The year is almost over, and this is the first time I've kept track of all the books I've read this year. I don't know if this is my usual amount, but it does seem as if it's quite a few -
My top favorites in the order they were read:
When Will There be Good News - Kate Atkinson
Sarah's Key - Tatiana de Rosnay
Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - Helen Simonson
South of Broad - Pat Conroy
The following books I marked VG for very good:
The Brutal Telling - Louise Penny
Booked to Die - John Dunning
Caught in the Light - Robert Goddard
The Bookwoman's Last Fling - John Dunning
Sight Unseen - Robert Goddard
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - Jamie Ford
The Eleventh Man - Ivan Doig
The Princes of Ireland - Edward Rutherfurd
Loving Frank - Nancy Horan
Work Song - Ivan Doig
Jumping the Queue - Mary Wesley
The Summer Guest - Justin Cronin
Faithful Place - Tana French
That Old Cape Magic - Richard Russo
In Pale Battalions - Robert Goddard
This Body of Death - Elizabeth George
Never Change - Elizabeth Berg
The Swan Thieves - Elizabeth Kostova
Bad Boy - Peter Robinson
Home Safe - Elizabeth Berg
Coventry - Helen Humphreys
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
Lake of Sorrows - Erin Hart
Plots and Errors - Jill McGown
The Weed that Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley
Day After Night - Anita Diamant
When She Flew - Jennie Shortridge
These books were good reads, but not terrific:
Coastliners - Joanne Harris
One Handful of Earth - Ellie Gunn
Garden Spells - Sarah Addison Allen
Not in the Flesh - Ruth Rendell
Suspicious Origin - Patricia MacDonald
Headcase - Peter Helton
The Wood Beyond - Reginald Hill
Fete Fatale - Robert Barnard
Abide With Me - Elizabeth Strout
Who Guards a Prince - Reginald Hill
Heart and Soul - Maeve binchey
The Grave Tattoo - Val McDermid
Rose - Martin Cruz Smith
The Sign of the Book - John Dunning
The Lost Mother - Mary McGarry Morris
Vanish - Tess Gerritsen
The Broken Shore - Peter Temple
Shanghai Girls - Lisa See
The Far Country - Nevil Shute
Down River - John Hart
Maisie Dobbs - Jacqueline Winspear
Tug of War - Barbara Cleverly
Tooth and Nail - Ian Rankin
Grasshopper - Barbara Vine
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Messenger of Truth - Jacqueline Winspear
Long Time Coming - Robert Goddard
The Breaker - Minnette Walters
Holy Terror - Josephine Bolton
The Shadows in the Street - Susan Hill
Sacrifice - S.J. Bolton
The Rest of Her Life - Laura Moriarty
Jar City - Arnaldur Indridason
The Water Clock - Jim Kelly
Good Harbor - Anita Diamant
The 19th Wife - David Ebershoff
Scared to Live - Stephen Booth
Cold Case - Kate Wilhelm
Among the Mad - Jacqueline Winspear
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
The Dead of Winter - Rennie Airth
The Complaints - Ian Rankin
The Art of Racing in the Rain- Garth Stein
On the Night Plain - J. Robert Lennon
Black and Blue - Ian Rankin
I had problems with very few books - and only have one that I didn't finish.
Lights Out Tonight - Mary Jane Clark (this I gave an ok to - not a G for good)
Wish You Were Here - Stewart O'Nan ( D for dull)
Crooked Little Heart - Anne Lamott - (G? - not sure if it rated a G)
Found Wanting - Robert Goddard - the title says it all
The Year of the Flood - Margaret Atwood - I'm just not a fan of hers and skimmed a lot
And the one I did not finish:
Five Quarters of an Orange - Joanne Harris - I read half of the book; decided I just didn't like the main character enough to continue reading.
So there you have it. I believe that is 84. I'll have time to read one more before the end of the year!
Gosh, I don't think I've read The Far Country, but I have read other Nevil Shute's and loved them to pieces. Not the most famous -On the Beach. But A Town Like Alice, Pastoral, Beyond the Black Stump, Trustee from the Toolroom (several times) and others. I've just bought a bunch for my Kindle, including TFC. I think he is one of the kindest writers I've read. And such good characters and situations. I love his detail.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to read Ian Rankin. I bought three recently at a church sale and must begin! I read a few Peter Robinson's and then stopped and I'm not sure why. I am wild for all the Maisie Dobbs books. Have just begun Faithful Place. And loved Heart and Soul to pieces. This was a fun list and I keep finding new titles on it each time I read it. I also loved Major P. and Sarah's Key.
Peter Robinson and Ian Rankin can be difficult reads sometimes - especially when the subject matter is disturbing - child abuse etc. So I do have trouble with reading them, and often put them aside for a time when I feel ready! But then the next one will be fine. Does that make any sense?
ReplyDeleteNevil Shute has been a favorite since I was a very young wife - or maybe even before that. My brother was a fan, and I read his books! I have Trustee to re-read as well as A Town Like Alice.
I think my favorite Peter Robinson was In A Dry Season - and it was the first one of his I read.
Thank you, Nan, for stopping by my blog. Glad to have a blogging friend! You have no idea how many of your recipes I've copied out and tried. I thank you for them!
That's exactly it - sometimes I just can't take subjects like that. The hardest Erlendur for me was the one you wrote about. The rest aren't like that. Is In A Dry Season the one that goes back in time? If so, I loved that one. It pleases me beyond words that you've liked my recipes. Your Les and I have known each other now since 1997, I believe, yet have never met. I feel closer to her than to many people I know in 'real' life. I think I'm nearer to your age though than hers. :<) It was funny on my birthday posting when she said she thinks of us as the same age, but there I was 13 years old in February 1961, and she wouldn't even come into the world for ten months. :<)
ReplyDeleteWell, you are closer in age to my sister who was born in 1945 - and we are good friends in spite of the age difference. We were raised in different ways since she was the youngest, but we siblings (my brother is bookended by his sisters!) are all big readers, and share books.
ReplyDeleteYou and Lesley inspire me to cooking. After almost 58 years of planning, shopping and cooking meals, I sometimes wish I had a personal chef!
I've often thought it would make an interesting novel for someone to write - the different families that children who are far apart in age grow up in. I knew a woman and her sister who were about twelve years apart. Those two girls had completely different lives. The Depression happened in between their childhoods and the family went from being comfortable to scrambling. And the father was a different person because of it. I think of it in my own parents' families. In my father's - the first child was born in 1900 and the eighth in 1914. And in my mother's the first was born in maybe 1906 and the tenth in 1925. Can you imagine? Well, first of all having ALL those kids! But second, how life changed in those years, and how the parents must have changed with the further responsibilities, getting older, and getting more tired.
ReplyDeleteMy sister and I had completely different experiences with my mother. With me she was quite strict, and much less so with my sister. I became unsure of myself, and my sister is very self-assured. There are other things that set us apart, but we are good friends anyway!
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