I never know how to begin writing these monthly posts, so without further ado I’ll just go straight into my summary of September’s reading.

I started the month with the new Philippa Gregory book, The Kingmaker’s Daughter, fourth in her Cousins’ War series, telling the story of the Wars of the Roses through the eyes of some of the important female figures from the period. This one is narrated by Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick and wife of Richard III. Not my favourite book in the series, but still one that I enjoyed reading.

I was already familiar with Anne Neville’s story before reading The Kingmaker’s Daughter, but I also read two books in September that introduced me to some historical figures I knew little or nothing about. In The Conductor by Sarah Quigley I met the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and learned about the circumstances that surrounded the composition of his Leningrad Symphony. And in Melanie Benjamin’s The Autobiography of Mrs Tom Thumb I found out what life was like for Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump, who measured only two feet eight inches tall.

I also read three books for R.I.P. VII. The first was The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. I haven’t had time to write about the other two yet: The Quarry by Johan Theorin and The Seance by John Harwood. The Seance, which felt like a Victorian sensation novel, was a book I had expected to enjoy and I did, though I didn’t like it quite as much as John Harwood’s other book, The Ghost Writer. The Quarry is the third in a planned quartet of crime novels set on the Swedish island of Oland, but although I loved the first two in the series, this one was a slight disappointment – I’ll explain why when I post my review.

Back to historical fiction, and another book I still need to post my thoughts on is Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. I started reading it in August as part of a readalong, but fell behind with the schedule after the first couple of weeks. I did still manage to finish it before the end of September and was very impressed. I can see exactly why it has been so successful. Finally, anyone who has been following my blog for a while will know that I’m currently working my way through Dorothy Dunnett’s House of Niccolo series. Yesterday I finished the fourth in the series, Scales of Gold, and although I did enjoy the previous three, this one was the best so far for many reasons, not least the wonderful Timbuktu setting and the shocking cliffhanger ending!

Newly acquired books

The Unicorn Hunt by Dorothy Dunnett
The English Monster by Lloyd Shepherd
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Queen’s Promise by Lyn Andrews

Apart from the top one, which I bought myself so I can continue with the House of Niccolo, the other three are review copies.

Clarissa Group Read

I haven’t posted any updates on my progress with the group read of Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa since March, but I am still reading it and am finally beginning to catch up after coming close to abandoning it earlier in the year. I’m reading the Kindle version which is in nine volumes and have just started volume seven, so I think I will probably be able to finish it before the end of December as scheduled.

I hope you all had a good September and enjoy your reading in October!

The first book I finished in June was one of my favourites of the month, The Sultan’s Wife by Jane Johnson, the story of a slave at the court of Sultan Moulay Ismail in 17th century Morocco. I loved the setting and was fascinated by what I learned about life during the Sultan’s reign.

Moving back in time to 15th century England, The Adventures of Alianore Audley by Brian Wainwright is a parody of the Wars of the Roses narrated by a young woman who works as a spy for Edward IV and Richard III. And I also read two more historical fiction novels which I haven’t had time to write about yet. The first, Lion of Alnwick by Carol Wensby-Scott, is set in the 14th century and is the first in a trilogy telling the story of the Percys, one of the most powerful families in the north of England. The other book, The Secret Keeper: A Novel of Kateryn Parr, is a Tudor court novel by Sandra Byrd told from the perspective of Juliana St John, a lady-in-waiting to Henry VIII’s sixth wife.

Another book I read in June was The Bull of Mithros, the latest in Anne Zouroudi’s series of Greek Detective mysteries. I haven’t read any of the previous novels in the series but would like to read them at some point. I also enjoyed Every Secret Thing by Susanna Kearsley, a suspense novel in which a journalist travels to Portugal to investigate a World War II murder mystery.

The only book I was slightly disappointed by was The Map of Lost Memories by Kim Fay. I liked the Cambodian setting but found the characters difficult to identify with. And finally, I read Wonder Girls by Catherine Jones – I should be posting my thoughts on that one in the next few days.

So, June was a good month for me overall as I enjoyed most of the books I read. I’m hoping July will be even better – and I’m also hoping the weather might start to improve soon! June has been so wet and miserable here, with the worst day being last Thursday when we had one of the most dramatic thunderstorms I’ve ever seen. So many of the roads were flooded that it took me nearly four hours to drive home from work, a journey that usually takes twenty minutes!

How was June for you?

My two favourite books from March were definitely the two Dorothy Dunnett books I read: Queens’ Play and The Disorderly Knights. I can’t tell you how much I’m loving this series – I finished Pawn in Frankincense today and am looking forward to starting The Ringed Castle!

March was a good month for historical fiction – as well as the two books I just mentioned, I also loved The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (a crime novel set in 1840s New York) and The Crown by Nancy Bilyeau (a historical thriller set in Tudor England). However, I was disappointed by The Glovemaker by Stacia Brown, the story of a woman accused of murder in Oliver Cromwell’s London.

The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman’s debut novel, was another book that I really enjoyed, and Edward Hogan’s The Hunger Trace was probably my most surprising read of the month – not something I would usually choose to read but I quickly became absorbed in the lives of all three main characters.

I also read Three Men on the Bummel, the sequel to Jerome K. Jerome’s classic Three Men in a Boat, and although it wasn’t as hilarious as its predecessor it was still fun to read.

The only book I read in March that I still haven’t written about is Claire Tomalin’s Dickens biography, Charles Dickens: A Life. I actually started reading it in the middle of January – it always seems to take me a long time to finish non-fiction books! And I finally started to make some progress with Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa, which I’m reading as part of a group read during the whole of 2012.

Did you read any good books in March? What are you planning to read in April?

I read nine books in February which is less than I normally read, but it’s been such a busy month for me I’m quite happy with the number of books I’ve read!

My favourite book read in February was The Game of Kings. I’m so glad I’ve finally discovered Dorothy Dunnett!

Mariana by Susanna Kearsley was another great book I read last month – I loved the setting, the characters and the atmosphere. I also enjoyed The Virgin Queen’s Daughter, a very entertaining historical fiction novel by Ella March Chase.

Also in February, I read both of S.J. Bolton’s two Lacey Flint crime novels, Now You See Me and Dead Scared. I enjoyed them both but I thought the first one was slightly better.

I read Macbeth as part of my plan to read one of Shakespeare’s plays every month of 2012. It’s not the first time I’ve read it, but I think I appreciated it more this time round and will be posting my thoughts on it soon. And I also read Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It took me nearly the whole month to read it, but it was worth the time and effort!

Two more books I read in February were A Small Circus by Hans Fallada and The Land of Decoration by Grace McCleen, and I found them both disappointing in different ways. I thought A Small Circus was confusing and I didn’t like any of the characters, and although I could definitely see the appeal of The Land of Decoration, it just wasn’t for me.

How was February for you?

February already and time for my first monthly reading summary of the year!

I discovered two new mystery series in January, both of which I would like to continue with (new to me, that is – they’ve both been around for a long time and I’ve come to them very late!) The first is Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell series; the second is Elizabeth Peters’ Amelia Peabody series. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and Crocodile on the Sandbank were two of my favourite books of the month.

I made some progress with all of the challenges I’m participating in. For the Classics Challenge and the Victorian Challenge, I read Charlotte Brontë’s The Professor. For the Historical Fiction Challenge, I read Treason by Meredith Whitford and for War through the Generations, I read War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. And our first play for Reading Shakespeare – A Play a Month was A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I still need to post my thoughts on that one.

There were a few other books I read in January that I also haven’t had time to write about yet. I read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen for the third time and enjoyed it much more this time round than I did on my previous reads. It’s been a long time since I read Pride and Prejudice and Emma, so I’m hoping to re-read both of those soon too (I’m particularly looking forward to trying Emma again, as it’s the only Austen novel I haven’t liked and I’m curious to see if I’ll still feel the same way about it). I also read I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, one of those books I somehow missed out on when I was younger but I’m glad to have finally read it!

I was given the chance to read Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay as part of a UK blog tour – you’ll be able to see what I thought of it on Monday. The last book I read in January was The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn, a beautifully written story set around the time of the First World War. And I also made a start on Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa for a year-long group read.

How was your January?