Palimplists 2005

[Wavid]

Wavid's Reading List 2005

Key: Blue = Current Read, Red = Better Even than 5 Stars, Dark Red = Stalled (but not necessarily abandoned for good), Purple = Abandoned for ever.

You can see my reading list 'visually' here, inspired by Chillicheese!

34. The Consolations of Philosophy - Alain de Botton (current)
33. The Long Goodbye - Raymond Chandler
32. The Quiet American - Graham Greene
31. Christianity: A Very Short Introduction - Linda Woodhead
30. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. Amsterdam - Ian McEwan
28. Right Ho, Jeeves - PG Wodehouse
27. Revelations - ed. Richard Holloway
26. Doubts and Loves - Richard Holloway (current)
25. Arthur & George - Julian Barnes (current)
24. Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland
23. No One Writes to the Colonel - Gabriel Garcia Márquez
22. Somebody's Husband, Somebody's Son - Gordon Burn
21. The Temptation of St. Antony - Gustave Flaubert (abandoned)
20. Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami (lost!)
19. Strip Jack - Ian Rankin 1/2
18. A Good Day to Die - Simon Kernick
17. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell (on the back burner)
16. Chaucer - Peter Ackroyd
15. Striptease - Carl Hiasen
15. Archangel - Robert Harris
14. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro (RESTARTED!)
13. Sideways - Rex Pickett
12. Looking in the Distance - Richard Holloway
11. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides (stalled)
10. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
9. A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving (with cherry on top)
8. So Now Who Do We Vote For? - John Harris
7. The End of the Affair by Graham Green
6. Sick Puppy by Carl Hiaasen
5. Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosley
4. The Timewaster Letters by Robin Cooper
3. Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories by James Ellroy
2. GB84 by David Peace (stalled)
1. Hey Nostradamus! by Douglas Coupland

[amner]

amner's Reading List 2005

28. Dead Souls, Nikolai Gogol
27. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling ½
26. Misogynies, Joan Smith
25. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
24. The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper, Blake Morrison
23. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens ½
22. Life After Life, Tony Parker
21. Showbusiness: diary of a rock 'n' roll nobody, Mark Radcliffe ½
20. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
19. Love and War in the Apennines, Eric Newby ½
18. Nineteen Seventy Four, David Peace
17. Hey Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland
16. The Island of Dr Moreau, H.G. Wells ½
15. Fullalove, Gordon Burn
14. Live and Let Die, Ian Fleming
13. The Murder Exchange, Simon Kernick
12. The Business of Dying, Simon Kernick
11. The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman
10. All Quiet on the Orient Express, Magnus Mills
9. Dead Famous, Ben Elton ½
8. LA Confidential, James Ellroy
7. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, ACD
6. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell ½
5. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown
4. Hereward: the Last Englishman, Peter Rex
3. The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman
2. The Big Nowhere, James Ellroy
1. Northern Lights, Philip Pullman

[gil]

Gil's Reading List - 2005
42. The Three Arched Bridge - Ishmael Kadare -
41. Old Boys - Charles McCarry -
40. The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells -
39. Hey, Nostradamus - Douglas Coupland - Currently Reading
38. Dance, Dance, Dance - Haruki Murakami
37. Wolves Eat Dogs - Martin Cruz Smith -
36. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks -
35. The Day of the Scorpion - Paul Scott - Currently Reading
34. No-one Writes to the Colonel - Marquez -
33. A Wild Sheep Chase Haruki Murakami
32. Fascination - William Boyd -
31. New York Trilogy - Paul Auster -
30. Leonardo da Vinci - Flights of the Mind - Charles Nicholl
29. The Temptation of St Anthony - Gustave Flaubert -
28. Number9dream David Mitchell -
27. Foucault's Pendulum Umberto Eco -
26. Tears of the Giraffe Alexander McCall Smith -
25. Freedom and Death - Nikos Kazantzakis -
24. The Book of Illusions - Paul Auster -
23. Lyonesse III - Madouc- Jack Vance -
22. No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency- Alexander McCall Smith -
21. Cloud Atlas- David Mitchell-
20. Lyonesse II - the Green Pearl- Jack Vance
19. Hawksmoor- Peter Ackroyd -
18. The Tears of Autumn- Charles McCarry- - A great spy novel cum mystery
17. What Was She Thinking? : Notes on a Scandal- Zoe Heller -
16. The Last Juror - John Grisham -
15. Grave Secrets - Kathy Reichs -
14. The Sacred Art of Stealing - Christopher Brookmyre -
13. The System of the World Neal Stephenson -
12. Pastoralia George Saunders -
11. Free Fall in Crimson John D McDonald
10. Zeitgeist Bruce Sterling -
9. Quiller KGB Adam Hall -
8. Quiller Salamander Adam Hall -
7. The Avignon Quintet Lawrence Durrell - Currently reading again
6. The Confusion Neal Stephenson -
5. Lyonesse Jack Vance -
4. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Haruki Murakami
3. Polaroids from the Dead Douglas Coupland
2. Ramage's Prize Dudley Pope
1. Rogue Male Geoffrey Household

[Colyngbourne]

Col's Reading List 2005.

102. Artemis Fowl/Opal Deception - Eoin Colfer ½.
101. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova. Deeply crappy travelogue-style Dracula story.
100. Deep Secret - Berlie Doherty I couldn't have borne The Historian being Book 100. The characterisation was rather thin but the scenario was deeply moving. Shocked into crying by my old English teacher
99. Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy. ½. More here
98. The Sleeper Wakes - HG Wells. ½. More for invention and thought than the writing.
97. Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf - Sonya Hartnett ½. Too much head stuff, too little plot stuff. But thylacines - excellent!!
96. Mimus - Lilli Thal For 10/11 yr olds. Lots of good themes, doesn't hold back on the gore, but doesn't delve deep enough either.
95. 100 Days on Holy Island - Peter Mortimer. Self-indulgent pompous twaddle; I pity his ailing abandoned mother. Somewhat Wrightian in tone.
93. The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon - Sei Shonagon
92. The Time-Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger.
91. The First Men on the Moon - H G Wells ½.
90. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
89. if no-one speaks of remarkable things - Jon McGregor ½.
88. Millennium People - J G Ballard ½. Weak ideas, useless characters (apart from Sally) and stupid gullible protagonist.
87. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen ½. The new film doesn't do it justice, and mishandles a lot of stuff.
86. Number9Dream = David Mitchell. ½. In the end it was well worth it, but the moments of visceral gore (the bowling alley sequence, for one) and the spin-off into Goatwriter deducted marks.
85. The Sixth Lamentation - William Brodrick ½ Too pat, and too forgiving in all the wrong places.
84. No-One Writes to the Colonel - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ½
83. this is all - The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn - Aidan Chambers +++
82. The Turn of the Screw - Henry James ½
81. Ultraviolet - Lesley Howarth
80. Lost in a Good Book - Jasper Fforde
79. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde ½ Jolly good fun
78. Checkmate - Malorie Blackman
77. The Stone Book Quartet - Alan Garner ½ This was akin to the Susan Vreeland I read last month, a quartet of descendants earthed in the detailed richness of Garner's Cheshire, working their own connection to the land in stone and metal. More atmosphere than plot though.
76. Looking for JJ - Anne Cassidy ½.
75. Night Train - Martin Amis ½. Better than London Fields except I didn't fully understand the ending.
74. Indian Captive - Lois Lenska
73. Embers - Sandor Marai for irritation-value, ½ for general writing skill etc.
72. Lolita - Valdimir Nabokov ½.
71. Silverfin - Charlie Higson read this a month or so ago but forgot)
70. A Fine Summer's Knight - Jan Mark
69. Knowledge of Angels - Jill Paton Walsh
68. Black Maria - Diana Wynne Jones ½.
67. London Fields - Martin Amis ½.
66. Cock and Bull - Will Self ½.
65. Old School - Tobias Wolff ½.
64. Port Mungo - Patrick McGrath ½.
63. Girl in Hyacinth Blue - Susan Vreeland
62. HP & the Half-Blood Prince - JKR Plot-weaving, yes; good writing, no.
61. Surrender - Sonya Hartnett Absolutely deserved for the writing; the conceit of the plot is easily and quickly guessed but no less gripping and moving for that. One of those books you put down breathless.
60. Persuasion - Jane Austen Well, very good of course, but curiously tedious in the later Bath sections. A worthy modern girl indeed, but not my favourite Austen heroine.
59. The Cup of the World - John Dickinson ½. Not as satisfying as I'd hoped - more medieval fantasy and men-as-failures.
58. Small Island - Andrea Levy
57. The Looking Glass Wars - Frank Beddor ½ I found this a real mix of Abarat and a handful of other fantasy novels. Some of the Alyss/Alice stuff was well imagined but I thought it was not 'old' enough in style.
56. Glory Days - Al Kitching ½
55. Useful Idiots - Jan Mark Very demanding, 15+ YA read; physically engrossing towards the end.
54. Riding Tycho - Jan Mark A deceptive underwhelming style for a strong story.
53. The Princess and the Goblin - George Macdonald ½ Not quite what I recalled from my childhood. A little too vague on the metaphors.
52. A Jealous Ghost - A.N. Wilson A thin replay of The Turn of the Screw. Quite obvious from the beginning.
51. Sisterland - Linda Newbery Oddly predictable; not as good as The Shell House
50. As If - Blake Morrison Well worth the wait to read this. Thanks, amner
49. Thursday's Child - Sonya Hartnett Amazing lyricism and depth - bleak and moving. Barely a young adult read at all - more like To Kill a Mockingbird
48. The Dark Ground - Gillian Cross Predictable in parts but very good at the end.
47. Katherine - Anya Seton A blitz-read for RL bookgroup - tedious romance justifying John of Gaunt and his mistress.
46. Hawksmoor - Peter Ackroyd Re-read for the BDO. Good in parts, esp. the C18th parts and writing.
45. The Cider House Rules - John Irving Took ages to read but very very good indeed. I think seeing the film first meant that the start felt very slow.
44. The Moth Diaries - Rachel Klein ½ Adolescent female sychosis or vampires at 1970's US boarding school? Brilliantly obsessive and mind-turning, but sometimes too glib, and leaving too much to our imaginations. Maybe that was the point.
43. Wormwood - G.P.Taylor Too many obscure characters - weird names (Dagda Sarapuk...), a haunted bookshop out of Blackadder (Bibblewick Books) and a convoluted plot confused further by angels disguised as F.F.Coppola's Dracula in blue mirrored spectacles.
42. Ark Angel - Antony Horowitz ½
41. Noughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman
40. Massive - Julia Bell ½
39. Private Peaceful - Michael Morpurgo
38. Dark Tales of Time and Space - Sean Wright ½
37. Not the End of the World - Geraldine McCaughrean
36. Desire Lines - Jack Gantos
35. Boy2Girl - Terence Blacker Bill's New Frock for teenagers and not a tenth as funny as it claimed. I wanted Sam to really become himself in the cross-dressing and not give it up, rather than it be an intellectual exercise only. How would a school deal with that? Matthew's friends' POV were not needed.
34. Witch Week - DWJ again - A tremendous fix of Chrestomanci as the enabling author, helping the children to 'realise' their true world by action and more importantly, word.
33. HP and the Order of the Phoenix - JKR Desperately needs an editor but gripping even so. You get to shrugging off the terrible inconsistencies and flat characters. But it lives, despite the bad stuff.
32. The Way I Live Now - Meg Rosoff. I'd possibly give this less on a second reading. Very clever and evocative but loses its way in the last sections.
31. Any Human Heart - William Boyd Not enough heart for my inclination.
30. Drowned Ammet - DWJ ½ Good plot again, but the town/region of Holand and its social conditions had more personality than the main characters on this occasion.
29. The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley A welcome re-read.
28. The Farthest Shore - Ursula le Guin Muffled snuffling for Ged and fury at Garth Nix/ JKR etc for nicking so much from her.
27. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula le Guin ½ A breath of fresh fantasy air, after seeing some of the dire adaptation on Channel 4 at the w/end.
26. The Homeward Bounders - DWJ Ingenious and too confusing at the end; the characters didn't stick endearingly, apart from Joris and Konstam - and a subtle opportunity missed there.
25. The Time of the Ghost - Diana Wynne Jones ½
24. Oranges are Not The Only Fruit - Jeanette Winterson
23. The Ogre Downstairs - DWJ again A little old-fashioned ('74) but very funny.
22. Cart and Cwidder - Diana Wynne Jones Darn good story and landscape yet again; rushed a little at the end as usual.
21. Archer's Goon - Diana Wynne Jones ½ Ingenious plot as always. Love Torquil and Hathaway by the end, but hated the 'goon' from first to last (something that has put me off the book for years).
20.Conrad's Fate - Diana Wynne Jones ½ Almost a 5* anyhow. Slight predictability in the scenario but the sheer force of Chrestomanci's character undid me. A truly 'lovable' read and fans of Christopher C will think the same.
19. Major Barbara - George Bernard Shaw
18. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
17. Spider - Patrick McGrath
16. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - Susanna Clarke
15. The Medusa Frequency - Russell Hoban
14. Into the Labyrinth - Roderick Townley ½
13. Blood Sinister - Celia Rees
12. The Wanderings of Odysseus - Rosemary Sutcliffe
11. The Little Prince - A. de Saint-Exupery
10. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
9. Black Ships Before Troy - Rosemary Sutcliffe
8. The Summer Book - Tove Jansson
7. Spider Mansion - Caroline Macdonald
6. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
5. The Princess Bride - William Goldman
4. Money - Martin Amis
3. The Christmas Mystery - Jostein Gaarder
2. The Dark Lord of Derkholm - Diana Wynne Jones
1. Faerie Wars - Herbie Brennan

[John Self]

John Self's Reading List 2005

132. Sword of Honour, Evelyn Waugh (unfinished at year's end)
131. The Final Solution, Michael Chabon
130. Deep Water, Patricia Highsmith
129. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
128. Talk to the Hand, Lynne Truss ½
127. Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins
126. Number9Dream, David Mitchell
----. The Drowned World, J.G. Ballard (abandoned: uninspiring Ballard-by-numbers from the start)
125. Fremder, Russell Hoban
124. Doubts and Loves, Richard Holloway
123. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx ½
122. The Ongoing Moment, Geoff Dyer
121. Never Mind, Edward St. Aubyn
120. Set Up, Joke, Set Up, Joke, Rob Long
119. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
118. The Mobile Library: The Case of the Missing Books, Ian Sansom
117. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, Sloan Wilson
116. Let Them Call It Jazz and other stories, Jean Rhys
115. Across the Bridge, Mavis Gallant
----. Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev (temporarily *cough* set aside)
114. Jake's Eulogy, Nick Cann
113. The Lemon Table, Julian Barnes
112. D'Alembert's Principle, Andrew Crumey
111. Flawed Angel, John Fuller
110. Kaitlyn, Kevin Lewis
109. The Sleeper Awakes, H.G. Wells
108. Fifth Business, Robertson Davies
107. Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles, Jeanette Winterson
106. The First Men in the Moon, H.G. Wells
105. The Constant Gardener, John le Carré
104. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (R)
103. The Horned Man, James Lasdun (R)
----. The Body of Jonah Boyd, David Leavitt (abandoned - utterly dreary)
102. The Sea, John Banville
101. Untold Stories, Alan Bennett
100! Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
99. Einstein's Dreams, Alan Lightman (R)
98. No One Writes to the Colonel, Gabriel García Márquez
97. Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut (R)
96. The Hound of the Baskervilles, Arthur Conan Doyle
95. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert
94. Ghost Town, Patrick McGrath
93. Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, Raymond Carver (R)
92. A Good School, Richard Yates
91. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, George Saunders
---. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (abandoned, in the safe knowledge it was never going above )
---. Cooking with Fernet Branca, James Hamilton-Paterson (abandoned when, by some alchemy, it went from being hugely entertaining to unfinishably dull within about 50 pages)
90. Howards End, E.M. Forster
89. The Best of McSweeney's, Vol. 1, ed. Dave Eggers
88. Explorers of the New Century, Magnus Mills
87. Damascus, Richard Beard
86. Lunar Park, Bret Easton Ellis ½
85. Stet, Diana Athill
84. The Temptation of St. Antony, Gustave Flaubert
83. Music, in a Foreign Language, Andrew Crumey
82. The Accidental, Ali Smith
---. Birds Without Wings, Louis de Bernieres (suspended)
81. Everything That Rises Must Converge (stories), Flannery O'Connor
80. Hiroshima, John Hersey
79. Antic Hay, Aldous Huxley
78. They Came Like Swallows, William Maxwell
---. Different Seasons, Stephen King (abandoned, unsurprisingly)
77. The Untouchable, John Banville
76. Laughing Gas, P.G. Wodehouse
75. Time Will Darken It, William Maxwell
74. Young Hearts Crying, Richard Yates
73. Fullalove, Gordon Burn (R)
72. Bartleby & Co., Enrique Vila-Matas
---. Mosaic, Michael Holroyd (abandoned but a read for sure)
71. Specimen Days, Michael Cunningham
70. The Ballad of Peckham Rye, Muriel Spark
69. The Pedant in the Kitchen, Julian Barnes
68. Turtle Diary, Russell Hoban
67. The Empress of Ireland, Christopher Robbins
66. The Girls of Slender Means, Muriel Spark
65. The Coma, Alex Garland ½
64. Ten Sorry Tales, Mick Jackson
63. Blockbuster: How the Jaws and Jedi Generation Turned Hollywood into a Boom Town, Tom Shone
62. Arthur & George, Julian Barnes
61. The Bachelors, Muriel Spark
60. A Country Doctor's Notebook, Mikhail Bulgakov
59. Mobius Dick, Andrew Crumey
58. Like a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. Johnson, Jonathan Coe (just about)
57. The Unfortunates, B.S. Johnson
56. Crome Yellow, Aldous Huxley ½
55. Collected Stories, Richard Yates
54. The Unconsoled, Kazuo Ishiguro (R)
53. Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body, Armand Marie Leroi
52. George and Sam, Charlotte Moore
51. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
50. Eleanor Rigby, Douglas Coupland
49. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Jonathan Safran Foer
48. Pattern Recognition, William Gibson
47. Collected Short Stories, H.G. Wells
46. Bound and Gagged: A Secret History of Obscenity in Britain, Alan Travis
45. Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
44. Port Mungo, Patrick McGrath (R) ++
43. Our Hidden Lives: the Remarkable Diaries of Postwar Britain, Simon Garfield
42. The Essential Tales of Chekhov, ed. Richard Ford (with distinction)
41. Henderson the Rain King, Saul Bellow
---. Baudolino, Umberto Eco (abandoned with relief)
40. The Invisible Man, H.G. Wells
39. The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
38. The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells
37. The Time Machine, H.G. Wells
36. Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell ½
35. The Athenian Murders, José Carlos Somoza
---. Dark Tales of Time and Space, Sean Wright to the power of
34. I am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe
33. Rabbit Redux, John Updike
32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, Marina Lewycka
31. Pastoralia, George Saunders (R)
30. Fruit of the Lemon, Andrea Levy
29. Confessions of a Sinner, St. Augustine
28. Oracle Night, Paul Auster
27. Cold Spring Harbor, Richard Yates
26. Pieces for the Left Hand, J. Robert Lennon
25. Absolute Friends, John le Carré
24. Meditations, Marcus Aurelius
23. On Beauty: A History of a Western Idea, ed. Umberto Eco
22. Screen Burn, Charlie Brooker
21. Feel, Chris Heath
20. How We Are Hungry, Dave Eggers
19. Don't Tell Me The Truth About Love, Dan Rhodes
18. Stevenson Under the Palm Trees, Alberto Manguel
17. The Medusa Frequency, Russell Hoban
16. Saturday, Ian McEwan
15. The Polysyllabic Spree, Nick Hornby
14. Divided Kingdom, Rupert Thomson
13. Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro ½
12. Fiesta (The Sun Also Rises), Ernest Hemingway
---. Becoming Strangers, Louise Dean (abandoned)
11. The Lost World and Other Thrilling Tales, Arthur Conan Doyle
10. Stars and Bars, William Boyd
9. Soft, Rupert Thomson (R)
8. The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger
7. All Points North, Simon Armitage (R)
6. Small Island, Andrea Levy (with a cherry on top)
5. Looking in the Distance: The Human Search for Meaning, Richard Holloway
4. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
3. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafón
2. The Timewaster Letters, Robin Cooper
1. The Men Who Stare at Goats, Jon Ronson

Red means a cut above yer bog standard five-star read. These are the books that, if I ruled the world, would be in every bumbag.

[Digger]

Digger's Reading List 2005

18. Snow - Orhan Pamuk got this because of reading an article on his ongoing trial for treason against Turkey. Was a bit dissapointed really, it had none of the poetry of style I was hoping for.
17. Going Postal - Pratchett light hearted stuff over Christmas as amarie's Dickens havn't arrived yet. Pretty good actually, for the later ones. new characters to pep it up again.
16. Collingwood: Nelson's Own Hero - Max Adams good first book giving an interesting take on Nelson from another perspective, it's surprising that Collingwood doesn't get more historical recognition.
15. Arthur and George - Julian Barnes -
14. No one Writes to the Colonel - G G Marquez and a half
13. The Temptation of St Anthony - Flaubert and a half, see the book group for review.
12. Shadowmancer - GP Taylor oh my goodness, why did I do this to myslef!?
11. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell I perhaps took too long to read this.
10. The Twisted Root of Jaarfindor S Wright my my, I'd mentally written this off my list.
9. The Tin Princess - Philip Pullman,
8. Hawksmoor - Ackroyd,
7. Albion - Peter Ackroyd (sort of stopped!)
6. Jingo - Terry Pratchett
5. The Tiger in the Well - Philip Pullman
4. Confessions of an English Opium Eater Thomas da Quincy (Abandoned with no hope!)
3. The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C S Lewis
1. The Cure for Death by Lightning, Gail Anderson-Dargatz

[HP]

HoneyPotts' Reading List 2005

45. As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner
44. Bird By Bird - Anne Lamott
43. The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck ++++ The Best Read of 2005.
42. The Complete Stories - Alice Walker
41. Tobacco Road - Erskine Caldwell ++ Just fabulous!
40. Hangover Square - Patrick Hamilton
39. Untold Stories - Alan Bennett
38. The Turn of the Screw - Henry James
37. The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying - Sogyal Rinpoche (re-read)
36. Ethan Frome - Edith Wharton
35. Herzog - Saul Bellow (abandoned, but will give it another shot later)
34. The Fifth Child - Doris Lessing
33. The Grass is Singing - Doris Lessing
32. The Truce - Primo Levi
31. If This is a Man - Primo Levi Surely, one of the most important books ever written.
30. Rabbit Redux - John Updike
29. Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut So it goes (brilliantly)
28. Ariel- Sylvia Plath
27. Fullalove - Gordon Burn (temporarily abandoned as a health hazard)
26. Port Mungo - Patrick McGrath
25. A Good School - Richard Yates
24. The Outsider - Albert Camus
23. Hadji Murat - Tolstoy
22. Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
21. The Navigation Log - Martin Corrick
20. Culpeper's Colour Herbal - Ed. David Potterton
19. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
18. Blue Highways - William Least Heat-Moon
17. Almost Heaven - Martin Fletcher
16. Dubliners - James Joyce with a dusting of sequins
15. Pagan Babies - Elmore Leonard
14. Fire & Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
13. Rabbit Run - John Updike
12. Wise Blood - Flannery O'Connor
11. Old School - Tobias Wolff
10. Status Anxiety - Alain de Botton
9. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell for invention, imagination, cleverness and ventriloquism - (would like to make that two and a half, if I could) for enjoyment factor. There is such a thing as being just too darned clever.
8. Saturday - Ian McEwan. After a little reflection have demoted this to ( ) see note below.
7. The Red Tent - Anita Diamant (stalled - possibly forever)
6. The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Fascination - William Boyd
4. The Sportswriter - Richard Ford
3. The Easter Parade - Richard Yates
2. The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver
1. Affinity - Sarah Waters

Note: Red = exceptionally good.

[Jerkass]

Jerkass's Reading List 2005

37. London Fields, Martin Amis (although I still haven't decided quite how I feel about it...and I can't believe it took me more than seven weeks to read)
36. The First Men in the Moon, H.G. Wells
35. Everything is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer (can't believe that took me more than a month)
34. No One Writes to the Colonel, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
33. War Trash, Ha Jin
32. A Room with a View, E.M. Forster
31. The Temptation of Saint Anthony, Gustave Flaubert
30. The Princess and Curdie, George MacDonald
29. Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut
28. Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
27. An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro
26. A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
25. The Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (current reading, and I've decided to take it one story at a time in between other readings, so it will be current reading for a while)
24. The Three-Arched Bridge, Ismail Kadare
23. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez (just barely)
22. The Overcoat and Other Short Stories, Nikolai Gogol
21. Sexing the Cherry, Jeanette Winterson
20. Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
19. Glory Days, Alistair Kitching (brilliantly done, mate)
18. Small Island, Andrea Levy
17. Atonement, Ian McEwan (perhaps generous)
16. A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole
15. The Old Curiosity Shop, Charles Dickens
14. Anthills of the Savannah, Chinua Achebe
13. Rabbit, Run, John Updike
12. The Shadow of the Wind, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
11. Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen

10. The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene
9. Hard Times, Charles Dickens
8. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
7. Life of Pi, Yann Martel
6. The Way We Live Now, Anthony Trollope
5. The Song of Roland
4. Just So Stories, Rudyard Kipling
3. The Jungle, Upton Sinclair
2. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho [Thanks, Wavey]
1. A Pale View of Hills, Kazuo Ishiguro

The first two of these might have been read at the very end of 2004...but close enough.

[rick green]

Rick's reading:

51. May Sarton The Fur Person
50. Pankaj Mishra An End to Suffering
49. Julio Cortázar Hopscotch
48. Camilo Jose Cela The Hive
47. Jorge Luis Borges Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings
46. Various, ed. Robert Bly The Soul is Here for It's Own Joy
45. H.G. Wells The First Men in the Moon
44. Victor Serge What Every Radical Should Know About State Repression
43. Edith Wharton The Age of Innocence
42. Eudora Welty The Optimist's Daughter
41. Harry Mathews My Life in CIA
40. Benjamin Kunkel Indecision
39. Walker Percy The Moviegoer
38. Gustave Flaubert The Temptation of Saint Anthony
37. Josef Skvorecky The Mournful Demeanor of Lieutenant Boruvka
36. Alan Moorehead The Blue Nile
35. Jacques Roubaud Hortense in Exile
34. Primo Levi The Monkey's Wrench
33. Primo Levi Survival in Auschwitz
32. Ismail Kadare Spring Flowers, Spring Frost
31. Milan Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being
30. Diana Wynne-Jones Howl's Moving Castle
29. Andre Gide The Immoralist
28. William Saroyan The Human Comedy
27. Selma Lagerlöf The Story of Gösta Berling
26. Bob Hughes The Secret Terrorists
25. Leo Tolstoy Hadji Murat
24. Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights
23. Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island
22. Witold Gombrowicz Ferdydurke
21. Fyodor Dostoyevsky Crime & Punishment
20. John Fowles Daniel Martin
19. Gioconda Belli The Inhabited Woman
18. Lauren Mechling & Laura Moser The Rise & Fall of a 10th-Grade Social Climber
17. Margaret Atwood Alias Grace
16. Arthur Conan Doyle The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
15. Georges Simenon Maigret & the Bum
14. Witold Gombrowicz Cosmos
13. Alexander Pushkin Eugene Onegin
12. G. B. Shaw Major Barbara
11. Margaret Atwood Oryx & Crake
10. Susan Sontag In America
9. Monkey: A Folk Novel of China
8. Henry James The Turn of the Screw & Other Short Novels
7. Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God
6. Mark Haddon The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
5. William Gibson Pattern Recognition
4. Rainer Maria Rilke Stories of God
3. Idries Shah Wisdom of the Idiots
2. Terry Eagleton After Theory
1. Bill Bryson A Short History of Nearly Everything

[pandop]

Hazel's reading 2005:


48: Hitler's Canary Sandi Toksvig
47:Ladies of the Grand Tour Brian Dolan (abandoned, wasn't in the mood)
46: The Penelopiad Margaret Atwood
45: The Virgin's Lover Phillippa Gregory
44: Gulag Anne Appelbaum (abandonded, it is too cold to read about Gulags)
43: Shadows and Strongholds Elizabeth Chadwick
42: Wings Terry Pratchett
41: The Leper's Bell Peter Tremayne
40: Diggers Terry Pratchett
39: Truckers Terry Pratchett
38: Telling Lies about Hitler Richard J. Evans
37: The Corn King and the Spring Queen Naomi Mitchison (recalled to the library - will restart when I can)
36: The Temptation of St. Anthony Gustave Flaubert
35: The Waiting Game Bernice Reubens
34: The Tainted Relic The Medieval Murderers
33: The Last Kingdom Bernard Cornwell
32: A Life in Secrets Sarah Helm
31: Jo's Boys Louisa May Alcott
30: Little Men Louisa May Alcott
29: Good Wives Lousia May Alcott
28: Little Women Louisa May Alcott
27: Northern Lights Philip Pullman (audiobook)
26: The Rose Demon Paul Doherty
25: Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern Anne McCaffrey
24: Dragondrums Anne McCaffrey
23: Dragonsinger Anne McCaffrey
22: Dragonsong Anne McCaffrey
21: Dragonquest Anne McCaffrey
20: Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey
19: The Masterharper of Pern Anne McCaffrey
18: Nerilka's Story and the Coelura Anne McCaffrey &
17: The Renegades of Pern Anne McCaffrey
16: Murder Imperial Paul Doherty
15: All Quiet on the Orient Express Magnus Mills
14: A Body in the Bath House Lindsay Davies
13: The Phantom of the Opera Gaston Leroux
12: To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
11: The Birth of Venus Sarah Dunant
10: The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
9: What Katy Did At School and What Katy Did Next Susan Coolidge
8: What Katy Did Susan Coolidge
7: Song of a Dark Angel Paul Doherty
6: Hawksmoor Peter Ackroyd
5: Who Murdered Chaucer? Terry Jones et al (recalled to the library, probably won't bother with it again)
4: Hemlock at Vespers Peter Tremayne
3: What Would Dewey Do? Barnes Ambaum
2: Whispers of the Dead Peter Tremayne
1: The Queen's Fool Phillippa Gregory (just makes it into 2005 as I was reading it while I was home for Christmas, and finished it on the 2nd Jan)

Disclaimer: This list will not include all the really dull things I have to read for my Library degree!