[pdurrant]

Once again, my goal is to buy fewer books than I read.
Last year I managed to reduce my TBR pile by 22 books!

I start 2024 with 681 books on my TBR pile.

Books removed from TBR

Read and Reading

1. December 30th: The Cosmic Perspective by Brian Stableford - £1.35 - 3/5 - 135pp
   An interesting but odd mixture of SF, fantasy and folk tale.
2. January 1st: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 323pp
   The series is really getting into its stride now.
3. January 3rd: Undertow by Elizabeth Bear - £2.47 - 2/5 - 256pp
   Interesting, but not convincing.
4. January 7th: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - £0.99 - 4/5 - 475pp
   A lot less grim than her other time travel book. One historical inaccuracy that I noticed.
5. January 10th: Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold - £2.49 - 5/5 - 112pp
   Good new Penric&Desdemona tale
6. January 11th: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 539pp
   Excellent. Makes me want to do a re-read
7. January 13th: The Book of Lost Tales 1 by J R R Tolkien - £0.99 - 2/5 - 434pp
   [ABANDONED]Interesting, but not enough for me.
8. January 14th: The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö - £0.99 - 3/5 - 226pp
   It was OK
9. January 20th: Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes - £0.99 - 5/5 - 292pp
   Excellent
10. January 23rd: A Sultry Month by Alethea Hayter - £9.99 - 2/5 - 296pp
    Very dry, doesn't really bring characters to life, and doesn't follow own conceit
11. January 26th: The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin - Free - 3/5 - 271pp
    Brilliant idea, and rather well done. But I didn't like the ending.
12. January 28th: The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz - Free - 4/5 - 336pp
    A little too whimsical in places, but fun.
13. January 31st: Death Beside the Seaside by T. E. Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 247pp
    Fun, and never too serious
14. February 2nd: Galaxy's Edge Issue 8 edited by Mike Resnick - £0.40 - 4/5 - 233pp
    Some good original short stories.
15. February 3rd: The Venetian Game by Philip Gywnne Jones - £2.99 - 4/5 - 235pp
    A decent mystery/thriller set in Venice
16. February 5th: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith - £0.79 - 4/5 - 306pp
    Fun, but I would have liked it to be more like Jane Austen and less Steve Hockensmith
17. February 7th: Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 305pp
    Fun with cryptids
18. February 9th: Half-off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 300pp
    New protagonist, still great fun
19. February 10th: Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy - £0.78 - 5/5 - 524pp
    Great magic systems, fun.
20. February 11th: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - £0.99 - 4/5 - 138pp
    Brilliant ideas. Didn't like some of the execution. Good foreword.
21. February 14th: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 170pp
    Wow. Excellent.
22. February 16th: The Monkey and the Tiger by Robert van Gulik - £0.68 - 5/5 - 104pp
    Two excellent little mysteries with Judge Dee
23. February 17th: Vengeance in Venice by Philip Gwynne Jones - £4.99 - 5/5 - 245pp
    An enjoyable story set in Venice
24. February 18th: The Collapsium by Will McCarthy - £3.78 - 5/5 - 346pp
    Enjoyable almost science space opera
25. February 20th: The Willow Pattern by Robert Van Gulik - £0.68 - 5/5 - 152pp
    Another fine mystery
26. February 21st: The Wellstone by Will McCarthy - £1.18 - 4/5 - 195pp
    Good, but lost a star for "the everything told from far future" wrapper
27. February 23rd: Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 210pp
28. February 24th: Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 237pp
29. February 25th: Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 238pp
    All three great fun, and the first published Valdemar stories
30. February 26th: Lost in Transmission by Will McCarthy - £1.18 - 4/5 - 350pp
    Good, but lost one star for the framing
31. February 29th: Goodnight, Mr James & Other Stories by Clifford D Simak - £1.59 - 5/5 - 240pp
    Excellent eclectic mix of stories
32. March 3rd: Uprising by Justin Kemppainen - £0.49 - 2/5 - 312pp
    Almost abandoned. Too much going on, not well enough done.
33. March 7th: To Crush the Moon by Will McCarthy - £1.78 - 4/5 - 312pp
    The framing became the story. Good.
34. March 9th: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers - £0.67 - 5/5 - 283pp
    A good mystery, with an interesting background
35. March 12th: One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 5/5 - 351pp
    Excellent misdirection
36. March 15th: The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton - Free - 2/5 - 216pp
    [ABANDONED. Interesting, but the discussion of her psychic powers was too much]
37. March 19th: The Hanging Gardens by Ian Rankin - £0.99 - 5/5 - 349pp
    Very good indeed. Edinburgh's underworld.
38. March 23rd: Re-read: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - £0.99 - 5/5 - 247pp
    Even better than I remembered
39. March 26th: The Hanson-Yudkowsky AI-Foom Debate - Free - - 539pp
    [ABANDONED: Fact-free unedited waffle]
40. March 27th: The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s by Brian Aldiss - £0.99 - 2/5 - 826pp
    [ABANDONED: Too downbeat. Too 1950s]
41. April 6th: The Demon Awakes by R. A. Salvatore - Free - 2/5 - 560pp
    [ABANDONED: Trite]
42. April 7th: The Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 3/5 - 219pp
    [ABANDONED. No enthusiasm for it.]
43. April 9th: To End in Fire by David Weber and Eric Flint - £3.97 - 5/5 - 668pp
    Good continuation of the grand story
44. April 13th: A New Clan by David Weber and Jane Lindskold - £3.97 - 5/5 - 319pp
    Fun prequel adventures
45. April 15th: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks - £0.99 - 3/5 - 452pp
    A bit dull. A technological civilisation several thousand years old, but dull.
46. April 23rd: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker - £3.99 - 5/5 - 345pp
    Authoritative, interesting and informative
47. April 26th: A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths. - £0.99 - 5/5 - 140pp
    A fun YA detective mystery.
48. April 28th: A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons by Chris Behrsin - Free - 3/5 - 252pp
    OK, interesting. Doesn't quite work, but willin to try the next one...
49. April 30th: A Cat's Guide to Meddling with Magic by Chris Behrsin - Free - - 2632pp
    

Books added to TBR

Freebies (Unread)

1. January 26th: The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin
2. January 26th: The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz
3. March 3rd: The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton
4. March 27th: The Mouse on Wall Street by Leonard Wibberley
5. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons by Chris Behrsin
6. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Meddling with Magic by Chris Behrsin
7. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Saving the Kingdom by Chris Behrsin
8. May 2nd: The Bronze God of Rhodes by L. Sprague de Camp

Bought (Unread)

• January (7/£19.43): A Fire at the Exhibition, The Book of Lost Tales 1, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Demon Daughter, Stone Blind, A Sultry Month, The Venetian Game
• February (8/£14.70): Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Dreadfully Ever After, Master of the Five Magics, Fatal Legacy, Dawnshard, Vengeance in Venice, The Collapsium, Goodnight, Mr James & Other Stories
• March (22/£21.30): Rapture Of The Nerds, Lost Cause, Lawful Interception, Homeland, Poesy The Monster Slayer, Canadian Miracle, Little Brother, For The Win, Attack Surface, Red Team Blues, Walkaway, Eastern Standard Tribe, Party Discipline, Pirate Cinema, Radicalized, Makers, Someone Comes To Town—Someone Leaves Town, Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom, Bleeding Heart Yard, The Ghost of a Model T, Dusty Zebra, The Thing in the Stone
• April (6/£18.88): Against a Dark Background, The Left Hand of Darkness, A New Clan, To End in Fire, A Girl Called Justice, Murder in Williamstown, Why We Sleep, I Am Crying All Inside
• May (3/£4.97): Sharpe's Command, A Thousand Ships, Disobedient, Foundation's Edge
• June (0/£0.00):
• July (0/£0.00):
• August (0/£0.00):
• September (0/£0.00):
• October (0/£0.00):
• November (0/£0.00):
• December (0/£0.00):

Analysis
TBR: 686
Books read: 48 (includes 6 freebies, 1 re-reads)
Books otherwise removed from TBR pile: 0 (0 read previously, 0 discarded)

Books removed from TBR pile: 47
Books added to TBR pile: 52 (includes 8 freebies, 0 omnibuses counted as 0)
Removed/Added: 1.00
Net reduction for 2023: -45

Non-free books read: 42 (includes 1 re-read)
Total cost of books read: £66.49
Average cost of books read: £1.58

Non-free books bought: 49 (includes 5 not added to TBR, 0 omnibuses counted as 0)
Total cost of books bought: £79.27
Average cost of books bought: £1.62


Rating System:
1: Bad.
2: Poor. (Or just not to my taste.)
3: Satisfactory.
4: Good.
5: Excellent.

Pages are as given by the ADE algorithm in Calibre, or from the Amazon web page.