lunababymoonchild

A farmer is wondering how many sheep he has in his field so he asks his sheep dog to count them. The dog runs into the field, counts them, and then runs back to his master. "So," says the farmer. "How many sheep were there?" "40," replies the dog. "What? How can there be 40?!" exclaims the farmer. "I only bought 38!" "I know," says the dog. "I rounded them up."

Currently reading The Stranger from the Sea, Winston Graham, Poldark 8 in my annual visit to Cornwall.

In a good way. I'm going to see if my father still has No Country For Old Men and I possess The Border Trilogy (free from Waterstones with my points). At least McCarthy is still alive, I'm rationing out the Faulkners because there will be no more.

Alrighty, Stream of Consciousness

What!!!!!? Surpass Faulkner? Surely you jest! Never read McCarthy but do have some in the house, I'll need to bump it up the list. My father read No Country For Old Men and then watched the film. Since my father reads Lee Child, Jeffrey Deaver and Harlan Coben I did not give McCarthy a second look (oddly). Oooooh food for thought.

Currently reading Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut

I'm looking into it.

I read The Hollow Man many years ago (2011). Waterstones said that it was out of print but one of their branches had it in England and they sent it up just for me. I never occurred to me that he had written any more and it turns out that there are 24 Gideon Fell books alone.

Yes, @muggle not I enjoyed it too

Aw thank you @Chrissy. Here to stay.

Only seen the news of new year celebrations so far

I wish everybody a healthy, happy and bookish new year. Thanks very much for having me and allowing me to take part in your forum, it's great!

I've read 71 books this year. I have counted the short stories but not the magazines I read, the news articles I read, the poems (except Hiawatha, it was too long not to mention) I read, the craft books I read and various other things I end up reading but don't count. A good year and I start a new read on the first day of the year tomorrow.

It's still raining …………

Oh, I see. OK, I'll adjust accordingly

I posted mine and looking forward to others

I enjoyed this last year so here's mine. Yes, I did buy it for the cover, but I stayed for the reading! Your favourite book cover of 2022! Changed this because I misunderstood the question. My favourite book cover of 2022 is Katherin Arden's Empty Smiles. Which sums up the story beautifully and you don't know that until you read it. Very clever and very scary (for a child) They print the words I like to read! Your favourite publisher of 2022! I have no idea! They sell me the words I like to read! Your favourite book shop/retailer of 2022! Amazon. Get most of my print books from them and most of my e-books. They deliver and I usually know when. It was like when I was little, and Mummy used to read to me! Your audiobook recommendation of 2022! Didn't listen to audiobooks this year, and I should I even found one of their shopping lists! Your most read author of 2022! Ian Rankin - he finished The Dark Remains that William McIlvanney started, The new Rebus, 24, A Heart Full of Headstones and Splodges bonus short story in A Heart Full of Headstones Stop me if you've heard this one before! Your recommended re-read of 2022! No re-reads for me this year I'd rather be on I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here! Your book that wasn't worth bothering with in 2022! Darren McGarvey, The Social Distance Between Us. Read his first one Poverty Safari and was blown away by it but this one ............ meh. I don't know where this year has gone! The book you most wanted to read in 2022, but didn't get to award! Dorothy M Richardson. She has a thirteen part stream of consciousness work that I now have all the parts of and I've read the first five parts. Keep meaning to get around to the sixth part and haven't made it, for some reason. I'm sorry it wasn't a unicorn! Your biggest literary let-down of 2022! The aforementioned The Social Distance Between Us, Darren McGarvey. I got to within 60 pages of the end and was determined to read it all but just could not face it. Bitterly disappointed. Too much whining about social injustice (the fact that it's true doesn't help) and middle-class bashing and not enough suggestions as to how to improve the situation. Darren seems to think that if you are middle class you will never have signed on and therefore you know nothing. He asks the question in the book. Think: Spot the Dog, BUT BETTER! Your favourite illustrated book of 2022! Thomas Bernhard, Viktor Halfwit. A short story that came in a large(coffee table size) hardback that was beautifully illustrated. It's like living in Never-never Land! Your children's book recommendation of 2022! Katherine Arden, Empty Smiles. The last in a quartet that I wasn't going to read because part three was disappointing. And the other parts were not up to the standard of her Winternight Trilogy Most people pretend they have read this, but I actually did! Your recommended classic of 2022! Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop. Well worth reading, everybody knows why. Compact and bijou, Mostyn! Compact and bijou! Your favourite short story (or collection of short stories) of 2022! John Steinbeck, Pastures of Heaven. It was a toss-up between this and Georges Simenon, A Maigret Christmas. Steinbeck narrowly makes it because Simenon's Maigrets are all short and superb whereas Steinbeck writes long and short and they are all superb, and he surprised me more. He made Mr Darcy look like Kermit the Frog! Your favourite literary character of 2022! Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Read the whole poem this year and it was 217 pages long. It rhymed, it had rythmn and it told the story of Hiawatha's life. Fantastic! Me talk pretty one day! Your poetry recommendation of 2022! Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow I like things to be in boxes, nicely ordered boxes! Your favourite genre of 2022! I'm not sure that it's an actual genre but I read a great many short stories this year and enjoyed them all. I laughed so much, people moved away from me on the train! The funniest book you read in 2022! RuPaul Charles, Workin' It! He was wittier than I expected and so much fun After three years of COVID I have no life of my own anymore, so I just read about others! Your favourite biography of 2022! Rebecca Scloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Incredible. "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells – taken without her knowledge – became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine." No, this really happened, yes it really did, I'm not making it up! Your non-fiction recommendation of 2022! Malcolm Gaskill, The Ruin of All Witches - "The Ruin of All Witches tells the dark, real-life folktale of witch-hunting in a remote Massachusetts plantation." in 1651. Absolutely fascinating. Sounds like stuff someone made up! Your fiction book of the year, 2022! William Faulkner, Intruder In the Dust. "An elderly, proud black farmer, Lucas Beauchamp, is wrongfully arrested for the murder of a white man. The lynch mob are baying for his blood. His sole hope lies with a young white boy, bent on repaying an old favour, who with the help of Lucas's cynical lawyer will work to find the truth and hatch a risky plot to prove his innocence." I just can't get past Faulkner. They've taken out a restraining order! Your author of the year, 2022! Hands down, William Faulkner. There is just nobody else. And there were a few contenders. Namely, Thomas Bernhard, László Krasznahorkai, Dostoevsky I'll read it again, I'll tell ya! Your overall book of the year, 2022! William Faulkner, Intruder In the Dust. ETA : Well who would have thought it? Your Most Surprising Book of the year 2022! Lee Child, Killing Floor (Jack Reacher 1). I read this to accompany my father. He reads Reacher all the time and loves it so recommended it to me. I assumed it would be utterly awful and it wasn't. I was pleasantly surprised and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm not sure that I'll read the rest of them but I am glad that I read that one.

My mother read to me a lot when I was a child and later as a adult I asked her why she hadn't read whatever it was she replied that it wasn't possible to read everything there was. She also mentioned that she tended to read what she enjoyed, which is fair enough. As an adult whose friends had babies I understood this. So some things got passed me. I can always read them now and just as you mentioned I assumed I knew the story from seeing it on TV etc.

I also enjoyed the fact that the second story was about Maigret's colleagues and not about him. I've never read Paddington!

Vivienne Westwood

It's been raining here constantly for the whole duration. Started after the frost melted and hasn't stopped.

I wasn't expecting that all of my suggestions would make the final cut, I just put them forward to see what happened, and I got carried away 😋

Very tired today so will rest, I think

I will be doing my usual, ignoring it and going to bed at my usual time. New year is important here in Scotland but I just can't be bothered.