What Mr Hallow Read This Quarter [January - March]

So it's that time again, quarterly review!! I'm quite happy with the progress I've made so far this year, although for a time around February I hardly did any reading at all... which wasn't great. At the time of writing this, I find myself reading a lot daily because I have more time to with not being at work as much and I still want to read even more than I am.

January

Alice in Wonderland: Based on the Motion Picture by Tui T Sutherland

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I really enjoyed these movies of Alice and the book did not disappoint although I have not actually read the original story I loved this adaption of it, It kept me wanting to read and I enjoyed everything about it from the way it is written to the way the book looks.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S Lewis

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am currently working my way through the Narnia series, one of Mrs H's all time favorites an dim loving them. This book for me was a little more slow paced and was used to introduce some more characters to the story hence the three stars. With that being said i still really enjoyed reading this book but come on it has a dragon in it.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I loved this book and already want to read it or something very similar again, you can just imagine yourself sat in a tavern listening to a bard tell these Tales of Odin and the other gods. I am a huge fan of all things Norse and I actually learned some things I didn't know in this book so it had to be 5 stars!

February

Lord of Chaos (Wheel of Time Book 6) by Robert Jordan

DNF

Now I'm not sure that I should even put this book in this post? So the thing is I love the Wheel of Time and have put off continuing reading it for too long but the start of this year hasn't exactly gone to plan for Mrs H and I and its safe to say we have been preoccupied with other things. I got about 190 pages into this book and it took nearly 3 weeks so I put it down and decided to continue with my February TBR until I have more free time for reading.

Artemis Fowl, The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer

⭐️⭐️⭐️

After reading the Arctic Incident I have to say I was expecting more from this book although I did enjoy reading it seemed a little bit forced and I wish we could have spent more time underground with the people.

March

Grim Grinning Ghosts (Tales from the Haunted Mansion) by Amicus Arcane

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finally got round to reading the third installment of the tales from the haunted mansion! These books a great short reads and it did not disappoint. My favorite thing about these books in the narration by the spooky librarian.

Alice Through the Looking Glass : Based on Motion Picture by Kari Sutherland

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Well what more can I say... as you have read above review (Alice in Wonderland) I think the same of this book! Fantastic read and again I enjoyed this even more with already having seen the movie. The thing I find strange is that this book was written by a different author than its prequel but that didn't change the way I felt about this read.

Shieldwall by Justin Hill

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Now what can I say, this is a great debut book and the first in a trilogy!! I cant wait to read more. The book was very slow to start but by the end of this book soooo much had happened!! And even though I would generally prefer to read this kind of story from the point of view of the vikings it kept me completely hooked.

The Firework Makers Daughter by Phillip Pullman

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I finished this short story in just one day!! well not even a day just in a few hours. I loved this read from how it was written to the characters and the story. I cant wait to read some more of Phillips short stories!!!

There we have it... my reads this quarter have you read any of these books? I'm excited to see what April-June bring in the next post what with Covid-19 keeping us all isolated maybe I will get a lot more books read for the next updates.

What Mrs Hallow Read This Quarter [January - March]

Here we go, we're at the quarter mark of 2020 already and our first reading summary of the year. If you caught my 2019 Goodreads Year in Books you'll have read that I didn't do too much reading at the start of the year, the bulk of my total being in the last six months. What with our collection haven grown over the last few months we really needed to crack down to some serious reading...and here is exactly how that all turned out.

January

The Brothers Grimm Folk Tales by Brian Alderson [Translated]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book Mr H and I had started reading together in December. We'd read each other a story or so while the other was having a bath or something, but only got a couple stories in. I decided to start the reading year with something I knew I would enjoy and of course I did.

The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2) by Eoin Colfer

⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read the first in the Artemis Fowl series back in March 2019 to get ready for the Disney movie adaptation coming out. It turned out that the release date got changed and although I didn't extremely care for it, I thought I'd try to read the other two before we see the film. Overall I think I enjoyed this one more than the first, but I wouldn't read it again.

As someone who loves fairies and fantasy it throws me off a little with it coming from a sci-fi perspective.

Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch by Serena Valentino

⭐️

If I could say 'I give up with these books' I would. I own the full series of Disney books from Serena Valentino and I'm determined to get myself through them but man!! This is the second out of six that I've forced myself to read and I just do not enjoy anything about them.

The Tin Woodman of Oz (Oz #12) by L. Frank Baum

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Anything from the lands of Narnia or Oz I'm guaranteed to like. I'm coming to the end of the Oz stories but unlike most series that are so many books long, each of these stories still keeps me interested and entertained.

February

The Call of the Wild by Jack London

⭐️⭐️

I've had this book on my shelves for a long time and have to admit that it was another I only picked up after seeing the new movie was being released. I read a couple of 'non-spoiler' reviews before and during reading this and cannot disagree more that this is a book that all dog lovers will adore. I read that review a lot. Maybe other dog lovers like to be sad but this book was just so upsetting and full of horrible themes that I couldn't bare it. Yes, I stuck with it until the end though literally just because others had loved it so much I thought something was going to turn it around. The ending is the only reason I gave this 2 stars otherwise it would be a - 5.

The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In contrast to the previous book, The Toymakers ended up being me second 5 star of the year! I didn't expect it at the beginning as apart from the magic aspect, it really isn't my usual thing. I'm not a fan of things set around war times, I don't like romance or relationships in books. However, it kept me reading! I didn't have to ever force myself to pick it up and although some parts were predictable, other parts I really was excited to find out more. The ending cemented the rating even after all my tears!

The Reptile Room (A Series of Unfortunate Events #2) by Lemony Snicket

⭐️⭐️⭐️

For this 'review' I revert to my previous What I Read This Quarter post, to the first Series of Unfortunate Events book I read and I repeat - Meh. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it and it was better than The Bad Beginning but considering my admiration for the film and TV series adaptations I think my expectations were too high.

March

The Magic of Oz  (Oz #13) by L. Frank Baum

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It's an Oz story. I'm always going to love it. As for why it isn't a 5 star...I'm not sure. My gut tells me when I close a book whether it has earned complete obsession or just high adoration and although I would of course read and love this again it just didn't quite get the 5.

Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read this in the form of an audio-book, my first of the year, and on this occasion I'm pretty sure it was a better experience listening to this book than reading it because the performance added such an extra special touch. Voices included Stephen Fry, Jeffery Palmer, Dame Judy Dench and many more. 

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Admittedly I originally picked this up because of the cover (but from other reviews I've read so did others). The first chapter or two didn't get my interest at all, however once Mori is introduced I got more into it until I ended up not really wanting to put it down.Usually with books that jump time and place every other chapter I can get a little lost but this was easier to follow, kept me guessing and wasn't as predictable as a lot of things I've read lately. I enjoyed it so much actually that I ordered the next book that Natasha Pulley had written the day I finished this.

Hollow City by Ransom Riggs

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I read the first of this series back in November and the tie-in/prequel/short story collection 'Tales of the Peculiar' in June 2017, so I was more than ready to continue this series. Again, I'm lucky that this month has been filled with good books and my only real thoughts about this book was that it felt like another 'Series of Unfortunate Events'!

The Wide Window (A Series of Unfortunate Events #3) by Lemony Snicket

⭐️⭐️⭐️

3rd book of the series, 2nd time I'm going to refer you to the review for the previous of the series and say 'ditto'.

Frankenstein by Mary M Shelley

⭐️

Originally on my January TBR list I DNFed it because I just couldn't get into it. Then Audible released a load of free to listen books and as it was on there I thought I'd give it another go. This really cements my dislike for the majority of 'classics' haha. 

13 total, 2 of which was an audio book, averaging out at 4 per month. If I carry on the year as it has started out I should beat my goal of 36 by a whole 12 books. I'm excited to finally make a dent in what seems to be a never ending TBR list.

Check out what I read in the previous quarter by clicking here.