Monday 4 January 2010

Time for...a new reading list

I was rather slack with my reading last year - I lost precious time with a deceptively long book (No. 3) and a honker about Oppenheimer which I still haven't finished. It was finally shoved to one side in December when some light reading was the order of the day. Of the ones that I did finish, I particularly liked 1, 5, 7, 15, 20 and 21.

  1. The lollipop shoes - Joanne Harris
  2. Consequences - Penelope Lively
  3. Oscar and Lucinda - Peter Carey
  4. Kim - Rudyard Kipling
  5. Cold comfort farm - Stella Gibbons
  6. The Boleyn Inheritance - Philippa Gregory
  7. Elizabeth and Her German Garden - Elizabeth Von Arnim
  8. Comfort food - Kate Jacobs
  9. The Reader - Bernhard Schlink
  10. A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini
  11. The Pirate's Daughter - Margaret Cezair-Thompson
  12. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
  13. The Edwardians - Vita Sackville-West
  14. White Tiger - Aravind Adiga
  15. Notes from an Exhibition - Patrick Gale
  16. Pompeii - Robert Harris
  17. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
  18. Second honeymoon - Joanna Trollope
  19. The Return - Victoria Hislop
  20. Loving without tears - M.J. Farrell (Molly Keane)
  21. The Dressmaker - Elizabeth Birkelund Oberbeck
  22. Constance - Rosie Thomas
  23. Playing with the grown ups - Sophie Dahl
  24. The whole day through - Patrick Gale
  25. The reluctant fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
  26. Falling angels - Tracey Chevalier
I've got a new pile of books next to the bed and a bookcase groaning with charity shop finds, so have no excuse this year. I've just started this one - which has had plenty of good reviews. It's on loan so am having to be extra careful about returning it in one piece as most of my books tend to get quite bashed on my commute (fear not Kate!).

8 comments:

  1. I think you've done a pretty good job there, considering you said you hadn't done that much!

    I've decided to keep a list of the books I'm going to read this year. Hopefully it won't be too embarassingly short!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh for a commute which allowed reading! And for the freedom to read whatever I chose rather than 'duty reads' for work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I read Cold Comfort Farm last year too, a quick and highly enjoyable read. I thought The Other Boleyn Girl was brilliant. But (IMHO) don't bother with the movie.
    Happy new (reading) year.
    Lisa x

    ReplyDelete
  4. Reading is the only thing I miss about the London commute! And I know what you mean about trying to keep the book in decent shape between the bag and train... K x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I think you managed to read so much! I could probably count the number of books I read last year on both hands (including the beautiful The Dressmaker) - I blame NOT having a commute and being to lazy to read before bed!

    But I got a lot of nice books for Christmas so am determined to read much more this year!

    PinkCat

    Enjoy your books! x

    ReplyDelete
  6. Panic not! I think books look better when they look well read, as it means they're well loved! Miss C x

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh...the only book from your list which I read was a thousand splendid suns and LOVED it...I really MUST make time to read more...but then my painting would take a back seat...hmmm...I think I better stick to painting.
    HAPPY 2010!
    Char

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lots of books! It is quite fun to see your list! I'm on A Thousand Splendid Suns currently actually....though many of your list I have not encountered...better get on with the reading! xxx

    ReplyDelete