Caty M's Books off the Shelf
Talk Books off the Shelf Challenge
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1Eat_Read_Knit
My TBR pile is nearly at 400, I have a strict book budget for 2010 (which I shall of course stick to with rigid obedience *flutters eyelashes and looks innocent*) and I have no shelf space left. I practically have to join this challenge.
I'm not going to start counting until 1 January, which means anything I get given for Christmas will then count as being in my TBR. (This is just a happy side-effect, not my reason for starting then.)
I'm hoping to read 100 books in 2010, so I'm going to aim for at least 50 books from my TBR. I have no idea how realistic the 100 books for the year target actually is, so I'm setting a more concrete target of 50% of all books read being from the TBR.
I'm not going to start counting until 1 January, which means anything I get given for Christmas will then count as being in my TBR. (This is just a happy side-effect, not my reason for starting then.)
I'm hoping to read 100 books in 2010, so I'm going to aim for at least 50 books from my TBR. I have no idea how realistic the 100 books for the year target actually is, so I'm setting a more concrete target of 50% of all books read being from the TBR.
2lbradf
Welcome to the group, Caty! Good luck on that book budgeting. If you are like my husband, imposing a restriction like that would make it almost certain he would buy more books than ever before. (Kind of like with being on calorie restrictions...)
3Eat_Read_Knit
>2 lbradf: Yeah, I'm probably doomed: that's what usually happens to me, too. Between BookMooch and the second-hand book shop, I am at least keeping the cost-per-book down at the moment. Just need to rein in the quantity of books, now!
4Eat_Read_Knit
Framley Parsonage - Anthony Trollope
Acquired: Received it for my birthday last spring.
Why I read it now: Lots of reasons:
Rating: 4½ out of 5
Plot in one sentence: An ambitious young clergyman with no head for finance finds himself, his family and his friends enmeshed in a tangled web of political and romantic alliances.
Comments: As with all Trollope's Barsetshire book, this is really not a book which lends itself to a one-sentence summary - there are several dozen tightly interwoven plots, and the network of relationships between characters is complicated. This is the sort of thing Trollope does well, and why I love reading his books. Reading the book is like living in the community: seeing people forming and breaking relationships, experiencing crises and taking bad advice, looking after their friends and bringing up their children, getting ill, fixing problems, arguing with the neighbours and just getting on with life.
I love the insights Trollope gives into human nature through his characters. I find his prose style entertaining and easy to read. I like the way he chats to his readers. (He does this a lot, so be warned if you find this irritating.)
I don't think this is as good as Barchester Towers, but it's still excellent. And although I'll be taking a bit of a break before I get start The Small House at Allington - I don't want to start it until I've cleared some of the other books I'm currently reading - I am going to get to it pretty soon.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio for 2010: 1:1
Acquired: Received it for my birthday last spring.
Why I read it now: Lots of reasons:
1. I'm reading through Trollope's Barsetshire series in order.
2. I started this book last June, loved it, raced through the first couple of hundred pages, neglected it for the best part of six months and then finally decided that I really needed to finish it off.
3. It fits my 101010 Victorian category.
Rating: 4½ out of 5
Plot in one sentence: An ambitious young clergyman with no head for finance finds himself, his family and his friends enmeshed in a tangled web of political and romantic alliances.
Comments: As with all Trollope's Barsetshire book, this is really not a book which lends itself to a one-sentence summary - there are several dozen tightly interwoven plots, and the network of relationships between characters is complicated. This is the sort of thing Trollope does well, and why I love reading his books. Reading the book is like living in the community: seeing people forming and breaking relationships, experiencing crises and taking bad advice, looking after their friends and bringing up their children, getting ill, fixing problems, arguing with the neighbours and just getting on with life.
I love the insights Trollope gives into human nature through his characters. I find his prose style entertaining and easy to read. I like the way he chats to his readers. (He does this a lot, so be warned if you find this irritating.)
I don't think this is as good as Barchester Towers, but it's still excellent. And although I'll be taking a bit of a break before I get start The Small House at Allington - I don't want to start it until I've cleared some of the other books I'm currently reading - I am going to get to it pretty soon.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio for 2010: 1:1
5Eat_Read_Knit
This just counts as being from the TBR:
The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy/Humour/Young Adult
Published: 2003 (Corgi 2004 edition)
Pages: 318
Acquired: For Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: I'm trying to read through all the Discworld books. This was one of the unread ones on the shelf.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot in one sentence: Tiffany Aching wants to be a witch when she grows up - but in the meantime she puts her incipient skills to good use rescuing her small and very sticky brother from the clutches of The Queen, aided only by a toad, a frying pan and a band of tiny, blue-skinned barbarian pictsies.
Comments: I wasn't sure whether I'd like the Tiffany Aching books, given that I don't read a lot of YA lit. Beyond the fact that the main protagonists (well, the human ones) are children and the relative simplicity of the verbal puns, there's not a lot of difference between this and the adult Discworld books.
Tiffany is an excellent character whose self-awareness grows a lot through the course of the book. I adored the Nac Mac Feegle, who hurtle with riotous abandon through the pages leaving chaos (but nothing that isn't nailed down) being them.
A gloriously effervescent story, which has me really looking forward to A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 2:2
The Wee Free Men - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy/Humour/Young Adult
Published: 2003 (Corgi 2004 edition)
Pages: 318
Acquired: For Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: I'm trying to read through all the Discworld books. This was one of the unread ones on the shelf.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot in one sentence: Tiffany Aching wants to be a witch when she grows up - but in the meantime she puts her incipient skills to good use rescuing her small and very sticky brother from the clutches of The Queen, aided only by a toad, a frying pan and a band of tiny, blue-skinned barbarian pictsies.
Comments: I wasn't sure whether I'd like the Tiffany Aching books, given that I don't read a lot of YA lit. Beyond the fact that the main protagonists (well, the human ones) are children and the relative simplicity of the verbal puns, there's not a lot of difference between this and the adult Discworld books.
Tiffany is an excellent character whose self-awareness grows a lot through the course of the book. I adored the Nac Mac Feegle, who hurtle with riotous abandon through the pages leaving chaos (but nothing that isn't nailed down) being them.
A gloriously effervescent story, which has me really looking forward to A Hat Full of Sky and Wintersmith.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 2:2
7NeverStopTrying
I love your reporting format and the points of information it includes. Interesting but quickly readable. Thanks. You make me want to try Discworld again. I am starring this thread.
8Eat_Read_Knit
#6 It's great fun. I think you'll enjoy it.
#7 Thanks.
#7 Thanks.
9Eat_Read_Knit
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Genre: Literature
Published: 1890 in instalments, 1891 in single volume (mine is a Penguin Classics paperback with notes, 1985 edition)
Pages: 251
Acquired: 14 April 1998, for the full RRP of the princely sum of £2.50
Why I read it now: The 1010 challenge group read prompted my to dig it out of my TBR pile, where it has been languishing for very nearly 12 years.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: Dorian Gray mourns that he will lose his youth while his portrait remains unchanged and wishes for the portrait to age instead of him, little suspecting that his wish will come true and that the portrait will display the ravages of his depravity and hedonism.
Comments: This is a story of horrible people doing horrible things and becoming even more horrible. By rights, that ought to make it a horrible story. It isn't. It's magnificent.
***SPOILERS***
Normally, I have to sympathise with at least some of the characters to feel that I have got something out of a book - but the characters on parade here were universally irritating or loathsome. I'm not particularly keen on Oscar Wilde's writings generally. I don't like the self-conscious witticisms that are trying to be aphoristic but merely sound pretentious. I didn’t have much patience for the comments on art and I don't much admire Wilde's style. And yet, other than a couple of places where I faltered, I found the book compelling. The way in which the book commented on wrongdoing, hedonism and conscience - and the way in which it prompted me to think about those things - was mind-blowing.
Wilde doesn't describe the details of Dorian Gray's lifestyle. He alludes to it - we see hints of relationships ended badly and abuse of opiates - but we never see details. And I think this makes it more powerful. The actual acts don’t matter so much as the fact that they stem from selfishness, and the damage they do the person who commits them. The reader can never feel superior for not having lived as Dorian lived, or argue over whether a particular action or choice is actually wrong at all, but instead is provoked into considering the root causes of Dorian Gray's situation and asking, 'am I - how am I - trying to hide the damage I am doing to my own soul by my own bad choices?'
The picture itself is a fascinating plot device. It strikes me as being as much a metaphor for conscience as for sin. The things which Dorian Gray does affect the picture in the same way they affect his soul. He becomes twisted and callous, and the portrait shows that. To begin with, he isn’t indifferent to the effect of his behaviour on others. Not at first. He feels some guilt over Sibyl Vane, although later his concerns over what he does to Basil are entirely selfish. He becomes gradually more and more calloused - less and less attuned to the feelings of others, less and less able to feel the damage he is doing.
He understands that the picture represents his soul, his state of sin, and he knows that each selfish action will cause more damage. In that way, the picture is a kind of external conscience, telling him incontrovertibly that he has done wrong. And yet despite that, he does not change. He hides the picture away and refuses to allow the world to see what his soul is like, and broods over it until the obsession leads him to the final act of self-destruction.
Our consciences can never be physically seen, by us or by anyone else. Yet we still hide away things that we have done which we know or believe to be wrong. For most of us they are little things, but they are things we don’t want others to know about. Human beings have an astonishing capacity to disregard the damage they are doing to themselves and others - physically, emotionally, spiritually - and instead to seek short-term pleasure. Dorian Gray's hedonism and refusal to consider the consequences of what he does is an extreme example - people generally have the capacity for great love and kindness and well as acts of selfishness - but it seems to me that it's designed to be (and ought to be) a prompt for the reader to consider what a picture reflecting their own soul would look like.
Exactly how we as readers unpack this is going to depend to some extent on our worldview: whether we believe people are fundamentally good, evil or good-but-flawed, and the extent to which we believe we make our own destiny or are affected by outside influences. For me, it was impacted very strongly by the Bible verse, 'If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.' (1 John 1:8). None of us is perfect, all of us do things wrong from time to time. Dorian Gray refused to face his own flaws, hiding the evidence of them away. He refused to face the consequences of his actions, or to use those experiences and their consequences to become a better person. He brooded on the picture and the state of his own soul, and was concerned only with them and not with the people he had hurt. He looked at the visible manifestation of his own conscience and refused to accept or act on what it was showing him. When we're faced with the consequences of our own misjudgements, selfish actions, poor lifestyle choices - sins - we can ignore the evidence and mire ourselves deeper as Dorian Gray does, or choose to act on the warning and turn things around.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 3:3 (I wonder if books that have been in the TBR for more than a decade should count double?)
Genre: Literature
Published: 1890 in instalments, 1891 in single volume (mine is a Penguin Classics paperback with notes, 1985 edition)
Pages: 251
Acquired: 14 April 1998, for the full RRP of the princely sum of £2.50
Why I read it now: The 1010 challenge group read prompted my to dig it out of my TBR pile, where it has been languishing for very nearly 12 years.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: Dorian Gray mourns that he will lose his youth while his portrait remains unchanged and wishes for the portrait to age instead of him, little suspecting that his wish will come true and that the portrait will display the ravages of his depravity and hedonism.
Comments: This is a story of horrible people doing horrible things and becoming even more horrible. By rights, that ought to make it a horrible story. It isn't. It's magnificent.
***SPOILERS***
Normally, I have to sympathise with at least some of the characters to feel that I have got something out of a book - but the characters on parade here were universally irritating or loathsome. I'm not particularly keen on Oscar Wilde's writings generally. I don't like the self-conscious witticisms that are trying to be aphoristic but merely sound pretentious. I didn’t have much patience for the comments on art and I don't much admire Wilde's style. And yet, other than a couple of places where I faltered, I found the book compelling. The way in which the book commented on wrongdoing, hedonism and conscience - and the way in which it prompted me to think about those things - was mind-blowing.
Wilde doesn't describe the details of Dorian Gray's lifestyle. He alludes to it - we see hints of relationships ended badly and abuse of opiates - but we never see details. And I think this makes it more powerful. The actual acts don’t matter so much as the fact that they stem from selfishness, and the damage they do the person who commits them. The reader can never feel superior for not having lived as Dorian lived, or argue over whether a particular action or choice is actually wrong at all, but instead is provoked into considering the root causes of Dorian Gray's situation and asking, 'am I - how am I - trying to hide the damage I am doing to my own soul by my own bad choices?'
The picture itself is a fascinating plot device. It strikes me as being as much a metaphor for conscience as for sin. The things which Dorian Gray does affect the picture in the same way they affect his soul. He becomes twisted and callous, and the portrait shows that. To begin with, he isn’t indifferent to the effect of his behaviour on others. Not at first. He feels some guilt over Sibyl Vane, although later his concerns over what he does to Basil are entirely selfish. He becomes gradually more and more calloused - less and less attuned to the feelings of others, less and less able to feel the damage he is doing.
He understands that the picture represents his soul, his state of sin, and he knows that each selfish action will cause more damage. In that way, the picture is a kind of external conscience, telling him incontrovertibly that he has done wrong. And yet despite that, he does not change. He hides the picture away and refuses to allow the world to see what his soul is like, and broods over it until the obsession leads him to the final act of self-destruction.
Our consciences can never be physically seen, by us or by anyone else. Yet we still hide away things that we have done which we know or believe to be wrong. For most of us they are little things, but they are things we don’t want others to know about. Human beings have an astonishing capacity to disregard the damage they are doing to themselves and others - physically, emotionally, spiritually - and instead to seek short-term pleasure. Dorian Gray's hedonism and refusal to consider the consequences of what he does is an extreme example - people generally have the capacity for great love and kindness and well as acts of selfishness - but it seems to me that it's designed to be (and ought to be) a prompt for the reader to consider what a picture reflecting their own soul would look like.
Exactly how we as readers unpack this is going to depend to some extent on our worldview: whether we believe people are fundamentally good, evil or good-but-flawed, and the extent to which we believe we make our own destiny or are affected by outside influences. For me, it was impacted very strongly by the Bible verse, 'If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.' (1 John 1:8). None of us is perfect, all of us do things wrong from time to time. Dorian Gray refused to face his own flaws, hiding the evidence of them away. He refused to face the consequences of his actions, or to use those experiences and their consequences to become a better person. He brooded on the picture and the state of his own soul, and was concerned only with them and not with the people he had hurt. He looked at the visible manifestation of his own conscience and refused to accept or act on what it was showing him. When we're faced with the consequences of our own misjudgements, selfish actions, poor lifestyle choices - sins - we can ignore the evidence and mire ourselves deeper as Dorian Gray does, or choose to act on the warning and turn things around.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 3:3 (I wonder if books that have been in the TBR for more than a decade should count double?)
10Eat_Read_Knit
Ukridge - PG Wodehouse
Genre: Humour - Short Stories
Published: 1924 (2008 paperback)
Pages: 270
Acquired: July 2008
Why I read it now: I've been dipping into it for months and decided I needed to get it finished.
Rating: 3/5
Plot in one sentence: Ukridge is broke yet again, and has another dodgy scheme to raise funds. Repeat ad infinitum.
Comments: The first short story was okay, the second was passable but much the same as the first, and all the others were more of the same. Ukridge is not a likeable character, and watching him bilk his friends and get involved in shady schemes over and over again gets very tedious very quickly.
Wodehouse's characteristic humour is not on top form in these stories, although neither is it absent. All in all, this is a book for Wodehouse aficionados to dip into, rather than one for the casual reader or for cover-to-cover reading.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 4:3
Genre: Humour - Short Stories
Published: 1924 (2008 paperback)
Pages: 270
Acquired: July 2008
Why I read it now: I've been dipping into it for months and decided I needed to get it finished.
Rating: 3/5
Plot in one sentence: Ukridge is broke yet again, and has another dodgy scheme to raise funds. Repeat ad infinitum.
Comments: The first short story was okay, the second was passable but much the same as the first, and all the others were more of the same. Ukridge is not a likeable character, and watching him bilk his friends and get involved in shady schemes over and over again gets very tedious very quickly.
Wodehouse's characteristic humour is not on top form in these stories, although neither is it absent. All in all, this is a book for Wodehouse aficionados to dip into, rather than one for the casual reader or for cover-to-cover reading.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 4:3
11lbradf
RE: Picture of Dorian Gray
Your plots in one sentence are great! This is a book I've known of but before now, I had no idea of the gist. I'm now very intrigued. I've never read any Oscar Wilde. This sounds like one to consider. I enjoy reading books that cause me to examine my own worldview. I'm not particularly reflective by nature, so being nudged by what I'm reading is a good thing.
Your plots in one sentence are great! This is a book I've known of but before now, I had no idea of the gist. I'm now very intrigued. I've never read any Oscar Wilde. This sounds like one to consider. I enjoy reading books that cause me to examine my own worldview. I'm not particularly reflective by nature, so being nudged by what I'm reading is a good thing.
12Eat_Read_Knit
#11 Thanks. It's definitely a book that makes you think.
13Eat_Read_Knit
Tulip Fever - Deborah Moggach
Genre: Historical Fiction (Amsterdam, 1636)/Literary Fiction
Published: 1999 (2000 Paperback edition)
Pages: 259
Acquired: October 30, 2009 - second-hand
Why I read it now: Why not?
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: At the height of Holland's tulip-mania, a young wife is attracted to the painter her elderly husband commissions to paint their family portrait.
Comments: Very atmospheric:
"She stands there, motionless. She is suspended, caught between past and present. She is colour, waiting to be mixed; a painting, ready to be brushed into life. She is a moment, waiting to be fixed for ever under a shiny varnish. Is this a moment of decision? Will she tear up the letter or will she steal away, through the silent rooms, and slip out of the house? Her face, caught in profile, betrays nothing." (p. 46)
It is good, but it's not great. As well as a sound (if somewhat depressing) plot, a strong sense of time and place and fairly strong characters, there are some comic moments and some excellent writing. The characters consistently exhibit flawed judgement, and as a study of the stupid things people do it's quite interesting.
The Medieval Papacy - Geoffrey Barraclough
Genre: History (Academic)
Published: 1968 (1975 paperback)
Pages: 216
Acquired: Second-hand, December 2009
Why I read it now: Recommended reading for an assignment
Rating: 4/5
Comments: A comprehensive account of the medieval papacy, and still one of the key texts on this subject after 40 years. It is an overview of the subject, though, and does lack some detail on some of the big topics. It can also be a bit dry - although it does have more pictures than you'd expect. A book for those with a serious historical interest, best tackled once a familiarity with at least some of the material has been obtained.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 6:4
Genre: Historical Fiction (Amsterdam, 1636)/Literary Fiction
Published: 1999 (2000 Paperback edition)
Pages: 259
Acquired: October 30, 2009 - second-hand
Why I read it now: Why not?
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: At the height of Holland's tulip-mania, a young wife is attracted to the painter her elderly husband commissions to paint their family portrait.
Comments: Very atmospheric:
"She stands there, motionless. She is suspended, caught between past and present. She is colour, waiting to be mixed; a painting, ready to be brushed into life. She is a moment, waiting to be fixed for ever under a shiny varnish. Is this a moment of decision? Will she tear up the letter or will she steal away, through the silent rooms, and slip out of the house? Her face, caught in profile, betrays nothing." (p. 46)
It is good, but it's not great. As well as a sound (if somewhat depressing) plot, a strong sense of time and place and fairly strong characters, there are some comic moments and some excellent writing. The characters consistently exhibit flawed judgement, and as a study of the stupid things people do it's quite interesting.
The Medieval Papacy - Geoffrey Barraclough
Genre: History (Academic)
Published: 1968 (1975 paperback)
Pages: 216
Acquired: Second-hand, December 2009
Why I read it now: Recommended reading for an assignment
Rating: 4/5
Comments: A comprehensive account of the medieval papacy, and still one of the key texts on this subject after 40 years. It is an overview of the subject, though, and does lack some detail on some of the big topics. It can also be a bit dry - although it does have more pictures than you'd expect. A book for those with a serious historical interest, best tackled once a familiarity with at least some of the material has been obtained.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 6:4
14Eat_Read_Knit
Poetic Lives: Shelley - Daniel Hahn
Genre: Biography
Published: 2009
Pages:151
Acquired: via December Early Reviewers
Why I read it now: I was feeling guilty about not having got to it yet.
Rating: 4/5
Comments: I always found poetry quite hard to get into, but in the last few years I've been trying to read more of it. When this book, along with a twin book about Coleridge, came up in Early Reviewers it seemed like a good idea to request them. This was the one I was fortunate enough to receive.
This is not a book for the serious poetry afficionado or the lover of serious biography. It aims to be an introduction to the life and the poetry of Shelley, and this is precisely what it is. The biography is interesting but not detailed, and there is a liberal scattering of Shelley's poetry throughout; Hahn has done a good job of using the poetry and biography to complement one another.
As someone with a general interest in the subject but who prior to reading the book was familiar with a grand total of ONE of Shelley's poems, and whose knowledge of his life could be summarised as 'he was a contemporary of Byron and Keats', I enjoyed this book. Someone who picked this up expecting a detailed analysis of Shelley's poetry or a standard biography would be disappointed.
I could wish Hahn had started fewer of his paragraphs with and or but, that he had made less enthusiastic use of the ellipsis, and that he had included more historical background, but on the whole this is an interesting short introduction to the life and poetry of Shelley.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 7:5 (I'm counting the Shelley biography as being from the TBR because I knew before Christmas that I'd won it - and started counting it in the TBR from then - even though it didn't drop through the door until January.)
Genre: Biography
Published: 2009
Pages:151
Acquired: via December Early Reviewers
Why I read it now: I was feeling guilty about not having got to it yet.
Rating: 4/5
Comments: I always found poetry quite hard to get into, but in the last few years I've been trying to read more of it. When this book, along with a twin book about Coleridge, came up in Early Reviewers it seemed like a good idea to request them. This was the one I was fortunate enough to receive.
This is not a book for the serious poetry afficionado or the lover of serious biography. It aims to be an introduction to the life and the poetry of Shelley, and this is precisely what it is. The biography is interesting but not detailed, and there is a liberal scattering of Shelley's poetry throughout; Hahn has done a good job of using the poetry and biography to complement one another.
As someone with a general interest in the subject but who prior to reading the book was familiar with a grand total of ONE of Shelley's poems, and whose knowledge of his life could be summarised as 'he was a contemporary of Byron and Keats', I enjoyed this book. Someone who picked this up expecting a detailed analysis of Shelley's poetry or a standard biography would be disappointed.
I could wish Hahn had started fewer of his paragraphs with and or but, that he had made less enthusiastic use of the ellipsis, and that he had included more historical background, but on the whole this is an interesting short introduction to the life and poetry of Shelley.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 7:5 (I'm counting the Shelley biography as being from the TBR because I knew before Christmas that I'd won it - and started counting it in the TBR from then - even though it didn't drop through the door until January.)
15Eat_Read_Knit
The Tiger in the Smoke - Margery Allingham
Genre: Crime
Published: 1952 (Mine is a 1961 penguin edition)
Pages: 244
Acquired: via BookMooch, September 2009
Why I read it now: I wanted to get it read so I could make some space on my crime fiction shelf. Sadly, it turned out to be a keeper.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot inone sentence three questions: Is the mysterious man in the photograph really the late Major Elginbrodde, believed killed in the war? How is he connected to the knife-wielding escaped convict terrorising fog-bound London? And just where has Mrs Elginbrodde's fiancé gone?
Comments: Tense and atmospheric. No, strike that. Very tense and very atmospheric. It's impossible to say much without giving away parts of the plot, but this really is a classic mystery and it unfolds magnificently. Allingham's timing is superb, and the prose is excellent. Campion is rather in the background in this story, which means that it stands alone well for those who don't want to tread the whole series.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 8:5
Genre: Crime
Published: 1952 (Mine is a 1961 penguin edition)
Pages: 244
Acquired: via BookMooch, September 2009
Why I read it now: I wanted to get it read so I could make some space on my crime fiction shelf. Sadly, it turned out to be a keeper.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot in
Comments: Tense and atmospheric. No, strike that. Very tense and very atmospheric. It's impossible to say much without giving away parts of the plot, but this really is a classic mystery and it unfolds magnificently. Allingham's timing is superb, and the prose is excellent. Campion is rather in the background in this story, which means that it stands alone well for those who don't want to tread the whole series.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 8:5
16Eat_Read_Knit
Finished off another textbook acquired in December 2009: The Catholic Church from 1648 to 1870 by Friedrich Heyer.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 9:5
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 9:5
17Eat_Read_Knit
Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy/Humour
Published: 1988
Pages: 332
Acquired: Second-hand, some time around August 2009
Why I read it now: I needed light relief after the last book.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: The kingdom is unhappy with its new king - and Granny Weatherwax finds it very difficult not to get involved.
Comments: Classic Pratchett, with lots of Shakespeare references. Brilliantly plotted and absolutely hilarious.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 10:6
Genre: Fantasy/Humour
Published: 1988
Pages: 332
Acquired: Second-hand, some time around August 2009
Why I read it now: I needed light relief after the last book.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: The kingdom is unhappy with its new king - and Granny Weatherwax finds it very difficult not to get involved.
Comments: Classic Pratchett, with lots of Shakespeare references. Brilliantly plotted and absolutely hilarious.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 10:6
18Eat_Read_Knit
Maskerade - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy/Humour
Published: 1995
Pages: 381
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: Being the only unread Witches book on my shelf, it followed on nicely from the last book.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot in one sentence: Agnes Nitt doesn't want to be a witch - she'd rather be an opera singer - but with some very strange goings on at the opera house and Granny Weatherwax in the audience Agnes's first steps in her chosen career don't go exactly the way she hoped.
Comments: Extremely clever and exceedingly funny - especially if you have at least a passing familiarity with a bit of opera and some stage musicals. And having read Gaston Leroux can't hurt. I wasn't as keen on Pratchett's witches books as on some of the other Discworld sub-series, but with the exception of Equal Rites I now love them too.
Current TBR:non-TBR ration = 11:7
Genre: Fantasy/Humour
Published: 1995
Pages: 381
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: Being the only unread Witches book on my shelf, it followed on nicely from the last book.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Plot in one sentence: Agnes Nitt doesn't want to be a witch - she'd rather be an opera singer - but with some very strange goings on at the opera house and Granny Weatherwax in the audience Agnes's first steps in her chosen career don't go exactly the way she hoped.
Comments: Extremely clever and exceedingly funny - especially if you have at least a passing familiarity with a bit of opera and some stage musicals. And having read Gaston Leroux can't hurt. I wasn't as keen on Pratchett's witches books as on some of the other Discworld sub-series, but with the exception of Equal Rites I now love them too.
Current TBR:non-TBR ration = 11:7
19Eat_Read_Knit
A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy/Humour/YA
Published: 2004
Pages: 351
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: It's a Pratchett: who needs a reason? (The the fact that it follows on from The Wee Free Men might have had a bit of influence.)
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: When trainee witch Tiffany Aching steps out of her body and leaves it empty, there is a Thing just waiting to take it over - and if Tiffany wants to regain sole possession of her body and mind then she's going to need all the help the Nac Mac Feegle and Granny Weatherwax can give her.
Comments: I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Wee Free Men, and there was a moment two-thirds of the way through where the plot spluttered a bit and almost stalled. It didn't stall, and the last third of the book was better than I was expecting. The character development was excellent, and overall the plot was fairly strong. Granny Weatherwax has some great moments - as usual - and some really profound observations. Recommended, but not as strongly as some of the others.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 12:9
Genre: Fantasy/Humour/YA
Published: 2004
Pages: 351
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: It's a Pratchett: who needs a reason? (The the fact that it follows on from The Wee Free Men might have had a bit of influence.)
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: When trainee witch Tiffany Aching steps out of her body and leaves it empty, there is a Thing just waiting to take it over - and if Tiffany wants to regain sole possession of her body and mind then she's going to need all the help the Nac Mac Feegle and Granny Weatherwax can give her.
Comments: I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Wee Free Men, and there was a moment two-thirds of the way through where the plot spluttered a bit and almost stalled. It didn't stall, and the last third of the book was better than I was expecting. The character development was excellent, and overall the plot was fairly strong. Granny Weatherwax has some great moments - as usual - and some really profound observations. Recommended, but not as strongly as some of the others.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 12:9
20Eat_Read_Knit
The Three Evangelists - Fred Vargas
Genre: Crime Fiction
Published: 1995
Pages: 292
Acquired: Second-hand book shop, November 2009
Why I read it now: As a change from all the Terry Pratchett
Rating: 3/5
Plot in one sentence: Having already begun to investigate the bizarre appearance of a tree in their neighbour's garden, historians Mathias, Marc and Lucien (together with Marc's ex-cop uncle) naturally take an interest when the neighbour in question vanishes without trace.
Comments: I liked the historians as characters. They had - how can I put it? - personality. I wasn't as keen on some of the other characters, but they were all well written. The plot dragged a bit, although the ending was tense and full of twists.
The atmosphere is very French, and I think the translator has done a good job capturing that whilst also rendering what was no doubt very idiomatic French into idiomatic English. The book is less cosy than it sounds: it's a strange blend of the cosy's amateur detectives with some grittier, almost noir elements.
I wouldn't say I liked it, but it definitely had a certain something. I think it might well appeal to fans of the current crop of slightly dark Scandinavian crime fiction.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 13:9
Genre: Crime Fiction
Published: 1995
Pages: 292
Acquired: Second-hand book shop, November 2009
Why I read it now: As a change from all the Terry Pratchett
Rating: 3/5
Plot in one sentence: Having already begun to investigate the bizarre appearance of a tree in their neighbour's garden, historians Mathias, Marc and Lucien (together with Marc's ex-cop uncle) naturally take an interest when the neighbour in question vanishes without trace.
Comments: I liked the historians as characters. They had - how can I put it? - personality. I wasn't as keen on some of the other characters, but they were all well written. The plot dragged a bit, although the ending was tense and full of twists.
The atmosphere is very French, and I think the translator has done a good job capturing that whilst also rendering what was no doubt very idiomatic French into idiomatic English. The book is less cosy than it sounds: it's a strange blend of the cosy's amateur detectives with some grittier, almost noir elements.
I wouldn't say I liked it, but it definitely had a certain something. I think it might well appeal to fans of the current crop of slightly dark Scandinavian crime fiction.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 13:9
21Eat_Read_Knit
Accidentally Yours - Susan Mallery
Acquired - BookMooch, September 2009
A rather twee romance, which works better as a story about people coping with bereavement and terminal illness.
2.5 out of 5
Acquired - BookMooch, September 2009
A rather twee romance, which works better as a story about people coping with bereavement and terminal illness.
2.5 out of 5
22Eat_Read_Knit
40. An Unsuitable Attachment - Barbara Pym
Genre: Fiction (Misc)
Published: 1982 (originally written 1963)
Pages: 256
Acquired: Purchased September 2009
Why I read it now: I was determined to read something from the TBR shelf
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
From the back cover: "Set in Basil's, an undistinguished north London parish, [this book] is full of the high comedy for which [Pym] is famed. Among the quirky, quintessentially English characters are vicar Mark Ainger, his wife Sophia and her cat, 'I feel sometimes that I can't reach Faustina as I've reached other cats', as well as Rupert Stonebird, anthropologist and eligible bachelor. At the library, under the critical eye of sharp-tongued Marvyn Cantrell, well-bred Ianthe Broom forms an unsuitable attachment to a young man."
Comments: A well-written book with beautiful characters. There's a lot of uncertainty and you're never quite sure who - if anyone - Ianthe and Rupert are going to end up with, which makes the ending pleasing. Some of the scenes in Rome satirising the British abroad are positively wicked. There's a distinctive 1960s feel to the book, but it doesn't feel at all dated; in fact, it feels so vibrant that I fully expected to look up from the book and find myself surround by beehives, miniskirts, Vespas and middle-aged spinsters complaining about the early Beatles music.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 15:25 (I confess. I have been lax. I must do better.)
Genre: Fiction (Misc)
Published: 1982 (originally written 1963)
Pages: 256
Acquired: Purchased September 2009
Why I read it now: I was determined to read something from the TBR shelf
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
From the back cover: "Set in Basil's, an undistinguished north London parish, [this book] is full of the high comedy for which [Pym] is famed. Among the quirky, quintessentially English characters are vicar Mark Ainger, his wife Sophia and her cat, 'I feel sometimes that I can't reach Faustina as I've reached other cats', as well as Rupert Stonebird, anthropologist and eligible bachelor. At the library, under the critical eye of sharp-tongued Marvyn Cantrell, well-bred Ianthe Broom forms an unsuitable attachment to a young man."
Comments: A well-written book with beautiful characters. There's a lot of uncertainty and you're never quite sure who - if anyone - Ianthe and Rupert are going to end up with, which makes the ending pleasing. Some of the scenes in Rome satirising the British abroad are positively wicked. There's a distinctive 1960s feel to the book, but it doesn't feel at all dated; in fact, it feels so vibrant that I fully expected to look up from the book and find myself surround by beehives, miniskirts, Vespas and middle-aged spinsters complaining about the early Beatles music.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 15:25 (I confess. I have been lax. I must do better.)
23Eat_Read_Knit
41. The House at Pooh Corner - AA Milne
Genre: Children's Literature
Published: 1928 (mine is a beautiful 1965 Methuen paperback that has plainly never been near a child)
Pages: 176
Acquired: Charity shop, July 2009
Why I read it now:
1. It was in the TBR.
2. It was on the top of (one of) the TBR pile(s)
3. I knew the stories, but I had NEVER actually read this book. Shocking, I know.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: Adventures from the Hundred Acre Wood, including the arrival of Tigger, the invention of Poohsticks and Pooh's narrow escape from Heffalumps.
Comments: The original, unDisneyfied Pooh is rightly an icon of children's literature. I don't think I've ever read Winnie-the-Pooh either, so I'll have to do that soon.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 16:25
Genre: Children's Literature
Published: 1928 (mine is a beautiful 1965 Methuen paperback that has plainly never been near a child)
Pages: 176
Acquired: Charity shop, July 2009
Why I read it now:
1. It was in the TBR.
2. It was on the top of (one of) the TBR pile(s)
3. I knew the stories, but I had NEVER actually read this book. Shocking, I know.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: Adventures from the Hundred Acre Wood, including the arrival of Tigger, the invention of Poohsticks and Pooh's narrow escape from Heffalumps.
Comments: The original, unDisneyfied Pooh is rightly an icon of children's literature. I don't think I've ever read Winnie-the-Pooh either, so I'll have to do that soon.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 16:25
24Eat_Read_Knit
42. Brat Farrar - Josephine Tey
Genre: Mystery
Published: 1949
Pages:275
Acquired: Bought - October 2009
Why I read it now: Group Read.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Comments:Foundling Brat Farrar has been carefully coached to impersonate twenty-year-old Patrick Ashby, the heir to a significant fortune who has been missing, presumed dead, for eight years. But who is he really? If he's not Patrick, why does he look so much like Simon Ashby, Patrick's surviving twin? And what really happened on the cliffs eight years before?
A superbly-drawn set of characters and a wonderful story of suspense. Not a mystery in the standard mould, but a very entertaining puzzle with a very tense denouement. Only the slight hints of soppiness and cliché in the last couple of chapters stop it from scoring a perfect 5.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 17:25 (More progress!)
Genre: Mystery
Published: 1949
Pages:275
Acquired: Bought - October 2009
Why I read it now: Group Read.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Comments:Foundling Brat Farrar has been carefully coached to impersonate twenty-year-old Patrick Ashby, the heir to a significant fortune who has been missing, presumed dead, for eight years. But who is he really? If he's not Patrick, why does he look so much like Simon Ashby, Patrick's surviving twin? And what really happened on the cliffs eight years before?
A superbly-drawn set of characters and a wonderful story of suspense. Not a mystery in the standard mould, but a very entertaining puzzle with a very tense denouement. Only the slight hints of soppiness and cliché in the last couple of chapters stop it from scoring a perfect 5.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 17:25 (More progress!)
25Eat_Read_Knit
43 Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 2001
Pages: 430
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: It seemed like time for another Pratchett book.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: The Monks of History make sure that there's enough time in the places where it's needed - and when Jeremy Clockson starts making a clock which will keep time with the universe (and thus stop time), it's down to Lu Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd leave the monastery, find the clock and stop it before it starts.
Comments: Incredibly funny and incredibly profound. Any description will barely scratch the surface of this book - but any novel that seamlessly mixes quantum mechanics, eastern philosophy and death by chocolate has to be a winner.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 18:25
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 2001
Pages: 430
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: It seemed like time for another Pratchett book.
Rating: 5/5
Plot in one sentence: The Monks of History make sure that there's enough time in the places where it's needed - and when Jeremy Clockson starts making a clock which will keep time with the universe (and thus stop time), it's down to Lu Tze and his apprentice Lobsang Ludd leave the monastery, find the clock and stop it before it starts.
Comments: Incredibly funny and incredibly profound. Any description will barely scratch the surface of this book - but any novel that seamlessly mixes quantum mechanics, eastern philosophy and death by chocolate has to be a winner.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 18:25
27Eat_Read_Knit
61. Catholicism for Dummies – John Trigilio and Kenneth Brighenti
Genre: Theology/Christian Doctrine
Published: 2003
Pages: 414
Acquired: Bought in 2008 for reference
Why I read it now: Some of the stuff I’m studying requires an understanding of several areas of Roman Catholic doctrine. I’m a Methodist. I needed help.
Rating: 4/5
Comments: It’s a basic introduction to the subject. It doesn’t claim to be anything more, and it does its job well. It could do with updating, but it’s pretty comprehensive and it does what is says on the tin.
My main quibble is that when it gets off the subject of ‘what Catholics do/believe’ and starts making comparisons with other Christian denominations, it has a tendency to be a bit dismissive and to make generalisations about both ‘what Protestants believe’ and ‘what Protestants think Catholics believe’. Maybe this Protestant is a bit touchy - or possibly it’s just a question of what many Catholics think most Protestants think all Catholics believe. In which case, they’re probably right. At least, they are if I’ve managed to keep track of all the sub-clauses in that sentence and say what I meant to say.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 19:42 (Help!)
Genre: Theology/Christian Doctrine
Published: 2003
Pages: 414
Acquired: Bought in 2008 for reference
Why I read it now: Some of the stuff I’m studying requires an understanding of several areas of Roman Catholic doctrine. I’m a Methodist. I needed help.
Rating: 4/5
Comments: It’s a basic introduction to the subject. It doesn’t claim to be anything more, and it does its job well. It could do with updating, but it’s pretty comprehensive and it does what is says on the tin.
My main quibble is that when it gets off the subject of ‘what Catholics do/believe’ and starts making comparisons with other Christian denominations, it has a tendency to be a bit dismissive and to make generalisations about both ‘what Protestants believe’ and ‘what Protestants think Catholics believe’. Maybe this Protestant is a bit touchy - or possibly it’s just a question of what many Catholics think most Protestants think all Catholics believe. In which case, they’re probably right. At least, they are if I’ve managed to keep track of all the sub-clauses in that sentence and say what I meant to say.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 19:42 (Help!)
28Eat_Read_Knit
72. Wintersmith - Terrry Pratchett
Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: 2006
Pages: 400
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: I'd been meaning to get to it for a while, and this conversation on Stasia's last thread reminded me that it had been on the shelf for nearly six months.
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: Thirteen-year-old Tiffany Aching decides to dance when she was just supposed to be watching, but since it's the dance between winter and summer she's interrupted, and since the spirit of winter has fallen in love with her, the end result is both chaotic and somewhat chilly.
Comments: Not the best of the Tiffany Aching books. I gave it the same rating I gave to A Hat Full of Sky (compared to 5/5 for The Wee Free Men) although I think A Hat Full has slightly the edge over this one.
It's pretty entertaining, though. Tiffany is convincing as a thirteen-year-old (I think - it's been a while since I was thirteen but it seems about right) and Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and their usual selves. Annagramma and Roland make a good supporting cast, and the story is pretty zippy and has lots of references to mythology.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 20:52
Genre: YA Fantasy
Published: 2006
Pages: 400
Acquired: Christmas 2009
Why I read it now: I'd been meaning to get to it for a while, and this conversation on Stasia's last thread reminded me that it had been on the shelf for nearly six months.
Rating: 4/5
Plot in one sentence: Thirteen-year-old Tiffany Aching decides to dance when she was just supposed to be watching, but since it's the dance between winter and summer she's interrupted, and since the spirit of winter has fallen in love with her, the end result is both chaotic and somewhat chilly.
Comments: Not the best of the Tiffany Aching books. I gave it the same rating I gave to A Hat Full of Sky (compared to 5/5 for The Wee Free Men) although I think A Hat Full has slightly the edge over this one.
It's pretty entertaining, though. Tiffany is convincing as a thirteen-year-old (I think - it's been a while since I was thirteen but it seems about right) and Nanny Ogg, Granny Weatherwax and their usual selves. Annagramma and Roland make a good supporting cast, and the story is pretty zippy and has lots of references to mythology.
Current TBR:non-TBR ratio = 20:52
29Eat_Read_Knit
Note:
As of now, I'm instituting a rolling three-month criterion for the TBR. If I've had it more than 3 months, it counts for the challenge.
(Actually, it wouldn't make any difference to the books I could count if I backdated it. I think I can safely say that I am doing Quite Badly at this challenge...)
As of now, I'm instituting a rolling three-month criterion for the TBR. If I've had it more than 3 months, it counts for the challenge.
(Actually, it wouldn't make any difference to the books I could count if I backdated it. I think I can safely say that I am doing Quite Badly at this challenge...)
30usnmm2
"...I think I can safely say that I am doing Quite Badly at this challenge..."
I think you are doing quite well. The last five books Ive read have been new ones recently purchased (won't tell about the 10 that I've added to the TBR pile, that's next years challage). So keep up the good work.
(p.s. I also like your Plot in one sentence)
I think you are doing quite well. The last five books Ive read have been new ones recently purchased (won't tell about the 10 that I've added to the TBR pile, that's next years challage). So keep up the good work.
(p.s. I also like your Plot in one sentence)
31Eat_Read_Knit
#30 Well, I am certainly shifting a few books from the TBR pile, but given that (a) I was aiming for 50% of reads being from the TBR and I'm currently at 26%, and (b) I wanted to get the TBR down from nearly 400 to about 300 books and it's currently standing at 597*, I could certainly be doing better!
Thanks for your encouragement, though! :)
*Over a hundred of these were free (promotional ebooks or hand-me-downs), and a lot of the others were from charity shops or BookMooch, so that's not quite as bad as it sounds.
Thanks for your encouragement, though! :)
*Over a hundred of these were free (promotional ebooks or hand-me-downs), and a lot of the others were from charity shops or BookMooch, so that's not quite as bad as it sounds.
32Eat_Read_Knit
I've been very bad at posting here.
Books read from the TBR since last post:
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary - Marina Warner
Sonnets from the Portuguese and other poems - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Swan Song - Edmund Crispin
Her Royal Spyness - Phys Bown
Buried for Pleasure - Edmund Crispin
Empress and Handmaid: Nature and Gender in the Cult of the Virgin Mary - Sarah Jane Boss
The Gladiator - Carla Capshaw
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
Less Than Angels - Barbara Pym
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
When the Emperor Was Divine - Julie Otsuka
Total for this year:
32 (30%) books from TBR
76 (70%) books not from TBR
Books read from the TBR since last post:
Alone of All Her Sex: The Myth and Cult of the Virgin Mary - Marina Warner
Sonnets from the Portuguese and other poems - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Swan Song - Edmund Crispin
Her Royal Spyness - Phys Bown
Buried for Pleasure - Edmund Crispin
Empress and Handmaid: Nature and Gender in the Cult of the Virgin Mary - Sarah Jane Boss
The Gladiator - Carla Capshaw
Remarkable Creatures - Tracy Chevalier
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
Less Than Angels - Barbara Pym
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - JK Rowling
When the Emperor Was Divine - Julie Otsuka
Total for this year:
32 (30%) books from TBR
76 (70%) books not from TBR
33Eat_Read_Knit
I have continued to be very bad at posting here.
The Hired Husband - Judith Stacy
Trusting Ryan - Tara Taylor Quinn
The Case of the Missing Books - Ian Sansom
Death of a Dentist - MC Beaton
Death of a Cad - MC Beaton
The Holly Tree Inn - Charles Dickens & others
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett
Letters to a Diminished Church - Dorothy L. Sayers
Miss Ranskill Comes Home - Barbara Euphan Todd
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - Paul Gallico
Mrs Harris Goes to New York - Paul Gallico
Love Lies Bleeding - Edmund Crispin
No Fond Return of Love - Barbara Pym
Total for this year:
45 (35%) books from TBR
81 (65%) books not from TBR
The Hired Husband - Judith Stacy
Trusting Ryan - Tara Taylor Quinn
The Case of the Missing Books - Ian Sansom
Death of a Dentist - MC Beaton
Death of a Cad - MC Beaton
The Holly Tree Inn - Charles Dickens & others
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents - Terry Pratchett
Letters to a Diminished Church - Dorothy L. Sayers
Miss Ranskill Comes Home - Barbara Euphan Todd
Mrs Harris Goes to Paris - Paul Gallico
Mrs Harris Goes to New York - Paul Gallico
Love Lies Bleeding - Edmund Crispin
No Fond Return of Love - Barbara Pym
Total for this year:
45 (35%) books from TBR
81 (65%) books not from TBR
35Eat_Read_Knit
I'm not going to make the 50% target for 2010, but I have made the 50 books target.
A Difficult Problem - Anna Katherine Green
An Unprotected Female at the Pyramids - Anthony Trollope
Reformation: Europe's House Divided - Diarmaid MacCulloch
On the Incarnation - St Athanasius
Minaret - Leila Aboulela
The Shack - W Paul Young
Mudfog and Other Sketches - Charles Dickens
Uneasy Money - PG Wodehouse
The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne - Anthony Trollope
In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden
The Red House Mystery - AA Milne
56 (39.44%) books from TBR
86 (60.56%) books not from TBR
A Difficult Problem - Anna Katherine Green
An Unprotected Female at the Pyramids - Anthony Trollope
Reformation: Europe's House Divided - Diarmaid MacCulloch
On the Incarnation - St Athanasius
Minaret - Leila Aboulela
The Shack - W Paul Young
Mudfog and Other Sketches - Charles Dickens
Uneasy Money - PG Wodehouse
The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne - Anthony Trollope
In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden
The Red House Mystery - AA Milne
56 (39.44%) books from TBR
86 (60.56%) books not from TBR
