poppyshake

Oh .. thanks Janet I trust your bones much more than I do my own so I'm feeling confident now Yes, hope we have many, many, meet-ups this year .. I always feel a lot happier and booky inspired afterwards Haha .. you're right .. I am a teapot!! Thanks Chrissy .. you too! Thanks Gaia I think we're all going to have a great reading year this year .. I can feel it in Janet's bones

What a lovely day we had Hope you enjoy your books Janet xx

I've written it on the calendar .. just to prompt me! I usually start the year off well and then fade but I might actually do it the other way around this year Good luck Janet! I can confirm that Janet's Kindle case, as made by Claire, is indeed a thing of beauty as I saw it with my own eyes yesterday :wub: She's a very clever, super talented, bunny indeed! (but you won't get her to admit it .. she's far too modest for her own good. She'll just say the sewing machine did it .. while she sat nearby and read a couple of chapters! )

Something like car-jalan-peer-arka (is that actually saying ANYTHING in Finnish? Please say it's saying something rude ) I'm totally going to have a go at this the next time Finland win a Gold medal! Glad you're feeling a bit better but hope you'll feel a lot better soon I'm doing okay thanks .. bit sore throatish but nothing a gin and ginger ale can't fix

Well, hello my lovelies .. welcome to my 2017 book blog .. here come the cows :cows: I've really got to do better this year. I don't think I read ANYTHING from any of my challenge lists last year .. or perhaps just one or two but honestly, I just totally ignored them and acted like I didn't have 1001 unread books on my shelves (slight exaggeration but it feels like that many.) 2016 started off well. Because I'd set a fairly low target on Goodreads the year before and exceeded it I thought I'd set a higher one in order to inspire myself and see what I was made of. Turns out I was made of clay and my reading hopes sunk in a tidal wave of indifference (not helped by those nice people at Goodreads who taunted me from April onwards!) This year I'll have more modest reading ambitions (and I'll be laughing in their faces!!! ) I had to go and live with my mum and dad for almost three months at the end of 2016 to help them while mum was recovering from an op and I didn't read a single sentence .. unless you count microwave instructions and medicine information. It drove me almost mad! And many a sleepless night did I spend recounting the times when I could have read and didn't!! I couldn't believe I ever turned down reading to watch Rick Stein's Long Weekends!! But there it is .. you don't know what you've got till it's gone! I won't be making that mistake again! Now, because it's January and all thoughts have turned to streamlining and de-cluttering I've had a bit of a cull of the old TBR. It's NOT cheating it's just sensible. It's not that I don't want to read the books that I've taken off, it's just that I don't think I will read them for a while and .. well .. they're oppressing me! The titles are all in the book jar still though so that should provide entertainment for ages .. me running up and down looking for books that are actually in the charity shop!! Because of course I have no system for finding books or knowing where they are. I used to have a vague idea but I've slept since then. The main thing this year is to enjoy my reading. To basically spend as many hours as possible curled up with a book and a mug of hot chocolate (or iced lemonade in the summer .. if we have one.) I felt very unrelaxed when I was unable to read .. and agitated. Stories are such an escape because frankly, who wants to live in the real world 24/7? .. I don't! It's absolutely appalling but I can get through it with a bit of help from Messrs Dickens and Pratchett and Rowling etc. So, hope you all have A VERY HAPPY READING YEAR and read some gems I do hope I can do better than last year and keep this blog up to date-ish! I'm not going to promise (or threaten ) reviews because it might not happen. I might just write a few lines .. cut the waffle .. get to the point .. that sort of thing. Or I might write several very lengthy reviews and ignore the rest! As per usual. Anyway WELCOME ONE AND ALL. Please use all your tactics .. bullying and otherwise .. to encourage me to read stuff from my TBR etc. I deeply apologise if I have removed any books that you are particularly fond of. It's not personal .. it's space .. or the lack thereof! This thread is now officially .. OPEN! :cows:

Space for the list that I know I've forgotten

Space in case I come up with something wildly exciting and inventive with which to challenge myself .. might happen

Poached Quotes on Toast

Books bought/acquired in 2017 (2016 Christmas books and books bought with Christmas money included) Progress: 20/27 Fiction: Atwood, Margaret - Hag-seed Bunzl, Peter - Cogheart Carroll, Emma - Strange Star Carroll, Emma - The Letters from the Lighthouse Doerr, Anthony - All the Light We Cannot See Durrell, Gerald - My Family and Other Animals (from lovely Janet) Haig, Matt - The Girl Who Saved Christmas Keyes, Marian - The Woman Who Stole My Life Kidd, Jess - Himself Laurain, Antoine - The President's Hat Leonard, M.G. - Beetle Boy Ness, Patrick - The Ask and the Answer Ness, Patrick - The Knife of Never Letting Go Nicholl Morgan, Lorna - Another Little Christmas Murder Perry, Sarah - The Essex Serpent Pratchett, Terry - The Wee Free Men Russell, Karen - St Lucy's Home For Girls Raised by Wolves (short stories) Soucy, Gaetan - Vaudeville! Spufford, Francis - Golden Hill Stedman, M.L. - The Light Between Oceans Strange, Lucy - The Secret of Nightingale Wood (from lovely Claire) Strout, Elizabeth - Olive Kitteridge Non-Fiction: Bryson, Bill - The Road to Little Dribbling Dahl, Roald - Love From Boy (letters) Esiri, Allie - A Poem For Every Night of the Year .. currently reading Macdonald, Helen - H is for Hawk Somerville, Christopher - The January Man Stevens, Nell - Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the World

BCF Recommended Reads - Non Fiction Kylie's Favourite Non-Fiction (progress 3/13) Bill Bryson - Down Under Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods Bill Bryson - A Short History of Nearly Everything Truman Capote - In Cold Blood AB Facey - A Fortunate Life Tim Flannery - The Explorers Tim Flannery - The Birth of Sydney Anne Frank - The Diary of Anne Frank Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road Steven D. Levitt - Freaconomics Sylvia Plath - The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath Andrew Solomon - The Noonday Demon Martin Toseland - A Steroid Hit the Earth Frankie's Favourite Non-Fiction (progress 3/28) Sylvia Beach - Shakespeare and Company Constance Briscoe - Ugly Vincent Bugliosi - Helter Skelter Augusten Burroughs - A Wolf at the Table Augusten Burroughs - Dry Augusten Burroughs - Magical Thinking Augusten Burroughs - Possible Side Effects Augusten Burroughs - Running with Scissors Alain de Botton - How Proust Can Change Your Life Peggy Claude-Pierre - The Secret Language of Eating Disorders Pamela Druckerson - French Children Don't Throw Food Anne Frank - The Diary of a Young Girl Philip Gonzalez - The Dog Who Rescues Cats John Grogan - Marley and Me Ronald Hayman - The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath Nick Hornby - The Complete Polysyllabic Spree Lesley McDowell - Between the Sheets - The Literary Liaisons of Nine 20th Century Women Writers Motley Crue - The Dirt Vicki Myron - Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World Christopher V.V. Parnell - Hell's Prisoner Dave Peltzer - A Child Called It Flora Rheta Scheiber - Sybil Mary Roach - Stiff - The Life of the Human Cadavers Ann Rule - The Stranger Beside Me Deborah Spungen - And I Don't Want to Live This Life: A Mother's Story of her Daughter's Murder Danny Wallace - Yes Man Tobias Wolff - This Boys Life Tuula-Liina Varis - Kilpikonna ja olkimarsalkka

BCF Recommended Reads - Fiction Kylie's Favourite Fiction (progress 24/40) Jane Austen - Emma Jane Austen - Pride & Prejudice John Banville - The Body of Evidence Ray Bradbury - Farenheit 451 Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange Italo Calvino - If On a Winter's Night a Traveller John Connolly - The Book of Lost Things Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities Charles Dickens - Great Expectations Alexandre Dumas - Count of Monte Christo Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex Michel Faber - The Crimson Petal and the White F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby Jonathan Safran Foer - Everything is Illuminated George & Weedon Grossmith - Diary of a Nobody Joseph Heller - Catch 22 Susan Hill - The Woman in Black Jack Kerouac - On the Road Jack Kerouac - The Town and the City Ken Kesey - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon Steig Larsson - The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird Erich Maria Marquez - All Quiet on the Western Front Margaret Mitchell - Gone With the Wind Vladimir Nabakov - Lolita George Orwell - Animal Farm Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged Mary Shelley - Frankenstein John Steinbeck - Grapes of Wrath John Steinbeck - Of Mice and Men Bram Stoker - Dracula Hunter.S. Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces Oscar Wilde - The Picture of Dorian Gray Tim Winton - Cloudstreet Markus Zusak - The Book Thief Frankie's Favourite Fiction (progress 35/103) Boris Akunin - The Winter Queen Ingvar Ambjørnsen - Elling series Jane Austen - Northanger Abbey Jane Austen - Persuasion Iain Banks - Wasp Factory Muriel Barbery - The Elegance of the Hedgehog Linwood Barclay - Too Close to Home Robert Bloch - Psycho John Boyne - Crippen John Boyne - The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Poppy Z. Brite - Exquisite Corpse Karin Brunk Holmqvist - Pieni potenssipuoti Anthony Burgess - A Clockwork Orange Chelsea Cain - Heartsick Truman Capote - Breakfast at Tiffany's Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Stephen Chbosky - The Perks of Being a Wallflower Agatha Christie - Ten little Niggers Susanna Clarke - Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Jeffery Deaver - Lincoln Rhyme series Charles Dickens - A Tale of Two Cities Lucy Dillon - The Secret of Happy Ever After Emma Donoghue - Room Daphne du Maurier - My Cousin Rachel Jeffrey Eugenides - Middlesex Michel Faber - Under the Skin Jasper Fforde - The Eyre Affair Helen Fielding - Bridget Jones's Diary Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe Peter Franzén - Tumman veden päällä Stephen Fry - The Hippopotamus Alex Garland - The Beach Guy Gavriel Kay - The Lions of Al-Rassan Linda Gillard - Emotional Geology William Goldman - The Marathon Man John Grogan - Marley and Me Mark Haddon - The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Matt Haig - The Last Family in England Anna-Leena Härkönen - Häräntappoase Daniil Harms - Incidences Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse series Joanne Harris - Gentleman & Players Ernest Hemingway - The Sun Also Rises Nick Hornby - Juliet, Naked Siri Hustvedt - The Summer Without Men Kazuo Ishiguro - A Pale View of Hills Lloyd Jones - Mister Pip Katja Kallio - Kuutamolla John Kennedy Toole - A Confederacy of Dunces Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon Stephen King - Cujo Stephen King - Green Mile Stephen King - The Stand Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl Andrey Kurkov - Death & the Penguin Tuomas Kyrö - Mielensäpahoittaja Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird Dennis Lehane - Shutter Island Ira Levin - Rosemary's Baby Jeff Lindsay - Dexter Vaino Linna - The Unknown Soldier Jennifer Lynch - The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (and you need to watch the TV show!!) Vladimar Nabokov - Lolita Irene Nemirovsky - The Ball Grace Metalious - Peyton Place David Mitchell - Black Swan Green Margaret Mitchell - Gone with the Wind Sue Monk Kidd - The Secret of Bees L.M. Montgomery - The Blue Castle Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons - Watchmen Haruki Murakami - Sputnik Sweetheart Sofi Oksanen - Purge Ann Patchett - Bel Canto Inna Patrakova - Naapurit Dan Rhodes - Gold Anne Rice - Interview with a Vampire Kauko Röyhkä - Kaksi aurinkoa Antoine de Saint-Exupery - The Little Prince Pirkko Saisio - Punainen erokirja Sapphire - Push! Erich Segal - Love Story Mary Ann Shaffer - The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society George Bernard Shaw - Pygmalion Anita Shreve - The Weight of Water Linda Lay Shuler - She Who Remembers Nevil Shute - Pied Piper Dai Sijie - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Karin Slaughter - Grant County + Will Trent series Robert Louis Stevenson - Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain John Steinbeck - The Wayward Bus Kathryn Stockett - The Help Bram Stoker - Dracula Patrick Suskind - Perfume Vikas Swarup - Q&A Donna Tartt - The Secret History Jari Tervo - Pyhiesi yhteyteen Voltaire - Candide Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five Sarah Waters - Fingersmith Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting Oscar Wilde - The Importance of Being Earnest Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Shadow of the Wind Markus Zusak - The Book Thief

Books read from the 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die by Peter Boxall - 2006 Progress so far: 147/1001 987. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe 985. Moll Flanders - Daniel Defoe 971. Candide - Voltaire 959. Evelina – Fanny Burney 940. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen 938. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 937. Mansfield Park - Jane Austen 936. Emma - Jane Austen 933. Persuasion - Jane Austen 932. Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen 931. Frankenstein – Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 919. The Nose – Nikolay Gogol 916. The Fall of the House of Usher – Edgar Allan Poe 913. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens 910. Martin Chuzzlewit – Charles Dickens 909. The Purloined Letter – Edgar Allan Poe 905. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray 904. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë 903. Agnes Grey – Anne Brontë 902. Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë 900. Mary Barton - Elizabeth Gaskell 898. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens 897. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne 896. Moby Dick - Herman Melville 892. Cranford - Elizabeth Gaskell 891. Villette – Charlotte Brontë 890. Bleak House - Charles Dickens 887. North and South – Elizabeth Gaskell 886. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert 883. A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens 876. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens 873. Les Misérables – Victor Hugo 871. Notes from the Underground – Fyodor Dostoevsky 869. Our Mutual Friend – Charles Dickens 868. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll 867. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoevsky 865. The Last Chronicle of Barset – Anthony Trollope 863. Little Woman - Louisa May Alcott 859. Phineas Finn – Anthony Trollope 854. Alice Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Caroll 853. Middlemarch - George Eliot 846. Far from the Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy 840. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy 825. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain 821. The Mayor of Casterbridge – Thomas Hardy 820. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Robert Louis Stevenson 808. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy 805. News from Nowhere – William Morris 804. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 803. Diary of a Nobody - George & Weedon Grossmith 797. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells 794. Dracula - Bram Stoker 790. The War of the Worlds – H.G. Wells 789. The Turn of the Screw – Henry James 776. The Ambassadors – Henry James 740. The Voyage Out - Virginia Woolf 699. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald 698. Mrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf 695. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd - Agatha Christie 686. To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf 680. Decline and Fall – Evelyn Waugh 675. Orlando - Virginia Woolf 671. The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner 656. Cakes and Ale – W. Somerset Maugham 650. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons 643. The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas – Gertrude Stein 619. Gone With the Wind – Margaret Mitchell 611. The Years - Virginia Woolf 610. The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien 608. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck 603. Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier 601. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson 596. Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood 584. Between the Acts – Virginia Woolf 566. The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford 564. Animal Farm - George Orwell 563. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh 561. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake 547. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell 542. Love in a Cold Climate - Nancy Mitford 529. The Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger 526. Day of the Triffids – John Wyndham 521. The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway 495. The Talented Mr. Ripley – Patricia Highsmith 494. The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tokien 484. On the Road – Jack Kerouac 481. The Midwich Cuckoos – John Wyndham 478. The Bell – Iris Murdoch 474. Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris – Paul Gallico 467. Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote 465. Memento Mori – Muriel Spark 459. Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee 457. Rabbit, Run – John Updike 456. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 451. Catch-22 – Joseph Heller 450. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 446. A Severed Head – Iris Murdoch 445. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger 433. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath 431. The Girls of Slender Means – Muriel Spark 411. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys 399. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel García Márquez 394. A Kestrel For a Knave - Barry Hines 367. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – Maya Angelou 365. The Bluest Eye – Toni Morrison 354. Surfacing – Margaret Atwood 352. The Summer Book – Tove Jansson 305. The Sea, The Sea – Iris Murdoch 300. If On a Winter's Night a Traveler - Italo Calvino 278. On the Black Hill – Bruce Chatwin review 275. Schindler’s Ark – Thomas Keneally 274. A Pale View of Hills – Kazuo Ishiguro 272. The Color Purple – Alice Walker 260. Money: A Suicide Note – Martin Amis 238. The Cider House Rules - John Irving 237. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson 236. Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel García Márquez 222. Beloved - Toni Morrison 196. A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving 172. Señor Vivo and the Coca Lord – Louis de Bernieres 170. Regeneration - Pat Barker 147. The Secret History – Donna Tartt 143. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides 133. The Shipping News – E. Annie Proulx 129. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis de Bernieres 120. Mr Vertigo - Paul Auster 117. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry 112. The Information – Martin Amis 92. The God of Small Things – Arundhati Roy 90. Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho 89. The Hours - Michael Cunningham 86. The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver 69. Pastoralia – George Saunders 54. White Teeth – Zadie Smith 52. The Devil and Miss Prym – Paulo Coelho 49. Life of Pi - Yann Martel 38. Gabriel's Gift - Hanif Kureishi 33. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides 28. Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami 26. Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer 19. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon 15. The Colour – Rose Tremain 13. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell 9. The Master – Colm Tóibín 6. The Sea – John Banville 3. On Beauty – Zadie Smith 1. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

WISHLIST Fiction: Bradley, Alan - Speaking From Among the Bones (Flavia de Luce #5) Bradley, Alan - The Dead In Their Vaulted Arches (Flavia de Luce #6) Bradley, Alan - As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust (Flavia de Luce #7) Bradley, Alan - Thrice the Brindled Cat Hath Mew'd (Flavia de Luce #8) Bukowski, Charles - Ham on Rye Comyns, Barbara - Who Was Changed and Who was Dead Haig, Matt - To Be a Cat Hartley, L.P. - The Go-Between Laurain, Antoine - The President's Hat Meloy, Maile - The Apothecary Mitchell, Gladys - Watson's Choice Novik, Naomi - Uprooted O'Loughlin, Ann - The Ballroom Cafe Pierre, DBC - Vernon God Little Robertson, James - To Be Continued Rowley, Steven - Lily and the Octopus Taylor, Andrew - Fireside Gothic Non Fiction: Gordon, Edmund - The Invention of Angela Carter: A Biography Hodgman, George - Bettyville Rakoff, Joanna - My Salinger Year Shaw, Sarah - Portland Place Simon, Carly - Boys in the Trees

Poppyshake's English Counties Challenge (the most famous books associated with each English county) For more info visit the English Counties Challenge forum Progress 30/48 (but some of those read will be re-read) Bedfordshire: My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates Berkshire: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Bristol: The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young Buckinghamshire: The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper Cambridgeshire: The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers Cheshire: Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell City of London: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Cornwall: Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier (on shelf) Cumbria: Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome Derbyshire: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks Devon: The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle Dorset: Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy County Durham: Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens East Riding of Yorkshire: South Riding by Winifred Holtby East Sussex: Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne Essex: The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James Gloucestershire: Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee Greater London: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Greater Manchester: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell Hampshire: Watership Down by Richard Adams Herefordshire: On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin Hertfordshire: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Isle of Wight: The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham Kent: The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates Lancashire: Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Leicestershire: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend Lincolnshire: The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot Merseyside: An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge Norfolk: The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley North Yorkshire: Dracula by Bram Stoker Northamptonshire: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen Northumberland: The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin Nottinghamshire: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence Oxfordshire: The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford Rutland: Set In Stone by Robert Goddard Shropshire: Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse Somerset: Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore South Yorkshire: A Kestrel For A Knave by Barry Hines Staffordshire: The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett Suffolk: The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald Surrey: The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells Tyne and Wear: Another World by Pat Barker Warwickshire: Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes West Midlands: Middlemarch by George Eliot West Sussex: Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons West Yorkshire: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë Wiltshire: Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope Worcestershire: The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall

The Shameful Reckoning of My Books TBR Progress 5/139 Link to Books Bought/Acquired in 2017 Fiction: Abercrombie, Joe - Red Country Abercrombie, Joe - The Heroes Akunin, Boris - Murder on the Leviathan Akunin, Boris - The Death of Achilles Almond, David - The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean Anderson, James - The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy Atkinson, Kate - Started Early Took My Dog Atwood, Margaret - The Blind Assassin Barker, Pat - The Ghost Road Barker, Pat - Toby's Room Barnes, Julian - The Noise of Time Beauman, Ned - The Teleportation Accident Boyd, William - Any Human Heart Bradley, Alan - A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce 3) Bradley, Alan - I Am Half Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce 4) Bulgakov, Mikhail - The Master and Margarita Bullington, Jesse - The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart Burnett, Frances Hodgson - A Little Princess Burnett, Frances Hodgson - The Secret Garden Carey, Peter - Oscar and Lucinda Carter, Angela - Nights at the Circus Carter, Angela - The Passion of New Eve Christie, Agatha - At Bertram's Hotel Christie, Agatha - Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Christie, Agatha - Death on the Nile Christie, Agatha - Dumb Witness Christie, Agatha - Five Little Pigs Christie, Agatha - Hercule Poirot's Christmas Christie, Agatha - The Murder at the Vicarage Christie, Agatha - The Mysterious Affair at Styles Christie, Agatha - Third Girl Collis, John Stewart - The Worm Forgives the Plough Connolly, Cressida - My Former Heart Connolly, John - Nocturnes Dennys, Joyce - Henrietta Sees it Through (Bloomsbury) Drabble, Margaret - The Red Queen Du Maurier, Daphne - The House on the Strand Du Maurier, Daphne - Jamaica Inn Eugenides, Jeffrey - My Mistress's Sparrow is Dead Ewing, Barbara - The Circus of Ghosts (Mesmerist #2) Fforde, Jasper - The Big Over Easy Fforde, Jasper - The Fourth Bear Fforde, Jasper - The Woman Who Died a Lot (Thursday Next #7) Fitzgerald, F.Scott - The Beautiful and the Damned Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Tender is the Night French, Dawn - A Tiny Bit Marvellous Gardner, Sally - The Red Necklace Gibbons, Stella - Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm Gogol, Nikolai - The Collected Tales Gold, Glen David - Carter Beats the Devil Goss, Theodora - The Thorn and The Blossom Greene, Graham - Brighton Rock Haddon, Mark - The Red House Haig, Matt - The Last Family in England Hall, Louisa - The Carriage House Harkaway, Nick - Angelmaker Hay, Sheridan - The Secret of Lost Things Hines, Barry - A Kestrel For a Knave Hoare, Philip - Leviathan Hornby, Nick - Juliet Naked Hugo, Victor - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame Hustvedt, Siri - What I Loved Install, Deborah - A Robot in the Garden Irving, John - The Cider House Rules Irving, John - The World According to Garp James, Marlon - A Brief History of Seven Killings Jonasson, Jonas - The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden Joyce, James - Dubliners Kingsolver, Barbara - The Lacuna Lakhous, Amara - Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio Lawrence, DH - Women in Love Le Carre, John - The Spy who Came in from the Cold Lindgren, Astrid - Emil and the Great Escape Lindgren, Astrid - Emil and the Sneaky Rat Lindgren, Astrid - Emil's Clever Pig Lindgren, Astrid - Karlson Flies Again Lindgren, Astrid - Karlson on the Roof Lindgren, Astrid - Lotta Makes a Mess Lindgren, Astrid - Lotta Says No Lindgren, Astrid - Pippi Goes Abroad Lindgren, Astrid - Pippi in the South Seas Mantel, Hilary - Fludd Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - The Autumn of the Patriarch Marquez, Gabriel Garcia - No One Writes to the Colonel Maugham, Somerset - Ashenden Maugham, Somerset - The Magician Maugham, Somerset - The Narrow Corner Maugham, Somerset - Up at the Villa McGregor, Jon - If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things Morton, Kate - The House at Riverton Murdoch, Iris - The Black Prince Nesbit, E - The Railway Children Nesbo, Jo - The Redbreast North, Claire - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August O'Flynn, Catherine - The News Where You Are Oksanen, Sofi - Purge Orwell, George - Keep the Aspidistra Flying Pratchett, Terry and Baxter, Stephen - The Long Earth Radcliffe, Ann - The Mysteries of Udolpho Ransome, Arthur - Winter Holiday Rodriguez, Deborah - The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul Sewell, Anna - Black Beauty Steinbeck, John - The Grapes of Wrath Steinbeck, John - The Pearl Steinbeck, John - The Red Pony Tartt, Donna - The Little Friend Taylor, G.P. - Mariah Mundi & the Ghost Diamonds Toksvig, Sandi - Valentine Grey Townsend, Sue - Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years Townsend, Sue - Adrian Mole & the Weapons of Mass Destruction Udall, Brady - The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint Vickers, Sally - Miss Garnet's Angel Whipple, Dorothy - Someone at a Distance (Persephone) Williams, Nigel - East of Wimbledon Williams, Nigel - They Came From SW19 Winterson, Jeanette - Sexing the Cherry Winton, Tim - Cloudstreet Wodehouse, PG - Right Ho, Jeeves Non Fiction: Bryson, Bill - Down Under De Waal, Edmund - The Hare with Amber Eyes Fitzgerald, Penelope - So I Have Thought of You: The Letters of Penelope Fitzgerald Grove, Valerie - Laurie Lee: The Well Loved Stranger Hepworth, David - 1971 Never a Dull Moment Hodgson, Vere - Few Eggs and No Oranges (Persephone) Last, Nella - Nella Last's Peace Light, Alan - What Happened Miss Simone? Manguel, Alberto - A Reading Diary McCourt, Frank - Angela's Ashes McCourt, Frank - Tis McGrath, Alistair E - CS Lewis: A Life Ozma, Alice - The Reading Promise Pratt, Jean-Lucey (Edited by Simon Garfield) - A Notable Woman White, Florence - Good Things in England (Persephone) Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 1 Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 2 Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 3 Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 4 Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 5 Woolf, Virginia - The Letters of Virginia Woolf Vol 6

Books Read 2009 Books Read 2010 Books Read 2011 Books Read 2012 Books Read 2013 Books Read 2014 Books Read 2015 Books Read 2016 Total Books Read 2009 ... 49 - incomplete list (39 fiction, 9 non-fiction & 1 audio } male authors: 24 .. female authors: 25) Total books read in 2010 ... 141 (94 fiction, 9 non-fiction, 4 short stories, 2 plays & 32 audio } male authors: 75 .. female authors: 66) Total books read in 2011 ... 109 (71 fiction, 26 non-fiction, 1 short story & 11 audio } male authors: 54 .. female authors: 55) Total books read in 2012 ... 89 (50 fiction, 27 non-fiction, 3 short stories, 1 poem & 8 audio } male authors: 48 .. female authors: 41) Total books read in 2013 ... 109 (67 fiction, 21 non-fiction, 5 short stories, 1 poem, 1 essay, 1 collection & 13 audio } male authors: 57 .. female authors: 51 plus all those in the short story collection) Total Books Read 2014 ... 73 (47 fiction, 15 non-fiction, 6 short stories & 5 audio } male authors: 36, female authors: 37) Total Books Read 2015 ... 113 (83 fiction, 14 non-fiction, 2 short stories & 14 audio } ) Total Books Read 2016 ... 91 (57 fiction,15 non-fiction, 2 poetry books & 17 audio } ) Quicklinks Mount TBR 1001 Challenge Wishlist Conquering Mount Virginia The English Counties Challenge BCF Recommended Reads - Fiction BCF Recommended Reads - Non-Fiction Poached Quotes on Toast Poppyshake's 130 Books You Must Read Before Teatime I think I'll go back to scoring again this year as there's a definite difference between 3/5 and 4/5 on the liking it scale 5/5: Loved it! 4/5: Liked it enormously .. would have been a 'loved it' but for .... 3/5: Liked it! 2/5: Not really my cup of tea but, you know, tolerable! 1/5 Hated it .. probably abandoned it or SHOULD HAVE!!! Again, I didn't abandon any books last year. There was one that I should have and would have abandoned only I wanted to keep on with the series so I had to plug on. Was annoyed at it for taking up precious minutes .. not to say hours of reading time January 2017 1. Five Give Up the Booze - Bruno Vincent 3/5 review 2. St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised By Wolves - Karen Russell 4/5 review 3. The Evenings - Gerard Reve 4/5 review 4. Grayson Perry: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl - Wendy Jones 3/5 review 5. Magpie Murders - Anthony Horowitz 3/5 review 6. My Family and Other Animals - Gerald Durrell 5/5 review 7. Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain - Barney Norris (audio) 4/5 review 8. Olive Kitteridge - Elizabeth Strout 5/5 review 9. No Time Like the Past (The Chronicles of St Mary's #5) - Jodi Taylor (audio) 4/5 review 10. Cogheart - Peter Bunzl 4/5 review February 2017 11. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson 5/5 review 12. A Kestrel for a Knave - Barry Hines 5/5 review 13. Hag-seed - Margaret Atwood 4/5 review 14. The Light Between Oceans - M.L. Stedman 5/5 review 15. The Secret of Nightingale Wood - Lucy Strange 4/5 review 16. The Flight of the Mind: The Letters of Virginia Woolf 1888-1912 (Vol One) - Edited by Nigel Nicolson 4/5 review 17. Strange Star - Emma Carroll 4/5 review March 2017 18. The January Man: A Year of Walking Britain - Christopher Somerville 4/5 review 19. The Muse - Jessie Burton (audio) 4/5 20. Another Little Christmas Murder - Lorna Nicholl Morgan 21. The President's Hat - Antoine Laurain 22. So Bright and Delicate: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne 5/5 23. A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle (audio, short story) 4/5 24. Vaudeville - Gaetan Soucy 4/5 April 2017 24. Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys 4/5 25. The Lie Tree - Frances Hardinge (audio) 4/5 26. Sea (The Huntress #1) - Sarah Driver 4/5 27. The Essex Serpent - Sarah Perry 5/5 28. The Radleys - Matt Haig 4/5 29. Rock Stars Stole My Life - Mark Ellen 4/5 30. Beetle Boy (The Battle of the Beetles #1) - M.G. Leonard 4/5 May 2017 31. The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett 5/5 32. The Cider House Rules - John Irving 4/5 33. Letters from the Lighthouse - Emma Carroll 4/5 34. The Sign of the Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio) 3/5 35. Himself - Jess Kidd 5/5 36. The Stolen Child - Lisa Carey 4/5 37. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr 5/5 38. Island Summers: Memories of a Norwegian Childhood - Tilly Culme-Seymour 4/5 39. The Time Machine - H.G. Wells 3/5 40. A Scandal in Bohemia (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #1) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio - short story) 4/5 41. The Red-Headed League (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes #2) - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (audio - short story) 4/5 42. H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald 5/5 June 2017 43. The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells 4/5 44. Mrs Zant and the Ghost - Wilkie Collins (audio - short story) 3/5 45. A Rare Book of Cunning Device (Peter Grant short story) - Ben Aaronovitch (audio exclusive) 4/5 46. Bleaker House - Nell Stevens 5/5 47. Who Let the Gods Out? - Maz Evans 4/5 48. Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty 5/5 49. Around Britain by Cake - Caroline Taggart 4/5 50. Golden Hill - Francis Spufford 4/5 51. The Secrets of Wishtide - Kate Saunders 2/5 July 2017 52. The Legend of Podkin One-Ear - Kieran Larwood 4/5 53. The Movie Doctors - Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo 4/5 54. The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #1) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5 55. Talking to Addison - Jenny Colgan 3/5 56. The Golem's Eye (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #2) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5 57. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? (The Chronicles of St Mary's #6) - Jodi Taylor(audio) 4/5 58. Down Under - Bill Bryson 4/5 59. Beetle Queen (The Battle of the Beetles #2) - M.G. Leonard 60. Ptolemy's Gate (The Bartimaeus Trilogy #3) - Jonathan Stroud (audio) 5/5 61. The Goshawk - T.H. White 4/5 August 2017 62. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (audio) 5/5 63. The Woman Who Stole My Life - Marian Keyes 2/5 (and that's generous!) 64. True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean - David Almond 3/5 65. An Almond for a Parrot - Wray Delaney 4/5 September 2017 66. A Walk in the Woods - Bill Bryson 4/5 67. How Not to be a Boy - Robert Webb (audio) 5/5 October 2017 68. How To Be Champion - Sarah Millican (audio) 4/5 69. The Diary of a Bookseller - Shaun Bythell 4/5 November 2017 70. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - J.K. Rowling (audio) 5/5 (re-listen) 71. The Princess Bride - William Goldman 4/5 72. Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink - Elvis Costello 4/5 73. The Secrets of Gaslight Lane (The Gower Street Detective #4) - M.R.C. Kasasian 3/5 74. The Affair of the Bloodstained Egg Cosy (Burford Family #1) - James Anderson 3/5 75. La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust #1) - Philip Pullman 4/5 76. The Christmas Chronicles: Notes, Stories and Recipes for Midwinter - Nigel Slater 5/5 December 2017 77. Dragon's Green (Worldquake Sequence #1) - Scarlett Thomas 4/5 78. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (audio) 5/5 (re-listen) 79. The Girl Who Saved Christmas (Christmas #2) - Matt Haig 4/5 80. Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #1) - Jessica Townsend (audio) 4/5 81. The Travelling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa 5/5 82. Thin Air - Michelle Paver 4/5 83. Wolf Brother (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #1) - Michelle Paver 4/5 84. Mr Dickens and His Carol - Samantha Silva 3/5 85. The Wizards of Once (The Wizards of Once #1) - Cressida Cowell (audio) 4/5 86. Spirit Walker (The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness #2) - Michelle Paver 87. Father Christmas and Me (Christmas #3) - Matt Haig 88. The Keeper of Lost Things - Ruth Hogan 3/5 89. Dark Matter - Michelle Paver 4/5 90. A Poem For Every Night of the Year - Edited by Allie Esiri 4/5

Happy Reading in 2017 Ian As much as it's important to set up a reading log, it's much more important to read so you're getting your priorities right .. hope you're enjoying The City of Mirrors and that it's a good closing book for the trilogy. Very brave to start the year with a 600 pager! I've gone with Five Give Up the Booze!! Ease myself in

Wishing you a very Merry Reading Year Janet! You've read a lot of books already and have written reviews and everything!! I'm super impressed Glad you enjoyed The Girl Who Saved Christmas I'm like Claire, I've left it too late to read it and so will make a note to remember it in December (unless I come over all Christmassy before then ) Glad you liked Grief is the Thing with Feathers too, I wasn't sure if you would .. I've read a mix of reviews for it. Loving all of your reviews

Happy reading in 2017 Madeleine Well done for reaching your target in 2016. Brilliant!

Wishing you a very happy reading year Will Good luck with the English Counties challenge and all your other challenges. Someone bought me The Essex Serpent for Christmas .. looks like I'm in for a good read

Happy reading in 2017 Little Pixie Having looked at your lists I suddenly feel so much better about my TBR But then you read twice as many books as I do so you will chew through yours a lot quicker. Good luck!

Happy Reading in 2017 Alex, hope it's an enjoyable reading year for you Don't stress too much about the TBR. I highly recommend Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell .. fab book but it is huge so I can totally understand why people might be reluctant. Hope you give it a go this year and love it! You'll know pretty soon whether it's for you or not (though give it a good few chapters .. it does take a little while to get into the swing of it ) Good luck!!

Happy Reading in 2017 Chrissy! Have fun!

Happy Reading in 2017 Hayley! Hope it's a good year for you in every way Good luck with the cull .. I'm going to do it too .. I need to. Things are getting too overwhelming.

Lord!! Is that the right pronunciation for the pie? Not how I was saying it at all Does the book cover the months of the year? .. be interesting to see how they are spelled and of course pronounced. I have learnt something today already Think I might need to lie down now and take it easy for the rest of the day Brain is at capacity! Hope you are feeling better lovely