but good. Interesting period (90s) technology.
- February 8th: The Empty Throne by Bernard Cornwell - £1.99 - 5/5 - 246pp
Good historical drama
- February 9th: A Capitol Death by Lindsey Davis - £2.99 - 3/5 - 336pp
OK, but never grabbed me
- February 19th: Island of Glass by Ruth Nestvold - Free - 3/5 - 86pp
OK, and readable, but not something I'll follow up.
- February 20th: Bloodline by Felix Francis - £1.99 - 5/5 - 258pp
Excellent horse-racing-based murder mystery.
- February 21st: Some of the Best of Tor.com 2021 - Free - 5/5 - 519pp
A good set of short stories.
- March 3rd: Iced by Felix Francis - £0.99 - 3/5 - 270pp
OK, but more back-story/introspection than usual.
- March 4th: Friday by Robert A. Heinlein - £3.11 - 4/5 - 349pp
Good, but a bit heavy-handed politically
- March 6th: The Grove of the Caesars by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 4/5 - 341pp
Better than the last one, or I'm in a better mood.
- March 13th: The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams - £0.49 - 4/5 - 221pp
Brilliant in parts.
- March 15th: Phase Space by Stephen Baxter- £0.98 - 3/5 - 396pp
An OK collection of short stories with a linking theme.
- March 20th: Cretaceous Sea by Will Hubbell - £1.10 - 3/5 - 324pp
OK, but nothing special
- March 21st: Blindsight by Peter Watts - Free - 3/5 - 263pp
OK, but not (to me) compelling
- March 27th: The Sleepers of Erin by Jonathan Gash - £0.99 - 4/5 - 203pp
Lovejoy being Lovejoy - no inhibitions or proportionality
- March 28th: The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J R R Tolkien -£0.99 - 3/5 - 93pp
More of interest for the textual analysis than the poem itself. Terrible Kindle formatting
- April 1st: Lost Mars edited by Mike Ashley - Free - 3/5 - 213pp
Some new, most re-reads. Interesting commentary.
- April 4th: Reader And Educator Guide - Free - 1/5 - 148pp
[ABANDONED] - April 5th: Have His Carcase by Dorothy L. Sayers - £0.99 - 4/5 - 372pp
Fun with Harriet and Peter. One star off for overly details decryption scene.
- April 8th: Jews Don't Count by David Badiel - £0.99 - 3/5 - 110pp
OK, but not as cogent as I'd have hoped.
- April 9th: The Scandalous duch*ess by Anne O'Brien - £0.99 - 3/5 - 442pp
OK, but just didn't ring right to me.
- April 13th: The Magic Three of Solatia by Jane Yolen - £1.02 - 4/5 - 170pp
Sweet fairy tale
- April 14th: Alternities by Michael P. Kube-McDowell - Free - 3/5 - 390pp
Slow start, got a bit better. But only OK overall.
- April 18th: The Midnight Hour by Elly Griffiths - £0.99 - 5/5 - 233pp
Excellent murder mystery set in mid 1960s.
- April 20th: Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein - Free - 4/5 - 167pp
The justification for the original ending. Astonishing.
- April 21st: Casino Royale by Ian Fleming - £0.99 - 4/5 - 197pp
Fascinating to see where it all started.
- April 23rd: The Sun Smasher by Edmond Hamilton - £1.67 - 3/5 - 82pp
Interesting as early SF.
- April 24th: The Simpsons and their Mathematical Secrets by Simon Singh - £1.09 - 3/5 - 220pp
Most of the maths is rather simple, and I'm not that fussed about The Simpsons. Interesting theorem at the end.
- April 28th: The Heart of Valour by Tanya Huff - £0.99 - 4/5 - 295p
Beginning to grow on me as a series
- April 30th: Fools and Mortals by Bernard Cornwell - £1.99 - 5/5 - 272pp
Enjoyable historical fiction
- May 1st: H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald - £5.49 - 1/5 - 285pp
[ABANDONED. 50% in, I just wasn't interested, and not reading it.] - May 7th: The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths - £0.99 - 4/5 - 274pp
A most enjoyable story with DS Harbinder Kaur.
- May 10th: Weir of Hermiston by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 2/5 - 147pp
Unpolished and unfinished
- May 17th: Ten Little Wizards by Michael Kurland - £0.99 - 5/5 - 185pp
Excellent Lord Darcy novel.
- May 21st: Electric Dreams by Philip K. Dick - £0.99 - 4/5 - 165pp
A good collection. The forewords should have been afterwords
- May 22nd: Galaxy's Edge Magazine, Issue #5 edited by Mike Resnick - £0.40 - 4/5 - 222pp
A good mix of old and new
- May 29th: Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee - £0.33 - 3/5 - 221pp
A good, if fragmentary, evocation of life between the wars and the breakup of village life.
- June 3rd: Sharpe's Assassin by Bernard Cornwell - £1.99 - 5/5 - 250pp
What one expects from a Sharpe novel. Very good indeed.
- June 4th: The Hidden Palace by Helene Wecker - £0.99 - 5/5 - 431pp
Excellent sequel to The Golem and the Jinni
- June 7th: The IPCRESSS File by Len Deighton - £0.99 - 3/5 - 303pp
OK, but I didn't find it compelling
- June 14th: Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.17 - 5/5 - 172pp
Excellent. I didn't realise I hadn't read it!
- June 15th: Tales From Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.17 - 5/5 - 206pp
Excellent. I didn't realise I hadn't read it!
- June 16th: The Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.17 - 5/5 - 158pp
Excellent. I didn't realise I hadn't read it!
- June 17th: The Books of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.14 - 5/5 - 98pp
The stories and essays not in the other books
- June 19th: Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming - £0.99 - 1/5 - 221pp
[ABANDONED]I'm just not interested. - June 24th: A Comedy of Terrors by Lindsey Davis 0 £0.99 - 4/5 - 351pp
Enjoyable
- July 3rd: St Ives by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 3/5 - 290pp
Quite fun tales, but do find the version with an ending added.
- July 6th: Four-Day Planet by H. Beam Piper - £0.29 - 4/5 - 124pp
Fun YA SF tale.
- July 8th: Closer to the Heart by Mercedes Lackey - £2.49 - 5/5 - 267pp
Great fun.
- July 9th: Close to the Chest by Mercedes Lackey - £1.49 - 5/5 - 309pp
More Great Fun
- July 9th: The Hills Have Spies by Mercedes Lackey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 288pp
- July 10th: Eye Spy by Mercedes Lackey - £1.99 - 5/5 - 264pp
- July 11th: Spy, Spy Again by Mercedes Lackey - £1.99 - 5/5 - 275pp
- July 12th: Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey - £1.69 - 4/5 - 352pp
All the expected quick fun reads
- July 12th: The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman - £1.35 - 4/5 - 218pp
Enjoyable time-travel. Reminiscent of Door Into Summer, IMO
- July 13th: Thanksgiving by Janet Evanovich - Free - 3/5 - 118pp
Very light romance.
- July 13th: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths - £1.99 - 5/5 - 231pp
Excellent modern-day police/archaeology murder mystery
- July 15th: In the Market for Murder by Elly Griffiths - £0.99 - 3/5 - 198pp
Fun stuff, but perhaps hasn't quite hit its stride yet
- July 16th: The October Man by Ben Aaronovitch - £2.49 - 4/5 - 137pp
A fun side-novella
- July 16th: Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon - £0.99 - 5/5 - 260pp
A very good first contact story
- July 18th: The Just City by Jo Walton - £2.49 - 5/5 - 327pp
Splendid fantasy based on Plato's Republic
- July 19th: My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier - £0.99 - 4/5 - 315pp
Didn't like the setup. Good afterwards.
- July 23rd: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.99 - 5/5 - 154pp
Excellent Fantasy
- July 25th: The Unknown Ajax by Georgetter Heyer - £1.20 - 4/5 - 303pp
OK, but not my favourite
- July 29th: The Birthday of the World by Ursula K. Le Guin - £4.96 - 5/5 - 292pp
A splendid collection of shorter fiction.
- August 1st: Empress by Karen Miller - £0.57 - 3/5 - 492pp
Epic Fantasy, but it's hard to tell how good it is without parts two and three which will hopefully have a satisfying ending
- August 4th: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Elliot - Free - 4/5 - 50pp
Quite fun with great names. And a PG Wodehouse reference!
- August 5th: Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier - £0.99 - 3/5 - 264pp
OK, but not wonderful
- August 11th: Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley - £0.99 - 5/5 - 495pp
A good read.
- August 16th: [/I]A Master of Djinn[/I] by P Djèli Clark - £0.99 - 4/5 - 358pp
OK to good. Other characters are a bit too accepting for the time, IMO
- August 21st: Facets of Glass by Ruth Nestvold - Free - 4/5 - 121pp
A good continuation of the story
- August 22nd: Lightspeed Magazine #7 edited by J. A. Adams - £0.58 - 4/5 - 161pp
Some good stories, new and old.
- August 24th: The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.17 - 5/5 - 151pp
Splendid
- August 26th: Paddington At Large by Michael Bond - £0.99 - 5/5 - 77pp
Delightful
- August 26th: Feeders & Eaters by Neil Gaiman - £0.58 - 3/5 - 15pp
Not my sort of thing
- August 26th: Dead Lagoon by Michel Dibden - £3.79 - 3/5 - 306pp
Zen gets everything right and everything wrong again
- September 3rd: A Dead Djinn in Cairo - Free - 4/5 - 30pp
Good fun
- September 3rd: Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser - £0.99 - 5/5 - 264pp
A splendid romp
- September 7th: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier - £0.99 - 1/5 - ???pp
ABANDONED. Didn't like the character, knew the plot, so no suspense. - September 11th: Interzone #219 by TTA Press - £2.26 - 5/5 - 145pp
Excellent short stories. Not one dud.
- September 16th: Panglor by Jeffrey A. Carver - £2.51 - 4/5 - 477pp
An improvement, or I was more in the mood for the tale.
- September 20th: Greybeard by Brian Aldiss - £0.99 - 3/5 - 223pp
OK, but a bit disappointing. I didn't like the continual flashbacks
- September 24th: The Oathbound by Mercedes Lackey - £0.73 - 4/5 - 235pp
- September 26th: Oathbreakers by Mercedes Lackey - £0.73 - 4/5 - 245pp
- September 28th: Oathblood by Mercedes Lackey - £0.73 - 3/5 - 258pp
The last volume has earlier versions of stories, and a new story.
- October 1st: We'll Meet Again by Anton du Beke - £0.99 - 4/5 - 329pp
As expected.
- October 5th: The Third Claw of God by Adam-Troy Castro - £2.14 - 5/5 - 374pp
Very good indeed. A twist I didn't see and should have seen.
- October 9th: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre - £0.99 - 2/5 - 358pp
[ABANDONED: Knowing the plot, I found a lack of tension, and the endless flashbacks too much.] - October 20th: Skyward by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 417pp
- October 23th: Starsight by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 381pp
- October 26th: Cytonic by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 355pp
Splendid Sci-Fi, but not a trilogy - I must wait for the next (but not on a cliffhanger).
- October 29th: The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.17 - 5/5 - 166pp
[INDET]Better than I remembered[/INDENT] - November 6th: Lightspeed #12 edited by J. J. Adams - £0.36 - 4/5 - 89pp
Good SF short stories.
- November 7th: The Neutronium Alchemist by Peter F. Hamilton - £0.99 - 4/5 - 971pp
Good, but too many plots/characters at once, IMO
- November 24th: Ballroom Blitz by Anton du Beke - £0.99 - 5/5 - 370pp
Good continuation of the ballroom soap opera
- November 26th: Thraxas meets his Enemies by Martin Scott - £3.63 - 5/5 - 191pp
Excellent continuation of the Thraxas story
- November 27th: What Abigail did that Summer by Ben Aaronovitch - £3.07 - 5/5 - 184pp
Excellent
- November 28th: Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - £4.09 - 5/5 - 549pp
A good story with a new magic system
- December 1st: The Valley of Creation by Edmund Hamilton - £1.67 - 3/5 - 121pp
OK-ish in SF meets The Man Who Would Be King kind of way.
- December 5th: The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton - £0.99 - 3/5 - 1158pp
IMO overly long, and with a literal Deus ex Machina ending.
- December 10th: Bilbo's Last Song by J R R Tolkien - £1.99 - 4/5 - 20pp
Fixed format and some odd formatting when converted to ePub.
- December 14th: The Lacquer Screen by Robert van Gulik - £0.79 - 5/5 - 149pp
An excellent tale
- December 15th: Heathercat by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 3/5 - 35pp
A good start, but only a fragment
- December 16th: Galaxy's Edge #6 edited by Mike Resnick - $0.40 - 5/5 - 219pp
A good selection of stories and reprints
- December 17th: The Trouble with Mirrors by Charlotte & Aaron Elkins - £2.34 - 5/5 - 228pp
An excellent mystery/adventure
- December 19th: The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton - £2.84 - 5/5 - 271pp
Great continuation
- December 21st: The House of Unexpected Sisters by Alexander McCall Smith - £3.54 - 5/5 - 200pp
Interesting developments
- December 23rd: A Call to Insurrection by David Weber - £4.20 - 5/5 - 350pp
Fun Mil SF
- December 25th: The Colours of all the Cattle by Alexander McCall Smith - £0.99 - 5/5 - 242pp
Fun
- December 26th: The Man on the Balcony by Sjöwall & Wahlöö - £0.99 - 4/5 - 180pp
Depressingly realistic in many ways, I expect.
- December 29th: Finches of Mars by Brian Aldiss - £0.99 - 1/5 - 193pp
[ABANDONED. Not good at all] - December 30th: We Can Remember It For You Wholesale By Philip K. Dick - £0.99 - - 439pp
Books added to TBR
Freebies
- February 6th: Island of Glass by Ruth Nestvold (read)
- February 8th: Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2021 (read)
- March 3rd: Podkayne of Mars (orig, ending) (read)
- March 25th: Reader And Educator Guide To "the Hobbit" And "the Lord Of The Rings" (read)
- April 14th: Alternities (read)
- July 7th: St Ives (Swanston Edition) (read)
- August 15: Facets of Glass (read)
- September 1st: A Dead Djinni in Cairo (read)
Bought
- January (1/£0.99): Hot Money
- February (4/£6.96): A Comedy of Terrors, A Capitol Death, Bloodline, Iced
- March (4/£7.08): Friday, Invisible Sun, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, Letters from Father Christmas
- April (21/£16.83): Jews Don't Count, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia With Love, Dr No, Goldfinger, For Your Eyes Only, (Thunderball, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice), The Man with the Golden Gun, The Midnight Hour, The IPCRESS File, The Joy and Light Bus Company, (Cider With Rosie, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, A Moment of War), Horse Under Water, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- May (4/£3.96): The Postscript Murders, Death in Dalesford, Break In, Ten Little Wizards
- June (11/£6.94): Sharpe's Assassin, The Edge, The Hidden Palace, The Books of Earthsea (Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, The Other Wind, Other Tales), The Breakthrough, My Cousin Rachel
- July (7/£11.43): Closer to the Heart, Rotten to the Core, The Night Hawks, Remnant Population, The Just City, The October Man, The Locked Room
- August (7/£6.93): The Danger, Jane Austen at Home, Paddinto at Large, Paddington Marches On, Paddington on Top, Paddington Takes the Test, A Master of Djinn
- September (6/£5.94): Royal Flash, Rebecca, The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s, The Finches of Mars, Greybeard, Agent Running in the Field
- October (5/£6.10): We'll Meet Again, One Virgin Too Many, The Third Claw of God, Smokescreen, Cytonic
- November (7/£15.75):Flying Finish, Ode to a Banker, Conversations with Rabbi Small, Ballroom Blitz
- December (7/£19.44): Bilbo's Last Song, The Jupiter Myth, The House of Unexpected Sisters, How to Raise an Elephant, The Philosopher Kings, The Trouble with Mirrors, A Call to Insurrection
Analysis
TBR: 703
Books read: 121 (including 16 freebies, 0 re-reads, 5 abandoned)
Books otherwise removed from TBR pile: 23 (0 read previously, 23 discarded)
Books removed from TBR pile: 144
Books added to TBR pile: 91 (including 7 freebies, 3 omnibus counted as 12)
Removed/Added: 1.58
Net reduction for 2022: 53
Non-free books read: 105 (including 0 re-read, 5 abandoned)
Total cost of books read: £143.88
Average cost of books read: £1.37
Non-free books bought: 84 (including 3 omnibus counted as 12)
Total cost of books bought: £108.35
Average cost of books bought: £1.29
Rating System:
1: Bad.
2: Poor. (Or just not to my taste.)
3: Satisfactory.
4: Good.
5: Excellent.
Pages are as given by the ADE algorithm in Calibre, or from the Amazon web page.
Last edited by pdurrant; 12-31-2022 at 05:27 AM.Reason: started & abandoned Finches of Mars, started We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
