Kidsmum

I managed to finish another couple of books before 2011 A Month in the Country J.L. Carr & Red Leaves Thomas H. Cook both five star reads. The first short but beautifully written & the second so gripping I could hardly put it down I'll be adding more books by these authors to my wishlist for 2012. So that brings my final total to 55 books for this year, my next book Into The Darkest Corner Elizabeth Haynes I'll start on New Years Day.

I really enjoyed The Help as well, like Before I Go To Sleep it's one of those books that's hard to put down once you start. Good to see you rated Sister so highly as it's on my TBR pile I've not read anything by her before so it was a lucky find.

So glad you enjoyed Vanity Fair Jessi, Becky Sharp was my favourite character even though I wouldn't like her as a friend in real life.

I finished the book of short stories Another Long Hot Soak. I'm not going to bother starting anything else till I get my Christmas books so feeling a bit lost without a book to read at the moment.

Thanks Julie & Ooshie, I've got Penmarric & Wheel of Fortune & I picked up The Heartbreaker the other week in a charity shop so good to hear I haven't been wasting my money

Reserved

Wishlist Breakheart Hill Thomas H. Cook The Last Talk With Lola Faye Thomas H. Cook Peril Thomas H. Cook Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Jeanette Winterson Still Missing Beth Gutcheon The Harpole Report J.L. Carr A Season In Sinji J.L. Carr Beyond Religion Dalai Lama The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern Replay Ken Grimwood The Story of Edgar Wrobleski Everyman Phillip Roth Tom- all- alones Lynn Shepherd Going Buddhist Peter J Conradi Plague Child Peter Ransley Except The Dying Maureen Jennings The 100 year old who climbed out of a window ...... Jonas Jonasson A Moment Of Silence Anna Dean

Happy reading in the New Year Poppy, love the motivational thoughts

I'm looking forward to reading through this when I've got a spare hour or two Frankie

January Into The Darkest Corner Corner Elizabeth Haynes 5/5 The Mammoth Hunters Jean M. Auel 5/5 One Day David Nicholls 4/5 Sharpe's Triumph 4/5 February The Book of Human Skin Michelle Lovric 3/5 Mistress Masham's Repose T.H. White 3/5 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest Stieg Larsson 4/5 Peril Thomas H. Cook 2/5 Once in a House on Fire Andrea Ashworth 5/5 March Plains of Passage Jean M. Auel 3/5 Dead as a Doornail Charlaine Harris 3/5 Pure Andrew Miller 2/5 The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough 5/5 Replay Ken Grimwood 4/5 Tom All Alone's Lynn Shepherd 4/5 April Sharpe's Fortress Bernard Cornwell 5/5 The Forsyte Saga John Galsworthy 5/5 Breakheart Hill Thomas H. Cook 4/5 Dragonfly in Amber Diana Gabaldon 4/5 The Woman in Black Susan Hill 4/5 May I Capture The Castle Dodie Smith 5/5 The Loved And Envied Enid Bagnold 5/5 The Black House Peter May 3/5 Sharpe's Trafalgar Bernard Cornwell 5/5 Room Emma Donoghue 5/5 Raffles E. W. Hornung 4/5 June Emotional Clearing John Ruskan 4/5 Transform Your Life Geshe Kelsang Gyatso 3/5 The Song of the Lark Willa Cather 3/5 Killing Floor Lee Child 4/5 The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Burrows 4/5 One, Two Buckle My Shoe Agatha Christie 4/5 July Start Where You Are Pema Chodron 4/5 Cloudstreet Tim Winton 2/5 Jigs & Reels Joanne Harris 2/5 The Wisdom Of No Escape Pema Chodron 4/5 Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden 4/5 August Shelters of Stone Jean M Auel 2/5 Novel in the Viola Natasha Solomon 4/5 Running with Scissors Augusten Burroughs 4/5 The Queen of Whale Cay Kate Summerscale 3/5 Christmas Holiday Somerset Maugham 5/5 The Land Of Painted Caves Jean M Auel 1/5 First They Killed My Father Loung Ung 4/5 September Short Stories Vol. 1 Somerset Maugham 3/5 Sharpe's Eagle Bernard Cornwwell 5/5 No And Me Delphine De Vigan 4/5 Salmon Fishing In The Yemen Paul Torday 4/5 Hester Mrs Oliphant 5/5 Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal ? Jeanette Winterson 5/5 October Gone with The Wind Margaret Mitchell 5/5 Up At The Villa Somerset Maugham 4/5 Cowards get Cancer Too John Diamond 5/5 The Painted Veil Somerset Maugham 4/5 The Sheltering Sky Paul Bowles 3/5 The Little Stranger Sarah Waters 4/5 Ethan Frome Edith Wharton 4/5 The Art Of Racing In The Rain 3/5 November Rivers Of London Ben Aaronovitch 4/5 Catalina Somerset Maugham 2/5 Red Lights & Green Lizards Liz Anderson 2/5 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens 4/5 Rebecca Daphne Du Maurier 5/5 With Your Crooked Heart Helen Dunmore 4/5 December The Secret Life Of Evie Hamilton Catherine Alliot 4/5 The Weeping Women Alexei Sayle 3/5 The Alchemist Paulo Coelho 1/5 Lighthousekeeping Jeanette Winterson 4/5 According To Queeney Beryl Bainbridge 2/5 The Woman He Loved Before Dorothy Koomson 2/5 Charlotte Sometimes Penelope Farmer 2/5 The Magician Somerset Maugham 3/5

It's so exciting starting with a clean slate. I intend to be very virtuous this year & not buy any books for myself so I will not be darkening the doors of any charity shops but will devote more time to reading & reducing my mountain to a more modest hillock.

Went to the charity shop today intending to buy a book by Bryce Courtenay I'd seen last week but hadn't snapped up at the time, of course it'd gone but I came out with One Day David Nicholls The Book of Human Skin Michelle Lovric Moby-Dick Herman Melville 4 of the Flashman books George Macdonald Frazer So I wasn't too disappointed & of course these were bought before my self imposed book buying ban comes into force in the new year so that's okay

Has anyone read anything by Susan Howatch ?

I finished Dead To The World & Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris, I enjoyed them both but think the 6th book has the edge, Quinn is such a good character I'm now reading a Chicken Soup style book of short stories don't want to start anything major as I'll be getting my Christmas books in a few days

I finished Dead to the World yesterday, definitely agree Chesil it's the best book. I'm jumping straight into the 6th book Definitely dead as I don't have the 5th one. The Dark is Rising is a great series one of my favourite childrens books because I think it appeals to all ages if you can I'd recommend starting it right from the beginning I found that I'd forgotten quite a lot of what had happened but then again maybe that's just me & my aging memory

My mojo's flying high at the moment I finished the second volume of The Forsyte Saga, brilliant read if anything I enjoyed it even more than the first as I felt I knew the characters better. I've just finished The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, I wasn't very impressed with this one not eerie enough to be considered a good ghost story but at least it was a quick read so not much time wasted. Next I'm going to read the much recommended 4th book in the True Blood series Dead To The World by Charlaine Harris.

OMG Kylie !!!!! I didn't even attempt to read through your TBR list Your so organised though I'm well impressed. Happy 2012 reading

Just counting up how many books I've read this year & if you include books which are 3in1 like the Forsyte Saga & The Dark is Rising Sequence which is actually 5 books it comes to a grand total of 50 not bad considering the kind of year I've had, I'll definitely be aiming to better that figure next year though. I see quite a few people have already set up they're 2012 threads, your all so organised, so I'd better get on with that . I'm not going to include a list of books bought in my new thread because it only made me feel guilty seeing the ridiculous amount of books I'd bought this year & of course next year I don't intend on buying any myself I'm just going to ask for the ones I want as presents I've just finished The Forsyte Saga Vol.2 , I absolutely loved it & thought it was even better than the first one which I gave 5/5 so high praise indeed. I added Vol.3 to my Amazon wishlist & then discovered I had it already in a box under the bed, this is what comes from having too many books I quickly read The Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse but didn't really think much of it totally lacking in atmosphere which a really good ghost story needs so that one's definitely going on the discard pile. I'm going to start Dead To The World by Charlaine Harris next as I've got quite a few different book series on the go so I want to start finishing them off.

I'm a big fan of Hardy but Jude the Obscure I couldn't get into, however I picked a copy up in the charity shop as I'm determined to give it another go. Looking forward to reading your comments on it. I'm over halfway through The Forsyte Saga now & still really enjoying it. I also went mad on Redhouse & ordered the children loads of books for Christmas

Angel's Game is on my my TBR pile so will be interested to hear what you think of it. I really liked Shadow of the Wind by the same author have you read that one already ?

Having porridge with raisins & cinnamon every morning at the moment.

I never seem to get round to watching iplayer but thanks for the heads up about the DVD think I'll surprise my hubby with it for Christmas

This sounds like something my hubby would really enjoy. Thanks for the review I think I'll surprise him with it for Christmas

Wow!!! 125 - 150 books is an awful lot , still 80 is pretty impressive I don't think I could manage that many books in a year. I agree once you have children it cuts down your me time pretty drastically, now that my youngest has started school I'm enjoying being able to read while I'm eating my lunch & I've even had a few sneaky afternoons on the sofa with a good book , always feels a bit naughty though

So glad you enjoyed Kite Runner Brian & I agree with Julie A Thousand Splendid Sons is just as good Great haul from the charity shops , I've had Memoirs of a Geisha for awhile now but haven't got round to reading it yet but it always seems to get good reviews.