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Vodkafan's 2015 reading list


vodkafan

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Welcome to my  2015 reading blog, which you may notice is very much the same as last year.  Like last year, no reading challenges just a mass of books on my TBR to get through. Reviews are found buried in the folowing pages: sorry if that is confusing to anybody, I haven't mastered the link thingy yet.

(k) denotes kindle ebook

® denotes book read primarily for research purposes

 keeping the same simple rating system this year:

1/5: I didn't like it
2/5: It was okay
3/5: I liked it
4/5: I really liked it
5/5: It was amazing

 

BOOKS READ IN 2015

 

January 

She looks just like you   Amie Klempnauer (re-read 3/5)

The Mangle Street Murders  M.R.C. Kasasian 5/5 

The Victorian Governess  Kathryn Hughes 3/5

Whoops! Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay  John Lanchester 3/5 (k)

 

February

The Crimson Petal and The White  Michel Faber 5/5 

New Grub Street  George Gissing 4/5 (k)

The Town Traveller George Gissing 4/5 (k)

Game Of Thrones George RR Martin 2/5

Will Warburton George Gissing 3/5(k)

 

March

The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher or The Murder At Road Hill House  Kate Summerscale  4/5

Mrs P's Journey  Sarah Hartley     4/5

The Whirlpool  George Gissing 3/5(k)

Murder On The Verandah Love and Betrayal In British Malaya  Eric Lawlor   3/5

The Emancipated   George Gissing    2/5(k)

 

April

Thyrza   George Gissing 3/5(k)

North And South  Elizabeth Gaskill 2/5(k)

Ubik    Philip K Dick  4/5

The Apple: Crimson Petal Stories  Michel Faber 3/5

A Special Relationship  Douglas Kennedy  3/5

 

May

The Women Who Lived For Danger Marcus Binney  3/5

The Paying Guest  George Gissing    5/5(k)

The Victorian House Explained    Trevor Yorke 5/5 ®

There But For The  Ali Smith  1/5

Our Friend The Charlatan George Gissing 5/5 (k)

 

June

Victorian London  1840-1870  Liza Picard 5/5 ®

 

July

Thieve's Kitchen The Regency Underworld  Donald A.Low 4/5 ®

A Life's Morning   George Gissing            2/5 (k)

Eve's Ransom      George Gissing            5/5 (k)

Hide In Time           Anna Faversham         3/5 (k)

 

August

The House Of Cobwebs and other stories George Gissing 5/5 (k)

Denzil Quarrier            George Gissing          3/5 (k)

Demos       George Gissing               3/5(k)

 

September

Daily Life In Victorian England   Sally Mitchell       5/5

A Brief History Of Time  Stephen Hawking   4/5

A London Family 1870-1900  Molly Hughes  5/5

Mutants  Armand Marie Leroi  3/5

 

October

Workers In The Dawn  George Gissing  4/5 (k)

Born In Exile  George Gissing 4/5 (k)

The Anome  Jack Vance (k) (Re-read)

 

November

The Brave Free Men Jack Vance (k) (re-read)

The Asutra  Jack Vance (k) (re-read)

The Lost City Of The Incas  Hiram Bingham 3/5 

Spunk Fakers, Slap Bangs and Tipping The Velvet   Patrick Chapman 5/5 (k)

Life as A Victorian Lady  Pamela Horn 4/5 (k)

December

Edited by vodkafan
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My TBR pile

 

London The Biography                                Peter Ackroyd           £2.81 incl. postage Amazon

Air                                                            Geoff Ryman            30p

Choke                                                       Chuck Palahniuk      30p

There But For The                                      Ali Smith                  30p

Nice To See It To See It Nice                      Brian Viner              30p

A Life's Morning

The Crown Of Life

Eve's Ransom

Our Friend The Charlaton

Will Warburton

The Private Papers Of Henry Ryecroft

The Emancipated

The Whirlpool

The Paying Guest

Denzil Quarrier

The Town Traveller

Born In Exile

Demos                                                          all above by

The House Of Cobwebs and other stories     George Gissing  free for kindle

The Poor Gentleman                                     Hendrick Conscience     free for kindle

Two On A Tower      

The Return Of The Native

A Laodician

A Pair Of Blue Eyes

Jude The Obscure

The Woodlanders

Far From The Madding Crowd                         all above by

The Mayor of Casterbridge                             Thomas Hardy            free for kindle

Post Haste                                                    RM Ballantyne            free for kindle

Autobiography Of Anthony Trollope

Lady Anna

Miss Mackenzie                                                4 above by

The Way We Live Now                                  Anthony Trollope        free for kindle

Twelve Years A Slave                                    Solomon Northup          49p kindle

Letters Of Two Brides                                       Balzac                    free for kindle

Birds Of Prey

Charlotte's Inheritance

Run To Earth A Novel

The Doctor's Wife

Lady Audley's Secret                                    Mary Elizabeth Braddon    free for kindle

It's A Small Medium And Outsize World  John Taylor

 Cut Like Wound  Anita Nair (signed copy, paperback printed in India!)

Little Dorrit Charles Dickens

The Mill On The Floss

Madame Bovary

Connections

Rules For Virgins

Tess of The d'urbervilles

Lady Susan

Out Of Time-Five tales of Time Travel

The Life And Loves Of A She Devil

The Passion Of New Eve

The Haunted Hotel

Ten Interesting Things About Human Behaviour

The Diary Of A Nobody

Strange Loops

Equality

Looking Backward 2000-1887

The Time Travel Megapack

Thoughts On The Education Of Daughters

The Last Man

Maria, Or The Wrongs Of Woman

North And South Elizabeth Gaskill

Vindication Of The Rights Of Woman

The Perpetual Curate

The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde

Slave Girl Sarah Forsyth  (autobiography)

The Man Who Loved Only Numbers Paul Hoffman (biography of Paul Erdos)

The White Mists Of Power Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Blitz The Civilian War 1940-45 Jane Waller Michael Vaughn-Rees (war memoir)

The Martian Way Isaac Asimov

The Woman Who Went To Bed For A Year Sue Townsend 

Freedom (The Rake And The Recluse Part One)

I Think I'm OK

Undercover: The True Story Of Britain's Secret Police

Victorian Slang: Spunk Fakers, Slap Bangs and Tipping The Velvet

Under A Cloud-Soft Sky

The Singing Winds

Shelter From The Storm

Snow Angels

New Grub Street

King Solomon's Carpet  Barbara Vine

A Far Cry From Kensington Muriel Spark

Capital John Lanchester

Sweet Thames Matthew Kneale  

Good Behaviour  Molly Keane
The Green Brain Frank Herbert
The Steampunk megapack (26 stories)
Viridis
Lady Of Devices A Steampunk Adventure
Steampunk Erotica
The Siege Of Krishnapur J.G. Farrell
Miss Peregrine's Home For Unusual Children - Ransom Riggs
Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Balti Britain - Ziauddin Sardar
Stephanie Plum series 9-20 - Janet Evanovitch
Forgotten Voices of the Blitz Joshua Levine
One Day David Nichols
The Victorians AN Wilson
Victorian London Liza Picard
Geisha Liza Dalby
In The Heart Of The Sea Nathanial Philbrick
Spycatcher Peter Wright
Best New SF 25
The Midnight Palace
 Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Ways Of Seeing John Berger
Gunners On Tour Maurice Court
Mother Tongue Bill Bryson
The Almost Moon Alice Sebold
Rivers Of London Ben Aaronovitch
The Horse Whisperer Nicholas Evans
The Women Who Lived For Danger Marcus Binney
The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer Michelle Hodkin
The German Invasion Of Norway Geirr H Haarr
Raj Lawrence James
Accidents In The Home Tessa Hadley
Devoted Ladies Molly Keane
A Fine Balance Rohinton Mistry
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Lord Of The Flies William Golding
Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier
Untying The Knot Linda Gillard
The Picture Of Dorian Grey Oscar Wilde
Nicholas Nickleby Charles Dickens
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow Washington Irvine
Meeting At Infinity John Brunner
Little Women Louisa May Alcott
One of Our Thursdays Is Missing,
Thursday Next First Among Sequels,
Something Rotten,
The Well Of Lost Plots,
Lost In A Good Book,
The Eyre Affair Jasper Fforde

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel
The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
Pure - Andrew Miller
Who Dares Wins 
The Age of Revolution 1789-1848 
The Age Of Capital 1848-1875 
The Age Of Empire 1875-1914 
Shirley 
Alone In Berlin

Perfume
The Terror 
Bleak House 
The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde 

The Moonstone 
The Woman In White 
Ruth
The Importance Of Being Earnest 
Basil
Les Miserables 
Wuthering Heights 
Mrs Oliphant
Shout At The Devil 
Thieves' Kitchen

The Crowded Street
Round the Bend
A Special Relationship
Hayfever  (Parragon health guide)
The Selfish Gene Richard Dawkins
Two Eggs On My Plate Oluf Reed Olsen
Slavery A New Global History Jeremy Black
The Warrior Queens Antonia Fraser
Infidel Ayaan Hirsi Ali 
Nerd Do Well Simon Pegg
Mrs P's Journey
Forensic Clues To Murder Brian Marriner 
Confessions Of An English Opium Eater Thomas De Quincey 
Bad Blood Lorna Sage 
I Know My Own Heart Anne Lister 
The Voyage Out Virginia Woolf 
D-Day Stepehen Ambrose 
The Book Of The Dead
Of All Possible Worlds William Tenn 
The Makeshift Rocket Poul Anderson 
Life The Universe and Everything
More Than Super-Human AE VAN Vogt 
Testament Of Youth                                        Vera Brittain

Journey Through A Small Planet                    Emanuel Litvenoff

The Other Side Of The Dale                            Gervaise Phinn

Foundation                                                       Isaac Asimov

The Naked Sun                                                 Isaac Asimov

The Road To Samarcand                                 Patrick O'Brian

 
Edited by vodkafan
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Ah here is a bit of a new thing (stolen from Willoyd)

It's an (edited) list of my top-rated books from the last two years.

Only two years because I didn't start rating books until 2013. I may cheat later on and weigh up my reads from previous years and grant them a rating in hindsight.

 

I felt I had to edit the list because looking back I could not understand why I rated one or two of them so highly; (the Unlikely Pilgrimage Of Harold Fry springs to mind) and also I felt I can't be objective about Jack Vance ( as I am such a fanboy) so I took out all his. It pains me that some  great books I rated just below top marks and so I couldn't include them when I feel now should have.

So, in the end I don't really know what point I am trying to make with this list ; but, you may hopefully agree with some of my choices as good reads . 

 

Running With Scissors      Augusten Burroughs (autobiography)

The Odd Women   George Gissing

The Unclassed     George Gissing

In The Year Of Jubilee  George Gissing

How To Be A Victorian    Ruth Goodman

1888- London Murders In The Year Of The Ripper  Peter Stubley

The Book Thief

Girl Meets Boy   Ali Smith

Girl, Interrupted   Suzanna Kayson

Small Island     Andrea Levy

Flowers For Algernon

Nineteen Seventy-Nine  Rhona Cameron (autobiography)

London In The Nineteenth Century  Jerry White

Jonathon Strange And Mr Norrell

Edited by vodkafan
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Good luck on your reading this year!!  :readingtwo:  :D

 

Some interesting reads on your TBR, especially Rebecca, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Of Mice and Men

I read Rebecca and really enjoyed it, the other two are on my TBR and I'm really looking forward to them  :smile:

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Some interesting reads on your TBR, especially Rebecca, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Of Mice and Men

I read Rebecca and really enjoyed it, the other two are on my TBR and I'm really looking forward to them  :smile:

These are all great. :)

 

I hope you have a great reading year, VF. :)

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Always great to see Ali Smith on someone else's TBR list! :D  It's just reminded me you PM'd me a while back, and I read it on my phone and meant to reply to and then completely forgot :doh:  Sorry about that, I'll get to that soon :blush:

 

Hope you enjoy your reading this year :)

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The Horse Whisperer, Perfume, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights are all great reads. I'm gonna particularly plug Perfume, because the writing is stunning and the book is weirdly wonderful, and also Earnest, because that often gets overlooked in favour of Dorian, though Earnest is actually my favourite Wilde story/play - it's HILARIOUS.

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I hope you have a good reading year, VF. :smile:

 

Some standouts from your list are:

 

Capital - John Lanchester

One Day - David Nichols

The Horse Whisperer - Nicholas Evans

Lord Of The Flies - William Golding

Life Of Pi - Yann Martel

 

Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as I did. :readingtwo:

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Wow, James, I didn't know your TBR pile had gotten so big! Are these mostly Kindle books?

 

Some of my favourites are:

The Diary of a Nobody
Of Mice and Men
Rivers of London
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Wuthering Heights
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

 

 
I look forward to reading your thoughts on your various steampunk books. I love steampunk but haven't really done much reading in the genre yet.
 
I bought Lady Audley's Secret and New Grub Street last year, and I'm intrigued by them both.
 
Madame Bovary is also pretty good, and don't let Poppyshake and Frankie tell you otherwise! I will admit that the protagonist is very unlikeable though.
 
Happy reading!  :friends3:
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Wow, James, I didn't know your TBR pile had gotten so big! Are these mostly Kindle books?

 

Some of my favourites are:

The Diary of a Nobody
Of Mice and Men
Rivers of London
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Wuthering Heights
Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

 

 
I look forward to reading your thoughts on your various steampunk books. I love steampunk but haven't really done much reading in the genre yet.
 
I bought Lady Audley's Secret and New Grub Street last year, and I'm intrigued by them both.
 
Madame Bovary is also pretty good, and don't let Poppyshake and Frankie tell you otherwise! I will admit that the protagonist is very unlikeable though.
 
Happy reading!  :friends3:

 

 Hi Kylie, yes about 60% kindle books.  I am actually half way through New Grub Street. At the moment the plot is still developing, but The Odd Women and The Unclassed  by the same author will be hard to beat, they were so good. I haven't got to any of the steampunk books yet.

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The Horse Whisperer, Perfume, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Dorian Gray and Wuthering Heights are all great reads. I'm gonna particularly plug Perfume, because the writing is stunning and the book is weirdly wonderful, and also Earnest, because that often gets overlooked in favour of Dorian, though Earnest is actually my favourite Wilde story/play - it's HILARIOUS.

 

 Thanks Noll I have actually read Perfume already  years back but I bought another copy to read it again

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Always great to see Ali Smith on someone else's TBR list! :D  It's just reminded me you PM'd me a while back, and I read it on my phone and meant to reply to and then completely forgot :doh:  Sorry about that, I'll get to that soon :blush:

 

Hope you enjoy your reading this year :)

 

Thanks Claire! That Ali Smith book is another I am half way through..it's in my locker at work.. be interested to hear your thoughts

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Good luck on your reading this year!!  :readingtwo:  :D

 

Some interesting reads on your TBR, especially Rebecca, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Of Mice and Men

I read Rebecca and really enjoyed it, the other two are on my TBR and I'm really looking forward to them  :smile:

 

Thanks BSchultz...I am a bit nervous of Rebecca....

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 Hi Kylie, yes about 60% kindle books.  I am actually half way through New Grub Street. At the moment the plot is still developing, but The Odd Women and The Unclassed  by the same author will be hard to beat, they were so good. I haven't got to any of the steampunk books yet.

 

I haven't heard of the other two books.  :blush2: If I like New Grub Street, then I guess I'll be adding the other two to my wishlist!

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Thanks everyone! I didn't realise people had been posting. It's really interesting to see that lots of the classics are very much liked by many.

You've got some great books on that list. Just have to add to the lists! These are my favourites (5 or 6 stars):

 

Fiction

Far From The Madding Crowd

Madame Bovary

North and South

King Solomon's Carpet

Sense and Sensibility

Nicholas Nickleby

Of Mice and Men

Pure

Bleak House

The Woman in White

Wuthering Heights

The Voyage Out

and more.....!

 

Non-fiction

London, The Biography

The Victorians

The Selfish Gene

 

Have to say, though, I intensely disliked Stephen Ambrose's D-Day: nobody except Americans seems to exist in his histories. Max Hastings, Antony Beevor, John Keegan (Six Armies in Normandy) are IMO infinitely better.

 

Good luck with you reading this year, especially making inroads into that mega-list.

Edited by willoyd
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I haven't heard of the other two books.  :blush2: If I like New Grub Street, then I guess I'll be adding the other two to my wishlist!

 

Ooh I wouldn't have started with New Grub Street..the poverty is a bit unrelenting at the moment..he does like to put his characters through the mill and no-one is safe..which I do like because of the four Gissings I have read I could not predict how they would end.

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Thanks Willoyd!

 

I defineitely want this year to nail those classics you have mentioned...very soon I will have to read Elizabeth Gaskill's North And South. I enjoyed the TV four part dramatization very much because it tackles so many political issues and also sympathetically shows both sides. It seems incredible that at the time Charles Dickens (her editor) hardly considered it worthy of publication at all!

Edited by vodkafan
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Ooh I wouldn't have started with New Grub Street..the poverty is a bit unrelenting at the moment..he does like to put his characters through the mill and no-one is safe..which I do like because of the four Gissings I have read I could not predict how they would end.

 

Oh dear! Well, when I get around to reading it, I'll make sure I keep in mind that not all of his books are the same (if I'm not enjoying it, that is).

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Where am I at the moment.....I am half way through at least five books....I stopped reading Game Of Thrones because my friend hasn't been reading Lyonesse, which was his end of the bargain. He told me yesterday he was going to start reading it again so I may finish GOT soon..still  reading New Grub Street and a couple of others too

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