Feeling creatively somewhat wrung out after 9/10 books of all sorts in ten years, I decided to put creating aside for 2017, and concentrate on other things, mainly teaching, mentoring and hugely important this last - reading. My own reading has taken such a back seat over the last few - time to catch up.
I aimed at 100 books in the year, was joined by some friends, and we began a closed Facebook group - all with the same goal: to read as much as we could. We weren't all reading the same books, I hasten to add - not a 'reading group' - just a group of interested people, all reading, and all making a note - nothing more, of the books they'd read. A note, a word attached to an uploaded cover image soon increased to a line or two of subjective comment. And the group burgeoned to over 200 names.
Did I make 100? No. I read 75. They are listed below in order of reading. Nothing planned - just following my nose and interests, some I ought to have read and somehow never did, others I stumbled across, some recommendations, others that has been on my shelf for decades...and occasional light humour as counterpoint. But it is interesting (to me) to see what categories they fell into:
Novels: 29
Short Fiction: 9
Poetry: 14
History/Military History: 5
Biog/autobiog: 4
Humour: 3
the rest... all sorts - philosophy, journalism, religious analysis...
I re-read some of my favourites by friends and colleagues, including The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry, Some of Us Glow More than Others by Tania Hershman, Dark Roots by Cate Kennedy, The Flood by Maggie Gee, The Redemption of Galen Pike by Carys Davies, and Voices from Stone and Bronze by Caroline Davies. All to be recommended highly.
I chose some books by writers of colour - novels, poetry, short stories.
The writer/book I am most pleased to have met/ best read of the year (thanks to a recommendation from one of the group members): Plainsong, by Kent Haruf
I hated and discarded only one book: Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
Here's the list for anyone who is interested. ( [R] means a re-read.)
[R]The Many Wyl Menmuir #1 Salt a novel
The Shock of the Fall Nathan Filer #3 Harper/Collins novel
The Sun Fish Eilean Ni Chuilleanain #4 Gallery poetry
[R]They Called it Passchendaele L MacDonald #5 Penguin military history
Ways of Seeing John Berger #6 Penguin non fic
G John Berger #7 Bloomsbury novel
Time's Arrow Martin Amis #8 Penguin novel
First Person &other stories Ali Smith #9 Penguin short stories
The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson #10 Penguin novel
Too Loud a Solitude Bohumil Hrabal #11 Abacus novel
Sieze the Day Saul Bellow #12 Penguin novel
The Book of Memory Petina Gappah #13 Faber novel
The Way of the Strangers: encounters w Islamic State G Wood #14 Allen Lane religion/current
The Bright White Tree Joanna Seldon #15 Worple poetry
A Life Discarded Alexander Masters #16 4th Estate biography
Plainsong Kent Haruf #17 Picador novel
[R] In Another Country David Constantine #18 Comma short stories
Trump and me Mark Singer #19 Penguin journalism/bio
[R] Dark Roots Cate Kennedy #20 Atlantic short stories
The Hundred Fathom Curve /John Barr #21 Red Hen poetry
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Girl/Grayson Perry #22 Vintage autobiography
The Havocs Jacob Polley #23 Picador poetry
Olive Kitteridge Elizabeth Strout #24 S/Shuster novel in stories
[R]Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro #25 Faber novel
To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee #26 Arrow novel
Britty Britty Bang Bang Hugh Dennis #27 Headline non fic/humour/history
[R] The Flood Maggie Gee #28 Saqi novel
[R]The Essex Serpent Sarah Perry #29 Serpent's Tail novel
lThe Runaway Jury John Grisham #30 Arrow novel
Seven stories Gabriel Garcia Marquez #31 Penguin short stories
Beloved Toni Morrison #32 Vintage novel
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Attwood #33 Vintage novel
After the Funeral Agatha Christie #34 Harper Collins novel crime
Contemporary Black British Short Stories ed. Jacob Ross #35 Peepal Tree short stories
The Riddle of the Sands Erskine Childers #36 Dover novel
The Berlin Wall Cafe Paul Durcan #37 Harvill poetry
Springlines Clare Best /Mary Anne Aytoun-Ellis #38 Little Toller poetry/art/essay
The Snow Child Eowyn Ivey #39 Tinder novel
In the Wild Wood Frances Gapper #40 Cultured Llama short stories
Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne #41 novel
[R]Twenty Prose Poems Baudelaire #42 City Lights prose poetry
His Bloody Project Graeme McRae Burnet #43 Contraband novel
Philip Larkin:Poems (selected by Martin Amis) #44 Faber poetry
The Wife - how it works various #45 Ladybird/Penguin humour
[R]Voices from Stone and Bronze Caroline Davies #46 Cinnamon poetry
[R]Candide Voltaire #47 Penguin classics
[R]Some of us Glow more than Others/Tania Hershman #48 Unthank short stories
The Travels of Lady Bulldog Burton Toksvig/Nightingale #49 Little,Brown humour
On Writing Stephen King #50 Hodder memoir
Lusitania various #51 Pen and Sword military history
The Disappearance of Adele Bedeaux Graeme Macrae Burnet #52 Contraband novel
{R}The Redemption of Galen Pike Carys Davies #53 Salt short stories
The 39 steps John Buchan #54 Samuel French novel spy
Diary of a Bad Year J M Coetzee #55 Vintage novel
Holy Wind in Navajo Philosophy James Kale McNeley #56 Uni of Arizona philosophy
Strange Pilgrims Gabriel Garcia Marquez #57 Penguin short stories
[R]Somme unseen panoramas Barton/Banning #58 Constable/IWM history/military
Night Sky with Exit Wounds Ocean Vuong #59 Cape poetry
Do no Harm Henry Marsh #60 W&N non fic medical
On the trail of the poets of WW1:E Blunden McPhail/Guest #61 Pen&sword biog/history/military
The Magic Toy Shop Angela Carter #62 Virago novel
Elizabeth is Missing Emma Healey #63 Penguin novel
101 things with mexican sprayer Heinz Deppe #64 ? humour
The Seasons of Cullen Church/Bernard O'Donoghue #65 Faber poetry
Narcissistic Lovers Cynthia Zane/Kevin Dibble #66 New Horizon non fic
The Wars Timothy Findley #67 Penguin fiction
Very selected Mimi Khalvati #68 Smith Doorstop poetry
{R}The Spire William Golding #69 Faber and Faber novel
The Soul of Kindness Elizabeth Taylor #70 Chatto novel
Into the Wild Jon Krakauer #71 Pan/MacMillan non-fiction
Once an Artist Always an Artist Capt C J Bloomfield #72 Self pub (1921) memoir/milit hist
The Parrot the Horse and the man Amarjit Chandan #73 Arc poetry
An Anthology of Mine Rex Whistler #74 Hamish Hamilton poetry/paint'gs
Photographing the Fallen Jeremy Gordon-Smith #75 Pen & Sword military history
An Anthology of Mine Rex Whistler #74 Hamish Hamilton poetry/paint'gs
Photographing the Fallen Jeremy Gordon-Smith #75 Pen & Sword military history
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