Janet

It is on Kindle (I did mention that in my post ) and what's more it's free. http://www.amazon.co...57147947&sr=1-1 Technically I guess he's an editor on it, rather than a writer - as they're tales from the natives that he's written down.

Eowyn Ivey The Snow Child Amazing book, I don't know anyone who hasn't liked this. I tentatively started this just before Christmas, but stopped because I didn't want any distractions (I wasn't very far in) - I must pick it up soon. Thomas Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I remember enjoying this whilst at college but can't remember a thing about it, maybe I should download it free onto my Kobo... The advantage of freebies is that if you do find you don't like it you can give up on it without feeling guilty! That said, I hope you do enjoy it if you try it again. Steig Larsson The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest Have you read the first two Janet? I have and enjoyed them but I haven't conjured the energy to read the third yet, maybe this year! I have read the first two. Like you, for some reason #3 has been a bit of a stumbling block. I've seen the first (Swedish, with subtitles) film and would like to see 2 and 3. They showed them on TV this year, but they were too late for me! Kate Morton The Forgotten Garden Excellent read, as was The House at Riverton, but The Distant Hours was a bit bleurgh, undecided at the mo whether to try her latest.. I loved The House at Riverton so I have high hopes for this. Thanks for the warning re: The Distant Hours. Sebastian Faulks On Green Dolphin Street Have you read any other Faulks? If not please don't start with this one! (Try Birdsong or Human Traces..) I've read (and loved) Birdsong - and also Engleby. I take it OGDS isn't as good as Birdsong? William Golding The Lord of the Flies My son loved this when he read it for school last term, I cannot agree with him. i thought there was a gender divide with this book until I saw Andrea liked it so maybe not.. My Mum gave it to me - she said she enjoyed it, but I've been putting it off as I know it's not necessarily an easy or enjoyable read. Have a fantastic 2013 Janet!! Thanks - you too.

Yours is one of the blogs I seem to visit most often, frankie! Happy reading in 2013. x

Hehe - you're safe - I'd never abuse my powers! I do hope you like it. I read it for my Book Club and was definitely in the minority in not enjoying it.

I do have that power, and if I were to abuse it, I'd move two of them to the top, and the Dodie Smith one firmly to the bottom! However, I'll be a good girl! Happy reading 2013, Chalie.

Your book blog is always a delight, so I shall look forward to reading and commenting on it. Happy reading 2013.

Many thanks. I started keeping a spreadsheet of books bought, and another for books read when I joined here in 2006 and they've evolved over the years to include lots of information. I'm reading 'Tess' at the moment. I'm just under a third of the way through it and am enjoying it so far! You're the second person (the first being frankie) who didn't enjoy it though! The Diary of a Somerset Rector had been on my Wish List for years after I came across it on a genealogy forum. Long story, but my maiden name was Moon. I was born and grew up in Kent, and moved to Somerset when I got married. Moon is a name which is very common here, and I'd often joked that I might be related to people here. Fast forward about 18 years and I started doing my family tree online. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that my g-g-Grandad and my g-g-Grandmother were both born within four miles of where I live now! I've since discovered that a few generations before that are local to here too! Anyway, to cut a very long story short, I was going through my parents-in-law's books in 2011 (after they'd both died), and I found this book in amongst my father-in-law's books - he was a priest so I guess he got it for the 'Rectorish' element of it. I don't know if he ever read it, but it's special to me because it belonged to him. Despite Peter living here from the age of 14, we grew up in the same village in Kent and have known each other all our lives - and therefore I'd known his Mum and Dad since I was born. Thanks Kay. I'm hoping not! I guess it depends on how many new books I buy! Thanks. I've just remembered that I downloaded it on Kindle when it was on offer, so that will make it easier to read!

Thanks, Noll. I bought quite a few books back when my mother-in-law died - some of these I'd not heard of, and others I would never have bought, so I might find they're rubbish when I get to them! Thanks, Brian. I've been keeping a note of books purchased since 2011, otherwise I wouldn't have a clue when I bought them. Thanks, Andrea. Noll bought me The Séance (from my wish list) for Christmas so I will read it fairly soon.

I found Eskimo Folk Tales by Knud Rasmussen on Kindle today - he was born in Ilulissat, Greenland - I'd been struggling to find an author for that country!

THREAD NOW OPEN - WELCOME!

I've moved it back (I hope it's the right one anyway - it said Genre Challenge in the title). I've changed the name and added 2012 onwards so we know it's an on-going blog so it doesn't get moved again when we repeat the process next year.

BOOKS I WANT TO OWN J L Carr A Day in Summer (1964) A Season in Sinji (1967) The Harpole Report (1972) How Steeple Sinderby Wanderers Won The F. A. Cup (1975) A Month in the Country (1980) - read a library copy in 2012 The Battle of Pollocks Crossing (1985) What Hetty Did (1988) Harpole and Foxberrow, General Publishers (1992)

BOOK CHALLENGES 2013 I will be continuing with my World Challenge in 2013 - I am aiming to read a minimum of 3 from this challenge - 5 read I will be continuing with my Dahl challenge - 2 read Not a challenge, but I intend to read a minimum of 3 Classics (to include 1 Dickens) - 3 read + 1 Dickens!

MONTHLY BOOK SUMMARY 2013 JANUARY - 3 Books Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented by Thomas Hardy. - 07 January ..(C) Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper - 09 January.. (L) Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamond Lehmann - 14 January FEBRUARY - 6 Books The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - 08 February..(K / C) The Woman in Black by Susan Hill - 10.02.13 (re-read) The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings - 14.02.13 The Third Miss Symons by F M Mayor - 18.02.13..(K) Goodbye, Mr Chips by James Hilton - 22.02.13..(K) I, Coriander by Sally Gardner - 25.02.13 MARCH - 7 Books The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell by Hilary Spurling - 04.03.13 The Seance by John Harwood - 08.03.13 Wonder by R J Palacio - 12.03.13 The Ruins of Time by Ben Woolfenden - 14.03.13 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson - 18.03.13 Killer Twist (Ghostwriter Mystery #1) by C A Larmer - 25.03.13..(K) House of Evidence by Viktor Arner Ingólfsson - 29.03.13..(K) APRIL - 4 Books The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago - 10.04.13 Estates: An Intimate History by Lynsey Hanley - 15.04.13.. (L) Kiskadee Girl by Maggie Harris - 22.04.13..(K) Replay by Ken Grimwood - 29.04.13.. (L) MAY - 7 Books Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper - 04.05.13 The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield - 12.05.13.. (L) The Life You Want by Emily Barr - 15.05.13 Going Solo by Roald Dahl - 20.05.13 The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl - 20.05.13.. (L) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - 25.05.13 A Yorkshire Boyhood by Roy Hattersley - 31.05.13 JUNE - 4 Books Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens - 09.06.13 Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz - 16.06.13.. (L) The BFG by Roald Dahl - 17.06.13 Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - 30.06.13..(K) JULY - 4 Books The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber - 15.07.13 ( L / N ) Summer by Edith Wharton - 18.07.13..(K) I Can't Stay Long by Lauire Lee - 27.07.13 The Widow's Cruise by Nicholas Blake - 31.07.13.. (L / N) AUGUST - 6 Books Baking Cakes in Kigali by Gaile Parkin - 07.08.13 (L / N) A Child's War by Molly Bihet - 08.08.13 Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos - 12.08.13 (K) Eskimo Folk-Tales - stories collected and retold by Knud Rasmussen - 16.08.13 - (K) The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - 16.08.13 - (K) Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - 19.08.13 - (K / C) SEPTEMBER - The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - 11.09.13 (L) = Library book (K) = Kindle (C) = Classic (N) = Nook

TOTAL TO READ PILE 2013 2013 (41) - 21 remaining as of 31.07.13) Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani I Do Not Come To You By Chance - abandoned 17.01.13 Amos Oz Scenes from Village Life - finished 16.06.13 Ben Hatch Road to Rouen - finished 14.09.13 Ben Woolfenden The Ruins of Time - finished 14.03.13 Carlos Ruiz Zafon The Midnight Palace Charles Dickens Complete Works (16 books) - 1 read E M Delafield The Diary of a Provincial Lady E M Delafield The Diary of a Provincial Lady (all four parts) Erin Morgernstern The Night Circus - finished 11.09.13 John Wyndham Web Jojo Moyes Me Before You - finished 25.05.13 José Saramago The Elephant's Journey - finished 10.04.13 Kaui Hart Hemmings The Descendants - finished 14.02.13 Ken Grimwood Replay - finished 29.04.13 Khaled Hosseini And the Mountains Echoed Laurie Lee I Can't Stay Long - 27.07.13 Lynsey Hanley Estates - finished 15.04.13 Mary Hooper Newes from the Dead - finished 04.05.13 Mary Hooper Petals in the Ashes - finished 09.01.13 Nicholas Blake The Widows Cruise - finished 31.07.13 Rachel Joyce The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Roald Dahl Going Solo - finished 20.05.13 Roald Dahl The Magic Finger - finished 20.05.13 Roy Hattersley A Yorkshire Boyhood - finished 31.05.13 Sue Townsend The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year Virginia Woolf Mrs Dalloway 2012 (16) - 11 remaining as of 04.03.13) Bill Bryson A Walk in the Woods Carol Ann Duffy Another Night Before Christmas Carol Ann Duffy Wenceslas Carol Ann Duffy Mrs Scrooge Dawn French A Tiny Bit Marvellous Eowyn Ivey The Snow Child Hilary Spurling The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell - finished 04.03.13 J B Priestley English Journey Jenifer Wayne The Day the Ceiling Fell Down John Ajvide Lindqvist Let The Right One In John Harwood The Séance - finished 08.03.13 Jonas Jonasson The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared - finished 18.03.13 Roald Dahl Danny the Champion of the World Rosamond Lehmann Invitation to the Waltz - finished 14.01.13 Thomas Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles - finished 07.01.13 William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) 2011 (24) - 22 remaining as of 25.02.13) A J Cronin A Song of Sixpence A J Cronin The Green Years A J Cronin The Minstrel Boy A J Cronin The Northern Lights Agatha Christie Peril at End House Agatha Christie Sparkling Cyanide Emily Barr The First Wife Eva Ibbotson The Star of Kazan Gabriel García Márquez Love in the Time of Cholera Germain Greer Shakespeare's Wife Isabel Allende The House of the Spirits Jane Austen Mansfield Park Lionel Blue Hitchhiking to Heaven Molly Bihet A Child's War - finished 08.08.13 Rev'd Skinner Journals of a Somerset Rector (1803 to 1834) Sally Gardner I, Coriander - finished 25.02.13 Sally Magnusson Family Life Stan Bristow A Kind of Loving Steig Larsson The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest Stephen Fry The Fry Chronicles Sue Gee The Mysteries of Glass W Somerset Maugham The Travel Books of W Somerset Maugham William Shakespeare The Life and Death of King John 2010 (9) - 9 remaining as of 01.01.13) A A Milne The Red House Mystery Diane Chamberlain The Lost Daughter Jackie Kay Trumpet John Wyndham The Chrisalids Lucy Boston The Children of Green Knowe Mark Wallington Boogie up the River William Shakespeare Cambridge School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare Cambridge School Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors William Shakespeare Cambridge School Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream Pre-2010 (26) - 23 remaining as of 15.10.13) Fannie Flagg Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café David Park The Rye Man Emily Barr The Life You Want - finished 15.05.13 Frances Osbourne The Bolter Fynn Mister God, This is Anna George Orwell Shooting an Elephant George Orwell Inside the Whale G K Chesterton The Man Who Was Thursday Graham Greene The Third Man/The Fallen Idol H Rider Haggard King Soloman's Mines Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility Jerome K Jerome Three Men on the Bummel John Wyndham The Kraken Wakes - finished 15.10.13 Kate Morton The Forgotten Garden Noel Streatfield Ballet Shoes Pat Barker The Eye in the Door Pat Barker The Ghost Road Roald Dahl The BFG - finished 17.06.13 Robert Louis Stevenson Treasure Island Sebastian Faulks On Green Dolphin Street Thomas Hardy Far From the Madding Crowd Virginia Woolf The Common Reader William Golding The Lord of the Flies William Shakespeare Hamlet (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) William Shakespeare The Merry Wives of Windsor (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) William Shakespeare Twelfth Night (Cambridge School's Shakespeare)

PAID-FOR KINDLE BOOKS 2013 1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel - £0.20 (03.01.13) 2. The 10pm Question by Kate de Goldi - £0.99 (11.03.13) 3. The Long Bridge: Out of the Gulags by Urszula Muskus (Poland) - £0.99 (17.04.13) 4. Mrs Harris Goes to Paris/Mrs Harris goes to New York by Paul Gallico - £1.79 (28.04.13) 5. The Flatey Enigma by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson - £0.99 (30.04.13) 6. Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos - £0.99 (22.07.13) - finished 12.08.13 7. The President's Hat by Antoine Laurain - £0.99 - (14.08.13) - finished 18.08.13 8. Postcards From Nam by Uyen Nicole Duong - £0.99 (15.08.13) 9. The Fancy by Monica Dickens - £0.99 (28.09.13) 10. The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - £0.99 (03.09.13) 11. The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald - £0.99 (01.10.13) - finished 23.10.13 12. Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord - £0.56 (23.10.13) 13. Purge by Sofi Oksanen (08.11.13) - £0.99 (07.11.13) 14. Last Train to Istanbul: A Novel by Ayse Kulin - £0.99 (02.12.13) 15. All Creatures Great and Small: If Only They Could Talk and It Shouldn't Happen to a Vet by James Herriot - £0.99 (26.12.13) Total new paid-for Kindle books acquired in 2013: 15 Number of these read: 3 Books abandoned: 0 Total cost* of books acquired: £13.44

PAPER BOOKS ACQUIRED IN 2013 (TITLES READ IN RED!) 01. Petals in the Ashes by Mary Hooper - £0 - finished 09.01.13 (03.01.13 - Stockwood Library) 02. I Do Not Come To You By Chance by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani - £0 - Abandoned 17.01.13 (12.01.13 - Yate Library) 03. The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings - £1.69 - finished 14.02.13 (18.01.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 04 to 19. The Complete Books of Charles Dickens - £19.99 (24.01.13 - The Book People) - 2 read 20. The Elephant's Journey by José Saramago - £6.39 - finished 10.04.13 (04.03.13 - Waterstone's) 21. Newes from the Dead by Mary Hooper - £1.75 - finished 04.05.13 (04.03.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 22. The Ruins of Time by Ben Woolfenden - £1.97 - finished 14.03.13 (06.03.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 23. Going Solo by Roald Dahl - £1.25 - finished 20.05.13 (08.03.13 - BHF shop, Warminster) 24. Estates by Lynsey Hanley £0 - finished 15.04.13 (27.03.13 - Bath library) 25. I Can't Stay Long by Laurie Lee - £0.50 - finished 27.07.13 (05.04.13 - Lion's Charity Shop, Warminster) 26. The Midnight Palace by Carlos Ruiz Zafón - £0.50 - finished 13.11.13 (13.04.13 - Charity coffee morning) 27. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes - £3.86 - finished 25.05.13 (15.04.13 - Amazon) 28. The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend - £0 - abandoned (16.04.13 - gift from a friend) 29. Replay by Ken Grimwood - £0 - finished 29.04.13 (19.04.13 - Shepton Mallet library) 30. Web by John Wyndham - £1.50 - (24.04.13 - Mottisfont National Trust shop) 31. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - £0 - finished 11.09.13 (02.05.13 - Given to me by my Mum) 32. The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E M Delafield - £0 - finished 14.05.13 (02.03.13 - Frome Library) 33. The Diary of a Provincial Lady (all 4 parts) by E M Delafield - £1.50 (13.05.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 34. The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl - £0 - finished 20.05.13 (20.05.13 - Paulton Library) 35. A Yorkshire Boyhood by Roy Hattersley - £0 - finished 31.05.13 (20.05.13 - Paulton Library) 36. Scenes from Village Life by Amos Oz - £0 - finished 16.06.13 (07.06.13 - Library) 37. Road to Rouen by Ben Hatch - £7.80 - finished 14.09.13 (13.07.13 - Amazon marketplace) 38. Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - £0.50 (13.07.13 - church fete) 39. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce - £0 (21.07.13 - given to me by a friend) 40. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini - £0 (21.07.13 - given to me by a friend) 41. The Widow's Cruise by Nicholas Blake - £0 - finished 31.07.13 (26.07.13 - library) 42. Moondial by Helen Cresswell - £2.81 - finished 15.09.13 (14.09.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 43. Midnight Cactus by Bella Pollen - finished 07.11.13 (18.09.13 - given to me by a friend) 44. A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers (20.09.13 - Ebay) 45. The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier - finished 30.10.13 (23.09.13 - Amazon) 46. The Making of Tesco: A Story of British Shopping by Sarah Ryle (04.10.13 - Ebay) 47. A Month in the Country by J L Carr - read before (17.10.13 - St Julian's Hospice shop, Bath) 48. The Battle for Pollock's Crossing by J L Carr (21.10.13 - Bookbarn) 49. Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake abandoned (02.11.13 - Library) 50. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier - finished 21.11.13 (16.11.13 - St Peter's Hospice Shop, Chipping Sodbury) 51. My Uncle Silas by H E Bates - finished 24.11.13 (19.11.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 52. The Misses Mallet by Emily Hilda Young (19.11.13 - Amazon Marketplace) 53. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier read before (22.11.13 - Dorothy House Hospice Shop) 54. My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier (22.11.13 - Dorothy House Hospice Shop) 55. On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin finished (25.11.13 - Bookbarn) 56. Set in Stone by Robert Goddard (25.11.13 - Bookbarn) 57. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper finished 31.12.13 (05.12.13 - Waterstone’s, Bath) 58. Rock Crystal by Adalbert Stifter finished 31.12.13 (12.12.13 Ebay) 59. Santa and Pete by Christopher Moore and Pamela Johnson finished 31.12.13 (24.12.13 Amazon Marketplace) 60. Bethlehem by Carol Ann Duffy finished 25.12.13 (25.12.13 Present) 61. The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (25.12.13 Present) 62. The Tiger in the Well by Philip Pullman (25.12.13 Present) 63. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens read before (28.12.13 Book Fair, Lyndhurst) 64. Letters of Note by Shaun Usher (30.12.13 Bought from Waterstone’s with gift voucher) Total new books acquired in 2013: 64 Number of these read: 28 Books abandoned: 3 Total cost* of books acquired: £108.60 Library Books: 10 Library Books Read: 8 (and 2 abandoned) * Taking into account money off/vouchers/gift cards etc - so price paid, not necessarily cover price

Books read In 2006 - 20 Books read In 2007 - 30 Books read In 2008 - 40 Books read In 2009 - 65 Books read In 2010 - 45 Books read In 2011 - 60 Books read In 2012 - 76 BOOKS READ IN 2013 FICTION Invitation to the Waltz (1932) by Rosamond Lehmann - 3½/5 The Woman in Black (1983) by Susan Hill (re-read) - 4/5 The Descendants (2008) by Kaui Hart Hemmings - 3/5 The Third Miss Symons (1913) by F M Mayor - 3/5 Goodbye, Mr Chips (1934) by James Hilton - 3½/5 The Seance (2008) by John Harwood - 5/5 The Ruins of Time (1993) by Ben Woolfenden - 4½/5 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared (2012) by Jonas Jonasson - 2/5 Killer Twist (Ghostwriter Mystery #1) (2011) by C A Larmer - 2/5 House of Evidence (1998) by Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson - 4/5 The Elephant's Journey (2008) by José Saramago - 3/5 Replay (1987) by Ken Grimwood - 5/5 The Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930) by E M Delafield - 4/5 The Life You Want (2009) by Emily Barr - 3/5 Me Before You (2012) by Jojo Moyes - 3/5 Scenes from Village Life (2009) by Amos Oz - 3½/5 The Crimson Petal and the White (2002) by Michel Faber - 5/5 The Widow's Cruise (1959) by Nicholas Blake - 3½/5 Baking Cakes in Kigali (2011) by Gaile Parkin - 4/5 Down the Rabbit Hole (2011) by Juan Pablo Villalobos - 3/5 The President's Hat (2013) by Antoine Laurain - 4/5 The Night Circus (2011) by Erin Morgenstern - 4½/5 The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) by J K Rowling Robert Galbraith - 3/5 The Kraken Wakes (1953) by John Wyndham - 4/5 The Cry (2013) by Helen FitzGerald - 5/5 The Last Runaway (2013) by Tracy Chevalier - 3/5 Midnight Cactus (2013) by Bella Pollen - 4/5 Jamaica Inn (1936) by Daphne Du Maurier - 5/5 My Uncle Silas (1939) by H E Bates - 5/5 On the Black Hill (1982) by Bruce Chatwin - 4/5 Wenceslas (2012) by Carol Ann Duffy - 4/5 Another Night Before Christmas (2005) by Carol Ann Duffy - 4/5 Mrs Scrooge (2009) by Carol Ann Duffy - 3½/5 The Christmas Truce (2011) by Carol Ann Duffy - ( re-read ) 5/5 Bethlehem (2013) by Carol Ann Duffy - 4½/5 The Dark is Rising (1973) by Susan Cooper - 5/5 Santa and Pete (1998) by Christopher Moore and Pamela Johnson - 3/5 Rock Crystal (1845 - first trans. into English 1945) by Adalbert Stifter - 31.12.13 - 3½/5 CLASSICS Tess of the D'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (1891) by Thomas Hardy - 5/5 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) by Anne Bronté - 4½/5 Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens - 5/5 Northanger Abbey (1818) by Jane Austen - 4/5 Summer (1917) by Edith Wharton - 3/4 Emma (1815) by Jane Austen - 5/5 CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT FICTION Petals in the Ashes (2004) by Mary Hooper - 4/5 I, Coriander (2005) by Sally Gardner - 4/5 Wonder (2012) by R J Palacio - 4/5 Newes from the Dead (2008) by Mary Hooper - 4/5 The Magic Finger (1966) by Roald Dahl - 2½/5 The BFG (1982) by Roald Dahl - 3/5 Black Beauty (1877) by Anna Sewell - 4/5 Moondial (1982) by Helen Cresswell - 4/5 The Midnight Palace (2011) by Carlos Ruiz Zafón NON-FICTION The Girl from the Fiction Department: A Portrait of Sonia Orwell (2002) by Hilary Spurling - 3/5 Estates: An Intimate History (2007) by Lynsey Hanley - 3½/5 Kiskadee Girl (2011) by Maggie Harris - 3½/5 Going Solo (1986) by Roald Dahl - 3/5 A Yorkshire Boyhood (1983) by Roy Hattersley - 4/5 I Can't Stay Long (1975) by Laurie Lee - 3/5 A Child's War (1985) by Molly Bihet - 2½/5 Eskimo Folk-Tales (1921) - stories collected and retold by Knud Rasmussen - 3/5 The Road to Rouen (2013) by Ben Hatch - 2½/5 PLAYS Romeo and Juliet (1500s) by William Shakespeare - 5/5 POETRY Total read 63 1/5 - I hated it 2/5 - It was okay 3/5 - I liked it 4/5 - I really liked it 5/5 - I loved it 5*/5 - Outstanding For how to read 'highlights' on the Nook, see here (With thanks to Claire!)

Happy reading in 2013.

2012 Blogs should now be in the 'Past Book Blogs' section. If you spot any threads that have moved but shouldn't have - or that should have moved but haven't, please post in here. Similarly, if you wish to continue updating your 2012 blog, without having a new 2013 blog, We will move it back and rename it '2012 onwards' (or with whichever year it starts from). Happy new year blogging!

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’ 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 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!

I bought it too!

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

Alex - I'm not sure if you'll see this in time, but one of today's 99p Kindle books (their Daily Deal, not 12 Days of Christmas) is House of Evidence by Icelandic author Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson, if you haven't already done Iceland.