October Book Update

I liked the way I kept track of my book reading last year, so I'm going to do something similar this year - just monitor books in and out, without any pressure to declutter or read things in order, etc. I'm once again setting a goal to read 100 books in the year - I read 102 in 2018. Otherwise, my only goal is to keep reading and keep enjoying books!

In January: books read: 9; books out: 2; books in: 5; books on windowsill: 59
In February: books read: 10; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 54
In March: books read: 4; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 52
In April: books read: 6; books out: 4; books in: 2; books on windowsill: 48
In May: books read: 10; books out: 0; books in: 3; books on windowsill: 48

In June: books read: 9; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 46
In July: books read: 2; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 46
In August: books read: 16; books out: 0; books in: 2; books on windowsill: 47
In September: books read: 5; books out: 0; books in: 6; books on windowsill: 51
In October: booksread 11; books out: 0; books in: 0; books on windowsill: 49

I didn't get many books read in September, unfortunately, but hopes were higher for the rest of the year. And how did October fare?

• I read a book I picked up in a charity shop a while back but apparently didn't put on my list (Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris)
• I read a couple of kids' books, interspersed with a more challenging book, when I was a bit tired in the evening (101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith; Halo by Zizou Corder)
• I read two books from my list (Milkman by Anna Burns, Blindness by Jose Saramago)
• I read one fantasy book which both Alex & Geoff recommended to me (Red Rising, Pierce Brown)
• I read one children's book in my classroom at school (Running on the Roof of the World, Jess Butterworth)
• I re-read four books in a favourite series (Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, Gaudy Night, Busman's Honeymoon by Dorothy L Sayers) and anticipate re-reading the subsequent Jill Paton Walsh books in November to finish off that part of the series...

Here's the updated list of Books to Read in 2019. 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.

1. 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...)
2. Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South
3. 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...) 
4. 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)
5. 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)
6. Susan Barker, The Incarnations (charity shop, July 2016)
7. Orhan Pamuk. A Strangeness in Mind (Christmas present 2016)
8. Andrew Taylor, The Ashes of London (passed to me by Geoff after he read it, April 2017)
9. Mark Haddon (Introduction), States of Mind: Experiences at the Edge of Consciousness (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
10. John Irving, Avenue of Mysteries  (Waterstones Piccadilly, April 2017)
11. Mikhail Bulgokov, The Master and Margarita (charity shop, April 2017)
12. Jane Smiley, Early Warning (Abe Books, May 2017, after finishing the first in the series)
13. Siri Hustvedt, A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women (Waterstones Wimbledon, July 2017)
14. Lucy Worsley, A Very British Murder (Waterstones Oxford, August 2017)
15. Sebastian Barry, Days without End (Abe Books, January 2018)
16. Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness (passed to me by Geoff, Feb 2018)
17. Bella Pollen, Hunting Unicorns (Kingston Hospital Charity Bookshelf, March 2018)
18. Sebastian Faulkes, A Week in December (Charity Shops, March 2018)
19. Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake (passed on by Geoff, April 2018)
20. Spark, Alice Broadway (Waterstones Wimbledon, April 2018)
21. The Mime Order, Samantha Shannon (Abe Books, May 2018)
22. Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys  (Waterstones Picadilly, July 2018)
23. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (charity shop, July 2018)
24. The Murderer's Ape, Jakob Wegelius (Waterstones Wimbledon, August 2018)
25. Even the Dogs, Jon McGregor (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
26. Islands in the Stream, Ernest Hemingway (Abebooks, Sept 2018)
27. Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas (Waterstones Wimbledon, October 2018)
28. The Mistletoe Bride, Kate Mosse (charity shop, November 2018)
29. Hillbilly Elegy, J D Vance (Waterstones Piccadilly, December 2018)
30. Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi (Christmas present, 2018)
31. Theft, Peter Carey (charity shop, January 2019)
32. The Crossing, Cormac McCarthy (charity shop, January 2019)
33. Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
34. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng (Waterstones Wimbledon, January 2019)
35. And the Mountains Echo, Khaled Hosseini (charity shop, Harborne, April 2019)
36. Kate Atkinson, Transcription (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
37. Laini Taylor, Muse of Nightmares  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
38. Emily St John Mandel, Last Night in Montreal  (Waterstones Wimbledon, May 2019)
39. The Case for Jamie by Brittany Cavallaro (AbeBooks, June 2019)
40. The Red Queen by Christina Henry (Waterstones online, June 2019)
41. The Venetian Masquerade by Philip Gwynne Jones (Waterstones online, June 2019)
42. The Last Picture Show, Larry McMurtry (used book store, Laurel MD, August 2019)
43. The Reef, Edith Wharton (used book store, Laurel MD, August 2019)
44. Clock Dance, Anne Tyler (Phoenix Airport, Sept 2019)
45. Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver (Waterstones Brighton, Sept 2019)
46. The Wedding, Dorothy West  (Waterstones Brighton, Sept 2019)
47. Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield  (Waterstones Brighton, Sept 2019)
48. Tamar, Mal Peet  (Waterstones Brighton, Sept 2019)
49. Fresh Water, Akwaeke Emezi (Waterstones Brighton, Sept 2019)