Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

the wonderful world of reading 2020 reading challenge thread

How many books do you intend to read in 2020?


  • Total voters
    83
1. The Generous Earth – Philip Oyler
2. Excitements at the Chalet School
3.The New Mistress at the Chalet School
4. Betty: the story of Betty MacDonald - Anne Wellman
5. The Coming of Age of the Chalet School - Elinor Brent Dyer
6. The Chalet School and Richenda - “ “ “
7. Trials for the Chalet School - “ “ “
8. We Took to the Woods – Louise Rich Dickinson
9. Theodora and the Chalet School - Elinor Brent Dyer
and
10. Camera Lucida - Roland Barthes (reread)
11. Joey and Co in Tyrol – Elinor Brent Dyer
12. Ruey Richardson at the Chalet School – Elinor Brent Dyer
13. Oil Paint and Greece – Peter Hemming
14. The Hellbound Heart – Clive Barker
15. The Chalet School Reunion – Elinor Brent Dyer
and
16. The Valley and the Farm - Monica Edwards
17. Black Hunting Whip - " "
18. Punchbowl Midnight - " "
19. The Spirit of Punchbowl Farm - " " (these books from my childhood are a delight. I still have them)
20. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C S Lewis
21. Prince Caspian - " " "
22. The Last Battle - " " "
23. The Feud in the Chalet - Elinor Brent Dyer
24. The Chalet School Wins the Trick- " " "
25. A Future Chalet School Girl - " " "
26. A Leader in the Chalet School - " " "
27. The Empty World - D E Stevenson
28. The Obesity Code - Jason Fung
29. The Go Between - L P Hartley
30. Station Eleven - Emily St John Mandel
31. Beyond a Boundary - CLR James
32. Good Evening Mrs Craven: the Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter Downes - MP Downes
33. Modern Nature - Derek Jarman
34. Mythologies - Roland Barthes (reread)
35. Paper Houses - Michele Roberts
36. Dinah's Husband - Ursula Bloom
37. Normal People - Sally Rooney
38. Devil Water - Anya Seton (reread)
39. In Gratitude - Jenny Diski
40. Negative Capabality - Michele Roberts
41. In This House of Brede - Rumer Godden (reread)
42. Michael and All Angels - Nora Lofts
43. The Visitation - Michele Roberts
44.Smiling in Slow Motion - Derek Jarman
45. The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller
46. Veronica at the Wells - Lorna Hill
47. Jane Leaves the Wells - " "
48. Ella at the Wells - all Lorna Hill, all rerereads
49. Ballerina - Monica Loughman
50. The Cloister and the Hearth - Charles Reade
 
1/30 - Now in November - Josephine Johnson
2/30 - The Wanderers - Richard Price
3/30 - The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
4/30 - The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
5/30 - Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
6/30 - Robots and Empire - Isaac Asimov
7/30 - Underland - Robert McFarlane
8/30 - The 39 Steps - John Buchan
9/30 - The Secret Commonwealth - Phillip Pullman
10/30 - Clockers - Richard Price
11/30 - Fellside - M R Carey
12/30 - The Loney - Andrew Michael Hurley
13/30 - The long way to a small angry planet - Becky Chambers
14/30 - The Ruins - Scott Smith
 
1/30 The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A Fuck - Mark Manson
2/30 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
3/30 Coketown - Barney Farmer
4/30 Before The Coffee Gets Cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi
5/30 The Taxidermist’s Daughter - Kate Mosse
6/30 The Crying Of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
7/30 The Bird Man And The Lap Dancer: Close Encounters With Strangers - Eric Hansen
8/30 The Man In The High Castle - Philip K Dick
9/30 What You Want is in the Limo: On the road with Led Zeppelin, Alice Cooper, and The Who in 1973. the year the sixties died and the modern rock star was born - Michael Walker
10/30 Night Boat To Tangier - Kevin Barry
11/30 Tenth Of December - George Saunders
12/30 The Winter Ghosts - Kate Mosse
13/30 Original Rockers - Richard King
14/30 Labyrinth - Kate Moss
15/30 Dog Walker - Arthur Bradford
16/30 City Of Bohane - Kevin Barry

17/30 The Master And Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov
Genius and bonkers in equal measure.
 
1/70 - Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
2/70 - Annie Proulx - Accordion Crimes (re-read)
3/70 - Liz Nugent - Unravelling Oliver
4/70 - Elizabeth Strout - Anything is Possible
5/70 - Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones
6/70 - Ruth Rendell - Make Death Love Me (re-read)
7/70 - Michael Farris Smith - Rivers
8/70 - Malcolm Pryce - Last Tango in Aberystwyth
9/70 - Stephen King - Elevation
10/70 - Liz Nugent - Lying in Wait
11/70 - Donald Ray Pollock - Knockemstiff
12/70 - John Irving - Avenue of Mysteries
13/70 - Liz Nugent - Skin Deep
14/70 - Annie Proulx - The Shipping News (re-read)
15/70 - Val McDermid - How The Dead Speak
16/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
17/70 - Sally Rooney - Conversations With Friends
18/70 - John Green - An Abundance of Katherines
19/70 - Minette Walters - The Shape of Snakes
20/70 - Kazuo Ishiguro - Nocturnes
21/70 - Stephen King - Under The Dome (re-read)
22/70 - Denise Mina - Conviction
23/70 - William Boyd - Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay
24/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Long Walk (re-read)
25/70 - Michael Morpurgo - Born to Run
26/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - Roadwork
27/70 - William Boyd - The Vanishing Game
28/70 - Anthony Doerr - All The Light we Cannot See
29/70 - Stephen King - If It Bleeds
30/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley Under Ground
31/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Running Man (re-read)
32/70 - Minette Walters - Acid Row
33/70 - Liz Nugent - Our Little Cruelties
34/70 - Anne Tyler - A Spool of Blue Thread
35/70 - Stephen King - Dreamcatcher
36/70 - Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones and The Six
37/70 - Ruth Rendell - Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (re-read)
38/70 - Harlan Coben - Run Away
39/70 - Susan Hill - The Various Haunts of Men
40/70 - Julian Barnes - Arthur and George
41/70 - Stephen King - Cujo (re-read)
42/70 - Susan Hill - The Pure in Heart
43/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley's Game
44/70 - Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
45/70 - P D James - The Part Time Job
46/70 - Marilynne Robinson - Gilead
47/70 - Wally Lamb - I Know This Much is True
48/70 - Mick Herron - Slow Horses

49/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Boy Who Followed Ripley
 
I've made a conscious effort to read less this year. It was all getting a bit obsessive. I wanted to listen to more music and have succeeded

1. Suttree - Cormac Mccarthy
2. The Order of Time - Carlo Rovelli
3. The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet - Becky Chambers
4. Exhalation - Ted Chiang
5. The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman
6. Birds Without Wings - Louis de Berniere
7. The Peripheral - William Gibson
8. Proxima Rising - Brandon Q. Morris
9. She Came to Slay: the Life and Times of Harriet Tubman - Erica Armstrong Dunbar
10. Radicalized - Corey Doctorow
11. American Dirt - Janine Cummins
12. Energy and Civilisation--a History - Vaclav Smil
13. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead - Olga Tokarczuk
14. The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher - Hilary Mantel
15. Lampedusa - Steven Price
16. I am Legend - Richard Matheson
17. Lovecraft Country - Matt Ruff
18. Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel
19. Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
20. The Long Walk - Richard Bachman/Stephen King
21. The Plague - Albert Camus
22. All Systems Red - Martha Wells
23. Artificial Condition - Martha Wells
24. Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells
25. Exit Strategy - Martha Wells
26. Very, Very, Very Dreadful: The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 - Albert Marrin
27. High Rise - J. G. Ballard
28. The Girl With All the Gifts - M. R. Carey
29. The Rules of Contagion - Adam Kutcharski
30. Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo
31. Night Boat to Tangier - Kevin Barry
32. Recursion - Blake Crouch
33. The Risk Pool - Richard Russo
34. The Vanished Birds - Simon Jiminez
35. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Attwood
36. A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom - John Boyne
 
1/75 The Girl Who Lived Twice - David Lagercrantz
2/75 Sweet Sorrow - David Nicholls
3/75 Mortal Prey - John Sandford
4/75 The Night Fire - Michael Connelly
5/75 Borderlands - L J Ross
6/75 Three Weeks to say goodbye - C J Box
7/75 Blue Heaven - C J Box
8/75 Hard Shot - J B Turner
9/75 Surviving The Evacuation: There We Stood - Frank Tayell
10/75 Back of Beyond - C J Box
11/75 The Secret War : Spies,Codes & Guerrillas 1939-45 . Max Hastings
12/75 Sunset Express - Robert Crais
13/75 Requiem - J B Turner
14/75 Reckoning - J B Turner
15/75 Zone One - Colson Whitehead
16/75 Long Range - C J Box
17/75 The Wanted - Robert Crais
18/75 Night Prey - John Sandford
19/75 Dark of the moon - John Sandford
20/75 No One Home - Tim Weaver
21/75 Lockdown - Peter May
22/75 Rough Country - John Sandford
23/75 Life Moves Pretty Fast : The Lessons We Learned From 80s Movies - Hadley Freeman
24/75 Fast Times And Excellent Adventures: The Surprising History of The 80s Teen Movie. - James King
25/75 In A House Of Lies - Ian Rankin
26/75 The Shrine - LJ Ross
27/75 Rogue - James Swallow.
28/75 Zone War - John Conroe

***

29/75 Borough of Bones - John Conroe
 
1. Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood.
2. The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks
3. The Betrothed by Alessandro Manzoni
4. The Making of the English Working Class by E. P. Thompson.
5. Stories of Your Life: And Others by Ted Chiang
6. The Art of Not Being Governed by James C. Scott
7. Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (Beautiful terrifying short stories.)
8. A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie
 
1/36 - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
2/36 - Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (reread)
3/36 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
4/36 - Me by Elton John
5/36 - Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
6/36 - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
7/36 - Amazon Adventure by Willard Price
8/36 - Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
9/36 - Gotta get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television by Louis Theroux
10/36 - South Sea Adventure by Willard Price (reread)
11/36 - Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
12/36 - Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy
13/36 - When the Green Woods Laugh by H.E. Bates
14/36 - The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
15/36 - Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
16/36 - HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean
17/36 - Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
18/36 - Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
19/36 - Adolf Hitler- My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan
20/36 - The Gathering by Anne Enright
21/36 - Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (rererereread)
22/36 - The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (reread)
23/36 - The Trench by Steve Alten (reread)
24/36 - The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
25/36 - Haunted by James Herbert
26/36 - Books of Blood 5: In the Flesh by Clive Barker
 
1."Tombland" - C. J. Sansom
2. Exit Wounds" - compilation
3. "Murder in the Crooked House" - Soji Shimada
4."Into the Woods" - Tana French
5. "The Chalk Man" - CJ Tudor
6. "The Institute" - Stephen King
7. "The White Road" - Sarah Lotz
8. "Black Widow" - Christopher Brookmyre
9. "No One Home" - Tim Weaver
10. "Orphan X" - Gregg Hurwitz
11. "Nomad" - James Swallow
12. "Horns" - Joe Hill
13. "Dark Places" - Gillian Flynn

14. "The Wych Elm"

15. "The Hanging Tree" - Ben Aaranovitch. I do like this series of novels, they're very readable with endearing characters, but this felt a bit like filler and seemed a little lacking in story and content
 
1/50 Hilary Hinds - A Cultural History of Twin Beds
2/50 Alan Garner - Boneland
3/50 James Herriot - All Things Bright and Beautiful
4/50 Philip Pullman - The Secret Commonwealth
5/50 Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Terror
6/50 China Mieville - Kraken
7/50 Terry Pratchett - Pyramids
8/50 Terry Pratchett - Guards! Guards!
9/50 Adam Kay - This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
10/50 Alastair Reynolds - Revenger
11/50 Brett Anderson - Afternoons With the Blinds Drawn
12/50 Andrzej Sapkowski - The Last Wish
13/50 James Herriot - All Things Wise and Wonderful
14/50 Anna Sewell - Black Beauty
15/50 Dodie Smith - The Hundred and One Dalmatians
16/50 Frances Hardinge - Twilight Robbery
17/50 Terry Pratchett - Eric
18/50 Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
19/50 Frances Hardinge - Deeplight
20/50 Robert Jordan - The Fires of Heaven
21/50 Douglas Adams - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
22/50 John Masouri - Rebel Frequency: Jamaica's Reggae Revival
23/50 Douglas Adams - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
24/50 Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island
25/50 Sue Black - All That Remains
26/50 Alastair Reynolds - Shadow Captain
27/50 Douglas Adams - Life, the Universe and Everything
28/50 Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There
29/50 Douglas Adams - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
30/50 Mary Beard - SPQR: a History of Ancient Rome
31/50 Bill Bryson - The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
32/50 Terry Pratchett - Moving Pictures
33/50 Linton Kwesi Johnson - From Mento to Lovers' Rock: the evolution of Jamaican popular music
34/50 Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man
35/50 Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
36/50 Philip Pullman - The Firework-maker's Daughter
37/50 Robert Jordan - Lord of Chaos

38/50 Matt Ruff - Lovecraft Country
 
1/75 The Girl Who Lived Twice - David Lagercrantz
2/75 Sweet Sorrow - David Nicholls
3/75 Mortal Prey - John Sandford
4/75 The Night Fire - Michael Connelly
5/75 Borderlands - L J Ross
6/75 Three Weeks to say goodbye - C J Box
7/75 Blue Heaven - C J Box
8/75 Hard Shot - J B Turner
9/75 Surviving The Evacuation: There We Stood - Frank Tayell
10/75 Back of Beyond - C J Box
11/75 The Secret War : Spies,Codes & Guerrillas 1939-45 . Max Hastings
12/75 Sunset Express - Robert Crais
13/75 Requiem - J B Turner
14/75 Reckoning - J B Turner
15/75 Zone One - Colson Whitehead
16/75 Long Range - C J Box
17/75 The Wanted - Robert Crais
18/75 Night Prey - John Sandford
19/75 Dark of the moon - John Sandford
20/75 No One Home - Tim Weaver
21/75 Lockdown - Peter May
22/75 Rough Country - John Sandford
23/75 Life Moves Pretty Fast : The Lessons We Learned From 80s Movies - Hadley Freeman
24/75 Fast Times And Excellent Adventures: The Surprising History of The 80s Teen Movie. - James King
25/75 In A House Of Lies - Ian Rankin
26/75 The Shrine - LJ Ross
27/75 Rogue - James Swallow.
28/75 Zone War - John Conroe
29/75 Borough of Bones - John Conroe

*****

30/75 Web of Extinction - John Conroe
 
1/20 - The Good Immigrant - ed Nikesh Shukla
2/20 - The Secret Commonwealth - Philip Pullman
3/20 - Exit West - Mohsin Hamid
4/20 - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy
5/20 - Grief is the Thing with Feathers - Max Porter
6/20 - The Salt Path - Raynor Winn
7/20 - All That Remains - Sue Black
8/20 - Space: 10 Things You Should Know - Becky Smethurst
8.5/20 The Yellow Wallpaper - Charlotte Perkins (more an essay tbh so not really counting it, but want it on my list :oops: )
9/20 - The Explorer - Katherine Rundell
10/20 - Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch
11/20 - Lyra's Oxford - Philip Pullman
12/20 - Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
13/20 - Ghost Boys - Jewell Parker Rhodes
14/20 - Astrophysics for People in a Hurry - Neil deGrasse Tyson
15/20 - My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
 
out of a possible 39

1. The Bone Clocks - David Mitchell
2. Shah of Shas - Ryszard Kapuscinski
3. Tales from the Dail Bar - Ted Nealon
4. Against a Dark Background - Iain M Banks
5. The Heather Blazing - Colm Toibin
6. Borstal Boy - Brendan Behan
7. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
8. Asterix and the Golden Sickle - Goscinny & Uderzo
9. Asterix and the Actress - Uderzo
10. Tintin and Alph Art - Herge & Rodier
11. The Last Crossing - Guy Vanderhaegue
12. Strata - Terry Prachett (re-read)
13. Stardust - Neil Gaiman
14. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman - Haruki Murakami
15. Don Quixote - Cervantes
 
1/19 Normal People - Sally Rooney
2/19 Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676 - Walter Woodward
3/19 Colonial America (A Very Short Introduction) - Alan Taylor
4/19 Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
5/19 The Reformation (The Penguin History of the Church 3) - Owen Chadwick
6/19 The Countenance Divine - Michael Hughes
7/19 A Culture of Fact: England, 1550-1720 - Barbara J. Shapiro
8/19 Semicolon - Cecelia Watson
9/19 Paradise - A.L. Kennedy
10/19 Advocacy: A Practical Guide - Peter Lyons
11/19 Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution - Bruce T. Moran
12/19 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
13/19 Notes on 'Camp' - Susan Sontag
14/19 The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin
15/19 Living at the End of the World - Marina Benjamin
16/19 Stoner - John Williams
17/19 Oxford - Jan Morris
 
1/50 Hilary Hinds - A Cultural History of Twin Beds
2/50 Alan Garner - Boneland
3/50 James Herriot - All Things Bright and Beautiful
4/50 Philip Pullman - The Secret Commonwealth
5/50 Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Terror
6/50 China Mieville - Kraken
7/50 Terry Pratchett - Pyramids
8/50 Terry Pratchett - Guards! Guards!
9/50 Adam Kay - This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
10/50 Alastair Reynolds - Revenger
11/50 Brett Anderson - Afternoons With the Blinds Drawn
12/50 Andrzej Sapkowski - The Last Wish
13/50 James Herriot - All Things Wise and Wonderful
14/50 Anna Sewell - Black Beauty
15/50 Dodie Smith - The Hundred and One Dalmatians
16/50 Frances Hardinge - Twilight Robbery
17/50 Terry Pratchett - Eric
18/50 Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
19/50 Frances Hardinge - Deeplight
20/50 Robert Jordan - The Fires of Heaven
21/50 Douglas Adams - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
22/50 John Masouri - Rebel Frequency: Jamaica's Reggae Revival
23/50 Douglas Adams - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
24/50 Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island
25/50 Sue Black - All That Remains
26/50 Alastair Reynolds - Shadow Captain
27/50 Douglas Adams - Life, the Universe and Everything
28/50 Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There
29/50 Douglas Adams - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
30/50 Mary Beard - SPQR: a History of Ancient Rome
31/50 Bill Bryson - The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
32/50 Terry Pratchett - Moving Pictures
33/50 Linton Kwesi Johnson - From Mento to Lovers' Rock: the evolution of Jamaican popular music
34/50 Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man
35/50 Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
36/50 Philip Pullman - The Firework-maker's Daughter
37/50 Robert Jordan - Lord of Chaos
38/50 Matt Ruff - Lovecraft Country

39/50 Susanna Clarke - Piranesi
 
  • 1/52: Fast Times And Excellent Adventures by James King
  • 2/52: Life Moves Pretty Fast by Hadley Freeman
  • 3/52: You Couldn't Ignore Me If You Tried by Susannah Gora
  • 4/52: Irregular Army by Matt Kennard
  • 5/52: Operation Ajax by Mike de Seve and Daniel Burwen
  • 6/52: Judgment On Gotham by John Wagner, Alan Grant and Simon Bisley
  • 7/52: The Jungle Is Neutral by F Spencer Chapman
  • 8/52: The Films Of Danny Dyer by Jonathan Sothcott and James Mullinger
  • 9/52: Judge Dredd Vs The Fatties by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Ron Smith, Carlos Ezquerra, Cam Kennedy & Tom Frame
  • 10/52: Judge Dredd Vs Otto Sump by John Wagner, Alan Grant, Ron Smith & Tom Frame
  • 11/52: The Judge Child Quest by John Howard (John Wagner & Alan Grant), Brian Bolland, Mike McMahon, Ron Smith & Tom Frame
  • 12/52: Dirty War, Clean Hands: ETA, The GAL And Spanish Democracy by Paddy Woodworth
  • 13/52: Frontline UK by William Corderoy, Ian Kennedy and Clemente Rezzonico (additional material by Steve Holland)
  • 14/52: The Million Pound Bus Fare by David Weldon
  • 15/52: The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
  • 16/52: Fantastic Adventures by David McDonald (plus additional material by Alan Clarke)
  • 17/52: Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli & Richmond Lewis
  • 18/52: The Killing Of Idi Amin by Leslie Watkins
  • 19/52: Trust in Me: Allegiance Choices in a Post Split Terrorist Movement by John Morrison
  • 20/52: Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore, Curt Swan, George Pérez, Kurt Schaffenberger, Todd Klein & Gene D'Angelo with Julius Schwartz
  • 21/52: A Brief History of Crisps by Steve Berry and Phil Norman

22/52: The Big City Rogue Cop As Monster: Images Of NYPD And LAPD by Cecil Greek - fairly perfunctory look at various movie representations of cops as ‘golems’

23/52: The Tale Of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot - brilliant graphic novel about a young woman on a journey, finding love for herself and for life by following in the footsteps of Beatrix Potter of all people. Some beautiful artwork, and a sensitively realised story.

ONE BAD RAT.jpg
 
1/20? Dickens, Charles (2004) David Copperfield. Revised/Penguin Classics edition. Paperback edition. London: Penguin Books. (0140439447) Finished 12/4/20
2/20? Hensher, Philip (2020) A small revolution in Germany. Hardback edition. London: 4th Estate. (9780008323073) Finished 4/5/20

3/20? Townsend, Sue (2010) Adrian Mole: the prostrate years. Paperback edition. London: Penguin Books. (9780141034737) Finished 11/9/20

Well, I didn't think I'd get back to this until I 'signed off' at the end of the year. Despite, in theory, having lots more time to read being at home and all that, I've found my concentration and desire to read has almost completely disappeared. I just stare at YT or the TV and say, 'what' & 'why'! Anyway, I found a copy of this, the last Mole book, in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago so decided to reread it. I think Sue Townsend is a great comic writer and Mole is truly the modern Pooter. Plus, we're the same age. It made me smile, which is rare these days.
 
1/19 Normal People - Sally Rooney
2/19 Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676 - Walter Woodward
3/19 Colonial America (A Very Short Introduction) - Alan Taylor
4/19 Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
5/19 The Reformation (The Penguin History of the Church 3) - Owen Chadwick
6/19 The Countenance Divine - Michael Hughes
7/19 A Culture of Fact: England, 1550-1720 - Barbara J. Shapiro
8/19 Semicolon - Cecelia Watson
9/19 Paradise - A.L. Kennedy
10/19 Advocacy: A Practical Guide - Peter Lyons
11/19 Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution - Bruce T. Moran
12/19 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
13/19 Notes on 'Camp' - Susan Sontag
14/19 The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin
15/19 Living at the End of the World - Marina Benjamin
16/19 Stoner - John Williams
17/19 Oxford - Jan Morris

18/19 Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
 
1/50 Hilary Hinds - A Cultural History of Twin Beds
2/50 Alan Garner - Boneland
3/50 James Herriot - All Things Bright and Beautiful
4/50 Philip Pullman - The Secret Commonwealth
5/50 Edgar Allan Poe - Tales of Mystery and Terror
6/50 China Mieville - Kraken
7/50 Terry Pratchett - Pyramids
8/50 Terry Pratchett - Guards! Guards!
9/50 Adam Kay - This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor
10/50 Alastair Reynolds - Revenger
11/50 Brett Anderson - Afternoons With the Blinds Drawn
12/50 Andrzej Sapkowski - The Last Wish
13/50 James Herriot - All Things Wise and Wonderful
14/50 Anna Sewell - Black Beauty
15/50 Dodie Smith - The Hundred and One Dalmatians
16/50 Frances Hardinge - Twilight Robbery
17/50 Terry Pratchett - Eric
18/50 Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
19/50 Frances Hardinge - Deeplight
20/50 Robert Jordan - The Fires of Heaven
21/50 Douglas Adams - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
22/50 John Masouri - Rebel Frequency: Jamaica's Reggae Revival
23/50 Douglas Adams - The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
24/50 Bill Bryson - Notes from a Small Island
25/50 Sue Black - All That Remains
26/50 Alastair Reynolds - Shadow Captain
27/50 Douglas Adams - Life, the Universe and Everything
28/50 Bill Bryson - Neither Here Nor There
29/50 Douglas Adams - So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
30/50 Mary Beard - SPQR: a History of Ancient Rome
31/50 Bill Bryson - The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America
32/50 Terry Pratchett - Moving Pictures
33/50 Linton Kwesi Johnson - From Mento to Lovers' Rock: the evolution of Jamaican popular music
34/50 Terry Pratchett - Reaper Man
35/50 Dashiell Hammett - The Maltese Falcon
36/50 Philip Pullman - The Firework-maker's Daughter
37/50 Robert Jordan - Lord of Chaos
38/50 Matt Ruff - Lovecraft Country
39/50 Susanna Clarke - Piranesi

40/50 Seamus Heaney - Death of a Naturalist
 
1/70 - Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
2/70 - Annie Proulx - Accordion Crimes (re-read)
3/70 - Liz Nugent - Unravelling Oliver
4/70 - Elizabeth Strout - Anything is Possible
5/70 - Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones
6/70 - Ruth Rendell - Make Death Love Me (re-read)
7/70 - Michael Farris Smith - Rivers
8/70 - Malcolm Pryce - Last Tango in Aberystwyth
9/70 - Stephen King - Elevation
10/70 - Liz Nugent - Lying in Wait
11/70 - Donald Ray Pollock - Knockemstiff
12/70 - John Irving - Avenue of Mysteries
13/70 - Liz Nugent - Skin Deep
14/70 - Annie Proulx - The Shipping News (re-read)
15/70 - Val McDermid - How The Dead Speak
16/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
17/70 - Sally Rooney - Conversations With Friends
18/70 - John Green - An Abundance of Katherines
19/70 - Minette Walters - The Shape of Snakes
20/70 - Kazuo Ishiguro - Nocturnes
21/70 - Stephen King - Under The Dome (re-read)
22/70 - Denise Mina - Conviction
23/70 - William Boyd - Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay
24/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Long Walk (re-read)
25/70 - Michael Morpurgo - Born to Run
26/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - Roadwork
27/70 - William Boyd - The Vanishing Game
28/70 - Anthony Doerr - All The Light we Cannot See
29/70 - Stephen King - If It Bleeds
30/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley Under Ground
31/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Running Man (re-read)
32/70 - Minette Walters - Acid Row
33/70 - Liz Nugent - Our Little Cruelties
34/70 - Anne Tyler - A Spool of Blue Thread
35/70 - Stephen King - Dreamcatcher
36/70 - Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones and The Six
37/70 - Ruth Rendell - Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (re-read)
38/70 - Harlan Coben - Run Away
39/70 - Susan Hill - The Various Haunts of Men
40/70 - Julian Barnes - Arthur and George
41/70 - Stephen King - Cujo (re-read)
42/70 - Susan Hill - The Pure in Heart
43/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley's Game
44/70 - Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
45/70 - P D James - The Part Time Job
46/70 - Marilynne Robinson - Gilead
47/70 - Wally Lamb - I Know This Much is True
48/70 - Mick Herron - Slow Horses
49/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Boy Who Followed Ripley

50/70 - David Mitchell - Utopia Avenue
 
1/30 - Now in November - Josephine Johnson
2/30 - The Wanderers - Richard Price
3/30 - The Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov
4/30 - The Naked Sun - Isaac Asimov
5/30 - Robots of Dawn - Isaac Asimov
6/30 - Robots and Empire - Isaac Asimov
7/30 - Underland - Robert McFarlane
8/30 - The 39 Steps - John Buchan
9/30 - The Secret Commonwealth - Phillip Pullman
10/30 - Clockers - Richard Price
11/30 - Fellside - M R Carey
12/30 - The Loney - Andrew Michael Hurley
13/30 - The long way to a small angry planet - Becky Chambers
14/30 - The Ruins - Scott Smith
15/30 - The Long Walk - Stephen King
 
1/70 - Shirley Jackson - The Bird's Nest
2/70 - Annie Proulx - Accordion Crimes (re-read)
3/70 - Liz Nugent - Unravelling Oliver
4/70 - Elizabeth Strout - Anything is Possible
5/70 - Alice Sebold - The Lovely Bones
6/70 - Ruth Rendell - Make Death Love Me (re-read)
7/70 - Michael Farris Smith - Rivers
8/70 - Malcolm Pryce - Last Tango in Aberystwyth
9/70 - Stephen King - Elevation
10/70 - Liz Nugent - Lying in Wait
11/70 - Donald Ray Pollock - Knockemstiff
12/70 - John Irving - Avenue of Mysteries
13/70 - Liz Nugent - Skin Deep
14/70 - Annie Proulx - The Shipping News (re-read)
15/70 - Val McDermid - How The Dead Speak
16/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr Ripley
17/70 - Sally Rooney - Conversations With Friends
18/70 - John Green - An Abundance of Katherines
19/70 - Minette Walters - The Shape of Snakes
20/70 - Kazuo Ishiguro - Nocturnes
21/70 - Stephen King - Under The Dome (re-read)
22/70 - Denise Mina - Conviction
23/70 - William Boyd - Sweet Caress: The Many Lives of Amory Clay
24/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Long Walk (re-read)
25/70 - Michael Morpurgo - Born to Run
26/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - Roadwork
27/70 - William Boyd - The Vanishing Game
28/70 - Anthony Doerr - All The Light we Cannot See
29/70 - Stephen King - If It Bleeds
30/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley Under Ground
31/70 - Richard Bachman (aka Stephen King) - The Running Man (re-read)
32/70 - Minette Walters - Acid Row
33/70 - Liz Nugent - Our Little Cruelties
34/70 - Anne Tyler - A Spool of Blue Thread
35/70 - Stephen King - Dreamcatcher
36/70 - Taylor Jenkins Reid - Daisy Jones and The Six
37/70 - Ruth Rendell - Adam and Eve and Pinch Me (re-read)
38/70 - Harlan Coben - Run Away
39/70 - Susan Hill - The Various Haunts of Men
40/70 - Julian Barnes - Arthur and George
41/70 - Stephen King - Cujo (re-read)
42/70 - Susan Hill - The Pure in Heart
43/70 - Patricia Highsmith - Ripley's Game
44/70 - Marina Lewycka - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian
45/70 - P D James - The Part Time Job
46/70 - Marilynne Robinson - Gilead
47/70 - Wally Lamb - I Know This Much is True
48/70 - Mick Herron - Slow Horses
49/70 - Patricia Highsmith - The Boy Who Followed Ripley
50/70 - David Mitchell - Utopia Avenue

51/70 - Ruth Rendell - The Copper Peacock
 
42 - First They Took Rome: How the Populist Right Conquered Italy - David Broder
43 - The Science and Passion of Communism Selected Writings of Amadeo Bordiga (1912-1965) - Amadeo Bordiga (eds and trans Pietro Basso, Giacomo Donis, Patrick Camiller)
44 - The Apprentice's Sorcerer: Liberal Tradition and Fascism - Ishay Landa
45 -The Holocaust, Fascism and Memory: Essays in the History of Ideas - Dan Stone
46 - The Russian Roots of Nazism: White Émigrés and the Making of National Socialism, 1917–1945 - Michael Kellogg
47 - Football: The Philosophy Behind It- Stephen Mumford
 
This any good?
It's brilliant - a good hard, challenging read, but it's only a building block for this, about which i said the other week: Fascism and the Masses: The Revolt against the Last Humans - Ishay Landa (astonishing - best book i've read since Tooze's Wages of Destruction 15 years ago, challenges most accounts of fascism across the board in the way Tooze did for WW2 and Nazi Germany, recommended for those enjoying Lusurdo, EMW etc - this review gives a flavour).
 
It's brilliant - a good hard, challenging read, but it's only a building block for this, about which i said the other week: Fascism and the Masses: The Revolt against the Last Humans - Ishay Landa (astonishing - best book i've read since Tooze's Wages of Destruction 15 years ago, challenges most accounts of fascism across the board in the way Tooze did for WW2 and Nazi Germany, recommended for those enjoying Lusurdo, EMW etc - this review gives a flavour).
Thanks I'll check those out.
 
1/19 Normal People - Sally Rooney
2/19 Prospero's America: John Winthrop, Jr., Alchemy, and the Creation of New England Culture, 1606-1676 - Walter Woodward
3/19 Colonial America (A Very Short Introduction) - Alan Taylor
4/19 Conversations with Friends - Sally Rooney
5/19 The Reformation (The Penguin History of the Church 3) - Owen Chadwick
6/19 The Countenance Divine - Michael Hughes
7/19 A Culture of Fact: England, 1550-1720 - Barbara J. Shapiro
8/19 Semicolon - Cecelia Watson
9/19 Paradise - A.L. Kennedy
10/19 Advocacy: A Practical Guide - Peter Lyons
11/19 Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution - Bruce T. Moran
12/19 Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge
13/19 Notes on 'Camp' - Susan Sontag
14/19 The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula Le Guin
15/19 Living at the End of the World - Marina Benjamin
16/19 Stoner - John Williams
17/19 Oxford - Jan Morris
18/19 Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
19/19 High-Rise - JG Ballard
 
1/10 - Die Trying by Lee Child
2/10 - The Three Kings: Busby, Shankley, Stein by Leo Moynihan
3/10 - The Sentry by Robert Crais
4/10 - Plainsong by Kent Haruf
 
1/36 - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
2/36 - Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (reread)
3/36 - The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
4/36 - Me by Elton John
5/36 - Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
6/36 - Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
7/36 - Amazon Adventure by Willard Price
8/36 - Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
9/36 - Gotta get Theroux This: My Life and Strange Times in Television by Louis Theroux
10/36 - South Sea Adventure by Willard Price (reread)
11/36 - Atomised by Michel Houellebecq
12/36 - Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy
13/36 - When the Green Woods Laugh by H.E. Bates
14/36 - The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
15/36 - Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin
16/36 - HMS Ulysses by Alistair Maclean
17/36 - Enduring Love by Ian McEwan
18/36 - Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist
19/36 - Adolf Hitler- My Part in his Downfall by Spike Milligan
20/36 - The Gathering by Anne Enright
21/36 - Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (rererereread)
22/36 - The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker (reread)
23/36 - The Trench by Steve Alten (reread)
24/36 - The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham
25/36 - Haunted by James Herbert
26/36 - Books of Blood 5: In the Flesh by Clive Barker
27/36 - Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen
 
Back
Top Bottom