Autumn in Books.

Autumn has been one of the best seasons for reading, there's nothing like spending the darker evenings snuggled up with a book rather than being out. I become quite the hermit in the colder months. I can't believe that we're already in the midst of November, with a New Year just around the corner and a new reading challenge to set myself. I had hoped to read around 50 books this year (it was ambitious I know) and despite reading more books than I have done in recent years, I expected to read more.

I'm currently edging towards 30, I think that I could probably manage that if I remember to reach for my book more than my phone during the evenings. I'm pretty happy with the books I read during Autumn though, all of which I would recommend any of my readers to give a go.

Pride: The Unlikely Story of the True Heroes of the Miner's Strike by Tim Tate ★★★★★

I was drawn to this book with little knowledge of the film and having it on my list of movies to watch for a while. The book has been created to acknowledge the film, the story and the people who helped to make the events possible. In the midst of the 1984 miner's strike were a small group of metropolitan gay men and lesbian women who stepped away from London's vibrant gay scene to befriend and support the mining community in the remote valleys of South Wales. The real-life accounts of the events that only happened in the 1980's reflected on how far the UK has come in terms of accepting the LGBT community but also that there is also still so much work to do! I couldn't put the book down from start to finish and would really encourage more people to give it a read!

One Of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus ★★★★★
This book has been on my to read for the entirety of 2017 and it was so worth the wait to enjoy! The story is about what happens when five strangers walk into afternoon detention and only four walks out. 'Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide'. I couldn't put this book down, the plot was extremely engaging and its conclusion was completely not what I expected it to be. You had to pay real attention to the transition between the various characters involved in the story to be able to keep up with what was on the horizon. Definitely a book I would recommend for others to read.

The Nightmare Before Christmas ★★★★★
The Nightmare Before Christmas is the perfect quick read before Halloween arrives. Its based on the film which is a must see over the Halloween season too. I also thought the illustrations within the book were so good. I loved reading this.

Carrie by Stephen King ★★★
I decided that this Halloween I was going to try and read one of Stephen King's classic books. Now I decided that the best place to start was to with this classic novel. Now I had previously seen the 2013 film before reading this book and I think I was a bit distracted from the context of the film, meaning I couldn't probably engage with the book as much as I had hoped to. Better still, the storyline of the book is very intriguing and was a great book to read as we came towards Halloween. I would definitely like to read another of Stephen King's books in 2018 to see whether my opinion changes and I can come to grips with the style of writing a bit more.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena ★★★★★
This is one book I have heard a lot of hype about during the year, becoming one of the books I had to read before the year was out. Labelled as the 'most talked about thriller of the year' I couldn't agree more, I couldn't put the book down the entire time I was reading it. Some of the sentence structure was slightly disorientating but sometimes gave the right atmosphere towards the right atmosphere of the storyline. The conclusion of the story took me by surprise and I was totally engrossed in it all. I'd love to read more books by this author, if you do enjoy a good Thriller book then you should get your hands on this one.

What have you been reading lately? Have you managed to succeed in your 2017 reading challenge yet?