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Janet's Reading 2012


Janet

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At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper

 

This is the second of Mary Hooper’s children’s books I’ve read this year and I have enjoyed them both. Hooper really captures the essence of London and of the absolute horror of the plague and tells it in a way that is acceptable for children without being patronising to adults. There is a sequel, Petals in the Ashes which I will probably try next year. (Finished 5 November)

 

Just a suggestion: don't leave it too long: Petals in the Ashes follows on directly - they are almost two volumes of the same book - and you may lose some of the enjoyment of the continuity if you do. I agree with your assessment - I thoroughly enjoyed them both for the same reasons.

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Just a suggestion: don't leave it too long: Petals in the Ashes follows on directly - they are almost two volumes of the same book - and you may lose some of the enjoyment of the continuity if you do. I agree with your assessment - I thoroughly enjoyed them both for the same reasons.

Thanks - I've just checked and there is an omnibus edition of it in one of the Bristol libraries so I'll be sure to ask for it to be transferred soon so I can borrow it. :)

 

That's a lovely sentiment, Poppyshake, and one that I'd like to second. :) I've always enjoyed your reading list, Janet.

 

Happy New Year!

Thanks, Kylie - happy new year to you too. :hug:

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2012 YEAR IN REVIEW

 

(where applicable, last year’s totals in brackets)

 

Total books read – 76 (60)

Total pages read – 18,082 (14,743)

Average number of pages – 246 (238)

 

Fiction – 38 (34)

 

Type – General fiction = 30 (23), Modern Classic = 3 (6), Classic = 4 (5), Short Stories 1 (0)

 

Non-fiction – 13 (12)

 

Type – Social History 1 (0), Travel = 4 (3), Memoir = 7 (4), Humour = 1 (1) Essay = 0 (4)

 

Children’s/YA – 24 (13) – much higher due to Narnia/Dahl challenges

 

Plays – 0 (1)

 

Poetry – 1 (0)

 

~~~

 

Female authors – 21 – 27.6% (23 - 38.3%)

Male authors – 55 – 72.4% (37 - 61.7%)

 

Authors new to me = 28 (42)

 

Multiple books by single author read:

10 books by Roald Dahl

7 by C S Lewis

4 by Adrian Plass

3 each by E L James and Ben Aaronovitch

2 by Mary Hooper and Laurie Lee

- the remainder were individual authors

 

10 read as part of my Dahl challenge

8 for my ‘real life’ book club

7 Narnia books

6 were ‘World Challenge’ books

5 were Book Club Forum ‘Reading Circle’ reads

3 were for my ‘Decades Challenge’ (now complete)

1 for another website's ‘Mills & Boon Challenge’ :lol:

1 was my annual Christmas re-read of <i> A Christmas Carol</i>

The remainder – just because!

 

Country of birth of author

England = 24, USA = 10, India = 2, Wales = 2

1 each from the following countries – Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Malawi, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, South Africa and Spain

 

Main setting of book

England 22, US 7, Not specified 12, Various locations 9, Fictional locations 9, Wales 4, Spain 2

 

1 each set in the following countries – Australia, Belgium, Burma, Canada, France, Germany, Holy Lands, Hungary, Malawi, South Africa, Un-named Balkan

 

Number of books per month

January - 6 Books (7)

February - 10 Books (5)

March - 8 Books (4)

April - 4 Books (4)

May - 7 Books (2)

June - 7 Books (4)

July - 8 Books (4)

August - 2 Books (7)

September - 8 Books (5)

October - 4 Books (6)

November- 7 Books (6)

December- 4 Books (6)

 

Score out of 5

1/5 = 2 books

2/5 = 4 books

2½/5 = 6 books

3/5 = 11 books

3½/5 = 9 books

4/5 = 13 books

4½/5 = 7 books

5/5 = 24 books :o

 

In 2012 I tried simplifying things by marking out of 5 instead of 10. I can’t believe I gave 24 books full marks – in 2013 I’m going to try to be even tighter with my marking and only give full marks where a book absolutely deserves it. Sometimes I think it would be better to score them all at the end of the year for the sake of comparison, but my memory for details is not good and I’m sure I’d have forgotten a lot of the books altogether if I tried doing that!

 

Shortest book was the prose poem A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas – at just 41 pages. Longest was Fifty Shades Freed by E L James at 592 pages (I can’t quite believe I wasted time reading all three of these!). The former was my quickest read at just 30 minutes (with interruptions!). The book that took me the longest to finish was Burmese Days by George Orwell, but this was because I read it in August and it covered two weeks away where I didn’t have time to read.

 

The earliest in terms of publication date was Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, published in 1735. I read 4 published in 2012.

 

My years are too many to list individually, but broken down they are:

 

1700s - 1

1800s – 4

1900s – 39

2000s – 14

2010s – 19

 

Favourites (all rated 5/5):

 

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch - 5/5

Pied Piper by Nevil Shute - 5/5

The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass (aged 37¾ ) by Adrian Plass - 5/5

Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch -5/5

Whispers Under Ground by Ben Aaronovitch - 5/5

A Month in the Country by J L Carr - 5/5

Stardust by Neil Gaiman - 5/5

The Thoughts and Happenings of Wilfred Price Purveyor of Superior Funerals by Wendy Jones - 5/5

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein - 5/5

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant - 5/5

Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens - 5/5

A Rose for Winter by Laurie Lee - 5/5

Boy by Roald Dahl - 5/5

Down Under by Bill Bryson - 5/5

Twopence to Cross the Mersey by Helen Forrester - 5/5

Memoirs of a Fruitcake by Chris Evans - 5/5

The War of the Worlds by H G Wells - 5/5

Around the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne - 5/5

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - 5/5

Carrie's War by Nina Bawden - 5/5

Esio Trot by Roald Dahl - 5/5

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by C S Lewis - 5/5

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - 5/5

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas - 5/5

 

Least favourites:

Wedding at King’s Convenience by Maureen Child – 1/5

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl - 1/5

High Spirits by Robertson Davies - 2/5

My Best Friend's Girl by Dorothy Koomson - 2/5

Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls - 2/5

The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London - 2/5

 

New books acquired 2012

57 (53) – this includes library books and gifts

Of these, number read = 41

 

Total cost of books acquired 2012 = £51.83 (£62.29)

Value if purchased from Amazon (prices as at day of purchase) = £280.19

 

Of the new books acquired, 12 were gifts, 7 borrowed from friends, 14 came from charity shops, 2 were bought with gift cards, 12 were bought for Book Club or the reading circle on BCF.co.uk (I like to annotate)

 

10 were Library books (8 borrowed in 2011)

 

 

Good luck if you got to the end of that! :giggle2:

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