Happy Christmas Eve to all that celebrate it. I know for many Christmas Eve can be just as important as Christmas Day so I hope you are having a wonderful time when ever you celebrate.
A tradition in my family on Christmas Eve is to read the poem “Twas the Night before Christmas”. It has also become a bit of a tradition for me to do this book tag, originally created by Aoife from Fred Weasley died laughing. The Tag honours the poem and I just love doing it each year. As per usual I will try to make all my answers from my 2022 reading year so far.
Questions
“Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,”
A book that kept you up so late, everyone else was asleep.
The Twyford Code
Janice Hallett
My Review
Honestly probably one of my favourite books of the year I just inhaled this book. I couldn’t put it down at all and the twists were out of this world. I am now reading an ARC of her next book and it might be even better so Hallett is definitely going to be an author who’s books keep me up reading!
“And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap,”
A book that made you fall asleep.
Murder before Evensong
Rev Richard Coles
My Review
Sorry to say that I just didn’t find this very entertaining. Despite liking the Rev Richard Coles on his various TV appearences I just didn’t find the sense of humour he often displays. This was just rather dull and dry and the main character felt rather removed from the murder investigation.
“When out on the roof there arose such a clatter,I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter,”
A book, or a book scene that made your heart race
Catalogue of Catastrophe
Jodi Taylor
Chronicles of st Mary’s #13
My Review
Jodi Taylor always keeps me on the edge of my seat and this book was no different. I read books 10 – 13 this year and the emotional wringer that Jodi Taylor put me through was immense. I am still thinking about them and I just wan to go back and re-read them all again from book 1. SOOO much happens and there are so many moments when my heart is in my throat as I read.
“when, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer,”
An object in a book that was utterly magical/ Or a magical book
Maps
The Cartographers
Peng Shepherd
My Review
This book made Maps magical. Not just old timey, weather worn maps of old, or maps of mystical places but all maps from building plans to highway maps it made all of them so very special. The magic system plays with liminal spaces and little inconsistences between maps and it opens up into such a magical world.
“With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick,”
A twinkle-eyed book character that made you happy.
Thimble
Legends and Lattes
Travis Baldree
Thimble is just such a sweet character. with his tiny stature and voice but huge amount of enthusiasm for sweet treats. He is the Ratkin chef of Legends and Lattes coffee shop that invents all kinds of delicious items, that made my mouth water. Every description of him was just delightful.
“so up to the house-top the coursers they flew, with the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too,”
A book that made you fly to another land.
Micky 7
Edward Ashton
My Review
I struggled a little with this question to think of a book I read this year that took me somewhere completely different, a lot of my favourite reads this year were set in our world or worlds with jus subtle magical differences. Mickey 7 came to mind with its alien descriptions and the way the universe around the characters was built. It was huge and sprawling with lots of detail but not overly complicated when it came to explaining it’s technology etc. I found this a really entertaining read.
“And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof,”
A book creature you love.
Mogget
The Old Kingdom
Garth Nix
I went back through my books read this list and there are no new bookish creatures that stand out to me so I had to go back to an old favourite instead. It is no secret I love Mogget the Demon/Cat from this series so much so I names one of my cats after him. I am using this purely as an excuse to put up a cute festive pick of him.
And because she is also a bookish named cat, here is Maisie looking festive too
“He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot,”
A character that proves to more than his /her first impression
Ava and Winnie
Counterfeit
Kirstin Chen
I genuinely really loved how the story between Ava and Winnie played out here. It was a cash of very unreliable narrators and not quite knowing which picture that was being painted of who these characters are/were can be trusted. I loved how it kept us guessing about who was good duped into the crime and who was the mastermind. Just really well crafted characters.
“He had a broad face and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly,”
A book or book character that made you laugh
Battle of the Linguist Mages
Scotto Moore
This book is for you if you are a Gamer, a music lover, a language nerd, RPG player, SFF book fanatic, a rainbow spangled dreamer, its got a little bit for every kind geekdom for you to find your home. It described itself as Dazzling WTFness and this is the perfect description. Its jut so much fun.
“A wink of his eye and a twist of his head, soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread,”
A book that makes you feel safe.
Any Hercule Poirot Book
Agatha Christie
My Agatha Christie Project
You always know what you are going to get with a good Poirot book. I regularly use them to break slumps. There is something comforting knowing you are going to get a well plotted mystery, with a loveably fussy detective. I will be doing an update on my Agatha Christie Project after Christmas.
“He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk,”
A book that put you to work (a book that you felt you really needed to concentrate on)
The Atlas Paradox
Olivie Blake
My Review
This book took work and not in the good way. I wasn’t that impressed with this as a sequel and did struggle bus my way through it. Even I, a scientist, got bored with the sheer amount of musing over the magic system without any real magic making it to the page. It just felt overly wordy and complicated.
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
A book with a magnificent ending
The God of Lost Words
Hell’s Library #3
A. J. Hackwith
My Review
While I think The Twyford code probably had the most explosive twist ending out of this years reads so far for me The God of Lost Words was the most cathartic. Not only was it the end of the book but the end of the series and it just wrapped it up in such a satisfying way. I left fully satisfied with where the characters ended up and how they got their which is just fantastic when you truly love a series like I did with Hell’s Library.
I would love to chat all things bookish with you! You can comment down below or find me on Twitter or Goodreads!
Happy Reading!
Fi's Bibliofiles 
Ohhh your cat is so cute and i loved this tag so much…. most books are definitely going into my tbr as well
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