10 Books of Winter

Cathy @ 746 Books has a challenge to read 20 books between 1 June and 4 September with an option to read 10. I doubt I'd manage to stick to a list of 20 so will try for the 10. I have had to desecrate her nice button because down here in the Southern Hemisphere summer seems a long way away.

The books I've chosen are the bits and pieces I've picked up at sales and fairs, put away in a cupboard where they languish out of sight and out of mind. This month I finally bought a secondhand bookshelf and brought them out into the light and this will be an opportunity to finally get some of them read.

My 10 Books of Winter

Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
Angel by Elizabeth Taylor
The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald
News From the City of the Sun by Isabel Colegate - read June
The Winter Book by Tove Jansson
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
The Traveller Returns by Patricia Wentworth
Bel Canto by Ann Pratchett
For Love Alone by Christina Stead
Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang - read June

12 Memorable Reads 2012

This list does not include Classics, Non-Fiction or Crime Fiction which has a list of its own.

Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears

The White Lie by Andrea Gillies

Clara Callan by Richard B.Wright

The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

The Roundabout Man by Clare Morrall

11/22/63 by Stephen King

Lionheart by Sharon Kay Penman

Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen by Kate Taylor

Snake Ropes by Jess Richards

The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox

Sanctuary Line by Jane Urquhart

Favourite Crime/Suspense/Thrillers 2012

'Tis the season for lists so here are the best from the Crime Fiction genre I read in 2012. 

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny (2012)

Broken Harbour by Tana French (2012)

The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (2012)

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012)

Collecting Cooper by Paul Cleave (2012)

The Water Room by Christopher Fowler (2008)

Phantom by Jo Nesbo (2012)

Black Flowers by Steve Mosby (2011)

The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill (2010)

Gone by Mo Hayder (2010)

The Black Path by Asa Larsson (2008)

Dead Scared by S.J.Bolton (2012)

Book Fair Buys

This week it was our annual Rotary Club Book Fair which is an event I always look forward to and I love joining the early morning queue on the first day and sharing the anticipation. It's always crowded but I was still happy with my bargains......

Fathers and Sons - Ivan Turgenev
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
Picnic at Hanging Rock - Joan Lindsay
The Harp in the South trilogy - Ruth Park
Dear Hearts and Gentle People - Ruth Park
The Virago Book of Such Devoted Sisters
The Watersplash - Patricia Wentworth
The Ivory Dagger - Patricia Wentworth
The View from Castle Rock - Alice Munro
Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - my one indulgence! Even though I've read this more than once I couldn't resist this lovely old, gold-embossed, illustrated edition.

Day 2 I chose a time when I knew it would be quiet. I wanted to slowly look for the insignificant little gems that tend to get to hidden among the big and bright trade paperbacks and I found....

Coroner's Pidgin by Margery Allingham
An Unsuitable Attachment by Barbara Pym
Clayhanger by Arnold Bennett
A Wreath of Roses by Elizabeth Taylor
Mrs Ames by E.F.Benson
Queen Lucia by E.F.Benson
Mapp and Lucia by E.F.Benson
Dodo Omnibus by E.F.Benson

Very pleased with my purchases - lots of great reading to look forward to! 

Six by Six: the first six months reading

A fun idea that originated at The Book Jotter - a summary of the books read during the first six months of 2012 by choosing six books for six different categories.

Categories chosen to suit my reading:

Six books I loved

• Clara Callan by Richard B Wright
• 11/22/63 by Stephen King
• Foal's Bread by Gillian Mears
• 'have the men had enough' by Margaret Forster
• The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
• The Roundabout Man by Clare Morrall

Six Cool Classics

• The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
• Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
• Howards End by E M Forster
• North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Six of the Best in Crime

• The Water Room by Christopher Fowler
• Black Flowers by Steve Mosby
• The Woodcutter by Reginald Hill
• Gone by Mo Hayder
• The Year After by Martin Davies
• The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

Six that took me back in time

• The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
• An Honourable Man by Gillian Slovo
• Lionheart by Sharon K Penman
• The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay
• The Observations by Jane Harris
• My Dear, I wanted to tell you by Louisa Young

Six from the Non-Fiction shelf

• Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill
• Thomas Hardy: the Time-Torn man by CLaire Tomalin
• The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
• Fortune's Daughters by Elizabeth Kehoe
• Mrs Robinson's Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
• Morgan: a biography of E.M.Forster by Nicola Beauman

Six that didn't live up to expectations

• Tides of War by Stella Tillyard
• The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
• Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist
• The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn
• Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes

Look forward to reading everyone else's lists.

2011 End of Year Book Survey

Hosted by The Perpetual Page-Turner

1. Best Book(s) You Read In 2011?

 The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

The Proof of Love by Catherine Hall

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - DNF

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

The Warden by Anthony Trollope

The Mountain Lion by Jean Stafford

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?  

The Proof of Love by Catherine Hall

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?

I don't go looking for series but The Warden by Anthony Trollope is the first of six books in the Barsetshire Chronicles - if that is considered a series it wins! 

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

Anthony Trollope, Jane Harris, Catherine Hall, Jo Nesbo, Connie Willis

 7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.......chicklit is not a genre I read but I brought this home because the author is Australian for a challenge and loved every moment of it.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?


A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?

The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan - read in the last couple of weeks and another favourite for 2011, Lovely cover perfect for a lovely story! 

11. Most memorable characters in 2011?

Prabaker from Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

Fawad from Born Under a Million Shadows by Andrea Busfield

Gwenni from The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan
Harriet Baxter from Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 
Liesl from The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011? 


Corrag by Susan Fletcher 


13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak


14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?

"The passion for being forever with one's fellows, and the fear of being left for a few hours alone is to me wholly incomprehensible.".........from Elizabeth and her German Garden (yet to be reviewed)

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012? 

I seldom reread but I've just finished Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons which was an absolutely hilarious parody of rural works by authors like Thomas Hardy and as I'm about to begin his Far From the Madding Crowd I might find myself dipping into it again.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris 

**********************

Favourite Crime/Suspense/Thrillers 2011

Kerrie @ Mysteries in Paradise asks

" What are the best crime fiction titles you've read in 2011?


I am interested in knowing what your best crime fiction reads this year have been.Please list up to 15 of them in a comment. I will collate the lists and publish in a later post early in January.
The books you choose need not have been published in 2011, but need to come under the category of crime fiction. 
 
You choose how many titles are in your list - I'll accept any number of titles up to 20.
Add your post to Mr Linky or in the comments.


I'm updating the mid year choices so here are the books I consider the best crime/suspense/thrillers I've read this year. 

A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

The Leopard by Jo Nesbo

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson

Rupture by Simon Lelic

Dark Side by Belinda Bauer

Mercy by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Harbour by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Death on a Galician Shore by Domingo Villar
Someone Else's Son by Sam Hayes

Cuckoo by Julia Crouch 

The Ridge by Michael Koryta

Shut Your Eyes Tight by John Verdon

Historical Fiction Favourites 2011

In no particular order of merit these are the books of historical fiction that I've enjoyed the most during 2011. The links will take you to my reviews.

Gillespie and I by Jane Harris

Corrag by Susan Fletcher

The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland

Prophecy: Clash of Kings by M.K.Hume

Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell

Daniel by Henning Mankell

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

La Rochelle's Road by Tanya Moir

The Doctor & the Diva by Adrienne McDonnell

The Arrow Chest by Robert Parry