Books Read in 2007

So far this year I’ve read 98 books. I didn’t make a century, but then it’s not about numbers, but is about reading and enjoying books. I don’t think I’ll finish any more by the end of this year. The first 30 (or so) books on the list I read before I started to write this blog, so there are no posts about them. I’ve written about most of the books I’d read up to the end of November and I hope to write about some of the ones read in December next year.

Clicking on the titles that are underlined takes you to my posts on the books.

98.Here Lies Arthur, Philip Reeve
97.Four Stories, Alan Bennett
96.The Good Thief’s Guide to Amsterdam, Chris Ewan
95.Solstice, Joyce Carol Oates
94.Old Filth, Jane Gardam
93.The Owl Service, Alan Garner
92. The Spoilt City, Olivia Manning
91.The End of the Affair, Graham Greene
90.All Passion Spent, Vita Sackville-West
89.My Cleaner, Maggie Gee
88.The Testament of Gideon Mack, James Robertson
87.The Great Fortune, Olivia Manning
86.Surveillance, Jonathan Raban
85.Cranford, Elizabeth Gaskell
84.Remainder, Tom McCarthy
83.Lewis Carroll: a biography, Morton Cohen
82.The Sidmouth Letters, Jane Gardam
81.Crossing To Safety, Wallace Stegner
80.Playing with the Moon, Eliza Graham
79.One Fine Day, Mollie Panter-Downes
78.Ladies of Grace Adieu, Susanna Clarke
77.The Verneys, Adrian Tinniswood
76.Christine Kringle, Lynn Brittany
75.Set in Darkness, Ian Rankin
74.Sons and Lovers, D H Lawrence
73.The Man Who Died, D H Lawrence
72.The Uncommon Reader, Alan Bennett
71.Ivanhoe, Sir Walter Scott
70.Astrid and Veronika, Linda Olsson
69.The Alchemist, Paul Coelho
68.Ghostwalk, Rebecca Stott
67.Crow Lake, Mary Lawson
66.Speaking of Love, Angela Young
65.Letters to Malcolm, C S Lewis
64.Season of the Witch, Natasha Mostert
63.The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
62.The House at Riverton, Kate Morton
61.The Secret History, Donna Tartt
60.Made in Heaven, Adele Geras
59.Crooked House, Agatha Christie
58.Arlington Park, Rachel Cusk
57.The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman
56.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J K Rowling
55.Northern Lights, Philip Pullman
54.Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
53.Mistress of the Art of Death, Ariana Franklin
52.Theft, Peter Carey
51.King of the Streets, John Baker
50.The Poe Shadow, Matthew Pearl
49.Digging to America, Anne Tyler
48.Wilberforce, John Pollock
47.On Trying To Keep Still, Jenny Diski
46.Death’s Jest-Book, Reginald Hill
45.The Woodlanders, Thomas Hardy
44.Body Surfing, Anita Shreve
43.The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield
42.Daphne, Margaret Forster
41.Blessings, Anna Quindlen
40.The Dawkin’s Delusion, Alistair McGrath
39.The Giant’s House, Elizabeth McCracken
38.Pictures of Perfection, Reginald Hill
37.Keeping Faith, Jodie Picoult
36.Over, Margaret Forster
35.Master Georgie, Beryl Bainbridge
34.On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
33.Gentlemen & Players, Joanne Harris
32.Hallucinating Foucault, Patricia Duncker
31.Emotional Geology, Linda Gillard
30.The Secret of the Last Temple, Peter Sussman
29.When I Grow Up, Bernice Rubens
28.Under the Greenwood Tree, Thomas Hardy
27.Death Minus Zero, John Baker
26.The Conjuror’™s Bird, Martin Davies
25.Nights of Rain and Stars, Maeve Binchy
24.The Devil wears Prada, Lauren Weisberger
23.Stranger on a Train, Jenny Diski
22.Instances of the Number 3, Salley Vickers
21.Sovereign, C J Sansom
20.The Daughter of Time, Josephine Tey
19.The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope
18.Only Say the Word, Niall Williams
17.Learning to Swim, Clare Chambers
16.A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka
15.Mother’™s Milk, Edward St Aubyn
14.The Dark Shore, Susan Howatch
13.Mr Golightly’™s Holiday, Salley Vickers
12.What Good are the Arts?, John Carey
11.Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
10.The Falls, Joyce Carol Oates
9.The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald
8.Moral Disorder, Margaret Atwood
7.Shadows in the Mirror, Frances Fyfield
6.But Nobody Lives in Bloomsbury, Gillian Freeman
5.The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath
4.Miss Garnet’™s Angel, Salley Vickers
3.The Christmas Mystery, Jostein Gaarder
2.The Water Babies, Charles Kingsley
1.The Waiting Sands

Happy Christmas

I’m nearly ready for Christmas, at least the presents are wrapped, just food to prepare and a bit more shopping to do and then I can sit down and relax.

We’ve not had snow here and the forecast for Christmas Day is heavy rain, so it won’t be a White Christmas. We’re seeing our son and his family for Christmas and my sister over New Year, so as this will probably be my last post for a while I’m wishing everyone who reads this blog

A Very Happy Christmas

Books ‘“ buy or borrow?

I’™ve just received the January/February 2008 issue of newbooks magazine. It is full of information, articles, interviews and so on and so on ‘¦ plus the special offers. In each magazine there is a choice of a free give-away (you pay p & p costs). There are extracts from each book to tempt you into further reading. This month the choice is between:

On Chesil Beach, Ian McEwan
The Welsh Girl, Peter Ho Davies
The Oxford Murders, Guillermo Martinez
The Coroner’™s Lunch, Colin Cotterrill
Oscar Wilde and the Candlelight Murders, Gyles Brandreth

I’™m not sure which one to pick. It won’™t be On Chesil Beach because I’™ve already got that book. The others all look as though I’™d like to read them, so when I get time I’™ll be reading the extracts, before deciding which one to pick.

Well, that’™s about free books, but the magazine is packed with details of other books and it’™s simply not possible to buy all or even many of them. This is where the Library is a fantastic service. I borrow more books than I buy ‘“ fortunately says my husband! I have always, as long as I can remember, been a member of a library and for a while I worked as a librarian, so I’™m always enthusiastic about libraries. Where else can you get such a wide-ranging and all encompassing supply of free books?

Although I’™m extolling the virtues of the library system I also buy books, because there are books I want to read again, books to read at leisure, without being told I’™ve got to return them as someone else has reserved them and books I want to own. I buy books regularly (too regularly my husband says) and from a variety of different sources ‘“ local bookshops, there are several really good ones locally. I prefer to check out the books in the shops where possible but I also buy books from Amazon and other on-line booksellers. So, it’™s a big help to find that BooksPrice now has a UK website that compares prices from on-line booksellers. Next year I’™ll be checking them out before buying a book.

Booking Through Thursday – And, the Nominees Are’¦.

What fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’™t count.)
What non-fiction book (or books) would you nominate to be the best new book published in 2007?(Older books that you read for the first time in 2007 don’™t count.)
And, do ‘œbest of’ lists influence your reading?
Looking through the list of books I’™ve read this year I see that most of them are not new books published in 2007, so I don’™t have much difficulty in deciding which ones I would nominate.

In the fiction category my nominations are:

1. Season of the Witch by Natasha Mostert, about mystery, magic, memory, full of psychological tension
2. Playing with the Moon by Eliza Graham, about memories, bereavement and the legacy of war
3. Speaking of Love by Angela Young, about misunderstandings, loss and above all love
4. Over by Margaret Forster about grief and death, heart-breakingly sad

My brief descriptions only give a flavour of the books and although they are all different it seems they have a lot in common ‘“ love and memories and loss.

I have only one nomination in the non-fiction category and that is:

The Verneys by Adrian Tinniswood ‘“ the lives of the Buckinghamshire Verney family in turbulent seventeenth century during the English Civil War ‘“ love, war and madness.

‘œBest of’ lists are interesting and I suppose they do influence my reading to a certain extent. Since I started reading blogs, about two years ago now, I am more influenced by recommendations from bloggers, particularly when I know they have similar reading tastes to mine. I’™m also influenced by books I see in bookshops and especially in my local library. Sometimes I prefer to pick up a book without knowing anything about it or the author and am often surprised by how much I enjoy it.

Goodbye Cranford – Hello Oliver

Sunday saw the last episode of ‘Cranford’. The final episode was very dramatic and there was a happy ending but overall I still felt disgruntled by the combination of three of Elizabeth Gaskell’s books. I suppose that if I hadn’t read ‘Cranford‘ I’d never have known that the difference. I wouldn’t have missed the parts that had been left out and I wouldn’t have known that the order of events had been changed. I enjoyed the non-Cranford scenes much more – the railway explosion and injuries, the Sophie/Dr Harrison love story and above all the Lady Ludlow scenes and the interaction between Lady Ludlow, Mr Carter and Harry. I thought that Alex Etel who played Harry Gregson was excellent.

Tonight the first part of ‘Oliver Twist’ is being broadcast at 8pm (not 9pm as I thought) on BBC1. I don’t have enough time to read the book before 9pm, so I shan’t be disappointed if the 5 part series (being shown in four nightly episodes this week and the fifth and final episode next weekend) is not faithful to the book. I haven’t read it before, but of course the story is so familiar from other films, musicals and TV productions. I don’t expect it to disappoint as ‘Cranford’ did, as I don’t suppose it will be a combination of three of Dickens’ books! Can you imagine combining ‘Oliver Twist’‘David Copperfield‘ and ‘Nicholas Nickleby’?

I’m also looking forward to watching The Old Curiosity Shop on ITV1 on Boxing Day. I haven’t read that either so I can watch it without any pre-conceived ideas.

Categories TV

First Sentences

Kate posted this meme, which she borrowed from Danielle, who in turn borrowed it from Sylvia. The idea is that you post the first sentence from each month in the year from your blog. Like Kate I’ve changed it a bit, skipping to the second post of the month if the first began with a quotation rather than a sentence I’d written myself, or if it was just something like “a good month for reading” as I usually start the month summarising what I’d read the previous month – and that’s just too boring. Not that the following sentences are brilliant at grabbing attention or exciting (note to self – I must try harder!)

I actually started my blog in July 2006 but only wrote one post, so I’m starting this list in April this year.

April
I’ve been meaning to write more, both in this blog and in other writing, but somehow there’s always something else to do.

May
Sunday was sunny, just perfect for a Bluebell Walk at Rushall Farm.

June
Daisy Lupin has started a new blog devoted to poetry and the theme for June is Poetry we loved as Children. (Sadly Daisy died in June, I did so enjoy reading her blog.)

July
It was D’™s birthday last Saturday and the grandchildren painted some beautiful pictures to give him.

August
Can anyone identify this please? (It was a Cinnabar Moth).

September
The year is on the turn and autumn is on its way.

October
Whilst in Stratford last week I browsed the bookshops, one of my favourite pastimes, and couldn’t resist buying The Complete Stories and Poems of Lewis Carroll.

November
Crossing to Safety was Wallace Stegner’™s last novel published when he was 78 years old.

December
The third episode of ‘œCranford’ is being shown on BBC1 this evening. (The last episode is on tonight.)