#164 - November Reading

Apologies for being a bit quiet on the blogging front recently!

Things have been a bit nyeh. College is busy busy busy and I haven't worn or done anything particularly blog worthy - lacking inspiration!

But for now I have my November book list, which is another thing I'm quite disappointed in. 

6 BOOKS?! I can do way better than that! I'm putting it down to the fact I'm constantly shattered at night and fall asleep after a few pages. I also have like 3 books I'm part of the way thru but they're not finished so they don't count!

Tease - Immodesty Blaize

Darkness on the Edge of Town - Brian Keene

The Strain - Chuck Hogan

The Devil All the Time - Donald Ray Pollock

Every Man Dies Alone - Hans Fallada

Ruthless: An Extreme Shock Horror Collection

Bit of a mixed bag this month really. Tease is the story of a burlesque artist and was a bit of a trashy, chicklit type of book so not exactly challenging or enthralling. 

The Darkness on the Edge of Town was interesting - really liked this one. Basically darkness decends all around this town and they don't seem to be able to get it and so things spiral out of control and we follow a couple of people as they try to survive. I won't go into detail but I was definitely hooked. 

The Strain was interesting - a bit of a different take on the vampire/zombie apocalypse and definitely amazingly written and interesting. I loved the idea of the plane landing on the runway and just stopping with no lights, engines - nothing. It felt very spooky to me. 

The Devil All the Time was one I wasn't sure about. I thought it was different from what it was and I don't think I would have read it if I was just told about it. However, I found myself wanting to know how these people linked together and what was going to happen with them. It wasn't the most capitvating and exciting story but it had enough of "something" to keep me reading. 

Every Man Dies Alone was a beautiful, beautiful novel. I love things set in and around WW2 and this tells the story of an old German man and his wife who write postcards speaking out against the Nazi Party. I'm sure you can guess what happens when they ultimately get caught but it's still exciting even though you guess they will. There are other characters and little side stories which fit in with the main story which keeps it a bit varied but doesn't take away from it. I was so drawn to the main guy (whose name I can't remember!) and I really wanted him to succeed and be ok. 

I read somewhere that Ruthless was a collection of "shock horror" which is always interesting for me. I like to think I've got quite a strong stomach and I certainly love my horror and gore and all that sort of stuff. This was like most short story anthologies I have picked up - some are amazing, some are ok and some are a bit rubbish. I will admit that there were a good few that had me squirming!

I'm hoping the long, cold, gloomy nights will allow me to read a bit more. 

Also once I'm on holiday from college - that should definitely help! I've not counted how many books I've read overall this year so I'm excited to see how I've done and hopefully beat it next year. 

I'm going to try and get my bum in gear and do some posts. I have a few ideas and want to share some of the work I've been doing at college. 

I also have a couple of new additions coming into my family (which you may have heard about if you follow me on twitter!) so I'll introduce you to them once they arrive!! 

Much love for now!