On January 8 I reflected on last year’s “book booty” (otherwise known as “What The Holidays Brought Me”) and I already have a small haul for 2024. As with last year, I’m going to see if I can fit them under my old-new-borrowed-blue headings. Here goes!

Something Old(er):

Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier (2004)

Having heard this book mentioned favourably several times, I have finally “bitten the bullet” and gotten it onto m’2024 booty table. My only debate is whether to read the book or watch the movie first. 😀

To Say Nothing Of the Dog by Connie Willis (1997)

I know, I know, it’s classic speculative fiction (note the Masterworks tag on the cover) and I’m a speculative fiction author so I should have read it already–but I haven’t! Doomsday Book, yes; Blackout and All Clear, check: but not, alas, To Say Nothing Of the Dog. An error I hope to remedy well before the close of 2024.

Something New:

System Collapse by Martha Wells (2023)

Yes, it’s novel #2 and publication #7 in the Murderbot series, and as you probably know I’m a Murderbot fan. Canna wait! (And won’t have to once I collect it from the bookshop: it was preordered for me by a brother and sister-in-law, some time ago now, as a birthday gift.)

The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen (2023)

I am definitely someone who “thinks on paper”, so how could I pass this book by? Rhetorical question: of course I couldn’t. It was a birthday gift for a family member , but they’ve galloped through it, with a good report, so I was quick to be next in line — which puts it in the “Borrowed” category as well as “Something New.”

Something Borrowed

The Wren, The Wren by Annie Enright (2023)

I borrowed this book from another sister-in-law (are you noticing the family connection here? 😉 ) after she finished it over the break. It will be my first Annie Enright novel so I’m looking forward to checking it out. It’s also new, you’ll note, having been published in 2023.

Something Blue

Station Eternity by Mur Lafferty (2022)

Well the cover is blue, anyway: very blue. 🙂 Totally in a good way, since I love blue and love the cover. Given the Station Eternity series’ title is “The Midsolar Murders”, I am suspecting this may be a cosy-murder-meets-space-opera mashup. Accordingly, I am expecting fun, so will let you know how that turns out. 😀

Otherwise, there’s the cover of Night Train To Lisbon, which is also blue (the edition featured, at any rate.) I do feel, however, that it’s better placed where it is, in the Older reads category.

I hope many, if not all, of you have some new titles on the go as well. In which case, let the reading begin!