Books 2019
How many books did you read this year?
I read 171 books, of which 64 were by Agatha Christie. Only 11 books were by authors of colour, that I know of. 25 books were by men.
Did you reread anything? What?
I reread 7 books:
Sense and Sensibility (though now I question whether I actually did read this before, or I just think I did because of liking the film so much)
Cat Among the Pigeons, Hallowe'en Party and Third Girl by Agatha Christie
Venetia, Bath Tangle and Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer.
This is fewer rereads than last year (20 out of 109), which I think is because 2019 was not nearly as stressful a year as 2018, so I didn't need to have something soothingly familiar.
What were your top five books of the year?
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
Milkman by Anna Burns
Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie
I Ordered a Table for Six - Noel Streatfeild
Women Talking - Miriam Toews
Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
Home - Amanda Berriman
My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
Troublemaker - Leah Remini
Mist Over Pendle - Robert Neill
Silk for the Feed Dogs - Jackie Mallon
The Place on Dalhousie - Melina Marchetta
Testosterone Rex - Cordelia Fine
A Girl Returned - Donatella Di Petrantonio
Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog - Emily Dean
Clothes, Music, Boys - Viv Albertine
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
I do not usually read much literary-prize style fiction, and if I do it doesn't usually come out on top of my list, but Milkman was absolutely incredible. The writing and the subject matter were engrossing and surprising and funny and depressing.
Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
From the books above I'm interested to read more of most of the authors, but I wouldn't say I know if I love the authors themselves of just the books yet.
Agatha Christie isn't new by any stretch, but I suppose I newly discovered what an excellent writer and plotter she is. I read all the way through the Poirots (skipping most I'd already read except those above), then the Marples, then Tommy and Tuppence who I'd not read any of before, and then all the standalones in roughly chronological order. I skipped the short story collections because I don't like short stories (or rather I do when I make myself read some but I don't like them en masse) and have not yet read her autobiographies.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
The Testaments is what springs to mind- somehow having not watched the TV series, especially the second series, made me less eager for the book sequel. I suppose it felt a bit like it wasn't any longer a reading event as it was a TV one. Although I haven't read Go Set a Watchman either, so maybe I just don't want sequels to classic fiction by women.
Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?
Apparently I made the following remark in my year-end post for 2018:
This year I really want to read the literally several hundred unread books I have on my shelves. When I did a bit of Marie Kondoing I kept everything I haven't read I moved all the unread books that I still thought I might want to read to a later section, intending that I could then make myself reach for those instead of those I've already read a thousand times and want to read a thousand more. This was somewhat scuppered by moving to Syria and relying on ebooks, but now I'm back I can and should make more of an effort.
Um. Well. In my defence, I wasn't actually "back" for all that long, so am reliant on ebooks again. I think that the following books are the only ones I read in paper copy, and 4 of them I bought this year and read before the massive backlog.
Seems Like Old Times - Alan Coren
Pigs Can Fly - Barry Cryer
The Trouble with Women - Jacky Fleming
The Echoing Grove - Rosamund Lehman
Kid Gloves - Adam Mars-Jones
Bumped - Megan McCaffery
The Skylark War - Hilary McKay
Starting Over - Robin Pilcher
Venture to South Africa - Jane Shaw
The Winter is Past - Noel Streatfeild
Izzy Willy-Nilly - Cynthia Voigt
Did you get into any new genres?
No, I don't think so. Shall I sit down and weep because there are no worlds left to conquer?
What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
76 of the books I read this year were more than 50 years old (though only one, Sense and Sensibility was more than 100 years old), 4 of which made it to my favourite books list above. I'd pick either Sense and Sensibility or And Then There Were None as the ones I most enjoyed reading.
35 of the books I read this year were published in 2018 or 2019, which I think seems quite high, I'm sure I usually read fewer new books. I am in the process of going back and adding in the year of publication for everything I've read in the last 15 years. I still have 337 left to do, after which I shall wallow in an orgy of graphs and percentages, inspired by [Unknown LJ tag]. So far the oldest books I read were two published in the 1700s.
How many books did you buy?
Oh. Oh dear. I have just checked my email, and it turns out I bought 215 books on Kindle. This is almost entirely the fault of Kindle Daily Deals and the monthly equivalents, which encourage me to buy too many things that I then don't read. And 99p a time does really add up looked all at once like that. I have bought fewer hard copies of books, really only a handful of charity shop purchases and I am getting better about not buying things that I don't want to read immediately given the amount already on my shelves.
Did you use your library?
Yes! One of the reasons I bought the Kobo was that it directly links to the Overdrive system which Edinburgh library uses. This year I read 15 books from the library, and let us not mention the many more that automatically downloaded and I then ignored because I was face deep in Agatha Christie.
I also found out about the archive.org library which has lots and lots of 1970s/80s young adult books which is my favourite era, and when I get myself set up properly I shall go through any Cooneys I haven't read and the Norma Kleins.
What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?
A few hours? Mostly I've been reading books over several evenings, but especially on holidays I've powered through a few this year.
Did you DNF anything? Why?
I firmly believe that anything I started but didn't finish is merely suspended, waiting for the ideal confluence of circumstances that will lead to me finishing at another, yet to be determined, date.
What reading goals do you have for next year?
I really, really, really want to make myself read one of the French children's books that I have bought and then toted round at least three countries with the intention of improving. They are not hard books! I should be able to make myself! I would probably enjoy it if I got round to it! But I find reading in English so lovely and easy that when I want to pick up a book I want it to go quickly, not fumbling around for sentence structures.
I do want to keep reading as much as I have been this year as it's enjoyable, which will mean putting down the internet and reading in bed. Which is nice! I just don't do it as often as I could.
What’s the longest book you read?
I don't think I know - my ereader says percentages not pages, and without the physical block of a spine I'm not good at telling.
What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate?
I don't use Goodreads. I keep a spreadsheet on google drive, but I don't record ratings on it. I used to do monthly (or as often as I got to it) LJ posts, but my last one was in February, and I'm not sure I will get back into it. It would probably be good if I did, as it helps me to remember what I read and think more about patterns, but I find that now there are fewer comments in the world I don't feel as motivated.
What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
I was thoroughly looking forward to Anna Chronistic and the Scarab of Destiny by Ankaret Wells even before I knew it had a DeLuise in it - the book itself met my expectations even before exceeding it by having SEVERAL DeLuises.
Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?
No, none at all. I am peripherally aware of stuff happening in the Romance genre, but not enough to really even remember the names of those involved.
Any books that disappointed you?
I didn't much like the Pleasure Cruise Mystery by Robin Forsyth - not really a disappointment as it wasn't something I was looking forward to, but the
What were your least favorite books of the year?
Theatrical - Maggie Harcourt
Dirty Northern Bastards and other tales from the terraces - Tim Marshall
Summer Term at Malory Towers - Pamela Cox
The Torso in the Town - Simon Brett
Several Agatha Christies that weren't as awesome as the others
These are the ones I remember not being grabbed by, there are several others reading through the list that I plain don't remember what they are, at least by title alone.
What genre did you read the most of?
78% of the books I read were adult fiction (which is as granular as my listings get), and of those most were mystery, what with the Christies. Following that, biography/memoir. It is not unusual for me to mostly read fiction, but my reading of children's/YA has dropped right off. This is mostly because of reading mostly ebooks at the moment and having my children's books in hardcopy at home.
What books do you want to finish before the year is over?
Before 2020 is over? Or before 2019 was over? If the latter, then the question about how many books I'd read in the year stops being accurate, surely, if you're writing it at a time when the number might conceivably go up? Anyway, I was in the process of actively reading two books over new year: Cornelia and the Chalet School by Katherine Bruce and The Time of Green Magic by HIlary McKay. I enjoyed them both, but especially the Hilary McKay book, which I preferred to the Skylarks' War.
If we're talking what I want to finish in 2020, then I'm midway through A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor, Rhik Sammader's memoir, and sundry others that I should get on with. Things I would like to read this year, other than EVERYTHING - Wilding was recommended to me by someone who thought she'd dislike it and then didn't, I've had My Sister the Serial Killer downloaded for ages now, and I suppose I really should get around to reading some Classics.
Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)?
I read two 2018 Costa prize winners, Normal People by Sally Rooney and The Skylarks War by Hilary McKay.
I read three of the nominees for the Women's Prize 2019 (Silence of the Girls, Milkman, Ordinary People) the winner in 2018 (Home Fires) and one of the nominees from 2017 (Stay With Me).
Milkman won the Booker in 2018.
Oh, and it turns out Reasons to be Cheerful won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize (for comedy fiction).
What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?
Overhyped isn't quite the right word, but I didn't find Educated as stunning as I'd expected to from the amount of people talking about it. I think that is partly because I wanted more of the nuts and bolts about how she managed to get all the way to a PhD, when a lot of her story boiled down to "I didn't know how to do this, so I was failing, and then I realised/was told how to do it, and did it well", because, I suppose, it's less interesting than the whole part of her childhood. It was still really good! I just wasn't blown away when I was expecting to be.
This is now three negative questions about books (least favourite, most disappointing, over-hyped), which seems a lot.
bDid any books surprise you with how good they were?
Milkman! And at some point I seem to have developed an unfair synthesis of Agatha Christie as "cosy mysteries" - they are NOT cosy. Some of them are a little smug, and not all of them are good, but as a whole they are surprising and interesting and often quite chilling. And Then There Were None scared me so much at the end that I had to immediately start another book to get it out of my head so that I could sleep, despite having seen the miniseries earlier in the year and pretty much knowing the end.
And here, under a cut, is everything I read in 2019:
Stay With Me Adebayo, Ayobami
Clothes, Music, Boys Albertine, Viv
Sense and Sensibility Austen, Jane
The Silence of the Girls Barker Pat
Home Berriman, Amanda
A Week in Winter Binchy, Maeve
Friends and Relations Bowen, Elizabeth
The Torso in the Town Brett, Simon
Milkman Burns, Anna
Lost for Words Butland, Stephanie
The Fourth Man Child, Lee
Blue Moon Child, Lee
The Pale Horse Christie, Agatha
Sleeping Murder Christie, Agatha
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Christie, Agatha
Postern of Fate Christie, Agatha
Elephants Can Remember Christie, Agatha
Passenger to Frankfurt Christie, Agatha
Hallowe'en Party Christie, Agatha
By the Pricking of My Thumbs Christie, Agatha
Endless Night Christie, Agatha
Third Girl Christie, Agatha
A Caribbean Mystery Christie, Agatha
The Clocks Christie, Agatha
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie, Agatha
Cat Among the Pigeons Christie, Agatha
Ordeal by Innocence Christie, Agatha
4:50 From Paddington Christie, Agatha
Dead Man's Folly Christie, Agatha
HIckory Dickory Dock Christie, Agatha
Destination Unknown Christie, Agatha
After the Funeral Christie, Agatha
A Pocket full of Rye Christie, Agatha
Mrs McGinty's Dead Christie, Agatha
THey Do It With Mirrors Christie, Agatha
They Came to Baghdad Christie, Agatha
A Murder is Announced Christie, Agatha
Crooked House Christie, Agatha
Taken at the Flood Christie, Agatha
The Labors of Hercules Christie, Agatha
The Hollow Christie, Agatha
Sparkling Cyanide Christie, Agatha
Death Comes as the End Christie, Agatha
Towards Zero Christie, Agatha
The Moving Finger Christie, Agatha
The Body in the Library Christie, Agatha
N or M? Christie, Agatha
Evil Under the Sun Christie, Agatha
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Christie, Agatha
Sad Cypress Christie, Agatha
Ant Then There Were None Christie, Agatha
Hercule Poirot's Christmas Christie, Agatha
Appointment with Death Christie, Agatha
Murder is Easy Christie, Agatha
Dumb Witness Christie, Agatha
Murder in the Mews Christie, Agatha
Death on the Nile Christie, Agatha
Murder in Mesopotamia Christie, Agatha
Cards on the Table Christie, Agatha
The ABC Murders Christie, Agatha
Death in the Clouds Christie, Agatha
Three Act Tragedy Christie, Agatha
Parker Pyne Investigates Christie, Agatha
Why Didn't They Ask Evans Christie, Agatha
Peril at End House Christie, Agatha
The Sittaford Mystery Christie, Agatha
Black Coffee Christie, Agatha
Partners in Crime Christie, Agatha
The Seven Dials Mystery Christie, Agatha
The Mystery of the Blue Train Christie, Agatha
The Big Four Christie, Agatha
The Secret of Chimneys Christie, Agatha
Poirot Investigates Christie, Agatha
The Man in the Brown Suit Christie, Agatha
The Murder on the Links Christie, Agatha
The Secret Adversary Christie, Agatha
An English Country Manner Clark, Rory
The Alfred G Graebner Memorial High School handbook of rules and regulations Conford, Ellen
After the Party Connolly, Cressida
The Bad and the Beautiful Cooney, Caroline B
Seems Like Old Times Coren, Alan
Summer Term at Malory Towers Cox, Pamela
Chedsy Place Crompton, Richmal
The Theban Mysteries Cross, Amanda
Pigs Can Fly Cryer, Barry
Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog Dean, Emily
French Exit deWitt, Patrick
A Girl Returned Di Pietrantonio, Donatella
Gerry & I Durrell, Jacqui
Juneli's First Term Dutta, Swapna
Alice Eliot, Elizabeth
Ordinary People Evans, Diana
Testosterone Rex Fine, Cordelia
The Trouble With Women Fleming, Jacky
The Pleasure Cruise Mystery Forsythe, Robin
Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets Fox, Jessica
Lucia on Holiday Fraser-Sampson, Guy
Well-Schooled in Murder George, Elizabeth
Smallbone Deceased Gilbert, Michael
An Unsuitable Woman Gordon, Kat
Marriages are Made in Bond Street Halson, Penrose
Theatrical Harcourt, Maggie
Black Sheep Heyer, Georgette
Venetia Heyer, Georgette
Bath Tangle Heyer, Georgette
The Price of Salt Highsmith, Patricia
The Adults Hulse, Caroline
The Happy Hoofer Imrie, Celia
Much Ado About You James, Eloisa
I Owe You One Kinsella, Sophie
Surprise Me Kinsella, Sophie
Wedding Night Kinsella, Sophie
Now That I Know Klein, Norma
Mom, the Wolf Man, and me Klein, Norma
Magicians of Madh Krishnakumar, Aditi
Rich People Problems Kwan, Kevin
China Rich Girlfriend Kwan, Kevin
Our Game Le Carre, John
The Echoing Grove Lehman, Rosamund
Dumpling Days Lin, Grace
The Little Cornish Kitchen Linfoot, Jane
Summer Rules Lipsyte, Robert
Silk for the Feed Dogs Mallon, Jackie
The Place on Dalhousie Marchetta, Melina
Kid Gloves Mars-Jones, Adam
My Mother Was Nuts Marshall, Penny
Dirty Nothern Bastards and other tales from the terraces Marshall, Tim
Bumped McCafferty, Megan
Pilates for Sexual Enhancement McDonald, Berlinda, Hershman, Dana
The Skylarks’ War McKay, Hilary
The Importance of Being Aisling McLysaght, Emer & Breece, Sarah
Debutante Melville, Anne
Nine Perfect Strangers Moriarty, Liane
Clinging to the Wreckage Mortimer, John
Mist Over Pendle Neill, Robert
Everything I Never Told You Ng, Celeste
Wise Blood O'Connor, Flannery
Still Standing O'Grady, Paul
Dear Mrs Bird Pearce, AJ
This Will Only Hurt a Little Phillips, Busy
Starting Over Pilcher, Robin
The Shepherd's Crown Pratchett, Terry
Christmas for One Prowse, Amanda
Crampton Hodnet Pym, Barbara
An Unsuitable Attachment Pym, Barbara
No Fond Return of Love Pym, Barbara
Straight Outta Crawley Ranganathan, Romesh
Troublemaker Remini, Leah
Normal People Rooney, Sally
Home Fire Shamsie, Kamila
Venture to South Africa Shaw, Jane
My Name is Why Sissay, Lemn
Loitering with Intent Spark, Muriel
Top Marks for Murder Stevens, Robin
Death in the Spotlight Stevens, Robin
Reasons to be Cheerful Stibbe, Nina
Not the End of the World Stowe, Rebecca
Olivia Strachey, Dorothy
I Ordered a Table for Six Streatfeild, Noel
The Winter is Past Streatfeild, Noel
The Secret Barrister The Secret Barrister
Women Talking Toews, Miriam
Coming Up Trumps Trumpington, Jean
Animals Unsworth, Emma
No Angel Vincenzi, Penny
Izzy Willy-Nilly Voight, Cynthia
Anna Chronistic Wells, Ankaret
The Duke is Dead: Kingsblood Book One Wells, Ankaret & Headley, Irene
Educated Westover, Tara
East of Wimbledon Williams, Nigel
The Interestings Wolitzer, Meg
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I read 171 books, of which 64 were by Agatha Christie. Only 11 books were by authors of colour, that I know of. 25 books were by men.
Did you reread anything? What?
I reread 7 books:
Sense and Sensibility (though now I question whether I actually did read this before, or I just think I did because of liking the film so much)
Cat Among the Pigeons, Hallowe'en Party and Third Girl by Agatha Christie
Venetia, Bath Tangle and Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer.
This is fewer rereads than last year (20 out of 109), which I think is because 2019 was not nearly as stressful a year as 2018, so I didn't need to have something soothingly familiar.
What were your top five books of the year?
Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
Milkman by Anna Burns
Home Fire - Kamila Shamsie
I Ordered a Table for Six - Noel Streatfeild
Women Talking - Miriam Toews
Then There Were None - Agatha Christie
Home - Amanda Berriman
My Name is Why- Lemn Sissay
Troublemaker - Leah Remini
Mist Over Pendle - Robert Neill
Silk for the Feed Dogs - Jackie Mallon
The Place on Dalhousie - Melina Marchetta
Testosterone Rex - Cordelia Fine
A Girl Returned - Donatella Di Petrantonio
Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog - Emily Dean
Clothes, Music, Boys - Viv Albertine
The Silence of the Girls - Pat Barker
Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
I do not usually read much literary-prize style fiction, and if I do it doesn't usually come out on top of my list, but Milkman was absolutely incredible. The writing and the subject matter were engrossing and surprising and funny and depressing.
Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
From the books above I'm interested to read more of most of the authors, but I wouldn't say I know if I love the authors themselves of just the books yet.
Agatha Christie isn't new by any stretch, but I suppose I newly discovered what an excellent writer and plotter she is. I read all the way through the Poirots (skipping most I'd already read except those above), then the Marples, then Tommy and Tuppence who I'd not read any of before, and then all the standalones in roughly chronological order. I skipped the short story collections because I don't like short stories (or rather I do when I make myself read some but I don't like them en masse) and have not yet read her autobiographies.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
The Testaments is what springs to mind- somehow having not watched the TV series, especially the second series, made me less eager for the book sequel. I suppose it felt a bit like it wasn't any longer a reading event as it was a TV one. Although I haven't read Go Set a Watchman either, so maybe I just don't want sequels to classic fiction by women.
Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?
Apparently I made the following remark in my year-end post for 2018:
This year I really want to read the literally several hundred unread books I have on my shelves. When I did a bit of Marie Kondoing I kept everything I haven't read I moved all the unread books that I still thought I might want to read to a later section, intending that I could then make myself reach for those instead of those I've already read a thousand times and want to read a thousand more. This was somewhat scuppered by moving to Syria and relying on ebooks, but now I'm back I can and should make more of an effort.
Um. Well. In my defence, I wasn't actually "back" for all that long, so am reliant on ebooks again. I think that the following books are the only ones I read in paper copy, and 4 of them I bought this year and read before the massive backlog.
Seems Like Old Times - Alan Coren
Pigs Can Fly - Barry Cryer
The Trouble with Women - Jacky Fleming
The Echoing Grove - Rosamund Lehman
Kid Gloves - Adam Mars-Jones
Bumped - Megan McCaffery
The Skylark War - Hilary McKay
Starting Over - Robin Pilcher
Venture to South Africa - Jane Shaw
The Winter is Past - Noel Streatfeild
Izzy Willy-Nilly - Cynthia Voigt
Did you get into any new genres?
No, I don't think so. Shall I sit down and weep because there are no worlds left to conquer?
What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
76 of the books I read this year were more than 50 years old (though only one, Sense and Sensibility was more than 100 years old), 4 of which made it to my favourite books list above. I'd pick either Sense and Sensibility or And Then There Were None as the ones I most enjoyed reading.
35 of the books I read this year were published in 2018 or 2019, which I think seems quite high, I'm sure I usually read fewer new books. I am in the process of going back and adding in the year of publication for everything I've read in the last 15 years. I still have 337 left to do, after which I shall wallow in an orgy of graphs and percentages, inspired by [Unknown LJ tag]. So far the oldest books I read were two published in the 1700s.
How many books did you buy?
Oh. Oh dear. I have just checked my email, and it turns out I bought 215 books on Kindle. This is almost entirely the fault of Kindle Daily Deals and the monthly equivalents, which encourage me to buy too many things that I then don't read. And 99p a time does really add up looked all at once like that. I have bought fewer hard copies of books, really only a handful of charity shop purchases and I am getting better about not buying things that I don't want to read immediately given the amount already on my shelves.
Did you use your library?
Yes! One of the reasons I bought the Kobo was that it directly links to the Overdrive system which Edinburgh library uses. This year I read 15 books from the library, and let us not mention the many more that automatically downloaded and I then ignored because I was face deep in Agatha Christie.
I also found out about the archive.org library which has lots and lots of 1970s/80s young adult books which is my favourite era, and when I get myself set up properly I shall go through any Cooneys I haven't read and the Norma Kleins.
What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?
A few hours? Mostly I've been reading books over several evenings, but especially on holidays I've powered through a few this year.
Did you DNF anything? Why?
I firmly believe that anything I started but didn't finish is merely suspended, waiting for the ideal confluence of circumstances that will lead to me finishing at another, yet to be determined, date.
What reading goals do you have for next year?
I really, really, really want to make myself read one of the French children's books that I have bought and then toted round at least three countries with the intention of improving. They are not hard books! I should be able to make myself! I would probably enjoy it if I got round to it! But I find reading in English so lovely and easy that when I want to pick up a book I want it to go quickly, not fumbling around for sentence structures.
I do want to keep reading as much as I have been this year as it's enjoyable, which will mean putting down the internet and reading in bed. Which is nice! I just don't do it as often as I could.
What’s the longest book you read?
I don't think I know - my ereader says percentages not pages, and without the physical block of a spine I'm not good at telling.
What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate?
I don't use Goodreads. I keep a spreadsheet on google drive, but I don't record ratings on it. I used to do monthly (or as often as I got to it) LJ posts, but my last one was in February, and I'm not sure I will get back into it. It would probably be good if I did, as it helps me to remember what I read and think more about patterns, but I find that now there are fewer comments in the world I don't feel as motivated.
What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
I was thoroughly looking forward to Anna Chronistic and the Scarab of Destiny by Ankaret Wells even before I knew it had a DeLuise in it - the book itself met my expectations even before exceeding it by having SEVERAL DeLuises.
Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?
No, none at all. I am peripherally aware of stuff happening in the Romance genre, but not enough to really even remember the names of those involved.
Any books that disappointed you?
I didn't much like the Pleasure Cruise Mystery by Robin Forsyth - not really a disappointment as it wasn't something I was looking forward to, but the
What were your least favorite books of the year?
Theatrical - Maggie Harcourt
Dirty Northern Bastards and other tales from the terraces - Tim Marshall
Summer Term at Malory Towers - Pamela Cox
The Torso in the Town - Simon Brett
Several Agatha Christies that weren't as awesome as the others
These are the ones I remember not being grabbed by, there are several others reading through the list that I plain don't remember what they are, at least by title alone.
What genre did you read the most of?
78% of the books I read were adult fiction (which is as granular as my listings get), and of those most were mystery, what with the Christies. Following that, biography/memoir. It is not unusual for me to mostly read fiction, but my reading of children's/YA has dropped right off. This is mostly because of reading mostly ebooks at the moment and having my children's books in hardcopy at home.
What books do you want to finish before the year is over?
Before 2020 is over? Or before 2019 was over? If the latter, then the question about how many books I'd read in the year stops being accurate, surely, if you're writing it at a time when the number might conceivably go up? Anyway, I was in the process of actively reading two books over new year: Cornelia and the Chalet School by Katherine Bruce and The Time of Green Magic by HIlary McKay. I enjoyed them both, but especially the Hilary McKay book, which I preferred to the Skylarks' War.
If we're talking what I want to finish in 2020, then I'm midway through A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor, Rhik Sammader's memoir, and sundry others that I should get on with. Things I would like to read this year, other than EVERYTHING - Wilding was recommended to me by someone who thought she'd dislike it and then didn't, I've had My Sister the Serial Killer downloaded for ages now, and I suppose I really should get around to reading some Classics.
Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)?
I read two 2018 Costa prize winners, Normal People by Sally Rooney and The Skylarks War by Hilary McKay.
I read three of the nominees for the Women's Prize 2019 (Silence of the Girls, Milkman, Ordinary People) the winner in 2018 (Home Fires) and one of the nominees from 2017 (Stay With Me).
Milkman won the Booker in 2018.
Oh, and it turns out Reasons to be Cheerful won the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize (for comedy fiction).
What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?
Overhyped isn't quite the right word, but I didn't find Educated as stunning as I'd expected to from the amount of people talking about it. I think that is partly because I wanted more of the nuts and bolts about how she managed to get all the way to a PhD, when a lot of her story boiled down to "I didn't know how to do this, so I was failing, and then I realised/was told how to do it, and did it well", because, I suppose, it's less interesting than the whole part of her childhood. It was still really good! I just wasn't blown away when I was expecting to be.
This is now three negative questions about books (least favourite, most disappointing, over-hyped), which seems a lot.
bDid any books surprise you with how good they were?
Milkman! And at some point I seem to have developed an unfair synthesis of Agatha Christie as "cosy mysteries" - they are NOT cosy. Some of them are a little smug, and not all of them are good, but as a whole they are surprising and interesting and often quite chilling. And Then There Were None scared me so much at the end that I had to immediately start another book to get it out of my head so that I could sleep, despite having seen the miniseries earlier in the year and pretty much knowing the end.
And here, under a cut, is everything I read in 2019:
Stay With Me Adebayo, Ayobami
Clothes, Music, Boys Albertine, Viv
Sense and Sensibility Austen, Jane
The Silence of the Girls Barker Pat
Home Berriman, Amanda
A Week in Winter Binchy, Maeve
Friends and Relations Bowen, Elizabeth
The Torso in the Town Brett, Simon
Milkman Burns, Anna
Lost for Words Butland, Stephanie
The Fourth Man Child, Lee
Blue Moon Child, Lee
The Pale Horse Christie, Agatha
Sleeping Murder Christie, Agatha
Curtain: Poirot's Last Case Christie, Agatha
Postern of Fate Christie, Agatha
Elephants Can Remember Christie, Agatha
Passenger to Frankfurt Christie, Agatha
Hallowe'en Party Christie, Agatha
By the Pricking of My Thumbs Christie, Agatha
Endless Night Christie, Agatha
Third Girl Christie, Agatha
A Caribbean Mystery Christie, Agatha
The Clocks Christie, Agatha
The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side Christie, Agatha
Cat Among the Pigeons Christie, Agatha
Ordeal by Innocence Christie, Agatha
4:50 From Paddington Christie, Agatha
Dead Man's Folly Christie, Agatha
HIckory Dickory Dock Christie, Agatha
Destination Unknown Christie, Agatha
After the Funeral Christie, Agatha
A Pocket full of Rye Christie, Agatha
Mrs McGinty's Dead Christie, Agatha
THey Do It With Mirrors Christie, Agatha
They Came to Baghdad Christie, Agatha
A Murder is Announced Christie, Agatha
Crooked House Christie, Agatha
Taken at the Flood Christie, Agatha
The Labors of Hercules Christie, Agatha
The Hollow Christie, Agatha
Sparkling Cyanide Christie, Agatha
Death Comes as the End Christie, Agatha
Towards Zero Christie, Agatha
The Moving Finger Christie, Agatha
The Body in the Library Christie, Agatha
N or M? Christie, Agatha
Evil Under the Sun Christie, Agatha
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe Christie, Agatha
Sad Cypress Christie, Agatha
Ant Then There Were None Christie, Agatha
Hercule Poirot's Christmas Christie, Agatha
Appointment with Death Christie, Agatha
Murder is Easy Christie, Agatha
Dumb Witness Christie, Agatha
Murder in the Mews Christie, Agatha
Death on the Nile Christie, Agatha
Murder in Mesopotamia Christie, Agatha
Cards on the Table Christie, Agatha
The ABC Murders Christie, Agatha
Death in the Clouds Christie, Agatha
Three Act Tragedy Christie, Agatha
Parker Pyne Investigates Christie, Agatha
Why Didn't They Ask Evans Christie, Agatha
Peril at End House Christie, Agatha
The Sittaford Mystery Christie, Agatha
Black Coffee Christie, Agatha
Partners in Crime Christie, Agatha
The Seven Dials Mystery Christie, Agatha
The Mystery of the Blue Train Christie, Agatha
The Big Four Christie, Agatha
The Secret of Chimneys Christie, Agatha
Poirot Investigates Christie, Agatha
The Man in the Brown Suit Christie, Agatha
The Murder on the Links Christie, Agatha
The Secret Adversary Christie, Agatha
An English Country Manner Clark, Rory
The Alfred G Graebner Memorial High School handbook of rules and regulations Conford, Ellen
After the Party Connolly, Cressida
The Bad and the Beautiful Cooney, Caroline B
Seems Like Old Times Coren, Alan
Summer Term at Malory Towers Cox, Pamela
Chedsy Place Crompton, Richmal
The Theban Mysteries Cross, Amanda
Pigs Can Fly Cryer, Barry
Everybody Died, So I Got a Dog Dean, Emily
French Exit deWitt, Patrick
A Girl Returned Di Pietrantonio, Donatella
Gerry & I Durrell, Jacqui
Juneli's First Term Dutta, Swapna
Alice Eliot, Elizabeth
Ordinary People Evans, Diana
Testosterone Rex Fine, Cordelia
The Trouble With Women Fleming, Jacky
The Pleasure Cruise Mystery Forsythe, Robin
Three Things You Need to Know About Rockets Fox, Jessica
Lucia on Holiday Fraser-Sampson, Guy
Well-Schooled in Murder George, Elizabeth
Smallbone Deceased Gilbert, Michael
An Unsuitable Woman Gordon, Kat
Marriages are Made in Bond Street Halson, Penrose
Theatrical Harcourt, Maggie
Black Sheep Heyer, Georgette
Venetia Heyer, Georgette
Bath Tangle Heyer, Georgette
The Price of Salt Highsmith, Patricia
The Adults Hulse, Caroline
The Happy Hoofer Imrie, Celia
Much Ado About You James, Eloisa
I Owe You One Kinsella, Sophie
Surprise Me Kinsella, Sophie
Wedding Night Kinsella, Sophie
Now That I Know Klein, Norma
Mom, the Wolf Man, and me Klein, Norma
Magicians of Madh Krishnakumar, Aditi
Rich People Problems Kwan, Kevin
China Rich Girlfriend Kwan, Kevin
Our Game Le Carre, John
The Echoing Grove Lehman, Rosamund
Dumpling Days Lin, Grace
The Little Cornish Kitchen Linfoot, Jane
Summer Rules Lipsyte, Robert
Silk for the Feed Dogs Mallon, Jackie
The Place on Dalhousie Marchetta, Melina
Kid Gloves Mars-Jones, Adam
My Mother Was Nuts Marshall, Penny
Dirty Nothern Bastards and other tales from the terraces Marshall, Tim
Bumped McCafferty, Megan
Pilates for Sexual Enhancement McDonald, Berlinda, Hershman, Dana
The Skylarks’ War McKay, Hilary
The Importance of Being Aisling McLysaght, Emer & Breece, Sarah
Debutante Melville, Anne
Nine Perfect Strangers Moriarty, Liane
Clinging to the Wreckage Mortimer, John
Mist Over Pendle Neill, Robert
Everything I Never Told You Ng, Celeste
Wise Blood O'Connor, Flannery
Still Standing O'Grady, Paul
Dear Mrs Bird Pearce, AJ
This Will Only Hurt a Little Phillips, Busy
Starting Over Pilcher, Robin
The Shepherd's Crown Pratchett, Terry
Christmas for One Prowse, Amanda
Crampton Hodnet Pym, Barbara
An Unsuitable Attachment Pym, Barbara
No Fond Return of Love Pym, Barbara
Straight Outta Crawley Ranganathan, Romesh
Troublemaker Remini, Leah
Normal People Rooney, Sally
Home Fire Shamsie, Kamila
Venture to South Africa Shaw, Jane
My Name is Why Sissay, Lemn
Loitering with Intent Spark, Muriel
Top Marks for Murder Stevens, Robin
Death in the Spotlight Stevens, Robin
Reasons to be Cheerful Stibbe, Nina
Not the End of the World Stowe, Rebecca
Olivia Strachey, Dorothy
I Ordered a Table for Six Streatfeild, Noel
The Winter is Past Streatfeild, Noel
The Secret Barrister The Secret Barrister
Women Talking Toews, Miriam
Coming Up Trumps Trumpington, Jean
Animals Unsworth, Emma
No Angel Vincenzi, Penny
Izzy Willy-Nilly Voight, Cynthia
Anna Chronistic Wells, Ankaret
The Duke is Dead: Kingsblood Book One Wells, Ankaret & Headley, Irene
Educated Westover, Tara
East of Wimbledon Williams, Nigel
The Interestings Wolitzer, Meg
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