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How was 2008 for you reading wise?


~Andrea~

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I had an excellent reading year in 2008. I rated the following books 10/10:

 

Jane Austen: Persuasion

John Banville: The Book of Evidence

Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre

Truman Capote: Breakfast at Tiffany's

Truman Capote: In Cold Blood

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Writings

George Orwell: Animal Farm

Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus

Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

 

Only a few books I didn't particularly enjoy:

Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Books

Jean Rhys: Wide Sargasso Sea

Kurt Vonnegut: Timequake

 

2009 is shaping up to be an excellent year! :)

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I've managed to stay organised this year, using both LibraryThing, and keeping a list on my blog. However, my blog adds up to 81 books, whilst LT says 87.. I'll have to look through later, and find out if that's because LT includes the few books that I didn't actually finish, or if I missed any on my blog!

 

Anyway, it's been a good year.. if you look on the list on my blog, I've starred the books that stood out.. and there are quite a few of them!

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It was a great year, reading wise, for me.

 

I completed by 1000th documented book in October and have read 119 books so far and will easily break the 120 mark by year's end.

 

Cormac McCarthy's The Road, probably takes first place for me this year although I really enjoyed King's Just After Sunset.

 

I discovered John Wyndham's works and was pleased. I discovered Margaret Atwood's works and was not pleased.

 

As usual, I read a lot of non fiction in my areas of personal interest.

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone. May 2009 bless all of you.

 

Cheers,

dan :)

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It has been a good year for me too - even though time has been in short supply. Most of my reading has been done during my few short weeks off, since problems at work meant that half the time I didn't get lunch breaks!

 

I have managed to get through 19 books, which is good for me. The ones that stand out the most have been:

 

A New Earth: Eckhart Tolle

The Known World: Edward P Jones

Call the Midwife: Jennifer Worth

A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini

The Shadow of the Wind: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini

Pilgrimage to Heresy: Tracy Saunders (my very good friend, and a very talented writer too - good for you Tracy!)

Edited by Talisman
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This year was superb for me!

- I joined this forum (which increased my TBR)

- I've read 74 books so far this year which is definitely the most books I've ever read in a year

- I've found play.com

 

These books stood out for me this year:

- Alain de Botton: How Proust Can Change Your Life

- Tuula-Liina Varis: Kilpikonna ja olkimarsalkka

- Ronald Hayman: The Death and Life of Sylvia Plath

- Joanne Harris: Gentlemen and Players

- Diane Setterfield: The Thirteenth Tale

- Sarah Waters: Fingersmith

- Augusten Burroughs: Dry

- Markus Zusak: The Book Thief

- Augusten Burroughs: A Wolf at the Table

- Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

-John Grogan: Marley and Me

- Stephenie Meyer's Twilight-series

 

 

Writers I discovered:

- Elizabeth Flock

- Sarah Waters

- Terry Pratchett

- Neil Gaiman

- Kathy Reichs

 

Plus, I spent some good times with Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole diaries which I hadn't read in ages :)

I'm quite sure that I cannot top this year in 2009 but I'm willing to try!

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I have been thinking on how 2008 has been, and couldn't quite think of what to say. There were positive things: I found this place, for example. I read some romance books again after NOT reading them for many years.

 

But since I haven't kept a record of what I read until recently, I can't really say which books were the best. And those books I didn't like, I just let them disappear into oblivion.

 

I have been reading the same amount of books I usually read, but I have bought more books than ever before (better salary, more space in shelves- good combination). I have also for the first time in my life recycled books I didn't like.

 

That was this year. Looking forward to the next.

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I only managed 61 books read this year, but the last couple of months have been dry reading wise, real life impinging on reading...imagine the cheek! :)

 

I have only managed to read short stories this month for the most part and find that squeezes in nicely. I'd recommend The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern for a great variety.

 

I did manage though earlier in the year to read some wonderful books even series that I've been wanting to get to for a while. The Ripley series, several Paul Auster, and four by John Banville all authors that I'd long wanted to get to. Also...finally got to read my first Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale...long promised and I was well pleased with it.

 

One serious disappointment was Quincunx by Charles Palliser. At 800 and something pages I got half way through and couldn't manage anymore. At that point I didn't care who cheated who and as to the inheritance, couldn't have cared less!

 

I find I have left out several favorites. The Road by McCarthy, Specimen Days by Cunningham, and Moviegoer by Percy.

Edited by pontalba
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Ben Mezrich - Bringing Down the House: How Six Students Took Vegas for Millions - 8/10
That last book about the students who took vegas for millions, was it really that good?

Sorry, I missed this question earlier! Yes, I thought so - it was a very entertaining read and knowing that it was something that actually happened boggled the mind! I came to it after seeing the film adaptation which was changed a fair old bit, but i enjoyed it and thought it might be interesting to get the true story behind it - I wasn't disappointed! :)

Edited by Kell
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2008 has been pretty good for me.

I've managed to read a lot more than I normally do (26 books this year, as opposed to just 8 in 2007), I've read several books that I have been meaning to for years (The Stainless Steel Rat, Chocky, The Time Machine and Slaughterhouse 5), and also discovered a couple of new authors (Douglas Coupland and Haruki Murakami).

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I've read several books that I have been meaning to for years (The Stainless Steel Rat, Chocky, The Time Machine and Slaughterhouse 5)

 

How was The Stainless Steel Rat, Raven? I have it on my TBR pile but only discovered recently that it's part of a series.

 

And did you enjoy Chocky?

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It started off slowly, as many years before that, but ended splendidly! I discovered the Book Club Forum and with it started to read very regularly again.

 

I'll be at 23 books read in the year (that I remember. There are probably a few more which I forgot about) tomorrow once I finish my current one. There have been several excellent reads in there, including:

 

Digging to America - Anne Tyler

The kite runner - Khaled Hosseini

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and Persepolis are wonderful as well of course but they were re-reads.

 

I have also started to document my readings, both on here and on my blog.

 

All in all, a very good year! *grins*

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How was The Stainless Steel Rat, Raven? I have it on my TBR pile but only discovered recently that it's part of a series.

 

I enjoyed The Stainless Steel Rat, it was an entertaining read, but parts of it don't seem hugely original because so many other things have copied from it since it was published in 1966. I have the next book in the series, and will probably read further, but I'm not sure I'll end up reading the whole series (I have been told they get better as they go along though, so who knows!).

And did you enjoy Chocky?

I also enjoyed Chocky, but not as much as I have enjoyed some of John Wyndham's other novels (it's no Triffids or Cuckoos!). I think, like all Wyndham, the premise is interesting, but in the case of Chocky it has dated badly (it's amusing the way the father in it interacts with his children - he keeps calling the boy "old man" and his treatment of his daughter almost boarders on child abuse

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2008 was the year i really rediscovered reading, i have always loved books since i was a kid but life, problems and having 2 kids of my own took over but this year i have got back into books with a passion,

top 5 of the year,

the stand, stephen king

sleepy head, mark billingham,

sharp objects, gillian flyyn

trust nobody, june hampson,

the cutting room, louise welsh

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