After I shared about my 99p Kindle Books addiction, I’ve had a comb through my purchases from the last year and put them into one big list to remind myself of what I have (why I bought it) and shame myself a little bit into reading rather than buying more!
Some you’ll see I have read and reviewed. If the title is a link it means I’ve read it! I’ll come back and update these are I get them crossed off.
Have you read any of these? Which ones should I move up my priority list?
I’ve grouped them by the month in 2023 that I bought it in, some months I’m more restrained than others!
January : 7 bought / 6 read
- My (extra)Ordinary Life by Rebecca Ryan – just on a whim through the BookBub list and it was actually great!
- Kindred by Octavia E. Butler – I wanted to read more classic sci-fi, especially female authors and this was very interesting. Even if I’d not call it sci-fi!
- Good Behaviour by Molly Keane – I think it was 99p and it just sounded fun and different from what I’ve been reading lately. It turns about to be genius writing, but a bit miserable as a story.
- Jane Austen – Complete Works – bought mostly because I wanted to read Persuasion!
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin – oh my the hype this book gets, and it was so mediocre for me.
- No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood – premise sounded cool, as a satire on Twitter culture, but it turned out to be something very different.
- This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone – Bought it because I should have loved this ..but I hated it.
February : 5 bought / 3 read (one DNF)
- A Man with One of Those Faces by Caimh McDonnell – recommended by a penpal and it happened to be 99p!
- Pretend I’m Dead by Jen Beagin – I like an unhinged woman, this sounded chaotic and weird … which it was but I didn’t love it as much as I thought It would.
- Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder – always questing for fantasy series I’ll actually like. This one was good, but reviews for the rest of the series make me think I just leave it at book 1!
Elektra by Jennifer Saint– bought when hopeful I might like a Greek myth retellings (less sure after The Song of Achilles!) I DNF’d it after a couple of chapter.- Hoofin’ It by R. J. Blain – look it sounded bonkers and shit in a fun way but it just turned out to be shit, and I learned my lesson about reading samples first!
March : 4 bought / 2 read
- Book of Night by Holly Black – I’d liked some of her YA was curious about what an adult book would be like. The answer was… OK?
- Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata – I LOVED Convenience Store Woman so just needed more.
- Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson – look, it’s Dolly and it was 99p. It turned out to be very readable, but quite rubbish!
- Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – I’ve found other TKR books entertaining if I’m in the right mood for them.
April : 5 bought / 3 read
- The Secret Commonwealth (Book of Dust 2) by Philip Pullman – I would like to eventually finish this series! I was in the mood for it after I finished watching the amazing BBC adaption of His Dark Materials, and it popped into my list for 99p.
- Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado – I got suckered in by the blurb comparing it to Lisbeth Salander (Girl with the Dragon Tatoo), we’ll see if its bullshit. It has high Goodreads ratings. I just realised its #3 in a series, oops!
- Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams – one of those books that’s been everywhere. It was rocky to start but I loved it in the end.
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry – sounded cute, and it was!
- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – I’d heard good things and the premise was very intriguing. This was great, and taught me a piece of history I wasn’t aware of.
May : 4 bought / 2 read
- Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke – A man accidentally uploads himself into Slack (which I guess is like MS Teams). It was a super quick read, and a lot of fun!
- The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin – I did not love Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and I did not love this. Zevin and I are going to part ways.
- The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood – I want to explore more Atwood.
- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari – I don’t know, I guess it was only 99p and I felt like I should read more non-fiction!
June : 6 bought / 1 read
- Wool: (Silo Trilogy 1) by Hugh Howey – I have the urge to re-read and maybe try the TV series
- Shift: (Silo Trilogy 2) by Hugh Howey – I have the urge to re-read and maybe try the TV series
- Magic Bites: A Kate Daniels Novel by Ilona Andrews – There is a mid-to-high chance I won’t like this but I keep trying to find fantasy series to love!
- Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield – sounds beautiful but this hyped books are hit and miss with me!
- Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh – Loved, loved, loved ‘Eileen’ and ‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ when I read them last year!
- Idol by Louise O’Neill – sounds cool, and I didn’t realised when I bought it but I have read ‘Asking For It’ by this author before, about 5 years ago, and it has stuck with me. This one was awesome, gripping read.
July : 7 bought / 2 read (1 currently reading)
- The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary – I don’t know, sometimes I like a low effort rom-com and I didn’t totally hate The Flat-Share when I read it in 2020.
- Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo – Apparently this has made some waves (according to its own blurb!), I’m always interested in a book about angry women pushing back against misogyny. (still 99 as of 24th July!)
- The Illustrated Gormenghast Trilology by Mervyn Peake – _this has been in the back of my mind for about a decade after I saw an author talk about it in a documentary (I can’t remember what the documentary was about, I think the author was Sebastian Faulks though!). There is a fairly high chance I won’t get on with it but it was only 9_9p!
- Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood – I’ve had my eye on this for a while, I want to explore some more Atwood.
- A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers – This was dark and funny, but ultimately lacking substance.
- You and Me on Vacation by Emily Henry – loved Book Lovers.. but I HATED this. DNF’d it!
- Why Did You Stay? A memoir about self-worth Rebecca Humphries – the author was on the iWeigh podcast ages ago and I really enjoyed what she had to say.
August : 3 bought / 1 read
- All’s Well by Mona Awad – we all know I won’t shut up about how much I loved Bunny and I loved this one too!
- The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton – I saw this recommended somewhere and had it on my watch list for a while, finally snagged it for 99p.
- Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov – I have been thinking about reading this since I listened to the Lolita podcast last year (highly recommend) and A Certain Hunger made me think of this too (suspect, criminally unreliable narrator) so when it was 99p it seemed fated!
September : 2 bought / 1 read
- The Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting by Sophie Irwin – This was alright! Fine, not particularly memorable.
- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier – I’ve had this lingering on my Want To Read list for years, and its been a while since I’ve read a Classic. I’ve never really exploring much gothic fiction so interested to see if I like it.
October : 5 bought / 1 Reading
- Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel – I read but didn’t love Station 11 years ago, I am curious about this but not sure it’ll be to my taste.
- The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Sieghart – a bit of non-fic for a change!
- The Ghost Woods by C.J. Cooke – I read The Lighthouse Witches last year, and I’m currently read this now, really enjoying it!
- We Spead by Iain Reid – impulse purchase because it sounds weird and twisty, and Mona Awad praise on it’s blurb!
- Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood – non-fic collection of essays and writing. I actually don’t know about Atwood so for 99p interesting to read!
November : 1 bought / 1 read
- The Last Train Home by Elle Cook – I just fancied an easy to read romance, and this was perfect to read on our weekend away in the hot tub!
December : 5 bought / 0 read
- This Could Be Everything by Eva Rice – I was intrigued by the 1990s setting evoke by the blurb but I don’t think I realised it was Young Adult/New Adult at the time I clicked buy on it for 99p! .. but the return window has now closed, so I guess I’ll be giving it a go!
- Infinity Gate by M. R. Carey – I’m in a Sci-Fi mood at the moment, I’m up for a new series and the premise sounds interesting. I found The Girl With All The Gifts was alright by the same author.
- Dazzling by Chikodili Emelumadu – West African mythology will be something different for me!
- She’s A Killer by Kristen McDougall – New Zealand setting, “told by a woman who is a strange and calculating force of chaos” – this sounds weird AF and I’m always up for exploring those kind of novels.
- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin – this one also sounds weird AF, and I did quite enjoy Pretend I’m Dead by this author!
