What have you read this year? And what will you read next year?

[SuperBunny]

Have you read anything amazing?

At the beginning of this year, I decided to keep a note of what I read. I haven't managed as much as I hoped but have read quite a mix, including:

Ladies No 1 Detective Agency
Olivia Joules & The Overactive Imagination
The Catcher in the Rye
Practically Perfect
Anybody Out There
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Roast Chicken
Three Cups of Tea
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Daisy Miller
Collapse
Through the Looking Glass
Life of Pi
The ZooKeeper's Wife
The Tao of Pooh
America Unchained
Notes on an exhibition
The Other Boleyn Girl
The New Testament
Fast Food Nation
The English
Two Caravans
Brick Lane

And am currently reading:

Jane Eyre
The Island

I was pregnant and hideously ill for most of last year and then had a baby that never sleeps so I have bought about 10 books and actually read half of a heat magazine and a TV Guide. Do you think I might manage a whole chapter from a book next year?

Maybe. If it has big writing and pictures

That's all I could read until this year. Good luck!

This is my book list up to Sept. Not kept it up to date since then, but have read quite a few more! Year of Wonders, The Book Thief and Into The Wild stand out for me as being great books. Loved Twilight and Rain Before It Falls and Notes From An Exhibition as well.

Jan
Richard Hammond ? Life On The Edge
Tom Parry ? Thumbs Up Australia
Somerset Maugham ? The Painted Veil
Terry Pratchett ? Wintersmith
Ben MacIntyre ? Agent ZigZag

feb
The Thirteenth Tale

March
Quinten Van Marle ? Boomerang Road
Simkin ? The Labour Progress Handbook
RJ Ellory ? A Quiet Belief In Angels
J Krakauer ? Into The Wild.

April-

Joe Simpson ? This Game Of Ghosts
Michael Connolly ? The Overlook
John Case ? The Genesis Code
Donna Tartt ? Secret History

May-

Angie Sage - Magyk
RJ Ellory ? City Of Lies
Robin Cooper ? Return Of The Timewaster Letters
F Cottam ? House Of Lost Souls
Garth Nix- Sabriel

June-

Geraldine Brookes ? year Of Wonders
Kate Mosse- Sephulcre

July-

Patrick Gale ? Notes From An Exhibition
Kate Summerscale ? The Suspicions Of Mr Whicher

August

No Time For Goodbye
Shadow Of The Sun
The Forgotten Garden
Making Money
The Book Thief
Private Lives Of Pippa Lee
Rain Before It Falls
Hold Tight
Innocent Man

September

Twilight

That's quite a list, Stripy! I saw the film 'Into The Wild' and found it very disturbing. I would like to read the book though.

Well done for keeping a list!

I'm currently reading Richard Ford's Independence Day, which I've meant to read for years. It's marvellous

(oh, and as to the point of thread, I'll be reading it a long way into next year I think)

Great Gatsby
Mr Pip
On The Road
The Road
The Lovely Bones
The Red Tent
Notes from an Exhibition
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (unfinished)
The Laments
The Grapes of Wrath
Children of the Revolution
Brief Lives - Bill Deedes
Things Can Only Get Better
Wuthering Heights
Tin Men

and others which made so little impression I can no longer remember them!

Next year, I want to read much more and also to keep a list!

Can't remember everything I've read this year but I know I enjoyed

Black Swan Green
Mr Pip
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
A Thousand Splendid Suns
The Rose of Sebastopol

and I'm currently reading

Half of a Yellow Moon
Netherland

Best reads this year were:
Of Human Bondage, S Maugham
In Cold Blood, T Capote
Both dh's and been on the shelves for years!

Read some great Sci Fi - Stephen Baxter's Evolution, and the Destiny's Children series.

Last month
Restitution, Eliza Graham
Betrayal, Clare Francis
Silesian Station, David Downing
Little Dorrit, Charlie D.

I decided I wanted to read 50 books this year but I won't have quite managed it. Have just finished my 45th. Would have done but at the same time as being pregnant and losing concentration my DH was seriously ill in hospital so it put me off track a bit. Here's my list though (not very highbrow):

Jan
Can Any Mother help me ? - Jenna Bailey
Gates of Fire - Stephen Pressifeld
Ballet Shoes - Noel Streatfield
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

Feb
The Mitford Girls - Mary S Lovell
Playing with the moon - Eliza Graham

March
The Good husband of Zebra Drive - Alexander McCall Smith
The Virgins Lover - Phillipa Gregory
Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende

April
Pillow Talk - Freya North
31 Dream St - Lisa Jewell
The Devil and Miss Prym - Paulo Coelho
Georgiana - Amanda Foreman

May
Peter Pan - JM Barrie
Peter Pan In Scarlet - Geraldine McCaughrean
The Girls - Lori Lansen
Swallowing Grandma - Kate Long
Portrait In Sepia - Isabel Allende
Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones
The Sunday Philosophy Club - Alexander McCall Smith

June
Engleby - Sebastian Faulks
The Rain Before It Falls - Jonathan Coe
Michael Tolliver Lives - Armistead Maupin
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day - Winifred Watson
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason

July
A Piano in the Pyranees - Tony Hawks
Second Chance - Jane Green
The Gathering - Anne Enright
Valley of the Dolls - Jacqueline Susann
A thousand splendid suns - Khaled Hosseini
PS I love you - Celia Ahern
The Memory Keepers Daughter -

Aug
Labyrinth - Kate Mosse
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee - Rebecca Miller

Sept
Perfect Match - Jodi Picoult
Friends Lovers and Chocolate - Alexander McCall Smith
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

Oct
The Right Attitude to Rain - Alexander McCall Smith
Digging to America - Anne Tyler
The Careful use of Compliments - Alexander McCall Smith

Nov
Case Histories - Kate Atkinson
Thanks for the Memories - Celia Ahern

Dec
God is an Englishman -RF Delderfield
Confessions of a Failed Southern Lady -
Do you remember me ? Sophie Kinsella

About to start Nancy Mitford - in pursuit of love (To make up for the Kinsella ).

Some great suggestions on here, thanks.

I have added more to my list for next year.

I have just read:

Marley and Me (which was a lovely easy read)
Freakonomics (again, really easy)

and am reading The English Companion: and A-Z of Idiosyncracies

and I think I will manage Do Bats have Bollocks (courtesy of my sister) before the year is out.

Thanks for contributing. I have really enjoyed reading in 2008 and am looking forward to more in 2000. My goal is 30 books.

I have read over 60 books this year

I have kept a list but in a notebook.

I have read a lot of travel type books and not much chic lit, also the Mitford sisters feature heavily.

killing of the tinkers by Ken Bruen
the mcdead by Ken Bruen
pies and prejudice by Stuart Maconacie (sp)
blitz by Ken Bruen
the state counsellor by Boris Akunin
the coroners lunch by Colin Cotterill
friend of the devil by Peter Robinson
chinatown beat by Henry Chang
bad traffic by Simon Lewis
one man, one murder by Jakob Arjouni
saladin murders by Matt Rees
left hand of darkness by Ursula Leguin
the spoke by Friedrich Glauser
summer of the big bachi
eye of jade by Diane Lei Wang
chourmo by Jean Claud Izzo
lorraine connection by Dominique Manotti
ashes to ashes by Kathy Reichs
the one from the other by Philip Kerr
chatelet apprentice by Parot
red mandarin dress by Xialong
song as it is sung by Justin Cartwright
pretty dead things by Barbara Nadel
diamond dove by Adrian Hyland
dragon tattoo by Stieg Larsson.
taming the alien by Ken Bruen
silesian station by David Downing
prince of fire by Daniel Silva
man with the lead stomach by Jean Louis Parot
undercover economist by Roger Harford
wicked whispers by Jessica Callan
solea by Jean Claude Izzo
tamar by Mal Peet
a night's foul work by fred vargas
the night watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
death in breslau
the pere lachaise mystery by Claude Izner
child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
the murder farm by Andrea Schenkel
african psycho
my sisters keeper by Jodie Piccoult
vienna woods killer by John Leake
waterloo sunset by Martin Edwards
i know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou
cure of all diseases by Reginald Hill
last rites by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
water blue eyes by Domingo Villars
road home by Rose Tremain
art thief by Noah Charney
super cannes by JG Ballard
ashes to ashes by Barbara Nadel
bloomsday dead by Adrian McKinty
istanbul variations by Olen Steinhauer
shifting skin. by Chris Simms
priest by Ken bruen
sanctuary by Ken bruen
snow blind by PJ Tracy
Let's Get Criminal by Lev Raphael
a not so perfect murder by Teresa Solana
dog eat dog by Iain Levision
therapy by Sebastian Fitzsek
Barefoot Gen
The Day Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Dog Day by Alicia Gimenez Bartlett
Die a Little by Megan Abbott
Regeneration by Pat Barker
Costa Del Crime
Real World. by Natsuo Kirino
Secret River by Kate Grenville
The Likeness by Tana French
Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs
Angels Unaware by Mike Ripley
Bangkok Haunts by Mike Burdett
The Closers by Michael Connelly
Snapshot by Gary Disher
The Private Patient by PD James
The First Fingerprint by Bonnot
To Dream of the Dead by Phil Rickman
The Final Bet by Hamdouchi
Sweetness of Life by Paulus Hochgatterer
The Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
The Phantom of Rue Royale by Jean Louis Parot
boy in the striped pyjamas

wow totalchaos that's quite some list.

I've read the following (marks out of ten in brackets)

We need to talk about Kevin - Lionel Shriver (9/10)

The Fifth Child - Dorris Lessing (4/10)

A Quiet Belief in Angels - RJ Ellory (9/10)

Mister Pip - Lloyd Jones (5/10)

The Bean Trees - Barbara Kingsolver (6/10)

The Post-birthday World - Lionel Shriver (7/10)

I am Legend - Richard Matheson (6/10)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling (8/10)

The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies (7/10)

Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale (8/10)

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - Maggie O'Farrell (9/10)

Life of Pi - Yann Martel (9/10)

The Other Boleyn Girl - Philippa Gregory (7/10)

My Sister's Keeper - Jodi Picoult (8/10)

The Crimson Petal and the White - Michael Faber (7/10)

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (8/10)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (9/10)

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer (9/10)

New Moon - Stephenie Meyer (8/10)

Monster Love - Carol Topolski (7/10)

The Notebook - Nicholas Sparks (5/10)

Before I Die - Jenny Downham (6/10)

I'm currently reading To Kill a Mocking Bird and plan to read the following shortly

• The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
• Rest of the Twilight series
• A Spot of Bother

This year's list. July and Aug seem a bit fallow! BG = my book group selection

January
Purple Hibiscus - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (BG)
Stalingrad - Antony Beevor
Digging to America - Anne Tyler

Feb
The Electric Michelangelo - Sarah Hall
Astonishing Splashes of Colour - Clare Morrall
Aberdeen Curiosities - Robert Smith
News From No Mans's Land - John Simpson
Perfume - Patrick Suskind
In Siberia - Colin Thubron

March
The Thirty Nine Steps - John Buchan (and on tv tonight!)
India, a History - John Keay

April
Two Lives - Vikram Seth
The Reading Group - Elizabeth Noble (BG)
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
Blood River - Tim Butcher
The Reader - Bernard Schlink

May
Drowning Ruth - Christine Schwarz
The Family Orchard - Nomi Eve
Notes From An Exhibition - Patrick Gale
Growing up in the Gorbals - Ralph Glasser
A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
Call The Midwife - Jennifer Worth
The Road to Nab End - William Woodruff
The Surgeon of Crowthrone - Simon Winchester

June
The Soldier's Return - Melvyn Bragg
An Introduction To Judaism - Nicholas de Lange
A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (BG)
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

July Aug Sept
A Son of War - Melvyn Bragg
Empire - Niall Ferguson
The Tenderness of Wolves - Stef Penney (BG)
Shadows of the Workhouse - Jennifer Worth

Oct
I, Coriander - Sally Gardner (children's book)
Leonard Woolf, a life - Victoria Glendinning
The Outcast - Sadie Jones
The Memory Stones - Kate O'Riordan
The Map That Changed the World - Simon Winchester

Nov
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe (BG)
The Gathering - Anne Enright (not sure if I should include this as I hate dit so much I didn't even finish it)
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genuis - Dave Eggars (meh)
The English - Jeremy Paxman
The Island - Victoria Hislop
The Bookseller of Kabul - Asne Seierstad

Dec
The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom

I'm currently reading William Hague's biog of William Wilberforce.

Wow, great lists.

I love the marks out of 10. I might have to do that next year.

Bloody hell, a list.

Hmm, can't remember half the books I read this year so perhaps I should make a list for this coming year.

Whenever these kind of things appear I look to see what books are there that I might like to read. So maybe you could start putting little stars to grade them and therefore making my lazy self just a little more lazy!

Actually my to-be-read list is quite long. Not that I've written it down, it is just the pile of books beside my bed is now taller than the beside table.

SuperBunny, what did you make of Three Cups of Tea? I'm thinking I'd quite like to read that this year... having a bit of an Afghanistan patch.

I've kept a list this year (possibly for the first time, actually) but it's a bit on the long side... will come back and post my edited highlights though when I've figured them out though, as there have been a few real gems in there this year.

PS TotalChaos, what did you reckon to the Bloomsday Dead? That's another one I've seriously considered but not got round to picking up.

Totalchaos, can I just give you a big hi-five as it is so rare to see someone who reads about as much as I do? . I am a book monster and would be in even more debt if not for the library. Haven't got a list as my average is 4/5 books a week.
And i do have the library to thank for letting me discover my discovery of the year: Gwyneth Jones' Bold As Love books (there's 5 of them and they are mindblowingly wonderful).

Wow! I am totally blown away by the number of books some have managed to get through.

I've noticed a few coming up several times and this will be a great place to look for inspiration.

wow you lot are incredible, i can't believe you can read that much! And you mumsnet!

I finally started reading again about six weeks ago - first time since dd was born. i'm LOVING it.

So far i've read:

An interpretation of Murder (bit disappointing)
The Road Home (lovely - am big rose tremain fan)
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (brilliant)

now reading
The Human Stain by Philip Roth.

Flossie - unusual - very intelligently written action thriller - dry caustic wit - I felt a queasy complicity in rooting for the ?anti hero. so if you have a reasonably strong stomach and dry NI sense of humour is your cup of erm tea...

solidgold - high fives back. I'm also a library fan - at one point I achieved library infamy due to the number of books I was reserving . oh and a belated high five - as you are another Phil Rickman fan I believe!

For you bookmonsters, I really do have to plug the 75 Book Challenge on LibraryThing. Lots of lovely people that also read tonnes (one woman has read nearly 500 books this year). The one slight downside is the list of books you want to read gets longer very much more quickly....

does everyone buy a copy of what they read - or use libraries?
Anyone a fan of e-books?