Janet

Thanks, Bobs. I've read one Kate Morton book but that was a long time ago. I seem to remember enjoying it though. The other one was a World Book Night book and I ended up with two copies. I'm not sure about it really so it's encouraging to know you liked it. My Mum has loaned me Ella and Otto... - we usually enjoy the same type of books. I'm also not sure about My Brilliant Friend, but a friend bought it for my 50th birthday last year so I sort of feel obliged to give it a go...

Thanks, Kylie The English Counties challenge has definitely pushed the number up, but since I got over my fear of them I'm actually choosing to read more classics and generally I do enjoy them.

Whatever it's about I don't think I'll be bothering with it again! Thanks, Alex. Apart from the Mole books, the only other I've read is The Queen and I - and although that was years ago I remember feeling it didn't quite live up to expectations. I failed to read that again this year! I'm going to start my Christmas reading much earlier in 2017. I hope you're enjoying it. You have - back in 2014 It was the first book I 'bought' on Kindle. I say bought, but it was definitely free when it first came out. I expect you're looking at a newer Kindle edition which is why it's not saying you've bought it.

Cheers! And thanks. Thanks - and likewise. I will probably do it via Whispersync with my Kindle and phone when I do tackle it, which might make it a quicker read?

Thanks. I plan to read this fairly soon. Thanks. To be honest, I'm a little daunted by this book!

I in no way meant to be rude about anyone with depression - I didn't realise that's what was wrong with the woman - I just thought she was lazy. I don't recall any of what I read, but I've just searched for, and found, the post I made when I tried it: Sadly I've given up on The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year. I got up to page 156, so I gave it a good try, but the characters were just awful and I felt no empathy towards 'The Woman' or her family. Frankly I couldn't care less if she stayed in bed for ever! I'd have thought that by 156 I'd have worked out she was suffering from depression, but whilst it's not a condition I've (thankfully) ever had, I do have a very good friend who suffers and would never knowingly criticise anyone - or want to slap them. I'm sorry if I came across as intolerant.

Mostly Amazon (we have Prime so the postage is usually free) and occasionally Waterstones - I have the delivered to store so I don't pay postage. I also use Awesome Books as they don't charge postage.

I read that in 2015. I've just looked at my review and I was rather scathing! It's a shame as it was a great idea, but was poorly executed. I think maybe it was self-published and could have benefited from an editor, but I can't really remember enough about it to know if that's the case!

I would say no... except there are an awful lot of footnotes in it which, if I was reading the paper book, I would find frustrating. Some of them I've just ignored because they are explaining who people are and I haven't needed to read them, but there is a chapter were a lot of the dialogue is in French so I've needed them for that. On the Kindle I just just click on them and the footnote pops up. If you can, I would suggest looking at a library copy rather than buying it. I hope that doesn't sound patronising - it's not meant to. The language is fine and you'd have no problems with that at all. I'm really enjoying the story though. I tried that a few years ago but I hated it. I wanted to slap the woman and tell her to get up! I've downloaded that. I need to get out walking again...

Chick lit is not really my thing, although it was great when I had small children. No apology necessary - I will move it later when I'm on my laptop.

Are you planning to have a thread for this year too? As this has 2016 in the title it technically should be in the Past Blogs forum. If it's going to continue this year then it could do with re-titling as 'ongoing' with the 2016 removing. I hope you have a good year. You must be well on the way to finishing your World Challenge now.

We're trying to read the same books where possible, but I've chosen not to reread some of them and have selected my own. I just started a thread called 'City of London [alternative] - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens' because I've read the original choice so many times. I have quite a few counties on my list where I'm going to select an alternative, so please feel free to do the same.

Happy reading in 2017. I don't think we have many books in common, so I probably don't comment in your blog often, but I shall try to make more of an effort.

Thanks, Gaia. I think they're great too. Tom's wedding 'speech' is one of the loveliest things I've seen on YouTube and I love their Instagram accounts! Thanks, Noll.

Thanks.

Book #1 The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher The ‘blurb’ Forget everything you thought you knew about the North Pole, and set off on a Christmas Eve adventure with boy named William Trundle, an elf named Snozzletrump, Santa Claus (yes! The real Santa Claus!), a nasty piece of work called the Hunter, and a most unusual dinosaur… I didn’t know that Tom Fletcher (of McFly fame) had already co-written some toddler books with his fellow band member Dougie Poynter but had spotted this in numerous book shops in the run-up to Christmas and my Mum, who came to stay with us over the festive period, bought it for me as a ‘hostess’ gift. It’s about an unborn dinosaur who survives the asteroid that killed his species off when his egg falls to the bottom of the ocean. It is dug up thousands of years later and ends up at the North Pole. Whilst the dinosaur, who Santa names Christmasaurus due to his blue, ice-like skin, is happy living with Santa and the elves he longs for another dinosaur for company. Meanwhile, down on planet earth a boy called William lives with his father who is mad about Christmas. William is a friendly chap who loves dinosaurs – he also has a disability but he doesn’t let it get in his way. When he makes an enemy of the school bully Brenda, William’s life becomes very unhappy. He writes to Santa to ask for two things (neither of which he’s convinced are even possible) – his father to be happy – and a real dinosaur… I liked the fact it features a boy with a disability who lives a normal life, and the narrative largely focuses not on the disability, but on William’s abilities. I’m not sure there are many books for children that feature children that are physically disabled so it’s nice to read one that does (although I don’t read that many children’s books, so maybe there are lots of others?). I found the book to be a sweet tale which I’m sure will appeal hugely to the target audience of seven to ten year olds and McFly fans but I’m not sure I’d read any more of Tom’s books. The paperback edition is 384 pages long and is published by Puffin. It was first published in 2016. The ISBN is 9780141373324. 3½/5 (I enjoyed it) (Finished 1 January 2017)

I'll join you. I might just eat something first though! *hic* The ECC has certainly been very enjoyable. I'm not sure if I'll get to the end of it this year, but I'm going to endeavour to make good inroads into it. Thanks for popping by.

Okay, I think I'm done for now, so I officially declare this thread open! Have a cookie... and a cup of coffee/tea or a glass of wine

One more spare post - just in case!

Spare post

Jane Austen Sense and Sensibility (1811) - finished 10.01.16 Pride and Prejudice (1813) - finished 20.08.08 Mansfield Park (1814) - Emma (1815) - finished 04.10.13 Northanger Abbey (1817) - 30.06.13 Persuasion (1817) - Jane Austen's Unfinished Novels (I'm not sure if I'm going to read these) Lady Susan (1871) The Watsons (1871) Sanditon (1925) Lesley Castle (2009) The Brontë Sisters Anne Agnes Grey (1847) - finished 22.02.17 The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) - finished 08.02.13 Charlotte Jane Eyre (1847) - finished 23.09.10 Shirley (1849) Villette (1853) The Professor (1857) - finished 01.05.17 There is also: Emma Brown (2003) (with Clare Boylan) - but I'm undecided about this Emily Wuthering Heights (1847) - finished 22.07.15 Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes' novels 1. A Study in Scarlet (1887) finished 03.03.16 2. The Sign of the Four (1890) finished 14.05.16 3. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892) finished 13.02.16 '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' 4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894) finished 14.07.16 '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' 5. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) finished 30.03.17 6. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1905) finished 19.09.16 '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' 7. The Valley of Fear (1915) 8. 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' 9. 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' 6/9 Charles Dickens 1. The Pickwick Papers (1837) 2. Oliver Twist (1839) finished 09.06.13 3. Nicholas Nickleby (1839) finished 21.12.14 4. The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) 5. Barnaby Rudge (1841) 6. A Christmas Carol (1843) first finished 29.12.07 7. Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) 8. Dombey and Son (1848) 9. David Copperfield (1850) 10. Bleak House (1853) 11. Hard Times (1854) finished 09.02.16 12. Little Dorrit (1857 13. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) finished 17.11.15 14. Great Expectations (1861) finished 05.11.16 15. Our Mutual Friend (1865) 16. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) 6/16 Thomas Hardy (From Wikipedia:) Hardy divided his novels and collected short stories into three classes: Novels of Character and Environment The Poor Man and the Lady (1867, unpublished and lost) Readable 1. Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School (1872) - finished 13.10.16 2. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) finished 20.09.15 3. The Return of the Native (1878) 4. The Mayor of Casterbridge: The Life and Death of a Man of Character (1886) finished 26.09.11 5. The Woodlanders (1887) 6. Wessex Tales (1888, a collection of short stories) 7. Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented (1891) finished 07.0113 8. Life's Little Ironies (1894, a collection of short stories) 9. Jude the Obscure (1895) Romances and Fantasies 10. A Pair of Blue Eyes: A Novel (1873) 11. The Trumpet-Major (1880) 12. Two on a Tower: A Romance (1882) 13. A Group of Noble Dames (1891, a collection of short stories) 14. The Well-Beloved: A Sketch of a Temperament (1897) (first published as a serial from 1892) finished 10.08.15 Novels of Ingenuity 15. Desperate Remedies: A Novel (1871) 16. The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters (1876) 17. A Laodicean: A Story of To-day (1881) 5/17

ENGLISH COUNTIES CHALLENGE - (TITLES READ IN RED) PROGRESS = 33/48 01. My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates (Bedfordshire) – 5/5 02. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (Berkshire) – 4/5 03. The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young (Bristol) 04. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper (Buckinghamshire) - 5/5 05. The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers (Cambridgeshire) - 4½/5 06. Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell (Cheshire) - 5/5 07. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (City of London) 5/5A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (City of London) - 5/5 08. Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (Cornwall) - 5/5 09. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 3½/5The Maid of Buttermere by Melvyn Bragg (Cumbria) 10. Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (Derbyshire) – 5/5 - I have already read this so may look for an alternative 11. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie (Devon) - 5/5 12. Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (Dorset) - 5/5 13. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens (Durham) – 5/5 14. South Riding by Winifred Holtby (East Riding of Yorkshire) - 5/5 15. Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne (East Sussex) – 5/5 16. Flambards by K M Peyton – 4/5 / The Turn of the Screw by Henry James 17. A Child in the Forest by Winifed Foley - 4/5 18. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Greater London) - 4/5 19. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Greater Manchester) - 5/5 20. Watership Down by Richard Adams (Hampshire) – 4/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative 21. On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin (Herefordshire) – 4/5 22. Howards End by E M Forster (Hertfordshire) - 3/5 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Hertfordshire) – 5/5 23. England, England by Julian Barnes (Isle of Wight) 24. The Darling Buds of May by HE Bates (Kent) – 5/5 25. Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson – /5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative (alt) Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill (Lancashire) - suggested alternative from Willoyd 26. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend (Leicestershire) – 5/5 27. The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot (Lincolnshire) 28. An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge (Merseyside) – 3/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative 29. The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley (Norfolk) - 4/5 30. All Creatures Great and Small by James Heriott (North Yorkshire) - 5/5 31. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (Northamptonshire) 32. The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin (Northumberland) - 4/5 33. Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence (Nottinghamshire) - 2/5 34. The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (Oxfordshire) - 5/5 35. Set In Stone by Robert Goddard (Rutland) – 4/5 36. Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse (Shropshire) – 3/5 37. Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore (Somerset) 38. A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines (South Yorkshire) – 4/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative 39. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett (Staffordshire) - 3/5 40. The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald (Suffolk) - 3/5 41. Emma by Jane Austen (Surrey) – 5/5 - have read this before so may look for an alternative 42. Another World by Pat Barker (Tyne and Wear) - 3/5 43. Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes (Warwickshire) 44. Middlemarch by George Eliot (West Midlands) - 4/5 45. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (West Sussex) – 4/5 46. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (West Yorkshire) 47. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope (Wiltshire) 48. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (Worcestershire) - 3/5

TOTAL TO 'LISTEN TO' AUDIBLE BOOKS 2016 (total left = 3/4) 1 read (2016) 1. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke - 28.02.16 2. The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett - 09.07.16 3. Coffin Road by Peter May - 14.09.16 - finished 21.01.17 4. Foxglove Summer by Ben Aaronovitch - 18.09.16

TOTAL TO READ 'PAID FOR' KINDLE BOOKS 2016 and before (total left = 12/12) (Titles purchased where I already own the paper book are not included (as they appear in the paper book list!) 2016 The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke The Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L Sayers The Imortals by S E Lister Spectacles by Sue Perkins The Unforgotten by Laura Powell 2015 Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 2014 Mary Poppins - the Complete Collection by P L Travers The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Last year my '2015 and earlier' list stood at 90 and I decreased it by 12 and abandoned 1. I've added in 2016's unread books so as at 1st January it stood at 102. I hope to make some inroads to it in 2017! 11 read so far in 2017 TOTAL TO READ PILE 2016 and before (total left = 91/102) 2016 (23) Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper In Darkling Wood by Emma Carroll finished 23.02.17 The Harpole Report by J L Carr To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis Frenchman's Creek by Daphne Du Maurier Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante Deep Magic, Dragons & Mice by Alister McGrath Ann Veronica by H G Wells Seeing Things by Oliver Postgate Selected Poems by Laurie Lee - finished 09.02.17 Walking Away by Simon Armitage - finished 10.01.17 Strange Star by Emma Carroll Cogheart by Peter Bunzl Grief is a Thing with Feathers by Max Porter - finished 08.01.17 Puffin Book of Christmas Stories by Various The Go-Between by L P Hartley - finished 07.01.17 A Child of the Forest by Winifred Foley - finished 30.01.17 The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland - finished 28.01.17 The Christmasaurus by Tom Fletcher - finished 01.01.17 The Girl on the 6.27 by Jean-Paul Didierlaurent - finished 04.02.17 The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig - finished 02.01.17 The Nutcracker by A T E Hoffmann 2015 (0) 2014 (7) The House at Pooh Corner by A A Milne The Weather in the Streets by Rosamund When We Were Very Young by A A Milne Now We are Six by A A Milne Round the Christmas Fire by various Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch A Literary Christmas by various 2013 (18) The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens Dombey and Son Charles Dickens David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Bleak House by Charles Dickens Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens ~ Web by John Wyndham The Diary of a Provincial Lady (all four volumes) by E M Delafield And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini A Lineage of Grace by Francine Rivers - finished 09.02.17 The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J L Carr The Misses Mallet by Emily Hilda Young A Life in Letters by George Orwell Letters of Note by Shaun Usher 2012 (6) The Day the Ceiling Fell Down by Jenifer Wayne The Merchant of Venice (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare English Journey by J B Priestley Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist A Tiny Bit Marvellous by Dawn French A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson 2011 (20) Mansfield Park by Jane Austen The Life and Death of King John by William Shakespeare Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez The Mysteries of Glass by Sue Gee The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende The Girl Who Kicked a Hornet's Nest by Steig Larsson The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry The Star of Kazan by Eva Ibbotson Shakespeare's Wife by Germain Greer The First Wife by Emily Barr A Song of Sixpence by A J Cronin The Green Years by A J Cronin The Minstrel Boy by A J Cronin The Northern Lights by A J Cronin Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie Journals of a Somerset Rector (1803 to 1834) by Rev'd Skinner Hitchhiking to Heaven by Lionel Blue Family Life by Sally Magnusson A Kind of Loving by Stan Bristow The Travel Books of W Somerset Maugham by W Somerset Maugham 2010 (7) The Chrisalids by John Wyndham The Comedy of Errors (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare The Children of Knowle Green by Lucy Boston Boogie up the River by Mark Wallington A Midsummer Night's Dream (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare The Red House Mystery by A A Milne Trumpet by Jackie Kay Pre-2010 (21) The Rye Man by David Park The Bolter by Frances Osbourne Mister God, This is Anna by Fynn Inside the Whale by George Orwell Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell The Man Who Was Thursday by G K Chesterton The Third Man/The Fallen Idol by Graham Greene King Soloman's Mines by H Rider Haggard Three Men on the Bummel by Jerome K Jerome The Chrisalids by John Wyndham The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfield The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker The Ghost Road by Pat Barker Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson On Green Dolphin Street by Sebastian Faulks The Common Reader by Virginia Woolf The Lord of the Flies by William Golding Hamlet (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare The Merry Wives of Windsor (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare Twelfth Night (Cambridge School's Shakespeare) by William Shakespeare Total read 10 Abandoned 0 Given Away 0