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A good way to round off the year. Thanks for kickstarting it all @Onion Budgie Favourite read? East-West Street by Philippe Sands. So much in this book: family history, genealogical detective work, legal history, the Holocaust, the Nuremburg Trials, ethical issues, all brilliantly put together. Favourite author? Willa Cather. Read my first book of hers (My Antonia) as the Nebraska stopover in my Tour of the United States, quickly followed up by O Pioneers, which, if anything, I enjoyed even more. A real discovery for me of someone who I had only heard about before in a marginal way. Most read author? As it has been every year for the past five or so: Georges Simenon, with six of his Maigret books read this year - my go to for a mental break. Favourite book cover? Wilding by Isabella Tree - also on my short list of favourite reads this year. (Picture attached below) Book you abandoned ? When I abandon a book, I tend to skim quickly through the rest, so I rarely give up entirely, especially when they are being read for a book group. Two went into early skim mode at roughly equal points, both were about as bad as it was possible to get: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes Pendulum by Adam Hamdy Book that most disappointed you?
 I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I gave this three stars, so it wasn't a bad read at all, but given its acclamation, I was so suprised at how ordinary it was, a real let down. Seemed to have remarkable memory of very early ages, but left out half her teen years too. Funniest book?
 A toss up between two, but as the other gets another award, this goes to Bookworm by Lucy Mangan, with some wonderfully wry recollections of her childhood, which brought so many of mine as a similarly addicted bookworm coming flooding back. Not laugh out loud, but gently smile inducing. Favourite literary character? Alexandra Borgen, the heroine of O Pioneers. Strong minded, barrier breaking, very human. 
Favourite children's book?
 Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond, also a contender for funniest book of the year. Never ceases to make me smile, even laugh, Paddington has been there all my reading life (I was born the same month the first book came out), and remains a complete joy. Favourite classic?
 Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. A real surprise, as previous Waughs have left me somewhat cold, but this was brilliant, 6 stars all the way. Favourite non-fiction book?
 My favourite read was a non-fiction book, so that is also my favourite non-fiction. As a result, I'm going to nominate my favourite Fiction book instead, which was A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor - Under Milk Wood in prose! Favourite biography?
 The Pursuit of Victory by Roger Knight, an outstanding biography of Horatio Nelson. Favourite collection of short stories? None read this year 
Favourite poetry collection?
 Several dipped into this year, the best probably being The Complete Works of Robert Frost. Favourite illustrated book?
 The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian. I read the Folio Society edition, part of their publication of the whole series. Very cleverly, for each volume, they have collated a series of contemporary pictures illustrating specific quotes from the text, making the books feel even more real. Their picture choices are uncannily apposite. Favourite publisher?
 I really discovered Library of America this year - just love the books and the concept. Wish we had something similar in the UK. Favourite audiobook? None listened to. Favourite re-read? Unusually few this year, but the best of a good bunch was Coot Club by Arthur Ransome (preferred to The Big Six). We had fun finding the locations on holiday too, which added to the enjoyment. My favourite cover of the year!

Good to hear, as both on my TBR list. Thank you both for this and your list, which I found really interesting. It would be good to see what others would take.

I finished book number 73 tonight, my second best total ever (2016 was my best, at exactly 80). However, it was my best year based on pages read: 23600, averaging 323, also my highest. I'm delighted with all that, especially as I expected to read a lot fewer books this year, aiming to include more longer ones, and more non-fiction (which I find is always slower).

Just read the one (Set in Stone). Fairly enjoyable is probably the right description - but not enough for me to want to read any more of his. I remember that there were some distinct holes in the ending. It was the 'Rutland' book for the English Counties Challenge, and I think others rated it more highly.

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; 2019 books are in bold. 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) Georges Simenon's Maigret novels 01. Pietr the Latvian *** 02. The Late Monsieur Gallet *** 03. The Hanged Man of Saint-Pholien **** 04. The Carter of 'La Providence' ***** 05. The Yellow Dog *** 06. Night at the Crossroads **** 07. A Crime in Holland **** 08. The Grand Banks Cafe **** 09. A Man's Head *** 10. The Dancer at the Gai-Moulin **** 11. The Two-Penny Bar **** 12. The Shadow Puppet **** 13. The Saint-Fiacre Affair *** 14. The Flemish House ***** 15. The Madman of Bergerac **** 16. The Misty Harbour **** 17. Liberty Bar **** 18. Lock No. 1 **** 19. Maigret **** 20. Cecile is Dead **** 21. The Cellars of the Majestic **** 22. The Judge's House **** 23. Signed, Pipcus **** 24. Inspector Cadaver ***** 25. Felicie **** 26. Maigret Gets Angry ***** 27. Maigret in New York 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

Classics fiction Three authors whose books I want to focus more on: Charles Dickens Thomas Hardy 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) Thomas Hardy 01. Desperate Remedies (1871) 02. Under the Greenwood Tree (1872) 03. A Pair of Blue Eyes (1873) 04. Far from the Madding Crowd (1874) ****** 05. The Hand of Ethelberta (1876) 06. The Return of the Native (1878) **** 07. The Trumpet Major (1880) 08. A Laodicean (1881) 09. Two on a Tower (1882) 10. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) 11. The Woodlanders (1887) 12. Tess of the D'Urbevilles (1891) 13. Jude the Obscure (1895) 14. The Well-Beloved (1897) *** Short Stories 15. Wessex Tales (1888) 16. A Group of Noble Dames (1891) 17. Life's Little Ironies (1894) Emile Zola's Rougon-Macquart Series 01. La Fortune des Rougon **** 02. Son Excellence Eugene Rougon 03. La Curee 04. L'Argent 05. Le Reve 06. La Conquete de Plassans 07. Pot-Bouille 08. Au Bonheur des Dames 09. La Faute de L'Abbe Mouret 10. Une Page d'amour 11. Le Ventre de Paris 12. La Joie de vivre 13. L'Assommoir 14. L'Oeuvre 15. La Bete humaine 16. Germinal 17. Nana 18. La Terre 19. La Debacle 20. Le Docteur Pascal

Doorstoppers I usually enjoy larger books, but over the past few years I seem to have shied away from them a bit, particularly non-fiction reads, although I've still accumulated the books themselves! One aim in 2018 was to focus a bit more on these tomes, successfully achieved, but there's still room for improvement, and the backlog has mounted up even further! I've therefore developed a list of 'doorstoppers' yet to be read on my shelves to see if that can help the focus. Mostly non-fiction (>500 pages), but some significant fiction and biography (>650 pages), recognising that these last two are usually easier and quicker to read than the rest. Number of reading pages in brackets. Non-Fiction Dickens - Peter Ackroyd (1083) London, The Biography - Peter Ackroyd (779) The Noble Revolt - John Adamson (519) The Brontes - Juliet Barker (839) From Dawn to Decadence - Jacques Barzun (771) The Discoverers - Daniel Boorstin (684) The Railways - Simon Bradley (551) The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II - Fernand Braudel (3 vols, 1149) The Identity of France - Fernand Braudel (2 vols, 1054) The Pleasures of the Imagination - John Brewer (665) Margaret Thatcher - John Campbell (2 vols, 1248) Roy Jenkins - John Campbell (749) Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow (731) The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard (557) The Sleepwalkers - Christopher Clark (562) The Making of the English Landscape - Nicholas Crane (516) Spitalfields - Dan Cruickshank (675) Vanished Kingdoms - Norman Davies (739) Into the Silence - Wade Davis (573) The Pursuit of Power - Richard Evans (716) The Civil War - Shelby Foote (3 vols) A World on Fire - Amanda Foreman (816) Watching the English - Kate Fox (566) The Classical World - Robin Lane Fox (622) The Silk Roads - Peter Frankopan (521) A People's History of Britain - Rebecca Fraser (785) The Thirties - Juliet Gardiner (763) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon (6 vols) Team of Rivals - Doris Goodwin (754) Christendom Destroyed - Mark Greengrass (680) History of Western Science - John Gribbin (668) Titian - Sheila Hale (736) Nikolaus Pevsner - Susie Harries (802) The War of Wars - Robert Harvey (926) Catastrophe - Max Hastings (563) Armageddon - Max Hastings (591) Vietnam - Max Hastings (650) High Minds - Simon Heffer (817) The War in the West 1939-1941 - James Holland (594) Normandy '44 - James Holland (540) The Birth of the Modern - Paul Johnson (1000) Hitler - Ian Kershaw (969) Austerity Britain - David Kynaston (632) Seven Pillars of Wisdom - TE Lawrence (567) Edith Wharton - Hermione Lee (756) The History of England - Thomas Macauley (5 vols) Reformation - Diarmaid MacCulloch (756) A History of Christianity - Diarmaid MacCulloch (1016) A History of the World in 100 Objects - Neil MacGregor (658) The War That Ended Peace - Margaret Macmillan (608) In Europe - Geert Mak (829) Castles of Steel - Robert Massie (788) The Line Upon A Wind - Neil Mostert (723) Wellington - Rory Muir (2 vols, 1178) The Middle Sea - John Julius Norwich (602) The Sea and Civilization - Lincoln Paine (599) Global Crisis - Geoffrey Parker (696) Driving Home - Jonathan Raban (601) Faust's Metropolis- Alexandra Richie (858) The Storm of War - Andrew Roberts (608) Salisbury - Andrew Roberts (852) Churchill - Andrew Roberts (982) The Penguin History of the World - JM Roberts (1187) Twentieth Century - JM Roberts (856) The Command of the Ocean - NAM Rodger (583) Never Had It So Good - Dominic Sandbrook (692) The Culture of the Europeans - Donald Sassoon (1379) Landscape and Memory - Simon Schama (578) Citizens - Simon Schama (875) Elizabeth I - Anne Somerset (703) The Germans at War - Nicholas Stargardt (570) 1914-1918 - David Stevenson (601) Nelson - John Sugden (2 vols, 1641) Trial by Battle - Jonathan Sumption (586) Britain's War 1937-1941 - Daniel Todman (718) The English and Their History - Robert Tombs (891) Hogarth - Jenny Uglow (709) Ideas - Peter Watson (747) A Terrible Beauty - Peter Watson (772) The German Genius - Peter Watson (856) Fiction The Luminaries - Eleanor Catton (832) Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes (940) Underworld - Don DeLillo (827) Martin Chuzzlewit - Charles Dickens (716) Dombey and Son - Charles Dickens (926) Advise and Consent - Allen Drury (685) Tom Jones - Henry Fielding (875) Stalingrad - Vasily Grossman (892) Life and Fate - Vasily Grossman (855) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (1432) A Place of Greater Safety - Hilary Mantel (871) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry (843) Tristram Shandy - Laurence Sterne (720) The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt (771) The Way We Live Now - Anthony Trollope (844)

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. nothing before 1900; d. no children's 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, bold blue means read this year. 15/51 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) **** True Grit - Charles Portis (Arkansas) **** East of Eden - John Steinbeck (California) Plainsong - Kent Haruf (Colorado) Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates (Connecticut) The Saint of Lost Things - Christopher Castellani (Delaware) Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston (Florida) The Color Purple - Alice Walker (Georgia) T Hawaii - James Michener (Hawaii) Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson (Idaho) **** The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow (Illinois) T The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields (Indiana) T The Bridges of Madison County - Robert Waller (Iowa) **** In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (Kansas) T Icy Sparks - Gwyn Hyman Rubio (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) T *** The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides (Michigan) T Main Street - Sinclair Lewis (Minnesota) T As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner (Mississippi) Stoner - John Williams (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) T Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier (North Carolina) ***** The Round House - Louise Erdrich (North Dakota) Winesburg, Ohio - Sherwood Anderson (Ohio) *** Paradise - Toni Morrison (Oklahoma) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey (Oregon) T 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) A Death in the Family - James Agee (Tennessee) Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry (Texas) ****** Riders of the Purple Sage - Zane Grey (Utah) The Secret History - Donna Tartt (Vermont) T The Known World - Edward P Jones (Virginia) Snow Falling on Cedars- David Guterson (Washington) *** Advise and Consent - Allen Drury (Washington DC) ***** Storming Heaven - Denise Giardina (West Virginia) The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach (Wisconsin) T The Virginian - Owen Wister (Wyoming) T = on the 1001 Books To Read Before You Die list.

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. Authors may be listed under both fiction and non-fiction. 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 Charles Dickens Sarah Dunant 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

Favourite Books A record of the 126 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 Children's Fiction Fiction (78) Ackroyd, Peter: Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem Ackroyd, Peter: Hawksmoor Atkinson, Kate: Case Histories Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice Austen, Jane: Emma Bronte, Charlotte: Jane Eyre 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 Ewing, Barbara: Rosetta 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 Hill, Reginald: On Beulah Height Holtby, Winifred: South Riding Horwood, William: Stonor Eagles, The 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 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 Pears, Ian: An Instance of the Fingerpost Penney, Stef: The Tenderness of Wolves Perry, Sarah: The Essex Serpent Proulx, Annie: The Shipping News Rushdie, Salman: Midnight's Children Seth, Vikram: A Suitable Boy Simenon, Georges: The 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 (40) Blanning, Tim: The Pursuit of Glory Brown, Hamish: Hamish's Mountain Walk Clayton, Tim: Waterloo Cocker, Mark: Crow Country Dawkins, Richard: The Blind Watchmaker 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 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 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 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 2019 Previous book lists: 2009, 2010-2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 January 01. The Wren, A Biography by Stephen Moss **** February 02. The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope G ***** 03. How To Be Right by James O'Brian *** 04. The Big Necessity by Rose George *** 05. The Widow by Fiona Barton G * March 06. The Art of Not Falling Apart by Christina Patterson G ** 07. The History of Modern France by Jonathan Fenby *** 08. Miss Buncle's Book by DE Stevenson ***** 09. Land of Plenty by Charlie Pye-Smith **** April 10. Signed, Picpus by Georges Simenon **** 11. Advise and Consent by Allen Drury U ***** 12. Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller ****** 13. At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier G **** May 14. The Body in the Dales by JR Ellis ** 15. The Butterfly Islands by Patrick Barkham **** 16. How To Read A Novel by John Sutherland ** 17. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd U *** 18. Origins by Lewis Dartnell **** 19. Maigret Gets Angry by Georges Simenon ***** 20. A Game of Ruff and Honours by Annie Green *** June 21. Barring Mechanicals by Andy Allsop **** 22. Daughter of the Desert by Georgina Howell G ****** 23. The Art & Science of Low Carbohydrate Performance by Jeff Volek **** 24. Beside the Ocean of Time by George Mackay Brown G ***** 25. The Rhine by Ben Coates **** July 26. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer *** 27. The Big Fat Surprise by Nina Teicholz **** 28. The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey *** 29. I See You by Clare Mackintosh G * 30. I Claudius by Robert Graves G **** 31. Six Lives of Fankle the Cat by George Mackay Brown ***** 32. Mrs Moreau's Warbler by Stephen Moss **** August 33. Stasiland by Anna Funder **** 34. Dynasty by Tom Holland X ** 35. A Walk Along the Wall by Hunter Davies **** 36. A Death in the Dales by Frances Brody *** 37. The Descent of Man by Grayson Perry *** 38. The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald ***** 39. Felicie by Georges Simenon **** 40. Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold *** 41. This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay G *** 42. Billy Liar by Keith Waterhouse GT *** September 43. The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian **** 44. Whose Body? by Dorothy L Sayers **** 45. The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens *** 46. The Eight Week Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley *** 47. Inspector Cadaver by Georges Simenon ***** October 48. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier GMT ***** 49. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton TU *** 50. The Making of the British Landscape by Nicholas Crane *** 51. Vanessa and Her Sister by Priya Parmar ***** 52. Icebreaker by Horatio Clare ***** 53. Black Diamonds by Catherine Bailey G *** 54. Dolly by Susan Hill G *** 55. Dissolution by CJ Sansom **** November 56. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo ****** 57. The Prime Ministers by Steve Richards ***** 58. Sweet Nothing by Nicole Mowbray ** 59. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry MU ****** 60. The Harpole Report by JL Carr R ****** 61. The Journey Home & Other Stories by Malachi Whitaker *** December 62. The Favourite by Ophelia Field *** 63. Christmas, A History by Judith Flanders *** 64. Cover Her Face by PD James **** 65. Reading Allowed by Chris Paling **** 66. In The Heart of The Country by HE Bates **** 67. Christmas at Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons **** 68. The Five by Hallie Rubenhold ***** 69. The Pull of the River by Matt Gaw **** 70. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens R ****** 71. What the Fat? Sport Performance by Grant Schofield et al **** 72. The Christmas Egg by Mary Kelly *** 73. Stop What You're Doing and Read This by Carmen Callil et al **** 74. Acts of Union and Disunion by Linda Colley ***** 75. Paddington Helps Out by Michael Bond R ****** Ratings * Ugh: disliked this (probably a lot), likely to be unfinished. ** Disappointing: didn't really engage with this, may be unfinished. *** OK: solid and enjoyable/interesting enough read, but not unputdownable. **** Good: into the realms of not wanting to put it down. ***** Excellent: outstanding, even if not quite a favourite. ****** A favourite: something makes this special, even if only personal to me. A=audiobook, G=Reading group read, M=Thousand Books To Read Before You Die (Mustich) R=reread, T=Thousand and One Books To Read Before You Die (Boxall), U=USA States Challenge read, X=unfinished

Thread Contents Post number 02. Book List 2019 03. Favourite books 04. Favourite authors 05. Tour of the United States 06. Doorstoppers: Fiction and Non-Fiction 07. Classic fiction: Dickens, Hardy, Zola 08. Fiction: O'Brian, Sansom, Leon, Simenon 09. Reading lists: 1000 Books, 1001 Books, 100 Best Novels 10. Some stats 11. spare 12. spare 13. spare 14. spare 15. 2018 review, 2019 preview

Christmas Books Received some lovely books for Christmas this year: The Wren, A Biography by Stephen Moss Ice Diaries by Jean McNeil Far From Land by Michael Brooke Hares by Nancy Jennings Hullo Russia, Goodbye England by Derek Robinson That's the biggest collection I've had in a while, and some of the most interesting books too. Some good looking reading for the New Year!

Finished Melissa Harrison's At Hawthorn Time, which I loved - beautiful writing. Have now moved on to Wilding by Isabella Tree, an account of the transformation of the Knepp Estate in Sussex from high intensity farming to one of the leading rewilding experiments in Europe.

Some mini-reviews Too many books read to do detailed reviews, so some miniatures to keep up: Where the Wild Winds Are by Nick Hunt **** The author explores the locations of four of the major named winds in Europe, the Helm, Bora, Fohn and Mistral, so essentially a travel book with some meteorology thrown in. An enjoyable, easy read, with some interesting insights (I especially enjoyed the Helm and Fohn chapters as they were areas I've explored myself), even if not especially earth-shattering in any department. The Judge's House by Georges Simenon **** Well into the series now (this is #22 in publication order), and as consistently involving as ever. The books aren't written in any particular order, and in this one for some reason Maigret is out of favour and has been posted to the west coast sticks, reasons being somewhat ambiguous. More to the point, it gives Simenon an opportunity to move Maigret out of Paris. His sense of place and his characterisation are as strong as ever. The Lighthouse by Alison Moore * A reread for one of my bookgroups, shortlisted for the Booker (really?!). Last tackled a few years ago, I gave it three stars then, but don't have good memories. The memories were confirmed, the rating wasn't - I really can't imagine why I gave this those three. Uninteresting and unlikeable characters, a completely pointless setting (the main protagonist is on a walking tour in the Rhine Valley, but he might as well be anywhere), overloaded with symbolism, ambiguous ending, and some of the most turgid writing I've read in a while with episodes that I found distinctly unbelieveable. I really don't see how some reviewers can describe this as beautifully written, it hads as much variety and interest as a shopping list (He.... He.... He..... He..... He..... ). Some of this may well have been deliberate, for effect, but the result was a book that I found thoroughly unlikeable, tedious and pretentious. Angel by Elizabeth Taylor *** I have loved this author's books to date, but this one never fully got off the ground for me. Whilst the progression and nature of the central character made for a strong narrative, I found the humour somewhat misplaced. Rather than Angel being a source of amusement, I found her more the object of pity (not that she would have appreciated or even understood that) and the result of a completely messed up childhood. All this led to some distinctly uncomfortable moments and a feeling that this would have been so much more pointed and effective if Angel had been from a different class. Not one I'm likely to go back to. The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M Cain *** Clever idea, but the writing felt like a poor man's Chandler, particularly the wooden dialogue. A quick read, but not one to particularly write home about. At Hawthorn Time by Melissa Harrison ***** Beautifully written story focusing on three life strands in a rural village, one of my favourite novels this year. I loved the way the author managed to get inside even the most minor of her characters, and how she built in such a strong sense of the natural history whilst not shying away from some of the harsh human realities of rural life. This book positively buzzed throughout for me. Some reviewers have complained of ambiguity in the ending, but careful reading leaves no room for doubt - the clues are there!

Apologies if I'm butting in, but I hope you don't mind if I add my two penn'orth - Dickens is one of my favourite writers too! His writing is distinctly 'Victorian', i.e. in modern terms he doesn't seem to mind using half a dozen words where just one would do, and his vocabulary is more ornate than many modern readers are used to. He thus takes a bit of getting used to, but once your ear (eye?) is tuned in, he is actually (I find) a complete joy to read. He creates an entire world for complete immersion, settings and characters developed to a depth that many writers simply can't aspire to, whilst he seems to be able to handle amazingly complex plots and large casts with ease - I think the best example of this all is Bleak House, which is one of my top half dozen books of all time. If you're not familiar with him, I'd probably try either Great Expectations or Oliver Twist first, as they're both good examples of his style, and cracking stories, whilst not being the length that some can extend to! My other favourites include David Copperfield and Pickwick Papers, but the latter is completely different in style to other books so, whilst I thoroughly recommend it, I wouldn't take it as typical of later work (it was his first, and is the most eighteenth century of his books).

I read that as the book for Ohio in my Tour of the US States challenge. Although it was apparently John Steinbeck's favourite book, I don't know anybody else who has read it, so am looking forward to finding out what you think of it. Like Brian, I've spent much of the afternoon curled up (not on a sofa though, but in front of the Aga - so a real Aga saga day!) reading books. First of all read the second half of Elizabeth Taylor's Angel, then went on to The Postman Always Rings Twice, a very quick read indeed. I'm a real fan of Taylor, but this wasn't one of my favourites, not least because I thought the humour that most reviewers rave about was somewhat misplaced. TPART was clever, but didn't really grab me. Both got 3 stars.

I'm a fan, so it's probably inevitable that I'd say it is (the series is amongs my top half dozen books, if that makes sense!).

That's a frequent complaint - understandable given the amount of technical language he uses. I initially found it bothered me,but then realised that I could slide over the language, picking up snippets here and there, and still thoroughly enjoy the narrative. You don't actually need to fully understand the naval language to get caught up in the action- these books work on more than one level, right from the nautical expert who can follow all the minutiae of the technicalities, through to the novitiate who is more interested in some brilliant character and plot development in an authentic setting. In fact, I found that a lot of the language gradually fell into place like the proverbial pieces in a jigsaw (the sailing plan included in each book helped a lot, as do some of the conversations when Stephen Maturin is being introduced to the naval world!). Having said that, I've just finished the 7th book and there were still bits that I didn't follow precisely, but I still loved it! Every now and again I do want to check up on a word or phrase. To make that easier, I've acquired a copy of A Sea of Words by Dean King. The subtitle explains all: A Lexicon and Companion to the Complete Seafaring Tales of Patrick O'Brian. It's a great dipping-in book in its own right if you have any interest in the world of that time.

It's on my shelves, is one of my Tour of the US challenge books (the book for Missouri), and has just been moved rapidly up my TBR list!! As ever, a very interesting review; thank you Brian - it's always good to read about a book that someone has really enjoyed and know exactly why.

Crashed through 3 books in the past 4 days: Where The Wild Winds Are by Nick Hunt (4 walks in different European locations following four of the continent's better known winds), The Judge's House by Georges Simenon (a classic Maigret), and The Lighthouse by Alison Moore, a reread for my book group. 4 stars for the first two, and 2 stars for the last, a book which I originally gave 3 stars to, but which now feels like a toss-up for 1! How it was thought to be worth short-listing for the Man Booker, and how various reviewers could rave about it is beyond me.

No, please do not apologise - more a thank you from me for being prepared to add to this forum and making it easy for us by writing in English. One of the things I like about this forum is the broader perspective provided by its international aspect. As I'm sure you find in any non-native speaker working in your language, it's just a few little things that suggest ( mainly prepositions and occasional idioms - as I find, especially in German), but I have no difficulty in understanding what you are saying, which is what matters after all. Personally, I'm not a little envious at the fact you can read the original! I know what you mean by the work of two minds. I've not sufficient skill (yet!) to read any significant classics in their original language, but I've started tackling some of the Simenon Maigrets in French, and have found the differences from their English translations occasionally quite marked, especially in dialogue and/or when more colloquial language is being used, although translators usually get the spirit about right (or so it seems from my limited knowledge). On the converse, I've been trying to choose a translation of Les Miserables to read (perhaps a French equivalent to Middlemarch, at least in terms of size?!), and it has surprised me how varied they are - one or two quite worryingly so. I never really thought about these issues before, but reading the Maigrets really brought them home. Maybe one day I won't need to worry about which translation! Second readings do seem to flow better too, not suprisingly but certainly more enjoyably. BTW, my German is only just about up to Paddington Bear (now, that's interesting, reading a German translation of an English book!), so I've a long way to go before reading Grass, Goethe or Mann!

Thank you! I do enjoy a fair number of bigger books - most of my favourite novels are chunky, e.g. Middlemarch, War and Peace - so it's not something that bothers me too much, but I have found that I'm still piling them up on my shelves more than reading them, particulary history/biography, so promised myself this year to make these non-fiction 'doorstoppers' more of a target. I've managed three of them, better than previously, but still not as many as I anticipated, so I can see that being even more of a priority next year! I have to say they've all been very good reads.

I adore Middlemarch, one of my favourite books, which I was introduced to when studying English Lit A-level some 40 years ago! But, as I'm not a fan of Terry Pratchett, we may not be totally in synch on our likes, so that may not be a recommendation to rely on! @Busy_Bee I may be in danger of planting my foot right in the muck heap, so my apologies if I've got this wrong, but, reading your posts, I would guess that you're not a native English speaker/reader. If so, I'd be interested to know if you read this in translation or in English. If the latter, I'm impressed at your tackling Middlemarch for, as you suggest, it's a complex and demanding read, especially when Eliot goes off on one of her philosophical asides; I know that I would not be able to tackle the equivalent in French or German (the languages I have most knowledge of). If the former, I do know from reading translations into English that translations can lead to very different interpretations of a book, so I wonder if you have any thoughts or feedback about the translation.

Churchill by Roy Jenkins **** My biggest book of the year to date (not likely to be surpassed!), this monumental one-volume biography of Churchill comes in at a cool 912 pages, almost a third of a million words. It's a big read that, unusually for me, has on-and-off taken almost three months to complete (with a complete break for a few weeks in October). It's received plenty of plaudits, winning the British Book Awards Biography of the Year in 2003, and a few jibes from some lay readers, mostly about the author's complex and sometimes circumlocutory language. It may be big, but then Churchill's life is a pretty big topic. He lived into his 10th decade, and had a parliamentary career that lasted 64 years, including stints as Prime Minister, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer (spread over 44 years). He was, of course, PM for almost the entirety of World War 2 (not quite there at either end), but there is so much else there: Nobel Laureate for Literature, soldier (India, Sudan, Boer War, WW1), journalist, painter.....and so on and so on. It's not surprising this is such a big book, bearing in mind as well that Martin Gilbert's authorised biography takes up 8 volumes (2 written by Randolph Churchill); indeed, one might wonder how he managed to fit it all in! In spite of the size, in spite of those jibes, I actually found this a remarkably readable book. Yes, the author uses a wide range of vocabulary, and yes, his sentences are longer than the average, but at no time did I find either difficult nor did it get in the way. Rather the opposite, in fact, the writing flowed very smoothly, and pulled at least this reader along throughout (punctuation was in certain areas a bit idiosyncratic, but I soon got used to it). I also find it very balanced - this was neither a majorly revisionist biography (trendy name for a hatchet job), nor was it at all hagiographic. Indeed, the book really revealed to me quite what a quixotic, proprietorial, driven, difficult man he could be, and why at various stages in life he found himself in the political wilderness or the despair of colleagues, friends and family. By today's standards, there was also a strong streak of prejudice, in particular in his attitude to the Empire (and India in particular). But it also showed why he so endeared himself to people as well, and why he is so widely regarded as one of the greatest Britons of all time. Convinced of his destiny (that in itself was a problem at times) he was simply the right man at the right time. However, there were a few frustrations with the book too. This was obviously a subject and a context that Roy Jenkins was very familiar with, in particular able to draw on his own experience as politician, Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer too, his career overlapping with Churchill's. On several occasions, it is obvious that the book benefits from this. Unfortunately, it also suffers, as he sometimes appears to assume that his reader is equally familiar with the background, and it can then be quite tricky to precisely follow events and what caused them. Churchill was a great politician, and Jenkins rightly focuses on that aspect. He is also quite strong on his writing. However, this is no 'personal' biography. Yes, character comes into it (is central indeed), but only in the professional sphere. Thus, family is mentioned, but usually only in passing, and there is little discussion or illumination, for instance as to why he got on so badly with his son Randolph. His wife Clementine was obviously critically important in his life, but here she is rarely anything more than a shadow in the background. So the book flows on, and finally we reach the final page, and the final frustration. In the last paragraph, the author delivers his judgement: "When I started writing this book, I thought Gladstone [subject of a previous biography] was, by a narrow margin, the greater man......In the course of writing it, I have changed my mind. I now put Churchill, with all his idiosyncracies, his indulgences, his occasional childishness, but also his genius, his tenacity, and his persistent ability....to be larger than life, as the greatest human being ever to occupy 10 Downing Street." And that is it - the entire summary, the entire justification, the last full stop. After 900 pages of narrative, I would have hoped for rather more depth of evaluation, and more explanation of his judgement. It's a remarkably abrupt end to a book that has until that stage been anything but abrupt! So, overall a fine read, certainly not one that felt overlong, which I learned much from and enjoyed throughout, with those few, admittedly relatively minor, caveats. I would certainly recommend it to the more persistent reader. I've also recently acquired Andrew Roberts's new biography of Churchill, generally very favourably reviewed, which I look forward to comparing in the not too distant future. That's a mere 1150 pages!