Long-Awaited Reads Month Wrap-Up (& winner)

As I promised in my last post, it’s time to wrap-up Long-Awaited Reads Month 2014 and to announce the winner of my giveaway. The list that follows is based on links participants left me on this post or that I saw on Twitter by following the #LARmonth tag — if I missed yours, my apologies! Please know that your participation was still very much appreciated.

• Care kicked off the month by reading The Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Eat Cake and Shades of Milk and Honey. The latter sounds right up my alley, and I appreciate being reminded that I really ought to pick it up sometime.
  
  
• Justine at Reviews from a Serial Reader was very impressed with Someone Else’s Son by Sam Hayes. Visit her blog to find out why!
  
  
• Also, Jenny was as impressed with Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre as I’d hoped she’d be (hooray!) and wrote an excellent post about it. She wasn’t too keen on In the Freud Archives by Janet Malcolm, though, which she found “wearisome and not worthwhile”.

• Kristen was one of our most enthusiastic participants: she read Miss Hargreaves by Frank Baker (I really need to pick this one up myself), The Final Solution by Michael Chabon, and The Ghost in Love by the generally awesome Jonathan Carroll.
  
  
• Cecelia read Jenna Starborn by Sharon Shinn, which turned out to be an enjoyable if less than stellar book by a beloved author. I’d probably be better off starting elsewhere with Shinn, but I have to say that a sci-fi retelling of Jane Eyre has plenty of appeal.
  
  
• Nan at Letters From a Hill Farm had quite a few false starts this month — she tried several TBR contenders but couldn’t really get into any of them. A useful reminder that not every one of those books we’ve been saving for years will turn out to be as good as we hope!
  
  
• Jean at Howling Frog Books wrote a thoughtful piece on Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol (one day I’ll get over my Russian Classics intimidation, she says hopefully).
  
  
• Aarti finally got around to reading The Secret History and did not join the fan club (I have to say that her edition has the best cover ever, though). She did, however, enjoy Jane and Prudence by Barbara Pym. This is the only Pym I’ve read to date, though I’m determined to change that this year.
  
  
• Sarah read Rebel Heart by Moira Young (the follow up to Blood Red Road), The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson, and (whee!) Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. I haven’t read the Carson, but I agree with Sarah that the Dust Lands series falls short of its potential and that Elizabeth Wein leaves one completely unable to even.
  
  
• Charlie read another favourite of mine, Suite Française by Irene Nemirovsky, and also Grace Williams Says it Loud by Emma Henderson and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.
  
  
• Starryeyedempress left me a long and thoughtful comment about her Long-Awaited Reads Month experiences: she read The Raven Boys, Anne of Green Gables, a couple of Discworld novels, Last Chance to See and Verdigris Deep. HEARTS. (And let me just say that as much as I enjoy the latter, it’s perhaps the most atypical of Frances Hardinge’s novels. Definitely give the rest of her stuff a try.)
  
  
• Sasha, another very enthusiastic participant, wrote what she herself called “one long, aggravated sigh” about Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
  
  
• Rohan Maitzen wasn’t quite as smitten with Wilkie Collins’ No Name as I was, but her thoughts were, as always, a pleasure to read.
  
  
• Finally, Debi joined the Hilary McKay fan club with a read of Saffy’s Angel, the first Casson Family book. See, Jenny? Slowly but surely our numbers grow!

As for our winner — *drumroll* — Random.org has spoken and Jenny gets to take home a long-coveted book of her choice. Congratulations! Just e-mail me your choice and mailing address and I’ll make it happen.

 

And this is it for this year. I hope everyone taking part had as much fun with Long-Awaited Reads month as I did. Hopefully we’ll all get to have another go at this when January comes around again.