Ben

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

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

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.

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.

Nice review Claire, this one sounds like both a fascinating and enjoyable read. I admittedly haven't heard of Stella Gibbons before, but I might check this one out thanks to your good comments.

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.

Ah, to bring the TBR down, my nightmare aim for the year. Best of luck with the 2012 reading Andrea, hope you have a good one.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

2012 Purchases - 64. 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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.. 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.

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.

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. 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!

Subscribed, looking forward to reading your thoughts and reviews in 2012; hope it's a good reading year for you Claire.

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.