2011 Last Roundup!

So here we are at the last day of 2011 and I hope everyone has had a lovely festive season. Ours was very quiet for a change and although we did miss having the family around we enjoyed ourselves.
Lists, lists and more lists has been the story of this week - great fun reading everyone's favourites for the year and compiling long lists of 'must reads'' but I'm glad this is the last of mine.


As you can see by the following tally December was a month when I did lots of reading but very little blogging about the books I'd read.


Books read in December = 15


* Top picks for the month
Italics are from my bookshelf or Kindle


The Butterfly Cabinet by Bernie McGill
The Progress of Julius by Daphne Du Maurier
Obedience by Jaqueline Yallop
* The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott
* Before the Poison by Peter Robinson
Until Thy Wrath be Past by Asa Larsen
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
*Elizabeth and her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim
*Elizabeth by Karen Usbourne
*Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Breaking Silence by Linda Castillo
Amandine by Marlena de Blasi
22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson


Library books = 10
Ebooks = 3
From my bookshelf = 2
Added to bookshelf = 2

Virgin and the Crab by Robert Parry - kindly sent to me by the author after I reviewed The Arrow Chest.
South Riding by Winifred Holtby - a Christmas present to myself

Total books read in 2011 = 164

Fiction - 148
Non-Fiction - 16


2011 End-of-Year Book Survey
Historical Fiction Favourites 2011
Crime/Suspense/Thriller Favourites 2011


Blogger events I enjoyed:

Group read of Moorland Cottage by Elizabeth Gaskell hosted by Katherine @ Gaskell Blog
Readalong of Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts hosted by Aths @ Reading on Rainy Day and Helen @ Helen's Book Blog . 

Thrill Week hosted by Marce @ Tea Time With Marce

The Literary Blog Hop hosted by Judith @ Leeswamme's Blog

Highlight of the Year - giving in to the temptation of being able to download all those wonderful free classics and buying a Kindle. It will never replace the real thing but I love having those books at my fingertips and not having to worry about library due dates.

Plans for 2012...........last year I made none, choosing instead to 'go with the flow' and it hasn't worked that well. Drifting with the current can take one to places where you don't want to be and looking back I can see how I've been too influenced by the over-hyped, over reviewed mainstream new releases and it's taken me a long way from the reading plans I'd made for this time of my life. My first priority is to get back on track.

I will be removing the word 'review' from my posts. I don't want to be a book reviewer. I'd prefer simply to talk about the books I read and share my personal response. 


Looking forward to a great year's reading and right now  waiting patiently for tomorrow to arrive so I can dive into the books waiting to be read.