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I actually moved earlier this month but I am calling any stragglers ... I miss you!

Best of 2009

I have had a successful reading year in quantity but most importantly in quality. Some of the titles that I have read this year have become all-time favourites. I have also read a lot of new fiction and some of those were extraordinary and I couldn't choose between them all. I have included all of my favourites of 2009 (not in order, excluding the first book in the first mosaic) but have divided them into general best books, best fiction of 2009 and best young adult books read as some of those required special mention.




The mosaic maker crops the images but I thought it may be quite fun if you guessed my favourites from their covers; all of these images have appeared on my blog this year excluding two titles that have yet to be reviewed and were late -but deserved- additions to the list. Please feel free to ask in comments if you are unclear which book I'm referring to as some are more obvious than others.

A Reading Year

As I was composing my end-of-year statistics I spied this meme on Savidge Reads and borrowed it.

How many books read in 2009?

I have beaten my own personal best by reading 133 books this year and I'll finish another before midnight on New Year's Eve.

How many fiction and non fiction?

I have only read eight works of non-fiction this year but that is actually rather good for me. I foresee me reading more non-fiction titles in 2010, with a few lined up already for the beginning of the year.

Male/Female author ratio?

35 male authors (two books at least but a few of them) and 78 female authors, which doesn't surprise me at all.

Favourite book of 2009?

The Group by Mary McCarthy, published in 1963 but reissued in 2009. For my favourite new book of the year, check back tomorrow.

Least favourite?

Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill.

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?

I've been lucky (for the most part) with my choices this year and haven't picked anything up that I couldn't finish although I'm still stunned that I managed to finish The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt and there were definite moments when I suspected that it would never end.

Oldest book read?

I finally read my last remaining unread Jane Austen novel, Persuasion, this year and that was published posthumously in 1817 and the oldest book that I had this year.

Newest?

After the Fire, A Still Small Voice was most likely the most recently published that I have read but I have read 24 new titles this year

Longest and shortest book titles?

After the Fire, A Still Small Voice and Mort.

Longest and shortest books?

Wolf Hall was the longest (even if The Children's Book felt like it) and I read a number of novellas.

How many books from the library?

I've utilised the library as much as possible this year and 38 of the books read were borrowed from the library.

Any translated books?

Fourteen books, predominantly French.

Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?

Seven Terry Pratchett novels, six of them set in the Discworld.

Any re-reads?

I reread some Angela Carter, a number of children's books and a few titles that came up as book group choices that I had read years before.

Favourite character of the year?

Terry Pratchett's Death.

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading?

Perhaps a world tour? London through the ages, Scotland, Ireland, The Czech Republic, the Deep South, North America, Domincan Republic, Colombia, Spain, Poland, Brazil, France, Russia, Australia, India, Japan, Afghanistan, Switzerland, Egypt, Iceland, Sweden, China, Australia, Brazil, Africa, a couple of deserted islands and the Disc.

Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?

It being my first year blogging, there have been several!

Which author was new to you in 2009 that you now want to read the entire works of?

Esther Freud, John Wyndham, Mary McCarthy, Jhumpa Lahiri, James Scudamore, J.M. Coetzee, Sam Taylor and a few debut novelists who I will seek out future writings from.

Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?

There are a few books that I have been wanting to read for some time that I am annoyed with myself for not reading - look out for those in 2010! On the plus side, I read more new fiction this year than I ever have any other year but next year I would like to strike a balance between new fiction and those books that I have been meaning to read.

Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, I Am a Cat by Soseki Natsume, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (pre-blogging) and Brighton Rock by Graham Greene

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope your holidays are filled with joy and books!

Normal blogging service will resume in due course.

Midyear Summary and all that is Summery

Where is this year going? I can't believe we are half-way through already.

In June I read fourteen books (including one play), six short stories, as well as reaching the midway point in another book and reading sixty five pages of Ulysses. That brings me to a total of sixty six books for the midyear, an average of eleven a month. As we are half-way through the year, I thought I would document my favourite books of the year so far, contenders for my favourite book of the year. I have narrowed it down to six books, since we have completed six months of the year.

Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary by Ruby Ferguson
Love Falls by Esther Freud (reviewed here)
Mort by Terry Pratchett (reviewed here)
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (reviewed here)
If I Stay by Gayle Forman (reviewed here)
The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets by Eva Rice (reviewed here)

I have read a number of books that I adored and The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Enchanted April, and Nation by Terry Pratchett narrowly missed my favourites shortlist. If the ending of Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie hadn't been so contrived and disappointing then that would have featured and it is very likely that the book that I am savouring slowly at the moment, The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey (photographed above), will result in being one of my favourite books of the year.

Now that we have reached the first day of July and summer is suddenly upon us, I think it is about time that I lay out my summer reading plans.

Obviously the mountain of library books that I have (the link is only some of them) will feature as well as recent acquisitions and a few others on my immediate TBR pile. Below is the longlist (called a longlist because realistically I don't think I will manage to read every one of the twenty five titles on it over the coming months) and I will be reading these in a hot and humid London and two weeks home in Glasgow during August, during which I will be reading the Kelman book for definite (set in Glasgow).

In the Woods by Tana French
The Group by Mary McCarthy
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald
Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
The Unicorn by Iris Murdoch
The Parasites by Daphne Du Maurier
The Bone People by Keri Hulme
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Stroud
Kieron Smith, Boy by James Kelman
Journal by Katherine Mansfield
Saplings by Noel Streatfeild
Crow Lake by Mary Lawson
Summer at Gaglow by Esther Freud
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
Therese Raquin by Emile Zola
Of Human Bondage by William Somerset Maugham
Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Olivia by Olivia (Dorothy Strachey)
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
The Skin Chairs by Barbara Comyns
Beachcombing by Maggie Dana

Overly-ambitious, yes, but very exciting! Happy Summer, everyone! I'm off to hibernate with my books and will see you in winter...

This and That...

This is a blog post about this and that, bits and bobs; more of an update really.

Firstly, The Little Stranger is on its way in the post to me and I am unbelievably excited (I don't think I've anticipated a book this much since the last three Harry Potter books). I pre-ordered it over a month ago online but had to cancel that order since it hadn't been dispatched yet and order through Waterstone's instead, who were offering it at a far cheaper price anyway and where I could also redeem my loyalty points. I am hoping it will arrive my Saturday's post...

Secondly, I managed to finish my book for book group before tonight's meeting. I'll review that over the next few days. I'm looking forward to finding out what we're reading next (we take it in turns to decide).

Thirdly, my library pile is decreasing although I have five books waiting collection (and four to return). One of the books I'll collect over the next few days is The Wilderness by Samantha Harvey, which I am hoping to read before the Orange Prize is announced on June 3rd. The other books I'm picking up are The Group by Mary McCarthy (this one has been on my radar for a while but I watched a Hay Festival interview with Sarah Waters and she said that she's currently re-reading it so I took the recommendation and requested it); The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa; People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks; and The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver (this one I am most excited about). I also renewed The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb so that I have more time to tackle it as its sheer size is somewhat daunting.

Also, my friend and I are tackling some classics that we have always meant to read but never have and next up is Brideshead Revisted by Evelyn Waugh for July 1st (even though, ahem, my friend still hasn't finished the previous book, Brighton Rock).

I still have three books (and another still to review) to read for Carl's Once Upon a Time Challenge : one fairy tale book, which is currently in progress, and two non-fiction books before Midsummer's Night (June 23rd).

I have also began to participate in the Shelfari discussion group Booktivity's monthly challenge to read a book with a specific category -and its derivatives- in the title. This coming month's category is "weather" and I was thinking of reading Nancy Mitford's Love in a Cold Climate or Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Leaf Storm.

So that will be one new book, ten library books, one book group book (decided tonight); one unread classic; three challenge books; one weather book ... to be read within the next 4-6 weeks, not to mention the books I already have waiting (and wanting) to be read. Seventeen books is manageable in that time limit, isn't it? Deviating from the list and not adding new books, however, is less achievable...

(Image courtesy of Amazon.co.uk)

Some House-Keeping

It's time for some house-keeping seeing it's the first of the month and we are now a whole third of the way through 2009.

Number of books read so far in 2009: 37
Number of Guardian 1000 books: 12
Number of Persephones: 5
Number of Virago Modern Classics: 4
Number of short story volumes: 4
Number of Penguin Great Loves: 3
Number of Terry Pratchett books: 3
Number of children's books: 3
Number of re-reads: 3
Number of audio/digital/online books: 3
Number of non-fiction: 3
Number of plays: 1


Above are challenges I am setting myself but as for blogging challenges:

Number of challenges undertaken: 1 (currently enjoying Carl's Once Upon a Time III challenge)
Books read for this challenge: 2 (1 for Quest the Second and 1 for Short Story Weekends - ongoing).

Blogging Awards received: 2
Fleur Fisher kindly presented me with TWO awards last month! These are my first blogging awards so I am very excited. I am beyond thrilled that she thinks my blog is lovely and that I offer something unique to the blogging world.

Here are the rules:

1.Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Now since I am quite new to this I haven't yet discovered 25 bloggers but here are some that I have recently discovered and who I would like to present with awards as I think their blogs are quite lovely and I regularly read what they have to say:

Stuck in a Book

Things Mean a Lot

Kiss a Cloud

In Training for a Heroine

I Luv Words

Each of these blogs offers something special and interest me in different ways. I think I will also present them with the Zombie Chicken Award, which Fleur Fisher gave me.

The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all…”

Congratulations to them and to me! Also a huge thank you to Fleur Fisher for her generosity and to all blog readers.

Happy reading.