What books have you read this year?

[MissWooWoo]

I'll start with my meagre list [have very active 2 yr old emoticon]:

Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

Cheating at Canasta - William Trevor

The Comforters - Muriel Spark

Memento Mori - Muriel Spark

The Wind up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami

Half way through these:

Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry

Where did it all go Right? - Andrew Collins

The Forsyte Saga - John Galsworthy (long!)

Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier

The Mayor of Casterbridge - Thomas Hardy

Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

War and Peace - Tolstoy

Oh dear, I haven't been reading the happies, have I?

Next on the list is Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

I salute you for reading anything by Murakami - my DH has read all his books but I find them rather weird.

I have read LOADS and can remember only a few of them but they have included -

• the latest Frank Tallis one - ok but not as good as the earlier ones
• Death On The Nile - liked this
• Murder On The Orient Express - loved this
• A Widow For One Year - John Irving - not my sort of thing really and too much sex but ok
• The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, which I loved
• The Wild Sheep Chase by Marukami - mad; I didn't like it much
• a couple of Kate Atkinsons - the Jackson Brodie ones - ok
• a teenage book called The Knife Of never Letting Go - loved this
• Isabel Allende's follow on from Paula (Paula is one of my favourite books, ever - but I was disappointed by this one)
• re-read all the Sally Lockharts by Philip Pullman - fabbo
• something about Vlad the Impaler - loved this
• a Jane Austen biography - hard work and not very enlightening and quite annoying;
• re-read Emma to get the horrible taste of the TV series out of my mouth;
• the last Georgia Nicholson diary book - daft;
• a novelised thingie about Scott of the narctic - loved it but can't remember what it was called or who it was by;
• a silly novel based around Shakespeare's sonnets, which just irritated me;
• the complete works of Arthur Miller - again;
• waiting For Godot - again;
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - loved it;
• and Sense And Sensibility and Seamonsters - loved it;
• that Mr Toppet thing - liked that;

More....lots more...but my mind has gone blank now.

Remembered another one but it was shite - The Outcast.

Also This Brutal Art - I liked that.

I have read loads, but I too can remember only a few. Here are some of the books I read in English:

• The Easter Parade - Richard Yates, I loved it, so I also read:
• Revolutionary Road, Eleven kinds of loneliness and A special providence
• Sophie's choice
• Dope - Sara Gran
• The Night Watch - Sarah Waters
• Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford
• Christine Falls - John Banville

These are the ones I remember. Plus lots of Italian books.

I have not read a thing this year due to being horrendously busy with work, toddler and building complications, sick with hyperemesis etc. I am not able to just unwind with a book, i need to find the right book for that mood and i have struggled.

This week, I have finally picked up a book, having the time, space and inclination to read it:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Steig Larson.

I am struggling to put it down. I had bought it for when I was bf'ing new baby due any time, but am not sure it will last that long (know it won't ). It is excellent!

I've read a spread of books this year so far across many genres and have really enjoyed the journey. The ones I remember are:

The first two of the Steig Larsson trilogy - I have really enjoyed them so far.

Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh - enjoyed it.

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing - loved it, except for the ending. The story made me think.

Paddy Clarke Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle - enjoyed it. Parts made me laugh out loud.

The American Wife - enjoyed it apart from the end, which I felt went on and on and on for far too long.

A Perfect Arrangement by Suzanne Berne - not great, wouldn't recommend it.

This book will save your life by AM Holmes - enjoyed it.

The first 3 books of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King - enjoying it, but have got stuck on the fourth book. Just not in the mood for it at the moment.

Coyote Blue
Lamb both by Christopher Moore. Bought for me by my brother in law. Both were interesting and books I would not have chosen, but I am glad I've read.

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist which my FIL lent to my DH. I'm really not one for horror books, but I actually enjoyed this book. I liked the exploration of the relationships between the characters.

What I Loved by Siri Hustvedt - a bit hard going and made me feel sad for the characters.

A couple of the CJ Sansom Shardlake books which I found easy reading.

I am now reading Mort by Terry Pratchett bought for me by my DH.

The 4th book is the worst. I think it's the one he really struggled to write - and it feels like it.

Oh yes - I read 'Let The Right One In' on holiday in the summer. I liked it a lot - except for the daft ending.

Lovethecarbs I also read a AM Holmes book - In a country of mothers, I enjoyed it too.

oooh I love seeing what others are reading - there's a real mix in there, think I will save this thread for future reads ideas!

PlasticBandit War and Peace? am doffing my cap right back at you ... that's hardcore, no? Murakami's Wind Up Bird starts off really really normally and then gets weirder and weirder as it goes along, very sureal in parts - I was determined to finish at least one book this year (having read next to nothing last year as too exhausted to do anything come 8 o'clock than watch the box) and it did respark my fire for books though, hence the rest of the list.

I read all 3 dragon tattoos (really enjoyed those)

I have had a year of starting and not finishing books. Have started the new William Boyd (ordinary thunderstorms) and the new Sebastian Faulks (A week in December) but not got further than the first chapter in either (will come back to them when I'm less busy).

I'm always amazed people can remember the names of what they read. I've read The Other Hand (Chris Cleave) and then about 2 or 3 other crime ones which were pretty unremarkable. Have read a lot less than normal this year because I've started doing puzzles (killer sudoku, the ones with no numbers!) on the train! Now that I can get the Standard for free on the way home, I tend to read that too.

oh I cheated foxinsocks - couldn't for the life of me remember the Muriel Spark books, author or titles - had to look them up, had a total and utter blank

I listed only 1/3 of the books I read in the last year, as I really forget . I've decided to write down every book I read from now on.
Of course I will have troubles remembering to do it, remembering where I left the list etc etc

JANEITEisntErudite, I also thought the ending of 'Let the Right One In' was silly. I got a quarter of the way through the 4th book of the Dark Tower series, but it just wasn't grabbing me like the first three did. Does it get better?

I've kept a list since Jan 08 after a thread on here. This year I've read -

In pursuit of love - Jessica Mitford
The Constant Princess - Phillipa Gregory
The Brutal Art - Jesse Kellerman
City of the Beasts - Isabel Allende
The Enchanted April - Elizabeth Von Arnim
Notes on an Exhibition - Patrick GAle
Notes on a Scandal - Zoe Heller
What was lost ? - Catherine O'Flynn
The Miracle of Speedy Motors - Alexander McCall Smith
The Charming MAn - Marian Keyes
The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
Sashenka - Simon Montefiore
The Luminous Life of Lily Aphrodite - Beatrice Colin
First term at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
Second term at MT - EB
The Diving Bell and the Butterly - Jean-Dominique Bauby
Home - Marilyn Robinson
Secrets - Freya North
The Other Queen - Phillipa Gregory
CIty of Light - Lauren Belfer
Gods Own Country - Ross Raisin
Third year at Malory Towers - Enid Blyton
The Beach House - Jane Green
The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
Las Orchestra Saves the World - Alexander McCalL Smith
Heart & Soul - Maeve Binchy
The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society
Death & The Penguin - Andrey Kurkov
Upper Fourth At MT - EB
The Bolter - Frances Osbourne
The Girl with the dragon tattoo - Stieg Larsson
The Welsh Girl - Peter Ho Davies
Breath - Tim Winton

Currently in the middle of
Midwitch Cuckoos
Almond Blossom Appreciation Society -

So nothing particularly highbrow but had a new baby in March is my excuse.

Notable faves were Pursuit of Love, Brutal Art, White Tiger, Guernsey LIterary etc, Reluctant Fundamentalist (probably my favourite)

Most disappointed with Girl with dragon tattoo - didn't really get into it like everyone seems to have done.

Wheelybug loving the inclusion of Malory Towers, tempted to get my one and only copy down and have a look right now

that's a truckload of books there ...

has anyone read the God of Small Things?

Ooh! I just finished the Brutal Art. It's quite good, I agree. I may come back to this if I get a chance to consult my Library record.

Recently I read and quite liked Addition, am nearly finished with The Gum Thief (which I would recommend) and am plowing thru the fascinating if often rather depressing Where My Stuff Comes From by Fred Pearce.

I used Gift vouchers to buy the Life of Pi and it was pants imvho. I also didn't think much of the Kite Runner.

Yes, yes, yes to the rest of The Dark Tower series. And tbh you could get away without the rest of book 4 as it's all just back story about Roland being in love (maybe I was jealous? ).

I didn't like The Gum Thief much (don't know if I read that this year or last year). I read The Welsh Girl either this year or last too. I liked that.

Oh I have also read -

• some Georgette Heyers - about six of them but can't remember them all: Sylvester was one and The Grand Sophie was another;

• something about a mediaeval female doctor - can't remember who but I liked it;

• a history of surgery - which was fab;

• a history of cooking - ditto

Am sure that more will come back to me. I often wish I could be bothered to keep a list - but I can't.

And I loved this

Glad to hear it, JANEITEisntErudite. I will persevere. Sometimes you never know with Stephen King. I read some of his books when I was in my late teens, but they just began to get silly. In particular, Rose Madder, which I read almost 15 years ago and still remember as being very silly.