[pdurrant]

Once again, my goal is to buy fewer books than I read.
Last year I managed to reduce my TBR pile by 22 books!

I start 2024 with 681 books on my TBR pile.

Books removed from TBR

Read and Reading

1. December 30th: The Cosmic Perspective by Brian Stableford - £1.35 - 3/5 - 135pp
   An interesting but odd mixture of SF, fantasy and folk tale.
2. January 1st: One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 323pp
   The series is really getting into its stride now.
3. January 3rd: Undertow by Elizabeth Bear - £2.47 - 2/5 - 256pp
   Interesting, but not convincing.
4. January 7th: To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis - £0.99 - 4/5 - 475pp
   A lot less grim than her other time travel book. One historical inaccuracy that I noticed.
5. January 10th: Demon Daughter by Lois McMaster Bujold - £2.49 - 5/5 - 112pp
   Good new Penric&Desdemona tale
6. January 11th: The Lost Metal by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 539pp
   Excellent. Makes me want to do a re-read
7. January 13th: The Book of Lost Tales 1 by J R R Tolkien - £0.99 - 2/5 - 434pp
   [ABANDONED]Interesting, but not enough for me.
8. January 14th: The Fire Engine That Disappeared by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö - £0.99 - 3/5 - 226pp
   It was OK
9. January 20th: Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes - £0.99 - 5/5 - 292pp
   Excellent
10. January 23rd: A Sultry Month by Alethea Hayter - £9.99 - 2/5 - 296pp
    Very dry, doesn't really bring characters to life, and doesn't follow own conceit
11. January 26th: The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin - Free - 3/5 - 271pp
    Brilliant idea, and rather well done. But I didn't like the ending.
12. January 28th: The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz - Free - 4/5 - 336pp
    A little too whimsical in places, but fun.
13. January 31st: Death Beside the Seaside by T. E. Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 247pp
    Fun, and never too serious
14. February 2nd: Galaxy's Edge Issue 8 edited by Mike Resnick - £0.40 - 4/5 - 233pp
    Some good original short stories.
15. February 3rd: The Venetian Game by Philip Gywnne Jones - £2.99 - 4/5 - 235pp
    A decent mystery/thriller set in Venice
16. February 5th: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith - £0.79 - 4/5 - 306pp
    Fun, but I would have liked it to be more like Jane Austen and less Steve Hockensmith
17. February 7th: Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 305pp
    Fun with cryptids
18. February 9th: Half-off Ragnarok by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 300pp
    New protagonist, still great fun
19. February 10th: Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy - £0.78 - 5/5 - 524pp
    Great magic systems, fun.
20. February 11th: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - £0.99 - 4/5 - 138pp
    Brilliant ideas. Didn't like some of the execution. Good foreword.
21. February 14th: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 5/5 - 170pp
    Wow. Excellent.
22. February 16th: The Monkey and the Tiger by Robert van Gulik - £0.68 - 5/5 - 104pp
    Two excellent little mysteries with Judge Dee
23. February 17th: Vengeance in Venice by Philip Gwynne Jones - £4.99 - 5/5 - 245pp
    An enjoyable story set in Venice
24. February 18th: The Collapsium by Will McCarthy - £3.78 - 5/5 - 346pp
    Enjoyable almost science space opera
25. February 20th: The Willow Pattern by Robert Van Gulik - £0.68 - 5/5 - 152pp
    Another fine mystery
26. February 21st: The Wellstone by Will McCarthy - £1.18 - 4/5 - 195pp
    Good, but lost a star for "the everything told from far future" wrapper
27. February 23rd: Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 210pp
28. February 24th: Arrow's Flight by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 237pp
29. February 25th: Arrow's Fall by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 238pp
    All three great fun, and the first published Valdemar stories
30. February 26th: Lost in Transmission by Will McCarthy - £1.18 - 4/5 - 350pp
    Good, but lost one star for the framing
31. February 29th: Goodnight, Mr James & Other Stories by Clifford D Simak - £1.59 - 5/5 - 240pp
    Excellent eclectic mix of stories
32. March 3rd: Uprising by Justin Kemppainen - £0.49 - 2/5 - 312pp
    Almost abandoned. Too much going on, not well enough done.
33. March 7th: To Crush the Moon by Will McCarthy - £1.78 - 4/5 - 312pp
    The framing became the story. Good.
34. March 9th: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers - £0.67 - 5/5 - 283pp
    A good mystery, with an interesting background
35. March 12th: One Virgin Too Many by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 5/5 - 351pp
    Excellent misdirection
36. March 15th: The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton - Free - 2/5 - 216pp
    [ABANDONED. Interesting, but the discussion of her psychic powers was too much]
37. March 19th: The Hanging Gardens by Ian Rankin - £0.99 - 5/5 - 349pp
    Very good indeed. Edinburgh's underworld.
38. March 23rd: Re-read: Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton - £0.99 - 5/5 - 247pp
    Even better than I remembered
39. March 26th: The Hanson-Yudkowsky AI-Foom Debate - Free - - 539pp
    [ABANDONED: Fact-free unedited waffle]
40. March 27th: The Complete Short Stories: The 1950s by Brian Aldiss - £0.99 - 2/5 - 826pp
    [ABANDONED: Too downbeat. Too 1950s]
41. April 6th: The Demon Awakes by R. A. Salvatore - Free - 2/5 - 560pp
    [ABANDONED: Trite]
42. April 7th: The Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 3/5 - 219pp
    [ABANDONED. No enthusiasm for it.]
43. April 9th: To End in Fire by David Weber and Eric Flint - £3.97 - 5/5 - 668pp
    Good continuation of the grand story
44. April 13th: A New Clan by David Weber and Jane Lindskold - £3.97 - 5/5 - 319pp
    Fun prequel adventures
45. April 15th: Against a Dark Background by Iain M. Banks - £0.99 - 3/5 - 452pp
    A bit dull. A technological civilisation several thousand years old, but dull.
46. April 23rd: Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker - £3.99 - 5/5 - 345pp
    Authoritative, interesting and informative
47. April 26th: A Girl Called Justice by Elly Griffiths. - £0.99 - 5/5 - 140pp
    A fun YA detective mystery.
48. April 28th: A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons by Chris Behrsin - Free - 3/5 - 252pp
    OK, interesting. Doesn't quite work, but willing to try the next one...
49. April 30th: A Cat's Guide to Meddling with Magic by Chris Behrsin - Free - 3/5 - 2632pp
    OK, but too much Deus ex Machina. I won't continue the series.
50. May 3rd: Sharpe's Command by Bernard Cornwell - £0.99 - 5/5 - 202pp
    Excellent, as expected
51. May 7th: A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes - £1.99 - 5/5 - 263pp
    Greek Myth's Rozencrantz and Guildenstern. Brilliant
52. May 10th: The Loving Cup by Winston Graham - £0.99 - 5/5 - 418pp
    Further adventures of the Poldark Clan. Great fun.
53. May 16th: Bleeding Heart Yard by Ellie Griffiths - £0.99 - 5/5 - 267pp
    Good mystery with Harbinder Kaur
54. May 17th: Disobedient by Elizabeth Fremantle - £0.99 - - 309pp
    Excellent fictionalised biography of the early years of Artemisia Gentiles chi
55. May 19th: The Bronze God of Rhodes by Harry Turtledove - Free - 5/5 - 365pp
    Another excellent work of historical fiction
56. May 26th: Posey the Monster Slayer by Cory Doctorow - £0.80 - 4/5 - 23pp
    Cute kids picture book
57. May 26th: The Canadian Miracle by Cory Doctorow - £0.80 - 5/5 - 21pp
    Excellent near-future SF
58. May 26th: For The Win by Cory Doctorow - £0.80 - 5/5 - 374pp
    Excellent near-future SF
59. May 29th: The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham - £0.99 - 5/5 - 483pp
    Wonderful historic soap opera.
60. June 2nd: The Great Deceiver by Ellie Griffiths - £0.99 - 5/5 - 234pp
    Great quick read
61. June 4th: Divine Might by Natalie Haynes - £0.99 - 3/5 - 253pp
    No overall story, just tales of the various goddesses
62. June 10th: Nine Princes in Amber - £1.40 - 5/5 - 143pp
    Excellent story. A few typos in this copy. A re-read
63. June 12th: The Guns of Avalon - £1.40 - 5/5 - 171pp
    Excellent story. A few typos in this copy. A re-read
64. June 14th: The Book of Love - £0.99 - 4/5 - 611pp
    Interesting. Weird. A bit wordy.
65. June 18th: Still Life by Sarah Winman - £5.49 - 3/5 - 343pp
    Horrid typography, mildly interesting characters, weird fantasy element
66. June 21st: Chess with a Dragon by David Gerrold - £1.59 - 4/5 - 111pp
    Good novella that could have done with a bit of tweaking
67. June 22nd: Sign of the Unicorn by Roger Zelazny - £0.33 - 5/5 - 143pp
    More mysterious happenings in Amber, and some resolutions
68. June 23rd: Tai-Pan by James Clavell - £1.49 - 5/5 - 665pp
    Excellent story set at the founding to the Hong Kong colony.
69. June 28th: A Fatal Flying Affair by T E Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 230pp
70. June 29th: Rotten to the Core by T E Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 245pp
    Two excellent cozy murder mysteries
71. June 30th: Murder in Canton by Robert Van Gulik - £0.79 - 5/5 - 194pp
    Excellent. Judge Dee recognises his limitations.
72. July 1st: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle - £0.99 - 4/5 - 187pp
    Very good fantasy, but not quite my style
73. July 4th: Penric and the Bandit by Lois McMaster Bujold - £2.99 - 5/5 - 90pp
    Excellent
74. July 5th: An Act of Foul Play by T E Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 228pp
    Expected fun cozy murder mystery
75. July 7th: The Joy and Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith - £0.99 - 4/5 - 179pp
    OK, but the series might have gone on too long.
76. July 10th: The Hand of Oberon by Roger Zelazny - £0.33 - 5/5 - 143pp
    Good stuff.
77. July 12th: Ashes of Honor by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 313pp
    Good stuff.
78. July 13th: Chimes at Midnight by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 311pp
    Good stuff.
79. July 15th: Full of Briars by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 47pp
    Good stuff.
80. July 16th: The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 285pp
    Excellent!
81. July 17th: A Fire at the Exhibition by T E Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 249pp
    More fun in Edwardian England
82. July 19th: A Red-Rose Chain by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 301pp
83. July 21st: Pocket Apocalypse by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 293pp
84. July 23th: Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 348pp
    More fun with Faerie and with cryptids
85. July 24th: Scottish Folk Tales of Coast and Sea - £0.99 - 3/5 - 152pp
    A good collection, but very plain, as tales probably were.
86. July 26th: The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths - £1.99 - 5/5 - 231pp
    Better than I remembered. a re-read
87. July 27th: The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 359pp
    Great fun
88. July 28th: Night and Silence by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 351pp
    More great fun
89. July 29th: Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 313pp
    Fun with dance competitions and cryptids
90. July 31st: The Death of Nnanji by Dave Duncan - £0.99 - 5/5 - 295pp
    A very satisfying conclusion to the story
91. August 1st: Desperate Undertaking by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 3/5 - 356pp
    An odd start, and a bit odd throughout
92. August 3rd: The Wages of Sin by Harry Turtledove - Free - 3/5 - 266pp
    Didn't really work for me.
93. August 5th: The Broken Bridge by Philip Pullman - £1.99 - 3/5 - 168pp
    Meh
94. August 5th: The Unkindest Tide by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 354pp
    Excellent stuff
95. August 7th: Harbinger by Wen Spencer - £3.97 - 4/5 - 397pp
    Great, but a confusing set of characters, and a cliffhanger
96. August 9th: An Assassination on the Agenda by T E Kinsey - £0.99 - 5/5 - 249pp
    Great fun as usual
97. August 10th: Lud-In-The-Mist by Hope Mirrlees - £0.99 - 4/5 - 255pp
    Weird and strange, and unlike any other Fairyland fantasy I've read.
98. August 13th: Claudius the God by Robert Graves - £1.99 - 5/5 - 510pp
    Absolutely excellent. I especially liked the way his death was handled
99. August 15th: Ice Blue by Emma Jameson - Free - 4/5 - 199pp
    Light police procedural and romance. Fun.
100. August 16th: A Killing Frost by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 350pp
     I'm still enjoying this series
101. August 17th: When Sorrows Come by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 368pp
     So much so, I went straight on to the next one. Fun.
102. August 18th: Magic for Nothing by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 320pp
     And one from her other series
103. August 19th: Tricks for Free by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 382pp
     And another
104. August 20th: Few are Chosen by M. T. McGuire - Free - 3/5 - 341pp
     Some fun bits, but unconvincing. And not a complete story in a bigger arc.
105. August 21st: That Ain't Witchcraft by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 371pp
     Back to a series with a complete novel in an overall series story
106. August 22nd: Fatal Legacy by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 4/5 - 347pp
     OK, but not her best.
107. August 25th: Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 357pp
     Another viewpoint, excellent stuff, but continuing the story straight into...
108. August 26th: Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire - £0.55 - 5/5 - 365pp
     Fun stuff.
109. August 27th: The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C. L. Miller - Free - 1/5 - 335pp
     [ABANDONED. Not good enough]
110. August 29th: By The Sword by Mercedes Lackey - Free - 5/5 - 430pp
     Excellent book linking up parts of the tale into a whole.
111. August 31st: Winds of Fate by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 338pp
     Great follow-on from By the Sword
112. September 2nd: Winds of Change by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 365pp
     Ends at a place I'm happy to break from the story for a bit
113. September 4th: The Paris Affair by Anton Du Beke - £0.99 - 4/5 - 384pp
     Light romance/spy romp
114. September 5th: Winds of Fury by Mercedes Lackey - £0.58 - 5/5 - 298pp
     Excellent Fantasy
115. September 7th: The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman - £0.99 - 5/5 - 285pp
     Another excellent, but completely different, Fantasy
116. September 8th: The Clutter Corpse by Simon Brett - £0.99 - 3/5 - 189pp
     It was OK, but I found the main character's actions to be odd.
117. September 9th: Leadership by Henry Kissenger - £5.99 - 4/5 - 580pp
     A fascinating look at six post-war leaders
118. September 18th: Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman - Free - 4/5 - 285pp
     I enjoyed the re-read. On to the rest:
119. September 20th: Any Other Name by Emma Newman - £1.99 - 4/5 - 289pp
     Second part of long story, on to the next:
120. September 22nd: All Is Fair by Emma Newman - £0.99 - 5/5 - 300pp
     Third part of long story, on to the next:
121. September 23rd: A Little Knowledge by Emma Newman - £0.99 - 5/5 - 308pp
     Good continuation of the story. I'll see if the last one drops in price
122. September 25th: More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon - Free - 4/5 - 188pp
     Very good psychic SF story
123. September 26th: Winter's Gifts by Ben Aaronovitch - £2.99 - 5/5 - 154pp
     A tale from across the pond. Excellent.
124. September 27th: A Song of Comfortable Chairs by Alexander McCall Smith - £0.99 - 4/5 - 167pp
     More soap opera and less mystery than I'd like.
125. September 29th: The Phantom of the Temple by Robert Van Gulik - £0.73 - 5/5 - 166pp
     Another good mystery with Judge Dee
126. October 1st: What If... by Seanan McGuire - £0.99 - 4/5 - 289pp
     Superheroes aren't really my thing, but good fun.
127. October 3rd: Arcanum 101 by Mercedes Lackey and Rosemark Edghill - £1.59 - 3/5 - 159pp
     An OK YA
128. October 5th: The Last Word by Elly Griffiths - £0.99 - 4/5 - 259pp
     Slightly unbelievable, but fun.
129. October 6th: Lent by Jo Walton - £2.99 - 5/5 - 344pp
     Brilliant
130. October 6th: Storm Warning by Mercedes Lackey - £0.86 - 5/5 - 336pp
131. October 8th: Storm Rising by Mercedes Lackey - £0.86 - 5/5 - 307pp
132. October 9th: Storm Breaking by Mercedes Lackey - £0.86 - 5/5 - 379pp
     Good trilogy continuation of the Valdemar series
133. October 10th: Highway of Eternity by Clifford D. Simak - £0.99 - 4/5 - 233pp
     Interesting, but not quite satisfying.
134. October 12th: Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh - £0.99 - 5/5 - 377pp
     EXCELLENT SF. An author to look out for.
135. October 14th: The Amateur Cracksman by E W Horning - Free - 4/5 - 130pp
     Worth the time to read.
136. October 16th: From a Far and Lovely Country by Alexander McCall Smith - £0.99 - 4/5 - 179pp
     Usual gentle detection
137. October 18th: Godmersham Park by Gill Hornby - £0.99 - 4/5 - 376pp
     Interesting historical fiction, not enough separate of fact from fiction
138. October 20th: The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett - £0.99 - 5/5 - 358pp
     Excellent Fantasy Mystery
139. October 21st: Rounding the Mark by Andrea Camilleri - £0.99 - 5/5 - 181pp
     Excellent, but a bit grim
140. October 23rd: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers - £0.67 - 5/5 - 409pp
     Excellent mystery, nice to see a lot more of Harriet Vane
141. October 26th: The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - £0.58 - 3/5 - 193pp
     I won the first Hugo, but it hasn't aged well.
142. October 29th: The Misted Cliffs by Catharine Asaro - £3.49 - 3/5 - 273pp
     Average fantasy with too much tell at the start
143. October 31st: The Dawn Star by Catharine Asaro - £3.49 - 3/5 - 331pp
     Shows improvement, although still a little too much telling.
144. November 1st: Shadows over Baker Street edited by M. Reaves and J. Pelan - £0.99 - 3/5 - 366pp
     One or two good stories, but not brilliant.
145. November 6th: Odds Against by Dick Francis - £0.99 - 5/5 - 225pp
     Excellent horse-racing based thriller from 1964/5
146. November 8th: Necessity by Jo Walton - £2.99 - 5/5 - 268pp
     An excellent conclusion
147. November 10th: Defiant by Brandon Sanderson - £0.99 - 4/5 - 382pp
     A reasonable conclusion
148. November 10th: Death on the Tiber by Lindsey Davis - £0.99 - 2/5 - 350pp
     [ABANDONED 75% of the way through. I just didn't care about it.]
149. November 16th: Starter Villain by John Scalzi - £0.99 - 5/5 - 237pp
     Brilliant, as expected.
150. November 16th: Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman - Free - 5/5 - 275pp
     Great fun. A good tale well told.
151. November 17th: Dead Souls by Ian Rankin - £0.99 - 4/5 - 424pp
     A solid Rebus story
152. November 21st: The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis - £5.99 - 4/5 - 136pp
     One star off for actually meaning it
153. November 23rd: The Fire Opal by Catharine Asaro - £3.49 - 3/5 - 252pp
     A perfectly fine quick fantasy romance
154. November 24th: Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.71 - 3/5 - 35pp
155. November 24th: Catwings Returns by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.71 - 3/5 - 35pp
     Simplistic children's tales.
156. November 24th: Lightspeed Magazine #8 - £0.58 - 4/5 - 253pp
     Some good original short fiction
157. November 25th: Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.71 - 4/5 - 28pp
158. November 25th: Jane On Her Own by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.71 - 4/5 - 32pp
     Slightly better than the first two, IMO.
159. November 25th: Very Far Away From Anywhere Else by Ursula K. Le Guin - £0.70 - 5/5 - 45pp
     Excellent coming of age story
160. November 24th: Lightspeed Magazine #9 - £0.58 - 4/5 - 203pp
     Some good short stories
161. November 26th: The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell - £5.49 - 4/5 - 561pp
     Amusing, but a bit repetitive after a while, as is natural in a diary
162. December 1st: The Chrysalids by John Wyndham - £0.99 - 5/5 - 214pp
     Excellent long-after apocalypse novel
163. December 2nd:The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny - £ 0.33 - 5/5 - 127pp
     A satisfying half-way point.
164. December 4th: A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett - £1.99 - 5/5 - 189pp
     Wonderful and fascinating early Pratchett
165. December 6th: The Ministry of Time by ??? - £0.99 - 3/5 - ???pp
     A Time-travel story that doesn't care about time-travel
166. December 8th: A Civil Contract by Georgette Heyer - £1.20 - 5/5 - 342pp
167. December 9th: The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer - £1.20 - 5/5 - 273pp
     Both excellent fun
168. December 10th: Back to the Bedroom by Janet Evanovich - Free - 3/5 - 117pp
     Light romance, almost a farce
169. December 11th: E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton - Free - 4/5 - 200pp
     Very good contemporary PI thriller - from 1988
170. December 13th: The Midnight Folk by John Masefield - £3.99 - 5/5 - 155pp
     What a splendid fantasy story!
171. December 14th: While the Light Lasts by Agatha Christie - £0.43 - 3/5 - 156pp
     Original versions of some later novellas. Some interesting tidbits.
172. December 16th: Deeds of Youth by Elizabeth Moon - £1.44 - - 124pp
     Some enjoyable short stories in the Paksenarrion universe
173. December 17th: The Body on the Beach by Simon Brett - £0.99 - 4/5 - 244pp
     Light cozy murder mystery
174. December 19th: Death on the Downs by Simon Brett - £0.99 - 4/5 - 272pp
     Ditto.
175. December 21st: Islands' Nights Entertainment by Robert Louis Stevenson - £0.02 - 4/5 - 120pp
     Good stories, but with depictions of terrible racism.
176. December 24th: The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom - £0.99 - 2/5 - 209pp
     I didn't take to any of the characters
177. December 26th: The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts - £0.99 - 4/5 - 303pp
     A good classic murder mystery
178. December 28th: Walkaway by Cory Doctorow - £0.80 - 5/5 - 403pp
     Excellent near-future SF
179. December 30th: The Serpent's Tail by Sarah A. Hoyt - Free - 3/5 - 19pp
     OK Time-travel story
180. December 31st: Castor by Sarah A. Hoyt - Free - 3/5 - 17pp
     OK cloning SF story
181. December 31st: With Her Eyes by Cixin Liu - Free - 3/5 - 24pp
     OK SF story
182. December 31st: Curse 5.0 by Cixin Liu - Free - 3/5 - 25pp
     OK SF story
183. December 31st: Grace Immaculate by Gregory Benford - Free - 2/5 - 19pp
     Poor SF/Religion story
184. December 31st: Emerging Legacy by Doranna Durgin - Free - 4/5 - 18pp
     Good coming of age fantasy story
185. December 31st: Defender 1 by Neil Gaiman et al. - Free - 1/5 - 16pp
     Campaigning Magazine
186. December 31st: Sculpture Stories by Neil Gaiman - £0.58 - 3/5 - 15pp
     OK fantasy/horror short stories
187. December 31st: Rare Bit Fiends by Neil Gaiman - £0.58 - 3/5 - 11pp
     Dreams don't make good stories
188. December 31st: Fortunately, The Milk... by Neil Gaiman - £1.09 - 4/5 - 38pp
     Delightful children's story
189. December 31st: Love, Fishie by Maddy and Neil Gaiman - £0.58 - 2/5 - 41pp
     Very good for an 8-year-old

Books added to TBR

Freebies (Unread)

1. January 26th: The Real Deal by Caitlin Devlin
2. January 26th: The Bad Weather Friend by Dean Koontz
3. March 3rd: The Tiger in the Attic by Edith Milton
4. March 27th: The Mouse on Wall Street by Leonard Wibberley
5. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Bonding with Dragons by Chris Behrsin
6. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Meddling with Magic by Chris Behrsin
7. April 19th: A Cat's Guide to Saving the Kingdom by Chris Behrsin (discarded)
8. May 2nd: The Bronze God of Rhodes by L. Sprague de Camp
9. August 1st: The Wages of Sin by Harry Turtledove
10. August 13th: Ice Blue by Emma Jameson
11. August 13th: Blue Blooded by Emma Jameson
12. August 24th: The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder
13. August 29th: By The Sword by Mercedes Lackey
14. September 2nd: Ruth's First Christmas Tree by Elly Griffiths
15. September 23rd: More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
16. October 5th: Reinstated Prelude to Foundation
17. October 12th: Something Blue by Emma Jameson
18. October 28th: Scarlet by Genevieve Cogman
19. December 3rd: Blue Christmas by Emma Jameson
20. December 11th: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
21. December 12th: Three Stories by L. E. Modesitt
22. December 17th: Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
23. December 21st: Sex on the Kitchen Table by Normal C. Ellstand (not added to TBR)

Bought (Unread)

• January (7/£19.43): A Fire at the Exhibition, The Book of Lost Tales 1, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Demon Daughter, Stone Blind, A Sultry Month, The Venetian Game
• February (8/£14.70): Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Dreadfully Ever After, Master of the Five Magics, Fatal Legacy, Dawnshard, Vengeance in Venice, The Collapsium, Goodnight, Mr James & Other Stories
• March (22/£21.30): Rapture Of The Nerds, Lost Cause, Lawful Interception, Homeland, Poesy The Monster Slayer, Canadian Miracle, Little Brother, For The Win, Attack Surface, Red Team Blues, Walkaway, Eastern Standard Tribe, Party Discipline, Pirate Cinema, Radicalized, Makers, Someone Comes To Town—Someone Leaves Town, Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom, Bleeding Heart Yard, The Ghost of a Model T, Dusty Zebra, The Thing in the Stone
• April (8/£18.88): Against a Dark Background, The Left Hand of Darkness, A New Clan, To End in Fire, A Girl Called Justice, Murder in Williamstown, Why We Sleep, I Am Crying All Inside
• May (5/£6.95): Sharpe's Command, A Thousand Ships, Disobedient, Foundation's Edge, The Big Front Yard
• June (14/£20.59): Forward the Foundation, Divine Might, Chronicles of Amber (Nine Princes in Amber, The Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, The Courts of Chaos), The Untold Story, The Great Deceiver, Owlflight, No Life of Their Own, Chess with a Dragon, The Book of Love, Still Life, Owlkinight
• July (11/£16.29): The Last Unicorn, From a Far and Lovely Country, In a House of Lies, Penric and the Bandit, A Little Knowledge, An Assassination on the Agenda, The Shipshape Miracle, Scottish Folk Tales of the Coast and Sea, Foundation and Chaos, New Folks' Home, The Death of Nnanji
• August (16/£24.32): No Reserve, Gryphon in Light, A Desperate Undertaking, A Song for Dark Times, Claudius The God, The Broken Bridge, Harbinger, Lud-in-the-Mist, The Ultimate Discworld Companion, A Death in the House, Any Other Name, Blood Sport, Slay Ride, King Rat, Whirlwind, Noble House
• September (8/£14.92): The Clutter Corpse, The Lost Plot, The Man in Black and Other Stories, A Heart Full of Headstones, The Paris Affair, Leadership, All is Fair, Winter's Gifts
• October (18/£20.42): What If..., The Last Word, Arcanum 101, Lent, Foundation and Earth, Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger, Debt of Honor, Executive Orders, The Bear and the Dragon, Highway of Eternity, Some Desperate Glory, Tales of High Hallack 1, The Tainted Cup, Earth For Inspiration, Tales from High Hallack 2, Shadows over Baker Street
• November (32/£41.12): Starter Villain, Necessity, Defiant, Odds Against, Death on the Tiber, Always Coming Home, Catwings, Catwings Return, Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings, Jane on Her Own, Changing Planes, Finding My Elegy, Gifts, Voices, Powers, Lavinia, No Time to Spare, Steering the Craft, The Language of the Night, The Unreal and the Real, The Telling, The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, The Lathe Of Heaven, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else, Voices, Words Are My Matter, The Diary of a Bookseller, Excession, Matter, Inversions, Look to Windward, At the Gates of Darkness
• December (10/£17.25): The Ministry of Time, A Stroke of the Pen, Agatha Raisin and Kissing Christmas Goodbye, Super-Infinite, The Midnight Folk, Deeds of Youth, The Body on the Beach, Death on the Downs, The Cask, The Case of the Missing Books

Analysis
TBR: 671
Books read: 189 (includes 26 freebies, 5 re-reads)
Books otherwise removed from TBR pile: 1 (0 read previously, 1 discarded)

Books removed from TBR pile: 185
Books added to TBR pile: 175 (includes 22 freebies, 1 omnibuses counted as 5, 1 reinstated)
Removed/Added: 1.06
Net reduction for 2023: 10

Non-free books read: 163 (includes 4 re-reads)
Total cost of books read: £215.64
Average cost of books read: £1.32

Non-free books bought: 159 (includes 7 not added to TBR, 1 omnibuses counted as 5)
Total cost of books bought: £235.10
Average cost of books bought: £1.48

Rating System:
1: Bad.
2: Poor. (Or just not to my taste.)
3: Satisfactory.
4: Good.
5: Excellent.

Pages are as given by the ADE algorithm in Calibre, or from the Amazon web page.