Alexi

Hope you have a great reading year Anna - as usual I will be following along with interest!

Hi Claire Your reading totals never fail to amaze me Hope you have a great 2016 in terms of quantity and quality - you've already had a decent start!

11.22.63 was the first Stephen King I ever read about 18 months ago. I loved it and have since read another 2 although I'm yet to try The Stand! We have a few TBR titles in common so I will be following along with interest. Happy reading year!

Wow Jessi you have some crackers ahead of you! Have a wonderful 2016

US STATES CHALLENGE Another list! Books in RED are ones I have read. 01. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee (Alabama) 02. White Fang - Jack London (Alaska) 03. The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver (Arizona) 04. True Grit - Charles Portis (Arkansas) 05. East of Eden - John Steinbeck (California) 06. Plainsong - Kent Haruf (Colorado) 07. Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates (Connecticut) 08. The Saint of Lost Things - Christopher Castellani (Delaware) 09. To Have and Have Not - Ernest Hemingway (Florida) 10. Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell (Georgia) 11. From Here To Eternity - James Jones (Hawaii) 12. Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson (Idaho) 13. The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow (Illinois) 14. The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington (Indiana) 15. A Thousand Acres - Jane Smiley (Iowa) 16. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote (Kansas) 17. Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe (Kentucky) 18: Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice (Louisiana) 19. The Cider House Rules - John Irving (Maine) 20. Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant - Anne Tyler (Maryland) 21: Walden - Henry David Thoreau (Massachusetts) 22. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (Michigan) 23. Main Street - Sinclair Lewis (Minnesota) 24. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner (Mississippi) 25. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain (Missouri) 26. A River Runs Through It - Norman Maclean (Montana) 27. My Antonia - Willa Cather (Nebraska) 28: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Hunter S. Thompson (Nevada) 29. Peyton Place - Grace Metalious (New Hampshire) 30. Independence Day - Richard Ford (New Jersey) 31. Red Sky at Morning - Richard Bradford (New Mexico) 32. The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald (New York) 33. Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier (North Carolina) 34. The Round House - Louise Eldrich (North Dakota) 35. The Broom of the System - David Foster Wallace (Ohio) 36. Paradise - Toni Morrison (Oklahoma) 37. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey (Oregon) 38. Rabbit, Run - John Updike (Pennsylvania) 39. The Witches of Eastwick - John Updike (Rhode Island) 40. The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (South Carolina) 41. Welcome to Hard Times - EL Doctorow (South Dakota) 42. A Death in the Family - James Agee (Tennessee) 43. No Country for Old Men - Cormac McCarthy (Texas) 44. The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff (Utah) 45. Pollyanna - Eleanor H. Porter (Vermont) 46. Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver (Virginia) 47. Snow Falling on Cedars- David Guterson (Washington) 48. Washington DC - Gore Vidal (Washington DC) 49. Shiloh - Phillis Reynolds Naylor (West Virginia) 50. The Art of Fielding - Chad Harbach (Wisconsin) 51. Close Range: Wyoming Stories - E. Annie Proulx (Wyoming) 8/51 completed And I do declare this thread open! Happy reading guys

A LOOK BACK AND A LOOK AHEAD I failed miserably in reducing my pile by one in 2015. Instead, it grew. But, I had a good reading year, I enjoyed the majority of what I read - with a couple of exceptions! Book of 2015: Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier/The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion Duffer of 2015: The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. This year, I want to clock off another 10 from the 1001 list and make (unspecified) progress in my other challenges. I would also like to read more books from my older stack. I started keeping track of when I bought books at the start of 2014, so there is a big stack of 'pre-2014 TBR' and I'd like to make some progress with it. I have a new job so reading has taken a bit of a hit on a day to day basis but I do a lot of train travelling so I tend to do it in bursts these days. Here's to some good bursts in 2016!

THE ENGLISH COUNTIES CHALLENGE - ALEX'S VERSION Two substitutions for books I had already read before the challenge started (Greater London and Leicestershire) Books in RED are ones I've read. 1. Bedfordshire - My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates 2. Berkshire - The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 3. Bristol - The Misses Mallett by E. H. Young 4. Buckinghamshire - The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper 5. Cambridgeshire - The Nine Tailors by Dorothy Sayers 6. Cheshire - Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell 7. City of London - A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens 8. Cornwall - Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier 9. Cumbria - Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome 10. Derbyshire - Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks 11. Devon - And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie 12. Dorset - Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy 13. County Durham - Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens 14. East Riding of Yorkshire - South Riding by Winifred Holtby 15. East Sussex - Winnie-The-Pooh by A. A. Milne 16. Essex - The Turn Of The Screw by Henry James 17. Gloucestershire - Cider With Rosie by Laurie Lee 18. Greater London* - Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 19. Greater Manchester - North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 20. Hampshire - Watership Down by Richard Adams 21. Herefordshire - On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin 22. Hertfordshire - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 23. Isle of Wight - England, England by Julian Barnes 24. Kent - The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates 25. Lancashire - Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson 26. Leicestershire - The Right to an Answer by Anthony Burgess 27. Lincolnshire - The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot 28. Merseyside - An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge 29. Norfolk - The Go-Between by L. P. Hartley 30. North Yorkshire - Dracula by Bram Stoker 31. Northamptonshire - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen 32. Northumberland - The Stars Look Down by A. J. Cronin 33. Nottinghamshire - Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence 34. Oxfordshire - The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 35. Rutland - Set In Stone by Robert Goddard 36. Shropshire - Summer Lightning by P. G. Wodehouse 37. Somerset - Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore 38. South Yorkshire - A Kestral For A Knave by Barry Hines 39. Staffordshire - The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett 40. Suffolk - The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald 41. Surrey - Emma by Jane Austen 42. Tyne and Wear - Another World by Pat Barker 43. Warwickshire - Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes 44. West Midlands - Middlemarch by George Eliot 45. West Sussex - Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons 46. West Yorkshire - Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 47. Wiltshire - Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope 48. Worcestershire - The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall 30/48 completed

BOOKS ACQUIRED 2016 Burial Rites by Hannah Kent A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn Just William by Richmal Crompton Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin The Stand by Stephen King Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Friday Night Lights by H G Bissinger Pietr the Latvian by Georges Simenon The Game of our Lives by David Goldblatt The Stars Look Down by A J Cronin Summer Lightning by P G Wodehouse Paris by Edward Rutherford Ready Player One by Ernest Cline NW by Zadie Smith Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara Fishbowl by Bradley Somer Double Down by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin The Well of Loneliness by Radcliffe Hall Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf Emma by Jane Austen Parcells: A Football Life by Bill Parcells The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern The Stand by Stephen King The Secrets of Gaslight Line by MRC Kasasian Another World by Pat Barker Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence Second Life by S J Watson

TBR L-Z Camilla Lackberg - The Ice Princess Paul Lake - I'm Not Really Here Eric Lamet - A Child Al Confino Erik Larsen – In the Garden of Beasts Doreen Lawrence - And Still I Rise Valerie Lawson - Mary Poppins, She Wrote Debra Lee – Taken Harper Lee – Go Set a Watchman Sheri Leigh - Graveyard Games Eric Lomax - The Railway Man Karen Lord - Redemption in Indigo Sid Lowe - Fear and Loathing in La Liga Lois Lowry – The Giver Samantha Mackintosh - Kisses for Lula Kevin Maher - The Fields Emily St John Mandel – Station Eleven Nelson Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall Scott Mariani - The Alchemist's Secret Howard Marks - Mr Nice Andrew Marr - History of Modern Britain Andrew Marr - My Trade Ian Marshall - The Class of 92 Ann M Martin - Kristy's Great Idea Daniel Martin - Black Tie, White Noise George R R Martin – A Clash of Kings George R R Martin – A Storm of Swords: Steel and Snow George R R Martin – A Storm of Swords: Blood and Gold George R R Martin – A Feast for Crows George R R Martin – A Dance with Dragons: Dreams and Dust George R R Martin - A Dance with Dragons: After the Feast Robert K Massie - Nicholas and Alexandra Kimberly McCreight - Reconstructing Amelia Bob McElwain - Free to Die Katie McGarry - Pushing the Limits Brian McGilloway - Little Girl Lost Reg McKay - The Last Godfather Christina McKenna - The Disenchanted Widow Philipp Meyer - American Rust Candy Miller - Kalahari Passage Kimberley Rae Miller - Coming Clean Brian Moore - Beware of the Dog Jon Morgan – Glory for Sale Liane Moriarty - What Alice Forgot Roger Mortimer and Charlie Mortimer - Dear Lupin: Letters to a Wayward Son Motley Crue – The Dirt Haruki Murakami - 1Q84 Urzula Muskus - Long Bridge out of the Gulags Jo Nesbo - The Bat Jo Nesbo - Nemesis Jo Nesbo - The Redeemer Jo Nesbo - Phantom Jo Nesbo - The Snowman Jo nesbo - The Devil's Star Jo Nesbo - The Leopard Patrick Ness - A Monster Calls Patrick Ness - The Crane Wife David Nicholls - Starter for Ten John Niven – Kill Your Friends Claire North - The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Solomon Northup - 12 Years A Slave Sean O’Connor - Handsome Brute Joseph O'Neill - Crime City Louise O’Neill – Only Ever Yours Michael Ondaatje - The English Patient S J Parris - Heresy S J Parris - Treachery James Patterson - Kiss the Girls James Patterson - Cat and Mouse Chris Pavone - The Expats Chris Pavone – The Accident Stef Penney - The Tenderness of Wolves Karen Perry – The Boy That Never Was Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar Oliver Potzsch - The Hangman's Daughter Jeff Ragsdale, David Shields and Michael Logan - Jeff, One Lonely Guy Ian Rankin - Fleshmarket Close Louise Rennison - Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging Lexi Revellian - Replica David Revill - London by Tube Tom Reynolds - Blood Sweat and Tea Kate Riordan – The Girl in the Photograph Graham Robb - Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris Trevor Roberts – Caught by Cameras Veronica Roth – Divergent Angus Roxburgh - Strongman: Vladimir Putin and the struggle for Russia Edward Rutherfurd – Sarum Louis Sachar - There's a Boy in the Girls Bathroom C J Sansom - Winter in Madrid Dorothy L Sayers – Whose Body Phil Scraton - Hillsborough the Truth Victor Sebesteyen – 1946: The Making of the Modern World Tina Seskis - One Step Too Far Anna Sewell - Black Beauty Martin Sixsmith - Philomena Karin Slaughter - Indelible Christopher Smith - Fifth Avenue Tom Rob Smith - Child 44 Diana Souhami - Murder at Wrotham Hill Ali Sparkes - Frozen in Time Dana Stabenow - A Cold Day for Murder Garth Stein - The Art of Racing in the Rain Kathryn Stockett - The Help Harriet Beecher Stowe – Uncle Tom’s Cabin Mari Strachan - The Earth Hums in B Flat William Styron - Sophie's Choice Antal Szerb - Journey by Moonlight Donna Tartt - The Goldfinch Jodi Taylor – A Trail Through Time Hunter S Thompson - Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Georgie Thompson and Imogen Lloyd Webber - The Twitter Diaries Lesley Thomson - The Detective's Daughter Rosy Thornton - Ninepins Peter Thurgood - The Stories behind London's Streets Scott Turow - Reversible Errors Anne Tyler – A Spool of Blue Thread Timur Vermes – Look Who’s Back Kurt Vonnegut - Slaughterhouse Five David Wailing - Fake Kate Karen Thompson Walker - The Age of Miracles Michael Walker – Up There David Walsh - Seven Deadly Sins Sam Warburton - Refuse to be Denied Mark Ward - Hammered Mike Ward - Gullhanger Heather Wardell - Seven Exes is Eight too Many Sarah Waters - Tipping the Velvet Sarah Waters – The Paying Guests Sarah Waters - Fingersmith Katherine Webb - The Misbegotten Andy Weir – The Martian Irvine Welsh - Trainspotting Irvine Welsh - Skagboys Scott Westerfeld – Uglies Kate Williams – The Storms of War Barry Wilner and Ken Rappoport – On the Clock Jacqueline Wilson - The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson - The Bed and Breakfast Star Sarah Winman - When God was a Rabbit David Winner - Brilliant Orange Scott Wittenberg - The May Day Murders Christian Wolmar - The Great Railway Revolution Jennifer Worth - Call the Midwife Mona Yahia - When the Grey Beetles Took Over Baghdad Nathan Yates - Beyond Evil A B Yehoshua - Friendly Fire Carlos Ruiz Zafon - The Angel's Game Markus Zusak – I Am the Messenger Stefan Zweig - The Post Office Girl Anonymous - Tales from the Secret Footballer

TBR A -K Ben Aaronovitch - Rivers of London Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Richard Adams – Watership Down Mitch Albom – The first phone call from heaven Uwem Akpan – Say You’re One of Them Tahmima Anam - A Golden Age Maria Angels Anglada - The Auschwitz Violin[/font][/color] Fredrick Backman – A Man Called Ove David Baldacci - Absolute Power Sam Baldwin - For Fukui's Sake JG Ballard - Empire of the Sun Nonna Bannister - The Holocaust Diaries Laura Barnett – The Versions of Us Anthony Beevor - Stalingrad Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian – The System Dennis Bergkamp - Stillness and Speed Arnold Bennett - The Old Wives Tale Tracy Bloom - No one Ever Has Sex on a Tuesday Judy Blume - Tiger Eyes Judy Blume - Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Attilio Bolzoni - White Shotgun Kathryn Bonella- Hotel K Anthony Bourdain - Kitchen Confidential Anthony Bourdain - A Cook's Tour Mark Bowden - Killing Pablo Tom Bower - No Angel: The Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone Ray Bradbury - Farenheit 451 Rodric Braithwaite - Moscow 1941: A City and it's People at War Anne Bronte - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Geraldine Brooks – Year of Wonders Max Brooks - World War Bill Browder – Red Notice Helen Bryan - War Brides Edward Bunker - Mr Blue: Memoirs of a Renegade Jimmy Burns - La Roja Jessie Burton – The Miniaturist Luca Caioli - Messi Michael Calvin – Family Michael Calvin - The Nowhere Men Mark Cappell - Run Run Run Lewis Carroll - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Noel Cawthorne - Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution Michael Chabon - The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay David Charter - Au Revoir, Europe Tracy Chevalier - Falling Angels Lee Child - Killing Floor Lee Child - The Affair Noam Chomsky – Occupy Agatha Christie – Why Didn’t They Ask Evans David Cohen - Bringing them up Royal Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games Suzanne Collins - Catching Fire Suzanne Collins - Mockingjay David Conn - Richer Than God Thomas H Cook - The Last Talk with Lola Faye Susan Coolidge - What Katy Did George Cooper - The Origin of Financial Crises[/size] Mitch Cullin – Mr Holmes Robert Dallek - John F Kennedy: An Unfinished Life James Dashner –The Maze Runner Robert Davies - The Man Who Lived at the End of the World John Deering - Bradley Wiggins: Tour de Force Barbara Demick – Nothing to Envy Diana Dempsey - Falling Star Becky Dennington - Me and the Ugly C Arthur Conan Doyle - The Sign of the Four Arthur Conan Doyle - The Valley of Fear Mark Dunn - Ella Minnow Pea Steven Dunne - The Reaper Sam Eastland - Siberian Red Damien Echols - Life After Death: Eighteen years on Death Row Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith - My Secret Sister Nick Edwards - In Stitches Ben Elton - Two Brothers Ben Elton – Time and Time Again Tan Twan Eng - The Gift of Rain Eskimo Folk Tales Jeffrey Eugenidies - The Virgin Suicides Michel Faber – The Hundred and Ninety Nine Steps Joseph Finder - Paranoia Jack Finney - Time and Again Helen FitzGerald - The Cry Jonathan Safran Foer - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Ken Follett - Pillars of the Earth Eric Foner - Give Me Liberty John Foot - Calcio Michael Frayn - Skios Barbara Freethy - Ryan's Return Dawn French - A Tiny Bit Marvellous Neil Gaiman - Stardust Robert Galbraith – Career of Evil Alex Garland - The Beach Antonio Garrido - The Corpse Reader Lisa Genova - Still Alice Tess Gerritsen - The Silent Girl Tess Gerritsen - Bloodstream George Gissing - The Unclassed Alex Grecian - The Black Country Graham Greene – Brighton Rock Phillippa Gregory - The Kingmaker's Daughter Ioan Grillo – El Narco George Grossmith - Diary of a Nobody Richard Guard - Lost London Heather Gudenkauf - These Things Hidden Carla Guelfenbein - The Rest Is Silence Romesh Gunesekera - Reef Matt Haig – The Humans Duncan Hamilton - Provided You Don't Kiss Me Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon Chad Harbach - The Art of Fielding Daniel Harris - The Promised Land Robert Harris - Imperium Thomas Harris - Red Dragon Jonathan Harvey – The Secrets We Keep Nadia Hashimi - The Pearl that Broke its Shell Ben Hatch - The P45 Diaries Noah Hawley - The Good Father Terry Hayes - I am Pilgrim Richard Herley - The Penal Colony Jason Hewitt – The Dynamite Room Howard Hockin - High Stakes Andrew Hodges – Alan Turing: The Enigma Steena Holmes - Finding Emma Ninni Holmqvist - The Unit A M Homes – May We Be Forgiven Mary Hooper - At the Sign of the Sugared Plum Rafael Honigstein – Das Reboot Anthony Horowitz- Moriarty John Hoskison – Inside Thomas Hughes – Tom Brown’s Schooldays Victor Hugo - Notre Dame de Paris Victor Hugo - Les Miserables Graham Hunter – Barca Catherine Ryan Hyde – Love in the Present Tense Christopher Isherwood – Goodbye to Berlin Eowyn Ivey - The Snow Child Quintin Jardine - Lethal Intent Liz Jensen - War Crimes for the Home Lisa Jewell - The House We Grew Up In Graham Johnson - Football and Gangsters Jonas Jonasson - The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared Andy Jones – The Two of Us Owen Jones - The Establishment Rachel Joyce - Perfect MRC Kasasian – Death Descends on Saturn Villa Andrew Kaufman – Born Weird Carolyn Keene - The Secret of the Old Clock Lindsey Kelk - I Heart Hollywood Lindsey Kelk - I Heart London James Kelman – Keiron Smith, Boy Simon Kernick – Relentless Simon Kernick - The Business of Dying Judith Kerr- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Yasmina Khadra – What the Day Owes the Night Sue Monk Kidd – The Invention of Wings Stephen King – Joyland Stephen King – Mr Mercedes Barbara Kingsolver - Flight Behaviour Ayse Kulin - Last Train to Istanbul Simon Kuper – The Football Men Chris Kyle – American Sniper

BOOKS READ 2016 JANUARY Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks 4.5/5 Why Didn't They Ask Evans? By Agatha Christie 4/5 A Golden Age by Tahmima Anam 3.5/5 Love in the Present Tense by Catherine Ryan Hyde 3/5 FEBRUARY A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 4/5 Just William by Richmal Crompton 3/5 The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan 3.5/5 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell 4.5/5 Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin 4/5 Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming 4/5 Look Who's Back by Timur Vermes 4/5 MARCH Bobby Moore: The Man in Full by Matt Dickinson 3.5/5 The Cider House Rules by John Irving 5/5 My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier 3/5 Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper 4/5 Hickory Dickory Dock by Agatha Christie 3/5 APRIL Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte 5/5 Glory for Sale by Jon Morgan 4/5 The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 3/5 Hillsborough: The Truth by Phil Scraton MAY Paris by Edward Rutherfurd 2/5 The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper 2/5 The Sign of the Four by Arthur Conan Doyle 3/5 The Stars Look Down by A J Cronin 4/5 Tricky Twenty Two by Janet Evanovich 3/5 JUNE Au Revoir Europe by David Charter 4/5 Fear and Loathing in La Liga by Sid Lowe 4/5 The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall 2/5 Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf 3/5 JULY Time and Again by Jack Finney 5/5 The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford 4/5 Emma by Jane Austen 5/5 An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris 5/5 AUGUST The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie 4/5 At the Sign of the Sugared Plum by Mary Hooper 3.5/5 The Valley of Fear by Arthur Conan Doyle 3/5 The Versions of Us by Laura Barnett 4/5 SEPTEMBER A Child Al Confino by Eric Lamet 2/5 The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North 4/5 Another World by Pat Barker 3/5 Seven Deadly Sins by David Walsh 3.5/5 OCTOBER A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara 5/5 The Promised Land by Daniel Harris 3/5 Lady Chatterley's Lover by D H Lawrence 2/5 The Giver by Lois Lowry 4/5 NOVEMBER Watership Down by Richard Adams 4/5 Boy by Roald Dahl 3/5 Going Solo by Roald Dahl 4/5 Up There by Michael Walker 4/5 The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett 4/5 DECEMBER Death Descends on Saturn Vila by M R C Kasasian 2/5 The Bat by Jo Nesbo 4/5 Summer Lightning by P G Wodehouse 3/5

Hello! Happy New Year everyone - hope 2016 treats you all well both in reading and elsewhere. Time to set this up... AIMS FOR 2016 To read at least 52 books To read 10 from the 1001 list Progress with English Counties and World Challenges ... I miserably failed with the reduce pile by one in 2015. I in fact increased by...50. Oops. So let's try this one again.

Your favourite read of the year? I have narrowed this down to two - Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier and The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. Both completely different works of fiction, but completely unputdownable and stuck with me long after the last page. I'm jealous of anyone who still has the pleasure of reading these for the first time. Your favourite author of the year? Graeme Simsion, Jodi Taylor or Agatha Christie. Read more than one from all of them and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Your most read author of the year? Er, Enid Blyton! Thanks to the Malory Towers reread here on BCF. Other than that, Jodi Taylor - three novels and a short story because I discovered the St Mary's series which I'm itching to continue with and trying to space them out! Your favourite book cover of the year? Meh - I don't really look at covers. It's what's inside that counts The book you abandoned (if there was more than one, the one you read least of)? I didn't abandon any this year but I have got to get better at doing that because I did read and complete one or two stinkers. To borrow a phrase from Willoyd, my Duffer of the Year (and one I wish I had abandoned!) was The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. Why did I give this a 2 out of 5? Definitely a 1! avoid. The book that most disappointed you? The Man in the High Castle by Philip K Dick. Sorry Anna! The funniest book of the year? The Rosie Project. I had to explain to my OH why I kept laughing to myself when reading in bed! Your favourite literary character this year? Er. Don Tillman? Or maybe March Middleton in the Gower Street Detective series. I love her sass and how far ahead (!) of her time she is. Your favourite children's book this year? The Malory Towers series. A Pleasure to revisit. Your favourite classic of the year? Rebecca. Your favourite non-fiction book this year? The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L Shirer. A definite 5/5, this covered Nazi Germany in forensic detail yet a readable style. It's a tome and took me weeks but was well worth it. Your favourite biography this year? I'm going to hand this to my December read of Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. He kept this interesting and gave a fascinating insight into a complicated subject - warts and all. Your favourite collection of short stories this year? Hmmm... I guess The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes - the only collection of short stories I read this year! Your favourite poetry collection this year? Can't hack poetry I'm afraid. Your favourite illustrated book of the year? Not for me this category! Your favourite publisher of the year? Or this one. I take zero notice of who publishes the books I read. Your favourite audiobook of the year? I only listened to three, but Sissy Spacek's narration of To Kill a Mockingbird was wonderful. I read it a long time ago and was refreshing my memory of it for my read of Go Set A Watchman in the New Year and she brought the story to life. I enjoyed it more on this listen than my original read from memory! Your favourite re-read of the year? I don't reread much, but I really enjoyed our reading and discussion of the Malory Towers series.

Good to see you back Laura! Congratulations on the addition

I've been putting it off for that reason BB! Will be interested to see what you make of it. I'm 3/4 of the way through the mammoth Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. I'm on a train all day tomorrow for work so hoping to get it finished. Am also listening to To Kill a Mockingbird on audiobook in the car to prepare for reading Go Set A Watchman in the New Year.

I'd love to join a group like that - my Mum is a member of something similar but she always feels dreadful pressure when it's her turn to choose the read!

Slade House sounds great - brilliant review! I always like reading how people stumbled across books as well as what they thought of them It's already on my wishlist from Kay (? I think!) Like you I've always thought of Mitchell as a difficult read - maybe I should make an effort to try in 2016.

Wow Kylie - that's incredible!

That is very interesting - I enjoyed reading your review having read the book. I do feel the book would have been improved on a literary and emotional scale by the removal of the modern parts. Although not overly modern now given it was the 1970s I will look out the play when I can.

Copied from my blog: hadn't ever heard of this book before it was chosen for the English Counties Challenge, but have since discovered it is also on the 1001 books list. I was a little confused by the fact a detective series I hadn't heard of was considered a worthy contender for these lists, but now I see why. From the challenge point of view I thought it gave an excellent description of the area and the villages it was set in - particularly during some memorable flooding scenes which I thoroughly enjoyed for the descriptive writing as much as plot. And while this may be a 'detective story', there is so much depth to it, with several layers to the plot and denouement. In actual fact, Lord Peter Wimsey is probably the least developed character of the main cast. However, this is the 11th book in the series I believe and this is the first one I have read, so it may be different if I had approached them in the correct order! There is so much detail for the bellringing that I actually got a little bored of it, given I have no knowledge of the subject at all it got a little overwhelming, but it is easy to see how Sayers brings so much more to the table than a mere detective story. There are so many layers to this and so much to admire. I love Christie and Sherlock, but I feel I may have to go back and read the Wimsey series now! Another win for the English Counties Challenge.

The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers Synopsis: When a disfigured corpse is discovered in a country parish, the local rector pleads with Lord Peter to take on what will become one of his most brilliant and complicated cases. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: I hadn't ever heard of this book before it was chosen for the English Counties Challenge, but have since discovered it is also on the 1001 books list. I was a little confused by the fact a detective series I hadn't heard of was considered a worthy contender for these lists, but now I see why. From the challenge point of view I thought it gave an excellent description of the area and the villages it was set in - particularly during some memorable flooding scenes which I thoroughly enjoyed for the descriptive writing as much as plot. And while this may be a 'detective story', there is so much depth to it, with several layers to the plot and denouement. In actual fact, Lord Peter Wimsey is probably the least developed character of the main cast. However, this is the 11th book in the series I believe and this is the first one I have read, so it may be different if I had approached them in the correct order! There is so much detail for the bellringing that I actually got a little bored of it, given I have no knowledge of the subject at all it got a little overwhelming, but it is easy to see how Sayers brings so much more to the table than a mere detective story. There are so many layers to this and so much to admire. I love Christie and Sherlock, but I feel I may have to go back and read the Wimsey series now! Another win for the English Counties Challenge. 4/5 (I really liked it)

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks Synopsis: Published to international critical and popular acclaim, this intensely romantic yet stunningly realistic novel spans three generations and the unimaginable gulf between the First World War and the present. As the young Englishman Stephen Wraysford passes through a tempestuous love affair with Isabelle Azaire in France and enters the dark, surreal world beneath the trenches of No Man's Land, Sebastian Faulks creates a world of fiction that is as tragic as A Farewell to Arms and as sensuous as The English Patient. Crafted from the ruins of war and the indestructibility of love, Birdsong is a novel that will be read and marveled at for years to come. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: I had very mixed feelings about this book. I thought the parts set in the trenches of World War I were simply excellent and saved this book. It was really emotional reading about the realities of war, life and death through the eyes of our protagonist, Stephen Wraysford. The sights and smells of the trenches made for very uncomfortable reading in my cosy house - particularly because I read the book around the time of Remembrance Sunday. However, the rest of it is where this book fell down for me. We begin in France in 1910 and this love story fairly rips along, yet left me deeply unsatisfied. It suddenly ends and we are dropped into the war without any real resolution. We get more of one during the war years but it all feels a little purposeless. Then we get into the 1970s with Elizabeth and this just annoyed me. I didn't want to read about her, I wanted to read more about the war years. She seemed very removed from it all - which I know was the point - but I didn't warm to her and I wasn't interested i reading about her. It seemed an unnecessary amount of time devoted away from the more interesting elements of the book. The first and last bits felt 'tepid' compared to the bits in the middle. And the ending for Elizabeth - Christ alive, what a poor ending. Frustrating because this could have been so, so good. 3/5 (I liked it)

Review dump time! Moneyball by Michael Lewis Synopsis: Billy Beane, general manager of MLB's Oakland A's and protagonist of Michael Lewis's Moneyball, had a problem: how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that's smaller than that of nearly every other team. Conventional wisdom long held that big name, highly athletic hitters and young pitchers with rocket arms were the ticket to success. But Beane and his staff, buoyed by massive amounts of carefully interpreted statistical data, believed that wins could be had by more affordable methods such as hitters with high on-base percentage and pitchers who get lots of ground outs. Given this information and a tight budget, Beane defied tradition and his own scouting department to build winning teams of young affordable players and inexpensive castoff veterans. (From Goodreads) Thoughts: As if my addiction to sports wasn't enough, this year I started watching baseball as a way to get me through the long summer between (both kinds of) football seasons. I'm not an Oakland A's fan, but this book seems a good place to start with baseball reading. The story is fairly familiar to me, especially since the new owners came in at Liverpool and tried to replicate the attitude in the Premier League. I'm not sure it works at all in the same way in English football but anyway, that's not the point. Michael Lewis was granted brilliant access to the A's front office in order to write this book, based on beating teams who can spend a lot more money than the Oakland franchise can. What appeals about this book is the classic underdog story. The A's don't have much money and are competing with the goliaths of the sport - the likes of the New York Yankees, who simply buy up the team's best players as fast as they can produce them. Regardless of whether you're a fan or not, you're rooting for them to win and find gems others have cast aside. Here are more underdogs, rejected because of the way they look, the way they throw etc. We can all relate to it, whether through other sports or your local corner shop battling against Tesco Extra. Lewis is a good writer - although I think he can occasionally get bogged down in the technical aspects of the sport and statistics. However, he explains exactly what they are trying to do, even if it doesn't always work, and works it into a narrative. He also gives us an insight into the complex character of Billy Beane. It's not such a good story as made out - they have many failures - but it's pretty good. 4/5 (I liked it)

Ooh another positive review of The Martian! Glad you enjoyed it, I must get a move on and get to it!

I've never read David Mitchell but Slade House sounds great. *adds to wishlist* My wishlist is beginning to resemble War and Peace, and you certainly have a chapter in it