Book list
Putting this at the end of my LJ (currently) might spur me to update it a bit more regularly than I managed last year...
1. A Respectable Trade, Philippa Gregory. Finished 2/1/05 Enjoyed it, like the author anyway.
2. Bread And Chocolate, Philippa Gregory. 3/1/05 Some of these stories sounded familiar, others didn't. Perhaps I've read some in magazines or collections, or previously had this out of the library and didn't finish it?
3. Jennifer Government, Max Barry. 4/1/05-15/01/05 Good but slow - partly because it was my 'pushchair book' so I didn't really get to read much at any one time, partly because the naming system made it difficult sometimes to figure out which character was intended (two John Nikes, for instance, makes it a bit tricky when they're both in the same scene). The reason for it was good but the result was awkward.
4. Confessions of a C-list Celeb, Paul Hendy. 15/01/05. Ha. Funny and too true in places - the author is also a C-list celeb so I trust him on most of this (although I am assuming he's never been in exactly the same situations!). Fiction, in case anyone wonders. It's all been fiction so far this year, so maybe time for some non-fiction now?
5. The Best Friend's Guide To Getting Your Groove Back, Vicki Iovine. 16/01/05-19/01/05 Blah. A lot of this book hasn't been translated properly - they've made a little effort on small details but missed some big glaring ones. Which is annoying to say the least. Other than that it was quite good in a 'there is light at the end of the tunnel' way.
6. Guide To Potty Training, Judy Gardener (?). 19/01/05. Not particularly exciting, but quite funny in parts (mostly thanks to the pictures!). Useful since this is something we are going to have to tackle this year one way or another - and reading it convinced me that 'now' is not that time. We'll probably start in the summer some time, around his birthday perhaps.
7. The Know-It-All, AJ Jacobs. 29/01/05. Non-fiction, about a man who decides to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A-Z. Which is one way to kill a year or so, I suppose. Interspersed with his daily life, his marriage, and other things, he manages to shoehorn a lot of unrelated facts. It's fun. And I am amazed at the patience of his poor wife, given the not-particularly flattering portrayal of her brother, father-in-law, and husband. ;-)
8. The Best British Mysteries, ed. Maxim Jakubowski. 27/1/05-31/1/05. Short stories from a variety of authors including Ian Rankin and Lindsey Davis (both of whom I've read before and like) and Reginald Hill (Dalziel and Pascoe, I'd not read any of his before but liked this). The one that particularly stuck in my mind was one that I will have to find the info for and update later, but it was really quite chilling. These were a good mixture of murder, not-quite-murder and just plain mysterious, which was good. 100% murder would have been irritating after the first half-dozen stories, I think.
9. Instructions For American Servicemen In Britain 1942, War Department. 01/02/05. A curious little book, brought out as a stocking filler by the Bodleian Library first in 1994 and then again this last autumn. It's printed on 'economy' paper and the binding is brown-paper. It was typeset by an ex-colleague (which means I'm a little more critical of the typos than I might otherwise be - it's hard to know if these are faithful reproductions of the original errors or just mistakes, without going down to Rhodes House and attempting to see the original pamphlet. Anyway, it's full of fascinating stuff that was truly given to GIs in an attempt to avoid domestic scuffles while they were over here! Things like 'Remember there's a war on. Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. The British people are anxious for you to know that you are not seeing their country at its best. There's been a war on since 1939. The houses haven't been painted because factories are not making paint. ... the British people are anxious for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much prettier, cleaner, neater.' A really funny little book from a modern perspective but also good for giving one a glimpse of what it was like 60 years ago, and how odd we must have seemed, as a nation, to outsiders. (And how paranoid the US government must have been about the potential behaviour of their soldiers! Some of this stuff is so common-sense it's practically insulting their intelligence.)
10. Sickened, Julie Gregory. 04/02/05. Memoir of a childhood affected by Munchausen's [Syndrome] By Proxy. Sad but gripping story - but at the end it felt like she'd missed a few clues along the way. [Why no investigation of her two deceased siblings?] And there's a bit too much introspection and not enough moving-the-story-along near the end. But other than that a good (if scary) read.
11. Deep Secret, Diana Wynne Jones. 04/02/05-10/02/05. Re-read of one I originally had as a library book, I think. Lots of fun about Conventions and Con-goers, DWJ knows her stuff on that score! A good Fantasy/Magic romp, with very sympathetic lead characters. As always, I care about the characters' fates. Which counts for a lot.
12. Conrad's Fate, Diana Wynne Jones. 24/02/05. This leapfrogged over The Time Traveler's Wife which I'm still reading, because I've been looking forward to this for a long time! And it was good. It's a Chrestomanci series book, although Gabriel is still Chrestomanci, and we meet Christopher and Millie just a couple of years (four?) after The Lives Of Christopher Chant. A nice twist in the plot - nothing is quite as it appears, even very near the end - and some neat world-switching is crucial (as always).
13. Spoken Here - Travels Among Threatened Languages, Mark Abley. 26/02/05-28/02/05. Fascinating look at endangered languages - e.g. various Aboriginal Australian and Native American languages, Provencal, Manx... Abley talks to those who still retain scraps of each language, those who are striving to keep them alive, and studies a little of each himself. He really makes you care about each one, and successfully conveys the sense of pride - and some panic - that each language's speakers feel in their heritage. Ultimately sad, in most cases, but in some there's a very positive sense that Something is Being Done to preserve what's left. Which is only right.
14. Autobiography Of A One-Year-Old, Rohan Cappanda. 28/02/05-02/03/05. Hahahahaha. It's probably enough to say that smallclanger could have written this, word for word. And it made me laugh out loud in the middle of the night thinking about one particular bit of it. The author has a small daughter and clearly observed her very closely!
15. Stiff - The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach. 02/03/05-14/03/05. Read in bits in the car, mostly, because it's somewhat disjointed non-fiction that didn't suffer for it. Fascinating although occasionally upsetting/unpleasant look at some things that happen to dead bodies, including medical training, car crash research, and alternatives to burial or cremation. A subject that had been on my mind lately and actually reading the book made me feel better about the whole concept of death, as it illustrates very clearly how the body is just a shell and nothing that happens to it actually affects the person who used to live in it. Sounds a bit daft, but it probably needs saying every now and again.
16. An Audience With An Elephant, Byron Rogers. 05/03/05-19/03/05. Borrowed from bisonwife, on her recommendation, and thoroughly enjoyed. It's a collection of essays (almost whimsies, in places) about some great characters and places. The story of the ~4000lb bomb depot explosion that wiped out a village startled and saddened me; the chap who collected the entire history of his village was fascinating; the Wake family history is amazing. I want to read more on all of them, and visit all the places. And read more of his work (which will, with luck, be possible soon! Hoorah!).
17. A Tough Guide To Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones. 20/03/05-21/03/05. Comfort re-read, to accompany The Dark Lord of Derkholm which I've nearly finished. Have ended up with five books on the go at the moment, for various reasons.
18. Taking Charge Of Your Fertility, Toni Wechsler. 13/03/05-19/03/05. Very interesting 'bible' of female fertility awareness (both for conception and contraception purposes). Known as TCOYF, I think half my friends list have already read it and most of the rest of it should.
19. What Not To Name Your Baby, Joe Borgenicht. 22/04/05.
20. You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters, Bill Fawcett & Brian Thompson. 22/04/05-24/04/05.
21. Why Don't Cats Like To Swim?, David Feldman. 24/04/05. The Imponderables series.
There's at least one more title missing in March and probably one in April, but I was away and not recording the details. Edit: Yes Please Thanks by Penny Palmano probably falls in this gap, I definitely read it this year!
22. The Dark Lord Of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones. /01/05-15/05/05. I lost it for a while, which held up finishing!
23. Jeeves And The Sense Of Impending Doom, PG Wodehouse. 17/05/05.
24. The Year Of The Griffin, Diana Wynne Jones. 18/05/05. Sequel to The Dark Lord Of Derkholm.
25. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard, Tom Holt. 23/05/05. Sequel to The Portable Door and In Your Dreams, about the (mis)adventures of Paul Carpenter, who works for a very odd company indeed.
26. See Delphi And Die, Lindsey Davis. 07/06/05-08/06/05. Umpteenth Falco novel, this time set in Greece, on a 'package tour' of not-the-Olympics. Murder, bloodshed, a nasty ending - not quite as funny or satisfyingly final as most endings, but dramatic and effective.
27. Our Hidden Lives, Simon Garfield. 01/06/05-10/06/05. Postwar diaries of Britain. A collection of diarists from all sorts of backgrounds, cataloguing the end of WWII and the Austerity period. Fascinating stuff.
28. Don't Eat This Book, Morgan Spurlock. 09/06/05-11/06/05. Not quite the-book-of-the-film but it does dwell quite heavily on Super Size Me, his film about living on fast food. It reminded me quite heavily of - and he quotes from - Fat Land & Fast Food Nation. An interesting and up-to-date view of fast food, corporate tactics, nutrition and exercise in general. Thought-provoking.
29. The Bank Manager and the Holy Grail, Byron Rogers. 17/06/05-18/06/05. Same vein as #16, but all set in Wales - mostly around Camarthen. Fascinating and now I want all these books so I can reread and dip into them frequently!
30. The Secret Purposes, David Baddiel. 01/07/05-02/07/05. Fantastic. No, really. Like the blurb on the back says (paraphrasing) this makes him so much more than 'a celebrity novelist'. It's partly his own family history that he drew on, which probably helps, but it's wonderfully written, immaculately researched ['write what you know' clearly does work for him], you care about the characters - yup, I guess you can say I really liked this book. I would recommend it - so I'll make a separate post doing just that in a moment. Oh, what's it about? Refugees, internment, love.
31. Charlie, Lesley Pearce. 06/07/05-07/07/05. Brick of a book, typical blockbuster type. But very enjoyable.
32. The Undomestic Goddess, Sophie Kinsella. 08/07/05. Silly, somewhat predictable, but good. Some laugh-out-loud moments.
33. Everything Bad Is Good For You, Steven Johnson. 15/07/05-17/07/05. Non-fiction. Some interesting arguments in favour of TV, computer games, new-fangled stuff that traditionalists fear are harming us! He has some convincing theories, and some that I would nitpick. Overall it was thought-provoking, though.
34. The Green Lane To Nowhere, Byron Rogers.
35. The Yes Man, Danny Wallace. 12/08/05-13/08/05.
36. The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers, Elizabeth Pantley.
37. Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi. Fascinating but grim!
38. Minus Nine To One, Jools Oliver. Silly and useful in turn, which made it irritating - can't condemn it because she tackles some subjects really well, and tells a good anecdote (how she hasn't strangled Jamie by now I don't know), but it's also really really annoying in places. Grrrr.
Hrmmmm, some missing again. In any case...
39. The Last Human Cannonball, Byron Rogers.
40. Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk.
41. Salaam Brick Lane, Tarquin Hall. 7/10/05
42. British As A Second Language, David Bennun. 5/10/05-8/10/05
43-51. The 'Little House' series, Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1/10/05-18/10/05. Familiar rereads, revisited this time for a discussion on a mailing list.
52. Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder, John E. Miller.
53. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town, John E. Miller.
54. Constructing the Little House, Ann Romines. 1/10/05-18/10/05. All three for the mailing list discussion, along with various chapters out of other titles.
55-59. More LIW texts - A Wilder In The West, The Story of the Ingalls, The Iowa Story, The Story of the Wilders, Little House Country, William Anderson.
60. Child Star, Matt Thorne. 28/10/05-29/10/05.
61. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman. 14/09/05-31/10/05.
62. Babies Need Books, Dorothy Butler. 27/10/05-31/10/05.
63. Entertaining and Educating Your Pre-School Child. 4/11/05.
64. Talk To The Hand, Lynne Truss. 3/11/05-4/11/05.
65. The New English Library book of Internet Stories, ed. Maxim Jacubowski. 5/11/05-6/11/05.
66. Guide for British Servicemen in France, 1944. Companion to #9.
67. Everything I Know I Learned From TV.
68. Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver.
69. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling. Finally! and Eh!
70. [secret]
71. Fleshmarket Close, Ian Rankin. Inspector Rebus again, more focus on Siobhan this time. I wonder if he'll continue the series when Rebus retires, using Siobhan as an excuse for Rebus to act as consultant?
72. Cool For Cats, Jessica Adams. 19/12/05. Music journalism in the 1970s (fiction). Funny but blah.
73. Eleanor Rigby, Douglas Coupland. 22/12/05. Sad and funny in turn. Typical Coupland material, though.
74. [secret]
75. The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory. 26/12/-5-27/12/05. The story (fictionalised!) of Catalina of Spain aka Katherine of Aragon, her first marriage to Arthur and subsequent remarriage to Henry. Somewhat irritating near the end as it suddenly got very bitty and jumped several years between paragraphs, where the style of the first half was much more readable. Not a reliable history but an enjoyable read all the same.
76. The Virgin's Lover, Philippa Gregory. 27/12/05-28/12/05.
77. Lucky, Alice Sebold. 28/12/05.
78. Lyra's Oxford, Philip Pullman, 30/12/05.
79. Questions Children Ask, Miriam Stoppard. 30/12/05.
80. The Idler book of Crap Towns. 31/12/05.
A number of knitting books really ought to be in the list too, along with a lot of consultation of parenting books. Given that I have read some of them from cover to cover during the year, I reckon this easily takes me past 104 books, or two a week. There have been a number that I dipped into, beyond that, but have no need to read further for the time being. What's That Rash I've read cover to cover at least three times in one day, but it's so short I don't think it counts. ;-)
None of this includes any of the children's books I've read to smallclanger, of course.
Edit: I've remembered Schott's Almanac 2006, Noel Streatfield's The Circus Is Coming, and Mrs Slocombe's Pussy! That takes it up to 83 titles, but there are probably still more.
1. A Respectable Trade, Philippa Gregory. Finished 2/1/05 Enjoyed it, like the author anyway.
2. Bread And Chocolate, Philippa Gregory. 3/1/05 Some of these stories sounded familiar, others didn't. Perhaps I've read some in magazines or collections, or previously had this out of the library and didn't finish it?
3. Jennifer Government, Max Barry. 4/1/05-15/01/05 Good but slow - partly because it was my 'pushchair book' so I didn't really get to read much at any one time, partly because the naming system made it difficult sometimes to figure out which character was intended (two John Nikes, for instance, makes it a bit tricky when they're both in the same scene). The reason for it was good but the result was awkward.
4. Confessions of a C-list Celeb, Paul Hendy. 15/01/05. Ha. Funny and too true in places - the author is also a C-list celeb so I trust him on most of this (although I am assuming he's never been in exactly the same situations!). Fiction, in case anyone wonders. It's all been fiction so far this year, so maybe time for some non-fiction now?
5. The Best Friend's Guide To Getting Your Groove Back, Vicki Iovine. 16/01/05-19/01/05 Blah. A lot of this book hasn't been translated properly - they've made a little effort on small details but missed some big glaring ones. Which is annoying to say the least. Other than that it was quite good in a 'there is light at the end of the tunnel' way.
6. Guide To Potty Training, Judy Gardener (?). 19/01/05. Not particularly exciting, but quite funny in parts (mostly thanks to the pictures!). Useful since this is something we are going to have to tackle this year one way or another - and reading it convinced me that 'now' is not that time. We'll probably start in the summer some time, around his birthday perhaps.
7. The Know-It-All, AJ Jacobs. 29/01/05. Non-fiction, about a man who decides to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A-Z. Which is one way to kill a year or so, I suppose. Interspersed with his daily life, his marriage, and other things, he manages to shoehorn a lot of unrelated facts. It's fun. And I am amazed at the patience of his poor wife, given the not-particularly flattering portrayal of her brother, father-in-law, and husband. ;-)
8. The Best British Mysteries, ed. Maxim Jakubowski. 27/1/05-31/1/05. Short stories from a variety of authors including Ian Rankin and Lindsey Davis (both of whom I've read before and like) and Reginald Hill (Dalziel and Pascoe, I'd not read any of his before but liked this). The one that particularly stuck in my mind was one that I will have to find the info for and update later, but it was really quite chilling. These were a good mixture of murder, not-quite-murder and just plain mysterious, which was good. 100% murder would have been irritating after the first half-dozen stories, I think.
9. Instructions For American Servicemen In Britain 1942, War Department. 01/02/05. A curious little book, brought out as a stocking filler by the Bodleian Library first in 1994 and then again this last autumn. It's printed on 'economy' paper and the binding is brown-paper. It was typeset by an ex-colleague (which means I'm a little more critical of the typos than I might otherwise be - it's hard to know if these are faithful reproductions of the original errors or just mistakes, without going down to Rhodes House and attempting to see the original pamphlet. Anyway, it's full of fascinating stuff that was truly given to GIs in an attempt to avoid domestic scuffles while they were over here! Things like 'Remember there's a war on. Britain may look a little shop-worn and grimy to you. The British people are anxious for you to know that you are not seeing their country at its best. There's been a war on since 1939. The houses haven't been painted because factories are not making paint. ... the British people are anxious for you to know that in normal times Britain looks much prettier, cleaner, neater.' A really funny little book from a modern perspective but also good for giving one a glimpse of what it was like 60 years ago, and how odd we must have seemed, as a nation, to outsiders. (And how paranoid the US government must have been about the potential behaviour of their soldiers! Some of this stuff is so common-sense it's practically insulting their intelligence.)
10. Sickened, Julie Gregory. 04/02/05. Memoir of a childhood affected by Munchausen's [Syndrome] By Proxy. Sad but gripping story - but at the end it felt like she'd missed a few clues along the way. [Why no investigation of her two deceased siblings?] And there's a bit too much introspection and not enough moving-the-story-along near the end. But other than that a good (if scary) read.
11. Deep Secret, Diana Wynne Jones. 04/02/05-10/02/05. Re-read of one I originally had as a library book, I think. Lots of fun about Conventions and Con-goers, DWJ knows her stuff on that score! A good Fantasy/Magic romp, with very sympathetic lead characters. As always, I care about the characters' fates. Which counts for a lot.
12. Conrad's Fate, Diana Wynne Jones. 24/02/05. This leapfrogged over The Time Traveler's Wife which I'm still reading, because I've been looking forward to this for a long time! And it was good. It's a Chrestomanci series book, although Gabriel is still Chrestomanci, and we meet Christopher and Millie just a couple of years (four?) after The Lives Of Christopher Chant. A nice twist in the plot - nothing is quite as it appears, even very near the end - and some neat world-switching is crucial (as always).
13. Spoken Here - Travels Among Threatened Languages, Mark Abley. 26/02/05-28/02/05. Fascinating look at endangered languages - e.g. various Aboriginal Australian and Native American languages, Provencal, Manx... Abley talks to those who still retain scraps of each language, those who are striving to keep them alive, and studies a little of each himself. He really makes you care about each one, and successfully conveys the sense of pride - and some panic - that each language's speakers feel in their heritage. Ultimately sad, in most cases, but in some there's a very positive sense that Something is Being Done to preserve what's left. Which is only right.
14. Autobiography Of A One-Year-Old, Rohan Cappanda. 28/02/05-02/03/05. Hahahahaha. It's probably enough to say that smallclanger could have written this, word for word. And it made me laugh out loud in the middle of the night thinking about one particular bit of it. The author has a small daughter and clearly observed her very closely!
15. Stiff - The Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers, Mary Roach. 02/03/05-14/03/05. Read in bits in the car, mostly, because it's somewhat disjointed non-fiction that didn't suffer for it. Fascinating although occasionally upsetting/unpleasant look at some things that happen to dead bodies, including medical training, car crash research, and alternatives to burial or cremation. A subject that had been on my mind lately and actually reading the book made me feel better about the whole concept of death, as it illustrates very clearly how the body is just a shell and nothing that happens to it actually affects the person who used to live in it. Sounds a bit daft, but it probably needs saying every now and again.
16. An Audience With An Elephant, Byron Rogers. 05/03/05-19/03/05. Borrowed from bisonwife, on her recommendation, and thoroughly enjoyed. It's a collection of essays (almost whimsies, in places) about some great characters and places. The story of the ~4000lb bomb depot explosion that wiped out a village startled and saddened me; the chap who collected the entire history of his village was fascinating; the Wake family history is amazing. I want to read more on all of them, and visit all the places. And read more of his work (which will, with luck, be possible soon! Hoorah!).
17. A Tough Guide To Fantasyland, Diana Wynne Jones. 20/03/05-21/03/05. Comfort re-read, to accompany The Dark Lord of Derkholm which I've nearly finished. Have ended up with five books on the go at the moment, for various reasons.
18. Taking Charge Of Your Fertility, Toni Wechsler. 13/03/05-19/03/05. Very interesting 'bible' of female fertility awareness (both for conception and contraception purposes). Known as TCOYF, I think half my friends list have already read it and most of the rest of it should.
19. What Not To Name Your Baby, Joe Borgenicht. 22/04/05.
20. You Did What? Mad Plans and Great Historical Disasters, Bill Fawcett & Brian Thompson. 22/04/05-24/04/05.
21. Why Don't Cats Like To Swim?, David Feldman. 24/04/05. The Imponderables series.
There's at least one more title missing in March and probably one in April, but I was away and not recording the details. Edit: Yes Please Thanks by Penny Palmano probably falls in this gap, I definitely read it this year!
22. The Dark Lord Of Derkholm, Diana Wynne Jones. /01/05-15/05/05. I lost it for a while, which held up finishing!
23. Jeeves And The Sense Of Impending Doom, PG Wodehouse. 17/05/05.
24. The Year Of The Griffin, Diana Wynne Jones. 18/05/05. Sequel to The Dark Lord Of Derkholm.
25. Earth, Air, Fire and Custard, Tom Holt. 23/05/05. Sequel to The Portable Door and In Your Dreams, about the (mis)adventures of Paul Carpenter, who works for a very odd company indeed.
26. See Delphi And Die, Lindsey Davis. 07/06/05-08/06/05. Umpteenth Falco novel, this time set in Greece, on a 'package tour' of not-the-Olympics. Murder, bloodshed, a nasty ending - not quite as funny or satisfyingly final as most endings, but dramatic and effective.
27. Our Hidden Lives, Simon Garfield. 01/06/05-10/06/05. Postwar diaries of Britain. A collection of diarists from all sorts of backgrounds, cataloguing the end of WWII and the Austerity period. Fascinating stuff.
28. Don't Eat This Book, Morgan Spurlock. 09/06/05-11/06/05. Not quite the-book-of-the-film but it does dwell quite heavily on Super Size Me, his film about living on fast food. It reminded me quite heavily of - and he quotes from - Fat Land & Fast Food Nation. An interesting and up-to-date view of fast food, corporate tactics, nutrition and exercise in general. Thought-provoking.
29. The Bank Manager and the Holy Grail, Byron Rogers. 17/06/05-18/06/05. Same vein as #16, but all set in Wales - mostly around Camarthen. Fascinating and now I want all these books so I can reread and dip into them frequently!
30. The Secret Purposes, David Baddiel. 01/07/05-02/07/05. Fantastic. No, really. Like the blurb on the back says (paraphrasing) this makes him so much more than 'a celebrity novelist'. It's partly his own family history that he drew on, which probably helps, but it's wonderfully written, immaculately researched ['write what you know' clearly does work for him], you care about the characters - yup, I guess you can say I really liked this book. I would recommend it - so I'll make a separate post doing just that in a moment. Oh, what's it about? Refugees, internment, love.
31. Charlie, Lesley Pearce. 06/07/05-07/07/05. Brick of a book, typical blockbuster type. But very enjoyable.
32. The Undomestic Goddess, Sophie Kinsella. 08/07/05. Silly, somewhat predictable, but good. Some laugh-out-loud moments.
33. Everything Bad Is Good For You, Steven Johnson. 15/07/05-17/07/05. Non-fiction. Some interesting arguments in favour of TV, computer games, new-fangled stuff that traditionalists fear are harming us! He has some convincing theories, and some that I would nitpick. Overall it was thought-provoking, though.
34. The Green Lane To Nowhere, Byron Rogers.
35. The Yes Man, Danny Wallace. 12/08/05-13/08/05.
36. The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers, Elizabeth Pantley.
37. Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi. Fascinating but grim!
38. Minus Nine To One, Jools Oliver. Silly and useful in turn, which made it irritating - can't condemn it because she tackles some subjects really well, and tells a good anecdote (how she hasn't strangled Jamie by now I don't know), but it's also really really annoying in places. Grrrr.
Hrmmmm, some missing again. In any case...
39. The Last Human Cannonball, Byron Rogers.
40. Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk.
41. Salaam Brick Lane, Tarquin Hall. 7/10/05
42. British As A Second Language, David Bennun. 5/10/05-8/10/05
43-51. The 'Little House' series, Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1/10/05-18/10/05. Familiar rereads, revisited this time for a discussion on a mailing list.
52. Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder, John E. Miller.
53. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town, John E. Miller.
54. Constructing the Little House, Ann Romines. 1/10/05-18/10/05. All three for the mailing list discussion, along with various chapters out of other titles.
55-59. More LIW texts - A Wilder In The West, The Story of the Ingalls, The Iowa Story, The Story of the Wilders, Little House Country, William Anderson.
60. Child Star, Matt Thorne. 28/10/05-29/10/05.
61. Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Amanda Foreman. 14/09/05-31/10/05.
62. Babies Need Books, Dorothy Butler. 27/10/05-31/10/05.
63. Entertaining and Educating Your Pre-School Child. 4/11/05.
64. Talk To The Hand, Lynne Truss. 3/11/05-4/11/05.
65. The New English Library book of Internet Stories, ed. Maxim Jacubowski. 5/11/05-6/11/05.
66. Guide for British Servicemen in France, 1944. Companion to #9.
67. Everything I Know I Learned From TV.
68. Pigs in Heaven, Barbara Kingsolver.
69. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, JK Rowling. Finally! and Eh!
70. [secret]
71. Fleshmarket Close, Ian Rankin. Inspector Rebus again, more focus on Siobhan this time. I wonder if he'll continue the series when Rebus retires, using Siobhan as an excuse for Rebus to act as consultant?
72. Cool For Cats, Jessica Adams. 19/12/05. Music journalism in the 1970s (fiction). Funny but blah.
73. Eleanor Rigby, Douglas Coupland. 22/12/05. Sad and funny in turn. Typical Coupland material, though.
74. [secret]
75. The Constant Princess, Philippa Gregory. 26/12/-5-27/12/05. The story (fictionalised!) of Catalina of Spain aka Katherine of Aragon, her first marriage to Arthur and subsequent remarriage to Henry. Somewhat irritating near the end as it suddenly got very bitty and jumped several years between paragraphs, where the style of the first half was much more readable. Not a reliable history but an enjoyable read all the same.
76. The Virgin's Lover, Philippa Gregory. 27/12/05-28/12/05.
77. Lucky, Alice Sebold. 28/12/05.
78. Lyra's Oxford, Philip Pullman, 30/12/05.
79. Questions Children Ask, Miriam Stoppard. 30/12/05.
80. The Idler book of Crap Towns. 31/12/05.
A number of knitting books really ought to be in the list too, along with a lot of consultation of parenting books. Given that I have read some of them from cover to cover during the year, I reckon this easily takes me past 104 books, or two a week. There have been a number that I dipped into, beyond that, but have no need to read further for the time being. What's That Rash I've read cover to cover at least three times in one day, but it's so short I don't think it counts. ;-)
None of this includes any of the children's books I've read to smallclanger, of course.
Edit: I've remembered Schott's Almanac 2006, Noel Streatfield's The Circus Is Coming, and Mrs Slocombe's Pussy! That takes it up to 83 titles, but there are probably still more.