Ben's Reading 2012

[Ben]

Ben’s Reading 2012

 

Hey all, and welcome to my 2012 reading blog; I was going to wait until the first of the year, but I got too excited and relented. Last year I was aiming for 50 books, and I managed to just about get over the line.

 

Quick Links

 

2012 Purchases.

Tenacious TBR.

Rory Challenge.

WBL Challenge.

Sherlock Holmes Challenge.

 

Previous Reading Blogs

 

2009: 48.

2010: 25.

2011: 52.

 

This year I will be once more alternating between reading digitally on my e-reader, and of course my 'real' books. In the following posts I will be simply commenting on books as I read them, finishing up with a short summary and a rating out of 5, every time I finish one. I’ll also write some complete in-depth reviews which will be linked on here to the BCF reviews page. I'm aiming for 60 books this year, but we all know how aims can turn out. This year I'm going to be attempting a couple of challenges, which will be posted in the posts below this.

 

Total Read 2012: 81.

 

January

1. A Room With A View. - E.M Forster. Thoughts.

2. Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel. - Jonathan Morris. Thoughts.

3. The Hound of the Baskervilles. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thoughts.

4. Girl With a Pearl Earring. - Tracy Chavalier. Thoughts.

5. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Thoughts.

6. Legacy of Blood. - Alex Connor. Review.

 

February

7. Great Expectations. - Charles Dickens. Thoughts.

8. A Midsummer Night's Dream. - William Shakespeare. Thoughts.

9. The Body in the Library. - Agatha Christie. Thoughts.

10. 'The Murders In The Rou Morgue.' - Edgar Allan Poe. Thoughts.

11. 'The Purloined Letter.' - Edgar Allan Poe. Thoughts.

12. Dracula. - Bram Stoker.

13. Birdsong. - Sebastian Faulks.

14. Cirque Du Freak. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

15. The Vampire's Assistant. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

16. Tunnels of Blood. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

17. Vampire Mountain. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

18. Trials of Death. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

19. The Vampire Prince. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

20. The Merchant of Venice. - William Shakespeare.

21. Hunters of the Dusk. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

22. Allies of the Night. - Darren Shan. Thoughts.

23. Killers of the Dawn. - Darren Shan.

24. Before I Go To Sleep. - SJ Watson. Thoughts.

25. The Green Mile. - Stephen King. Thoughts.

 

March

26. Much Ado About Nothing. - William Shakespeare.

27. The Hunger Games. - Suzanne Collins.

28. Love's Labour's Lost. - William Shakespeare.

29. Catching Fire. - Suzanne Collins.

30. Mockingjay. - Suzanne Collins.

31. As You Like It. - William Shakespeare.

32. Netherland. - Joseph O'Neil.

 

April

33. Sons and Lovers. - D. H. Lawrence.

34. Farewell, My Lovely. - Raymond Chandler.

35. Twelfth Night. - William Shakespeare.

36. Jane Eyre. - Charlotte Brontë.

37. Zastrozzi. - Percy Bysshe Shelley.

38. Devil In A Blue Dress. - Walter Mosley.

39. Martha Quest. - Doris Lessing.

40. The Lake of Souls. - Darren Shan.

41. Lord of the Shadows. - Darren Shan.

42. Sons of Destiny. - Darren Shan.

 

May

43. The Good Father. - Noah Hawley. Review.

44. Rebecca. - Daphne Du Maurier. Thoughts.

45. Lethal. - Sandra Brown. Review.

46. The Bones of Avignon. - Jefferson Bass. Review.

47. The Count of Monte Cristo. - Alexandre Dumas.

48. To Kill a Mockingbird. - Harper Lee. Thoughts.

49. If You're Reading This, I'm Already Dead. - Andrew Nicoll. Review.

 

June

50. Catch-22. - Joseph Heller. Thoughts.

51. Marked. - P.C & Kristin Cast. Thoughts.

52. Betrayed. - P.C & Kristin Cast.

53. The Thief. - Fuminori Nakamura. Review.

54. A Game of Thrones. - George R. R. Martin.

 

July

 

August

55. A Clash of Kings. - George R. R. Martin.

56. Fifty Shades of Grey. - E. L. James.

57. A Christmas Carol. - Charles Dickens.

58. Wide Sargasso Sea. - Jean Rhys. Thoughts.

59. The Castle of Otranto. - Horace Walpole. Thoughts.

 

September

60. Mary Barton. - Elizabeth Gaskell. Thoughts.

61. 'Life in the Iron Mills'. - Rebecca Harding Davis.

62. Foe. - J. M. Coetzee.

63. 'Bartleby the Scrivener'; - Herman Melville.

64. 'Yonnondio'. - Tillie Olsen.

65. Shame. - Salman Rushdie.

66. Lady Audley's Secret. - Mary Braddon.

67. A Sicilian Romance. - Ann Radcliffe.

68. The Monk. - Matthew Lewis.

 

October

69. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. - Sloan Wilson.

70. The English Patient. - Micheal Ondaatje.

71. Nervous Conditions. - Tsitsi Dangarembga.

72. Felix Holt: The Radical. - George Eliot.

73. Tess of the D'Urbervilles. - Thomas Hardy.

74. Zofloya. - Charlotte Dacre.

75, Frankenstein. - Mary Shelley.

76. Three Vampire Tales. - Anne Williams.

 

November

77. The Bell Jar. - Sylvia Plath.

 

December

78. Memory of Bones. - Alex Connor.

79. The Hobbit. - J.R.R. Tolkien.

80. The Amulet of Samarkand. - Jonathan Stroud.

81. The Golem's Eye. - Jonathan Stroud.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

The Tenacious TBR

 

TBR as of 01/01/12: 219.

Current TBR: 235.

 

Bold indicates read (2012)

A (K) indicates it’s a Kindle e-book

Medium blue indicates a 2012 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

Andrews, Virginia: Flowers in the Attic.

Aristotle: Ethics (K)

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

Braddon, Mary: Lady Audley's Secret

Bronte, Anne: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Bronte, Emily: Wuthering Heights

Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre

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)

Chandler, Raymond: Farewell, My Lovely

Chandra, Vikram: Sacred Games

Chevalier, Tracy: Girl With a Pearl Earing

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)

Christie, Agatha: The Body in the Library

Clarkson, Jeremy: I Know You Got Soul

Coben, Harlan: Promise Me

Coben, Harlan: One False Move

Coetzee, J. M: Foe

Collins, Suzanne: The Hunger Games

Collins, Suzanne: Catching Fire

Collins, Suzanne: Mockingjay

Connelly, Michael: Angels Flight

Connor, Alex: Legacy of Blood

Conrad, Joseph: Heart of Darkness (K)

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

Coupland, Douglas: Microserfs

Cussler, Clive: Dark Watch

Dacre, Charlotte: Zofloya, or The Moor

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

Dangarembga, Tsitsi: The Nervous Conditions

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: Great Expectations

Dickens, Charles: A Tale of Two Cities

Dickens, Charles: Bleak House (K)

Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol (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

Doyle, C. Arthur Sir: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (K)

Doyle, C. Arthur Sir: The Hound of the Baskervilles

Dumas, Alexandre: The Count of Monte Cristo

Easterman, Daniel: Midnight Comes at Noon

Eddings, David & Leigh: The Redemption of Althalus

Eliot, George: Felix Holt: The Radical

Eliot, George: Middlemarch (K)

Eliot, T.S.: Selected Poems

Elton, Ben: Inconceivable

Falconer, Duncan: The Protector

Farndale, Nigel: The Blasphemer

Faulks, Sebastian: Birdsong

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

Fullerton, S. George: An Introduction to Philosophy (K)

Gaiman, Neil: Stardust (K)

Gaiman, Neil: Neverwhere (K)

Gaskell, Elizabeth: Mary Barton

Gentle, Mary: 1610: A Sundial in a Grave

Gibbins, David: Atlantis

Gillard, Linda: Emotional Geology

Golding, William: Lord of the Flies (K)

Goodkind, Terry: Debt of Bones (K)

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 Fiction

Hannah, Sophie: The Point of Rescue

Hardy, Thomas: Far From the Madding Crowd

Hardy, Thomas: Tess of the d’Urbervilles

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

Heller, Joseph: Catch-22

Hemmingway, 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: Ulysses (K)

Kadare, Ismail: The Siege

Kafka, Franz: Metamorphoses

Kant, Immanuel: The Critique of Practical Reason (K)

Kemp, Martin: An Autobiography: True

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 Green Mile

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

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

Lawrence, H. D: Sons and Lovers

Lee, Harper: To Kill a Mocking Bird (K)

Lessing, Dorris: Martha Quest

Levy, Andrea: The Long Song

Lewis, Matthew: The Monk

Lodge & Wood: Modern Criticism and Theory

Lindsey, Jeff: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (#1) (K)

Lindquist, A. John: Let the Right One in (K)

Ludlum, Robert: The Hade’s Factor (#1)

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 Game of Thrones

Martin, R. R. George: A Clash of Kings

Martin, R. R. George: A Storm of Swords (Part 1)

Martin, R. R. George: A Storm of Swords (Part 2)

Martin, R. R. George: A Feast for Crows

Martin, R. R. George: A Dance with Dragons

Matheson, Richard: I Am Legend

Maurier, D. Daphne: Rebecca

Marquez, G. Gabriel: One Hundred Years of Solitude (K)

McEwan, Ian: Atonement (K)

McEwan, Ian: Saturday

Melville, Herman: 'Bartleby and Benito Cereno'

Mill, S. John: Utilitarianism (K)

Montaigne, D. Michel: Essays (K)

Montanari, Richard: Broken Angels

Montanari, Richard: Kiss of Evil

Montanari, Richard: The Rosemary Girls

Morris, Jonathan: Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel

Morrison, Toni: Beloved

Mosley, Walter: Devil in a Blue Dress

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)

Olsen, Tillie: 'Tell Me a Riddle & Yonnondino'

Ondaatje, Michael: The English Patient

O’Neil, Joseph: Netherland

Orwell, George: Animal Farm

Patterson, James: Max (#5)

Phillips, Caryl: A Distant Shore

Pinter, Jason: The Fury

Plath, Sylvia: The Bell Jar (K)

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

Puzo, Mario: The Godfather (K)

Pyle, Howard: The Adventures of Robin Hood (K)

Radcliffe, Ann: A Sicillian Romance

Rankin, Ian: Hide & Seek

Rhs, Jean: The Wide Saragasso Sea

Rice, Anne: Interview with a Vampire (K)

Rushdie, Salman: Shame

Sebold, Alice: The Lovely Bones

Selvon, Sam: The Lonely Londoners

Shelley, B. Percy: Zastrozzi

Skelton, Matthew: Endymion Spring

Slaughter, Karin: Triptych

Slouka, Mark: The Visible World

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)

Stoker, Bram: Dracula

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)

Tracy, J. P: Dead Run

Tracy, J. P: Live Bait

Twain, Mark: The Prince and the Pauper

Various: Killer Year (Edited by Lee Child)

Verne, Jules: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (K)

Walker, Alice: The Colour Purple

Walpole, Horace: The Castle of Otranto

Walters, Minette: Acid Row

Watson, J S: Before I Go To Sleep

White, John: The United Miscellany

Wilson, Sloan: The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit

Winthrop, H. Elizabeth: December

Williams, Adam: The Emperor’s Bones

Womersley, Chris: Bereft

Woolf, Virginia: Orlando

Yeats, W.B.: Selected Poems

Zafón, Ruiz. Carlos: The Angel’s Game (K)

Edited December 27, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Okay so this year I'm aiming to do a few challenges around my regular reading; I won't be 'focusing' on them as such, but they're on-going.

 

Rory's Book List (Thanks to Frankie)

(Bold indicates already read)

A (K) indicates it’s a Kindle e-book.

(Bold and in medium blue text indicates read in 2012)

 

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

 

11/120.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Another on-going challenge I'm aiming to attempt, thanks to poppyshake for this.

 

World Book Night Top 100 Books 2012

(Bold indicates read)

A (K) indicates it’s a Kindle e-book.

(Bold and medium blue text indicates read in 2012)

 

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

 

25/100.

Edited February 24, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

2012 Purchases - 64.

 

The Body In The Library. - Agatha Christie

Hound of the Baskervilles. - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

One False Move. - Harlan Coben

The Bone Collecter. - Jeffery Deaver

Dracula. - Bram Stoker

The Green Mile. - Stephen King

Zastrozzi. - Percy Bysshe

The Maltese Fiction. - Dashiell Hammett.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Volume D, The Romantic Period.

The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies.

Farewell, My Lovely. - Raymond Chandler

Devil in a Blue Dress. - Walter Mosley

Jane Eyre. - Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations. - Charles Dickens

Sons and Lovers. - D. H. Lawrence

Birdsong. - Sebastian Faulks

Before I Go To Sleep. - S J Watson

Mansfield Park. - Jane Austen.

Martha Quest. - Dorris Lessing.

The Hunger Games. - Suzanne Collins.

Catching Fire. - Suzanne Collins.

Mockingjay. - Suzanne Collins.

A Game of Thrones. - George R.R Martin.

A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin.

A Storm of Swords (Part 1) by George R. R. Martin.

Bereft by Chris Womersley.

'Bartleby and Benito Cereno' by Herman Melville.

'Tell Me A Riddle & Yonnondio' by Tillie Olsen.

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson.

'Microserfs' by Douglas Coupland.

The Wide Saragasso Sea by Jean Rhys.

Foe by J. M. Coetzee.

Shame by Salman Rushdie.

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.

The Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga.

Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell.

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Braddon.

Felix Holt: The Radical by George Eliot.

Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.

The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole.

A Sicilian Romance by Ann Radcliffe.

The Monk by Matthew Lewis.

Zofloya, or The Moor by Charlotte Dacre.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.

Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens.

Metamorphoses by Franz Kafka.

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe.

A Distant Shore by Caryl Phillips.

Selected Stories by Katherine Mansfield.

The Black Album by Hanif Kureishi.

Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot.

The River Between by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o.

Saturday by Ian Mcewan.

Modern Criticism and Theory by Lodge & Wood.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf.

The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon.

Crick Crack, Monkey by Merle Hodge.

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.

Selected Poems by W.B. Yeats.

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad.

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

Beloved by Toni Morrison.

The Remains of the Day by Kazuro Ishiguro.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Okay so I thought I'd make (or at least borrow from the web), a list of all the Sherlock Holmes adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, of which there were 60 in total (56 short stories, and four novels). I figure I'll do this as an 'on-going' challenge but I wouldn't mind trying to do it this year.

 

The Sherlock Holmes Challenge

(Medium blue indicates read)

 

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: 13/60.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Okay that's my reading blog all shiny and set up for 2012 with some challenges and a newly done TBR pile that looks daunting, but which I hope to make a dent in this year. The challenges on the other hand, are on-going; they're not my sole focus for the year but if I can tick off some as I go through that'll be great.

 

I think my total of sixty books is a realistic aim as I will have a lot of university reading to do on top of my normal reading. Painfully, I know that in the new year my TBR pile will immediately increase with the addition of the university books I'll be buying. Perhaps some Kindle additions will find there way on as well, with the deals that are on offer at the moment. That brings me on to the fact I'm aiming to not buy as many books this year, but we all know how difficult that is to achieve.

 

Anyway, happy New Year to you all and I hope 2012 is fantastic reading year for you all. I look forward to reading and commenting on everyone's blogs.

[chesilbeach]

That's quite a TBR list Ben! Good luck with your reading in 2012, hope you find time to enjoy some books other than your university reading

[poppyshake]

Yes in 2012 Ben with both your reading and your university studies. I love your TBR list .. so many on there that I want to read too. I think we're all aiming to buy less and read more .. here's hoping

[Ben]

That's quite a TBR list Ben! Good luck with your reading in 2012, hope you find time to enjoy some books other than your university reading

I pledge it will be much smaller by 01/01/13. So do I, and thanks, you have a good one too.

 

Yes in 2012 Ben with both your reading and your university studies. I love your TBR list .. so many on there that I want to read too. I think we're all aiming to buy less and read more .. here's hoping

Yep, I think the one plus to having such an extensive TBR (well.. not compared to some people on here of course), is that I've got so many fantastic books waiting for me. Here's to a cracking 2012 for us both.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Ben

[Ben]

Okay here it is, a new reading year and this time a solid attempt to reduce Mount TBR. This could be a problem as I'm quite sure I'll buy a handful of books from the 12 days of Kindle sale before it's finished. I wish I would have bought them before the new year just so they were last year's purchases, but I never quite got around to it..

 

Anyway, my first read of the year shall by EM Forster's A Room With A View which I did start last year, but I haven't read much of it yet. It's a relatively short book, and great so far, so it should ease me into the year nicely.

 

Synopsis:

Forster's social comedy is a witty observation of the English middle classes as they holiday abroad in Florence. One of these tourists is Lucy Honeychurch, a young girl whose heart is awakened by her experiences in Italy.

 

Well nothing more to it, here goes the first read of 2012 and hopefully the first of many.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Ben

[Brian.]

How do you find that your reading ties in with your Uni studies? Is it a case of not getting enough time or more that because of the volume of Uni reading you just need a break from the act of reading?

 

I see you have some Richard Dawkins on your TBR, I shall have to keep an eye out in case you get round to any of his books this year. I found The God Delusion a bit stodgy in places but interesting none the less.

[Ben]

How do you find that your reading ties in with your Uni studies? Is it a case of not getting enough time or more that because of the volume of Uni reading you just need a break from the act of reading?

 

I see you have some Richard Dawkins on your TBR, I shall have to keep an eye out in case you get round to any of his books this year. I found The God Delusion a bit stodgy in places but interesting none the less.

Hey Brian I think it's more that I don't have time to read the books that I'd want to read, because I'm too busy with required reading for university. Thankfully, I never feel I need for a break from reading; to me reading never becomes a chore even if I'm studying the text for class, which is a relief.

 

I'm looking forward to getting into some Dawkins - I've actually flicked through The God Delusion before now actually, and it looked to be fascinating and funny at the same time. From what I could gather from the few pages I'd read, at any rate. I will definitely get around to reading some of his work properly this year, though.

[Ben]

Okay last night I read into the early hours of this morning to finish A Room With A View by E.M Foster - which I found an enjoyable read.

 

Thoughts:

E.M Foster's A Room With A View is a delightful little read, as we're swept into a different world from our own and shown the strange intricacies of social etiquette and standing. Foster's style is one which is both wonderfully funny - light in tone with witty, sweeping dialogue that swings back and forth - and fascinating at the same time. He paints the picture of society in Edwardian England, offering a critique as he goes. The author here mediates a battle between radical and conservative thinking, as we follow Lucy Honeychurch as she struggles to act on the subtitles of her heart. The title alludes cleverly to Foster's key theme of rooms and of views; a contrast between characters such as Mrs Honeychuch who is often pictured inside of a room, and the 'outside' characters such as a Freddy represent modernity and forward thinking. Overall then, Foster's novel is a most enjoyable read, and I would recommend it to anyone that enjoys a cleverly written, witty read.

 

5/5.

[Ben]

I've decided to read one of the Doctor Who novels I got for Christmas next - I'm trying to stick to some nice, easy reads to ease me into the new year, until the exams are over. Out of the two I got I've decided to go for Touched By An Angel by Jonathan Morris.

 

Synopsis:

In 2003, Rebecca Whitaker died in a road accident. Her husband Mark is still grieving. He receives a battered envelope, posted eight years ago, containing a set of instructions with a simple message: 'You can save her.' As Mark is given the chance to save Rebecca, it's up to the Doctor, Amy and Rory to save the whole world. Because this time the Weeping Angels are using history itself as a weapon.

 

I'm really looking forward to this, as the Weeping Angels are one of my favourite 'monsters' in Doctor Who, and it'll be interesting to read an adventure in novel form rather than watch it as I'm used to doing.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Ben

[Michelle]

I've just read this one on the kindle - it had some wonderful reviews, but for me it didn't quite live up to them. It was a good read, and certainly kept me reading, but it wasn't brilliant.

[Ben]

I've just read this one on the kindle - it had some wonderful reviews, but for me it didn't quite live up to them. It was a good read, and certainly kept me reading, but it wasn't brilliant.

Ah, thanks for the comment Michelle. I had a suspicion I'd be disappointed because I love the series on tv so much, and the books would have to go some to live up to that - but I'll see how I get on.

[Kidsmum]

I spotted The Gargoyle on your TBR list Ben ,that was one of my best reads of last year. Hope you enjoy the Thomas Hardy books he's one of my favourite authors, Far from the Madding Crowd was one of my set O level books but luckily that didn't put me off him Good luck with your reading for this year.

[Ben]

I spotted The Gargoyle on your TBR list Ben ,that was one of my best reads of last year. Hope you enjoy the Thomas Hardy books he's one of my favourite authors, Far from the Madding Crowd was one of my set O level books but luckily that didn't put me off him Good luck with your reading for this year.

Hey Kidsmum, best of luck with your reading year too.

 

I might have to push The Gargoyle up the pile a little bit then if it was one of your favourites. I know I'm going to struggle to pick my next reads without recommendations - and this is better than selecting at random. I'm looking forward to reading Hardy, I've heard good things. Had to chuckle with what you said about not being put off, though; I hate it when that happens.

Edited January 2, 2012 by Ben

[Charm]

Happy 2012 reading Ben

[nursenblack]

Great, enormous TBR pile, Ben. I'm excited to see the Bronte sisters on your list!

[Ben]

Great, enormous TBR pile, Ben. I'm excited to see the Bronte sisters on your list!

Thanks. So am I, really looking forward to reading some of their work this year.

 

Happy 2012 reading Ben

Thanks Charm, you too! Hope 2012's a good one.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Finished Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel by Jonathan Morris last night.

 

Thoughts:

All in all I thought it was a good read - gripping, funny in parts, and it had me turning the pages eager to know what was going to happen next. I thought Morris brought across the characters well from the screen - I found them believable. The plot itself was a clever one, as the Doctor and his companions race to stop the Weeping Angels from carrying out their plan. Mark, sent back in time to when his younger self was at university, must obey the rules and be careful of the contact he makes - otherwise there could be disastrous ramifications. In the end it will come down to the decision he must make, to decide how this pans out. Overall then, a decent read with enjoyable dialogue and a good plot.

 

3/5.

Edited January 3, 2012 by Ben

[Ben]

Starting Sarah Bakewell's - who, may I add, has such a fantastic name - How To Live, which I have started before but never got anywhere with because of distractions at the time. It wasn't through want of interest though, as what I did read was great.

 

Synopsis:

How to get on with people, how to deal with violence, how to adjust to losing someone you love? How to live?

 

This question obsessed nobleman Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, whose free-roaming explanations of his own thought and experience were unlike anything written before. Into these essays he put whatever was in his head: his tastes in wine and food, his childhood memories, the way his dog's ears twitched when it was dreaming, events in the appalling civil wars raging around him. The Essays was an instant bestseller, and over four hundred years later, readers will come to him in search of companionship, wisdom and entertainment - and in search of themselves.

 

Looking forward to this biography a lot; how I get on will probably determine how soon I dive into the actual Essays which I have waiting on Kindle.

Edited January 5, 2012 by Ben

[Janet]

You have some fabulous books on your 'to read' pile, Ben. Good luck with your reading in 2012 - and here's to reducing the pile a bit!