A review of progress

It's time to get back on the review horse, as no cowboy ever said in The Wild West.

Considering the fundamental reason for this blog's existence, to chronicle my efforts to read as much as I can, I've always found the reviews a bit of a struggle. When I was initially attempting to read 100 books in a year, the reviews got in the way of the actual reading, and then, since the end of 2010, I have proceeded with my life in the knowledge that some reviews from way back remain outstanding.

That said, in complete contrast to the sentiments above, finding unexpected literary links and writing the occasional non-review-based blog was among the most enjoyable aspects of the year, perhaps in part because it broke up those reviews. And thankfully, having re-read many of my reviews when I resumed this blog in August, I was pleased to discover that absence had indeed made the heart grow fonder and that I enjoyed going back to peruse my verdicts.

So, coming soon will be a veritable feast of literary assessment, analysis and opinion, including, at last, the final five books I've neglected for almost three years.
Those five books were: Road Dogs, by Elmore Leonard; Four-iron in the Soul, by Lawrence Donegan; Fevre Dream, by George RR Martin; Bush Falls, By Jonathan Tropper; and Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger.

What's more, because I've not given up reading over the past 30 months, here's a heads up of just some of the other reviews that will be coming your way in the foreseeable future: Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen; Bring Me Sunshine, by Charlie Connelly; Bounce, by Matthew Syed; How to be a Woman, by Caitlin Moran; The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstein; Trautmann's Journey, by Catrine Clay; Soccernomics, by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski; Just My Type, by Simon Garfield; and Eleven, by Mark Watson.

So, let's get to it...