Miner Willy

5. Flowers for Algernon. I thought this was great: a really beautiful, moving story. No idea why it took me so long to try it. Previously:

4. Room by Emma Donohue. I've had this on my Kindle for years and never much fancied it, but I'm really trying to clear my backlog so forced myself to start it. In reality, like several popular books I've turned my nose up at, this was actually really good once I got started. I think the child narrator felt slightly forced at times, and it could have been much, much shorter, but the bulk of the story was very effective - both terrifying and beautiful in its illustration of a mother-son relationship. Previously:

3. Grief is the Thing With Feathers by Max Porter. I didn't love this as much as Lanny, but it is beautifully written, and he's clearly an author with great imagination. He has a fantastic ability to draw you into the the family through a collection of touching and brilliantly visualised snapshot scenes. Previously:

I've been anxiously waiting for it to appear on Now TV - looks like it's finally arrived. Looking forward to getting stuck in.

2. The Uninhabitable Earth by David Wallace-Wells. An utterly depressing and frankly terrifying account of the approaching impacts of climate change. I've read several books on this topic, and this is among the most powerful in terms of the stark vision of just how bad things already are, and will become in our own lifetimes and obviously beyond. Felt like I needed something light after this, so naturally I've just started a book about a family coping with the grief of a mother's death. Previously:

1. This is How You Lose the Time War. As recommended by @Stopharage in the 2019 thread. This is brilliant. That's the first book down for 2020. I've set a target of 36 - lower than last year as I intend to clear some of the monster tomes on my virtual shelf.

Really enjoying this so far.

54. No More Plastic by Martin Dorey. In truth I expect there's not much here you couldn't learn via a selection of decent online articles, but even so: as someone who, I believe, is fairly well informed and careful in terms of my plastic and carbon footprints, I still took away some new information and tips for behavioural change - so I guess it's worked in that respect. I guess that's me done for the year now then. 54 is a new record for me, so pretty happy with that.

No, but will be doing so shortly.

It's my next Audible listen - think it is/was in the recent sale. I've had the paperback for years and years but for some reason never got round to starting it.

53. Lanny by Max Porter. I really, really liked this - so much so I raced through it in about three sessions. It covers similar ground to Reservoir 13, but with elements of folk myth, and is a much, much easier read. It's a really engaging story and beautifully written - the way the author captures the spirit of an unusual young boy is really great. Previously:

I always loved Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes), which was later remade (badly) as Vanilla Sky. And Oldboy is one of my all-time favourite films.

52. Murmur by Will Eaves. This is brilliantly written, but much of it is based around dream narration and I confess at times I found it difficult to follow. It's undoubtedly an impressive piece of work that probably warrants a second reading. Previously:

There was someone on here last year who did way more - I'm sure mid-60s, which was very impressive. My output is largely thanks to Audible's 1.3 listening speed option.

Eleanor Oliphant and Evelyn Hardcastle are two of the books I enjoyed most this year. And two genres I wouldn't have even have thought to try ordinarily, which I suppose is slightly damning of my narrow mindedness!