Ben's Book Bonanza, 2013.

[Ben]

Ben's Super Duper Book Thread 2013 (Disclaimer: participants may or may not actually find it super).

Hey you lovely literary bunch. I debated about waiting until the new year to post my 2013 reading thread, but as usual the excitement of everyone setting up their own threads spurred me into relenting. I honestly feel that this year will be my best year of literary abandonment and I'm so excited to get started.

Don't hesitate to drop in for a chat, to recommend something, or merely just to swing by and see what's going on. I'll be definitely sure to get around more people's reading threads this year, and I'm hoping to get involved with discussions more than ever before. So, come on in and make yourself at home; I'll put the kettle on while you take a seat.

Quick Links
2012 Reading Review.
Tenacious TBR.
Rory Challenge.
WBL Challenge.
2013 Purchases.
Sherlock Holmes Challenge.

Previous Reading Blogs
2009: 48.
2010: 25.
2011: 52.
2012: 81.

Total Read 2013: 78.

 

January
1. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Review.
2. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.
3. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.
4. The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi.
5. The River Between by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.
6. Saturday by Ian McEwan.
7. The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.
8. Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot. Review.
9. White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
10. A Distant Shore by Caryl Phillips.
11. Crick Crack, Monkey by Merle Hodge.
12. The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

February

March

13. Beloved by Toni Morrison.

14. The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde.

15. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka.

16. Selected Poems: W. B. Yeats by W. B. Yeats.

17. Selected Stories: Katherine Mansfield by Katherine Mansfield.

18. A Passage to India by E. M. Forster.

19. A Storm of Swords I: Steel and Snow by George R. R. Martin.

20. A Storm of Swords II: Blood and Gold by George R. R. Martin.

21. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

22. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

April

May

23. The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.

24. Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Review.

25. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

26. Inconceivable by Ben Elton.

June

27. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.

28. The Rosary Girls by Richard Montanari.

29. Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

30. On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

31. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

32. Broken Angels by Richard Montanari.

33. Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard.

34. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin.

35. The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

36. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

37. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.

38. Animal Farm by George Orwell.

39. The United Miscellany by John White.

40. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson.

41. Blaze by Stephen King.

42. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett.

43. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain.

44. The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison.

45. Messiah by Boris Starling.

46. The Front by Patricia Cornwell.

47. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

48. The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver.

49. The Street Lawyer by John Grisham.

50. Alice's Adventures In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

July

51. Dressing Up for the Carnival by Carol Shields.

52. The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier.

53. And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison.

54. The Whole Story and Other Stories by Ali Smith.

55. The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid Ali.

56. Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked by Ivan Vladislavić.

57. Selected Poems by Simon Armitage.

58. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce.

59. Kartography by Kamila Shamsie.

August

September

October

November

60. Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra.

61. In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje.

62. Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey.

63. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie.

64. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

65. The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie.

66. Shame by Salman Rushdie.

67. The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston.

68. Running Blind by Lee Child.

69. Echo Burning by Lee Child.

70. Without Fail by Lee Child.

 

December

71. Persuader by Lee Child.

72. The Enemy by Lee Child.

73. One Shot by Lee Child.

74. The Hard Way by Lee Child.

75. Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child.

76. Nothing to Lose by Lee Child.

77. Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child.

78. Fear by Jeff Abbot.

Edited December 21, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

The Tenacious TBR

TBR as of 01/01/13: 235.
Current TBR: 194.

Bold indicates read (2013)
A (K) indicates it’s a Kindle e-book
Medium blue indicates a 2013 addition to TBR

Abbott, Jeff: Fear
Achebe, Chinua: Things Fall Apart
Adiche, N. Chimamanda: Half of a Yellow Sun
Alderman, Naomi: Doctor Who: Borrowed Time

Ali, Shahid. Agha: The Country Without a Post Office
Andrews, Virginia: Flowers in the Attic.
Aristotle: Ethics (K)

Armitage, Simon: Selected Poems
Atkinson, Kate: One Good Turn
Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park
Austen, Jane: Northanger Abbey (K)
Bakewell, Sarah: How to Live
Barrie, M. J: Peter Pan
Bernieres, D. Louis: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Bowler, Tim: Starseeker
Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Bronte, Emily: Wuthering Heights
Brown, Derren: Confessions of a Conjurer
Carrel, L. J: The Shakespeare Secret
Carroll, Lewis: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (K)
Cast, C. P & Kristin: Untamed (#4)
Cast, C. P & Kristin: Hunted (#5)

Chandra, Vikram: Love and Longing in Bombay
Chandra, Vikram: Sacred Games
Child, Lee: Running Blind (#4) (K)
Child, Lee: Echo Burning (#5) (K)
Child, Lee: Without Fail (#6) (K)
Child, Lee: Persuader (#7) (K)
Child, Lee: The Enemy (#8) (K)
Child, Lee: One Shot (#9) (K)
Child, Lee: The Hard Way (#10) (K)
Child, Lee: Bad Luck and Trouble (#11) (K)
Child, Lee: Nothing to Lose (#12) (K)
Child, Lee: Gone Tomorrow (#13) (K)
Child, Lee: 61 Hours (#14) (K)
Child, Lee: Worth Dying For (#15) (K)
Clarkson, Jeremy: I Know You Got Soul
Coben, Harlan: Promise Me
Coben, Harlan: One False Move
Connelly, Michael: Angels Flight
Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness
Cooper, Susan: Over Sea, Under Stone (#1)
Cooper, Susan: The Dark Is Rising (#2)
Cooper, Susan: Greenwitch (#3)
Cooper, Susan: The Grey King (#4)
Cooper, Susan: Silver on the Tree (#5)
Cornwell, Patricia: The Front
Cussler, Clive: Dark Watch
Dahl, Roald: Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life
Dahl, Roald: Boy
Dahl, Roald: Going Solo
Dahl, Roald: My Uncle Oswald
Dahl, Roald: The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Dahl, Roald: Someone Like You
Dahl, Roald: Switch Bitch
Dahlquist, W. G: The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters
Darwin, Emma: The Mathematics of Love
Davies, Martin: The Conjuror’s Bird
Davidson, Andrew: The Gargoyle
Dawkins, Richard: The Greatest Show on Earth (K)
Dawkins, Richard: The God Delusion
Dawkins, Richard: The Selfish Gene (K)
Deaver, Jeffery: The Bone Collector
Dickens, Charles: A Tale of Two Cities
Dickens, Charles: Bleak House (K)
Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield (K)
Dickens, Charles: Oliver Twist (K)
Dickens, Charles: The Old Curiosity Shop
Donnelly, Jennifer: A Gathering Light
Donoghue, Emma: Room
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment
Easterman, Daniel: Midnight Comes at Noon
Eddings, David & Leigh: The Redemption of Althalus

Eliot, George: Adam Bede

Eliot, George: 'Brother Jacob'
Eliot, George: Middlemarch (K)
Eliot, T.S.: Selected Poems
Elton, Ben: Inconceivable
Falconer, Duncan: The Protector
Farndale, Nigel: The Blasphemer
Feist, E. Raymond: Magician: Apprentice (K)
Fielding, Helen: Bridget Jones’s Diary: The First Columns
Fletcher, Charlie: Stone Heart
Ford, Madox, Ford: The Good Soldier
Forster, E.M.: A Passage to India
Fowler, Christopher: Bryant & May: Off the Rails

Fowles, John: A Maggot
Fullerton, S. George: An Introduction to Philosophy (K)
Gaiman, Neil: Stardust (K)
Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere (K)
Gentle, Mary: 1610: A Sundial in a Grave

Ghosh, Amitav: The Shadow Lines
Gibbins, David: Atlantis
Gillard, Linda: Emotional Geology
Golding, William: Lord of the Flies (K)
Goodkind, Terry: Debt of Bones (K)

Gosse, Edmund: Father and Son
Grisham, John: A Time to Kill (K)
Grisham, John: The Street Lawyer (K)
Grisham, John: A Painted House (K)
Grossman, Lev: The Magicians
Grossman, Lev: Codex
Hamilton, K. Laurell: Guilty Pleasures (K)
Hammet, Dashiell: The Maltese Falcon
Hannah, Sophie: The Point of Rescue
Hardy, Thomas: Far From the Madding Crowd
Hardy, Thomas: The Woodlanders
Hardy, Thomas: Under the Greenwood Tree
Harris, Charlaine: Dead and Gone (#9) (K)
Harris, Charlaine: Dead in the Family (#10) (K)
Hawking, Stephen: The Grand Design (K)
Hawkins, Simon: Silver
Hemingway, Ernest: A Farwell to Arms (K)
Hill, Stuart: The Cry of the Icemark (#1)
Hislop, Victoria: The Island
Hobb, Robin: Dragon Keeper (#1) (K)
Hobb, Robin: Dragon Haven (#2) (K)
Hobb, Robin: Assassin’s Apprentice (#1) (K)
Hobb, Robin: Royal Assassin (#2) (K)
Hobb, Robin: Ship of Magic (#1) (K)
Hobb, Robin: Mad Ship (#2) (K)
Hodge, Merle: Crick Crack, Monkey
Homer: The Iliad (K)
Hosseini, Khaled: A Thousand Splendid Suns
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables (K)
Hurwitz, Gregg: I See You
Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World (K)
Ishiguro, Kazuo: Never Let Me Go
Ishiguro, Kazuo: The Remains of the Day
Jennings, Amanda: Sworn Secret
Jones, Sadie: The Outcast

Joyce, James: The Dubliners

Joyce, James: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joyce, James: Ulysses (K)
Kadare, Ismail: The Siege
Kafka, Franz: Metamorphoses
Kant, Immanuel: The Critique of Practical Reason (K)
Kemp, Martin: An Autobiography: True

Kerouac, Jack: On the Road
Kilworth, Garry: The Welkin Weasels: Castle Storm (#2)
King, Stephen: 11/22/63
King, Stephen: Blaze
King, Stephen: Carrie (K)
King, Stephen: Insomnia (K)
King, Stephen: It (K)
King, Stephen: Lisey’s Story
King, Stephen: Misery (K)
King, Stephen: Pet Sematary (K)
King, Stephen: The Dark Half (K)
King, Stephen: The Gunslinger (K)
King, Stephen: The Eyes of the Dragon
King, Stephen: The Shining (K)
King, Stephen: The Stand (K)
King, Stephen: Salem’s Lot (K)
King, Stephen: Under the Dome (K)
Kingsolver, Barbara: The Lacuna

Kingston, Hong. Maxine: The Woman Warrior
Kipling, Rudyard: The Jungle Book (K)
Knowles, James Sir: The Legends of King Arthur (K)
Koontz, Dean: The Good Guy
Koontz, Dean: Intensity (K)
Koontz, Dean: Life Expectancy
Koontz, Dean: Midnight (K)
Koontz, Dean: The Taking
Koontz, Dean: Velocity (K)
Kostova, Elizabeth: The Historian
Kureishi, Hanif: The Black Album
Levy, Andrea: The Long Song
Lindsey, Jeff: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (#1) (K)
Lindquist, A. John: Let the Right One in (K)
Ludlum, Robert: The Hade’s Factor (#1) (K)
Ludlum, Robert: The Bourne Identity (#1) (K)
Mansfield, Katherine: Selected Stories
Marshall, Ian: The Official Manchester United Book of Facts and Figures
Martel, Yann: Life of Pi (K)
Martin, R. R. George: A Storm of Swords I: Steel and Snow
Martin, R. R. George: A Storm of Swords II: Blood and Gold
Martin, R. R. George: A Feast for Crows
Martin, R. R. George: A Dance with Dragons
Matheson, Richard: I Am Legend
Marquez, G. Gabriel: One Hundred Years of Solitude (K)

Maurier, du. Daphne: The Rendezvous and Other Stories
McEwan, Ian: Atonement (K)
McEwan, Ian: Saturday

McEwan, Ian: Sweet Tooth
Mill, S. John: Utilitarianism (K)
Montaigne, D. Michel: Essays (K)
Montanari, Richard: Broken Angels
Montanari, Richard: Kiss of Evil
Montanari, Richard: The Rosary Girls

Morrison, Blake: And When Did You Last See Your Father?
Morrison, Toni: Beloved
Mosse, Kate: Labyrinth
Nesbo, Jo: Nemesis (K)
Nesbo, Jo: The Redeemer
Nesbo, Jo: The Leopard
Niffenegger, Audrey: The Time Traveler’s Wife
Nimmo, Jenny: The Time Twister
Nix, Garth: The Ragwitch
Nowel, Joshua: Operation Typhoon Shore (#2)
Obama, Barack: The Audacity of Hope (K)

Ondaatje, Michael: Anil's Ghost

Ondaatje, Michael: In the Skin of a Lion
Orwell, George: Animal Farm
Patterson, James: Max (#5)
Phillips, Caryl: A Distant Shore
Pinter, Jason: The Fury
Plato: Laws (K)
Poe, A. Edgar: Essential Tales and Poems (K)
Pollen, Bella: The Summer of the Bear
Pratchett, Terry: Equal Rites (K)
Pratchett, Terry: Hogfather
Pratchett, Terry: Monstrous Regiment
Pratchett, Terry: The Light Fantastic (K)
Pratchett, Terry: Mort (K)
Preston, Marcia: The Butterfly House

Prince, Mary: The History of Mary Prince
Puzo, Mario: The Godfather (K)
Pyle, Howard: The Adventures of Robin Hood (K)
Rankin, Ian: Hide & Seek

Quincey, de. Thomas: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater
Rice, Anne: Interview with a Vampire (K)

Rushdie, Salman: Midnight's Children

Rushdie, Salman: The Satanic Verses

Sansom, J. C.: Winter in Madrid
Sebold, Alice: The Lovely Bones

Selvadurai, Shyam: Funny Boy
Selvon, Sam: The Lonely Londoners

Shamsie, Kamila: Kartography

Shields, Carol: Dressing Up for the Carnival

Sidhwa, Bapsi: Cracking India
Skelton, Matthew: Endymion Spring
Slaughter, Karin: Triptych
Slouka, Mark: The Visible World

Smith, Ali: The Whole Story and Other Stories

Smith, Zadie: NW
Smith, Zadie: White Teeth
Starling, Boris: Messiah
Steinbeck, John: The Grapes of Wrath (K)
Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men (K)
Stevenson, L. Robert: Kidnapped (K)
Suskind, Patrick: Perfume
Swift, Jonathan: Gulliver’s Travels (K)
Temple, Peter: The Broken Shore
Thackeray, M. William: Vanity Fair
Thiong'o, Ngugi: The River Between
Thompson, Kate: The New Policeman
Tolstoy, Leo: Anna Karenina (K)
Townsend, Sue: The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year

Tracy, J. P: Dead Run
Tracy, J. P: Live Bait
Twain, Mark: The Prince and the Pauper
Various: Killer Year (Edited by Lee Child)

Various: Staying Alive: Real poems for unreal times (Edited by Neil Astley)
Verne, Jules: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (K)

Vladislavić, Ivan: Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked
Walker, Alice: The Colour Purple

Walker, Thompson. Karen: The Age of Miracles
Walters, Minette: Acid Row
White, John: The United Miscellany
Winthrop, H. Elizabeth: December
Williams, Adam: The Emperor’s Bones
Womersley, Chris: Bereft
Woolf, Virginia: Orlando

Woolf, Virginia: The Waves
Yeats, W.B.: Selected Poems
Zafón, Ruiz. Carlos: The Angel’s Game (K)

Zafón, Ruiz. Carlos: The Prisoner of Heaven

Edited December 21, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

Rory's Book List
(Bold indicates already read)
(K) indicates a Kindle e-book read
(Bold and medium blue indicates read 2013)

1. Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
4. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Micheal Chabon
5. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
7. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
8. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy
9. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
10. Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie
11. Beloved by Toni Morrison
12. The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy
13. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
14. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
15. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
16. Brick Lane by Monica Ali
17. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger
18. The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse
19. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
20. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
21. Cousin Bette by Honor'e de Balzac
22. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
23. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
24. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
25. Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
26. The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson
27. Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
28. Edgar Allan Poe: Complete Tales & Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
29. Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn
30. Emma by Jane Austen
31. Empire Falls by Richard Russo
32. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
33. Extravagance by Gary Krist
34. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
35. Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World by Greg Critser
36. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
37. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
38. The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
39. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
40. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
41. Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut
42. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
43. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
44. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
45. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
46. Holidays on Ice: Stories by David Sedaris
47. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer
48. How the Light Gets in by M. J. Hyland
49. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
50. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
51. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
52. Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito
53. The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar by Robert Alexander
54. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
55. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
56. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
57. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
58. The Lottery: And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
59. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
60. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
61. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
62. The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer
63. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
64. A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars
65. My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru by Tim Guest
66. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
67. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
68. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
69. The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin
70. Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen
71. Night by Elie Wiesel
72. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
73. Old School by Tobias Wolff
74. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
75. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
76. The Opposite of Fate: Memories of a Writing Life by Amy Tan
77. Oracle Night by Paul Auster
78. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
79. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
80. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
81. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
82. The Portable Dorothy Parker by Dorothy Parker
83. Property by Valerie Martin
84. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
85. Quattrocento by James Mckean
86. A Quiet Storm by Rachel Howzell Hall
87. The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham
88. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir of Books by Azar Nafisi
89. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
90. Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman
91. Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi
92. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
93. Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
94. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
95. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
96. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
97. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
98. Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
99. Small Island by Andrea Levy
100.The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht
101. Song of the Simple Truth: The Complete Poems of Julia de Burgos by Julia de Burgos
102. The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker
103. Songbook by Nick Hornby
104. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
105. Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
106. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
107. The Story of My Life by Helen Keller
108. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemmingway
109. Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber
110. Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
111. Time and Again by Jack Finney
112. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
113. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
114. The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson
115. Truth & Beauty: A Friendship by Ann Patchett
116. Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
117. Unless by Carol Shields
118. Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
119. When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka
120. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

23/120.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

World Book Night Top 100 Books 2012
(Bold indicates already read)
(K) indicates a Kindle e-book read
(Bold and medium blue indicates read in 2013)

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
5. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
6. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
7. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
8. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
9. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
10. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
11. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
12. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
13. Harry Potter Adult Hardback Boxed Set by J. K. Rowling
14. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
15. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
16. One Day by David Nicholls
17. Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
18. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
19. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
20. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
21. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
22. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
23. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
24. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
25. Little Women by Louisa M. Alcott
26. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
27. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
28. Atonement by Ian McEwan
29. Room by Emma Donoghue
30. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
31. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
32. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
33. Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
34. The Island by Victoria Hislop
35. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
36. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
37. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
38. Chocolat by Joanne Harris
39. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
40. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
41. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
42. Animal Farm by George Orwell
43. The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
44. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
45. Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
46. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
47. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
48. The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
49. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
50. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
51. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
52. Dracula by Bram Stoker
53. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
54. Small Island by Andrea Levy
55. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
56. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
57. Persuasion by Jane Austen
58. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
59. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
60. Watership Down by Richard Adams
61. Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
62. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
63. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
64. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
65. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
66. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
67. The Stand by Stephen King
68. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
69. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
70. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
71. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
72. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
73. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
74. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
75. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
76. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
77. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
78. The Princess Bride by William Goldman
79. A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
80. Perfume by Patrick Suskind
81. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
82. The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
83. Middlemarch by George Eliot
84. Dune by Frank Herbert
85. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
86. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
87. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
88. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
89. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling
90. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
91. The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
92. Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt
93. Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
94. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
95. The Magus by John Fowles
96. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
97. A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
98. Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
99. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
100. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

39/100.

Edited December 13, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

2013 Purchases: 35. (Nothing going on in here, hurry along).

 

7.

04/04/13: On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Read

??/05/13: The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Read

24/05/13: Sweet Tooth by Ian McEwan. Read

31/05/13: Winter in Madrid by C. J. Sansom.

31/05/13: The Age of Miracles by Katie Thompson Walker. Read

13/06/13: The Woman Who Went to Bed For a Year by Sue Townsend.

13:06/13: NW by Zadie Smith.

 

For Uni: 28.

 

29/06/13: Anil's Ghost by Michael Ondaatje.

02/07/13: The Rendezvous and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier. Read

02/07/13: Dressing Up for the Carnival by Carol Shields. Read

02/07/13: The Waves by Virginia Woolf.

02/07/13: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce. Read

02/07/13: Adam Bede by George Eliot.

02/07/13: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

02/07/13: 'Brother Jacob' by George Eliot.

04/07/13: The Country Without a Post Office by Agha Shahid Ali. Read

04/07/13: Selected Poems by Simon Armitage. Read

04/07/13: Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra. Read

04/07/13: A Maggot by John Fowles.

04/07/13: The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh.

04/07/13: Father and Son by Edmund Gosse.

04/07/13: The Dubliners by James Joyce.

04/07/13: The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston. Read

04/07/13: And When Did You Last See Your Father? by Blake Morrison. Read

04/07/13: In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje. Read

04/07/13: The History of Mary Prince by Mary Prince.

04/07/13: Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas de Quincey. Read

04/07/13: Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Read

04/07/13: The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie. Read

04/07/13: Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai.

04/07/13: Kartography by Kamila Shamsie. Read

04/07/13: Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa.

04/07/13: The Whole Story and other stories by Ali Smith. Read

04/07/13: Staying Alive: real poems for unreal times (edited by Neil Astley) by Various.

04/07/13: Portrait with Keys: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked by Ivan Vladislavić. Read

Edited December 13, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

The Sherlock Holmes Challenge
(Bold indicates read)

(Bold and medium blue indicates read in 2013)

A Study in Scarlet (1887) (Novel)
The Sign of the Four (1890) (Novel)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892)

• 'A Scandal in Bohemia'
• 'The Red-headed League'
• 'A Case of Identity'
• 'The Boscombe Valley Mystery'
• 'The Five Orange Pips'
• 'The Man with the Twisted Lip'
• 'The Blue Carbuncle'
• 'The Speckled Band'
• 'The Engineer’s Thumb'
• 'The Noble Bachelor'
• 'The Beryl Coronet'
• 'The Copper Beeches'

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894)

• 'Silver Blaze'
• 'The Yellow Face'
• 'The Stock-broker’s Clerk'
• 'The ‘Gloria Scott'
• 'The Musgrave Ritual'
• 'The Reigate Squires'
• 'The Crooked Man'
• 'The Resident Patient'
• 'The Greek Interpreter'
• 'The Naval Treaty'
• 'The Final Problem'

The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) (Novel)

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905)

• 'The Empty House'
• 'The Norwood Builder'
• 'The Dancing Men'
• 'The Solitary Cyclist'
• 'The Priory School'
• 'Black Peter'
• 'Charles Augustus Milverton'
• 'The Six Napoleons'
• 'The Three Students'
• 'The Golden Pince-Nez'
• 'The Missing Three-Quarter'
• 'The Abbey Grange'
• 'The Second Stain'

The Valley of Fear (1915) (Novel)

His Last Bow (1917)

• 'Wisteria Lodge'
• 'The Cardboard Box'
• 'The Red Circle'
• 'The Bruce-Partington Plans'
• 'The Dying Detective'
• 'Lady Frances Carfax'
• 'The Devil’s Foot'
• 'His Last Bow'

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (1927)*

• 'The Illustrious Client'
• 'The Blanched Soldier'
• 'The Mazarin Stone'
• 'The Three Gables'
• 'The Sussex Vampire'
• 'The Three Garridebs'
• 'Thor Bridge'
• 'The Creeping Man'
• 'The Lion’s Mane'
• 'The Veiled Lodger'
• 'Shoscombe Old Place'
• 'The Retired Colourman'

*I posted these in the order which is in the majority of the newer copies of this anthology, not the chronological order.

Total: 14/60.

Edited July 6, 2013 by Ben

[Ben]

Reserved (Just in case).

 

Edited December 27, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Well, here it goes, a new topic and hopefully the start of my best ever reading year. It's a bold claim, but I'm really excited to see what literary adventures 2013 will bring. I intend to read a lot more classics this year, and will finally get around to Tolstoy's War and Peace and hopefully Joyce's Ulysses too. I'm hoping to be more conscientious with my reviews, and much better organised over all.

 

I'm not going to make any claims about reducing my to-be-read pile, as the amount of books I have to purchase for university often makes this impossible. Similarly with reading purchases. I'm also putting down the tentative idea that I'll have my first ever year completing 100 books. It'll mean not falling off the pace like I usually do, but we shall see. Happy 2013 reading to you all, and definitely don't be strangers.

[vodkafan]

It'a pretty big TBR pile Ben, good luck. I get excited reading everybodies new 2013 threads too.

[Ben]

It'a pretty big TBR pile Ben, good luck. I get excited reading everybodies new 2013 threads too.

 

Yep, it was pretty big at the start of last year too so I think I've just accepted it might not ever go down at all.

 

It's like starting a new exercise book at school, everything is so neat and fresh; a blank slate that holds so much promise and potential. I can't wait to go round and follow everyone's reading pages (which I'm sure I'll be doing in the next couple of days). They're all full of exciting new lists and whatnot, it's great.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Ben

[bree]

That's a big beautiful list Ben!

No wonder you're excited.

Happy reading then

[chesilbeach]

Lots of great books on your TBR Ben, although some I disliked too!

 

I've been meaning to ask you, have you found how you read books has changed since you started university? I've often heard people say that studying English made them so analytical of books that they found it hard to read for fun afterwards, and I wondered if you found the same?

[Devi]

Hey Ben! Happy reading in 2013, I too am going to try and make the rounds more often

 

I get excited looking at peoples lists too.

[Kylie]

It's like starting a new exercise book at school, everything is so neat and fresh; a blank slate that holds so much promise and potential. I can't wait to go round and follow everyone's reading pages (which I'm sure I'll be doing in the next couple of days). They're all full of exciting new lists and whatnot, it's great.

 

Well said, Ben!

 

This is my favourite time of the year on the forum - reading everyone's new lists. Next year I'm going to make more of an effort to keep up with the first page of people's threads. I usually just read the most recent posts and forget to check back in with the original lists.

 

You have an awesome TBR pile. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Good luck reaching the 100 milestone!

[Nollaig]

Happy reading in 2013, Ben! Good luck with your goal and wow that's one heck of a TBR pile!!

[Alexi]

Happy reading in 2013 Ben looks like some crackers in your TBR, I will be following progress with interest.

[Ben]

That's a big beautiful list Ben!

No wonder you're excited.

Happy reading then

 

Thanks Bree, right back at you. I think considering my massive list as beautiful is a good idea, will make me forget the fact it's not going down.

 

Lots of great books on your TBR Ben, although some I disliked too!

 

Oh well I'm sure there'll be some that I dislike too, wouldn't be the same otherwise.

 

I've been meaning to ask you, have you found how you read books has changed since you started university? I've often heard people say that studying English made them so analytical of books that they found it hard to read for fun afterwards, and I wondered if you found the same?

 

Hmm, it's an interesting question. I mean, it definitely hasn't stopped me from having fun while reading recreationally, but I think that's because I can separate studying texts from just actually reading them. When I'm reading books for university I tend to read them in relation to themes and background information we've learned. When it's just casual reading I usually haven't studied the context. Don't know if that helps.

 

Hey Ben! Happy reading in 2013, I too am going to try and make the rounds more often

 

Hey Devi, happy reading to you too.

 

This is my favourite time of the year on the forum - reading everyone's new lists. Next year I'm going to make more of an effort to keep up with the first page of people's threads. I usually just read the most recent posts and forget to check back in with the original lists.

 

You have an awesome TBR pile. I look forward to reading your thoughts. Good luck reaching the 100 milestone!

 

Thanks Kylie, it is good isn't it?! Dead excited. Good luck with your 2013 reading too.

 

Happy reading in 2013, Ben! Good luck with your goal and wow that's one heck of a TBR pile!!

 

You too, Noll. Hope it's great year for you. Haha, it certainly is..

 

Happy reading in 2013 Ben looks like some crackers in your TBR, I will be following progress with interest.

 

You too Alexi, happy reading for 2013. Thanks, I'll make sure there's something worth reading then.

[Devi]

Sorry to change the subject for this post, but regarding cheslibeach's question - have you found how you read books has changed since you started university? I found as a game developer, I used to analyse games more so after the course, to the point where I would stop mid play to investigate a texture or 3D model.

 

I did it for five years before it started to take away my enjoyment of playing games.

 

So I too Ben, was very curious to hear your answer regarding reading and studying English.

 

p.s. I saw your reply.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Devi

[Ben]

Sorry to change the subject for this post, but regarding cheslibeach's question - have you found how you read books has changed since you started university? I found as a game developer, I used to analyse games more so after the course, to the point where I would stop mid play to investigate a texture or 3D model.

 

I did it for five years before it started to take away my enjoyment of playing games.

 

 

That's interesting. I think perhaps if I didn't enjoy reading so much then it would have a serious affect. I've really never found studying to take away the enjoyment of a text, though, even back at school. I studied every inch of The Great Gatsby because of re-sits and whatnot, and it's still one of my favourite books to date. I certainly feel relieved that it doesn't ruin my enjoyment.

[Lilywhite]

Good Luck with your 2013 reading Ben! Looking at those lists, you're going to need it

 

Some fab books on there and several of my own personal favourites. I always love seeing classics on peoples reading lists too.

[Brian.]

Happy reading in 2013. War & Peace is quite an undertaking.

[Ben]

Good Luck with your 2013 reading Ben! Looking at those lists, you're going to need it

 

Don't remind me. Best of luck to you too, Kat.

 

Some fab books on there and several of my own personal favourites. I always love seeing classics on peoples reading lists too.

 

I'm hoping this is my year for the classics, really determined to get through a fair few. Ooh, which are your personal favourites?

 

Happy reading in 2013. War & Peace is quite an undertaking.

 

Filling me with confidence, Brian. Best of luck to you too.

[Hayley]

That is a LONG reading list!

Some very good books on it though, should be fun trying to get through it

[Ben]

That is a LONG reading list!

Some very good books on it though, should be fun trying to get through it

 

Right, everyone stop saying how long and ambitious it is, doesn't make it any easier. Haha, yes, fun it will be.

 

Best of luck for your 2013 reading year, Hayley.

[anisia]

So organized!

Happy reading in 2013!