There were 52 books in my reading list and I had intended to read one a week but ‘best laid plans gang aft agley’ and all that. They’re mainly books which have been in the house waiting to be read for years and quite a lot have been inherited from parents and even grandparents. I had been doing so well, what with the terrible weather we had last January, and I was way ahead of schedule. But inevitably I got involved with reading books which had been recommended by bloggers and picking up books from the library which I wasn’t supposed to be visiting and of course bookshop purchases too. Not that I’m complaining but the upshot is I’ve only read 32 of the books on my list. I have managed to get through at least 103 books though, I haven’t blogged about all of them, a few have been missed out but I intend to get around to writing a wee something about them all eventually.
Hannie Richards by Hilary Bailey
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
The Overlanders by Dora Birtles
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
The Power House by John Buchan
Heroes by Thomas Carlyle
Selected Stories by Anton Chekhov
Basil by Wilkie Collins
Uther and Igraine by Warwick Deeping
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Poor Folk by Dostoevsky
The Gambler by Dostoevsky
Uncle Bernac by Arthur Conan Doyle
The King’s General by Daphne Du Maurier
Castle D’Or by Daphne Du Maurier
Hungry Hill by Daphne Du Maurier
Julius by Daphne Du Maurier
Deerslayer by J. Fenimore Cooper
The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas
The Popular Girl by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Swan Song by John Galsworthy
End of the Chapter by John Galsworthy
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol
Oblomov by Ivan Goncharov
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The Naulahka by R. Kipling and W. Balestier
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
The Deer Park by Norman Mailer
Shadows of Empire by Allan Massie
The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford
The Blessing by Nancy Mitford
Coming Home by Rosemary Pilcher
Harriet Dark by Barbara Rees
The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott
The Talisman by Sir Walter Scott
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett
Memento Mori by Muriel Spark
The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
The Amateur Emigrant by R.L.Stevenson
The Silverado Squatters by R.L.Stevenson
A Dedicated Man by Elizabeth Taylor
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Claverings by Anthony Trollope
Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev
Men at Arms by Evelyn Waugh
A Handful of Dust by Evelyn Waugh
Nana by Emile Zola
Therese Raquin by Emile Zola
The bold ones are the ones I have read and the books which are unread are mainly the ones which are chunksters or they’re so ancient that they have really wee print and it’s putting me off starting them. Of course there are a few that I’m dreading – mainly those by Sir Walter Scott! I’m determined to get through them all though so the list continues into 2012.
The R.L. Stevenson books are the only ones which aren’t fiction, they’re travel books and I read them most recently and they are definitely worth a read if you want to know what life was like for people travelling to the US in the nineteenth century.
I think that is quite an achievement. I am with you if a book has small writing, I am sometimes put off by reading it.
I look forward to 2012 when I can accidentally recommend more books for you to read!
Happy New Year.
Jo,
Sadly I’m actually going to have to buy the James Anderson books as my library doesn’t seem to have them, but as you say the covers are great and I’m sure I’ll enjoy them.
Happy New Year to you!
And good luck with Walter Scott! We used to have to read a Scott novel each year of upper secondary school and write an essay for a competition! I could never get into Scott and used to beg crib sheets! No internet to google in those days!
Happy New Year!
Evee,
I’ve tried to read Scott a couple of times and had to give up, I just couldn’t get into them – and I’m no stranger to the classics. I very rarely abandon books too. So that’s why I’m dreading them, and the teeny weeny print. Thank G I didn’t have to read him at school!
Happy New Year
I think you made a great start on your list! It is very easy to get sidetracked when you read about so many wonderful books on blogs. I hope you can finish your list this year.
Anbolyn,
I’m determined to complete the list, Sir Walter Scott and all. If you hear strange groaning noises – it’ll probably be me bemoaning the fact that Scott ever put pen to paper!