Renniemist
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Read so far this year.
December
58 The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler 7/10
57 Sharpe’s Trafalgar by Bernard Corrnwell 7/10
56 Brick Lane by Monica Ali 5/10
55 The Road by Cormac McCarthy 8/10
54 Spilling the Beans by Clarissa Dickson Wright (audio book) 7/10
53 Sharpe’s Fortress by Bernard Cornwell 7/10
52 Border Crossing by Pat Barker 7/10
51 The Life of Pi by Yann Martel 8/10
November
50 Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson 6/10
49 A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving 10/10
48 The Ruby in her Navel by Barry Unsworth 7/10
47 Port Mungo by Patrick McGrath 8/10
46 All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque 8/10
October
45 The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd 7/10
44 One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson 7/10
43 Animal's People by Indra Sinha 10/10
42 Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller 9/10
September
41 The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle 7/10
40 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd 7/10
39 Atonement by Ian McEwan 10/10
38 The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood 8/10
37 On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan 9/10
36 The Sea by John Banville 10/10
35 Arthur and George by Julian Barnes 7/10
34 Exodus by Leon Uris6/10
August
33 A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon 8/10
32 In The Country of Men by Hisham Matar 6/10
31 The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly 7/10
30 The Distance Between Us by Maggie O'Farrell 7/10
29 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday 8/10
28 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling 8/10
27 Anne of Green Gables by L M Montgomery 8/10
July
26 The Covenant by James Michener 8/10
June
25 The Hills is Lonely by Lillian Beckwith 8/10
24 The Night Watch by Sarah Waters 9/10
23 Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys 7/10
22 Fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy 7/10
May
21 The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro 9/10
20 Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood 7/10
19 The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell 9/10
April
18 My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell 7/10
17 A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon 8/10
16 Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky.. abandoned
March
15 Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov 8/10
14 Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller 8/10
13 Every Light in the House Burnin' by Andrea Levy 7/10
12 The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld 6/10
February
11 After You’d Gone by Maggie O’Farrell 9/10
10 Perfume by Patrick Suskind 8/10
9 A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.6/10
8 On Beauty by Zadie Smith. 8/10
7 The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman. 8/10
January
6 An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro 7/10
5 Slow Man by J M Coetzee 7/10
4 The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell 7/10
3 The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler 6/10
2 The Butchers Wife by Li Ang 6/10
1 Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters 5/10
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The following are a list of books that are in my to be read pile. Now I know that there is no way that I am going to read them all this year, because I refuse to give up going to the library (I enjoy going) and I am also sure that I will browse in bookstores and be tempted (I love doing that). My list could well end up bigger at the end of the year than at the beginning, especially since there will be books to get for the reading circle.
My philosophy for this year is to relax and enjoy books.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
Holy Fools by Joanne Harris
The constant Gardener by John le Carré
East Wind West Wind by Pearl S Buck
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Bitten by Kelly Armstrong
The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke
The Abortionist’s Daughter by Elizabeth Hyde
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Mauritius Command by Patrick O’Brien
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier
Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver
Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell
The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka
Africa Diary by Bill Bryson
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Baudilino by Umberto Eco
Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie
Derailed by James Siegel
Empire of the Sun by J G Ballard
Hey Nostradamus by Douglas Coupland
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Misery by Stephen King
Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehrain
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
Russka by Edward Rutherfurd
Shindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
The Accidental by Ali Smith
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
The Falls by Ian Rankin
The Haj by Leon Uris
The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw
The Palace of Heavenly Pleasures by Adam Williams
The Peoples Act of Love by James Meek
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
The Suspect by Michael Robotham
Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis
Vernon God Little by D B C Pierre
What the body Remembers by Shauna Singh Baldwin
Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder
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Nowadays the only hardback books that I read come from the library.
Paperbacks are much easier to carry and lighter to hold. If you fall asleep reading a paper back there is less likelihood of you breaking your nose. I just feel comfortable with paperbacks.
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Elizabeth Gaskell is another author that I intend to read in 2007. Thanks.
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I got, for Christmas, a 50 bottle wine cooler. I have 30 bottles in it at this time.
Wow! Great present Muggle. I am really envious. Enjoy!
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Muggle you didn
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Muggle this is difficult.
Er! Mm! Did you get some wine? -
I found Blindness a particularly grim book to read. Saramago gave a very bleak view of humans but unfortunately it was very believable the way that people reacted to the circumstances. The style I had no problem with after the first two or three pages. I even think it added to the drama. The conversations seemed very realistic to me.
I think Princessponti has summed this up exceptionally well. I did not read all her posts until after I had read the book and then I found that I agreed with her. Thank you for your reviews Princessponti.
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I finished reading Blindness on Friday before going north. I have now started on The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.
The Chicago World
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I really liked Never Let Me Go, but I believe it
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Prodigal Summer is a contemporary novel.
If you read it let me know how you get on. I am curious to know what others think about it.
Anyway I hope you enjoy it.
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Prodigal Summer
Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel
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I have finished Prodigal Summer. This is a really good book and an easy read. Barbara Kingsolver is a great author.
I am now starting on Blindness by Jos
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The Hogfather is a very enjoyable and witty book. I have not read any Terry Pratchett books before so the whole Discworld and all the characters are new to me.
It is a great book to read at this time of the year. I loved the scene in the toyshop. I will try to watch The Hogfather when it is on TV over the Christmas period. I do think I may have enjoyed it more if I had read some of the previous books- just to get a feel for some of the characters. However the book is so full of humour that you can
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The Hogfather was a good read for this time of the year.
I feel I need something a bit less winter like now so I am starting on Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsover.
Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger tapestry of lives amid the mountains and farms of southern Appalachia. Over the course of one humid summer, this novel
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Hi there
If you liked The Bookseller of Kabul you may also like My Forbidden Face by Latifa.
It is written by a young Afghani woman and tells of her experiences during the time of the Taliban.
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I have now finished The Secret River. I enjoyed this one.
I am now starting on The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett for the December Read. I have not read any Terry Pratchett before so should be interesting.
Where is the big jolly fat man? Why is Death creeping down chimneys and trying to say Ho Ho Ho? The darkest night of the year is getting a lot darker
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I found this a real interesting read. I liked the first part about London and how William Thornhill struggled to better himself as a waterman on the River Thames. It seemed to me to be to be quite realistic. When everything went wrong and he was deported the description of his family
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I have indeed read Cloud Howe and Grey Granite, but I think that Sunset Song is the best of the three. It must be nearly 20 years since I read any of them so my memory is not so good but I remember thinking that the author managed to express the feelings of a woman so very well. It is a great pity he died so young.
I am Scottish and I have relatives who live in the area that Lewis Grassic Gibbons writes about, but I don
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I read Sunset Song a long long time ago. The first book of A Scots Quair is one of my all time favourites too. It may be time for a re-read.
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I have not read Ghostwritten yet, but I think I liked Black Swan Green even better than Cloud Atlas. It certainly was very different from Cloud Atlas and I think this shows that David Mitchell can write well about many things.
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My copy is from the library and unfortunately I will have to go back soon. I might get it for myself when it comes out in paperback. I could read it again.
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I absolutely loved this book. Jason
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I have now finished Black Swan Green and I agree with Andy that this is one of the best books I have read this year. I loved it and would recommend it to everyone.
I am now starting on The Secret River by Kate Grenville.
London 1806
Rennie's 2007 Book List
in Past Book Logs
Posted
The year has started very slowly as far a books are concerned.
I started Tipping the Velvet just before going on holiday. It was not nearly as good as Fingersmith in my opinion.
Amazon.co.uk Review
The heroine of Sarah Waters's audacious first novel knows her destiny, and seems content with it. Her place is in her father's seaside restaurant, shucking shellfish and stirring soup, singing all the while. "Although I didn't believe the story told to me by Mother--that they had found me as a baby in an oyster-shell, and a greedy customer had almost eaten me for lunch--for 18 years I never doubted my own oysterish sympathies, never looked beyond my father's kitchen for occupation, or for love." At night Nancy Astley often ventures to the nearby music hall, not that she has illusions of being more than an audience member. But the moment she spies a new male impersonator--still something of a curiosity in England circa 1888--her years of innocence come to an end and a life of transformations begins.
The Butchers Wife was a very quick read. I read it on the flight home from Cape Town.
Under traditional Chinese law, the only valid explanation for a woman murdering her husband is her adultery. In 1930s Shanghai a case came to light where a woman dismembered her husband. There was no evidence that the woman had ever had a lover. This inspired Li Ang to write a deep and harrowing novel about the situation that might lead to such a murder. Chen Jiangshui is a pig-butcher in a small coastal Taiwanese town. Stocky, with a paunch and deep-set beady eyes, he resembles a pig himself. His brutality towards his new young wife, Lin Shi, knows no bounds. The more she screams, the more he likes it. She is further isolated by the vicious gossip of her neighbours who condemn her for screaming aloud, because, as they see it: As women we're supposed to be tolerant and put our husbands above everything else. According to an old Chinese belief, all butchers are destined for hell (an eternity of torment by the animals they have despatched). Lin Shi, isolated, despairing and finally driven to madness, fittingly kills him with his own instrument - a meat cleaver. THE BUTCHER'S WIFE was a literary sensation in the Chinese language world with its suggestion that ritual and tradition are the functions of oppression. It also caused widespread outrage with its unsparing portrayal of sexual violence and emotional cruelty. The novel has made a profound impact on contemporary Chinese literature and today ranks as a landmark text in both women's studies and world literature. Amazon.
I have now started on The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler.
Los Angeles PI Phillip Marlowe is working for the Sternwood family. Old Man Sternwood, crippled and wheelchair-bound, is being given the squeeze by a blackmailer and he wants Marlowe to make the problem go away. But with Sternwood