poppyshake
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On 4/4/2018 at 3:02 PM, willoyd said:
Just read first four chapters this morning - blown away. Sooo frustrated at having to put it down!
Such a great book. I heard her talking about it on Radio 4's Bookclub (on iPlayer) and she was just so interesting that I put the book on my wishlist straight away. Afterwards I knew I had to read Goshawk by T.H. White and so tracked it down at the library.
I'm currently reading Madame Bovary of the Suburbs by Sophie Divry which is a bit of an odd choice for me as I absolutely hated Madame Bovary
I did like Sophie Divry's book The Library of Unrequited Love though and so thought I'd give this one a go. It was a bit slow to start and I'm not altogether a fan of the second person narrative employed here but all the same I'm hooked .. though large parts of it are tedious (in homage to the original I guess )
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On 4/6/2018 at 10:43 PM, frankie said:
Very very late to say this to you, poppyshake, but I wish you the most amazing reading year in 2018!
I see you've read 34 books already?!? Bloody hell! Guns ablaze!
I saw on Goodreads that you'd already read Left of the Bang
And you'd given it quite a good rating!! I'm very pleased if you liked it! I've finally finished the Manson book I was reading for months and months. I'll be starting the Eleanor book this weekend!
I honestly cannot wait! The Manson book was non-fiction and it took me ages, and the book before that was a re-read, I think, so I'm ever so much looking forward to reading some new fiction!! Thank you my lovely .. I hope you have an amazing year too
I have indeed read Left of the Bang already and really enjoyed it .. thank you so much
You know how it is, a day turned up which seemed just the right day to begin it .. so I did 
I hope you get on alright with Eleanor ... fingers crossed
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On 4/6/2018 at 8:19 AM, Athena said:
I'm glad your reading is going well at least
. For myself I don't think I read more in certain seasons compared with other ones. But I've only been tracking it a few years now, so who knows what hidden statistic could be there..
I hope you'll get some warmer weather soon
. Today here it's still cold right now but it is sunny and should warm up soon to a nice temperature .
Thanks Gaia
We did have some lovely warm weather last week .. but it's drizzly and cold again now Good job that reading is a hot and cold weather pursuit !
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Glad you enjoyed Wives and Daughters Janet, both book and DVD
I think that was the first one I read of hers (so started with her last, first 
) but that's because I saw the adaptation when it was televised (I don't think I'd heard of her before that 
) and then went on to read it and soon wanted to read her other books. She's a great writer.
Great reviews of that and The New Mrs Clifton .. I really enjoyed it too especially the ending, it was compelling reading (I liked the way the author poses a bit of a mystery at the beginning and you have it in mind but you don't know which of the girls it will affect.) I'm going to take it to my Mum's when I go next weekend .. I think she'll enjoy it.
Looking forward to seeing you and Claire soon xx
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On 2/22/2018 at 9:50 AM, Athena said:
I wish you a wonderful year of reading in 2018, Kay
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On 2/25/2018 at 7:35 PM, karen.d said:Have a great reading year!
On 3/3/2018 at 8:28 PM, bobblybear said:Have a great reading year in 2018, Kay!
Thank you all
I've been shockingly remiss about updating this blog
I could make lots of excuses but I won't .. I'll just try and do better. Usually I tail off towards the end of the year but this year I've started off badly .. perhaps I'll improve .. it'll be the reverse of all other years My reading is still going relatively well so that's a positive. These are always the good reading months for me though .. when the days are still cold etc. Nothing much to distract, no days or trips out, no holidays (and I hardly ever read on holiday .. unless it's sitting on a beach weather .. which it hardly ever is
) no long walks in the sunshine. I love winter reading and I still count it as winter and will until the weather positively warms up. Today I did go out for a walk without a coat mind you so it can't be long now.
Hope you're all having a good reading year so far
xx <3 xx
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You did so well to keep going with it Diane
... I'm glad it eventually improved for you
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18 hours ago, Janet said:
Is your thread open? If not, let me know and I'll delete.
I just wanted to say what a lovely time I had with you guys and Claire yesterday. The time flew by!
It IS open Janet
It's not entirely tidy and the books are strewn all over the floor but you're very welcome indeed It was wonderful to see you and Claire, the best day I've had in ages .. here's to the next one!
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Just finished The New Mrs Clifton by Elizabeth Buchan and Autumn by Ali Smith and almost finished listening to Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon. Not sure what to read next .. whatever jumps off of the (tottering) pile I suppose
Seriously considering downloading the audio of Mythos (written and read) by Stephen Fry. It's not my usual thing but I've listened to a sample and think I'll be able to keep up I had a Waterstone's voucher so treated myself to a (signed) copy of The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar. It was on my radar as there's a bit of a buzz about it at the moment and the cover is quite, quite, beautiful so it was a done deal. It's supposed to be very The Essex Serpentish which I'm happy about but in any case .. the pages have turquoise edges!! That in itself was enough for me to pick it up. Nobody can see that when it's on the shelf but I'll know!!!
So, that's another hardback I've been seduced into buying -
Happy New Year Willoyd and Happy Reading in 2018. Hope it's full of great books
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It was lovely to see you and Janet on Monday Claire
Happy Reading in 2018 and good luck with all your challenges. This blog is so super organised (as always) that it's inspired me to actually pull my finger out. I've reserved some spaces .. that's the best that can be hoped for but it's a start!
I'm another one who loved Middlesex .. not that that's a recommendation but I hope you do too
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Happy New Year Noll and Happy Reading in 2018! Hope you feel much better soon
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52 books already
I give up Happy Reading LP!
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Happy Reading in 2018 Gaia .. hope your year is full of great books
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Happy Reading in 2018 Karen, hope you're feeling better
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Happy New Year and Happy Reading Ian!
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Reserved
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Reserved
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Books Bought/Acquired in 2018
Progress 21/42
Fiction:
Aaronovitch, Ben - The Hanging Tree (Rivers of London #6)
Arden, Katherine - The Bear and the Nightingale
Barnett, David M. - Calling Major Tom
Bell, Alex - The Polar Bear Explorers' Club
Buchan, Elizabeth - The New Mrs Clifton
Carroll, Emma (and others) - Make More Noise
Didierlaurent, Jean Paul - The Rest of Their Lives
Divry, Sophie - Madame Bovary of the Suburbs
Driver, Sarah - Sky (The Huntress #2)
Fridlund, Emily - History of Wolves
Haddon, Mark - The Pier Falls
Haig, Matt - How To Stop Time
Hermes Gowar, Imogen - The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock
Hogan, Ruth - The Keeper of Lost Things
Jacka, Benedict - Fated (Alex Verus #1)
Kent, Hannah - The Good People
Kidd, Jess - The Hoarder
Lowdon, Claire - Left of the Bang
McCaughgrean, Geraldine - Where the World Ends
Nicholls, Sally - Things a Bright Girl Can Do
Niven, Jennifer - All the Bright Places
Paul, Laline - The Ice
Paver, Michelle - Oath Breaker (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #5)
Perry, Sarah - After Me Comes the Flood
Pratchett, Terry - A Hatful of Sky
Rooney, Sally - Conversations with Friends
Smith, Ali - Autumn
Stroud, Jonathan - The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & co #1)
Stroud, Jonathan - The Whispering Skull (Lockwood & co #2)
Sukegawa, Durian - Sweet Bean Paste
Sund, Erik Axl - The Crow Girl
Tawada, Yoko - Memoirs of a Polar Bear
Udall, Tor - A Thousand Paper Birds
White, Frank - There Was a Time
Non-Fiction
Alderton, Dolly - Everything I Know About Love
Clark, Dodie - Secrets for the Mad
Ellis, Samantha - Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life
Hanks, Tom - Uncommon Type
Holman-Hunt, Diana - My Grandmothers and I
Mangan, Lucy - Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading
Nunn, Emily - The Comfort Food Diaries
Patterson, Sylvia - I'm Not with the Band
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WISHLIST
Fiction:
The Girl in the Tower - Katherine Arden
Bear Town - Fredrik Backman
Toymakers - Robert Dinsdale
Caraval (Caraval #1) - Stephanie Garber
Fly By Night - Frances Hardinge
Whistle In The Dark - Emma Healey
Non Fiction:
Meadowland: The Private Life of an English Field - John Lewis-Stempel
The Running Hare: The Secret Life of Farmland - John Lewis-Stempel
The Wood: The Life & Times of Cockshutt Wood - John Lewis-Stempel
Where Poppies Blow - John Lewis-Stempel
Homage to Catalonia - George Orwell
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Poppyshake's English Counties Challenge (the most famous books associated with each English county)
For more info visit the English Counties Challenge forum
Progress 31/48 (but some of those read will be re-read)
Bedfordshire: My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates
Berkshire: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Bristol: The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young
Buckinghamshire: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
Cambridgeshire: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers
Cheshire: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell
City of London: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Cornwall: Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (on shelf)
Cumbria: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
Derbyshire: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Devon: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Dorset: Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
County Durham: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
East Riding of Yorkshire: South Riding by Winifred Holtby
East Sussex: Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne
Essex: The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James
Gloucestershire: Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee
Greater London: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Greater Manchester: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Hampshire: Watership Down by Richard AdamsHerefordshire: On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
Hertfordshire: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Isle of Wight: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Kent: The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates
Lancashire: Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson
Leicestershire: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend
Lincolnshire: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Merseyside: An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Norfolk: The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley
North Yorkshire: Dracula by Bram Stoker
Northamptonshire: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Northumberland: The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin
Nottinghamshire: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
Oxfordshire: The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Rutland: Set In Stone by Robert Goddard
Shropshire: Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse
Somerset: Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
South Yorkshire: A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines
Staffordshire: The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett
Suffolk: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Surrey: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Tyne and Wear: Another World by Pat Barker
Warwickshire: Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
West Midlands: Middlemarch by George Eliot
West Sussex: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
West Yorkshire: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Wiltshire: Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
Worcestershire: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall -
The Shameful Reckoning of My Books TBR
Progress 3/104
Link to Books bought/acquired in 2018
Fiction:
Akunin, Boris - Murder on the Leviathan
Akunin, Boris - The Death of Achilles
Atkinson, Kate - Started Early Took My Dog
Atwood, Margaret - The Blind Assassin
Barker, Pat - The Ghost RoadBarker, Pat - Toby's Room
Beauman, Ned - The Teleportation Accident
Boyd, William - Any Human Heart
Bradley, Alan - A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce 3)
Bradley, Alan - I Am Half Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce 4)
Bulgakov, Mikhail - The Master and Margarita
Bullington, Jesse - The Sad Tale of the Brothers GrossbartBurnett, Frances Hodgson - A Little Princess
Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden
Carey, Peter - Oscar and Lucinda
Carter, Angela - Nights at the Circus
Carter, Angela - The Passion of New EveChristie, Agatha - At Bertram's Hotel
Christie, Agatha - Curtain: Poirot's Last CaseChristie, Agatha - Death on the Nile
Christie, Agatha - Dumb WitnessChristie, Agatha - Five Little Pigs
Christie, Agatha - Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Christie, Agatha - The Murder at the Vicarage
Christie, Agatha - The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Christie, Agatha - Third Girl
Collis, John Stewart - The Worm Forgives the Plough
Connolly, John - Nocturnes
Dennys, Joyce - Henrietta Sees it Through (Bloomsbury)
Drabble, Margaret - The Red Queen
Du Maurier, Daphne - The House on the Strand
Du Maurier, Daphne - Jamaica InnEugenides, Jeffrey - My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead
Ewing, Barbara - The Circus of Ghosts (Mesmerist #2)Fforde, Jasper - The Big Over Easy
Fforde, Jasper - The Fourth Bear 70Fforde, Jasper - The Woman Who Died a Lot (Thursday Next #7)
Fitzgerald, F.Scott - The Beautiful and the Damned
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Tender is the NightGardner, Sally - The Red Necklace
Gibbons, Stella - Christmas at Cold Comfort FarmGogol, Nikolai - The Collected Tales
Gold, Glen David - Carter Beats the Devil
Goss, Theodora - The Thorn and The Blossom
Greene, Graham - Brighton Rock
Haddon, Mark - The Red House
Haig, Matt - The Last Family in England
Hall, Louisa - The Carriage House
Harkaway, Nick - Angelmaker
Hay, Sheridan - The Secret of Lost ThingsHugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
Hustvedt, Siri - What I Loved
Install, Deborah - A Robot in the Garden
James, Marlon - A Brief History of Seven KillingsJonasson, Jonas - The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden
Joyce, James - Dubliners
Kingsolver, Barbara - The Lacuna
Lakhous, Amara - Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio
Le Carre, John - The Spy who Came in from the Cold
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - The Autumn of the Patriarch
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - No One Writes to the Colonel
Morton, Kate - The House at Riverton
Murdoch, Iris - The Black PrinceNesbit, E - The Railway Children
North, Claire - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
O'Flynn, Catherine - The News Where You Are
Oksanen, Sofi - Purge
Orwell, George - Keep the Aspidistra FlyingPratchett, Terry and Baxter, Stephen - The Long Earth
Radcliffe, Ann - The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ransome, Arthur - Winter HolidayRodriguez, Deborah - The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul
Sewell, Anna - Black Beauty
Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath
Steinbeck, John - The Pearl
Steinbeck, John - The Red Pony
Tartt, Donna - The Little Friend
Taylor, G.P. - Mariah Mundi & the Ghost Diamonds
Toksvig, Sandi - Valentine Grey
Udall, Brady - The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint
Vickers, Sally - Miss Garnet's Angel
Whipple, Dorothy - Someone at a Distance (Persephone)
Williams, Nigel - East of Wimbledon
Williams, Nigel - They Came From SW19
Winterson, Jeanette - Sexing the Cherry
Winton, Tim - Cloudstreet
Wodehouse, PG - Right Ho, Jeeves
Non Fiction:
De Waal, Edmund - The Hare with Amber Eyes
Fitzgerald, Penelope - So I Have Thought of You: The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald
Grove, Valerie - Laurie Lee: The Well Loved Stranger
Hepworth, David - 1971 Never a Dull Moment
Hodgson, Vere - Few Eggs and No Oranges (Persephone)
Last, Nella - Nella Last's Peace
Light, Alan - What Happened Miss Simone?
Manguel, Alberto - A Reading Diary
McGrath, Alistair E - CS Lewis: A Life
Ozma, Alice - The Reading Promise
Pratt, Jean-Lucey (Edited by Simon Garfield) - A Notable Woman
White, Florence - Good Things in England (Persephone)
Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 2
Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 3
Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 4
Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 5
Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 6
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Total Books Read 2009 ... 49 - incomplete list (39 fiction, 9 non-fiction & 1 audio } male authors: 24 .. female authors: 25)
Total books read in 2010 ... 141 (94 fiction, 9 non-fiction, 4 short stories, 2 plays & 32 audio } male authors: 75 .. female authors: 66)
Total books read in 2011 ... 109 (71 fiction, 26 non-fiction, 1 short story & 11 audio } male authors: 54 .. female authors: 55)
Total books read in 2012 ... 89 (50 fiction, 27 non-fiction, 3 short stories, 1 poem & 8 audio } male authors: 48 .. female authors: 41)Total books read in 2013 ... 109 (67 fiction, 21 non-fiction, 5 short stories, 1 poem, 1 essay, 1 collection & 13 audio } male authors: 57 .. female authors: 51 plus all those in the short story collection)
Total Books Read 2014 ... 73 (47 fiction, 15 non-fiction, 6 short stories & 5 audio } male authors: 36, female authors: 37)
Total Books Read 2015 ... 113 (83 fiction, 14 non-fiction, 2 short stories & 14 audio } )
Total Books Read 2016 ... 91 (57 fiction,15 non-fiction, 2 poetry books & 17 audio } )
Total Books Read 2017 ... 90
I'm going to try and keep it more simple this year. I'm not going to promise (or threaten
) to write any reviews as we all know how that's panned out over the last few years. Possibly I'll write a few words about books I love and/or hate.
5/5: Loved it!
4/5: Liked it enormously .. would have been a 'loved it' but for ....
3/5: Liked it!
2/5: Not really my cup of tea but, you know, tolerable!
1/5 Hated it .. probably abandoned it or SHOULD HAVE!!!
January 2018
1. Swimming Lessons - Claire Fuller (audio) 4/5
2. Fated (Alex Verus #1) - Benedict Jacka 4/5
3. Memoirs of a Polar Bear - Yoko Tawada 4/5
4. Sky Song - Abi Elphinstone 4/5
5. My Sweet Revenge - Jane Fallon 2/5
6. Calling Major Tom - David M Barnett 5/5
7. The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight #1) - Katherine Arden 4/5
8. The New Mrs Clifton - Elizabeth Buchan 5/5
9. Autumn - Ali Smith 4/5
10. Three Things About Elsie - Joanna Cannon (audio) 4/5
11. The Polar Bear Explorers' Club - Alex Bell 4/5
12. How To Stop Time - Matt Haig
February 2018
13. The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) - Jonathan Stroud 4/5
14. The Very Thought of You - Rosie Alison 2/5
15. Uncommon Type - Tom Hanks 5/5
16. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep - Joanna Cannon (audio) 4/5
17. Soul Eater (Chronicles of Darkness #3) - Michelle Paver 3/5
18. Everything I Know About Love - Dolly Alderton 4/5
19. Nights at the Circus - Angela Carter 4/5
20. Mythos - Stephen Fry (audio) 5/5
21. The Summer of Impossible Things - Rowan Coleman 3/5
March 2018
22. My Grandmothers and I - Diana Holman Hunt 4/5
23. Five Little Pigs (Hercule Poirot #25) - Agatha Christie 4/5
24. A Skinful of Shadows - Frances Hardinge (audio) 4/5
25. Neither Here, Nor There - Bill Bryson (audio) 4/5
26. The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock - Imogen Hermes Gowar
27. A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce #3) - Alan Bradley 4/5
28. The Rest of Their Lives - Jean-Paul Didierlaurent 4/5
29. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle - Stuart Turton (audio) 5/5
30. The Woman in the Window - A.J. Finn (audio) 4/5
31. Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading - Lucy Mangan 4/5
32. Left of the Bang - Claire Lowdon 4/5
April 2018
33. The Power - Naomi Alderton (audio) 3/5
34. After Me Comes the Flood - Sarah Perry 2/5
35. Make More Noise: New Stories in Honour of the 100th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage - Emma Carroll and others 4/5
36. The Grand Sophy - Georgette Heyer (audio) 5/5
37. The Witchfinder's Sister - Beth Underdown 4/5
38. The Good People - Hannah Kent 4/5
39. The Pier Falls - Mark Haddon 5/5
40. Dear Mrs Bird - A.J. Pearce (audio) 4/5
41. Sourdough - Robin Sloane 3/5
42. The Chrysalids - John Wyndham 4/5
General questions / discussions
in Forum Updates
Posted
Thank you so much for all you’ve done over the years to make this place an absolute haven for book readers Michelle. I’m so sad to see it go but totally understand why it’s become necessary.
Hope somehow that we can all keep in touch.