Friday, January 2, 2015

January Reading

Oh, those lists - best books, favourite reads, top ten's - like a giant deluge flooding my reader and what a lot of time I've spent reading them and adding more and more titles into the little green notebook. It is as well that I cannot do more right now as I've...


This challenge actually started for me in the middle of December when I returned all my library books in the middle of the month before we went away.

So for January all my reading comes from my own shelves....



....and I do not expect to get through all of these but I like to allow for the mood of the moment to change and have plenty of choice on hand.

First priority is to finish The Fortune of the Rougons and that I hope to do today.

Then I will begin The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy - a year long readalong.

The other classic is Shirley by Charlotte Bronte for the Reading England 2015 challenge (can't wait to get started on this one). I've read Juliet Barker's biography before but want to reread the parts that cover the time when Charlotte was writing Shirley so I'll just be dipping into that.

The rest are for bedtime or rest & relax reading and I doubt I'll read them all. Each title has the added bonus of filling a slot in A Century of Books which is taking me a long time to complete but I guess I'll get there one day. 60/100 read.

A Breath of French Air by H.E.Bates
Danger Point by Patricia Wentworth
The Vet's Daughter by Barbara Comyns
High Rising by Angela Thirkell
One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens

An unexpected short space of time today - enough to write a quick post and now some New Year good wishes.


13 comments:

  1. A very Happy New Year to you too, and happy reading! I can't remember have you read Angela Thirkell before? I love your omnibus edition of Monica Dickens.

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    1. No, I haven't read AT before - until the recent new editions impossible to find her books here but after reading so many glowing reviews from other bloggers I had to buy myself a copy and really looking forward to it.

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  2. Wonderful books you have there. I want to re-read Shirley as well...maybe I will get to that this month.

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    1. I have so many lovely books sitting on my shelf which are constantly left pining in favour of library books so hopefully will make a few gaps this month.

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  3. I hope you had a wonderful New Year! I am participating in this challenge as well and I'm super excited about it. I work at my library so I always have books from there that I keep piling up and that makes me ignore my own books sometimes.

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    1. Books are very expensive here so I rely heavily on the library but my purchases from secondhand stores and book fairs is growing and I need to actually read some of them.

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  4. The Forsyte Saga read is tempting. I need to clean up January first and see where I am. I have lots of reads going on but pretty easy schedules for all, so it may not be as overwhelming as it seems.

    Zola's Rougon-Macquart series is amazing. I'm on book four and can't wait to get back to it!

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    1. I finished Zola yesterday - I loved it but what ghastly people! Making myself have a breather before moving on to Book 2.

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  5. What fun you have ahead of you. Enjoy (especially the Thirkell)!

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    1. Thanks Claire - am looking forward to joining the many fans of AT.

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  6. I love Shirley! And I love Fortune of the Rougons as well :) I hope you do too. Oh, and A Breath of French Air - that's awesome as well!

    How did you get on with the Bronte biography? I've got it, planning on reading it soon.

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    1. Glad you love Shirley as there don't seem to be many mentions of it. I plan to start it this week.

      Loved the Zola but need the breath of comedy from Pop Larkin to balance out the awfulness of those Rougons.

      The Brontes takes some reading but I thought it was excellent - which is why I was delighted when I saw this secondhand copy and now I can dip into it when ever I want.

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  7. I am hoping to read more from my shelves this year overall. I usually cheat a bit and allow myself to read some of the books on my shelves via audiobook,which helps, but seriously - at least 2 books a month this year, I hope, are ones that I already own!

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