Following on from the 'How many books do you read in a year ?' thread - A first quarter review

[Wheelybug]

Following Poseys thread at the start of the year, some of us decided to keep a record of what we read. So, at the end of the first quarter how many have you read and how does it compare to your estimate (extrapolated of course !).

I said about 50 nowadays.

So far this year I have read 9. So extrapolated that would only make approx 40.

These were:

Can Any Mother Help Me ? Jenna Bailey
Gates of Fire Stephen Pressfield
Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfield
On Chesil Beach Ian McEwan
The Mitford Girls Mary S. Lovell
Playing With The Moon Eliza Graham
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive A McCall Smith
The Virgins Lover Phillipa Gregory
Daughter of Fortune Isabel Allende

Anyone else been a saddo like me ?

Wheelybug -lol at Angelina Ballerinas. I am currently reading a lot of Mr Men

Personally not doing very well this year as I (rarely for me) gave up on 2 books after a couple of nights on each.

So, given up because I couldn't get on with them:

• Apples
• that Joshua Ferris Richard and Judy book

I have completed:

• This is the Day
• Random Acts of Heroic Love

and a couple of others that I can't instantly recall

Hopeless really.

Since we're sharing lists...

The Uncommon Reader - Alan Bennett
Suite Francaise - Irene Nemirovsky (although strictly speaking only finished this year)
Mirrorscape - Mike Wilks
A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil - Christopher Brookmyre
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind
A Swift Pure Cry - Siobhan Dowd
The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver
Mapp & Lucia - EF Benson
The Broken Places - Susan Perabo
The Good Life - Jay McInerney
Then We Came To The End - Joshua Ferris
The Testament of Gideon Mack - James Robertson
This Book Will Save Your Life - AM Homes
Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones
Holes - Louis Sachar
Master Georgie - Beryl Bainbridge
Arlington Park - Rachel Cusk
On Cape Three Points - Christopher Wakling
What Are You Like? - Anne Enright
The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
The Devil Wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
Christine Falls - Benjamin Black
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
The Stone Diaries - Carol Shields
The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break - Steven Sherrill
Paris to the Moon - Adam Gopnik (five star book, best so far this year)
Death Message - Mark Billingham

and currently reading the MN book of the month plus a book about bookselling (Reluctant Capitalists)

I wish I could add most of Lemony Snicket to this list as am loving them, but sadly only get treated to the occasional disjointed chapter when eldest permits me to read to him rather than sit quietly by while he whizzes through the pages at breakneck speed (OK, it's worth missing out to see him enjoying a book so much )

I also cast my lot in with the people that disliked Joshua Ferris.

Have finally finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles [sob] and started on the Northern Lights.

Would like to add footnote that I have also read the Enchanted Wood, two Captain U'pants ), Fantastic Mr Fox, part way through Clarice Bean, the first in the Astrosaurs series, and Yuck the Burp Blaster. Should be fairly easy to decipher from that list which were DS's choices and which were mine. And that is not counting DD's collection...

randomly dropping in, I think I've managed three books, not very good really....
The latest John Harvey, Around Ireland with a Fridge and Time Travellers Wife.

Posey, I gave up on that Joshua Ferris book too. It just felt like being at work and didn't seem to be going anywhere...

I've been reading these lists and wondering who the f*ck Joshua Ferris is. But when I saw the title I realised I'd bought it last week while I was at home - am looking forward to disliking it now, lol!

Ooh I haven't read most of those (did read and love Ballet Shoes as a child).

I don't get to read nearly as much as I would like to but for my literature courses I need to read about 17-20 books. Then there are the 10 books that I read with my bookgroup and then there are the many birthing and parenting books that I read for work and of course the books that I read for fun. It is for this reason that I love public transport and long labours (sorry!). I love all opportunities to read.

Might even do a count up and join the quiche!

I've read a bit but nothing of substance:

Ladies No 1 Detective Agency (but didn't finish)
Olivia Joules and the Overactive imagination (sooo dull)
The Catcher in the Rye (depressing)
Practically Perfect( but I loved it in a trashy chick-lit kind of way)
Something by Marian Keyes

Several gardening books and one about British Politics.

So, only 20 a year. That's not good, is it?

UnderRated The Ladies No 1 Detective Agency was on TV the other week, I found it very strange, a good idea but the way it was acted/the dialogue was very strange.

I am going to put my list up, but I feel very self-concious because all you guys are clearly reading 'proper' books where as I stay firmly on easy-reading crime novels etc.

The Lollipop Shoes - Joanne Harris
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
London Bridges - James Patterson
Mary Mary - James Patterson
Judge and Jury - James Patterson
Broken Skin - Stuart Macbride
Tell Me Your Dreams - Sidney Sheldon
The Vanished Man - Jeffrey Deaver

There are also various pregnancy books but I don't think they count!

Can I join in? Missed the original thread as it was before I joined, so have no idea how much I read in a year, but it'll be interesting to find out how I do in 2008. So far I think I have read:

The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break - Steven Sherrill
Death of a Murderer - Rupert Thomson
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
Extremities - Kathe Koja
Geek Love - Katherine Dunn
A Clergyman's Daughter - George Orwell
What to expect when you're expecting - some mums

Plus some bits and pieces of stuff for my course. I've got a load of work to do before I finish in July, so my next update had better be more impressive than this one!

I missed two off my list yesterday so I shall rewrite it.

The Lollipop Shoes - Joanne Harris
The Subtle Knife - Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass - Philip Pullman
Dearly Devoted Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
London Bridges - James Patterson
Mary Mary - James Patterson
Judge and Jury - James Patterson
Broken Skin - Stuart Macbride
Tell Me Your Dreams - Sidney Sheldon
The Vanished Man - Jeffrey Deaver

At long last I've finished 'Madam Bovary'. She annoyed me so much, I kept saying 'get a grip, woman!' under my breath.

Now reading Vikram Seth's Two Lives, a true story about his uncle and aunt and I'm loving it.

ooh Sue - I've read Two Lives. I adored it but not really sure why !

I knew I should ahve kept a list but will start for the next quarterly review, struggling to find good ideas for books so fantastic to get such a broad spectrum.

I have read in Jan - March this year:

The Reluctant Fundamentalist Mohsin Hahmid
The Uncommon Reader Alan Bennett
The Giles Wareing Haters' Club Tim Dowling
Love and Other Impossible Pursuits Ayelet Waldman
Digging to America Anne Tyler
Breathing Lessons Anne Tyler
In the Woods Tana French
Whatever it Takes Elaine Liordan
Henrietta's Dream Henrietta Spink
The House of Lost Souls F. G. Cottam
A Thousand Splendid Suns Khaled Hosseini
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Jean-Dominique Bauby

Can I join in?

So far this year I've read:

Diplomatic Baggage - Brigid Keenan
DC Confidential - Christopher Meyer
Don't Look Know & other stories - du Maurier
The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clark
A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon
Penguins Stopped Play - Harry Thompson
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
The Book Of Lost Things - John Connolly
Blink - Malcolm Gladwell
The Dante Club - Matthew Pearl

Am currently reading 'Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living' by Carrie Tiffany

In the Woods - by Tana French
The Knitting Circle - by Ann Hood
The Shakespeare Secret - by JL Carrell
One Good Turn - by kate Atkinson
The Steel Bonnets(again)- by george McDonald Fraser
The Reviers, Story of the Border Reviers - by Alistair Moffat
Have just started The Savage garden

Interesting to see what others are reading. Can I join though I wasn't part of the original thread? I usually read about 6 books a month, on average, so 70-odd a year, and for the last three or four years I've noted them in a notebook - no ratings, just a page for each month and the title and author. I'm at work now but I'll post this year's later. I agree re. looking back, you remember the train you were on, the house you were staying in, the weather outside, all triggered by the book. I don't keep a diary so it's all I've got!

I've already got some ideas from other people's lists, I love this kind of legitimied nosiness, most gratifying.

I'm aiming to get through a book a week, but it's not easy. I've had to pretty much give up on TV, and attempt to MN as little as possible!

Everyone's welcome ! Its great to see people's lists and get ideas. Vintagegardenia - legitimised nosiness is why I started this thread

Everyone's welcome ! Its great to see people's lists and get ideas. Vintagegardenia - legitimised nosiness is why I started this thread

Pop - Constance Hays (fascinating non-fiction on the history of the coca cola company)

On Chesil Beach - Ian Mcewan (not his best)

Budding Prospects - T.C Boyle (great, as always)

Tooth and Claw - T.C Boyle (see above)

Worlds End - T.C Boyle (and again)

East is East - T.C Boyle (slight obseesion?)

West End Chronicles - Ed Glinert (non fiction on the history of the west end. A bit sketchy but a fascinating topic)

Watching The English - Kate Fox (Non fiction, very funny observations)

The Impressionist - Hari Kunzru (just fab, my favourite so far this year)

Elizabeth Costello - JM Coetzee (Starts of great but loses it)

The Meaning of the 21st century - James Martin (Non fiction, some seriously interesting ideas)

Bukowski - Bary Miles (Biography, but seemed a littlwe pointless as Bukovski has already written his definitive biography through his body of work)

Also the first couple of chapters of The God Delusion, and A Brief History of Time. I just couldn't be interested in them, though I feel I ought to read them.

Hell, thats a lot of books!

If any of you are on Facebook there is an application called 'visual bookshelf' where you can list the books you have read, write reviews on them and discuss them with others. I love it!

Can I join in? I don't think I was around for the first thread.

So far this year (as far as I can remember) I have read:

The Colour - Rose Tremain
Digging to America - Anne Tyler
The Accidental Tourist - Anne Tyler
Ballet Shoes (for the 33rd time at least!)
The Men and the Girls - Joanna Trollope
Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
Marley and Me - John Grogan
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy
The Russian Concubine - Kate Furnivall

I've nearly finished reading The Faithful Princess by Philippa Gregory (in Spanish so it's taking me a while).

I started and could not get on with a book by Thomas Keneally. Does anyone know this author? Can you recommend a good book to start on by him? My uncle has given me about 8 books by him, and the one I started hasn't inspired me, but maybe it was the wrong choice.