Alexi

I'm getting on really well with The Girl that Kicked the Hornet's Nest but length and limited reading time makes me suspect I won't finish it before the year is out!

Happy Christmas Laura! When did boyfriend graduate to hubby to be?! Great haul! I also have 11.22.63 and The Age of Miracles on my pile so looking forward to seeing what you think

Wow, so much information here Athena! I pretty much stick to read, to be read and acquired and even then I struggle to keep them updated! Looking forward to following your reading in 2014. All the best for a great reading year!

I'm certainly not planning to finish in 2014 - too many others I want to read! I also read A Christmas Carol this December (for the first time) and adored it! It made me feel really Christmassy and I love the way Dickens paints a picture of The scene and characters through his words.

We obviously have similar tastes James - from the ones I've read from your best list, I loved them all! I must immediately read the rest of them

Hi bobblybear! I've got quite a few of your TBR books on my pile (I fear once I've bitten the bullet and counted them it may have to be renamed as a mountain) and lots of tempting sounding ones among the rest! I too adored the Secret Life of Bees but I have The Help on my pile so I can't compare I'm afraid Enjoy reading your way through 2014!

Thanks Julie and Athena Julie - I think you're right. I'm not particularly religious (when I was 7, my other Grandma told me heaven did not exist and when she died she was gone from me forever - I cried!) but I do believe they are somewhere watching us all grow up. I suppose I am grown up now but you know what I mean! Athena - Thirteen Reasons Why is on my wishlist It's huge though (the wishlist, not the book!) and I think my brothers were a bit intimidated when I gave it to them for Christmas present ideas!

Hi vixen, I've got a number of books on my TBR pile that are the same as yours so shall be stopping by regularly I really enjoyed Gone Girl and particularly The Time Traveler's Wife! Just don't watch the film of the latter, it annoyed me after reading the book! Happy reading in 2014.

Haha I knew you'd be happy with it! I think I might try Nicholas Nickleby next. Christmas is a funny time of year really. It's the first one without my Gran so that will be painful, so I think a different sort of Christmas will suit us really. My cousin and her boyfriend are coming which is great - we're now close after years of not much contact (her parents work Xmas day). I've started Casino Royale now. I'm working loads ATM so thought I'd have no time to read but forgot more days in work = more commuting time!

#54 The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler Synopsis: It's 1996 and very few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma just got a computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh power it up and log on - and discover themselves on Facebook in 2011. Everybody wonders what they'll be like fifteen years in the future. Josh and Emma are about to find out.(From Amazon) Thoughts: although this is young adult, which I don't read a lot of, I picked this up because the concept grabbed me. What would my 16 year old self made of my 27-year-old self now? Emma and Josh get a glimpse of their early 30s selves in Facebook form. Some of it made me giggle - they discuss why people put so much pointless information on the Internet! - and I liked the references to current culture they had no idea about - what is a text, Ellen DeGeneres is not gay etc. Emma is really not happy with her future and tries everything she can to change it, repeatedly, while on paper Josh's future looks like the one every high school boy dreams of. Every action they take in 1996 has a reaction in 2011, but as they grow to realise they are judging their future lives by snippets - banal statuses and profile pictures - and relationship statuses! The ending is overly cheesy, but I enjoyed the book and read it very quickly. 3.5/5

#53 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens Synopsis:Charles Dickens’ masterfully crafted Christmas fable tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, a man with wealth to match the coldness of his heart. On a mystical Christmas Eve, a visitation with spirits forces Scrooge to make a choice: change, or perish. Thoughts: Wow, I loved this. I know the basic story (once acted in a simplified version) but it really should be left to Dickens to tell this tale. Sure, it's sentimental but it's a beautifully told story about what Christmas should mean to us all - without religion. My mum has this year, for the first time, invited several people who would otherwise be eating in ones or twos and we're all going to pile round the table. After reading this, it made me even happier we're doing it. I love how Dickens can transport me anywhere through the magic of his writing. I read this for the English Counties Challenge, but I'm now keen to read a Dickens that I'm not so familiar with the story - definite aim for 2014. Not sure I have much else to add, it was perfect. 5/5

Hi Julie Happy reading for 2014! Hope your new approach works wonders for you I'm too scared of the pain to get a tattoo!

Thanks guys. 2013 has been a brilliant year for me so I shall let go the fact I only just reached my targets and aim for better next year Kidsmum - I've read a lot of Ben Elton and really enjoyed them. I've not read Blast From the Past though. I got into him when my dad handed me Dead Famous - it must have been around 10 years ago because I was still in my Big Brother phase! I loved that one and have read lots of his other books. I understand Two Brothers is a bit different to those though.

Hi James I shall be reading your thread with interest. You have a few books on your TBR list that are also on my shelves and ive picked up some great recommendations in here before too. Personally, I am dreading counting my TBR pile - I suspect it would keep me busy for at least 3 years! Yet I can't stop buying

I finished A Christmas Carol and absolutely loved it I feel properly Christmassy now - I went and watched Love Actually! Started something completely different - The Future of Us by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler.

Now completed my tenth World Challenge book of 2013 *awards self small glass of wine* The Last Good Man by AJ Kazinski (Denmark) Full review in my book log but another enjoyable read. I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment! (Vietnam apart obviously).

Reading your thread is bad for my wish list Brian - World War Z has gone onto it this time! I travelled quite a bit in my younger days (I toyed with emigrating to Australia at one point) but I have now come to the conclusion, as I approach the grand old age of 30, that I can't hostel any more so travelling requires a higher budget I like my sleep too much to suffer 18 year olds banging about at 3am every night </killjoy>

Thanks so much Julie and Janet I was worried I would;t achieve it at one point but I'm reading loads at the moment (instead of doing much more pressing Christmas matters!) so trying to make the most of mojo while it's here! It's interesting we all downloaded the Broadmoor book as one of the first books for kindle! It was one of my first downloads too - would really recommend it Frankie

Hi Athena, You're never too old to revisit books from your childhood I reckon! (the reason I want to read all the BSC books in order actually, way back when it was whatever the library had in!). I have The Snow Child on my TBR so good to see you thought highly of it. And my favourite HP book has to be The Prisoner of Azkaban - it's such a clever story!

Weird quoting going on... I know A Christmas Carol is one of your favourites! I will do my best to enjoy it I'm currently about a third through, the Ghost of Christmas Past has just appeared.

This next book was the one that completed my challenge for the year! That was: 52 books, to include 10 from the 1001 list (10 read) and 10 for my world challenge (this was the 10th). I think I'll probably go for 60 next year, I was derailed by a house move and a dreadful illness that knocked me out for most of August. #52 The Last Good Man by A J Kazinski Synopsis: According to Jewish scripture, there are thirty-six righteous people on earth. Without them, humanity would perish. But the thirty-six do not know that they are the chosen ones. In Beijing, a monk collapses in his chamber. A fiery mark has spread across his back and down his spine. In Mumbai, a man who served the poor dies suddenly. His body shows the same mark. Similar deaths are reported in cities around the world - the victims all humanitarians, all with the same death mark. In Copenhagen, it falls to veteran detective Niels Bentzon to investigate. He is told to find eight 'good people' of Denmark and warn them of this threat. But Bentzon is trained to see the worst in people and he becomes increasingly skeptical as he realizes that not everyone perceived to be good is truly good. It is only when Niels meets Hannah, a brilliant astrophysicist mourning the death of her husband, that the pair begin to piece together the puzzle and a pattern emerges. There have been thirty-four deaths and there are two more to come. According to the pattern, Bentzon and Hannah can predict the time and place of the final two. The murders will occur in Venice and Copenhagen. And the time is now. (from Amazon) Thoughts: A J Kazinski is the pseudonym for two writers born in Denmark, who are writing together for the first time. They book is mainly set in Copenhagen, with brief bits in South Africa, Venice and the Danish countryside. This is an unusual book, crossing between a murder mystery and the supernatural. It was a best seller in Denmark and it's easy to see why, I raved through this one desperate to find the solution to the mystery. It starts off slowly, as Niels, a Danish policeman, is warned of the murders by a policeman in Venice. Neither can speak each other's language, Niels can't travel to abroad due to a phobia, and no one else takes them seriously. It becomes a race against time to find the pattern and prevent the 36th person from dying, and the whole of humanity to go down the drain. Really good, although the ending: 4/5

Three more books read since I last posted! December is such a busy time for us at work I'm counting the days to NYE! Bit of a different Christmas this year too, normally it's just my immediate family, this time there will be definitely 9 and possibly 11 round the dinner table! Anyway, books what I have read: #50 Broadmoor Revealed: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens No synopsis for this one, because I downloaded it free at the start of 2011. It was such a success that the only version I can now find on Amazon is expanded and updated (and costs (4.74 no less!) Anyway, I really enjoyed this one. It tells the tales of famous inmates such as Edward Oxford and William Chester Minor with those less famous, as well as chronicling the escapes - attempted and successful! Interestingly, it also discusses the Victorian attitude to "insanity" - the focus on hereditary factors (which we still believe are a big element for certain illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression) and alcohol consumption! Overall I thought the author painted a good picture of the hospital and it's patients in the Victorian era. However it is worth noting the £4.74 version is still only 192 pages long so a lot of pennies per page! 4/5 #51 Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson Synopsis: Jeanette, the protagonist of Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit and the author's namesake, has issues--"unnatural" ones: her adopted mam thinks she's the Chosen one from God; she's beginning to fancy girls; and an orange demon keeps popping into her psyche. Already Jeanette Winterson's semi-autobiographical first novel is not your typical coming-of-age tale. Brought up in a working-class Pentecostal family, up North, Jeanette follows the path her Mam has set for her. This involves Bible quizzes, a stint as a tambourine-playing Sally Army officer and a future as a missionary in Africa, or some other "heathen state". When Jeanette starts going to school ("The Breeding Ground") and confides in her mother about her feelings for another girl ("Unnatural Passions"), she's swept up in a feverish frenzy for her tainted soul. Confused, angry and alone, Jeanette strikes out on her own path, that involves a funeral parlour and an ice-cream van. Mixed in with the so-called reality of Jeanette's existence growing up are unconventional fairy tales that transcend the everyday world, subverting the traditional preconceptions of the damsel in distress.(From Amazon) Thoughts: I've had this on my wish list for a while and finally took the plunge because it counted for the English Counties Challenge. It's also on the 1001 list. Ithink my first impressions of this book were tainted by the thoroughly self-congratulatory introduction. Personally, I hate that sort of thing (I could never have been a celebrity). The critics have said what a marvellous book it is, why not just include a few reviews? If you must write an intro, limit it to explaining to the reader the book's actual context - that it is semi-autobiographical etc etc. It set my teeth on edge, I must admit. Anyway, the book itself is quite good! It tells the story of Jeanette growing up in a deeply religious community in the working class north, where school is evil. And outsider at school because her talk of hell and damnation scares the other children, Jeanette is drawn to the other girls she meets through the church. When her feelings for girls are discovered she must be purified because obviously the devil has taken over her body. I found it thoroughly scary that a parent could treat their child like this. Awful. I didn't get on with the aforementioned fairytales - I thought they detracted from the pacing of the story and made me forget my place several times. But as she explains in the introduction, writers must do something different. Or, you know, they could just tell a cracking story in beautifully written prose. Nah, that will never catch on. One day I would like to read her autobiography - Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal - and see how it compares to his one. I might skip the intro though That review might be a bit harsh because I did enjoy it! 3/5

Finally getting into the Christmas spirit so I have just started A Christmas Carol. I've never read it before so really looking forward to this one!

I love book lists Speaking of, I shall be looking up Broken April to add to my world challenge list (tenuous connection there...) - it sounds a great read.

No, I don't think they could say that but she was blamed for scaring the other children when that was clearly a product of her upbringing and would have been dealt with differently in today's environment I'm sure! And the teachers didn't appear to help the situation with the treatment of her in the classroom either. I think these days more effort would be made in terms of inclusiveness... As you say, a mark of the times!