Allie's 2015 Reading List

ahef1963: *** A rather over-contrived crime novel with an unusual murder weapon. The story is spread across three continents, and I found it too chaotic to like it very much.

ahef1963: **** Excellent mystery novel, not a Wallander story. 19 people are found murdered in northern Sweden; the trail leads to China and a deadly secret. Greatly informative background on China's politics and economics.

ahef1963: ***** A Christmas Carol is a beautiful story of redemption. I loved reading it.

ahef1963: **** Terrific book in which the main character re-incarnates endlessly; to save the world he must use his repeated lives to prevent the lunatic scientist from ever being born.

ahef1963: **** Very funny story about the lives of the women in the village of Cranford.

ahef1963: **** I thought the story was good, but a little tame for Stephen King, and then he hit me with the ending, which is the most frightening he has written yet. Gave me nightmares; kudos to Mr. King for being consistently inventive.

ahef1963: * Incredibly dull story of the interplanetary invasion of England. Apparently this is classic science-fiction, but I was not impressed.

ahef1963: *** I like moralistic 19th century children's books, or this novel would have been very dry. Family story, advocating patience during times of trial.

ahef1963: **** Well-told time travel tale in which everything goes wrong; highly amusing with distinct touches of Wodehouse.

ahef1963: **** Even more interesting than the television series is Worth's book, the first in a series, about her life as a young midwife in the east-end slums of London just after WWII.

ahef1963: **** Quite a good tale, set at a home for wayward girls in northern Sweden, where one of the patients, and one of the staff members has been murdered.

ahef1963: **** A quick and enjoyable read about a man looking for the absolutely perfect woman, and the real woman he actually meets and falls for. Delightful.

ahef1963: *** A rather lacklustre book about the lives of several women in WWII London, not a great book, but I was impressed by Ms. Waters' ability to tell a tale backwards in time, and to interweave so many story-lines.

ahef1963: ***** A re-read of one of my favourite novels, about young Bod, raised in a graveyard amongst ghosts, who protect him from the terrible peril awaiting him in the world outside of the cemetery.

ahef1963: *** A good crime novel, about a youngster, long believed dead, who reappears one night, and the hunt to find his sister, who was captured with him.

ahef1963: ***** Fantastic horror story, one of the most frightening things I've ever read, about a man who re-visits his childhood, and the occurrences he wishes he had forgotten.

ahef1963: ***** Astounding novel about a 16-year old girl, pregnant for the second time by her father, and the hope she finds while attending an alternative school.

ahef1963: **** Very good story of a brutal murderer, and of the hypnotist who tries to help the young culprit. Exciting, bloody, nail-biting.

ahef1963: ***** Lovely book, set in Kentucky, in a home for unwed mothers. Beautifully written.

ahef1963: **** The last of the Kurt Wallender stories leaves the storied detective suffering from Alzheimer's, although still able to solve his final case.

ahef1963: **** Very good historical adventure fiction, set in 18th century Scotland; has a dashing hero in it, Jamie Fraser, who stole my heart completely.

ahef1963: *** A decent enough story featuring Detective Joona Linda, who finds a completely-dry drowned woman, and other puzzling mysteries to solve.

ahef1963: ***** Brilliant coming-of-age story told in the first person, by Kvothe, the legendary Hero. Best book I've read in a long while.

ahef1963: *** Mediocre tale about the inside of Nigerian e-mail scams and the people involved in them.

ahef1963: * A waste of time. Interesting idea about a young man who wakes up with horns and weird powers, but Hill has no idea how to make the story continue without constant repetition.

ahef1963: ***** Re-reading a comfortable old favourite. Bryson's stories about his travels around the island of Great Britain are entertaining, hilarious, and off-colour: great to re-visit the tales again.

ahef1963: **** Very readable account of a woman's travels to Australia by ship, and overland from there; Mrs. MacPherson was a wildly brave woman who tells stories of a long-lost era when Australia was barely settled.

ahef1963: **** Remarkable tale of a young boy who is accidentally kidnapped, and who is taken to live in a hippie commune in Australia.

ahef1963: **** Possibly the first of the 20th century "tell-all" books about royalty; Queen Elizabeth II's governess paints a gentle and quiet picture of her wards.

ahef1963: **** Very good book, dystopian in nature, about the events leading up to and following a super-virus that wipes out 99% of mankind.

ahef1963: *** Entertaining, if deeply misogynistic tale introducing James Bond. Exciting story, difficult to get around Bond's opinions about the place of women in society.

ahef1963: ***** Beautiful book about an old man grieving deeply, and how he took steps back into the world of the living.

ahef1963: *** Interesting but poorly organized. Somewhat preachy about an important topic.