So, in 2018, I'm taking a slightly different approach to blogging about my reading - I'm not really worrying about the in/out balance or how many books I read each month versus how many have been removed from the list. My only goal in 2018 is to read at least 100 books (as usual), so I'll be counting towards that, and noting books I read, acquire, get rid of, etc, but only for interest. I'm tired of feeling guilty if I acquire new books!
In January: books read: 7; books otherwise removed: 3; books in: 7; books on windowsill: 62
In February: books read: 6; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 3; books on windowsill: 61
In March: books read: 8; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 5; books on windowsill: 60
In April: books read: 13; books otherwise removed: 1; books in: 6; books on windowsill: 58
And here's the breakdown for this month:
- I five books in charity shops when out with Sarah - technically I did this on the 31st of March, but I didn't have time to add them to my list until the next day, so I've counted them in with April.
- ...one of which, I read part of straight away and decided I didn't really like it that much, so sent it back to the charity shop (The Little Bookshop in Paris by Nina George)
- I read 8 books from my list (This Must be the Place by Maggie O'Farrell, The Muse by Jessie Burton, Our Endless Numbered Days by Clare Fuller, At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen, Dark Matter by Michelle Paver, The Dark Circle by Linda Grant, Pax by Sarah Pennypacker, Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank)
- ...and read about a third of another before deciding I didn't really care (The Ice by Laline Paull)
- I read one book to check it out for suitability for my class (The One and Only Ivan, Kathleen Applegate)
- I read one book which didn't seem to be on my list for some reason, even though it was on the windowsill (The Stone Sky, N K Jemisin)
- I read one book which my class was due to read this term (Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestly)
- ...and enjoyed it so much I promptly read the second in the series as well (Tales of Terror from the Black Ship)
- I read one book in a series I'm gradually reading my way back through - some are re-reads, and some I've skipped out before for whatever reason (Friends in High Places by Donna Leon)
- I bought one book in Lisbon when I was visiting (Blindness by Jose Saramago)
- I bought one book from Waterstones online to make up an order high enough for free postage, when I bought a book for Geoff and one for school (The Killing Moon by N K Jemisin)
Here's the updated list of Books to Read in 2018. These are the books hanging out on my windowsill upstairs, waiting to be read. Or discarded. But hopefully, read. I started the year with 60 books on this list - you can see how long the books have been knocking around by the dates in brackets.
- Ford Maddox Ford, Parade's End (Nov 2012 - birthday present - bought after the BBC adaptation - but I knew I wouldn't read it straight away as I wanted to let time pass from the adaptation. Enough time has probably passed now...)
- Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South (2014)
- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (would be a re-read, bought shortly after his death - spring 2014 - as I was reminded how much I enjoyed it and I didn't seem to own a copy - think my old one fell apart, probably...)
- Philip Baruth, The Brothers Boswell (Waterstones Canterbury bargain bin, July 2015)
- Daphne du Maurier, Frenchman's Creek (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
- Daphne du Maurier, Jamaica Inn (Waterstones Piccadilly - 2016? bought in principle for the girls, but thought I might read it again as it's been ages)
- Alice Munro, Runaway (Waterstones Piccadilly, March 2016)
- Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram (Abe Books, July 2016)
- Susan Barker, The Incarnations (charity shop, July 2016)
- Neil MacGregor, Germany: Memories of a Nation (birthday present, Nov 2016) (This book isn't technically on my windowsill, it's downstairs because I keep thinking I might have a go at reading it, but haven't really got around to it yet...)
- Orhan Pamuk. A Strangeness in Mind (Christmas present 2016)
- Andrew Taylor, The Ashes of London (passed to me by Geoff after he read it, April 2017)
- Mark Haddon (Introduction), States of Mind: Experiences at the Edge of Consciousness (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
- John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
- Lynn Knight, The Button Box (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017) (This book is actually not on the windowsill either, as I've started reading it, but as it's non-fiction, it may take me a while to get through it; I'm reading it in little bits...)
- Mikhail Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita (charity shop, April 2017)
- Peter Ackroyd, Hawksmoor (charity shop, April 2017)
- Rachel Ward, Numbers 2: The Chaos (Sarah's - added to my shelf after I read the first one, April 2017)
- Rachel Ward, Numbers 3: Infinity (Sarah's - added to my shelf after I read the first one, April 2017)
- Jane Smiley, Early Warning (Abe Books, May 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
- Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
- Sally Vickers, Cousins (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
- Hella Haasse, The Tea Lords (Bookhandel von Rossum, Amsterdam, August 2017)
- Ernest van der Kwast, The Ice Cream Makers (Amsterdam, August 2017)
- Lucy Worsley, A Very British Murder (Waterstones Oxford, August 2017)
- Lucy Ribchester, The Hourglass Factory (charity shop, Farnham, September 2017)
- Bi Fieyu, Three Sisters (charity shop, Farnham, September 2017)
- Ali Smith, Autumn (Waterstones Brighton, October 2017)
- Ben Marcus, The Flame Alphabet (2nd Hand Shop, Brighton, October 2017)
- Becky Chambers, A Closed and Common Orbit (Waterstones Piccadilly, October 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
- Alexia Casale, The Bone Dragon (Waterstones Piccadilly, October 2017)
- Samantha Shannon, The Bone Season (Waterstones Kingston, October 2017)
- Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (November 2017, book was in the house already, added after I read Divisadero and realised I'd never actually read this one.)
- Grayson Perry, The Descent of Man (December 2017, RA Gift Shop)
- Sarah J Maas, Court of Thorns and Roses (Christmas present, 2017)
- Katherine Arden, The Bear and the Nightingale (Christmas present, 2017)
- Patrick Gale, A Place Called Winter (charity shop, December 2017)
- Sebastian Barry, Days without End (Abe Books, January 2018)
- Anthony Horowitz, Magpie Murders (W H Smith, January 2018)
- Matt Haig, How to Stop Time (W H Smith, January 2018)
- Bernie MacLaverty, Midwinter Break (Watersones Piccadilly, January 2018)
- Ursula K LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Watersones Piccadilly, January 2018)
- Clare Vanderpool, Moon over Manifest (was in the house, moved to my shelf Feb 2018)
- Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad (Waterstones Wimbledon, Feb 2018)
- Mohsin Hamid, Exit West (Waterstones Wimbledon, Feb 2018)
- Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (passed to me by Geoff, Feb 2018)
- Alwyn Hamilton, Hero at the Fall (Waterstones online, March 2018)
- Laini Taylor, Strange the Dreamer (Waterstones online, March 2018)
- ed. Tracy Chevalier, Reader I Married Him (Waterstones online, March 2018)
- Bella Pollen, Hunting Unicorns (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
- Diana Rosie, Alberto's Lost Birthday (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
- Jojo Moyes, The Last Letter from your Lover (Charity Shops, March 2018)
- Jojo Moyes, Sheltering Rain (Charity Shops, March 2018)
- Sebastian Faulkes, A Week in December (Charity Shops, March 2018)
- Marcus Zusak, I am the Messenger (Charity Shops, March 2018)
- Jose Saramago, Blindness (Lisbon, April 2018)
- Margaret Atwodd, Oryx and Crake (passed on by Geoff, April 2018)
- The Killing Moon, N K Jemisin (Waterstones online, April 2018)
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