willoyd

I read around 60-70 books a year and enjoy a eclectic mix, around two-thirds fiction and one-third non-fiction.

Favourite fictional genres include nineteenth-century classics, Eurocrime and historical literary novels.

Favourite authors are (in alphabetical order) Jane Austen, JL Carr, Charles Dickens, Sarah Dunant, Margaret Elphinstone, Donna Leon, Patrick O'Brian, Georges Simenon, Elizabeth Taylor, Virginia Woolf.  My favourite novel is A Month in the Country.

Non-fiction reading consists mostly of natural history, history (especially fascinated with the eighteenth century), historical biography, science and travel.  Favourite writers include Tim Clayton, Mark Cocker, Lisa Jardine, Claire Tomalin, Jenny Uglow.  The list of individual books is headed by Oliver Rackham's History of the Countryside, whilst favourite biography is probably Hermione Lee's Virginia Woolf.

Other hobbies and activities include running, cycling, orienteering, birdwatching, theatre and cinema (although rarely bother with the blockbusters).  Favourite holiday with OH is cycle touring, mostly in northern Europe, cycling nirvana!