Books 2001
How many books did you read this year?
I read 201 books. I was sitting at around 180 in mid December when I counted up, and thereafter made a concerted effort to get to the entirely meaningless round number milestone of 200. And then didn't realise I had and overshot.
180 of these books were by women, of whom 16 were writers of colour; 21 books by men, of whom two were writers of colour. This is not as diverse as last year, 8.9% compared to 12% - and only slightly higher proportion of women than men.
18 biography
18 children's
10 young adult
12 non-fiction
2 poetry/short stories
141 fiction
Until you get to fiction this is very similar to last year, plus a few more - then I doubled the number of fiction books I read. It is much, much more than I read last year (107). For 2020 I noted that this was unusually low (in fact the second lowest year on record), not least because of overwork and burnout. So this is I think a good suggestion that my mental health is back on track.
Did you reread anything? What?
I reread the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, after reading them earlier this year for the first time on
felinitykat's recommendation, and then finding in November/December that I desperately needed to be reading them again. This is entirely appropriate for Murderbot, who uses media to bury themself in to escape life and returns very frequently to the same series for comfort. They are my Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. I think the only other time I've reread a book within the calendar year was The Hawkwood War by Ankaret Wells. Maybe it's something in the surname.
What were your top five books of the year?
I didn't stop at five last year so I see no reason to curtail my list this time.
Character Breakdown - Zawe Ashton
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo
The Siege of Krishnapur - JG Farrell
Big Girl, Small Town - Michelle Gallen
Miss Benson's Beetle - Rachel Joyce
Tory Heaven - Marghanita Laski
No-one is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
Jean series - Janet Sandison (Jane Duncan)
The Education of Harriet Hatfield - May Sarton
Murderbot series - Martha Wells
Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
Martha Wells! Though I haven't read any of her non-Murderbot books becasue I guess I'm afraid I won't love them as much. The fact that they are not a book they're not setting out to be should, I suppose, not be held against them but there we are.
I really enjoyed Big Girl Small Town and I hope that Michelle Gallen writes more, soon.
When I was
theantichris recommended Susan Beth Pfeffer's YA novels to me and I like them very much so will keep working my way through. I started with Beauty Queen was was eyeopening in how much young women's dieting was normalised, not in the 90s way of it being An Issue, but just that it was accepted that of course it would be a good idea if the younger sister started dieting.
I found a Nicky Edwards book in a secondhand shop that was from the era when women's press books were all about lesbian separatists (and much the better for it) - I have since gone on to read all three available titles and the one about a woman building herself a cottage in the middle of the countryside, unknowingly accompanied by a (lesbian?) ghost from pre-history is excellent.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
Last year I wrote:
Because I spent much more time at home in 2020 than I had originally planned, I literally started every day in my flat opening my eyes to see the shelves of unread books in front of me. I think I read 12 of them last year, which leaves around 90 still to go. Not counting all the ebooks I keep buying.
Still the case. Though now I have curtains over the shelves to protect spines from the light, so I don't always see the books now. I feel their reproachful eyeless glare through the fabric though. I also meant to read some quite heavy books about sexual assault, becasue I felt I ought to, but Jess said that since I come across that a lot through my job I needn't force myself if I didn't want to, so I won't.
Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?
The goals I set last time I did this meme were:
Should I attempt to recommit to a French book? I would still like to do it, but at this point I don't really see it happening. I would like to read at least ten books from my unread shelves. I would like at least one of the ten to be one of the academicy books I want to read but have been finding too daunting
I was entirely correct that I was not going to read a French book, so I accomplished the goal of it not happening. I think I read 14 books from my towering pile, which is "at least ten", so tick on that. None of the fourteen was an academicy book, which is a shame.
What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
The oldest book I read this year was Death in Venice, a last minute addition when I asked twitter for short books and
irrtum suggested Thomas Mann novellas. It was very good, I can see why people make a fuss about it.
In terms of things I'd been meaning to read, I finally found Once More, With Feeling, Victoria Coren (as was)'s account of making a porn film. I'd wanted to read it since finishing her book about poker which was really excellent, but it is not available on kindle so when it popped up in my local charity shop I was very pleased. It was still funny, but you can really see her development from then to now in style.
How many books did you buy?
Lots in charity shops, since they haven't closed since the Jan 2020 lockdown AND there is now a dedicated charity shop bookshop nearish me. Though having said that, I don't think I pick up nearly as many there as from random other forays, the stock doesn't seem to change so much and they have too many uncurated piles.
I've been trying to buy from Kobo (who make my e-reader) or Hive (though that entails extra steps to get onto my ereader that the warm glow of smugness doesn't always counteract) instead of Amazon, as I lost the ability to make the conversion work in Calibre and I don't like reading on my phone so much. Since Kobo's store isn't as good, what mostly happens is that I still find the deals on Kindle monthly or daily deals and then just search to see if they're price matched. I bought 30 books from Kindle, and 69 from Kobo. I am much better at promptly reading the ones on Kobo than on Kindle.
Did you use your library?
Yes! Both as a testing centre and as a source for ebooks, though not for borrowing any physical media. I still forget to read the books that download in time, or end up with a half read book I can no longer access, but it's so good to have it connected to the Kobo.
What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?
Less than an hour when I was powering through young adult books to hit the arbitrary 200.
What reading goals do you have for next year?
To keep reading and keep enjoying it. That sounds unbearably smug like those self help bollocks things that are all about "the journey not the destination". But really, to keep remembering that I like to read and making time for it. This will be hampered by my recent download of a dastardly clicking phone game, which is currently taking up all my reading time.
I think I will do my half-hearted idea from last year and read all the past Booker prize winners. I like having lists and goals. Plus I have already read 14 of them (I thought 15, but I've only watched Remains of the Day, not read it). If I start at the beginning and move forwards this means I will start with Something to Answer for by PH Newby, of which and of whom I have not previously heard.
I shall continue not to commit to reading a book in French.
This year Jess and I are going on our lengthy Antarctic and Atlantic cruise (you may notice a lack of "all going well" - I refuse to believe it will not happen), which will involve two and a half months off work and six weeks of that on a boat, with several sea days where there will be very little to do except read. SO MUCH READING TO DO. I have started to stockpile books on my Kobo for this, including Joan Collins' diaries which Jess has requested I read in her vicinity so that I can regale her with the choicer anecdotes, as I did with the autobiography of Grace Jones in Ukraine in 2021. Numbers continue meaningless, but I might use that dedicated reading time to set a goal to clear 250 books for the year for the first time in recorded memory.
This year is also supposedly when I will finally move to Kuala Lumpur with a relocation allowance, so I plan to take over all my unread books and hope that that will force me to move through them. I want to read them! I bought each and every one with the express intention of doing just that! But somehow there is always something else. I need to find a spur of some sort.
What’s the longest book you read?
I was wondering how people tell this now that ebooks are arguably the norm, and it turns out that if you log things on Goodreads it tells you the pages. This is something that Goodreads could do that I can't (be bothered to) myself. I have just been to look and it seems that you can import books into Goodreads from an excel file, which is where I keep my lists. I shall investigate what sort of file it can cope with (suspect my own columns do not match theirs). Maybe if I manually input a book or two then export that I could use the resulting file to make my own spreadsheet match and then import it. Hmm. If anyone has done this themselves, advice would be welcome.
I'm guessing that a Penny Vincenzi might be the longest, or the Barbara Taylor Bradford A Woman of Substance, which is 928 pages. Which I suppose balances out some of my end of year urgent reading, a few of which might really be novelettes rather than novellas even.
What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
I don't think I had been exactly waiting with bated breath for anything in particular. Had I read Murderbot before this year it would have been the new novella, and it would DEFINITELY have lived up to expectations. I was looking forward to the third Time Police novel from Jodi Taylor, having started that series this year, and enjoyed it very much.
For next year I am looking forward to the new Jessica Gregson book, After Silence, of course. Amazon even has a publication date of my actual birthday, but that is probably just a random date chosen to get it on the system.
Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?
Repeat from last year: I do not think so. If anyone wants to tell me about something they saw in great detail, please do. I like secondhand drama that doesn't concern me.
Any books that disappointed you?
What were your least favorite books of the year?
Home Work by Julie Andrews was one of the first books I read in 2021 and it was just really dull and flatly wrtten. I thought Because of You by Dawn French had a terrible (and arguably unethical) ending and didn't deserve the hype at all. I barely remember at all what Flannelled Fool by TC Worsley was like, but I do recall feeling it was dismissive of child sexual abuse. Oh and Madam by Phoebe Wynne was not very well written and just not super well developed for a quite obvious plot.
What genre did you read the most of?
As ever, women's middlebrow fiction from the mid 20th century.
Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)?
The Murderbot novel Network Effect won the Nebula AND the Hugo this year! Several of the novellas were nominated or won in previous years.
I read This is How You Lose the Time War which won the Nebula and Hugo novella last year.
No-one is Talking about This was nominated for the Booker, and the Women's Prize. I have been trying to read This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga all year, which was also Booker-nominated, but it is in the second person and I just can't. Dolly Alderton's Ghosts was nominated for the Wodehouse humour prize and was the runner-up for Comedy Women in Print.
Oh, I read Skincare by Caroline Hirons, and that was apparently the Lifestyle Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. I am glad to know that the only book I have read on skincare, or am likely to, was a good one.
I also read The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell, which won the 1973 Booker.
Big Girl, Small Town was shortlisted for a bunch of things including Costa first novel, Irish Book Awards Debut and Comedy Women in Print.
What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?
Maybe Madam? Not sure if it was hyped, but if it was it shouldn't be.
Everything I read in 2021:
Zikora - Adiche, Chimanda Ngoze
The Butterfly Picnic - Aiken, Joan
Ghosts - Alderton, Dolly
No Shame - Allen, Tom
The Swing Around - Anderson, Barbara
Who is Maud Dixon? - Andrews, Alexandra
Home Work - Andrews, Julie
The Bennet Women - Appiah--Kubi, Eden
Exit Pursued by a Badger - Ashbury, Nick
Character Breakdown - Ashton, Zawe
The Squire - Bagnold, Enid
While the Music Lasted - Barne, Kitty
Lucky at Love - Bartholemew, Barbara
Darling Buds of May - Bates, H.E.
Drinking Custard - Beaumont, Lucy
Spies and Stars - Bingham, Charlotte
MI5 and Me - Bingham, Charlotte
Coronet Among the Weeds - Bingham, Charlotte
The House in Paris - Bowen, Elizabeth
A Woman of Substance - Bradford, Barbara Taylor
I Carried A Watermelon - Brand, Katy
Historically Inaccurate - Bravo, Shay
Blue Door Venture - Brown, Pamela
Golden Pavements - Brown, Pamela
Maddy Alone - Brown, Pamela
Maddy Again - Brown, Pamela
The Chalet School in Guernsey - Bruce, Katherine
Small Pleasures - Chambers, Clare
The Editor's Wife - Chambers, Clare
The Sentinel - Child, Lee & Child, Andrew
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo
The True Queen - Cho, Zen
All You Can Ever Know - Chung, Nicole
Patience - Coates, John
The Shooting Party - Colegate, Isabel
Christmas at the Island Hotel - Colgan, Jenny
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped - Colgan, Jenny
Between the Covers - Cooper, Jilly
Family Values - Cope, Wendy
Once More, With Feeling - Coren, Victoria & Skelton, Charlie
Finlay Donovan is Killing It - Cosimano, Elle
The Grenville Garrison - Courtney, Gwendoline
The Little Princesses - Crawford, Marion
Juba Good - Delany, Vicki
Hold - Donkor, Michael
Letters from Reachfar - Duncan, Jane
The Ex Games - Echols, Jennifer
Major Crush - Echols, Jennifer
Tough at the Top - Edwards, Nicky
Stealing Time - Edwards, Nicky
Mud - Edwards, Nicky
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Egan, Jennifer
This is How You Lose the Time War - El-Mohtar, Amal & Gladstone, Max
V for Victory - Evans, Lissa
Crooked Heart - Evans, Lissa
Their Finest - Evans, Lissa
Spencer's List - Evans, Lissa
The Siege of Krishnapur - Farrell , J G
Evenfield - Ferguson, Rachel
Apricot Sky - Ferguson, Ruby
The Beginning of Spring - Fitzgerald, Penelope
No Time Like the Future - Fox, Michael J
The Summer House Party - Fraser, Caro
Because of You - French, Dawn
Big Girl, Small Town - Gallen, Michelle
Olive - Gannon, Emma
Old Filth - Gardam, Jane
God on the Rocks - Gardam, Jane
The Woman Who Kept Everything - Gilley, Jane
Nobody's Business - Gilliatt, Penelope
Nightingale Point - Goldie, Luan
Hype and Glory - Goldman, William
Over Hill, Over Dale - Gregson, Jessica
The Glittering Hour - Grey, Iona
Royal Holiday - Guillory, Jasmine
The Other Bennet Sister - Hadlow, Janice
Last Term at St Andrews - Hale, Margaret
Anthropology of an American Girl - Hamann, Hilary Thayer
Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes - Hardy, Jeremy
Different Class - Harris, Joanne
The Other Black Girl - Harris, Zakiya Dalila
The Cactus - Haywood, Sarah
Skincare: The Ultimate No-nonsense Guide - Hirons, Caroline
A Long Lunch - Hoggart, Simon
Falling - Howard, Elizabeth Jane
All the Fun of the Fair - Hulse, Caroline
A Song for Summer - Ibbotson, Eva
Ayesha at Last - Jalaluddin, Uzma
I'll Never Write My Memoirs - Jones, Grace
Miss Benson's Beetle - Joyce, Rachel
Rebel Rebel - Kemp, Gene (ed)
Sex and Vanity - Kwan, Kevin
Much Dithering - Lambert, Dorothy
Tory Heaven - Laski, Marghanita
Furiously Happy - Lawson, Jenny
Absolute Friends - Le Carre, John
A Sea-Grape Tree - Lehmann, Rosamond
No One is Talking About This - Lockwood, Patricia
Death in Venice - Mann, Thomas
At the Sign of the Dog and Rocket - Mark, Jan
Call the Courier - Martin, Nancy
Last Night - McFarlane, Mhairi
If I Never Met You - McFarlane, Mhairi
Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling - McLysaght, Emer & Breece, Sarah
Red, White and Royal Blue - McQuinston, Casey
One Last Stop - McQuiston, Casey
His Only Wife - Medie, Peace Adzo
A Children's Bible - Millet, Lydia
The Red House Mystery - Milne, AA
Hotels of North America - Moody, Rick
All Done by Kindness - Moore, Doris Langley
Born With Teeth - Mulgrew, Kate
The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star - Murphy, Jill
Meg's Castle - Nicholls, Helen & Pienkowski, Jan
Scenes of a Graphic Nature - O'Donoghue, Caroline
Open the Cage, Murphy! - O'Grady, Paul
The Flatshare - O'Leary, Beth
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died - O'Reilly, Seamas
Solitaire - Oseman, Alice
Bel Canto - Patchett, Ann
Detransition, Baby - Peters, Torrey
Starring Peter and Leigh - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Beauty Queen - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Better than All Right - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
The Unadulterated Cat - Pratchett, Terry
The Prices' Return - Pye, Virginia
Civil to Strangers - Pym, Barbara
A Few Green Leaves - Pym, Barbara
The Sweet Dove Died - Pym, Barbara
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl - Rae, Issa
Jam Tomorrow - Redlich, Monica
Tea and Sympathetic Magic - Roberts, Tansy Rayner
House of Trelawney - Rothschild, Hannah
If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say - Sales, Leila
Past Perfect - Sales, Leila
Jean Towards Another Day - Sandison, Janet
Jean at Noon - Sandison, Janet
Jean in the Twilight - Sandison, Janet
Jean in the Morning - Sandison, Janet
The Education of Harriet Hatfield - Sarton, May
The Magnificent Spinster - Sarton, May
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Semple, Maria
In Pious Memory - Sharp, Margery
The Foolish Gentlewoman - Sharp, Margery
Harlequin House - Sharp, Margery
The Stone of Chastity - Sharp, Margery
Four Gardens - Sharp, Margery
Fanfare for Tin Trumpets - Sharp, Margery
Rhododendron Pie - Sharp, Margery
The Tree of Heaven - Sinclair, May
A Comedian's Prayer Book - Skinner, Frank
Miss Plum and Miss Penny - Smith, Dorothy Evelyn
Symposium - Spark, Muriel
Robinson - Spark, Muriel
Death Sets Sail - Stevens, Robin
The Case of the Deepdean Vampire - Stevens, Robin
The Guugenheim Mystery - Stevens, Robin & Dowd, Siobahn
Dear Martin - Stone, Nic
It Pays to be Good - Streatfeild, Noel
Saving Time - Taylor, Jodi
Long Shadows - Taylor, Jodi
The Toast of Time - Taylor, Jodi
Hard Time - Taylor, Jodi
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room - Taylor, Jodi
Plan for the Worst - Taylor, Jodi
Doing Time - Taylor, Jodi
Why is Nothing Ever Simple? - Taylor, Jodi
Dark Light - Taylor, Jodi
A Bachelor Establishment - Taylor, Jodi
The Miseducation of Evie Epworth - Taylor, Matson
Mrs Saint and the Defectives - Timmer, Julie Lawson
Between the Stops - Toksvig, Sandi
The Chalet School Returns to the Alps - Townsend, Lisa
Brother of the More Famous Jack - Trapido, Barbara
Palm Beach, Finland - Tuomainen, Anti; Hackston, David
Bedside Manners - Valenzuela, Luisa
Question of Trust - Vincenzi, Penny
The Best of Times - Vincenzi, Penny
Windfall - Vincenzi, Penny
Forbidden Places - Vincenzi, Penny
Another Woman - Vincenzi, Penny
Wendy - Wallace, Karen
To Love and to Loathe - Waters, Martha
The Princess and the Suffragette - Webb, Holly
Fugitive Telemetry - Wells, Martha
Fugitive Telemetry - Wells, Martha
Network Effect - Wells, Martha
Network Effect - Wells, Martha
Artificial Condition - Wells, Martha
Rogue Protocol - Wells, Martha
Exit Strategy - Wells, Martha
Artificial Condition - Wells, Martha
Rogue Protocol - Wells, Martha
Exit Strategy - Wells, Martha
All Systems Red - Wells, Martha
All Systems Red - Wells, Martha
Noel Streatfeild - Wilson, Barbara Ker
The Seat Filler - Wilson, Sarah
When God Was a Rabbit - Winman, Sarah
Flannelled Fool - Worsley, TC
Madam - Wynne, Phoebe
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I read 201 books. I was sitting at around 180 in mid December when I counted up, and thereafter made a concerted effort to get to the entirely meaningless round number milestone of 200. And then didn't realise I had and overshot.
180 of these books were by women, of whom 16 were writers of colour; 21 books by men, of whom two were writers of colour. This is not as diverse as last year, 8.9% compared to 12% - and only slightly higher proportion of women than men.
18 biography
18 children's
10 young adult
12 non-fiction
2 poetry/short stories
141 fiction
Until you get to fiction this is very similar to last year, plus a few more - then I doubled the number of fiction books I read. It is much, much more than I read last year (107). For 2020 I noted that this was unusually low (in fact the second lowest year on record), not least because of overwork and burnout. So this is I think a good suggestion that my mental health is back on track.
Did you reread anything? What?
I reread the Murderbot series by Martha Wells, after reading them earlier this year for the first time on
felinitykat's recommendation, and then finding in November/December that I desperately needed to be reading them again. This is entirely appropriate for Murderbot, who uses media to bury themself in to escape life and returns very frequently to the same series for comfort. They are my Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. I think the only other time I've reread a book within the calendar year was The Hawkwood War by Ankaret Wells. Maybe it's something in the surname.
What were your top five books of the year?
I didn't stop at five last year so I see no reason to curtail my list this time.
Character Breakdown - Zawe Ashton
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo
The Siege of Krishnapur - JG Farrell
Big Girl, Small Town - Michelle Gallen
Miss Benson's Beetle - Rachel Joyce
Tory Heaven - Marghanita Laski
No-one is Talking About This - Patricia Lockwood
Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters
Jean series - Janet Sandison (Jane Duncan)
The Education of Harriet Hatfield - May Sarton
Murderbot series - Martha Wells
Did you discover any new authors that you love this year?
Martha Wells! Though I haven't read any of her non-Murderbot books becasue I guess I'm afraid I won't love them as much. The fact that they are not a book they're not setting out to be should, I suppose, not be held against them but there we are.
I really enjoyed Big Girl Small Town and I hope that Michelle Gallen writes more, soon.
When I was
theantichris recommended Susan Beth Pfeffer's YA novels to me and I like them very much so will keep working my way through. I started with Beauty Queen was was eyeopening in how much young women's dieting was normalised, not in the 90s way of it being An Issue, but just that it was accepted that of course it would be a good idea if the younger sister started dieting.
I found a Nicky Edwards book in a secondhand shop that was from the era when women's press books were all about lesbian separatists (and much the better for it) - I have since gone on to read all three available titles and the one about a woman building herself a cottage in the middle of the countryside, unknowingly accompanied by a (lesbian?) ghost from pre-history is excellent.
Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to?
Last year I wrote:
Because I spent much more time at home in 2020 than I had originally planned, I literally started every day in my flat opening my eyes to see the shelves of unread books in front of me. I think I read 12 of them last year, which leaves around 90 still to go. Not counting all the ebooks I keep buying.
Still the case. Though now I have curtains over the shelves to protect spines from the light, so I don't always see the books now. I feel their reproachful eyeless glare through the fabric though. I also meant to read some quite heavy books about sexual assault, becasue I felt I ought to, but Jess said that since I come across that a lot through my job I needn't force myself if I didn't want to, so I won't.
Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones?
The goals I set last time I did this meme were:
Should I attempt to recommit to a French book? I would still like to do it, but at this point I don't really see it happening. I would like to read at least ten books from my unread shelves. I would like at least one of the ten to be one of the academicy books I want to read but have been finding too daunting
I was entirely correct that I was not going to read a French book, so I accomplished the goal of it not happening. I think I read 14 books from my towering pile, which is "at least ten", so tick on that. None of the fourteen was an academicy book, which is a shame.
What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read?
The oldest book I read this year was Death in Venice, a last minute addition when I asked twitter for short books and
irrtum suggested Thomas Mann novellas. It was very good, I can see why people make a fuss about it.
In terms of things I'd been meaning to read, I finally found Once More, With Feeling, Victoria Coren (as was)'s account of making a porn film. I'd wanted to read it since finishing her book about poker which was really excellent, but it is not available on kindle so when it popped up in my local charity shop I was very pleased. It was still funny, but you can really see her development from then to now in style.
How many books did you buy?
Lots in charity shops, since they haven't closed since the Jan 2020 lockdown AND there is now a dedicated charity shop bookshop nearish me. Though having said that, I don't think I pick up nearly as many there as from random other forays, the stock doesn't seem to change so much and they have too many uncurated piles.
I've been trying to buy from Kobo (who make my e-reader) or Hive (though that entails extra steps to get onto my ereader that the warm glow of smugness doesn't always counteract) instead of Amazon, as I lost the ability to make the conversion work in Calibre and I don't like reading on my phone so much. Since Kobo's store isn't as good, what mostly happens is that I still find the deals on Kindle monthly or daily deals and then just search to see if they're price matched. I bought 30 books from Kindle, and 69 from Kobo. I am much better at promptly reading the ones on Kobo than on Kindle.
Did you use your library?
Yes! Both as a testing centre and as a source for ebooks, though not for borrowing any physical media. I still forget to read the books that download in time, or end up with a half read book I can no longer access, but it's so good to have it connected to the Kobo.
What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book?
Less than an hour when I was powering through young adult books to hit the arbitrary 200.
What reading goals do you have for next year?
To keep reading and keep enjoying it. That sounds unbearably smug like those self help bollocks things that are all about "the journey not the destination". But really, to keep remembering that I like to read and making time for it. This will be hampered by my recent download of a dastardly clicking phone game, which is currently taking up all my reading time.
I think I will do my half-hearted idea from last year and read all the past Booker prize winners. I like having lists and goals. Plus I have already read 14 of them (I thought 15, but I've only watched Remains of the Day, not read it). If I start at the beginning and move forwards this means I will start with Something to Answer for by PH Newby, of which and of whom I have not previously heard.
I shall continue not to commit to reading a book in French.
This year Jess and I are going on our lengthy Antarctic and Atlantic cruise (you may notice a lack of "all going well" - I refuse to believe it will not happen), which will involve two and a half months off work and six weeks of that on a boat, with several sea days where there will be very little to do except read. SO MUCH READING TO DO. I have started to stockpile books on my Kobo for this, including Joan Collins' diaries which Jess has requested I read in her vicinity so that I can regale her with the choicer anecdotes, as I did with the autobiography of Grace Jones in Ukraine in 2021. Numbers continue meaningless, but I might use that dedicated reading time to set a goal to clear 250 books for the year for the first time in recorded memory.
This year is also supposedly when I will finally move to Kuala Lumpur with a relocation allowance, so I plan to take over all my unread books and hope that that will force me to move through them. I want to read them! I bought each and every one with the express intention of doing just that! But somehow there is always something else. I need to find a spur of some sort.
What’s the longest book you read?
I was wondering how people tell this now that ebooks are arguably the norm, and it turns out that if you log things on Goodreads it tells you the pages. This is something that Goodreads could do that I can't (be bothered to) myself. I have just been to look and it seems that you can import books into Goodreads from an excel file, which is where I keep my lists. I shall investigate what sort of file it can cope with (suspect my own columns do not match theirs). Maybe if I manually input a book or two then export that I could use the resulting file to make my own spreadsheet match and then import it. Hmm. If anyone has done this themselves, advice would be welcome.
I'm guessing that a Penny Vincenzi might be the longest, or the Barbara Taylor Bradford A Woman of Substance, which is 928 pages. Which I suppose balances out some of my end of year urgent reading, a few of which might really be novelettes rather than novellas even.
What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?
I don't think I had been exactly waiting with bated breath for anything in particular. Had I read Murderbot before this year it would have been the new novella, and it would DEFINITELY have lived up to expectations. I was looking forward to the third Time Police novel from Jodi Taylor, having started that series this year, and enjoyed it very much.
For next year I am looking forward to the new Jessica Gregson book, After Silence, of course. Amazon even has a publication date of my actual birthday, but that is probably just a random date chosen to get it on the system.
Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama?
Repeat from last year: I do not think so. If anyone wants to tell me about something they saw in great detail, please do. I like secondhand drama that doesn't concern me.
Any books that disappointed you?
What were your least favorite books of the year?
Home Work by Julie Andrews was one of the first books I read in 2021 and it was just really dull and flatly wrtten. I thought Because of You by Dawn French had a terrible (and arguably unethical) ending and didn't deserve the hype at all. I barely remember at all what Flannelled Fool by TC Worsley was like, but I do recall feeling it was dismissive of child sexual abuse. Oh and Madam by Phoebe Wynne was not very well written and just not super well developed for a quite obvious plot.
What genre did you read the most of?
As ever, women's middlebrow fiction from the mid 20th century.
Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)?
The Murderbot novel Network Effect won the Nebula AND the Hugo this year! Several of the novellas were nominated or won in previous years.
I read This is How You Lose the Time War which won the Nebula and Hugo novella last year.
No-one is Talking about This was nominated for the Booker, and the Women's Prize. I have been trying to read This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga all year, which was also Booker-nominated, but it is in the second person and I just can't. Dolly Alderton's Ghosts was nominated for the Wodehouse humour prize and was the runner-up for Comedy Women in Print.
Oh, I read Skincare by Caroline Hirons, and that was apparently the Lifestyle Book of the Year at the British Book Awards. I am glad to know that the only book I have read on skincare, or am likely to, was a good one.
I also read The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell, which won the 1973 Booker.
Big Girl, Small Town was shortlisted for a bunch of things including Costa first novel, Irish Book Awards Debut and Comedy Women in Print.
What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?
Maybe Madam? Not sure if it was hyped, but if it was it shouldn't be.
Everything I read in 2021:
Zikora - Adiche, Chimanda Ngoze
The Butterfly Picnic - Aiken, Joan
Ghosts - Alderton, Dolly
No Shame - Allen, Tom
The Swing Around - Anderson, Barbara
Who is Maud Dixon? - Andrews, Alexandra
Home Work - Andrews, Julie
The Bennet Women - Appiah--Kubi, Eden
Exit Pursued by a Badger - Ashbury, Nick
Character Breakdown - Ashton, Zawe
The Squire - Bagnold, Enid
While the Music Lasted - Barne, Kitty
Lucky at Love - Bartholemew, Barbara
Darling Buds of May - Bates, H.E.
Drinking Custard - Beaumont, Lucy
Spies and Stars - Bingham, Charlotte
MI5 and Me - Bingham, Charlotte
Coronet Among the Weeds - Bingham, Charlotte
The House in Paris - Bowen, Elizabeth
A Woman of Substance - Bradford, Barbara Taylor
I Carried A Watermelon - Brand, Katy
Historically Inaccurate - Bravo, Shay
Blue Door Venture - Brown, Pamela
Golden Pavements - Brown, Pamela
Maddy Alone - Brown, Pamela
Maddy Again - Brown, Pamela
The Chalet School in Guernsey - Bruce, Katherine
Small Pleasures - Chambers, Clare
The Editor's Wife - Chambers, Clare
The Sentinel - Child, Lee & Child, Andrew
Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo
The True Queen - Cho, Zen
All You Can Ever Know - Chung, Nicole
Patience - Coates, John
The Shooting Party - Colegate, Isabel
Christmas at the Island Hotel - Colgan, Jenny
The Good, the Bad and the Dumped - Colgan, Jenny
Between the Covers - Cooper, Jilly
Family Values - Cope, Wendy
Once More, With Feeling - Coren, Victoria & Skelton, Charlie
Finlay Donovan is Killing It - Cosimano, Elle
The Grenville Garrison - Courtney, Gwendoline
The Little Princesses - Crawford, Marion
Juba Good - Delany, Vicki
Hold - Donkor, Michael
Letters from Reachfar - Duncan, Jane
The Ex Games - Echols, Jennifer
Major Crush - Echols, Jennifer
Tough at the Top - Edwards, Nicky
Stealing Time - Edwards, Nicky
Mud - Edwards, Nicky
A Visit from the Goon Squad - Egan, Jennifer
This is How You Lose the Time War - El-Mohtar, Amal & Gladstone, Max
V for Victory - Evans, Lissa
Crooked Heart - Evans, Lissa
Their Finest - Evans, Lissa
Spencer's List - Evans, Lissa
The Siege of Krishnapur - Farrell , J G
Evenfield - Ferguson, Rachel
Apricot Sky - Ferguson, Ruby
The Beginning of Spring - Fitzgerald, Penelope
No Time Like the Future - Fox, Michael J
The Summer House Party - Fraser, Caro
Because of You - French, Dawn
Big Girl, Small Town - Gallen, Michelle
Olive - Gannon, Emma
Old Filth - Gardam, Jane
God on the Rocks - Gardam, Jane
The Woman Who Kept Everything - Gilley, Jane
Nobody's Business - Gilliatt, Penelope
Nightingale Point - Goldie, Luan
Hype and Glory - Goldman, William
Over Hill, Over Dale - Gregson, Jessica
The Glittering Hour - Grey, Iona
Royal Holiday - Guillory, Jasmine
The Other Bennet Sister - Hadlow, Janice
Last Term at St Andrews - Hale, Margaret
Anthropology of an American Girl - Hamann, Hilary Thayer
Jeremy Hardy Speaks Volumes - Hardy, Jeremy
Different Class - Harris, Joanne
The Other Black Girl - Harris, Zakiya Dalila
The Cactus - Haywood, Sarah
Skincare: The Ultimate No-nonsense Guide - Hirons, Caroline
A Long Lunch - Hoggart, Simon
Falling - Howard, Elizabeth Jane
All the Fun of the Fair - Hulse, Caroline
A Song for Summer - Ibbotson, Eva
Ayesha at Last - Jalaluddin, Uzma
I'll Never Write My Memoirs - Jones, Grace
Miss Benson's Beetle - Joyce, Rachel
Rebel Rebel - Kemp, Gene (ed)
Sex and Vanity - Kwan, Kevin
Much Dithering - Lambert, Dorothy
Tory Heaven - Laski, Marghanita
Furiously Happy - Lawson, Jenny
Absolute Friends - Le Carre, John
A Sea-Grape Tree - Lehmann, Rosamond
No One is Talking About This - Lockwood, Patricia
Death in Venice - Mann, Thomas
At the Sign of the Dog and Rocket - Mark, Jan
Call the Courier - Martin, Nancy
Last Night - McFarlane, Mhairi
If I Never Met You - McFarlane, Mhairi
Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling - McLysaght, Emer & Breece, Sarah
Red, White and Royal Blue - McQuinston, Casey
One Last Stop - McQuiston, Casey
His Only Wife - Medie, Peace Adzo
A Children's Bible - Millet, Lydia
The Red House Mystery - Milne, AA
Hotels of North America - Moody, Rick
All Done by Kindness - Moore, Doris Langley
Born With Teeth - Mulgrew, Kate
The Worst Witch and the Wishing Star - Murphy, Jill
Meg's Castle - Nicholls, Helen & Pienkowski, Jan
Scenes of a Graphic Nature - O'Donoghue, Caroline
Open the Cage, Murphy! - O'Grady, Paul
The Flatshare - O'Leary, Beth
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died - O'Reilly, Seamas
Solitaire - Oseman, Alice
Bel Canto - Patchett, Ann
Detransition, Baby - Peters, Torrey
Starring Peter and Leigh - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Beauty Queen - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
Better than All Right - Pfeffer, Susan Beth
The Unadulterated Cat - Pratchett, Terry
The Prices' Return - Pye, Virginia
Civil to Strangers - Pym, Barbara
A Few Green Leaves - Pym, Barbara
The Sweet Dove Died - Pym, Barbara
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl - Rae, Issa
Jam Tomorrow - Redlich, Monica
Tea and Sympathetic Magic - Roberts, Tansy Rayner
House of Trelawney - Rothschild, Hannah
If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say - Sales, Leila
Past Perfect - Sales, Leila
Jean Towards Another Day - Sandison, Janet
Jean at Noon - Sandison, Janet
Jean in the Twilight - Sandison, Janet
Jean in the Morning - Sandison, Janet
The Education of Harriet Hatfield - Sarton, May
The Magnificent Spinster - Sarton, May
Where'd You Go, Bernadette? - Semple, Maria
In Pious Memory - Sharp, Margery
The Foolish Gentlewoman - Sharp, Margery
Harlequin House - Sharp, Margery
The Stone of Chastity - Sharp, Margery
Four Gardens - Sharp, Margery
Fanfare for Tin Trumpets - Sharp, Margery
Rhododendron Pie - Sharp, Margery
The Tree of Heaven - Sinclair, May
A Comedian's Prayer Book - Skinner, Frank
Miss Plum and Miss Penny - Smith, Dorothy Evelyn
Symposium - Spark, Muriel
Robinson - Spark, Muriel
Death Sets Sail - Stevens, Robin
The Case of the Deepdean Vampire - Stevens, Robin
The Guugenheim Mystery - Stevens, Robin & Dowd, Siobahn
Dear Martin - Stone, Nic
It Pays to be Good - Streatfeild, Noel
Saving Time - Taylor, Jodi
Long Shadows - Taylor, Jodi
The Toast of Time - Taylor, Jodi
Hard Time - Taylor, Jodi
The Ordeal of the Haunted Room - Taylor, Jodi
Plan for the Worst - Taylor, Jodi
Doing Time - Taylor, Jodi
Why is Nothing Ever Simple? - Taylor, Jodi
Dark Light - Taylor, Jodi
A Bachelor Establishment - Taylor, Jodi
The Miseducation of Evie Epworth - Taylor, Matson
Mrs Saint and the Defectives - Timmer, Julie Lawson
Between the Stops - Toksvig, Sandi
The Chalet School Returns to the Alps - Townsend, Lisa
Brother of the More Famous Jack - Trapido, Barbara
Palm Beach, Finland - Tuomainen, Anti; Hackston, David
Bedside Manners - Valenzuela, Luisa
Question of Trust - Vincenzi, Penny
The Best of Times - Vincenzi, Penny
Windfall - Vincenzi, Penny
Forbidden Places - Vincenzi, Penny
Another Woman - Vincenzi, Penny
Wendy - Wallace, Karen
To Love and to Loathe - Waters, Martha
The Princess and the Suffragette - Webb, Holly
Fugitive Telemetry - Wells, Martha
Fugitive Telemetry - Wells, Martha
Network Effect - Wells, Martha
Network Effect - Wells, Martha
Artificial Condition - Wells, Martha
Rogue Protocol - Wells, Martha
Exit Strategy - Wells, Martha
Artificial Condition - Wells, Martha
Rogue Protocol - Wells, Martha
Exit Strategy - Wells, Martha
All Systems Red - Wells, Martha
All Systems Red - Wells, Martha
Noel Streatfeild - Wilson, Barbara Ker
The Seat Filler - Wilson, Sarah
When God Was a Rabbit - Winman, Sarah
Flannelled Fool - Worsley, TC
Madam - Wynne, Phoebe
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