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Ben

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  1. Got some pretty interesting news this evening. Earlier in the year I read The Rembrandt Secret by Alex Connor, and sent her my review on the off-chance she'd give it a read. We exchanged emails a few times about various things (mostly my interest in writing myself), and she said she enjoyed my review. Now about half an hour ago she emailed me about her new book Legacy of Blood which comes out January 12th, and which I'll be receiving an early review copy of, to review for BCF.

     

    I was delighted to hear she remembered the last one and asked me to review it, and I had nosey on her website to see what it was about. Interestingly, I found that she had included my review from the BCF on her blog page under 'media reviews', which I thought was rather cool. It's here, anyway, if anyone's interested: http://alexconnorthrillers.com/therembrandtsecret/reviews.html

  2. Well, two days into having a Kindle and I've already downloaded about 20 books! The 12 days of Kindle is not helping hehe!

    Just been looking at the 12 days of Kindle sale and I'm having a very difficult battle with myself to not make purchases.. :lol:

  3. Well, I must say that even though I'm a mere hundred pages into Inheritance at the moment, I do have a feeling it may be my favourite book of the series. Christopher Paolini is building the story nicely with great character development that I'm sure he wouldn't have been able to focus on if he hadn't split the series from three books to four. I'm really looking forward to see how the final confrontation with Galbatorix, so looks like I better get cracking with it.

  4. Seriously good Christmas haul there poppyshake, sounds like Alan's good at picking up on hints. My mum's similar - she notices when I spot something on a Waterstones advert or drop it into casual conversation. She's particularly attentive in the months running up to Christmas, thankfully, resulting in me getting some nice Christmas reading pressies.

  5. As this seems to be the reading blog to hang out in, I've a question for you guys.

     

    How do you classify the first read of the year? Is it the first book you start after the first? Or is it a book you've started with in December and then finished in 2012? I've got quite a few on the go at the moment and if I finish them all in the new year do I get to count them all as 2012 reads?

     

    Yes, these are the important questions of life that keep me awake at night. ;)

  6. This year I'm aiming to knock off a few of the older books from my TBR, read more generally, and finally, actually bring the TBR down!!!

    Ah, to bring the TBR down, my nightmare aim for the year. :lol:

     

    Best of luck with the 2012 reading Andrea, hope you have a good one. :smile2:

  7. Missed out on the opportunity to go to Waterstones today as I didn't realise the buses would be running. :doh:

    But I am determined to get there before the end of the week to have a good long browse, spend my shiny new vouchers, and perhaps even stop off for a nice hot Starbucks while I'm there. In any case today I got through about 80 pages of Inheritance by Christopher Paolini and about 50 pages of my new Manchester United statistics book.

     

    Will be getting off to get cosy in bed and read for a couple of hours now too.

  8. Thanks Ben, I'm going to try and be a bit more varied in my reading this year, but definitely want to work on the Austen reading plan :smile2:

    I'm certain I'll be giving Pride and Prejudice a re-read in the next few weeks before my 18th century fiction exam, and as I really enjoyed it I may delve into some of other works as well (particularly Northanger Abbey as I have that waiting for me on Kindle). Austen's one of those authors I'm certain I'll read more of eventually, so I look forward to reading how you get on with the challenge. :smile2:

  9. 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 :smile2:

    I pledge it will be much smaller by 01/01/13. :lol: So do I, and thanks, you have a good one too. :smile2:

     

    Yes :gl: 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. :smile2:

  10. Thanks Ben, I think the forum keeps us all encouraged when things start wobbling. I must apologise though for incorrectly titling the Worlds Book Night Longlist as the Worlds Booklist Longlist :unsure: I decided to go back and insert all the titles, not just the one's I've read, into the list and in doing so found I had read another one so woo-hoo and jubilations. It was short lived however as when I typed up the shortlist, I found that they hadn't taken them from the longlist (go figure) .. and I hadn't read many of the new inclusions .. they're really out to get me :help:

    No apologies necessary poppyshake, I had to search for the list so I had the complete one anyway, so ended up entitling correctly anyway!

     

    :lol: That's just typical isn't it?! Think I'll probably just stick to the longlist and see how I can get on with that.

  11. Current reading status as we come to the end of the year is that I actually have three books on the go - something that's usually rare for me. I'm still reading An Atheist's Guide To Christmas which I'm quite honestly just flicking through at the moment. I'm also reading A Room With A View which I wanted to get finished before the new year. However, I received Inheritance by Christopher Paolini for Christmas and I've been waiting to read this for what seems like an age.

     

    Synopsis:

    It began with Eragon . . .

     

    It ends with Inheritance.

     

    Not so very long ago, Eragon - Shadeslayer, Dragon Rider - was nothing more than a poor farm boy, and his dragon Saphira, only a blue stone in the forest. Now, the fate of an entire civilisation rests on their shoulders. Long months of training and battle have brought victories and hope, but they have also brought heartbreaking loss. And still, the real battle lies ahead: they must confront Galbatorix. When they do, they will to be strong enough to defeat him. And if they cannot, no one can. There will be no second chance. The rider and his dragon have come father than anyone dared to imagine. But can they topple the evil king and restore justice to Alagaesia? And if so, at what cost?

     

    I'm getting started on this one right away, really interested to see how exactly Paolini brings the series to a close.

  12. 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. :friends3:

  13. 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.

  14. 2012 Purchases - 64. :no:

     

    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.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. 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)

  18. 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.

  19. For a moment then I was confused as I wondered how it was possibly that you had read a book in 2012 already when it hadn't started yet. Then I realised.. :doh: :giggle:

    In any case, best of look with your 2012 reading, you do have some great reads ahead of you judging by that to-be-read pile. I'm also planning on reading Crime and Punishment in the early part of the year so I'll looking forward to hearing how you get on, and to reading your thoughts. That also goes for all the other books you'll be reading this year; have a good one, Brian.

  20. Good Christmas haul on the book-front this year, was very pleased. In addition to vouchers for Waterstones and Amazon, I received:

     

    Inheritance - Christopher Paolini.

    11.22.63 - Stephen King.

    The Official Manchester United Book of Facts and Figures - Ian Marshall.

    Doctor Who: Touched By An Angel - Jonathan Morris.

    Doctor Who: Borrowed Time - Naomi A. Alderman.

     

    All of which I'm looking forward too, and will now act as late editions to 2012's starting TBR list.

  21. Thanks Ben :smile: ... the best of luck to you too in 2012. I'm a bit worried now that I'm going to have to read some books that I hate (or at least hate the sound of) in 2012 but I need to shake up my reading habits so it's the only way to go. I reckon 90% of my reading will still be in my comfort zone but the other 10% could be anything. Basically what ever the charity shop has to offer that fits in with my motivational thoughts. I saw a Kerry Katona book in the Sue Ryder shop last week but as I said to Alan, it's not 2012 yet .. I may as well wait until January to give up all forms of pleasure :D .. See, I seriously need to shake that attitude!

    Ah, the endless battle with temptation that we all suffer with on here always seems more apparent at the start of the new year when we've convinced ourselves of fresh starts and challenges, and we've promised ourselves not to make too many acquisitions. Our efforts our fruitless; I'm convinced it never works. :lol:

     

    I wish you the best of luck with the shake-up, however, and I'm sure you'll get many friendly words of encouragement here if you ever start to waver! :smile2:

  22. Eventhough I've called it 'my original Rory list' or something along those lines, I haven't actually put the list together myself, I've copied it from some website many many years ago. I only call it 'my list' on here as a remainder for myself that it's the first list I have personally started tackling, way before I joined BCF, and this way I won't confuse it with the other lists :) So feel free to copy the list :) I hope you have fun with it, and do record your journey in the appropriate Rory Gilmore books challenge thread if you like :)

    Ah I see. I just thought I'd ask, that's all. Also, as you've brought it over from whatever website you got it from, I think it seems appropriate to credit you with it anyway. I've got it all set up with my shiny new book blog that's waiting to be posted soon. I'll definitely pop by the thread as well. I'm sure this will be a great challenge, there's some fantastic books on the list and of course a fair few I've never heard of so I'll definitely find something new.

  23. Ha ha I was was doing my TBR list last night, but I got rid of a lot, and starting again, cos I couldn't remember why I put them there in the first place, so having a clean slate for 2012

    Well I was just trying to include everything I own on my shelves, even if it doesn't seem likely I'll read some of them in the near future. Big mistake. :giggle:

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