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Accolades for 2021 Book of the Year 1. The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison 2. The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey 3. The Great Level by Stella Tillyard Fiction Book of the Year Winner: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey Runner-up: The Great Level by Stella Tillyard Shortlist: Au Bonheur des Dames by Emile Zola Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields Non-fiction Book of the Year Winner: The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison Runner-up: Orchard by Benedict Macdonald and Nicholas Gates Shortlist: Bringing Back The Beaver by Derek Gow Gilbert White by Richard Mabey Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald Duffer of the Year Winner: Body Surfing by Anita Shreve Shortlist The Motion Of A Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo Discovery of the Year Gilbert White and his world Most Disappointing of the Year How To Argue With A Racist by Adam Rutherford Reread of the Year Waterland by Graham Swift Special mention The duo of Sylvia Townsend-Warner's Portrait of a Tortoise and Verlyn Klinkenborg's Timothy's Notebook proved a superb combination that didn't fit neatly into any of the above categories, being a combination of fiction and non-fiction.

Review of 2021, Preview of 2022 Reading through last year's review and comparing what my preview to what exactly happened, it struck me how much of it could simply be cut and pasted here! Last year the one numerical goal I set myself was to average at least 300 pages per book and hit 24000 pages, ie more bigger books. Whoops! In fact, whilst I read more books than ever before in a calendar year, 92, and even hit 100+ books in a rolling year, ending in April, my average plummeted to the lowest since I started recording that figure, a relatively measly 248, lower even than the 260 in 2020! The reason remained pretty much the same that had led me to focus on shorter books in 2020: the dreaded Covid. Ever since the first lockdown came into being, I seem to have lost an ability or willingness to read longer books - just don't seem to be able to settle to them. I'm not quite sure why, but reading around, it appears I'm not alone. I'm certainly reading plenty - the 22600+ pages this year is my second highest total ever even if shy of my goal - but in smaller chunks, getting through books almos feverishly on occasions. It's only in the past couple of months that I've started to get a bit restless at that. Maybe, I'm now ready to move on? I think so, but will have to see in the New Year. So, I missed my numerical reading targets, what about the 'qualitative' ones? Well, I said I wanted to read more natural history, and I certainly did that. Some crackers there were too, with two of my top 3 books of the year from that genre, and a fistful of other 5 star books in the same bracket. In fact, I read some 19 n-f books that could count in that genre, with quite a few others containing strong elements; 9 of those were graded at 5* or 6*. That's a trend that I hope to continue in 2022. In fact, non-fiction overall continued to take up a greater and greater proportion of my reading, and for the first time ever the number of books actually matched the fiction total, 46 of each. On the fiction front, I wanted to make significant inroads into my Tour of the USA. Well, I made inroads, but not huge, finishing just 4 more books. But, as I said last year, half the point of this challenge was to broaden my horizons and discover new writers, well at least new to me. That was certainly achieved: all of the 4 books achieved 5*, and all the authors now feature on my 'must read more' list - and yes, I know I should have read some like Toni Morrison long before this! As those scores show, I'm really enjoying this challenge, but would like to pick it up a bit more in 2022, as am still yet to reach half-way (24 of 51). The other challenges were barely touched: one each from most lists, and none from my Dickens list other than one of his short Christmas stories - back to that short book focus again! Given that I said I wanted to finish the Dickens challenge off, that's almost funny! In terms of sources for reading, the vast bulk of it comes from my own library, which, given that my To Read list is still over 1300 probably isn't surprising, but library books nudged back up to 25% this year after a small dip in 2021. That could do with being higher, although that would mean that I'd not be making much progress on that TBR pile! Only 10% of my reading this year was e-books, the lowest since I bought a Kindle. I do actually use the Kindle more than this suggests, but it's far more things like reading German (I have a number of short story books on there to practise) and referencing guide books etc. There's a pretty substantial library of reading books on it, and I regularly succumb to 99p sales etc, but not much is actually getting read. That, I suspect, is because I'm simply not travelling much nowadays, which is when I used the Kindle mostly in the past - especially on cycle tours! Maybe that'll pick up sometime when I get back into that So, all in all, a pretty decent year, - not everything achieved that I wanted, but enough to make it reasonably satisfying. I am getting itchy though! So, that takes me to next year. At the risk of being repetitive, I think I'm going to reiterate most of what I said last year, even if phrased slightly differently - it really is as if we've just missed a year out (again!). That means: + More of the chunky books. To that end, I set a target of 300 pages per book average last year - this year instead? How about at least 4 of the Big Reads list? + Good progress on my Tour of the USA - I've never managed more than 6 books in a year, so at least that? + Come on, I've got to get to grips with the rest of the Dickens list - I love his books, so what's keeping me? - probably not finish, but could I at least halve the outstanding list? + Same with Zola: he's brilliant, what's keeping me? Aim for one a quarter, say? + I daren't put a number on the rest, but I could do with focusing on them more often, and making at least some progress on all the lists. So, on to 2022. As usual, this post is followed by my book awards for last year. Most of them are repeats from my post on the BCF Awards thread, although I also include my short lists. It's actually been quite difficult whittling down this year - and it was good to keep the Duffer of the Year list of candidates so short. .

Spare

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Yes, given the speed at which one can get through them, they're not cheap at that price. I do like the series bindings though - and did start buying them. I've stopped for the moment though, as I've acquired the 10-volume Tout Maigret set of the complete Maigret stories (in French, surprise surprise!), and have started reading this. My French isn't fluent by any means, and I do need time, space and a good dictionary to make progress (not a quick read then!), but I'm enjoying the fact that I'm reading them in the original, which seems ot add even more to the atmosphere. This one, though, was one of the Penguin English editions, as I picked up 3 of them at the local Oxfam bookshop over the summer.

The last 5 books of the year, and an enjoyable set of reads they were too! Portrait of a Tortoise by Sylvia Townsend-Warner ****** The first of a duo that compliment each other perfectly. The tortoise in question is Timothy, which was inherited by the 18th-century naturalist Gilbert White from his aunt, and which survived to outlive White by a few months. White included observations of Timothy's activities in both his journals (3 volumes) and his nature classic The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. Sylvia Townsend-Warner has gathered all those entries and references into one slim volume, and preceded it with an extensive introduction. The whole is only some 60-odd pages long, but I found it delectable! Timothy's Book by Verlyn Klinkenborg ****** Having read the non-fiction biographical side of Timothy's life, this followed neatly on. Here we read the story as seen by Timothy himself. It's fictional and it pertains to be autobiographical, but it's more, as It's also perceptive, somewhat wry, analysis, taking a steady, clear-eyed (dare I say tortoise-like) look at the world (and vanity!) of humans from an unusual angle. The style of writing is very distinct: short, sharp, staccato phraises rather than full sentences - not always enjoyed by other reviewers it appears - but I felt it added to the 'feel' of being written from outside the human sphere. It also added to the feel of it being an insight into Timothy's thoughts, rtather than a carefully written piece of prose - although it is, of course, exactly the latter! Individually, I really enjoyed both books, but together they make a brilliant team, and thus for the first time, I've decided to award a 'joint' six star award, rather than give each book it's own grading (which would probably have been a 6 anyway!). Death of an Avid Reader by Frances Brody ***** This is the January choice for one of my book groups. Part of a series set in Yorkshire, centred on 1920s private detective Kate Shackleton, forced to earn a living after the death of her surgeon husband in the First World War. I'd previously read one of the others, Death in the Dales, and whilst mildly enjoying it, was not overly inspired to follow up with any of the others, so was fairly neutral about taking this on. In the event, this proved a far more satisfying read and, ot me, a more strongly structured and interesting plot. This might be because the novel was set even closer to home (I used to live in Headingley, very close to where Kate Shacketon lives, and am a a member of The Leeds Library, where the story is centred), but I think that's at most only part of the reason. I certainly enjoyed tracing Kate's adventures on a copy of a contemporary street map (Brody's geography looks generally solid, with one or two slight question marks that are easy to gloss over), but there was also a depth that seemed to be lacking in the previous book; I particularly enjoyed the way Shackleton was tackling two different investigations which might or might not cross over. Whatever, it certainly left me feeling that, after this one, I've rather reversed my previous feelings, and intend to explore the series further in the not too distant future (there's plenty of opportunity, as my OH is a keen fan, and has most of the set on her bookshelves!). A Sea of Troubles by Donna Leon **** It's been a while since I read my last Commissario Brunetti novel, and all I can ask is why did it take me so long to come back to them? Brunetti himself comes over as a thoroughly grounded human being, not gratuitously damaged as so many series detectives are, with a 'normal' family background, which is integrated into the fabric of the stories. This was a rather more downbeat narrative than I remember from previous episodes, but it still makes for addictive reading - so will return a lot sooner than I did for this one! Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon **** What better way to finish the year off than with a Maigret? I just know that when I get to the end of them all (I've still yet to reach the half-way point) I'll just start all over again. For me, the plot is almost trivial, although obviously they need to be sound for this sort of book to work, but I just so enjoy the characters and, perhaps even more, the atmosphere and settings. Whilst I enjoy pretty much all of them, most of my favourites do tend to be set in Paris or its immediate environs (although my number one to date is surprisingly not) - there's just something about how Simenon recreates the capital and its population that I find completely unputdownable. This is not the best, being one of the later ones I wonder if Simenon was running slightly out of ideas, but I still enjoyed reading it in one sitting! And that takes me to the end of the year: 92 books (my highest calendar year), just over 22600 pages (second on the list), it's been a good year's reading, even if I've felt unable to tackle some of the bigger stuff, and really didn't hit a single one of the aims I set out with! For a proper, full review, see the introductory posts to my 2022 thread. On to 2022!

Starting the year off with a book group read: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. Given that one of my main aims is to read a few bigger books, this seems a reasonably appropriate start!

Last book of 2021 for me, appropriately another Simenon: Maigret and the Wine Merchant. Pretty typical, although was amused by a reference to office computers at one point - this was one of the last written (in 1970). Computers are probably the last things I'd associate with the world of Inspector (Detective Chief Inspector as he is here) Maigret! A good way to finish the year off. 4/6.

A Read Around the World A tour of the world in 200 books, made up of one from each of the 193 full members of the United Nations, the 2 UN 'observer' nations (Palestine and Vatican City), Taiwan ( the most significant country with no UN recognition), the four home nations (rather than just UK) and Antarctica (the only continent otherwise not represented). Books should be prose, preferably fiction, normally written by someone from that country, and ideally set there, but if not, as close as I can get! Read so far: 16/200 Europe Czech Republic: Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal **** Germany: Measuring the World - Daniel Kehlmann ***** Italy: The Leopard - Giuseppe Tomaso di Lampedusa **** San Marino: The Republic of San Marino - Giuseppe Rossi *** Scotland: O Caledonia - Elspeth Barker *** Ukraine: Death and the Penguin - Andrey Kurkov *** Wales: One Moonlit Night - Caradog Prichard ****** Africa Djibouti: The United States of Africa - Abdourahman Waberi *** Kenya: A Grain Of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o ***** South Africa: The Promise - Damon Galgut ***** Togo: Michel the Giant - Tete-Michel Kpomassie ***** Asia Malaysia: The Night Tiger - Yangsze Choo **** Japan: Snow Country - Yasunari Kawabata ** South Korea: The Vegetarian - Han Kang * Turkey: 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World - Elif Shafak ** North America USA: Beloved - Toni Morrison *****

Big Reads I've got a long list of books I want to read, many of them pretty chunky, but there are a few which are particularly big, humungous even, often multi-volumed. They thus tend to get put off and put off. Generally, they will be 700+ pages long for fiction and 600+ pages for non-fiction. So a list to keep prodding me. I singularly failed to read any in 2021, so will any, even single volumes, get read this year??! Non-Fiction Ackroyd, Peter: Dickens; London The Biography Barker, Juliet: The Brontes Barzun, Jacques: From Dawn to Decadence Boorstin, Daniel: The Discoverers Braudel, Fernand: The Identify of France (2v); The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World (3v) Brewer, John: The Pleasures of the Imagination Brogan, Hugh: The History of the United States of America Catton, Bruce: The Army of the Potomac trilogy Davies, Norman: Vanished Kingdoms Evans. Richard: The Third Reich trilogy Fisher, HAL: A History of Europe (3v) Foote, Shelby: The American Civil War (3v) Fox, Robin Lane: The Classical World Foreman, Amanda: A World On Fire Gardiner, Juliet: The Thirties; Wartime Britain Gibbon, Edward: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (6v) Herodotus: The Histories Holland, James: The War In The West (3v) Inwood, Stephen: A History of London Johnson, Paul: The Birth of the Modern; A History of the American People Judt, Tony: Post-War Kershaw, Ian: Hitler Lawrence, TE: The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Leuchtenberg, William: The American President Macauley, Thomas Babington: The History of England (5v) MacCulloch, Diarmid: A History of Christianity MacGregor, Neil: A History of the World in 100 Objects MacMillan, Margaret: The War That Ended Peace Mikaberidze, Alexander: The Napoleonic Wars, A Global History Montefiore, Simon Sebag: The World, A Family History Morris, Jan: Pax Britannica trilogy Muir, Rory: Wellington (2v) Osterhammel, Jurgen: The Transformation of the World Overy, Richard: Blood and Ruins Paine, Lincoln: The Sea and Civilization Parker, Geoffrey: Global Crisis Pepys, Samuel: The Diaries (9v) Richie, Alexandra: Faust's Metropolis Roberts, Andrew: Salisbury; Churchill; George III Roberts, JM: The History of the World; Twentieth Century Sassoon, Donald: The Culture of the Europeans Schama, Simon: Landscape and Memory; An Embarrassment of Riches; Power of Art Sugden, John: Nelson (2v) Stevenson, David: 1914-1918 Todman, Daniel: Britain's War (2v) Tombs, Robert: The English and their History Watson, Peter: Ideas A History; The German Genius; A Terrible Beauty Wilson, Ben: Empire of the Deep Wilson, Peter: Europe's Tragedy Woolf, Virginia: The Essays; The Letters; The Diaries (6v each) Fiction Cervantes, Miguel de: Don Quixote Dickens, Charles: Martin Chuzzlewit; Dombey and Son; Little Dorrit; Our Mutual Friend Ellman, Lucy: Ducks, Newburyport Grossman, Vassily: Stalingrad; Life and Fate Hugo, Victor: Les Miserables Joyce, James: Ulysses Mantel, Hilary: A Place of Greater Safety; The Wolf Hall trilogy Palliser, Charles: The Quincunx Powell, Anthony: A Dance to the Music of Time (12 books in 4v) Shree, Geetanjali: Tomb of Sand Tocarczuk, Olga: The Books of Jacob

Some Stats The Last 10 Years (to end 2021) Books read- 725 (396 in the past 5 years) Most books in a year - 92 (2021) Fewest books in a year - 56 (2013) Most pages in a year - 23626 (2018) Most books in a month - 17 (Dec 2013) Highest average month - 13.0 (December) Lowest average month - 3.8 (January) % Fiction / Non-Fiction - 63.4 / 36.6 % Male / Female author - 59.0 / 41.0 Star ratings (second % excluding rereads) 1 - 28 (3.8%, 4.2%) 0 rereads 2 - 59 (8.0%, 8.9%) 0 rereads 3 - 189 (25.7%, 26.6%) 13 rereads 4 - 239 (32.6%, 34.5%) 10 rereads 5 - 151 (20.6%, 20.2%) 17 rereads 6 - 68 (9.3%, 5.6%) 31 rereads 2021 figures Books read - 92 (2020 - 84) Most books in a month - 11 (December) Fewest books in a month - 6 (May-Jun, Aug-Oct) Pages in the year - 22623 (2020 - 22192) Average pages per book - 248 (2020 - 262) Most pages - 521 (Unsheltered - Barbara Kingsolver) Fewest pages - 63 (The Portrait of a Tortoise by Sylvia Townsend-Warner) % Fiction / Non-Fiction - 50 / 50 (the first year NF has matched F!) % Male / Female author - 57 / 43 (2020 - 63/37) % Paper / Electronic - 90 / 10 (2020 - 81/18) % Owned / Borrowed (inc Library) - 77 / 23 (2020 - 81/19) Star ratings 1 - 2 (2.2%, 0 reread) 2 - 7 (7.6%, 0 reread) 3 - 19 (20.7%, 1 reread) 4 - 36 (39.1%, 0 reread) 5 - 21 (22.8%, 2 reread) 6 - 7 (7.6%, 1 reread) TBR list End of... 2017 - 1472 2018 - 1378 2019 - 1331 2020 - 1351 2021 - 1357

Fiction focus Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series CJ Sansom's Shardlake series Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series Georges Simenon's Maigret books Books in standard blue are those read in previous years; 2022 books are marked with a red cross. Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series 01. Master and Commander 02. Post Captain 03. HMS Surprise 04. The Mauritius Command 05. Desolation Island 06. The Fortune of War 07. The Surgeon's Mate 08. The Ionian Mission 09. Treason's Harbour 10. The Far Side of the World 11. The Reverse of the Medal 12. The Letter of Marque 13. The Thirteen Gun Salute 14. The Nutmeg of Consolation 15. Clarissa Oakes 16. The Wine-Dark Sea 17. The Commodore 18. The Yellow Admiral 19. The Hundred Days 20. Blue at the Mizzen CJ Sansom's Shardlake series 01. Dissolution (2003) 02. Dark Fire (2004) 03. Sovereign (2006) 04. Revelation (2008) 05. Heartstone (2010) 06. Lamentation (2014) 07. Tombland (2018) Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series 01. Death at La Fenice (1992) 02. Death in a Strange Country (1993) 03. The Anonymous Venetian (1994) 04. A Venetian Reckoning (1995) 05. Acqua Alta (1996) 06. The Death of Faith (1997) 07. A Noble Radiance (1997) 08. Fatal Remedies (1999) 09. Friends in High Places (2000) 10. A Sea of Troubles (2001) 11. Wilful Behaviour (2002) 12. Uniform Justice (2003) 13. Doctored Evidence (2004) 14. Blood from a Stone (2005) 15. Through a Glass, Darkly (2006) 16. Suffer the Little Children (2007) 17. The Girl of His Dreams (2008) 18. About Face (2009) 19. A Question of Belief (2010) 20. Drawing Conclusions (2011) 21. Beastly Things (2012) 22. The Golden Egg (2013) 23. By Its Cover (2014) 24. Falling in Love (2015) 25. The Waters of Eternal Youth (2016) 26. Earthly Remains (2017) 27. The Temptation of Forgiveness (2018) 28. Unto Us A Son Is Given (2019) 29. Trace Elements (2020) 30. Transient Desires (2021) 31. Give Unto Others (2022) Georges Simenon's Maigret novels 1-27 read prior to 2021 28. Maigret's Holiday 29. Maigret's Dead Man 30. Maigret's First Case 31. My Friend Maigret 32. Maigret at the Coroner's 33. Maigret and the Old Lady 34. Madame Maigret's Friend 35. Maigret's Memoirs 36. Maigret at Picratt's 37. Maigret Takes a Room 38. Maigret and the Tall Woman 39. Maigret, Lognon and the Gangsters 40. Maigret's Revolver 41. Maigret and the Man on the Bench 42. Maigret is Afraid 43. Maigret's Mistake 44. Maigret Goes to School 45. Maigret and the Dead Girl 46. Maigret and the Minister 47. Maigret and the Headless Corpse 48. Maigret Sets a Trap 49. Maigret's Failure 50. Maigret Enjoys Himself 51. Maigret Travels 52. Maigret's Doubts 53. Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses 54. Maigret's Secret 55. Maigret in Court 56. Maigret and the Old People 57. Maigret and the Lazy Burglar 58. Maigret and the Good People of Montparnasse 59. Maigret and the Saturday Caller 60. Maigret and the Tramp 61. Maigret's Anger 62. Maigret and the Ghost 63. Maigret Defends Himself 64. Maigret's Patience 65. Maigret and the Nahour Case 66. Maigret's Pickpocket 67. Maigret Hesitates 68. Maigret in Vichy 69. Maigret's Childhood Friend 70. Maigret and the Killer 71. Maigret and the Wine Merchant 72. Maigret's Madwoman 73. Maigret and the Loner 74. Maigret and the Informer 75. Maigret and Monsieur Charles

Classics fiction Two authors whose books I want to focus more on: + Charles Dickens + Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart series Charles Dickens 01. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837) **** 02. The Adventures of Oliver Twist (1839) ***** 03. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1839) ***** 04. The Old Curiosity Shop (1841) *** 05. Barnaby Rudge (1841) 06. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (1844) 07. Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son (1848) 08. The Personal History of David Copperfield (1850) ****** 09. Bleak House (1853) ****** 10. Hard Times (1854) 11. Little Dorrit (1857) 12. A Tale of Two Cities (1859) ***** 13. Great Expectations (1861) **** 14. Our Mutual Friend (1865) 15. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870) The Christmas Books 16. A Christmas Carol (1843) ****** 17. The Chimes (1844) *** 18. The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) *** 19. The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1846) Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart Series 01. La Fortune des Rougon (The Fortune of the Rougons) **** 02. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon (His Excellency Eugene Rougon) *** 03. La Curee (The Kill) 04. L'Argent (Money) 05. Le Reve (The Dream) 06. La Conquete de Plassans (The Conquest of Plassans) 07. Pot-Bouille (Pot Luck) 08. Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies' Delight/Paradise) ***** 09. La Faute de L'Abbe Mouret (The Sin of Father Mouret) 10. Une Page d'amour (A Love Story) 11. Le Ventre de Paris (The Belly of Paris) 12. La Joie de vivre (The Bright Side of Life) 13. L'Assommoir (The Drinking Den) 14. L'Oeuvre (The Masterpiece) 15. La Bete humaine (The Beast Within) 16. Germinal 17. Nana 18. La Terre (The Earth) 19. La Debacle (The Debacle) 20. Le Docteur Pascal (Doctor Pascal) (English titles as used by OUP and/or Penguin, if different to the French).

A Tour of the States My experience of American literature being much narrower than I would like, I decided to take a tour of the states in a similar way to our own English Counties challenge: 51 books, one set in each of the American states (including Washington DC). In fact, the English Counties was modelled on an American States challenge here, but in the spirit of broadening that experience, I have amended it using these rules: a. it must be fiction; b. an author can only appear once; c. published after 1900 (what I've read has been predominantly 19th century); d. adult books; e. no rereads. Inevitably some great books and authors will have been left off, but the process itself has already helped identify those holes, and I aim to fill them in as additional reading! Blue means read, a red cross at the end of the entry means read this year. 30/51 The Keepers of the House - Shirley Ann Grau (Alabama) **** To The Bright Edge of the World - Eowyn Ivey (Alaska) ****** The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver (Arizona) **** The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks - Donald Harington (Arkansas) East of Eden - John Steinbeck (California) Plainsong - Kent Haruf (Colorado) **** The Stepford Wives - Ira Levin (Connecticut) ** + The Book of Unknown Americans - Cristina Henriquez (Delaware) Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurst (Florida) The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers (Georgia) ***** + The Descendants - Kaui Hart Hemmings (Hawaii) Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson (Idaho) **** The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow (Illinois) The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields (Indiana) **** The Bridges of Madison County - Robert Waller (Iowa) *** Not Without Laughter - Langston Hughes (Kansas) Nathan Coultar - Wendell Berry (Kentucky) ***** All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren (Louisiana) Empire Falls - Richard Russo (Maine) Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler (Maryland) *** Ethan Frome- Edith Wharton (Massachusetts) *** Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison (Michigan) ***** Main Street - Sinclair Lewis (Minnesota) *** + As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner (Mississippi) ****** + Mrs Bridge - Evan S. Connell (Missouri) **** A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean (Montana) My Antonia - Willa Cather (Nebraska) ***** The Ox-Bow Incident - Walter van Tilburg Clark (Nevada) Peyton Place - Grace Metallious (New Hampshire) The Sportswriter - Richard Ford (New Jersey) *** Cities of the Plain - Cormac McCarthy (New Mexico) Underworld - Don DeLillo (New York) Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier (North Carolina) **** The Plague of Doves - Louise Erdrich (North Dakota) **** Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson (Ohio) *** True Grit- Charles Portis (Oklahoma) **** Trask - Don Berry (Oregon) The Killer Angels - Michael Shaara (Pennsylvania) ***** + The Witches of Eastwick - John Updike (Rhode Island) *** The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (South Carolina) *** Welcome to Hard Times - EL Doctorow (South Dakota) Shiloh - Shelby Foote (Tennessee) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry (Texas) ****** The Nineteenth Wife - David Ebershoff (Utah) The Secret History - Donna Tartt (Vermont) The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron (Virginia) Snow Falling on Cedars- David Guterson (Washington) *** Advise and Consent - Allen Drury (Washington DC) **** Storming Heaven - Denise Giardina (West Virginia) American Wife - Curtis Sittenfeld (Wisconsin) **** + The Virginian - Owen Wister (Wyoming) *****

Favourite authors To qualify for this list, I have to have read at least three books by that author (amazing how many where I've just read two, especially non-fiction!), so no one-book wonders (it's the book then, not the author!). None of the books themselves need to have reached a six star rating, but they do need to have been rated consistently highly. I've only included authors of adult books - for favourite children's authors, see favourite book list, as the two lists are pretty much the same. Fiction Jane Austen JL Carr Willa Cather Charles Dickens Sarah Dunant George Eliot Margaret Elphinstone Thomas Hardy Donna Leon Patrick O'Brian Georges Simenon Virginia Woolf Non-Fiction Tim Clayton Lisa Jardine Jan Morris Simon Schama Claire Tomalin Jenny Uglow Both Melissa Harrison

Favourite Books A record of the 133 books and series to which I've given my top rating. These aren't necessarily the best literature I've read, but the books that are personal favourites, that, for whatever reason, struck a special chord in my reading. Individual books within a series are likely to have scored less, but the rating is for the series as a whole. The lists are divided into Fiction Non-fiction Joint fiction/non-fiction Children's fiction Fiction (79) Ackroyd, Peter: Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem Ackroyd, Peter: Hawksmoor Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane: Emma Buchan, John: John Macnab Carr JL: A Month in the Country Carr JL: The Harpole Report Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales Chevalier, Tracey: Falling Angels Childers, Erskine: The Riddle of the Sands Collins, Norman: London Belongs To Me Cooper, Susan: The Dark is Rising Cunningham, Michael: The Hours Davies, Martin: The Conjuror's Bird Dickens, Charles: A Christmas Carol Dickens, Charles: Bleak House Dickens, Charles: David Copperfield Dunant, Sarah: In the Company of the Courtesan Eco, Umberto: The Name of the Rose Eliot, George: Middlemarch Elphinstone, Margaret: The Sea Road Elphinstone, Margaret: Voyageurs Evaristo, Bernardine: Girl, Woman, Other Fairer, David: The Chocolate House trilogy Faulkner, William: As I Lay Dying Fforde, Jasper: The Eyre Affair Goscinny, Rene: Asterix in Britain Greig, Andrew: The Return of John Macnab Guareschi, Giovanni: The Don Camillo series Haddon, Mark: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time Hardy, Thomas: Far From The Madding Crowd Herbert, Frank: Dune Heyer, Georgette: The Grand Sophy Horwood, William: The Stonor Eagles Horwood, William: Skallagrig Hulme, Keri: The Bone People Ivey, Eowyn: To the Bright Edge of the World Japrisot, Sebastian: A Very Long Engagement Le Carre, John: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Lee, Harper: To Kill A Mockingbird Leon, Donna: The Commissario Brunetti series Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall McMurtry, Larry: Lonesome Dove Melville, Herman: Moby Dick Miller, Andrew: Pure Miller, Andrew: Now We Shall Be Entirely Free Mitchell, David: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet Monsarrat, Nicholas: The Cruel Sea Moorcock, Michael: Mother London O'Brian, Patrick: The Aubrey-Maturin series O'Farrell, Maggie: Hamnet Pears, Ian: An Instance of the Fingerpost Penney, Stef: The Tenderness of Wolves Perry, Sarah: The Essex Serpent Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News Roffey, Monique: The Mermaid of Black Conch Rushdie, Salman: Midnight's Children Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy Simenon, Georges: The Inspector Maigret series Smiley, Jane: A Thousand Acres Smith, Dodie: I Capture the Castle Steinbeck, John: Of Mice and Men Stephenson, Neal: Cryptonomicon Stevenson, Robert Louis: Kidnapped Swift, Graeme: Waterland Taylor, Elizabeth: A View of the Harbour Thomas, Dylan: Under Milk Wood Thompson, Harry: This Thing of Darkness Tolkien JRR: The Lord of the Rings Tolstoy, Leo: War and Peace Waugh, Evelyn: Brideshead Revisited Willis, Connie: To Say Nothing of the Dog Woolf, Virginia: Mrs Dalloway Woolf, Virginia: The Years Woolf, Virginia: To The Lighthouse Woolf, Virginia: Between the Acts Woolfenden, Ben: The Ruins of Time Zafon, Carlos Ruiz: The Shadow of the Wind Non-fiction (45) Blanning, Tim: The Pursuit of Glory Brown, Hamish: Hamish's Mountain Walk Clayton, Tim: Waterloo Cocker, Mark: Crow Country Dennis, Roy: Cottongrass Summer Fadiman, Anne: Ex Libris Frater, Alexander: Chasing the Monsoon Gogarty, Paul: The Water Road Hanff, Helen: 84 Charing Cross Road Harding, Thomas: The House By The Lake Harrison, Melissa: The Stubborn Light of Things Hastings, Max: All Hell Let Loose Holland, James: Dam Busters Hoskins, WG: The Making of the English Landscape Howell, Georgina: Daughter of the Desert Huntford, Roland: Shackleton Jamie, Kathleen: Findings Junger, Sebastian: The Perfect Storm Lee, Hermione: Virginia Woolf Lewis-Stempel, John: The Running Hare Liptrot, Amy: The Outrun Longford, Elizabeth: Wellington, The Years of the Sword Macdonald, Benedict & Nicholas Gates: Orchard MacDonald, Helen: Vesper Flights MacGregor, Neil: Germany, Memories of a Nation Moore, Richard: In Search of Robert Millar Nichols, Peter: A Voyage for Madmen Nicolson, Adam: The Seabird's Cry Pennac, Daniel: The Rights of the Reader Pinker, Stephen: The Language Instinct Rackham, Oliver: The History of the Countryside de Saint-Exupery, Antoine: Wind, Sand and Stars Salisbury, Laney and Gay: The Cruellest Miles Sands, Philippe: East-West Street Schumacher, EF: Small is Beautiful Simpson, Joe: Touching the Void Taylor, Stephen: Storm and Conquest Tomalin, Claire: Pepys, The Unequalled Self Tree, Isabella: Wilding Uglow, Jenny: The Pinecone Unsworth, Walt: Everest Weldon, Fay: Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen Wheeler, Sara: Terra Incognita Wulf, Andrea: The Invention of Nature Young, Gavin: Slow Boats to China Joint fiction/non-fiction (1) Klinkenborg, Verlyn: Timothy's Book with Townsend-Warner, Sylvia: Portrait of a Tortoise Children's Fiction (8) Berna, Paul: Flood Warning Bond, Michael: The Paddington Bear series Kipling, Rudyard: Puck of Pook's Hill/Rewards and Fairies Milne, AA: Winnie-the-Pooh/House at Pooh Corner Pullman, Philip: Northern Lights Ransome, Arthur: The Swallows and Amazons series Sutcliff, Rosemary: The Eagle of the Ninth White, TH: Mistress Masham's Repose

Book list 2022 January 01. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld GU **** 02. I Belong Here by Anita Sethi ** 03. Mr Wilder and Me by Jonathan Coe G *** 04. Bright Day by J.B. Priestley G ***** 05. The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin U ** 06. The Promise by Damon Galgut W ***** February 07. Assembly by Natasha Brown **** 08. Broken Heartland by Sebastian Payne **** 09. Golden Hill by Francis Spufford G ***** XX. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce GX * 10. Reading the World by Ann Morgan ***** 11. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara U ***** March 12. The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith G * 13. His Excellency Eugene Rougon by Emile Zola *** 14. In The United States of America by Abdourahman Waberi W *** 15. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin G *** 16. Beloved by Toni Morrison GW ***** April 17. Chocolate House Treason by David Fairer ***** 18. The Devil's Cathedral by David Fairer G ***** 19. The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett GR *** 20. Ice Rivers by Jemma Wadham *** 21. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan *** May 22. The Horseman by Tim Pears G ***** 23. The Abbess of Crewe by Muriel Spark G **** 24. The Odyssey by Homer ***** 25. No Nettles Required by Ken Thompson *** June 26. The Dutch House by Anne Patchett G **** 27. The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa GW **** 28. The Republic of San Marino by Giuseppe Rossi W *** July 29. Measuring the World by Daniel Kehlmann GW ***** 30. The Vegetarian by Han Kang W * 31. Walking Home by Simon Armitage G *** 32. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus *** 33. O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker *** August 34. A Very British Coup by Chris Mullin G ** 35. Somewhere Towards The End by Diana Athill G ** 36. The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf ****** September 37. Real Bloomsbury by Nicholas Murray *** 38. The Instant by Amy Liptrot G ** 39. One Moonlit Night by Caradog Prichard GW ****** 40. Main Street by Sinclair Lewis U *** October 41. A Question of Upbringing by Anthony Powell R **** 42. Cycling at the Speed of Life by Chris Bolton *** 43. Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov GW *** 44. The Trees by Percival Everett G ***** 45. A Buyer's Market by Anthony Powell R *** 46. This Sovereign Isle by Robert Tombs **** XX. An Honest Deceit by Guy Mankowski GX * 47. Curlew Moon by Mary Colwell ***** November 48. The Periodic Table by Primo Levi GX ** 49. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers U ***** 50. The Eight Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley R *** 51. A Grain Of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thiong'o GW ***** 52. Everyone Knows Your Mother Is A Witch by Rivka Galchen G ** 53. The Astronomer and the Witch by Ulinka Rublack ***** 54. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak GW *** December 55. The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo GW **** 56. Michel the Giant by Tete-Michel Kpomassie GW ***** 57. Treacle Walker by Alan Garner G **** 58. Samuel Johnson, A Biography by John Wain ***** 59. Closely Watched Trains by Bohumil Hrabal W ***** 60. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner U ****** 61. The Chimes by Charles Dickens R **** 62. Christmas Stories by George Mackay Brown **** 63. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata W ** 64. Cottongrass Summer by Roy Dennis ****** 65. More About Paddington by Michael Bond R ****** 66. A Maigret Christmas by Georges Simenon R ***** 67. Ratings * Positively disliked this (probably a lot), likely to be unfinished ** Disappointing: didn't really engage with or like this, often skimmed to get to the end, sometimes not even that far *** Fine: a decent enough read, but not unputdownable; a non-fiction book that does its job competently **** Good: into the realms of not wanting to put it down ***** Excellent: a top notch read, even if not quite making it as a favourite ****** A favourite; something makes this special, even if only personal to me A = audiobook; G = book group choice; R = reread, U = Tour of the United States book, W= Around the World book, X = unfinished

Thread contents Post number 02. Book List 2022 03. Favourite books 04. Favourite authors 05. Tour of the United States 06. Classic fiction: Dickens, Zola 07. Fiction: O'Brian, Sansom, Leon, Simenon 08. Some stats 09. Big books 10. A Read Around the World list - books read 11. Spare 12. Spare 13. Spare 14. 2021 review, 2022 preview 15. Accolades 2021 16. Welcome!

One of my favourite threads any year! Cover of the year: The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison (hardback edition) The book is a collection of the author's contributions to the Times Nature Diary over four or five years leading up to lockdown, the first part from her old home in London, the second from Suffolk, to where she moved (and still lives). This is beautifully reflected in the presentation: the book binding itself is printed with flowers and other elements of a Suffolk scene, whilst the dustcover (covering the bottom two-thirds of the book) reflects the London side of things (photos attached show with and without dustcover). Loved the design, and loved the actual illustrations themselves too. Publisher of the year: Little Toller Small independent publisher based in Beaminster, Dorset, with a gorgeous range of mostly nature/rural life related books. I particularly love their Nature Classic series in large format paperback with strong card covers, French flaps and artwork that would have won the Cover of the Year award but for the one-off winner, along with some beautiful illustrators (see Illustrated Book of the Year). This year, they also produced a stunning celebratory 4-book slipcased collection of Richard Mabey works which I instantly grabbed, whilst earlier in the year I acquired their profusely illustrated book on the work of one of my favourite book illustrators, Clifford Webb. Bookshop of the year: Bookshop on the Square, Otley This used to be part of a small chain of seconds-orientated bookshops, but was sold off to the then manager, Sarah Elliot, when the owner retired. She has turned this into a real 'local' bookshop with an interesting and eclectic mix of books aimed at the local market. Has done magnificently given the problems with lockdown, having been hit with the first only weeks after taking over,stopping the shop dead in its tracks; it now positively buzzes as she took advantage of that time to refurbish it and develop a really atractive space. Probably no different to other local indies, but this is my most local and I love it. Audiobook of the year: William Pitt the Younger by William Hague (unabridged version), read by Richard Burnip Actually the only audiobook I've listened to this year, and not yet finished (it's over 23 hours long), so it's just as well it's so good, one of the best I've listened to in a long time. Richard Burnip's tone and pace is, for me, absolutely spot on. Most read author of the year: Georges Simenon Simenon has won this award for several years now, as I work my way steadily through the Maigret series (now all available in a very attractive series by Penguin); I've slowed down a bit as have started trying to read him in the original French. Just about managing, but taking it slowly! I also loved one of his other books this year, The Pitards. As atmospheric as any Maigret! Reread of the year: Waterland by Graham Swift Read whilst on holiday in East Anglia. It had been a long time sincemy previous read, long enough to have pretty much completely forgotten everything other than I had awarded it a full 6-stars 'favourite' status. So really had to check out whether it still justified that! Delighted to say it did: intricately woven, absorbing, narrative with a ferociously strong sense of place. Worst book of the year: Body-Surfing by Anita Shreve This was actually the toughest to decide, with 2 in very close contention, but Anita Shreve won out on this prestigious award! My mini-review at the time says it all really: This was awful! Waxwork, shallow, characters about whom I didn't care one jot; the author obsessed with the minutiae of clothes and colour (constantly repeated, so, for instance, we're told every time an item is mentioned what colour it is, even when we already know); everything told not shown; tediously obvious narrative. This, my first experience of this author, left me totally bemused how on earth she is so popular. The runner-up, by the way, was Lionel Shriver's The Motion of the Body through Space, a diatribe on extreme sport with a cast of unpleasant characters and riven with inaccuracies. The book I never got around to: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens Meant to give this a go all year; even started a couple of times, but just couldn't get going. It's the next in my chronological reading of all Dickens's book, whose writing I love, but really showed up how I just couldn't settle to bigger stuff this year. 2022 is the year of Barnaby Rudge! Biggest let-down of the year: How To Argue With A Racist by Adam Rutherford I was so looking forward to this, being a bit of a Rutherford fan, but this just didn't cut the mustard. Too often slid around the issue, and really doesn't deliver what it says on the tin - I came away feeling distinctily unable to argue some cases, especially on the inherent sporting traits issues. Too much unexplained scientific jargon too. Illustrated book of the year: Through The Woods by HE Bates, illustrated by Agnes Miller Parker HE Bates's nature writing is always worth reading - this is actually, IMO, the best of the three I've read to date, but it's taken to another level by the production values in this volume published by Little Toller (see Publisher of the Year above): lovely front cover (the Nicholas Hely Hutchinson artwork is one of their better choices), and the as ever exquisite woodcuts by Agnes Miller Parker, commissioned for the original edition. She has to be one of the all-time greats of book illustration. Children's book of the year: Paddington At Work by Michael Bond If it wasn't the winner here, this could well have won the Funniest Book of the Year - I find Paddington irresistible, and have done ever since I first learned to read (he was born the same month as me!). I generally read very few children's books, and finished even fewer than normal this year, but Paddington always comes through. Actually, I should come clean and say that the real title of the book I've been reading this year is Grosser Auftritt fur Paddington, as he's the first book I've ever tackled in German (much use of the dictionary!). He's brilliant even in a foreign language that I'm anything but fluent in! Classic book of the year: Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies' Paradise) by Emile Zola Stonking read: life in Paris and its great department stores at the time of Napoleon III - colourful, bold and buzzing with life. I'm currently reading the Rougon-Macquart sequence in chronological order (of the series' events, not publication), but took this out of sequence as a Book Group read. Why Zola is not better recognised in this country is completely beyond me (same with Balzac BTW). Short story book of the year Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald I know, I know, Vesper Flights isn't fiction, let alone short stories, but, being an equally avid non-fiction reader, I'm going to allow the non-fiction equivalent of the 'short story' to be included here, ie. set of essays. And I'm going to do that partly because this book was so good it really deserves one of this year's awards! I actually found this better than her much acclaimed H is for Hawk. I also found that I needed to slow down my usual pace of reading to give these short works time to breathe individually. One of my 6-star books of the year. Favourite literary character: Timothy the tortoise A rare beast indeed, appearing both in the non-fiction Portrait of a Tortoise, edited by Sylvia Townsend-Warner, and brought vividly to life in the fictional Timothy's Book by Verlyn Klinkenborg. Timothy was the tortoise owned by the famous 18th century naturalist Gilbert White (see Biography of the Year) and who appeared regularly in the latter's journals and nature classic, The Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne. Townsend-Warner's book brings together all the entries about Timothy from both publications, whilst Klinkenborg's book looks at the relationship from Timothy's point of view, a viewpoint that expands into a meditation on man's relationship and perception of animals, and much else! A thoroughly recommended duo of books (I deliberately read them consecutively, T-W first). Timothy, by the way, turns out to be a female! Favourite genre of the year Natural history At least it was the single genre I read most of (it can expand to include environmentalism, memoir etc etc!), and which logged the highest number of 5 and 6-star awards. Aside from pure history, it's comfortably the biggest section of my library too. Fistfuls of excellent and much used reference books too, that are outstanding books in their own right, but unlikely to get mentioned in an annual review. Scan the rest of these awards, and see how often a nature orientated book is featured! Funniest book of the year: Bringing Back the Beaver by Derek Gow I rarely find books that are meant be funny actually to be so. A couple were tackled in book groups this year that were meant to be 'funny' (Nina Stibbe jumps to mind instantly), but I barely raised more than a grimace the entire way through. All too often, and this was a case in point, they're simply turgid and overworked. It's not often that I actually get my laughs from reading (there are some very honourable exceptions to this rule!), but this year several books proved distinctly smile raising. Just one managed to get me further, and that was Derek Gow's brilliant account of his efforts to drive forward the reintroduction of the beaver in Britain (Gow is recognised as being one of the leading experts on this subject, if not the best). It isn't just funny, far from it: it can be scathing, despair inducing (often), hopeful (occasionally), simply factual and informative (throughout), but it is also, in places, absolutely hilarious. And that's how so many of the great 'funny' books are: humour is often at its strongest in small well-measured doses. Biography of the year: Gilbert White by Richard Mabey Gilbert White was quite a simple man who lead, by our standards, quite a simple life. His importance comes through the longevity and consistency of effort, his recording and the insight he provides into nature and life in the 1700s. Mabey's book is also quite simple, and therein lies much of its strength: this is not just a beautifully balanced biography (and rather slim as biographies go too nowadays!), but an elegant portrait of the eighteenth century middle-class rural world through the life of one man. The Willoyd non-fiction book of the year: Orchard by Benedict Macdonald and Nicholas Gates Or rather, this is the runner-up in this category, as the winner is my overall book of the year, but I don't want to overload the awards with one book/author! And as I feel rather proprietorial about this award this year (surely one can do what one wants with one's own award!), and as it is actually deserving in its own right, I'm more than prepared to nominate this 6-star book in a particularly good year for finding favourites. It's an account of a year in a traditionally farmed Hereford orchard, where nature still plays a vital role. Macdonald and Gates alternate chapters (months), but do so almost seamlessly, bringing this small plantation so vividly to life. A super portrait, from which I learned much, and which demands a reread very soon. The photos are excellent too. Fiction book of the year: The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey A glorious justification of book groups, I don't think I'd have ever thought of reading this without it being nominated in one of those I belong to. And what a brilliant book it was too! It's books like this and Bernardine Evaristo's Girl Woman Other which make me realise how narrow my reading has been at times, and makes me wonder what else I've been missing. Genuinely life enhancing, and bubbling over with energy, I couldn't put this down. In any other year would probably have walked away with the overall title. Author of the year: Melissa Harrison The only author to transcend the boundary between fiction and non-fiction for me this year, as well as the creator of one of my favourite podcast series (which I relistened to during the summer): the author of my book of the year, and also of one of my favourite novels read during 2021, All Around the Barley, this was one of the easiest decisions of this set of awards. The only fly in the ointment was that I tried her newly published children's book By Oak Ash and Thorn, but it didn't really work for me - but then it's a children's book, so why should it? Otherwise, covers all the bases and more (I enjoy her twitter stream too!). Book of the year: The Stubborn Light of Being by Melissa Harrison And so we come full circle: the winner of the first award on this list also receives the the last award. Being a series of diary entries or mini-essays (from the Times Nature Diary), I intended to read this in small bursts. No chance - I simply coldn't put it down and galloped through in large, nay huge, chunks. Just couldn't get enough of it, and spent some time afterwards dipping back into sections. As may be gathered, I also loved the production. In a good year for 6-star reads, this stood out. Honourable mentions (Mentions In Dispatches) OK, not so much individual awards, but a short list of three books that stood out for me as serious contenders for one or more of the above, but didnt' quite make it for any. Possible specific awards are mentioned, but the point is not so much that they are the best in those (often not heavily competitive) categories, just that they were amongst the most positively noteworthy books I read this year. 1. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison A close contender for literary character of the year (Milkman), and another of those books that underlined my need to continue broadening the diversity of authors that I read. Separate award? How about International Book Award for a non-British author a la Booker (although they allow Americans into the main award). 2. The Great Level by Stella Tillyard Another book (see Reread of the Year) that I read during an East Anglian holiday, this is set in the Fens of the seventeenth century during the time of drainage engineering by Cornelius Vermuyden, and tells of the relationship between one of the lead engineers and a Fenswoman, moving from East Anglia to the American colonies. Tillyard is an historian of some repute who has moved, successfully so it seems!, into historical fiction. On of my favourite genres, so my Historical fiction book of the year. A close contender for cover of the year too. 3. The Virginian by Owen Wister As a contrast to Disappointment of the Year, how about Surprise of the Year?. For a book that was written in the first years of the twentieth century, this had a surprisingly modern feel to the writing, and I galloped (pun intended!) through it in no time - although some of the views and mores were distinctly unmodern! Reading this as part of my literary Tour of the United States, I really didnt' expect a Western, the original Western apparently, to so grab me. And so on to 2022.....!

Finished Frances Brody's Death of an Avid Reader late last night - one of her Kate Shackleton mysteries, this one set in and around The Leeds Library (subscription library, not public, and the oldest one going in England). Read this for one of my book groups - the one based at that very same library (of which I've been a member for the past 3 or 4 years), and found it thoroughly engaging. It may just have been the setting - the heroine lives very close to where I used to live in Headingley as well! - but I think it was rather more than that. Will certainly try others in the series. 4 stars out of 6 (very good). My 90th book of the year - the first time for a calendar year.

I have absolutely nothing against 'easy' reads - love them in fact! ~Some of my favourite authors.....! Again, I'd go along with pretty much everything Brian has said. I'd certainly never judge others' reading preferences - my attitude very much is and has always been whatever floats a reader's boat, although inevitably there are books and authors where I struggle to understand their popularity! This is simply commentary on my own reading and how it's changed - and trying to explain a slight niggling dissatisfaction that's crept in recently. I'm not sure I enjoy 'difficult' reads per se - I'm not even sure that the words 'easy' and 'difficult' are ones I would use myself. Some people see some of the books I read as 'difficult', I have to admit I often find them not so much that as just requiriing a bit more time and engagement; it's just that lately I don't seem to have been so willing to give that to any one book. I think, especially, a lot of 'classics' are seen as 'difficult', but I normally don't - they are just cracking good reads which simply need getting my reading 'ear' into, and then they hum along - but for some reason haven't been able to face that so much lately. There is the odd book I do genuinely find difficult and get a lot out of (one or two Virginia Woolf are like that), but to be honest, even in normal times if I find a book actually 'difficult' to read, I often bin it! The difference is that, when discussing reading with other less reading orientated, I find that I'd generally prefer to be reading to doing those things that they enjoy: I had just such a conversation the other day with a couple of friends who are complete crossword junkies, who couldn't work out how I read so much! I also hardly watch any television nowadays (and that's not a judgement on TV - there's some brilliant stuff I gather - I just personally prefer to have my nose in a book than watching the box). It's not better or worse, just something I enjoy more. I have such a huge backlog of books on my shelves (well over 1000), that I pretty much know now that I won't ever read them all now. But they are ready and available to be read as the whim takes me! Sorry if rambled on a bit, but I think what you wrote is right at the core of how we perceive reading - a topic I find fascinating.

Pretty much at one with Brian on this one; that comment on reaching for the easy reads too often rings some very loud bells! If anything, aiming to read fewer but bigger books. I have a number of lists, which I will aim to make inroads into (they include some pretty hefty and/or challenging books, so fit in with the other plan). On the book buying front, I'm simply going to try and make better use of my library membership - barely a quarter of my reading was of borrowed books. It would be good to move that up to around 50%, something I've never done. But if I don't, and I make good progress on my own bookshelves, I won't be complaining!

I'll do a detailed review later as part of my new thread setup (as I always do), but a quick summary: I read 90 books this year, a record, but that's largely because, like many, my ability to settle down to anything substantial seems to have been shot to pieces, and my average book length was one of the lowest in the past few years (ca. 250 pages). For the past few yeas the proportion of non-fiction books has been steadily rising, and this year it topped more than half for the first time. Most of the really good books were non-fiction too, in particular some of the natural history writing, although one or two fiction stood out. Little of my reading went according to plan: I intended to make some serious inroads into a number of lists/series I'm tackling but, aside from my Tour of the American States, I made little impact on any of them. Indeed, in one or two cases no impact at all! I did, however, get a lot of enjoyment out of the books I read - some real gems there, and few significant disappointments. My main aim next year is, believe it or not, to make a real effort to read fewer books: after a couple of years hiatus, I feel ready to tackle some genuine biggies, both fiction and non-fiction (The won't include War and Peace! One of my all-time favourites, but not ready for my second reread yet!).. I might have a real go at those lists too!

Finished Timothy's Book tonight - what a lovely book to read at Christmas. As stated in previous post, this was an imagining of the world as seen from Timothy the tortoise's viewpoint. But it was so much more too - a meditation on life, how we humans see it, live it, affect it, on the natural world and the 18th century world as a contrast and precursor to our own. Made me think a lot. The writing style required some concentration, but I enjoyed that! A full 6 stars, the fourth set this year. TBH, I see these last two books as very much a partnership (if unbeknownst to the authors!) - one without the other would be all the lesser. So, those 6 stars awarded jointly!

Thank you both - very much. Happy Christmas and New Year!