The book review of 2017

Here's the summary of another year of books. Again, I failed to write reviews throughout the year as I got bogged down in having too many reviews to write and falling behind. Plus, I have a terrible Book Amnesia once I have started another book-I can't remember the name of characters and details- all very strange!

Anyway, hope you enjoy my review of what I read.

• Best book you read in 2017

This is broken down into different categories

• Children's fiction

Any of the Katherine Woodfine Sinclairs mysteries books but I particularly loved The Painted Dragon  as it had an overarching theme of a secret hidden in the dragon paintings that captured my interest.

• Crime fiction

Tears of Pearl by  Tasha Alexander.  This was set in Constantinople in the Victorian era and I found it utterly compelling.

• Classics

Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - Winifred Watson. I ADORED this book! It was such a delightful Cinderella story that I fell in love with.

• Non-fiction

I read very little non-fiction but I did enjoy the Riddle of Scheherezade by Raymond Smullyan as it was a book which was a series of logic and mathematical problems which were couched in a 'story' of Scheherezade annoying the Sultan again after their marriage so she must appease him with problems instead of stories this time.

• YA

The girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there by Catherynne Valente.  Apparently this is YA although I guess it could also be a kids book. I ADORED the first book in this series last year and it made my favourite YA book last year, this one was equally good.  I also adored Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell.

• Dystopian fiction

Well, I guess that Day of the Trifids counts as Dystopian fiction, I thought this book was excellent and very sinister!  Also, I read The Fever Code by James Dashner which I had to reserve at the Library and wait a long time for as it was only published this year.  I find this series terrible, as I do all dystopian fiction but utterly compelling.

• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2017

Hmmm, maybe Day of The Trifids- it wasn't what I imagined!

Also, I read No castanets at the Wells by Lorna Hill and I hasn't read a Sadler's Wells ballet nook since I met CBC and I was so delightedly surprised to realise that the characters come from Northumberland and Hexham places I are mentioned! 

• Book that you read in 2017 that you recommended most to others

Hmmmm, well, I gave and then sold some Edward Marston books to a friend (I was selling some on Instagram and she bought them!) so I guess that counts as a recommendation.

Also, I will always recommend the Katherine Woodfine Sinclairs Mysteries to any children or Primary School teacher I meet.

• Best series you discovered in 2017

I really enjoyed reading the historical crime books by Tasha Alexander. I found one in the charity shop and then subsequently several of the other books in my library. I found the heroine of this series utterly enchanting!

• Favourite new author you discovered in 2017

Hmmm...not many new to me this year. However, I did read Dead Man's Cove by  Lauren St.John who is a children's author and I thought that her book was really exciting and I would like to read more by her.

• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.

I read  The Long Mars by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett which I found a bit hard-going and felt like I totally couldn't remember the previous book I'd read in the series. It then turned out that I had missed out a book in the series which could account for my confusion but I just felt it dragged on and on a bit in the way that I often find Sci-fi serials do.

Also, I thought Howard's End would be gripping but it really wasn't. So slow-moving.

• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.

Perhaps A Thousand Splendid Suns- read more about that below.

• Book you read in 2017 that you're most likely to read again in 2017

Well, I have been trying to read books I haven't read in the unlikely event that I don't enjoy them and want to get rid of them, thus saving space, so I might try to do that next year also. I'll probably have another go at The Road to Oz as I fancy reading all the Oz books in order again as I have never read them in  order.

• Favourite book you read in 2017 from an author you've read previously.

I'd say I enjoyed Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh. I do think her Whodunnits are great books and I almost didn't guess the murderer!

• Best book you read in 2017 that you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.

A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Housani. Sophie sent it to me unexpectedly in the post because she thought I might like it.  It is totally not the type of book I would usually read and I wept a lot over it and was very distressed but because I loved the characters so much and longed for things to work out for them and was utterly horrified at the treatment of women by others in Afghanistan.

• Favourite cover of a book in 2017

I really liked the front cover of The New Policeman by  Kate Thompson. I picked it up because of its cover and liked it muchly. I always spot books I like by their cover proving the old adage is not always right! Plus, I loved the fact that it had a nice Irish melody for me to play in every chapter!

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• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017

This is hard to say. Perhaps the Housani book but I think Song of the Sea by Jane Dolby ultimately.  I picked it up for £1 in The Works as I was attracted by the title.  When I read the back cover, I realised it was the true account of a woman local to me whose husband was a fisherman in Leigh-on-Sea and he died at sea. She set up a choir to record a single to raise money for the Fishermen's mission charity and it had a real impact on me realising how dangerous being a fisherman is.  I was also saddened because I realised how many traditional jobs are becoming rare for many reasons and it stuck with me for a long while.

• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2017 to read.

Well, I didn't realise that The Never Ending Story was actually a book so I read it this year, having not realised until now! I loved that film as a child. 

The other book I am surprised I didn't read till now was 'The Day of the Trifids'- such a classic- how have I avoided it thus far!?

• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers

Well, I'm not sure that I really had that this year, BUT, this is a really nice story.  Some of the kids in Year 6 know how much I enjoyed the Alex Rider books by Anthony Horrowitz and they knew I borrowed one last year from their book shelf that I hadn't read. This year, Horrowitz published the next installment of the series, Never say Die.  Well, it was lent to me by a boy in that class who had told me that there was a new Alex Rider book out and he'd read it and was eager to talk to me about it so he brought it in for me to borrow and I was so touched by this and was very eager to talk to him about it, particularly as NO ONE else had read it!

• Favourite relationship from a book you read in 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc)

Oh DEFINITELY, Eleanor and Park in the book of the same name by Rainbow Rowell. I read this because I had read and liked Carry On by the same author last year.  Oh Eleanor and Park- star-crossed teenage lovers! I wanted so much for them to be together!

• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2017

Probably Eleanor from Eleanor and Park.

• Genre you read the most from 2017

This is always the same one for me- Historical Crime- Whodunnits!!

• Best 2017 debut

I read quite a few books published in 2017 this year but I'm not sure that any of those were DEBUT books. I loved the Fever Code, The Painted Dragon and The Midnight Peacock.

• Book that was the most fun to read in 2017

I'm not sure that my usual diet of books is particularly fun- death and crime aren't fun as such.  I did enjoy No Pets by Izy Penguin. This was a birthday present from my sister-in-law- it is her book which is a picture book about things in her house as a child that looked like pets when her Dad, based on the famous WOMOTM, wouldn't allow her pets as a child! I'd seen a copy years ago and really wanted one! It's a really sweet, fun book!

• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017

Me before You definitely made me weep. as did the Thousand Splendid Suns and  Eleanor and Park.

• Book you read in 2017 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.

Oh heck, I don't read anything current or popular enough to have a clue about this! I think that not enough people know about The Girl who... fairyland books by Catheryne Valente though so I will say those!

• Total Number of books read in 2017: 

Curiously disappointing  that I read less than last year.  I do, however, know that there are several books that I totally forgot about and failed to add to my booklist, including some in December that I just CANNOT remember! I also abandoned a few.

• December:
  89. Buried in the Country- Carola Dunn.
  90. Mistletoe and mayhem -  Carola Dunn
  91.  Mystery in White- J Jefferson Farjeon
  92.  Five get on the Property Ladder- Bruno Vincent
  November:
  82.  Five dead Canaries- Edward Marston.
  83.  Instrument of Slaughter - Edward Marston.
  84. The Solitaire mystery - Jostein Gaarder
  85. The Frost fair - Edward Marston
  86.   A Bespoke Murder- Edward Marston
  87.  Closed Casket- Poirot- Sophie Hannah using Agatha Christie's world.
  88.  Dance of Death- Edward Marston
  October:
  75.  The Counterfeit Crank - Edward Marston
  76.  The mapping of love and death - Jacqueline Winspear.
  77.  Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
  78. The New Policeman -  Kate Thompson
  79. A thousand splendid suns- Khaled Housani
  80.  The Midnight Peacock- Katherine Woodfine
  81.  The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd
  
  September:
  67.  Superfluous women- Carola Dunn
  68.  Shadow of the hangman - Edward Marston.
  69.  Song of the Sea- Jane Dolby
  70.  The Road to Oz - L Frank Baum
  71.  Moranifesto - Caitlin Moran
  72.  And only to deceive -Tasha Alexander
  73.  Tears of Pearl -  Tasha Alexander
  74.  A Poisoned Season- Tasha Alexander
  August:
  62.  The Dead woman of Deptford - Ann Granger
  63.  Murder in the afternoon - Frances Brody
  64.Miracle on Regent Street - Ali Harris
  64. Death in the floating city - Tasha Alexander
  65.  Steps to the Gallows- Edward Marston
  66.  Final Curtain - Ngaio Marsh
  July:
  57.  The Long Mars- Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett
  58.  Never say die (Alex Ryder) Anthony Horrowitz
  59.  Pardonable lies- Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear
  60.  A lesson in secrets - Jacqueline Winspear
  61.  Anthem for doomed youth- Carola Dunn
  
  June:
  52.  The girl who soared above fairyland and cut the sky in two -  Catherynne Valente
  53.  Reuben Sachs- Amy Levy
  54. After you- Jojo Moyles
  55.  Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
  56.  Fever Code- James Dashner
  
  May:
  45.  Gone West- a Daisy Dalrymple mystery- Carola Dunn.
  46.  The Laughing Hangman- Edward Marston
  47.  Cream buns and crime -  Robin Stevens
  48.  The girl who fell beneath fairyland and led the revels there- Catherynne Valente
  49. The mad Courtesan -  Edward Marston.
  50.  Eleanor and Park -  Rainbow Rowell
  51. A Crimson Warning- Tasha Alexander
  52. No castanets at the Wells- Lorna Hill
  
  April:
  30.  The Ghost Road- Pat Barker
  31.  The Ratatat Mystery- Enid Blyton
  32. Howard's End - E.M. Forster
  33. Magnus Powermouse -Dick King Smith
  34. The Mouse Butcher- Dick King Smith
  35.  Arsenic for tea- Robin Stevens
  36.  The Painted Dragon  - Katherine Woodfine
  37. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - Winifred Watson
  38.  The Vagabond clown - Edward Marston.
  39.  The Abominables -Eva Ibbotson
  40. A dog and his boy -  Eva Ibbotson
  41.  Tom Gates is absolutely fantastic (at some things) - Liz Pichon
  42.  School according to Humphrey - Betty G. Birney
  43.  The return of the Jabberwock - Oakley Graham, Illustrations- David Neale
  44. No Pets- Izy Penguin
  45. The Riddle of Scheherezade - Raymond Smullyan
  
  March:
  22. The highland twins at the Chalet school- Elinor Brent Dyer
  23.  Hour of the bees - Lindsay Eagar
  24. The library condundrum- Catherine Shaw
  25.  Regeneration -  Pat Barker.
  26.  Little town on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder
  27.  The eye in the door -  Pat Barker
  28.  Mrs McNab's Fantastical Hat- Jane Miller and Nadia Alzapiedi
  29.  These happy golden years- Laura Ingalls Wilder
  
  
  February:
  12.  The Never ending story- Michael Ende
  13. By the shores of silver lake - Laura Ingalls Wilder
  14. Dead Man's Cove -  Lauren St.John
  15.  The long winter- Laura Ingalls Wilder
  16.  Coraline- Neil Gaiman.
  17.  Frozen in time- Ali Sparkes
  18. Me before you- Jojo Moyles
  19. Patrick - Quentin Blake
  20.  Emma - Alexander McCall Smith
  21.  Hitman Anders and the meaning of it all- Jonas Jonasson
  
  
  January:
  1.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone -  J K Rowling
  2.  Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives - Michael Bond
  3. Behold, here's poison -  Georgette Heyer
  4.  Death at the seaside-Frances Brodie
  5. Journey to the River Sea- Eva Ibbotson
  6. Clover Moon -  Jacqueline Wilson
  7.  The 65 storey tree house- Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton
  8.  Sleeping Murder- Agatha Christie
  9. Alone on a Wide, wide Sea- Michael Morpurgo
  10. Lost and found-Oliver Jeffers (picture book)
  11.  Up and Down- Oliver Jeffers (picture book)

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Just in case you fancy answering these, here is a handy list of the questions. I got this from Janet at www.jbisintheinitial.blogspot.com originally.

Leave me a link in the comments if you did this as I LOVE this type of blog post. Bev from Confuzzledom did it already!

• Best book you read in 2017
• Children's fiction
• Crime fiction
• Classics
• Non-fiction
• YA
• Dystopian fiction
• Most surprising (in a good way) book of 2017
• Book that you read in 2017 that you recommended most to others
• Best series you discovered in 217
• Favourite new author you discovered in 2017
• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love but didn't.
• Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre to you.
• Book you read in 2017 that you're most likely to read again in 2017
• Favourite book you read in 2017 from an author you've read previously.
• Best book you read in 2017 htat you read based SOLELY on a recommendation from somebody else.
• Favourite cover of a book in 2017
• Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2017
• Book you can't BELIEVE you waited until 2017 to read.
• Book that had a scene in it that had you reeling and dying to talk to somebody about it (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss etc).  Be careful of spoilers
• Favourite relationship from a book you readin 2017 (be it romantic, friendship etc)
• Most memorable character in a Book you read in 2017
• Genre you read the most from 2017
• Best 2017 debut
• Book that was the most fun to read in 2017
• Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2017
• Book you read in 2017 that you think got overlooked this year or when it came out.
• Total Number of books read in 2017