I read 14 books in December giving a total of 144 for the year. I’m quite impressed with that and hope I can read a similar number in 2010.

I was lucky to read two outstanding books in December – Flowers for Algernon and Generation A both managed to gain my highest rating and I hope that you decide to read them, as I’m sure you’ll love them!

Overall the quality of the books I read in December was very high. I’m wondering if I’m noticing a gradual improvement due to book blogger recommendations?

 

Generation A – Douglas Coupland 

Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes 

Fall on Your Knees – Ann-Marie MacDonald 

Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) – George Orwell  

The Mosquito Coast – Paul Theroux  

Right to Die – Hazel McHaffie  

Snow – Orhan Pamuk  

Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan 

The Inner Circle – T.C. Boyle 

A Redbird Christmas – Fannie Flagg  

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Steig Larsson  

Something’s Wrong – Sam Smith  

Grotesque – Natsuo Kirino 

An Equal Stillness – Francesca Kay 

Plans for January

It is Orange January!

I plan to read a few Orange books this month:

Small Island – Andrea Levy 

The Little Friend – Donna Tartt

Buddha Da – Anne Donovan

I’m also taking part in Woolf in Winter:  

 To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf (29th January)

I hope to read a few of these other books too:

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation: v. 1 – M.T. Anderson

Uglies – Scott Westerfield

The Harlot’s Progress: Pt. 1: Yorkshire Molly – Peter Mottley

The Boat to Redemption – Su Tong

Rupture – Simon Lelic

The Woman in the Dunes – Kobo Abe

The Elegance of the Hedgehog – Muriel Barbery

Have you read any of the books that I plan to read in January?

Which one do think I’ll enjoy the most?

I read 12 books in November, but unfortunately I enjoyed this month’s selection less than previous ones. My favourite was The Help byKathryn Stockett, which made it onto my list of  The Best Books of 2009.

My favourite this month

Books reviewed during November

The Help – Kathryn Stockett

Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami 

The Nutmeg Tree – Margery Sharp 

Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi (Book and Film) 

Equator – Miguel Sousa Tavares 

Perdido Street Station – China Miéville 

Stalking Richard & Judy – Valentine Honeyman 

The Turn of the Screw – Henry James 

Indignation – Philip Roth 

The Brutal Telling – Louise Penny 

Outlander (Cross Stitch) – Diana Gabaldon 

The Blind Owl – Sadegh Hedayat 

The Magicians – Lev Grossman  (DNF)

Plans for December

I have several books lined up to read in December.

Here are the ones I hope to finish next month: 

• The Mosquito Coast – Paul Theroux
• The Woman in the Dunes – Kobo Abe 
• An Equal Stillness – Francesca Kay
• Grotesque – Natsuo Kirino
• Tender Morsels – Margo Lanagan
• A Redbird Christmas – Fannie Flagg
• Something’s Wrong – Sam Smith
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Stieg Larsson
• Snow – Orhan Pamuk
• Right to Die – Hazel McHaffie

Have you read any of the books I plan to read?

I hope that you had a great November and I look forward to sharing more book discussions with you in December!

It has been a long time since I last posted a set of links, so I apologise that some of them are a bit old, but if you haven’t seen them then they are still worth looking at!

Scribbit has a great post about how blogging has changed over the years.

The Wonder of Whiffling takes an interesting look at words in the English language. I’d love to read the book, but the website has a few quotes to keep me going until I get a copy! 

I love looking at bookshelves, so enjoyed having a glimpse at Neil Gaiman’s bookshelves.

There is a lot of wisdom for both new and old bloggers in this 50 Blogging Lessons To Know If You’re Starting Today post.

Toast It Notes – Are they madness or genius?

I found this free tool for checking the load speed of your blog. I discovered that mine loads really slowly, so am working on that! It highlights exactly which parts of your blog are causing the problems, so it is a very useful tool.

Books I’ve been persuaded to buy

 

Between Mom and Jo, by Julie Anne Peters recommended by Amanda from Zen Leaf.

I only discovered Amanda’s blog during BBAW. This was the first book review I read on her blog. I knew that she would become a favourite when her first post persuaded me to part with my money. She describes it as “the best book about GLBT issues I’ve ever read.” I love the fact she describes it as being emotional and stereotype-breaking. I hope that I enjoy it as much as she did.

City of Refuge by Tom Piazza recommended by Wendy from Caribous Mom

City of Refuge looks at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Wendy says that it  “leaves the reader with hope and a glimpse into the enduring spirit of a community.” She gave it 5 stars and as we have a similar taste in books anything she likes has a strong chance of ending up in my TBR pile. This one went straight onto the list!

The Monk by Matthew Lewis recommended by She from A Book Blog. Period.

I was very intrigued when She described The Monk as an “18th century version of a screwed up soap opera. No… Jerry Springer.” I hadn’t heard of it before, but I hope to read it very soon.

Did any of these books attract your attention too?

I read 11 books in October, and overall the quality was outstanding. My major achievement this month was finally finishing 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, over 6 months after starting it. It felt like hard work at times, but now I have finished it I can appreciate how amazing this book is. I highly recommend it to anyone who can dedicate many hours to studying a lengthy piece of literary fiction.

My favourites this month

I also finished one audio book. Child 44  is the best audio book I have ever listened to, so I highly recommend you try to find a copy.

Books reviewed during October

Stone’s Fall – Iain Pears 

2666 – Roberto Bolaño 

Legend of a Suicide – David Vann 

The Island at the End of the World – Sam Taylor  

Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier 

Modern Delight – Various 

Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger 

De Niro’s Game – Rawi Hage 

Eating Air – Pauline Melville 

I Served the King of England – Bohumil Hrabal  

Dracula – Bram Stoker  

The Knife of Never Letting Go – Patrick Ness 

Labyrinth – Kate Mosse  (DNF)

Audio Book

Child 44 – Tom Rob Smith (Audio Book) 

Plans for November 

The great thing about November is that I have no real plans – I am just going to read whatever takes my fancy!

Have a fantasic November!

I read ten books in September, the majority of which were very enjoyable reads, but none were outstanding. In fact I read so many good books that I can’t pick a favourite from the 4 star reads.

The number of books I read in September was slightly less than in previous months, but I have been reading longer books recently. Brothers and The Poisonwoond Bible were both 500+ pages and my current read, Perdido Street Station, is nearly 900 pages long. I aim to keep up the longer reads, as I often find them more satisfying than the shorter books.

I also completed one audio book and one short story.

Books reviewed during September

The Strain – Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan  

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver 

The Dwarf – Pär Lagerkvist 

The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath 

To Say Nothing of the Dog – Connie Willis  

Brothers – Yu Hua 

The Boy Who Kicked Pigs – Tom Baker 

Corduroy Mansions – Alexander McCall Smith 

Voice Over – Celine Curiol 

The Necklace – Guy de Maupassant (Short Story) 

Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins 

Hotel du Lac – Anita Brookner  

Audio Book

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman (Audio Book) 

Plans for October

I love read alongs, so have taken the opportunity to join several in October.

 

 

The first is Rebecca, with the lovely Sandy. I have been wanting to read this book for a long time and have high hopes that it will become one of my favourite books.

Fizzy Thoughts is reading Dracula, another book which I’d love to read. It seems like the perfect book for Halloween, so I look forward to joining in.

Finally, I hope to finish reading 2666 in the next couple of days. It has been a great experience, so the group have decided to continue reading together – our next book will be Kristin Lavransdatter, hosted by  Emily and Richard. I have heard a lot of good things about this book, but I’m pleased to be able to share reading such a long book with lots of other people!

Are you joining any of these read alongs?

Have a great October!