2009 reading list
I keep wondering if I will go off reading and, I dunno, start playing the Xbox all day or something. But it certainly didn't happen in '09.
This was actually one of my favourite years for good books. I finally got through some novels in French, including Victor Hugo, who was so much fun. I finally read some good African literature thanks to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Bessie Head. My favourite novel of the year is between the Bolaño and Possession; I think I enjoyed AS Byatt more at the time, but The Savage Detective has stayed with me longer. There were two standouts in non-fic: Martha Keith Schuchard's fascinating study of occultism and sexuality in 18th-century London, Why Mrs Blake Cried, and Susan Williams's riveting history of how Botswana's first president overcame racism in both directions to marry a nice white girl from Essex - Colour Bar. Since I got to France I have been reading a lot of good BDs, and I particularly enjoyed the Djinn series drawn by Spanish artist Anna Miralles and written by the prolific Jean Dufaux - very sexy and lots of fun.
some stats
Female - 25%
Male - 67%
both/unknown - 8%
not in English - 37%
originally not in English - 38% (interesting - practically everything was read in its original language, Bolaño being the exception)
Here's the more-or-less full list, exlcuding lots of things I've browsed but not finished:
Fiction
Francoise Rey, La Femme de Papier
Iain M Banks, The Player of Games
Iain M Banks, Use of Weapons
Tahar Ben Jelloun, La Prière de l'Absent
Iain M Banks, The State of the Art
Iain M Banks, Excession
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now
Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives
JMG Le Clézio, Mondo et Autres Histoires
Nadine Monfils, Contes pour Petites Filles Perverses
Kate Atkinson, Case Histories
China Miéville, Perdido Street Station
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, A Grain of Wheat
Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris
AS Byatt, Possession
Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
Unity Dow, The Heavens May Fall
Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea
Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country [review]
Non-fiction
Martha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Erotic Imagination
Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret History [review]
Paul Wilkinson, International Relations: A Very Short Introduction
John Baxter, We'll Always Have Paris
Folco de Baroncelli, L'Élevage en Camargue: Le Taureau
Gregor Dallas, Metrostop Paris
Noëlle Laborderie, Précis de Phonétique Historique
Andrew Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction
Okumba Miruka, Oral Literature of the Luo
James Fox, White Mischief
John Burrow, A History of Histories
University of Botswana, The Sound System of Setswana
Paul Mmolotsi Rantao, Setswana Culture and Tradition
Susan Williams, Colour Bar
Phillip Durkin, The Oxford Guide to Etymology
David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of [review]
Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld
Poetry
Francois Villon, Poésies
Pierre de Ronsard, Les Amours
various, Poèmes de Paris
various, Poèmes Érotiques de la Littérature en Bandes Dessinées
Comics and BDs
Alexandro Jodorowsky & Milo Manara, Borgia: Du Sang pour le Pape
Alexandro Jodorowsky & Milo Manara, Borgia: Le Pouvoir et l'Inceste
Kate Beaton, Never Learn Anything From History
Yslaire / Balac, Sambre: Plus ne m'est Rien...
Jean Dufaux, Murena: Premier Cycle
Xavier Duvet, Le Journal d'une Soubrette
Enki Bilal, La Trilogie Nikopol
Jean Dufaux / Ana Miralles, Djinn, Cycle 1
Giuseppe Manunta, Les 5 Sens d'Eros
This was actually one of my favourite years for good books. I finally got through some novels in French, including Victor Hugo, who was so much fun. I finally read some good African literature thanks to Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and Bessie Head. My favourite novel of the year is between the Bolaño and Possession; I think I enjoyed AS Byatt more at the time, but The Savage Detective has stayed with me longer. There were two standouts in non-fic: Martha Keith Schuchard's fascinating study of occultism and sexuality in 18th-century London, Why Mrs Blake Cried, and Susan Williams's riveting history of how Botswana's first president overcame racism in both directions to marry a nice white girl from Essex - Colour Bar. Since I got to France I have been reading a lot of good BDs, and I particularly enjoyed the Djinn series drawn by Spanish artist Anna Miralles and written by the prolific Jean Dufaux - very sexy and lots of fun.
some stats
Female - 25%
Male - 67%
both/unknown - 8%
not in English - 37%
originally not in English - 38% (interesting - practically everything was read in its original language, Bolaño being the exception)
Here's the more-or-less full list, exlcuding lots of things I've browsed but not finished:
Fiction
Francoise Rey, La Femme de Papier
Iain M Banks, The Player of Games
Iain M Banks, Use of Weapons
Tahar Ben Jelloun, La Prière de l'Absent
Iain M Banks, The State of the Art
Iain M Banks, Excession
Meg Rosoff, How I Live Now
Roberto Bolaño, The Savage Detectives
JMG Le Clézio, Mondo et Autres Histoires
Nadine Monfils, Contes pour Petites Filles Perverses
Kate Atkinson, Case Histories
China Miéville, Perdido Street Station
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, A Grain of Wheat
Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris
AS Byatt, Possession
Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather
Unity Dow, The Heavens May Fall
Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea
Vladimir Nabokov, Transparent Things
Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger
Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country [review]
Non-fiction
Martha Keith Schuchard, Why Mrs Blake Cried: William Blake and the Erotic Imagination
Kate Summerscale, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher
Andrew Hussey, Paris: The Secret History [review]
Paul Wilkinson, International Relations: A Very Short Introduction
John Baxter, We'll Always Have Paris
Folco de Baroncelli, L'Élevage en Camargue: Le Taureau
Gregor Dallas, Metrostop Paris
Noëlle Laborderie, Précis de Phonétique Historique
Andrew Clapham, Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction
Okumba Miruka, Oral Literature of the Luo
James Fox, White Mischief
John Burrow, A History of Histories
University of Botswana, The Sound System of Setswana
Paul Mmolotsi Rantao, Setswana Culture and Tradition
Susan Williams, Colour Bar
Phillip Durkin, The Oxford Guide to Etymology
David Crockett, A Narrative of the Life of [review]
Gãmini Salgãdo, The Elizabethan Underworld
Poetry
Francois Villon, Poésies
Pierre de Ronsard, Les Amours
various, Poèmes de Paris
various, Poèmes Érotiques de la Littérature en Bandes Dessinées
Comics and BDs
Alexandro Jodorowsky & Milo Manara, Borgia: Du Sang pour le Pape
Alexandro Jodorowsky & Milo Manara, Borgia: Le Pouvoir et l'Inceste
Kate Beaton, Never Learn Anything From History
Yslaire / Balac, Sambre: Plus ne m'est Rien...
Jean Dufaux, Murena: Premier Cycle
Xavier Duvet, Le Journal d'une Soubrette
Enki Bilal, La Trilogie Nikopol
Jean Dufaux / Ana Miralles, Djinn, Cycle 1
Giuseppe Manunta, Les 5 Sens d'Eros