Kylie

Acquired in 2018 Books acquired: 2018: 96 2017: 125 2016: 165 2015: 42 2014: 143 2013: 281 2012: 427 2011: 543 2010: 400 2009: 290 2008: 199 I've marked books that I've read and books that I'm currently reading. The numbers after the dates do not include any books marked as (n.a.). January (0) February (51) Canberra Book Fair—Fiction (25) Margaret Atwood Hag-Seed Paul Beatty The Sellout Mikhail Bulgakov The Master and Margarita (50th anniversary deluxe edition) (n.a.) Mikhail Bulgakov A Young Doctor's Notebook Agatha Christie The Sittaford Mystery Agatha Christie Three Act Tragedy (n.a.) Antoine de Saint-Exupery The Little Prince (n.a.) Hugh Edwards Islands of Angry Ghosts Joseph Heller Closing Time (n.a.) Joseph Heller Something Happened (n.a.) ETA Hoffman Tales of Hoffmann Andrey Kurkov The President's Last Love (n.a.) John le Carré The Russia House John le Carré The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Ann M Martin Stacey McGill, Super Sitter JD Salinger The Catcher in the Rye (n.a.) John Scalzi Lock in Natasha Solomons The Song Collector Emily St John Mandel Last Night in Montreal Jeff VanderMeer Acceptance David Walliams Gangsta Granny PG Wodehouse Doctor Sally PG Wodehouse The Little Nugget PG Wodehouse Love Among the Chickens PG Wodehouse The Man Upstairs and Other Stories PG Wodehouse Tales of St Austin's Canberra Book Fair—Non-Fiction (24) Richard Bradford Literary Rivals James Bradley The Penguin Book of the Ocean Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything (Illustrated) (n.a.) Rachel Carson Silent Spring Brian Cox Wonders of the Universe Richard Dawkins The Blind Watchmaker (n.a.) Tim Flannery The Birth of Melbourne AC Grayling The Age of Genius J Mellentin Haswell Manual of Mosaic Henry Hitchings Browse David Hunt True Girt Naomi Klein This Changes Everything Helen Macdonald H is for Hawk Simon Sebag Montefiori The Romanovs Diana Mosley The Pursuit of Laughter Robert J Nemiroff The Universe: 365 Days Edward W Said Orientalism: Western Conceptions of the Orient Carl Sagan Billions and Billions Carl Sagan The Varieties of Scientific Experience Dava Sobel The Glass Universe Don Watson Bendable Learnings Don Watson Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words Oscar Wilde Oscar Wilde: A Life in Letters John Wright The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook Post Book Fair (2) Christopher de Hamel Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts Jasmine Desclaux-Salachas The Art of Cartographics March (15) 100 x 100: The Best of Everything Nikolai Gogol The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol Jennifer Lynch The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) The Rose and the Yew Tree Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie) A Daughter's a Daughter Sam Harris The End of Faith Lawrence M Krauss A Universe from Nothing John Allen Paulos Irreligion Oliver Sacks Seeing Voices Rose Shepherd Sherlock Holmes's London Stephen Fry Mythos Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #8: Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew'd Alberto Manguel Packing My Library H Munro Saki: The Complete Short Stories Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London #7: The Furthest Station April (0) May (1) Alberto Manguel Curiosity June (8) Patrick Hamilton The Gorse Trilogy Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman The Long Cosmos Charles Beaumont Perchance to Dream Patricia Highsmith The Glass Cell Richard Dawkins Science in the Soul Steven Pinker The Sense of Style Christopher Morley Parnassus on Wheels & The Haunted Bookshop Richard Dawkins A Devil's Chaplain July (0) August (6) F Scott Fitzgerald Flappers and Philosophers David Crystal Making Sense Fyodor Dostoyevsky Notes from a Dead House John Steinbeck Of Men and Their Making Ben Tarnoff The Bohemians Oliver Tearle The Secret Library September (10) Mary Beth Keane Fever Ursula Le Guin The Earthsea Quartet (n.a.) Jeff Lindsay Dexter #8: Dexter is Dead Joseph Mitchell Up in the Old Hotel Ben & David Crystal You Say Potato Hunter Davies The Beatles Lyrics Elaine Foreman & Claire Pollard CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Christopher Fowler The Book of Forgotten Authors Jeff Guinn The Road to Jonestown Mary Roach Grunt Rosemary Sassoon Improve Your Handwriting October (3) Bram Stoker Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #9: The Grave's a Fine and Private Place Boris Akunin Erast Fandorin #11: All the World's a Stage November (0) December (1) Matt Haig The Truth Pixie Not Sure (1) Gail Honeyman Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Read in 2018 Books read: 2018: 38 2017: 26 2016: 43 2015: 48 2014: 56 2013: 25 2012: 29 2011: 50 2010: 116 2009: 88 2008: 58 TBR as at 1 January 2018: 2210 (1497 fiction, 713 non-fiction) TBR as at 8 March 2018: 2202 (1943 fiction, 709 non-fiction) (8 from TBR, 1 re-reads, 0 ebooks | 0 acquired) January (5) Matt Haig Father Christmas and Me 9/10 Krista Halverson Shakespeare and Company: A History of the Rag & Bone Shop of the Heart 8/10 Richard P Feynman and Ralph Leighton Surely You're Joking, Mr Feynman! 8/10 Neil deGrasse Tyson Astrophysics for People in a Hurry 9/10 Vincent Bugliosi Helter Skelter 10/10 February (4) Stephen King IT 8/10 Patrick Hamilton Rope 8/10 Alan Bradley Flavia de Luce #4: I Am Half-Sick of Shadows 8/10 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry The Little Prince 10/10 March (3) Ann M Martin BSC Super Special #14: BSC in the USA 7/10 Michael and Susan Parker Sex Please We're Sixty 5/10 Goodale Brothers Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense 9/10 April (1) Alberto Manguel Packing My Library May (3) Matt Haig How to Stop Time 8/10 Gail Honeyman Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine 9/10 Sinclair Lewis It Can't Happen Here 7/10 June (1) Hannah Nordhaus The Beekeeper's Lament 9/10 July (4) Sophie Divry The Library of Unrequited Love 6/10 Chip & Joanna Gaines The Magnolia Story 8/10 MRC Kasasian Gower Street Detective #4: The Secrets of Gaslight Lane 4/10 Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra The Glass Licentiate 7/10 August (2) Andrew Solomon The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression 10/10 L Frank Baum The Wizard of Oz 8/10 September (2) Ben Elton Blind Faith 6/10 Becky Chambers The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet 8/10 October (3) Rachel Hoffman Unhmmm Your Habitat 6/10 Alain de Botton Status Anxiety 9/10 Jeff Guin The Road to Jonestown 10/10 November (6) David Hunt Girt: The Unauthorised History of Australia 6/10 Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice 10/10 Poppy Z Brite Exquisite Corpse 3/10 Shaun Bythell The Diary of a Bookseller 7/10 Bret Easton Ellis Less Than Zero 2/10 MR Carey The Girl with All the Gifts 8/10 December (4) Augusten Burroughs You Better Not Cry 8/10 Jane Austen Northanger Abbey 10/10 Judith Lucy Drink, Smoke, Pass Out 8/10 Matt Haig The Truth Pixie 9/10

Kylie's Literary Adventures in 2018 Previous reading blogs: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Quick Links to 2018 Posts 2018 Reading: Books Read | Books Acquired | Selected Wishlist TBR Fiction: A–B | C | D–F | G–H | I–L | M–O | P–R | S–V | W–Z TBR Non-Fiction: Biographies | Letters, Diaries, Essays | Books About Books | Language | History & Travel | Science, Economics & Politics | Psychology & Philosophy | The Rest Reading Challenges: Priority Reads | Gilmore Girls | 1001 | 1001 Children | 501 | Frankie and Poppyshake Other Links: TBR Books on Multiple Lists | My Favourite Books | Pics of My Library ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goals for 2018 Read 15 Priority Reads (link) Read 5 authors that I’ve never read before (link) Possible Challenges Complete 30 days of questions (link) The Literary Art of Conversation (link)

Squeee! Frankie's new reading log!! Happy reading in 2018, lovely. I hope we both have a better reading year!

Matt Haig has a new book out: How to Stop Time. Synopsis from Book Depository: 'I am old. That is the first thing to tell you. The thing you are least likely to believe. If you saw me you would probably think I was about forty, but you would be very wrong.' Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. From Elizabethan England to Jazz-Age Paris, from New York to the South Seas, Tom has seen a lot, and now craves an ordinary life. Always changing his identity to stay alive, Tom has the perfect cover - working as a history teacher at a London comprehensive. Here he can teach the kids about wars and witch hunts as if he'd never witnessed them first-hand. He can try to tame the past that is fast catching up with him. The only thing Tom must not do is fall in love.How to Stop Time is a wild and bittersweet story about losing and finding yourself, about the certainty of change and about the lifetimes it can take to really learn how to live.

Yes, indeed @bobblybear! It's very sad. I hope you're enjoying Persuasion. I dearly love all of Austen's books and really want to re-read one soon. So glad you enjoyed TCotGF. I bought it last year but haven't read it yet (or anything else by Crispin). In my last piece of book activity for July, I finished reading The Gruen Transfer, which I've been dipping in and out of for many months. Quite an interesting look at the advertising industry.

I started and finished Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth over the past weekend or so (lots of pictures; small amounts of text). I've had this book for a while and was inspired to push it up the TBR pile when I saw an interview with Gore on TV last week. Very interesting read, although it's a little dated now that it's 10 years old. Apparently the term 'global warming' was still used instead of 'climate change' back then, and obviously all the stats were missing 10 years' worth of data. I wonder if he'll update the book now that he's made a sequel to the original documentary? Oh, I just looked it up and the answer is 'yes'. That led me to read Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction, which I've heard great things about. I started it yesterday and have read around 50 pages. It's a fascinating read so far.

Yes, I watched it! I enjoyed it all, and yes, that opening scene was brilliant!

It sounds like those of us who don't love social interactions should get together for a Silent Reading Party. I've been having a woeful reading year, but I've managed to pick it up a little in the past few weeks by rereading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams. At least, I thought I'd read the second book before, but none of it was familiar. I'm now reading Life, the Universe and Everything by the same author. I'm also not sure if this is a reread—I thought I had read at least part of it before, but again, nothing seems familiar. I know I definitely haven't read the next two books though, so I'll be continuing on with them next.

Very sad, and such a young age.

The first Harry Potter book was published 20 years ago (yesterday...I'm a little late!) To celebrate, I thought we could get a discussion going about the books and movies...it has been too long since we had a good HP discussion! Favourite and least favourite Harry Potter books? Favourite and least favourite Harry Potter movies? Which house do you think you would be sorted into? Which house did Pottermore sort you into? Favourite and least favourite characters? Favourite and least favourite professors? What would your patronus be (have you received details from Pottermore, or do you have your own idea)? What would your wand be made of? (Pottermore) Favourite spell? Favourite subject at Hogwarts? Favourite thing/s about Hogwarts? What would your post-Hogwarts occupation be? Was anything left out of the movies that you really wanted to see? Was anything you would cut out (or down) in the movies? Favourite shop in Diagon Alley? Favourite place in the wizarding world? Feel free to expand the list!

I recently finished watching this series and loved every minute of it! Very thought-provoking. Apparently Charles Brooker is going to publish three 'Black Mirror' volumes of novellas written by different people. These will go on my wish list for sure.

I think it's bizarre that you (David James) could think anyone would think weirdly of someone reading Lolita near a school, or of reading a book about a serial killer in public, even a recently deceased killer. In the latter case, the subject would obviously be of interest to people at the moment because it's currently in the news. Do you think that somehow means someone reading a book about Brady actually condones what he did? Because that's the only logical conclusion I can come to when reading what you wrote. That's laughable and ridiculous. For the record, I once read Lolita on public transport. I can't be bothered Googling the cover to include it here, but it has a cartoonish image of a young girl in a bikini. Not the most provocative Lolita cover out there, I'm sure, but it was distinctive. I had the book sitting on my lap (front cover up) while I was doing something else, and a gentlemen next to me engaged me in conversation about the book. He turned out to be a big fan of Nabokov and a few days later he arrived on the train with a couple of spare copies of other Nabokov books and gifted them to me. We ended up becoming great friends and stayed in touch for several years, discussing art and books (he remains the most well-read person I've ever met). At the time I was in my mid 20s and he was probably in his early/mid 60s. Based on what you've said, you would probably have thought him some kind of sicko and advised me to stay well away. Luckily I'm not so judgmental!

We're nearly halfway through the year! What's your book activity today? I've sadly done very little reading lately, although I ordered a few books online in the last day or two.

I'm interested in your thoughts on this. I know it's about Richard Dawkins, who I have great admiration for, but I'm not sure if the book just makes fun of him?

I haven't read the book, but I've watched the first couple of episodes and like it well enough so far.

I loved If On a Winter's Night a Traveller! It blew my socks off. I hated Miss Smilla though. Those books are so pretty! And so ridiculously cheap!!

Are you a member of Goodreads? If so (or even if you're not a member), you might be able to find an answer there. Someone might have addressed it in a review, or you can post a question on the page of the relevant book and someone might be able to answer it.

Have you read Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden? That's quite a good one about North Korea. I've had this on my TBR pile for years and finally picked it up the other day because I've seen it in the news so much. I've probably only read half a dozen pages so far, and it seems good, but I'm not sure I'm in the right mood for it at the moment. I'll keep going for a while. SaveSave

I watched the final ever episode of The Vampire Diaries. Fitting ending, I thought. Lots of tears (theirs and mine).

I've merged this with an existing thread. Be sure to check out the earlier posts...there are some great songs there!

I've read 8, and I'm 1 behind in my Goodreads challenge.

Great news, lovely!! xo

I think that's an excellent idea, and for the reasons you mentioned. We have a similar day here, but I'm not sure when it is. I only know because my ex is a teacher and he went as a hobbit one year. I can't remember if we did Book Week at school, but I do remember dressing up as the Little Match Girl once, so I guess it would have been for that. As for World Book Day, I never remember the day in time...I usually find out on Facebook from various US/European people/pages, and by that time the day is already over here.

The date of publication for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has been announced! It will be published on 3 October 2017. I now have the first two books. I was able to buy the first one for a ridiculously cheap price on a local book site (it turned out the price was an error, but they honoured the price for those who had purchased it). I received the second book from my Mum for Christmas, so I guess the rest of the books will be going on future Christmas wishlists too.