Bit late in posting my first version of this for 2026. I'm not reading as many books as a year ago. But I have now finished a fair number.
- The Hobbit: Graphic Novel by JRR Tolkien, illustrated by David Wenzel
- Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
- Stone & Sky (Rivers of London) by Ben Aaronovitch
- A Venetian Bestiary by Jan Morris
- Doctor Who: 1001 Nights in Time and Space by Steve Cole and Paul Magrs
- Everything Will Swallow You by Tom Cox
- Normally Weird and Weirdly Normal: My Adventures in Neurodiversity by Robin Ince
Of these books
The Hobbit graphic novel,
Hamnet and
A Venetian Bestiary were all 5-star reads.
The graphic novel version of
The Hobbit was quite enchanting and engrossing in its approach, though it took me a few pages to get used to how the characters were depicted visually. Bilbo in particular had an extremely pudding bowl haircut!
Hamnet is one of the most astonishing novels I have read for a long time. I wrote a
fuller review of it here a few weeks ago.
And
A Venetian Bestiary was a gift for any lover of Venice, myth and legend, and animals and more fantastical creatures.
The Tom Cox novel was a 4-star read for me. A strange book to describe, a mix of life story and magical realism, set in the West Country. A lot felt autobiographical, knowing the author's life, e.g. the setting and frequent references to old vinyl records. Also the travails of living a peripatetic renters life, and difficulties finding a place to rent with pets. But it's also remarkably imaginative, and moving too. And very, very strange, while still being refreshing in its approach. Recommended.
The Rivers of London book, the Doctor Who collection and the Robin Ince book were all 3-star reads for me.
The Rivers of London book had an original Scottish setting for a change, in Aberdeenshire, but felt rather scrappy in its plotting and storytelling, and the relocation of Peter and so very many of the other core "cast" to from London to Scotland also felt forced and unrealistic. I also found some of the storytelling too predictable, especially nearer the end of the book.
The Doctor Who book is presented as a storyteller telling folk tales, but is more retellings of Doctor Who adventures from the past. Many of these retellings were fresh in their approach, but not nearly enough of them. And it didn't work so well for me if I didn't recognise which TV story it was retelling, especially when I struggled to visualise some of the creatures described.
And the Robin Ince was an interesting read about neurodiversity, but not general enough for me. Though I appreciated a lot of the insights into ADHD (which Martin clearly has) and anxiety (which I have - generalised anxiety disorder) particularly. It was just too tied to the author's own life story, and framed through that, in a way that wasn't generally applicable enough for me.
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