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Poppyshake's Reading Year 2017


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Books Read 2009

Books Read 2010

Books Read 2011

Books Read 2012

Books Read 2013

Books Read 2014

Books Read 2015

Books Read 2016

 

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 } )

 

Quicklinks

Mount TBR

1001 Challenge

Wishlist

Conquering Mount Virginia

The English Counties Challenge

BCF Recommended Reads - Fiction

BCF Recommended Reads - Non-Fiction

Poached Quotes on Toast

Poppyshake's 130 Books You Must Read Before Teatime

 

I think I'll go back to scoring again this year as there's a definite difference between 3/5 and 4/5 on the liking it scale :)   

5/5: Loved it!

4/5: Liked it enormously .. would have been a 'loved it' but for .... :lol: 

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!!!

Again, I didn't abandon any books last year. There was one that I should have and would have abandoned only I wanted to keep on with the series so I had to plug on. Was annoyed at it for taking up precious minutes .. not to say hours of reading time  :censored: 

 

January 2017

1. Five Give Up the Booze - Bruno Vincent 3/5 review

2. St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised By Wolves - Karen Russell 4/5 review

3. The Evenings - Gerard Reve 4/5 review

4. Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl - Wendy Jones 3/5 review

5. Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz 3/5 review

6. My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell 5/5 review

7. Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain - Barney Norris (audio) 4/5 review

8. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout 5/5 review

9. No Time Like the Past (The Chronicles of St Mary's #5) - Jodi Taylor (audio) 4/5 review

10. Cogheart - Peter Bunzl 4/5 review

February 2017

11. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson 5/5 review

12. A Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines 5/5 review

13. Hag-seed - Margaret Atwood 4/5 review

14. The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman 5/5 review

15. The Secret of Nightingale Wood - Lucy Strange 4/5 review

16. The Flight of the Mind: The Letters of Virginia Woolf 1888-1912 (Vol One) - Edited by Nigel Nicolson 4/5 review

17. Strange Star - Emma Carroll 4/5 review

March 2017

18. The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain - Christopher Somerville 4/5 review

19. The Muse - Jessie Burton (audio) 4/5

20. Another Little Christmas Murder - Lorna Nicholl Morgan

21. The President's Hat - Antoine Laurain

22. So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne 5/5

23. A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle (audio, short story) 4/5

24. Vaudeville - Gaetan Soucy 4/5

April 2017

24. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys 4/5

25. The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge (audio) 4/5

26. Sea (The Huntress #1) - Sarah Driver 4/5

27. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry 5/5

28. The Radleys - Matt Haig 4/5

29. Rock Stars Stole My Life - Mark Ellen 4/5

30. Beetle Boy (The Battle of the Beetles #1) - M.G. Leonard 4/5

May 2017

31. The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett 5/5

32. The Cider House Rules - John Irving 4/5

33. Letters from the Lighthouse - Emma Carroll 4/5

34. The Sign of the Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio) 3/5

35. Himself - Jess Kidd 5/5

36. The Stolen Child - Lisa Carey 4/5

37. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr 5/5

38. Island Summers: Memories of a Norwegian Childhood - Tilly Culme-Seymour 4/5

39. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells 3/5

40. A Scandal in Bohemia (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #1) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio - short story) 4/5

41. The Red-Headed League (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #2) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio - short story) 4/5

42. H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald 5/5

June 2017

43. The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells 4/5

44. Mrs Zant and the Ghost - Wilkie Collins (audio - short story) 3/5

45. A Rare Book of Cunning Device (Peter Grant short story) - Ben Aaronovitch (audio exclusive) 4/5

46. Bleaker House - Nell Stevens 5/5

47. Who Let the Gods Out? - Maz Evans 4/5

48. Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty 5/5

49. Around Britain by Cake - Caroline Taggart 4/5

50. Golden Hill - Francis Spufford 4/5

51. The Secrets of Wishtide - Kate Saunders 2/5

July 2017

52. The Legend of Podkin One-Ear - Kieran Larwood 4/5

53. The Movie Doctors - Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo 4/5

54. The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #1) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5

55. Talking to Addison - Jenny Colgan 3/5

56. The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #2) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5

57. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (The Chronicles of St Mary's #6) - Jodi Taylor(audio) 4/5

58. Down Under - Bill Bryson 4/5

59. Beetle Queen (The Battle of the Beetles #2) - M.G. Leonard

60. Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #3) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5

61. The Goshawk - T.H. White 4/5

August 2017

62. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (audio) 5/5

63. The Woman Who Stole My Life - Marian Keyes 2/5 (and that's generous!)

64. True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean - David Almond 3/5

65. An Almond for a Parrot - Wray Delaney 4/5

September 2017

66. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson 4/5

67. How Not to be a Boy - Robert Webb (audio) 5/5

October 2017

68. How To Be Champion - Sarah Millican (audio) 4/5

69. The Diary of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell 4/5

November 2017

70. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling (audio) 5/5 (re-listen)

71. The Princess Bride - William Goldman 4/5

72. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink - Elvis Costello 4/5

73. The Secrets of Gaslight Lane (The Gower Street Detective #4) - M.R.C. Kasasian 3/5

74. The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (Burford Family #1) - James Anderson 3/5

75. La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1) - Philip Pullman 4/5

76. The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories and Recipes for Midwinter - Nigel Slater 5/5

December 2017

77. Dragon's Green (Worldquake Sequence #1) - Scarlett Thomas 4/5

78. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (audio) 5/5 (re-listen)

79. The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Christmas #2) - Matt Haig 4/5

80. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) - Jessica Townsend (audio) 4/5

81. The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa 5/5

82. Thin Air - Michelle Paver 4/5

83. Wolf Brother (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1) - Michelle Paver 4/5

84. Mr Dickens and His Carol - Samantha Silva 3/5

85. The Wizards of Once (The Wizards of Once #1) - Cressida Cowell (audio) 4/5

86. Spirit Walker (The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #2) - Michelle Paver

87. Father Christmas and Me (Christmas #3) - Matt Haig

88. The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan 3/5

89. Dark Matter - Michelle Paver 4/5

90. A Poem For Every Night of the Year - Edited by Allie Esiri 4/5

Edited by poppyshake
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The Shameful Reckoning of My Books TBR

Progress 5/139   :unsure:

 

Link to Books Bought/Acquired in 2017

 

Fiction:

Abercrombie, Joe - Red Country

Abercrombie, Joe - The Heroes

Akunin, Boris - Murder on the Leviathan

Akunin, Boris - The Death of Achilles

Almond, David - The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean

Anderson, James - The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy
Atkinson, Kate - Started Early Took My Dog
Atwood, Margaret - The Blind Assassin
Barker, Pat - The Ghost Road

Barker, Pat - Toby's Room

Barnes, Julian - The Noise of Time

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 Grossbart

Burnett, 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 Eve

Christie, Agatha - At Bertram's Hotel
Christie, Agatha - Curtain: Poirot's Last Case

Christie, Agatha - Death on the Nile
Christie, Agatha - Dumb Witness

Christie, 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, Cressida - My Former Heart

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 Inn

Eugenides, 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

Fforde, Jasper - The Woman Who Died a Lot (Thursday Next #7)
Fitzgerald, F.Scott - The Beautiful and the Damned
Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Tender is the Night

French, Dawn - A Tiny Bit Marvellous

Gardner, Sally - The Red Necklace
Gibbons, Stella - Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm

Gogol, Nikolai - The Collected Tales
Gold, Glen David - Carter Beats the Devil  :lurker: 

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 Things
Hines, Barry - A Kestrel For a Knave

Hoare, Philip - Leviathan
Hornby, Nick - Juliet Naked

Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Hustvedt, Siri - What I Loved
Install, Deborah - A Robot in the Garden

Irving, John - The Cider House Rules

Irving, John - The World According to Garp
James, Marlon - A Brief History of Seven Killings

Jonasson, 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

Lawrence, DH - Women in Love

Le Carre, John - The Spy who Came in from the Cold

Lindgren, Astrid - Emil and the Great Escape

Lindgren, Astrid - Emil and the Sneaky Rat

Lindgren, Astrid - Emil's Clever Pig

Lindgren, Astrid - Karlson Flies Again

Lindgren, Astrid - Karlson on the Roof

Lindgren, Astrid - Lotta Makes a Mess

Lindgren, Astrid - Lotta Says No

Lindgren, Astrid - Pippi Goes Abroad

Lindgren, Astrid - Pippi in the South Seas

Mantel, Hilary - Fludd

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - The Autumn of the Patriarch

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - No One Writes to the Colonel

Maugham, Somerset - Ashenden

Maugham, Somerset - The Magician

Maugham, Somerset - The Narrow Corner

Maugham, Somerset - Up at the Villa
McGregor, Jon - If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things

Morton, Kate - The House at Riverton
Murdoch, Iris - The Black Prince

Nesbit, E - The Railway Children

Nesbo, Jo - The Redbreast

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 Flying

Pratchett, Terry and Baxter, Stephen - The Long Earth

Radcliffe, Ann - The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ransome, Arthur - Winter Holiday

Rodriguez, 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
Townsend, Sue - Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years
Townsend, Sue - Adrian Mole & the Weapons of Mass Destruction

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:

Bryson, Bill - Down Under

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

McCourt, Frank - Angela's Ashes
McCourt, Frank - Tis

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 1

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 

Edited by poppyshake
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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 30/48 (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

HampshireWatership Down by Richard Adams

Herefordshire: 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

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WISHLIST


 


Fiction:


Bradley, Alan - Speaking From Among the Bones (Flavia de Luce #5)


Bradley, Alan - The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia de Luce #6)


Bradley, Alan - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Flavia de Luce #7)


Bradley, Alan - Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd (Flavia de Luce #8)


Bukowski, Charles - Ham on Rye


Comyns, Barbara - Who Was Changed and Who was Dead


Haig, Matt - To Be a Cat


Hartley, L.P. - The Go-Between


Laurain, Antoine - The President's Hat 


Meloy, Maile - The Apothecary


Mitchell, Gladys - Watson's Choice


Novik, Naomi - Uprooted


O'Loughlin, Ann - The Ballroom Cafe


Pierre, DBC - Vernon God Little


Robertson, James - To Be Continued


Rowley, Steven - Lily and the Octopus


Taylor, Andrew - Fireside Gothic


 


Non Fiction:


Gordon, Edmund - The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography


Hodgman, George - Bettyville


Rakoff, Joanna - My Salinger Year


Shaw, Sarah - Portland Place


Simon, Carly - Boys in the Trees


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Books read from the 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die by Peter Boxall - 2006 
Progress so far: 147/1001

987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe

985. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe
971. Candide - Voltaire
959. Evelina – Fanny Burney
940. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
938. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
937. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
936. Emma - Jane Austen
933. Persuasion - Jane Austen
932. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
931. Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
919. The Nose – Nikolay Gogol
916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe
913. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

910. Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens
909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe

905. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
904. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
903. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë

902. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
900. Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell

898. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
897. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
896. Moby Dick - Herman Melville

892. Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell
891. Villette – Charlotte Brontë
890. Bleak House - Charles Dickens

887. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell
886. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

883. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

876. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
873. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo
871. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky
869. Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens
868. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

867. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky
865. The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope
863. Little Woman - Louisa May Alcott

859. Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope
854. Alice Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Caroll
853. Middlemarch - George Eliot
846. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
840. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy

825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain

821. The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy
820. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson

808. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
805. News from Nowhere – William Morris
804. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

803. Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith
797. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

794. Dracula - Bram Stoker
790. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells
789. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James

776. The Ambassadors – Henry James

740. The Voyage Out - Virginia Woolf
699. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
698. Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
695. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie
686. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
680. Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh
675. Orlando - Virginia Woolf
671. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner

656. Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham
650. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

643. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein
619. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell
611. The Years - Virginia Woolf

610. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
608. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
603. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
601. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson

596. Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood

584. Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf
566. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford
564. Animal Farm - George Orwell
563. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
561. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake

547. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

542. Love in a Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford
529. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger
526. Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham
521. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

495. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith
494. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tokien

484. On the Road – Jack Kerouac
481. The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham
478. The Bell – Iris Murdoch
474. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico
467. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
465. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark
459. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
457. Rabbit, Run – John Updike
456. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

451. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller
450. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark

446. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch
445. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
433. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
431. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark

411. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

399. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez
394. A Kestrel For a Knave - Barry Hines

367. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou
365. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison
354. Surfacing – Margaret Atwood
352. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson

305. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch
300. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino

278. On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin review
275. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally
274. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro

272. The Color Purple – Alice Walker

260. Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis

238. The Cider House Rules - John Irving
237. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson
236. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez

222. Beloved - Toni Morrison

196. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
172. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres

170. Regeneration - Pat Barker

147. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
143. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides

133. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx
129. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres

120. Mr Vertigo - Paul Auster

117. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

112. The Information – Martin Amis
92. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy
90. Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho

89. The Hours - Michael Cunningham

86. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
69. Pastoralia – George Saunders
54. White Teeth – Zadie Smith
52. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho
49. Life of Pi - Yann Martel

38. Gabriel's Gift - Hanif Kureishi

33. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
28. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami
26. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

15. The Colour – Rose Tremain
13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
9. The Master – Colm Tóibín
6. The Sea – John Banville
3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith
1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

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BCF Recommended Reads - Fiction

 

Kylie's Favourite Fiction (progress 24/40)
Jane Austen - Emma
Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice

John Banville - The Body of Evidence
Ray Bradbury - Farenheit 451

Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange
Italo Calvino - If On a Winter's Night a Traveller
John Connolly - The Book of Lost Things
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
Charles Dickens - Great Expectations

Alexandre Dumas - Count of Monte Christo
Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex

Michel Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated
George & Weedon Grossmith - Diary of a Nobody
Joseph Heller - Catch 22
Susan Hill - The Woman in Black
Jack Kerouac - On the Road

Jack Kerouac - The Town and the City
Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon
Steig Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
Erich Maria Marquez - All Quiet on the Western Front
Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind
Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita
George Orwell - Animal Farm
Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged
Mary Shelley - Frankenstein
John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men
Bram Stoker - Dracula

Hunter.S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces
Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Tim Winton - Cloudstreet

Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

Frankie's Favourite Fiction (progress 35/103)
Boris Akunin - The Winter Queen

Ingvar Ambjørnsen - Elling series
Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey

Jane Austen - Persuasion
Iain Banks - Wasp Factory

Muriel Barbery - The Elegance of the Hedgehog

Linwood Barclay - Too Close to Home
Robert Bloch - Psycho
John Boyne - Crippen

John Boyne - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Poppy Z. Brite - Exquisite Corpse

Karin Brunk Holmqvist - Pieni potenssipuoti

Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange

Chelsea Cain - Heartsick
Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Agatha Christie - Ten little Niggers
Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Jeffery Deaver - Lincoln Rhyme series
Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities
Lucy Dillon - The Secret of Happy Ever After

Emma Donoghue - Room
Daphne du Maurier - My Cousin Rachel
Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex

Michel Faber - Under the Skin
Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair
Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones's Diary

Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Peter Franzén - Tumman veden päällä

Stephen Fry - The Hippopotamus

Alex Garland - The Beach

Guy Gavriel Kay - The Lions of Al-Rassan

Linda Gillard - Emotional Geology

William Goldman - The Marathon Man

John Grogan - Marley and Me
Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Matt Haig - The Last Family in England
Anna-Leena Härkönen - Häräntappoase

Daniil Harms - Incidences

Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse series
Joanne Harris - Gentleman & Players
Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises

Nick Hornby - Juliet, Naked
Siri Hustvedt - The Summer Without Men

Kazuo Ishiguro - A Pale View of Hills
Lloyd Jones - Mister Pip

Katja Kallio - Kuutamolla

John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces

Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon

Stephen King - Cujo

Stephen King - Green Mile

Stephen King - The Stand

Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl
Andrey Kurkov - Death & the Penguin
Tuomas Kyrö - Mielensäpahoittaja

Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Dennis Lehane - Shutter Island

Ira Levin - Rosemary's Baby

Jeff Lindsay - Dexter
Vaino Linna - The Unknown Soldier
Jennifer Lynch - The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (and you need to watch the TV show!!)

Vladimar Nabokov - Lolita

Irene Nemirovsky - The Ball

Grace Metalious - Peyton Place

David Mitchell - Black Swan Green
Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind
Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret of Bees

L.M. Montgomery - The Blue Castle
Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen
Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart
Sofi Oksanen - Purge
Ann Patchett - Bel Canto

Inna Patrakova - Naapurit

Dan Rhodes - Gold
Anne Rice - Interview with a Vampire

Kauko Röyhkä - Kaksi aurinkoa

Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince

Pirkko Saisio - Punainen erokirja

Sapphire - Push!

Erich Segal - Love Story
Mary Ann Shaffer - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

George Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion
Anita Shreve - The Weight of Water
Linda Lay Shuler - She Who Remembers

Nevil Shute - Pied Piper

Dai Sijie - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Karin Slaughter - Grant County + Will Trent series
Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde
Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain

John Steinbeck - The Wayward Bus

Kathryn Stockett - The Help

Bram Stoker - Dracula
Patrick Suskind - Perfume
Vikas Swarup - Q&A

Donna Tartt - The Secret History
Jari Tervo - Pyhiesi yhteyteen

Voltaire - Candide
Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five
Sarah Waters - Fingersmith
Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting
Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest

Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind
Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

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BCF Recommended Reads - Non Fiction

 

Kylie's Favourite Non-Fiction (progress 3/13)
Bill Bryson - Down Under
Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods

Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything
Truman Capote - In Cold Blood
AB Facey - A Fortunate Life
Tim Flannery - The Explorers
Tim Flannery - The Birth of Sydney

Anne Frank - The Diary of Anne Frank
Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road
Steven D. Levitt - Freaconomics
Sylvia Plath - The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
Andrew Solomon - The Noonday Demon
Martin Toseland - A Steroid Hit the Earth

Frankie's Favourite Non-Fiction (
progress 3/28)
Sylvia Beach - Shakespeare and Company
Constance Briscoe - Ugly
Vincent Bugliosi - Helter Skelter
Augusten Burroughs - A Wolf at the Table
Augusten Burroughs - Dry
Augusten Burroughs - Magical Thinking
Augusten Burroughs - Possible Side Effects

Augusten Burroughs - Running with Scissors
Alain de Botton - How Proust Can Change Your Life
Peggy Claude-Pierre - The Secret Language of Eating Disorders
Pamela Druckerson - French Children Don't Throw Food

Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl
Philip Gonzalez - The Dog Who Rescues Cats
John Grogan - Marley and Me
Ronald Hayman - The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath

Nick Hornby - The Complete Polysyllabic Spree
Lesley McDowell - Between the Sheets - The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers
Motley Crue - The Dirt
Vicki Myron - Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
Christopher V.V. Parnell - Hell's Prisoner
Dave Peltzer - A Child Called It
Flora Rheta Scheiber - Sybil
Mary Roach - Stiff - The Life of the Human Cadavers
Ann Rule - The Stranger Beside Me
Deborah Spungen - And I Don't Want to Live This Life: A Mother's Story of her Daughter's Murder
Danny Wallace - Yes Man
Tobias Wolff - This Boys Life
Tuula-Liina Varis - Kilpikonna ja olkimarsalkka

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Books bought/acquired in 2017 (2016 Christmas books and books bought with Christmas money included) 

Progress: 20/27

 

Fiction: 

Atwood, Margaret - Hag-seed

Bunzl, Peter - Cogheart

Carroll, Emma - Strange Star

Carroll, Emma - The Letters from the Lighthouse

Doerr, Anthony - All the Light We Cannot See

Durrell, Gerald - My Family and Other Animals (from lovely Janet)

Haig, Matt - The Girl Who Saved Christmas

Keyes, Marian - The Woman Who Stole My Life

Kidd, Jess - Himself

Laurain, Antoine - The President's Hat

Leonard, M.G. - Beetle Boy

Ness, Patrick - The Ask and the Answer

Ness, Patrick - The Knife of Never Letting Go

Nicholl Morgan, Lorna - Another Little Christmas Murder

Perry, Sarah - The Essex Serpent

Pratchett, Terry - The Wee Free Men

Russell, Karen - St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves (short stories)

Soucy, Gaetan - Vaudeville!

Spufford, Francis - Golden Hill

Stedman, M.L. - The Light Between Oceans

Strange, Lucy - The Secret of Nightingale Wood (from lovely Claire)

Strout, Elizabeth - Olive Kitteridge

 

Non-Fiction:

Bryson, Bill - The Road to Little Dribbling

Dahl, Roald - Love From Boy (letters)

Esiri, Allie - A Poem For Every Night of the Year .. currently reading 

Macdonald, Helen - H is for Hawk

Somerville, Christopher - The January Man

Stevens, Nell - Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World

 

 

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Well, hello my lovelies .. welcome to my 2017 book blog .. here come the cows :cows: :cows: :cows:

I've really got to do better this year. I don't think I read ANYTHING from any of my challenge lists last year .. or perhaps just one or two but honestly, I just totally ignored them and acted like I didn't have 1001 unread books on my shelves (slight exaggeration but it feels like that many.) 

2016 started off well. Because I'd set a fairly low target on Goodreads the year before and exceeded it I thought I'd set a higher one in order to inspire myself and see what I was made of. Turns out I was made of clay and my reading hopes sunk in a tidal wave of indifference (not helped by those nice people at Goodreads who taunted me from April onwards!) This year I'll have more modest reading ambitions (and I'll be laughing in their faces!!! :lol:

I had to go and live with my mum and dad for almost three months at the end of 2016 to help them while mum was recovering from an op and I didn't read a single sentence .. unless you count microwave instructions and medicine information. It drove me almost mad! And many a sleepless night did I spend recounting the times when I could have read and didn't!! I couldn't believe I ever turned down reading to watch Rick Stein's Long Weekends!! :o But there it is .. you don't know what you've got till it's gone! I won't be making that mistake again! 

Now, because it's January and all thoughts have turned to streamlining and de-cluttering I've had a bit of a cull of the old TBR. It's NOT cheating it's just sensible. It's not that I don't want to read the books that I've taken off, it's just that I don't think I will read them for a while and .. well .. they're oppressing me!  :blush2: The titles are all in the book jar still though so that should provide entertainment for ages .. me running up and down looking for books that are actually in the charity shop!!  :D Because of course I have no system for finding books or knowing where they are. I used to have a vague idea but I've slept since then.

 

The main thing this year is to enjoy my reading. To basically spend as many hours as possible curled up with a book and a mug of hot chocolate (or iced lemonade in the summer .. if we have one.) I felt very unrelaxed when I was unable to read .. and agitated. Stories are such an escape because frankly, who wants to live in the real world 24/7? .. I don't! It's absolutely appalling but I can get through it with a bit of help from Messrs Dickens and Pratchett and Rowling etc.

 

So, hope you all have A VERY HAPPY READING YEAR and read some gems  :hug:  I do hope I can do better than last year and keep this blog up to date-ish! I'm not going to promise (or threaten :D) reviews because it might not happen. I might just write a few lines .. cut the waffle .. get to the point .. that sort of thing. Or I might write several very lengthy reviews and ignore the rest! As per usual. 

Anyway WELCOME ONE AND ALL. Please use all your tactics .. bullying and otherwise .. to encourage me to read stuff from my TBR etc. I deeply apologise if I have removed any books that you are particularly fond of. It's not personal .. it's space .. or the lack thereof!  

This thread is now officially .. OPEN!  :cows: :cows: :cows: 

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I love your blog!  :wub:

 

Here's to a fantastic, stress-free 2017.  I'm looking forward to lots more meetings with books, :reading: coffee :coffee1:  (or tea, if you must!  :P ) and toast. (Where's the toast emoticon?!  :D  )   :friends3:

 

I'm looking forward to following your progress.  You will have a better reading year, I can feel it in my bones!  :D

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I'm very happy to see you've set your new reading log up! :smile2: I saw it yesterday and immediately came in but I saw it was still under construction, so I tried to be patient and stay away! I wish you a truly wonderful reading year in 2017!! I can't wait to see what books you read this year, and watch how my own wishlist increases in size by ten-fold because of it! :D 
 

Total Books Read 2009 ... 49 
Total books read in 2010 ... 141
Total books read in 2011 ... 109
Total books read in 2012 ... 89 
Total books read in 2013 ... 109 
Total Books Read 2014 ... 73 
Total Books Read 2015 ... 113 
Total Books Read 2016 ... 91 

 
 When I look at these totals... You're a lean mean reading machine! :o You spent three months last year reading absolutely nothing and you still managed to come to 91 read books?! You're an inspiration! 

 

WISHLIST
 
Rakoff, Joanna - My Salinger Year

 

I have to say I'm liking your short wishlist. I've been entertaining the idea of culling my own wishlist for a while now... There are many titles whose existence on the list makes me yawn. In my own wishlist that is!! 

 

I wonder if I have My Salinger Year on my wishlist. I must have. If not, it's going there. 

 

I noticed another book by Joanna Rakoff at the bookstore in December and wrote the title down (or rather took a picture of the cover on my smartphone, in order to then add it to my wishlist): A Fortunate Age. Seems interesting! 

 

I've really got to do better this year. I don't think I read ANYTHING from any of my challenge lists last year .. or perhaps just one or two but honestly, I just totally ignored them and acted like I didn't have 1001 unread books on my shelves (slight exaggeration but it feels like that many.) 

 

That happened with me, too  :empathy:   Let's egg each other on to read those challenge books, aye!  Hurrah, 2017!!!

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I love your blog!  :wub:

 

Here's to a fantastic, stress-free 2017.  I'm looking forward to lots more meetings with books, :reading: coffee :coffee1:  (or tea, if you must!  :P ) and toast. (Where's the toast emoticon?!  :D  )   

 

I'm looking forward to following your progress.  You will have a better reading year, I can feel it in my bones!  :D

Oh .. thanks Janet  :smile2: I trust your bones much more than I do my own so I'm feeling confident now :D 

Yes, hope we have many, many, meet-ups this year .. I always feel a lot happier and booky inspired afterwards  :hug: Haha .. you're right .. I am a teapot!!  :giggle:

Wishing you a wonderful year of reading, Kay.  :smile:​ 

Thanks Chrissy  :hug: .. you too! 

I hope you have a wonderful year of reading in 2017 :):readingtwo:

Thanks Gaia  :hug: I think we're all going to have a great reading year this year .. I can feel it in Janet's bones  :D

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Apologies for the emoticon cull but you know how it is!  :blush2: 

I'm very happy to see you've set your new reading log up! I saw it yesterday and immediately came in but I saw it was still under construction, so I tried to be patient and stay away! I wish you a truly wonderful reading year in 2017!! I can't wait to see what books you read this year, and watch how my own wishlist increases in size by ten-fold because of it!

I exhausted myself constructing yesterday .. I know it was all copy & paste but all the same  :drama:
Hope you have a brilliant reading year my love  :hug:

When I look at these totals... You're a lean mean reading machine! You spent three months last year reading absolutely nothing and you still managed to come to 91 read books?! You're an inspiration!

Thank you, bless  :hug:  I was saved by audiobooks last year really .. I 'read' more of them than usual. Also, if I had to have three months of virtually reading nothing then they were the best three months as I hardly ever read much, if anything, in December and November can be a bit lean .. and October for that matter. The worst three months would have been Jan, Feb and March when it's so drab outside and cold and one can think of nothing better than to curl up with a book. I have great hopes for the first three months of 2017. Just watch me zoom off into the distance and then flag! :lol: :lol:

I have to say I'm liking your short wishlist. I've been entertaining the idea of culling my own wishlist for a while now... There are many titles whose existence on the list makes me yawn. In my own wishlist that is!!

Haha .. one of the main reasons for culling was to provide variation and stop me being bored to death with all the copying and pasting and looking at the same old lists a thousand times over :lol: 
You can't help but think, 'well if it's boring me then what are other people making of it?!' :lol:  :giggle: 

I wonder if I have My Salinger Year on my wishlist. I must have. If not, it's going there

I browsed it in Waterstone's and it looks fab! 


I noticed another book by Joanna Rakoff at the bookstore in December and wrote the title down (or rather took a picture of the cover on my smartphone, in order to then add it to my wishlist): A Fortunate Age. Seems interesting!

I love the cover :wub: but that first review doesn't inspire .. 'utterly awful' :lol: 
It might be a good one though to get from the library :yes:  


That happened with me, too  :empathy:   Let's egg each other on to read those challenge books, aye!  Hurrah, 2017!!!

I'm all for egging :lol: .. and can you get a bit pushy, shovey, as well .. when egging won't do?  :D 


You have quite a few books on your TBR that I want to read too so looking forward to seeing what you think of them! Hope you have a great reading year.

Thanks Hayley, you too  :hug: I must try harder with the TBR this year .. the longer a book stays on the shelf the more reluctant I am to pick it up .. nearly always going for the newer books. It won't do!!!! 

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Met up with lovely Claire and lovely Janet on Wednesday for coffee, tea, toast, cake and booky chats .. and booky purchases for that matter! :wub: Al and I had a fab time as we always do .. time flew though, we were there over three hours but could have been there for three more. Left to my own devices, I'd still be there now!!  :smile: 

Claire bought our Christmas presents with her, she made this absolutely gorgeous patchwork Christmas cushion for us :wub: :wub: You can see from the photos how gorgeous it is but it is even more fab in real life. She is so, so, clever! 

She also bought the book in the pic .. for Al .. but I will be reading it for sure  :D Fair's fair .. it's in my house and it's a book so open season  :D 

Thank you so much Claire .. you star!  :doowapstart:

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Here are some of my Christmas books, I've bought a couple more with Christmas money since then but haven't photographed them yet!  :smile: 

The mug was from my lovely mum and dad :wub: .. and some of the books!

 

The three books on the right are from lovely Janet, lovely Sari and lovely Claire :wub: Thank you so much girls  :kissing: It's the start of a new year and I've got new books to read  :boogie:

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KAY. I've missed you and your book reviews. :P Good to 'see' you back and with a new blog. Will be following closely and I hope you have a fabulous 2017 - both reading and otherwise. :friends0:

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I think I'll write down a few thoughts on the two books I've read so far :o Yes, start as I mean to go on (as I do every January :lol:
 
Five Give Up the Booze - Bruno Vincent
 
Synopsis: ‘Maybe you’ve been hitting it a bit hard over the Christmas period?’ suggested George. ‘No more than usual,’ he replied – a statement that gave them less assurance than he thought. George, Dick, Anne, Julian and Timmy confront a new challenge: give up the booze. Give up alcohol you say? Why, of course they can! Talk about an easy challenge!
Five old friends set about this simple task and find all of a sudden that: the days are longer; they get to see each other for who they really are; the empty laughter of ordinary conversation is so much harder to fake. Yes, they're saving money and losing weight, but the world itself seems to take on a slow, dreary inevitability. Soon they begin to snap at each other, and then fight - until they begin to wonder, have the Five at last found the challenge that will defeat them?
The perfect gift for anyone who has woken up and promised themselves that they will never drink again… At least until next weekend.

 

Thoughts: Haha :lol: .. the cheeky monkeys! How they've got permission to have Enid's name on the covers of these little parodies I will never know .. surely she is revolving in her grave! It's a great concept and it is well done, certainly had me smiling away. One of the funniest things about it I thought was the way they had used the original illustrations and sort of shoe-horned them to fit .. some of them matched quite well but some were so obviously wrong .. purposefully I'm sure. That tickled me. 

The synopsis says they were losing weight and saving money, not true .. George at least got the munchies instead and was tucking into chocolate and Anne lapsed back into smoking. Timmy did not of course give up the booze .. he had never been a boozer but he did feel the effects of it .. now the four were into healthy long walks which tired him and there weren't any trips to the pub so he lost out on all the tidbits. Poor Timmy :(

I don't know what the rest of the series is like, I would read them if they came my way but not sure I'd seek them out. A great way to wile away an hour or so though and very jolly :smile: 3/5 

 

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KAY. I've missed you and your book reviews. :P Good to 'see' you back and with a new blog. Will be following closely and I hope you have a fabulous 2017 - both reading and otherwise. :friends0:

Thank you Ben  :hug: Hope you have a fabulous 2017 too!  :smile:

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St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves - Karen Russell
 
Synopsis: Charting loss, love, and the difficult art of growing up, these stories unfurl with wicked humour and insight. Two young boys make midnight trips to a boat graveyard in search of their dead sister, who set sail in the exoskeleton of a giant crab; a boy whose dreams foretell implacable tragedies is sent to 'Sleepaway Camp for Disordered Dreamers' (Cabin 1, Narcoleptics; Cabin 2, Insomniacs; Cabin 3, Somnambulists...); a Minotaur leads his family on the trail out West, and finally, in the collection's poignant and hilarious title story, fifteen girls raised by wolves are painstakingly re-civilised by nuns.

Thoughts: One of the books I was reading when I went to my mum and dad's was Swamplandia! by Karen Russell .. sadly I never got any further with it and it had to be returned to the library but the little I read I enjoyed. At the same time, while browsing the internet, I happened to notice another book by her and put it on my wishlist and lo and behold .. it turned up at Christmastime :wub: Now, the title and the cover were enough to convince me but what I didn't realise (or perhaps I did when I added it .. but forgot later) was that it is a book of short stories and the title story is the last short story!! .. I must admit this caused me some anxiety but only for a few pages because almost all the stories were brilliant and extremely imaginative. They didn't all work or at least some of them felt squeezed into the short story format and ended too abruptly for me but there were a lot of really outstanding tales. The title story thankfully was one of them but also the one about the Minotaur on the trail out West (would love for this one to be expanded upon) and a couple of eerie tales about avalanches and giant conches. Nobody in these tales is 'normal' .. you never know what you're going to be reading about and so are constantly challenged. There is one that's linked to Swamplandia! but that was one of the few that I didn't feel worked as well but all the stories are intriguing, surreal and fascinating. I'll definitely go back to the library for Swamplandia! at some point. 4/5  

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