We're barely two weeks into the new year and I'm actually getting around to rounding up the last quarter of 2023's reads! To be fair, as I write this it's only the 7th so I'm well in advance of what the last in this series was.
In the 3rd quarter, I read 3,567 pages across 10 books - a considerable from from quarter 2!
Of those 1 was a 5-star read, and the other 9 were 4-star reads. I often hear people say that some people rate too highly too easily, however, I am quite picky with the books I choose to read in the first place and don't read things just because they are popular etc. So I stick by my ratings and as you'll see below, the final 3 months provided a few lower ratings.
At the start of last year, I decided to work on the 10 BIG Books I Want to Read in 2023 and so added one more to the read list in the 3rd quarter, making four read, three unhauled and you can see below if I managed to get any more ticked off before December 31st! I'll include an overall update on that challenge in a future post.
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October
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling ⭐️⭐️
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Rescuers by Margery Sharp ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mary Poppins In The Park P.L. Travers ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- 850 pages
- 850 pages
My reading theme for October would usually be spooky, creepy, weird books however with our Disney Honeymoon, I wanted to stick to the Disney theme and so chose books that were turned into Disney movies to read. We have a couple of different copies of The Jungle Book as it was Mr H's childhood favourite Disney movie and I chose to read our beautiful Mina Lima edition. Sadly it was a complete disappointment and the latter stories were a struggle to get through.
This month, it would seem, is also the first month I dropped below 1,000 pages read which is sad. I have to give myself a bit of leeway due to being away on my Honeymoon and being so exhausted each day that I barely managed 3 pages per night while away.
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This month, it would seem, is also the first month I dropped below 1,000 pages read which is sad. I have to give myself a bit of leeway due to being away on my Honeymoon and being so exhausted each day that I barely managed 3 pages per night while away.
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November
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (Audiobook)
The Witches of Pendle by Yvette Fielding ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Gobbolino the Witch's Cat by Ursula Moray Williams ⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Haunted Mountain by Mollie Hunter ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Last Chance Hotel by Nicki Thornton ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- 973 pages
Another month not bypassing 1,000 pages, what is going on?! Perhaps my goal for 2024 should be a minimum of 1k per month.
As you may be able to tell (minus the audiobook of course) I carried my more Halloween-esc reads forward into November.
Talking of the audiobook I can't believe I didn't get around to reading it sooner. We discovered Fern Brady when she was on Taskmaster and through all I've read and watched online I thought she was brilliant. Then I listened to this audiobook and all of that was cemented tenfold. She narrates it herself which I love from Authors as they know how it's meant to be read and it's not only incredibly insightful, relatable as an autistic woman and entertaining, but just wonderfully written overall.
Another month not bypassing 1,000 pages, what is going on?! Perhaps my goal for 2024 should be a minimum of 1k per month.
As you may be able to tell (minus the audiobook of course) I carried my more Halloween-esc reads forward into November.
Talking of the audiobook I can't believe I didn't get around to reading it sooner. We discovered Fern Brady when she was on Taskmaster and through all I've read and watched online I thought she was brilliant. Then I listened to this audiobook and all of that was cemented tenfold. She narrates it herself which I love from Authors as they know how it's meant to be read and it's not only incredibly insightful, relatable as an autistic woman and entertaining, but just wonderfully written overall.
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December
Five Children On The Western Front by Kate Saunders ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Primrose Railway Children by Jacqueline Wilson ⭐️
The Familiars: Animal Wizardry by Adam Jay Epstein ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- 1,196 pages
It's crazy how two books that take the same inspiration can be so different! I am a huge E Nesbit fan. The Five Children books, The Railway Children and all of her other stories are some of my favorite ever reads so there a big shoes to fill.
The Land of Neverendings brought Kate Saunders to my attention in 2020, I then picked up The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop in 2022 and so had to read her sequel to E Nesbit's Five Children and It! It's always nerve-wracking going into a beloved series that has been re-written, carried on or an inspiration to a new book but I needn't have worried as this was just perfect!! Completely heart-wrenching with many tears it just worked. I could write a whole post on it alone I think but I have to move on to the other E Nesbit 'retelling'...
... unfortunately.
Oh my goodness where do I start?! I have only read one other Jacqueline Wilson book, The Illustrated Mum, when I was probably about 10 but she's a multi-million bestselling author so I expected this to be good. However, in my non-expert opinion and ineloquent language, it sucked. How it has such high ratings online is beyond me because even taking away the fact it is a complete stretch to say it is an E-Nesbit-inspired piece, it wasn't a good story and had terrible stereotypes and attitudes towards a boy with autism. I diagnosed the character chapters before it was even mentioned because his description was so incredibly cliched and the way the other characters treat him is just accepted, not at all acknowledged that the attitudes toward him are horrible. The only parallels between this and The Railway Children is that the Dad goes away for a while at the beginning of the book and there is a Railway they visit. The main character is unlikable, selfish, and annoying and apart from one nice moment at the very end (which helped to salvage some stars for my rating) there is no helping of other people nor community spirit as there is in the original. Oh and an underage 'romance'? Whaaatt?! This whole book is mind-boggling, especially since it was published in 2022!
I thought I was done ranting but one last thing which I personally find to be very important is the inadequate representation of pet ownership. Yes, it's just a book. Yes, it's for 'kids'. That exactly is what makes it more frustrating. The main character is given a Guinea Pig from her Dad as a gift. It lives life in her room in a cage small enough that she alone can carry it. Guinea Pigs should not live alone and need more space. They should also be spayed/neutered and sexes checked before living with a friend to prevent unwanted babies which is what, spoiler alert, ends up happening!
I'll have to stop now as this also could be its own blog post and I don't want to end this in a negative light.
With some days left to spare I decided to complete an ebook on my Kindle that I'd been reading to a cat back before I left my volunteer role at Cats Protection. It was enjoyable and I will read the next in the series at some point.
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Phew! I think I'm going to leave it there and not say anything more. Catch up on everything else I read in 2023 below and my annual year of stats will be coming soon!
See what I read earlier this year:
