Things to do in Battersea when you're bored.

[davywavy]

Ten years or more ago, as an exercise I kept a note of all the books I read in a year. I came across it a while back and was astounded to discover that I'd churned through over a hundred. Thinking about it, I was very confident that thanks to easy access to the internet and a telly had significantly reduced my reading-time so the year before last I kept a list again, and yes, I was right I hadn't read a hundred this time round. In fact, I'd read fewer than half that and I thought this was probably not great so one of my resolutions for 2014 was a minimum of one book a week, just to keep my hand in.

I failed. In my defense, although I didn't read enough books I did write one* but even so I feel a bit disappointed in myself so my new New Year's resolution is the same as last year. A book a week. What's yours?

If you're interested, here's last year's list:

Alistair Reynolds - Revelation Space
Greg bear - Darwin's Children
Penguin classics - The penguin book of gaslight crime
Alan Dean Foster - Aliens
Julius Caesar - The Civil War
Dean Koontz - Odd Hours
Joyce Tyldesley - Egypt
Anthony Sattin - Lifting the veil
Vita Sackville-West - Passenger to Teheran
Anthony Sattin - The Pharaohs Shadow
Geraldine Pinch - Egyptian Mythology
Ae van Vogt - Destination Universe
Connie Willis - The Doomsday Book
EM Forster - Alexandria
Paul Brunton - A search in secret Egypt
Colin Greenland - Take back plenty
Jerome K Jerome - Idle thoughts of an idle fellow
Gaie Sebold - Shanghai Sparrow
Connie Willis - To say nothing of the dog
Terry Pratchett - Monstrous regiment
Rose Tremain - The Colour
Bill Bryson - One summer, 1927
Nicolo Machiavelli - On conspiracies
Rick riordan - The red pyramid
Geoff Dyer - Zona
Nikolai Gogol - Viy
Tom Bingham - The rule of law
Jerry Brotton - A history of the world in twelve maps
Michael bishop - No enemy but time
Scott Lynch - The republic of thieves
Simon Winchester - The surgeon of Crowthorne
Gyles brandreth - Oscar Wilde and the candlelight murders
Bradley Garrett - Explore everything
Peter F Hamilton - The evolutionary void
Zakhar Prilepin - Sankya
Peter Watts - Blindsight
Antal Szerb - The pendragon legend
Hp Lovecraft - The dreams in the witch house and other stories.
Harry Harrison - Winter in Eden.
Harry Harrison - Return to Eden
Ernest Cline - Ready player one.
Marjorie Bowen - The bishop of hell

*More on that later, hopefully.

Comments

[moomin-puffin.livejournal.com]

Which of the books you read last year do you recommend?
Did you see that programme about C.S. Lewis at Christmas? Lost poet of Narnia or something like that. I remember you saying about liking his stuff, it was an interesting programme.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I think the surgeon of crowthorne was probably
My favourite this year, it depends if you like victorian lexicography and insanity if you'd like it or not.

Always happy to recommend, though. What do you like?

[moomin-puffin.livejournal.com]

Sounds good, I'll look it up :-)
The books I enjoyed the most last year were by Madelynne Ellis; erotic fiction which is well written and wipes the floor with 50 shades and the like.
If it makes me sound anymore high brow I'm reading 1984 at the moment, which is wonderful of course but is utterly bleak.

[moomin-puffin.livejournal.com]

The previous comment should have been in reply to your response to me. I think my phone is playing silly buggers and put it as a separate comment.