"A room without books is like a body without a soul." - Marcus Tullius Cicero

Book Reviews by Year

Here is a list of all the books I have read so far each year since January 2012, with links to my reviews. I will try to review every book / short story I read, but any that I decide to not write a full review for, I will leave a little 'mini review' here for you.


2014:

January:
1. After Dark by Haruki Murakami
2. Crime by Irvine Welsh 
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson 
4. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata
6. A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
7. The Railway Man by Eric Lomax

February:
8. Under the Dome by Stephen King
9. Watership Down by Richard Adams

March:
10. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
11. The House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier
12. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
13. Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie
14. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

April:
15. Real World by Natsuo Kirino
16. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
17. The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg

May:
18. Suffer the Children by John Saul
20. Don't Look Now and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier
21. The Ritual by Adam Nevill
22. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons

June:
24. The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
25. Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
26. Night of the Living Dummy by R. L. Stine
27. Let's Get Invisible! by R. L. Stine
28. Ox Crimes by various crime authors (short story collection)

July:
29. Ring by Koji Suzuki
30. Spiral by Koji Suzuki
31. Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
32. The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne
33. Battle Royale: Remastered by Koushun Takami
34. Looking for Alaska by John Green
35. Palin Diaries: The Python Years 1969-79 by Michael Palin

August:
36. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
37. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
38. The Girl With All the Gifts by M. R. Carey
39. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
40. Grimm's Fairy Tales by Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm
41. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
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2013:

January:
1. A View From the Bridge by Arthur Miller
2. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
3. Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe
4. Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones
5. Misery by Stephen King 
6. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
7. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
8. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

February:
9. CRAWLSPACE by Evans Light
10. Evil Water by Inger Wolf
11. Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
12. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
13. Notre-Dame de Paris by Victor Hugo
14. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

March:
15. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
16. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 
17. Conversations in the Abyss by Michael Brookes
18. Afraid by Jack Kilborn
19. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien 

April:
20. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman 
21. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
22. Christine by Stephen King
23. Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino 
24. Almost Transparent Blue by Ryu Murakami

May:
25. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
26. Kin by Kealan Patrick Burke

June:
27. The Loved Dead by C. M. Eddy Jr. and H. P. Lovecraft
28. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
29. Scary Fucking Stories by D. F. Noble 
30. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
31. How to Talk to Girls at Parties by Neil Gaiman

July:
32. NOS4R2 by Joe Hill
33. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
34. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

August:
35. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
36. The Once and Future King by T.H.White

September:
37. Night Film by Marisha Pessl 
38. Filth by Irvine Welsh
39. Joyland by Stephen King

October:
40. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
41. The Shining by Stephen King
42. Doctor Sleep by Stephen King 
43. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
44. Goth Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse by Chris Riddell
45. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 
46. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

November:
47. Carrie by Stephen King
48. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton 
49. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green 

December:
50. S by Doug Dorst
51. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami 

A Year of Books: 2013
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2012:

January:
1. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. MontgomeryThis is the first in a series of many ‘Anne’ novels, which follow the protagonist as she flowers from young orphan to full grown woman. This first novel follows Anne when she gets adopted at age 10 and must adjust to her new life with her adoptive parents -who had intended to adopt a boy to help around the farm, so chatty little Anne takes some getting used to - and it is such a wonderful children’s book. Anne is one of the most likeable and delightful characters I have ever read about. (8/10)
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne CollinsContrary to popular opinion, I really disliked this book. I thought it was badly written, the concept was unoriginal and the plot was predictable. I also hated the contrived love plot and Katniss, the protagonist, was cold and unlikeable. Each year children are chosen to fight to the death in an arena, only one can survive. (2/10)
3. Rosemary's Baby by Ira LevinClassic horror at its finest! Unfortunately Polanski’s movie adaption is a carbon copy of the book, which I had watched before reading, so I knew the outcome. The impact of this book would definitely be greater going in to it blind. (7/10)

February:
4. Death Note: Another Note by NisioisinA spin off from the manga ‘Death Note’, this novel is set before the manga, with Naomi Misora as the main character, working with the infamous L on the LA BB murder case. It has a decent story but nothing special, and no way near as good as ‘Death Note’ itself. I would recommend this for fans of ‘Death Note’, and particularly for those who like the character of L. (6/10)
5. Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan le FanuThis is the first vampire novel - yes, it even predates ‘Dracula’ and as such is essential reading for horror fans. Our narrator has a guest named Carmilla come to stay with her, but there is something not quite right about her... It is very creepy and well written, but a bit predictable. (7/10)
6. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela CarterDark twists on traditional fairy tales! What could be better? Well, almost everything, as it turns out. Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ is highly acclaimed and often studied by literature classes. However she seemed to basically just re-write the fairy stories almost exactly as they are anyway, making them slightly more modern, so I didn’t see the point. The stories were weird and boring, and despite it being a very short book I struggled to finish. Oh, and ‘Wolf Alice’ was just disgusting.(2/10)
7. Little Women and Good Wives by Louisa May Alcott 
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott FitzgeraldThe story of the man who was born as a 70 year old and aged backwards. This was an enjoyable novella with an original concept, and it was very sad as well as thought provoking. (6/10)


March:
9. Gerald's Game by Stephen King 
10. The Book Thief by Markus ZusakSet in Nazi Germany and concerns a young orphaned German girl named Liesel and follows her new life with her adoptive parents. What is unusual is that this book is narrated by Death, so we view Liesel’s life through Death’s eyes instead of her own. I wasn’t expecting this book to be as bleak and thought provoking as it was since it is often lumped into the ‘Young Adult Literature’ category, but it deeply moved me and had me close to tears several times. The events of the war are underlined and help the reader to understand not only the plight of the Jewish at this time but also of the oppression suffered by non-Jewish German citizens under Hitler’s regime.  (10/10)
11. The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson 
12.  Mort by Terry Pratchett 

April:
13.  And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 
14. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. RowlingThe story of the boy who one day discovers he is a wizard - I don’t think this necessitates much comment! However what really struck me upon re-reading this after a few years wasom-bridge-by-arthur-miller.htmlen’s book in comparison to the later novels. It is a charming, interesting and original book which makes a great start to a fabulous series. (8/10)
15. Out by Natsuo KirinoThis is a Japanese book, and like most the J-lit I’ve read, it was incredibly bleak and quite depressing. An abused wife in Tokyo murders her husband, and her co-workers help her to dispose of the body. As you can probably guess, things don’t go quite according to plan. (8/10)
16. The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier 

May:
17. The Rats by James Herbert 
18. The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker 

June:
19. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet: Horror Stories by Richard Matheson 
20. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin 
21. The Haunted by Michaelbrent Collings 

July:
22. A Clash of Kings by George R. R. Martin - I'm not going to review the rest of the 'Song of Ice and Fire' series as each review would involve lots of spoilers from previous books in the saga. If you are interested in the series then take a look at my review for the first book 'A Game of Thrones', which will give you a feel for the series so you can see if it's the sort of thing you would be interested in reading. (6/10)
23. Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 1: Broken Bat by Doug MoenchI read this in preparation for the new Batman movie ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, as some of the story of the film was based off the story arc. It was a little repetitive, but featured lots of different villains (the Riddler, the Joker, Scarecrow, Killer Croc, the Mad Hatter) but the best bits were the parts which featured Bane, especially the ending. If you want a really good Batman comic, I highly recommend ‘The Killing Joke’(7/10)
24. Piercing by Ryu Murakami 
25. A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow by George R. R. Martin (8/10)

August:
26. A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold by George R. R. Martin (10/10)
27. Fluffs by Daniel I. Russell
28. Murder on the Orient Express  by Agatha Christie 
29. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin (8/10)
30. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
31. A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust by George R. R. Martin (7/10)
32. A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast by George R. R. Martin (8/10)

September:
33. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
34. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier 

35. The Five by Robert McCammon 
36. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith 
37. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones 
38. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien 
39. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 
40. Let's Go Play at the Adams' by Mendal W. Johnson 
41. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
42. The Running Man by Stephen King 

October:
43. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 
44. Horns by Joe Hill 
45. The Witches by Roald Dahl 
46. In the Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill 
47. Off Season by Jack Ketchum

November:
48. Harbinger by David J. Bright
49. I, Claudius by Robert Graves 

December:
50. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

A Year of Books: 2012

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