Thanks for the new thread, southeast. Here's my list:
- My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
- Damaged- Cathy Glass
- Wonder- R.J. Palacio
- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race- Reni Eddo-Lodge
- Lost at Sea: the Jon Ronson Mysteries- John Ronson
- Gotta Get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television- Louis Theroux
- Birdsong- Sebastian Faulks
- Lord of the Flies- William Golding
- The Beatrix Potter Collection- Beatrix Potter
10. The Cold War: a History from Beginning to End- Hourly History
11. The Subtle Knife- Philip Pullman
12. The Amber Spyglass- Philip Pullman
13. Nine Perfect Strangers- Liane Moriarty
14. Brazil- Michael Palin
15. The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald
16. The Collector- John Fowles
17.
Ready Player One- Ernest Cline
18. Other Minds: The Octopus and the Evolution of Intelligent Life- Peter Godfrey-Smith
19. Engleby- Sebastian Faulks
20. Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure- John Cleland
21. The Boy at the Back of the Class- Onjali Q. Rauf
22. Prison: A Survival Guide- Carl Cattermole
23. The Children- Alice Meynell
24. The Year of Reading Dangerously- Andy Miller
25. This is Going to Hurt- Adam Kay
26. Mummy Told Me Not to Tell- Cathy Glass
27. The Aerodynamics of Pork- Patrick Gale
28. Aztec Civilisation: A History from Beginning to End- Hourly History
29. Cannery Row- John Steinbeck
30. La Belle Sauvage- Philip Pullman
31. War Doctor: Surgery on the Front Line- David Nott
32. The Bookshop that Floated Away- Sarah Henshaw
33. The Imperial Phase: The Rise & Fall of British Indie Music 1986-1997- Ray Dexter
34. Lunch with the Wild Frontiers: A History of Britpop and Excess in 13½ Chapters- Phill Savidge
and here are my most recent reads and listens:
35. The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind- William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer This was on a Kindle Deal recently. It is the true story of a teenage boy who builds a windmill to provide power for his village in Malawi. I found it very moving to read about famine from a young person’s point of view and also inspirational to discover the difficulties he overcame (e.g. being kicked out of school as his parents couldn’t pay the fees). I know very little about physics but it was still interesting to read the details of how he built the wind turbines.
36. Frost in May- Antonia White A convent school story from 1933, published as one of the Virago Modern Classics. Based partly on the author’s own experiences, the first half of the novel describes the protagonist’s Catholic education beautifully. I enjoyed the second half slightly less, but when the end came it was quite shocking and rather sudden. I was sorry not to have read this earlier and will probably take a look at the sequels.
37. Lyra’s Oxford- Philip Pullman It was good to be back with Lyra- especially in Oxford- but this felt very short and inconsequential.
38. Scrublands- Chris Hammer I reviewed this Australian novel last year, but this was the audiobook. I enjoyed it again but still thought it was slightly too long. The narrator was excellent.
39. A History of Loneliness- John Boyne This story about child sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Ireland is expertly handled by John Boyne. He tells the tale with a lightness of touch and with engaging subplots, so that it is extremely readable. I zipped through it, the full horror of the story revealing itself only gradually. At the end, I felt strong, conflicting emotions: shock and distaste mixed with elation at what a fantastic novel I had just read.
40. Here Comes the Clown: A Stumble Through Showbusiness- Dom Joly I got this in the recent Audible sale, having enjoyed Joly’s two travel books. This one is a memoir, in which Joly tells us about the making of Trigger Happy TV and also several programmes I’ve never really bothered with. I like his self-deprecating humour, which makes him very likeable: he admits that he sometimes comes across as a bit of a wanker and that several of his programmes have been turkeys!
I've now got a few books on the go (as usual): I'm reading
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King,
The Lost World by Michael Crichton,
Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich and (for the readalong)
David Copperfield. On Audible, I'm just about to start
Inside Broadmoor.