2010 Reading List

1. Nation, Terry Pratchett - a Christmas present, I actually started reading it on Boxing Day I think but didn't finish it until just after the New Year so I'm counting it.  A fantastic book.  Many themes that are common to Pratchett's more Discworld novels.  There is even a kind of personification of Death, but this one speaks in italics rather than BLOCK CAPITALS and is not very pleasant.
2. Super-Cannes, J.G.Ballard - found at the Ipswich Bookcrossing meet.Journal here 
3. You'll Win Nothing with Kids: Fathers, Sons and Football, Jim White - found in a charity basket for me by Mrs Uncruliar. Journal here
4. No Time For Goodbye, Linwood Barclay - found in a charity basket for me by Mrs Uncruliar. Journal Here
5. Diamonds are Forever, Ian Fleming - picked up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
6. Yes, Minister, Jonathan Lynn and  Antony Jay - bought from library sale shelf. Journal Here
7. From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming - brought home from a monthly meet-up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
8. Sword Song (Alfred the Great 4), Bernard Cornwell - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
9. The Taking, by Dean Koontz - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
10. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Paul Torday - bought from the library sale shelf. Journal Here
11. The Blade Itself: Book One Of The First Law, Joe Abercrombie - brought home from a monthly meet-up at Coffee Link OBCZ. Journal Here
12. Northern Lights, Philip Pullman - this was chosen as the monthly title for a book group that I have just joined.  I have read the whole series before and enjoyed them but wouldn't have read this again right now were it not for the book group.  It is a good adventure and sets up some interesting philosphical questions about the nature of sin and religion if you are interested in getting into something deeper.  These questions are more fully developed in the later books, especially the last.  The book group meets again next weekend so another, separate, post might be in order then. Reading Group Post
13. Taking Charge of Anger,   - I haven't finished reading this yet but I'm working through it and it will be the subject of a separate set of posts.
14. Up and Down in the Dales, by Gervase Phinn - picked up at the Coffe Link OCBZ.  Journal Here
15. Cyber-killers, ed. Ric Alexander - picked up at the Coffe Link OCBZ. Journal Here
16. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O'Farrell - book of the month at my local library Reading Group
17. Don't Cry For Me Aberystwyth, Malcolm Pryce - received as an act of Random Book Crossing Kindness (RABCK) from AgnesXNitt. Journal Here
18. Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams, Fiona Harrold  - Found in a charity shop by Mrs Uncruliar
19. True History of the Kelly Gang, Peter Carey  - picked up at the Coffee Link OBCZ.  Journal Here
20. What Was Lost, Catherine O'Flynn - book of the month at my local library Reading Group
21. Brisingr, Christopher Paolini - Can't remember now where I picked this up, must have been a bargain somewhere which I thought I would pick up to complete the trilogy.  Now that I've read it I find that the trilogy has become a quartet.  When I read Eragon I thought it was ok but extremely derivative.  To give credit where it is due Paolini does seem to have found his voice rather better over time.  I will read the next book but I am more interested to see what he does after that.  I hope he abandons Alagaesia for a setting that is more truly his own.
22. Octopussy and 007 in New York, Ian Fleming - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet. Journal Here
23. Alexandria, Lindsey Davis - book of the month at my local library Reading Group.  I usually journal these separately but in this case I won't as I have got so behind with my blogging.  I have to say that I did enjoy it although it was rather anachronistic in places.  Unfortunately I missed the discussion.
24. The Jane Austen Book Club,  Karen Joy Fowler - book of the month at my local library Reading Group.
25. The Eyre Affair, Jasper Fforde - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet.  Journal Here
26. Lost in a Good Book, Jasper Fforde - handed to me at the monthly bookcrossing meet.  Journal Here
27. Beyond the Deepwoods, Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell - Picked up for me by Mrs Uncruliar at a charity shop or car boot sale or somesuch.  This is the first book in a trilogy introducing a new major character, Twig. I have read other books in The Edge Chronicles and enjoyed them so I am sorry to say that I was rather disappointed by this.  For much of the book there didn't seem to be any real plot, simply a series of unconnected encounters between Twig and various threats.  To a certain extent the connections were made towards the end of the book but even so I was left feeling rather disappointed.  Hopefully the other two books in the trilogy are somehwat better as they are sitting on my bookshelf at the moment.
28. March, Geraldine Brooks - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
29. Adventures on the High Teas, Stuart Maconie - picked up at a monthly Bookcrossing met a while back. Journal Here
30. River God, Wilbur Smith - I was fully prepared not to like this for a variety of reasons, but I did.  In fact not only did I enjoy reading it but I was close to tears at least twice towards the end.  I will definitely look out for more Wilbur Smith books in future.
31. The Resurrectionist, James Bradley - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
32. Inverting the Pyramid, The History of Football Tactics, Jonathan Wilson - The youth football team that I manage gave me some book vouchers as an end of season present and this was one of the books I treated myself to.  Quite an interesting read on a subject that I knew less about than I had thought to begin with.
33. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: or the Murder at Road Hill House, Kate Summerscale - found in a charity bin in town. Journal Here
34. Chasing Darkness, Robert Crais - came to me in a Freecycle book bag.  Journal Here
35. The Murders In The Rue Morgue, Edgar Allan Poe - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
36. Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
37. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown - came to me in a Freecycle book bag. Journal Here
38. The Various Flavours of Coffee, Anthony Capella - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.
39. Greenmantle, John Buchan - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
40. The Book Thief,  Markus Zusak - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf.  Journal Here
41. Otherland: City of Golden Shadow Bk. 1,  Tad Williams Journal Here
42. Unseen Academicals, Terry Pratchett - a birthday present from one of the little Uncruliars, and a jolly good one at that.
43. The Palace of Strange Girls, Sallie Day - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.   Definitely not one I would have chosen for myself but I really enjoyed this.  Surprisingly I found that the story was, to me, more about the father than his wife or daughters.
44. Hero of Rome,  Douglas Jackson - lent to me by my Dad.  A good book although I couldn't decide whose side I was on.
45. The Jewel That Was Ours, Colin Dexter - picked up from the library's withdrawn book shelf. Journal Here
46. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, Kazuo Ishiguro - book of the month at the local library Reading Group.  I enjoyed reading this, whizzed through it in fact.  However, as I have often felt with short stories in the past, I was left feeling that the stories were unfinished - too many questions seemed to be left unanswered for my liking.