Annual Books Read Statistics for 2019 and End of ROW80 for 2019
ere is this year’s
Annual Books Read Statistics and Thoughts Post!Here are the statistics for 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 (and the list), 2010, 2009 (and the list).
Books Read: 278, including the following (roughly, and not counting any of the houseparties we’ve done on thelitforum.com (which run to hundreds of thousands of words; various essays, journal articles, book excerpts, etc. for school; or the ongoing rereads of board books from previous years):
36 novels
31 essays and non-fiction and comics
14 short stories and anthologies
16 poems
I’m
not sure if it’s because I’m also doing a Master’s degree or because I’m
reading more and more books to the kids, or both, but the number of novels I
read seems to go down every year. I’d like to find a way to change this and
bring up the number once more – as long as it doesn’t interfere with editing my
own stories!
2018: 66 novels, 133 board books (plus ongoing rereads), 27 essays and non-fiction and comics, 14 short stories and scripts and plays, 21 poems, 23 YA/MG books
2017: 49 novels, 45 board books, although the railway books by Rev. Awry and the Beatrix Potter collection total 49 books (which involve ongoing rereads, including the board books from last year), 27 essays and non-fiction and comics, 24 short stories and scripts, counting the stories read in anthologies as one since I didn’t read all the stories, 17 poems, 13 YA/MG books
2016: 168 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 45 board books and over 30 books in the Folio Society collected works of Beatrix Potter, 28 short stories, and 25 poems; Journal of Inklings Studies and Tolkien Society’s Amon Hen and Mallorn issues (counted as one)
2015: 91 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 29 board books, and 12 poems
2014: 111 novels and short stories (plus essay collections, comics, and poetry)
2013: 188 novels and short stories (plus poetry)
2012: 142
2011: 124
2010: 92
2009: 131
2008: 101
Note: Not counted every year: most school readings, most beta reads, and thousands of words written and read for writers’ houseparties on thelitforum.com, plus other forum writings, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Average over 52 Weeks: 278/50=5.6, or 2 books, 2 board books, 1 essay, and 1 poem, roughly. It’s exactly the same as last year despite being back at school and writing and editing my own stories more regularly. Probably for the same reason – I’m reading more regularly on the Kindle app.
2018: 289/52=5.6, or two books, two board books, an essay, and a poem, roughly
2017 (averages for this and earlier years are over 50 weeks, usually not counting poems): 175/50=3.5; 2 books, 2 board books, 1 poem
2016: 4.8, or three books, four board books, and four short stories or essays
2015: 2.6, or two books and one short story and one board book
2014: 2.2, or two books and one short story
2013: 3.5, or three books and two short stories (one more than the previous couple of years)
Authors Read: 180, counting very many board books. This is an approximate number, as this category gets harder to count each year with all the various children’s books.
2018: 181, counting very many board books
2017: 100, give or take, counting many of the board books
2016: 130, but 103 without board books
2015: 91
2014: 61
2013: 88
2012: 105
2011: 89
2010: 63
2009: 57
2008: 69
Note: Not counted: Beta reads and anthologies
Most Books by One Author: Not counting authors appearing twice or thrice, or the many Little Critter, Franklin the Turtle, and Peppa Pig books, or the Auzou animal series, I read:
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (12)
2018: 66 novels, 133 board books (plus ongoing rereads), 27 essays and non-fiction and comics, 14 short stories and scripts and plays, 21 poems, 23 YA/MG books
2017: 49 novels, 45 board books, although the railway books by Rev. Awry and the Beatrix Potter collection total 49 books (which involve ongoing rereads, including the board books from last year), 27 essays and non-fiction and comics, 24 short stories and scripts, counting the stories read in anthologies as one since I didn’t read all the stories, 17 poems, 13 YA/MG books
2016: 168 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 45 board books and over 30 books in the Folio Society collected works of Beatrix Potter, 28 short stories, and 25 poems; Journal of Inklings Studies and Tolkien Society’s Amon Hen and Mallorn issues (counted as one)
2015: 91 novels and MG/YA and essays, etc., 29 board books, and 12 poems
2014: 111 novels and short stories (plus essay collections, comics, and poetry)
2013: 188 novels and short stories (plus poetry)
2012: 142
2011: 124
2010: 92
2009: 131
2008: 101
Note: Not counted every year: most school readings, most beta reads, and thousands of words written and read for writers’ houseparties on thelitforum.com, plus other forum writings, magazines, newspapers, etc.
Average over 52 Weeks: 278/50=5.6, or 2 books, 2 board books, 1 essay, and 1 poem, roughly. It’s exactly the same as last year despite being back at school and writing and editing my own stories more regularly. Probably for the same reason – I’m reading more regularly on the Kindle app.
2018: 289/52=5.6, or two books, two board books, an essay, and a poem, roughly
2017 (averages for this and earlier years are over 50 weeks, usually not counting poems): 175/50=3.5; 2 books, 2 board books, 1 poem
2016: 4.8, or three books, four board books, and four short stories or essays
2015: 2.6, or two books and one short story and one board book
2014: 2.2, or two books and one short story
2013: 3.5, or three books and two short stories (one more than the previous couple of years)
Authors Read: 180, counting very many board books. This is an approximate number, as this category gets harder to count each year with all the various children’s books.
2018: 181, counting very many board books
2017: 100, give or take, counting many of the board books
2016: 130, but 103 without board books
2015: 91
2014: 61
2013: 88
2012: 105
2011: 89
2010: 63
2009: 57
2008: 69
Note: Not counted: Beta reads and anthologies
Most Books by One Author: Not counting authors appearing twice or thrice, or the many Little Critter, Franklin the Turtle, and Peppa Pig books, or the Auzou animal series, I read:
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (12)
Charles
M. Schulz (10)
Dr
Seuss (9)
Roger
Hargreaves (8)
Mo
Willems (8)
George
R. R. Martin (8)
John
Scalzi (6)
Kait
Nolan (5)
Eric
Hill (5)
Nick
Bland (4)
Robert
Munsch (4)
2018: Katherine Paterson (4), John Scalzi (6), Lynne Reid Banks (6), Detection Club (7), JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith (8), Kait Nolan (8), Tolkien (8), and 13 Mr Men and Little Miss books (not counting the ones I keep rereading!)
2017: Robert Munsch (10 plus rereads), Kait Nolan (7) and Monica Byrne (6), followed by four each by Tolkien and Diana Gabaldon and Laura Bradbury, in addition to the Rev. Awry and Beatrix Potter.
2016: Louise Penny, JK Rowling, Tolkien, followed by Kait Nolan and Monica Byrne, plus Neil Gaiman and Somerset Maugham
2015: tied between Tolkien and Gaiman (with second place tied between many authors (Agatha Christie, Walter de la Mare, Joel Dicker, Catherine McKenzie, Kait Nolan, Brenda Novak and Marilynne Robinson) and two board book authors, Sandra Boynton and Julia Donaldson (the creator of the Gruffalo and the Acorn Wood series))
2014: Tied between Louise Penny and J.K. Rowling (Gaiman and Tolkien come in a close second)
2013: Neil Gaiman (plus LM Montgomery, Josephine Tey, Tolkien, Brenda Novak, Stephen King, EL Konigsburg, and Budge Wilson)
2012: Tolkien and Stephen King, plus four Talli Roland books!
2011: I reread The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, Outlander, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (before seeing the last movie)
2010: I again reread the Anne of Green Gables series, including The Road To Yesterday
2009: Rereads included Rowling, Gabaldon, and Agatha Christie
Oldest Book: Oldest works (not the actual copies but the stories and poems) were:
The Velveteen Rabbit (reread; tears!)
2018: Katherine Paterson (4), John Scalzi (6), Lynne Reid Banks (6), Detection Club (7), JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith (8), Kait Nolan (8), Tolkien (8), and 13 Mr Men and Little Miss books (not counting the ones I keep rereading!)
2017: Robert Munsch (10 plus rereads), Kait Nolan (7) and Monica Byrne (6), followed by four each by Tolkien and Diana Gabaldon and Laura Bradbury, in addition to the Rev. Awry and Beatrix Potter.
2016: Louise Penny, JK Rowling, Tolkien, followed by Kait Nolan and Monica Byrne, plus Neil Gaiman and Somerset Maugham
2015: tied between Tolkien and Gaiman (with second place tied between many authors (Agatha Christie, Walter de la Mare, Joel Dicker, Catherine McKenzie, Kait Nolan, Brenda Novak and Marilynne Robinson) and two board book authors, Sandra Boynton and Julia Donaldson (the creator of the Gruffalo and the Acorn Wood series))
2014: Tied between Louise Penny and J.K. Rowling (Gaiman and Tolkien come in a close second)
2013: Neil Gaiman (plus LM Montgomery, Josephine Tey, Tolkien, Brenda Novak, Stephen King, EL Konigsburg, and Budge Wilson)
2012: Tolkien and Stephen King, plus four Talli Roland books!
2011: I reread The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion, Outlander, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and The Tales of Beedle the Bard (before seeing the last movie)
2010: I again reread the Anne of Green Gables series, including The Road To Yesterday
2009: Rereads included Rowling, Gabaldon, and Agatha Christie
Oldest Book: Oldest works (not the actual copies but the stories and poems) were:
The Velveteen Rabbit (reread; tears!)
A
Bush Christening by AH Paterson
The
House at Pooh Corner
by AA Milne (reread)
In
ancient days tradition shows (Old English poem)
The
Cockatoucan
by E Nesbit
Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll (poem; reread)
Tis
a Fearful Thing by Yehuda Halevi (poem)
Running
Water by AE Mason
My
Heart Leaps Up by William Wordsworth (poem)
Don
Fernando
by Somerset Maugham
From
this hour I ordain myself by Walt Whitman (poem)
In
her maiden bliss: edited version of a review by JRR Tolkien of Hali Meidenhad:
An alliterative prose homily of the thirteenth century, edited by FJ Furnivall
and O Cockayne, first published in the Times Literary Supplement
2018: Oldest works were Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (reread), the poem “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver Goldsmith, and the poem “An Eclogue: Willie and Sandy” by Robert Fergusson
2017: The oldest stories were by Herman Melville and Leo Tolstoy, as well as the original Beauty and the Beast by Villeneuve and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, and poems by Blake and Wordsworth
2016: The oldest physical copy is this impressive collection of Byron’s works from 1835. The oldest stories and poems and letters were by Shakespeare, John Evelyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robbie Burns, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley
2015: In Dubious Battle (Steinbeck), Absent in the Spring (Westmacott (Christie)), and Jim at the Corner (Farjeon), in physical copies. In reprints and new editions, there were many from the 1930s, but the oldest were Heidi and Wodehouse’s retelling of William Tell, plus the short story “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” by MR James, from 1904
2014: Childe Harold by Lord Byron and The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
2013: Keats and Byron’s poetry, The Count of Monte Cristo and, considering stories and not publication date, Land of the Seal People by D Williamson. Plus a John Clare poem, an old song from the Shetlands on Kate Davies’ blog, and the short story “Why, Of Course” by JE Casey, from 1912
2012: Cyrano de Bergerac and Voltaire were the oldest authors; the oldest published books (not reprints) were the anthologies The Land of My Fathers – A Welsh Gift Book, and Princess Mary’s Gift Book, both from 1914, including stories and poems by Arthur Conan Doyle, Kipling, etc. Plus Ah King by Maugham, Shakespeare in London by Marchette Chute (reread), and Helena by Evelyn Waugh
2011: 14th Century Book of Good Love by Archpriest Juan Ruiz, though the translation was only 100 years old. Plus the chapter on the Earl of Rochester from Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, and Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers, as well as Wodehouse
2010: Earl of Rochester, and Perreault’s fairy tales, plus Hours at the Glasgow Art Galleries by TCF Brotchie, An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott and When the Going Was Good by Waugh
2009: Shakespeare and a handful of books from pre-1950
2008: Oldest authors were Aesop and Pliny, and oldest original book was by Dorothy Sayers, followed by John Fante and Steinbeck
Newest Book: Books and stories published in 2019, including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies (some might be from 2018):
2018: Oldest works were Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (reread), the poem “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver Goldsmith, and the poem “An Eclogue: Willie and Sandy” by Robert Fergusson
2017: The oldest stories were by Herman Melville and Leo Tolstoy, as well as the original Beauty and the Beast by Villeneuve and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe, and poems by Blake and Wordsworth
2016: The oldest physical copy is this impressive collection of Byron’s works from 1835. The oldest stories and poems and letters were by Shakespeare, John Evelyn, Sir Walter Raleigh, Robbie Burns, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley
2015: In Dubious Battle (Steinbeck), Absent in the Spring (Westmacott (Christie)), and Jim at the Corner (Farjeon), in physical copies. In reprints and new editions, there were many from the 1930s, but the oldest were Heidi and Wodehouse’s retelling of William Tell, plus the short story “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” by MR James, from 1904
2014: Childe Harold by Lord Byron and The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen
2013: Keats and Byron’s poetry, The Count of Monte Cristo and, considering stories and not publication date, Land of the Seal People by D Williamson. Plus a John Clare poem, an old song from the Shetlands on Kate Davies’ blog, and the short story “Why, Of Course” by JE Casey, from 1912
2012: Cyrano de Bergerac and Voltaire were the oldest authors; the oldest published books (not reprints) were the anthologies The Land of My Fathers – A Welsh Gift Book, and Princess Mary’s Gift Book, both from 1914, including stories and poems by Arthur Conan Doyle, Kipling, etc. Plus Ah King by Maugham, Shakespeare in London by Marchette Chute (reread), and Helena by Evelyn Waugh
2011: 14th Century Book of Good Love by Archpriest Juan Ruiz, though the translation was only 100 years old. Plus the chapter on the Earl of Rochester from Samuel Johnson’s Lives of the Poets, and Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers, as well as Wodehouse
2010: Earl of Rochester, and Perreault’s fairy tales, plus Hours at the Glasgow Art Galleries by TCF Brotchie, An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott and When the Going Was Good by Waugh
2009: Shakespeare and a handful of books from pre-1950
2008: Oldest authors were Aesop and Pliny, and oldest original book was by Dorothy Sayers, followed by John Fante and Steinbeck
Newest Book: Books and stories published in 2019, including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies (some might be from 2018):
We
Once Were Here (essay; https://anthc.org/news/we-once-were-here/)
Rising
Heat anthology featuring Jillian Barnes
Ranger’s
Baby Rescue
by Lara Lacombe
The
Puzzle of You
by Leah Mercer
Induced
to Tell by Claire Greer (journal article)
Within
the protection of law: Debating the Australian convict-as-slave narrative by
Jennie Jeppesen (journal article)
Bring
it on Home
by Kait Nolan
Stay
a Little Longer
by Kait Nolan
Dancing
Away with My Heart
by Kait Nolan
What
I Like About You
by Kait Nolan
Baby
It’s Cold Outside
by Kait Nolan (extended version of Snowed in with a Ranger)
Five
letters from new laverne by Monica Byrne (short story)
Wellesley
Albright talk given by Monica Byrne
The
Comedy at Kualoa by Monica Byrne (short story)
Whirlwind
by Claire Gregory (poem)
My
Grape Cellar
by Laura Bradbury
Epilogue
to A Vineyard for Two by Laura Bradbury
A
Vineyard for Two
by Laura Bradbury
Knitting
Season essays by Kate Davies
A
Better Man
by Louise Penny
Women
and Power
by Mary Beard
Le
Tigre by Joel
Dicker
Postscript by Cecelia Ahern
Roar by Cecelia Ahern
Turner:
The Sea and The Alps, exhibition catalogue, Luzern Kunstmuseum (skimmed)
Now
You See Me
by Chris McGeorge
empathy
is nothing by Amanda Palmer (poem)
a
limerick by Neil Gaiman
The
Outsider
by Stephen King
Ashes
of Berlin
by Luke McCallin
The
Pale House
by Luke McCallin
Year
One by Nora
Roberts
Dream
Logic by Alice Fraser (poem)
It’s
Good to Have a Grandpa by Maryann Macdonald and Priscilla Burris
It’s
Good to Have a Grandma by Maryann Macdonald and Priscilla Burris
The
Consuming Fire
by John Scalzi
Head
On by John
Scalzi
The
Origin of the Flow by John Scalzi (short story)
A
Model Dog by John Scalzi (short story)
Chef
Sugarlips by Tawna Fenske
Listen
to the Moon Christmas bonus scene by Rose Lerner
Out
of Bounds
by Val McDermid
Insidious
Intent by Val
McDermid
Talesfrom a Hack by Ryan Bevan (short stories): Now available to download!
“I hope you enjoy this creepy collection of fantastic tales from the marvellously macabre mind of a hack.
2018: 53 (roughly), including nine Forumites and blogging buddiesA high school football hero meets his greatest challenge yet; an elderly couple on a walking tour of Switzerland run afoul of a cursed village seething with night crawlers; a young girl confronts the demon in her friend’s modern witchboard; an abused wife takes extreme measures to try and win back her husband’s affection; an ice-fishing excursion leads to murder and supernatural vengeance; a young computer hacker is clever enough to download the means to his own demise; and a group of ambitious teens unleash a horrific creature from another dimension while hiking in the mountains.7 new horror tales for the fireside.”
2017: 31, including roughly six Forumites and blogging buddies, depending on
how loosely I define them
2016: 41, including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies
2015: 11 less than 2014, which had exactly the same number (37) as in 2013! 7 Forumites in 2015, and 3 blogging buddies (not counting older books of blogging buddies that I caught up on reading!).
2014: 5 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies
2013: 4 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies, and the Cabinet of Curiosities authors, plus the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman)
2012: 36, including 9 Forumites
2011: 44
2010: 13 plus 10 Forumites
2009: Many more, including books by kc dyer, Hélène Boudreau, Linda Gerber and Diana Gabaldon -- Forumites all!
2008: 2, by Joanna Bourne and Marilynne Robinson
Stories/Authors I Didn’t Like: This is the category under which I hide some honesty. Some of the books that I feel obligated to read (for review purposes or because I received them as gifts) leave me cold. I try not to be mean when doing a review post, especially when sharing a review on Amazon.
The Outsider by Stephen King: the ending kind of fell flat
2016: 41, including 10 Forumites and blogging buddies
2015: 11 less than 2014, which had exactly the same number (37) as in 2013! 7 Forumites in 2015, and 3 blogging buddies (not counting older books of blogging buddies that I caught up on reading!).
2014: 5 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies
2013: 4 Forumites, as well as blogging buddies, and the Cabinet of Curiosities authors, plus the 60th anniversary edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (with an introduction by Neil Gaiman)
2012: 36, including 9 Forumites
2011: 44
2010: 13 plus 10 Forumites
2009: Many more, including books by kc dyer, Hélène Boudreau, Linda Gerber and Diana Gabaldon -- Forumites all!
2008: 2, by Joanna Bourne and Marilynne Robinson
Stories/Authors I Didn’t Like: This is the category under which I hide some honesty. Some of the books that I feel obligated to read (for review purposes or because I received them as gifts) leave me cold. I try not to be mean when doing a review post, especially when sharing a review on Amazon.
The Outsider by Stephen King: the ending kind of fell flat
Rising Heat anthology featuring Jillian Barnes; hers was the only story I
really liked in the anthology! Worth getting it for that alone
Educated
by Tara Westover: this was a very well written book, but I got bogged down by
the family’s weirdness and skipped the middle bit to read the ending chapters
Square
by Barrett and Klassen: weird for weirdness’ sake, it seems
Mr
Birthday by Hargreaves: I wish people would stop putting Roger Hargreaves’ name
on these books, as none of the new ones are actually written by him!
Year One by Nora Roberts: this one seemed a bit too much like trying to hop into a new-to-her genre just to have more books out in more genres; nothing original in the story
Year One by Nora Roberts: this one seemed a bit too much like trying to hop into a new-to-her genre just to have more books out in more genres; nothing original in the story
2018: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, which was great fun to read; I simply think the last part should have been a long sequel instead; A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, which was interesting but rather surface-y; and Cosmos by Carl Sagan, which I couldn’t finish. Too bombastic
2017: Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow and Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville, which I’ve read before. It always drives me crazy. (Not counting Sophie’s Choice by William Styron, which was not at all what I expected it to be like.)
2016: “The Bog Girl” by Karen Russell (short story) and Peanuts Volumes I to VI -- new strips written by random new authors!
2015 (see the 2015 post for my reasons): Two classic Little Golden Books: Colors Are Nice by Adelaide Holl and Leonard Shortall and The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren; one new book: JaMaDu: Pippa et le crocodile; another kids’ book: Emily’s House by Niko Scharer and Joanne Fitzgerald; two war-time tales (WWI and WWII): Death of A Century: A Novel of the Lost Generation by Daniel Robinson, and Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear; a classic: The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (I blogged about this Bradbury book here); an author I otherwise love: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year by Sue Townsend; and What to Expect the First Year by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel
2014: 2 romances, and the short story collection The Progress of Love by Alice Munro
2013: 1 book I didn’t like but finished: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; and 1 book I didn’t like and didn’t force myself to finish: Jenny Lawson’s semi-autobiographical memoir (I explained a bit about why on the Forum)
2012: No books I actively disliked, but 2 I felt “meh” about: Before Versailles, and Inkheart
2011: Jonathan Franzen, Philippa Gregory and Gillian Bagwell
2010: Libba Bray and Thomas Cobb
2009: Ilyas Halil
2008: 3 authors (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ian McEwan and Ian Rankin) and 1 story (“Hairball” by Margaret Atwood)
Books That Made Me Cry: In the last few years I’ve tried to remember to keep track of this throughout the year because it’s not very accurate at year-end when I can’t remember.
But I forgot again!
Here are the few I did note: I remember:
I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (annual reread; first time on screen!)
The Velveteen Rabbit (reread)
The Ugly Five by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
2018: White Fang by Jack London, Autumn Street by Lois Lowry, the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien (always), and Color Me Gray and Cutting to the Chase by Rose Phillips
2017: Vera Brittain, and The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
2016: Louise Penny, Kait Nolan, and The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
2015: The Lord of the Rings; Be Careful, It’s My Heart by Kait Nolan; The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne (reread); and Going Back by T.L. Watson
2014: The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny; The Lord of the Rings; Harry Potter series; The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer; Liza of Lambeth by Maugham; Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon; and How To Fall In Love and One Hundred Names by Cecelia Ahern
2013: Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi; The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien (reread); The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by Tolkien; The Year of Shadows by Claire Legrand; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows; and She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb (skimming reread) (it’s that last line (“Thayer, I saw her!” I yell. “I saw!”) that gets me. Every. Single. Time.
2012: Bag of Bones by Stephen King; Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury; The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman; All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque; The Fault In Our Stars by John Green; The Casual Vacancy by Rowling (because of Krystal); and Lunatic Heroes by C. Anthony Martignetti (if you haven’t yet, you have to listen to him reading the chapter The Swamp. Bullfrog.
2011: The Scottish Prisoner, and Outlander, both by Diana Gabaldon, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Rowling, and The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien, all of which were rereads, but there was also Rowing in Eden by Barbara Rogan; The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle; This and That by Emily Carr; The Summer of Skinny Dipping by Amanda Howells (I bawled); Dancing Through the Snow by Jean Little; Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay; The Day of the Pelican by Katherine Paterson; and Fifteen by Beverly Cleary
Youngest Books: So many board books! I was really excited to discover The Witch Next Door and The Witch Grows Up by Norman Bridwell – I loved these books as a kid!
I’ll do what I did last year, and highlight one with illustrations, in this case the recipe at the back of Elliot Bakes a Cake by Andrea Beck:
2018: So many board
books! The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, Chicken
Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak, and Baby Farm Animals by Garth Williams
(Little Golden Books) because the pig looks just like Wilbur from Charlotte’s Web.
2017: Bear’s Adventure by Benedict Blathwayt
2016: Things That Go
2015: The Acorn Wood series by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Paddington Bear All Day and Paddington Bear Goes to Market by Michael Bond; The Going To Bed Book, Moo, Baa, La La La and But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton; Chu’s Day and Chu’s Day at the Beach by Neil Gaiman; Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg; Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai; and The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. Also these four board books: Pop-up Peekaboo! Farm by Dawn Sirett and Sarah Davis; Colors Are Nice by Adelaide Holl and Leonard Shortall (Little Golden Book); Baby’s Very First Touchy-Feely Book (Usborne) by Stella Baggott; and Baby’s Very First Touchy-Feely Colours Play Book (Usborne) by Fiona Watt and Stella Baggott
2014: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss (reread) (brought to you by Neil Gaiman) and Emil In the Soup Tureen by Astrid Lindgren, plus a few YAs and MGs. Not sure if Go the F*^$ To Sleep and You Have to F*%$ing Eat count
2013: Quite a few board books, just as in the last few years, including: two Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems; Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman; The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman; The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman; Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman; To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss; Who’s A Pest? by Crosby Newell Bonsall; Star Trek Book of Opposites; Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch; and Rainy Days with Bear by Maureen Hull. Also quite a bit of YA and MG
Fluff but Fun Books: Some of these were rereads:
We’re All In This Together; You’ll Flip, Charlie Brown; Nice Shot, Snoopy; Who Do You Think You Are, Charlie Brown?; It’s Chow Time, Snoopy; Charlie Brown and Snoopy; Think About it Tomorrow, Snoopy; and other Charlie Brown rereads from previous years, all by Charles M. Schulz
The Punisher, chapter 1
2018: Here Comes Snoopy by Charles Schultz (reread), Come Home, Snoopy by Charles Schultz (reread), You’re In Love, Charlie Brown! by Charles Schultz (reread), The Hobbit graphic novel by Chuck Dixon, The Caliph’s Vacation by Goscinny (reread), and The Far Side Gallery 1 by Gary Larson
2017: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson sample pages on the Kindle app and The Herman Treasury 1 by Jim Unger (reread).
2016: None! (not counting Peanuts not written by Schulz)
2015: None!
2014: The F*%#ing books, plus Tintin and Asterix and the Caliph
2013: Some more Andy Capp, the Far Side, and Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader, the Music edition
2012: 2 issues of MAD
2011: Andy Capp, MAD, and an Archie; fewer than the past 3 years
Books/Authors I’d Recommend: Besides all the poets and children’s authors and comics and murder mysteries, here they are, without division into categories, and featuring a handful of children’s authors: I’d recommend all fellow Forumites and bloggers, all the poetry, and Tolkien and Scalzi and Kait Nolan and Monica Byrne and Robert Munsch and Schulz and Mo Willems, plus:
Tales
from a Hack
by Ryan Bevan
Roar by Cecelia Ahern
I
Heard the Owl Call My Name
by Margaret Craven
The
Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Don
Fernando
by Somerset Maugham
Knitting
Season essays by Kate Davies
A
Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
The
Sea Around Us
by Rachel Carson
Silent
Spring by Rachel
Carson
The
Great Escape
by Paul Brickhill
The
House at Pooh Corner
by AA Milne (reread)
Pippi
Goes Abroad
by Astrid Lindgren
The
Very Itchy Bear by Nick Bland
The
Very Noisy Bear by Nick Bland
The
Very Hungry Bear by Nick Bland
The
Very Brave Bear by Nick Bland
I
Miss You, Stinky Face, by Lisa Mccourt
Finally
12 by Wendy
Mass
The
Case of the Cat’s Meow
by Crosby Bonsall
Les
animaux de la ferme and all other Auzou photobooks
One
Two Three by Sandra Boynton
The
Wonky Donkey by Craig Smith
The
Cockatoucan
by E Nesbit
The
Velveteen Rabbit
(reread; tears!)
The
Borrowers
by Mary Norton
Winter
Shadows by
Margaret Buffie
Zog by Julia Donaldson and Axel
Scheffler
2018: Besides all the poets and children’s authors and comics and murder mysteries, I’d recommend: Night by Elie Wiesel, Each Man’s Son by Hugh MacLennan, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon, The Givenness of Things by Marilynne Robinson, the Wishful series by Kait Nolan, White Fang by Jack London, Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky, Handywoman by Kate Davies, The Only Story by Julian Barnes, Last Call by TL Watson, The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, The Voice in the Box by Paul Villiard (short story about thetelephone), and Somerset Maugham, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lynne Reid Banks, Pat Barker, Lilian Jackson Braun, and Charles Bukowski
2017: Canadian YA authors: Kit Pearson, Terry Lynn Johnson, Tim Wynne-Jones, and Brian Doyle; board books: Millicent and the Wind by Robert Munsch, The Hug by Lesley Simpson, There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins, The Mysterious Tadpole by Stephen Kellogg, and The Third Story Cat by Leslie Baker; war fiction: The Man From Berlin by Luke McCallin and The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck; romance: Pregnant by the Colton Cowboy by Lara Lacombe, Managed by Kristen Callihan, and Beauty Like the Night by Joanna Bourne; humour: The Fencepost Chronicles by W. P. Kinsella, Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka, and Dolly and the Starry Bird by Dorothy Dunnett; autobiography or biography: A Priest in Gallipoli: The War Diary of Fr Hugh Cameron by John Watts; Reach for the Sky by Paul Brickhill (biography of Douglas Bader); A Girl From Yamhill and My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary, and Testament of Experience and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain; non-fiction: Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
2016: Besides the A.A. Milne and Louise Penny and Mo Willems and Marilynne Robinson I’ve recommended over the years, and all the poems, I would recommend the following: Classic books and authors that are classics for a reason: Up At the Villa by Somerset Maugham; The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro; The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff; Traitor’s Purse by Margery Allingham; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy; The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott); The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien; English People by Owen Barfield; The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes; A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell); Kill Me Quick and The Mzungu Boy by Meja Mwangi; The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier
Newbery Medal winner: The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
New books: The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern; The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain; One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina; Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel; Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer; Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand; Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor; All Fixed Up by Linda Grimes
Younger readers: The Creatures of Number 37 by John Watts (see my blog post on this); Strange Street by Ann Powell (see my tweet on this); Who’s A Pest, Mine’s the Best, and The Case of the Hungry Stranger by Crosby Newell Bonsall; A Pocket For Corduroy by Don Freeman; The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch;
Writers: The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff
2015: All Forumites and blogger buddies, plus Kait Nolan, Catherine McKenzie, John Scalzi, Louise Penny, Agatha Christie, Tolkien, Robert Galbraith, Marilynne Robinson, and A.A. Milne, depending on your tastes. Also the following: Les dernieres jours de nos peres by Joel Dicker; La Verite sur l’affair Harry Quebert, and its sort-of sequel Le livre des Baltimore by Joel Dicker; Mr. Garden and Jim at the Corner by Eleanor Farjeon; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; The North Star is Nearer and Every Month Was May by Evelyn Eaton; Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai; The Wars by Timothy Findley; Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico; Two Caravans by Monica Lewycka; Aunt Sass by P.L. Travers. Plus the following board books: Rabbit’s Nap: A Lift-the-flap Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg; Paddington Bear Goes to Market by Michael Bond and R.W. Alley; The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton; Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton; But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton; Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman
2014: Louise Penny and The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer (non-fiction)
2013: Besides all Forumites and blogging buddies, all of Josephine Tey and E. L. Konigsburg, plus: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson; The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge; A Calendar of Tales by Neil Gaiman; The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks; Esio Trot by Roald Dahl; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows; A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka; A Dangerous Fiction by Barbara Rogan; and the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems
2012: The books that made me cry
2011: Forumites and old favourites, Tolkien et al.
Shortest Book: Not counting novellas or short stories or board books or YA/MG or poetry or plays or screenplays or essays, this leaves A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin, I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and Don Fernando by Somerset Maugham.
2018: The Only Story by Julian Barnes
2017: A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
2016: Black and White Ogre Country by Hilary Tolkien
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien; A Christmas Story by Richard Burton; and Aunt Sass by PL Travers
2014: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, same as in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Also the two lovely meet cutes by Kait Nolan, Once Upon an Heirloom and Once Upon a Snow Day
2013: I read a lot more essays and short stories in general, so it was hard to single out just one
2012: The Space Between, a long novella by Diana Gabaldon
2011: The Object Lesson by Edward Gorey (besides short stories, the youngest books, Andy Capp, Archie, and MAD)
Longest Book: Most of the novels I read were all of roughly the same length. Except for the two obvious standouts:
2018: Besides all the poets and children’s authors and comics and murder mysteries, I’d recommend: Night by Elie Wiesel, Each Man’s Son by Hugh MacLennan, Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon, The Givenness of Things by Marilynne Robinson, the Wishful series by Kait Nolan, White Fang by Jack London, Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky, Handywoman by Kate Davies, The Only Story by Julian Barnes, Last Call by TL Watson, The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, The Voice in the Box by Paul Villiard (short story about thetelephone), and Somerset Maugham, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lynne Reid Banks, Pat Barker, Lilian Jackson Braun, and Charles Bukowski
2017: Canadian YA authors: Kit Pearson, Terry Lynn Johnson, Tim Wynne-Jones, and Brian Doyle; board books: Millicent and the Wind by Robert Munsch, The Hug by Lesley Simpson, There’s a Bear on My Chair by Ross Collins, The Mysterious Tadpole by Stephen Kellogg, and The Third Story Cat by Leslie Baker; war fiction: The Man From Berlin by Luke McCallin and The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck; romance: Pregnant by the Colton Cowboy by Lara Lacombe, Managed by Kristen Callihan, and Beauty Like the Night by Joanna Bourne; humour: The Fencepost Chronicles by W. P. Kinsella, Various Pets Alive and Dead by Marina Lewycka, and Dolly and the Starry Bird by Dorothy Dunnett; autobiography or biography: A Priest in Gallipoli: The War Diary of Fr Hugh Cameron by John Watts; Reach for the Sky by Paul Brickhill (biography of Douglas Bader); A Girl From Yamhill and My Own Two Feet by Beverly Cleary, and Testament of Experience and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain; non-fiction: Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth
2016: Besides the A.A. Milne and Louise Penny and Mo Willems and Marilynne Robinson I’ve recommended over the years, and all the poems, I would recommend the following: Classic books and authors that are classics for a reason: Up At the Villa by Somerset Maugham; The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro; The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff; Traitor’s Purse by Margery Allingham; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy; The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott); The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by J.R.R. Tolkien; English People by Owen Barfield; The Noise of Time by Julian Barnes; A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell); Kill Me Quick and The Mzungu Boy by Meja Mwangi; The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier
Newbery Medal winner: The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
New books: The Marble Collector by Cecilia Ahern; The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain; One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina; Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel; Who We Were Before by Leah Mercer; Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand; Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor; All Fixed Up by Linda Grimes
Younger readers: The Creatures of Number 37 by John Watts (see my blog post on this); Strange Street by Ann Powell (see my tweet on this); Who’s A Pest, Mine’s the Best, and The Case of the Hungry Stranger by Crosby Newell Bonsall; A Pocket For Corduroy by Don Freeman; The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch;
Writers: The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff
2015: All Forumites and blogger buddies, plus Kait Nolan, Catherine McKenzie, John Scalzi, Louise Penny, Agatha Christie, Tolkien, Robert Galbraith, Marilynne Robinson, and A.A. Milne, depending on your tastes. Also the following: Les dernieres jours de nos peres by Joel Dicker; La Verite sur l’affair Harry Quebert, and its sort-of sequel Le livre des Baltimore by Joel Dicker; Mr. Garden and Jim at the Corner by Eleanor Farjeon; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; The North Star is Nearer and Every Month Was May by Evelyn Eaton; Emily’s Balloon by Komako Sakai; The Wars by Timothy Findley; Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico; Two Caravans by Monica Lewycka; Aunt Sass by P.L. Travers. Plus the following board books: Rabbit’s Nap: A Lift-the-flap Book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Each Peach Pear Plum by Allan Ahlberg and Janet Ahlberg; Paddington Bear Goes to Market by Michael Bond and R.W. Alley; The Going To Bed Book by Sandra Boynton; Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton; But Not the Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton; Chu’s Day by Neil Gaiman
2014: Louise Penny and The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer (non-fiction)
2013: Besides all Forumites and blogging buddies, all of Josephine Tey and E. L. Konigsburg, plus: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson; The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge; A Calendar of Tales by Neil Gaiman; The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks; Esio Trot by Roald Dahl; The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows; A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka; A Dangerous Fiction by Barbara Rogan; and the Elephant and Piggie series by Mo Willems
2012: The books that made me cry
2011: Forumites and old favourites, Tolkien et al.
Shortest Book: Not counting novellas or short stories or board books or YA/MG or poetry or plays or screenplays or essays, this leaves A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R. R. Martin, I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, and Don Fernando by Somerset Maugham.
2018: The Only Story by Julian Barnes
2017: A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie)
2016: Black and White Ogre Country by Hilary Tolkien
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien; A Christmas Story by Richard Burton; and Aunt Sass by PL Travers
2014: The Tales of Beedle the Bard, same as in 2008, 2010 and 2011. Also the two lovely meet cutes by Kait Nolan, Once Upon an Heirloom and Once Upon a Snow Day
2013: I read a lot more essays and short stories in general, so it was hard to single out just one
2012: The Space Between, a long novella by Diana Gabaldon
2011: The Object Lesson by Edward Gorey (besides short stories, the youngest books, Andy Capp, Archie, and MAD)
Longest Book: Most of the novels I read were all of roughly the same length. Except for the two obvious standouts:
The
Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien
A
Song of Ice and Fire
series by George R. R. Martin.
2018: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and La disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker
2017: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, as well as Laura Bradbury’s Grape series if counted as one, The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, if counted as one, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, and our two gargantuan writers’ houseparties on the Forum, which together ran close to 500,000 words
2016: Besides Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia, and the entire Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, this would be English People by Owen Barfield, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, and Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
2015: Lots of Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings and books 8 and 9 in the History of Middle Earth series) and Joel Dicker. I suppose The Grapes of Wrath is longer than usual too
2014: Every year there’s a Tolkien or Gabaldon in there, and 2014 was no exception
2013: Series: Anne of Green Gables series; all of Josephine Tey’s books; and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series. Also some long Stephen King: Under the Dome; the uncut The Stand; and 11/22/63. Plus The Count of Monte Cristo
2012: I had no long series that I could count as one book, so I decided to mention Neil Gaiman
Research Books: No non-fiction but, same as last year, a handful of novels I read for vocabulary and setting research (not counting the wartime books):
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
Running Water by A E Mason
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Don Fernando by Somerset Maugham
2018: No non-fiction, except A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, but a handful of novels and poetry I read for vocabulary and setting research (not counting the wartime books): Catalina by Somerset Maugham, the Blackhouse trilogy by Peter May, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part 1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stane by J. K Rowling, translated into Scots by Matthew Fitt
2017: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, plus a couple of novels that could count as research.
2016: I enjoy learning about a specific time period, or exploring geography, and reading about explorers of various times. The closest book to all of that was A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell), which was partly for research, along with the three writing craft books, particularly The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff
2015: Hardly any non-fiction. Some of the fiction (anything set in or during the wars, along with writing from that time, especially Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers) could count as research
2014: No non-fiction. Counted L.M. Montgomery and A Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie French as research
2013: Some novels doubled as research. Loved Archaeology is Rubbish by Prof. Mick Aston and Tony Robinson. Skimmed the following: Medieval Civilisation by Jacques le Goff; The Great Explorers (Folio Society); Parragon’s Encyclopedia of Animals: a Family Reference Guide; and Celtic Myths and Legends by Mike Dixon-Kennedy
2011–2012: Various, including books on English history, poetry, Mediterranean flora, Ottoman history, and the Renaissance
Books From the 19th Century and Earlier: Not many. All of them are poems, except for one:
A Bush Christening by AH Paterson
2018: Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and La disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker
2017: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, as well as Laura Bradbury’s Grape series if counted as one, The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, if counted as one, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, and our two gargantuan writers’ houseparties on the Forum, which together ran close to 500,000 words
2016: Besides Tolkien and The Chronicles of Narnia, and the entire Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny, this would be English People by Owen Barfield, Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, and Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
2015: Lots of Tolkien (The Lord of the Rings and books 8 and 9 in the History of Middle Earth series) and Joel Dicker. I suppose The Grapes of Wrath is longer than usual too
2014: Every year there’s a Tolkien or Gabaldon in there, and 2014 was no exception
2013: Series: Anne of Green Gables series; all of Josephine Tey’s books; and John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series. Also some long Stephen King: Under the Dome; the uncut The Stand; and 11/22/63. Plus The Count of Monte Cristo
2012: I had no long series that I could count as one book, so I decided to mention Neil Gaiman
Research Books: No non-fiction but, same as last year, a handful of novels I read for vocabulary and setting research (not counting the wartime books):
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan
Running Water by A E Mason
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
Don Fernando by Somerset Maugham
2018: No non-fiction, except A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman, but a handful of novels and poetry I read for vocabulary and setting research (not counting the wartime books): Catalina by Somerset Maugham, the Blackhouse trilogy by Peter May, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part 1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stane by J. K Rowling, translated into Scots by Matthew Fitt
2017: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder, plus a couple of novels that could count as research.
2016: I enjoy learning about a specific time period, or exploring geography, and reading about explorers of various times. The closest book to all of that was A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell), which was partly for research, along with the three writing craft books, particularly The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide To Stories That Sell by Susan Bischoff
2015: Hardly any non-fiction. Some of the fiction (anything set in or during the wars, along with writing from that time, especially Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers) could count as research
2014: No non-fiction. Counted L.M. Montgomery and A Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie French as research
2013: Some novels doubled as research. Loved Archaeology is Rubbish by Prof. Mick Aston and Tony Robinson. Skimmed the following: Medieval Civilisation by Jacques le Goff; The Great Explorers (Folio Society); Parragon’s Encyclopedia of Animals: a Family Reference Guide; and Celtic Myths and Legends by Mike Dixon-Kennedy
2011–2012: Various, including books on English history, poetry, Mediterranean flora, Ottoman history, and the Renaissance
Books From the 19th Century and Earlier: Not many. All of them are poems, except for one:
A Bush Christening by AH Paterson
Tis
a Fearful Thing by Yehuda Halevi (poem)
Jabberwocky
by Lewis Carroll (poem; reread)
In
ancient days tradition shows (Old English poem)
“My
Heart Leaps Up” by William Wordsworth (poem)
From
this hour I ordain myself by Walt Whitman (poem)
In
her maiden bliss: Edited version of a review by JRR Tolkien of Hali Meidenhad:
An alliterative prose homily of the thirteenth century, edited by FJ Furnivall
and O Cockayne, first published in the Times Literary Supplement
2018: The Shoemaker and Elves by the brothers Grimm (reread), White Fang by Jack London, Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part 1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver Goldsmith, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story), An Eclogue: Willie and Sandy by Robert Fergusson (poem), Later Days by WH Davies (skimmed), A Foreigner at Home by Robert Louis Stevenson (essay), Winter Evening by Archibald Lampman (poem), various poems by Jock Tamsen, and Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (reread)
2017: Besides many of the poets, there was Melville, Tolstoy, the original Beauty and the Beast, and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
2016: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson; Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy; “A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four” by Thomas Hardy; “The Boy Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was” by the Brothers Grimm; “The Wedding Night” by Ida Craddock; extracts from the diary of John Evelyn; extracts from Lord Byron’s letters about Villa Diodati; plus poems: The Darkling Thrush and The Oxen by Thomas Hardy (may be early 20th Century); Ode on Venice by Lord Byron; Bells by Edgar Allan Poe; Sonnet LXVI by Shakespeare; Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son; Fair Jenny, MacPherson’s Farewell, and Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robbie Burns; Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley; England and Switzerland, 1802, and extracts from Preludes by Wordsworth
2015: Only 1! The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang. Also three poems, two of which were rereads: “The Fly” by William Blake; “Tyger, Tyger” by William Blake; “January Brings the Snow” by Sara Coleridge
2014: Only 2! Byron’s Childe Harold and Andersen’s The Snow Queen
2013: Only 1! Le Comte de Monte-Cristo par Alexandre Dumas. Plus a few poems, and the Grimm brothers’ story “The Blue Light”
2012: Only 1! The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, plus poems by Longfellow and Browning, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe
Books from 1900 to 1960 (mostly): Some of the Charles Schulz, many of the Dr Seuss, and some of the Eric Hill books, plus:
2018: The Shoemaker and Elves by the brothers Grimm (reread), White Fang by Jack London, Rosmersholm by Henrik Ibsen, Sonnets to Orpheus, Part 1 by Rainer Maria Rilke, “An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog” by Oliver Goldsmith, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story), An Eclogue: Willie and Sandy by Robert Fergusson (poem), Later Days by WH Davies (skimmed), A Foreigner at Home by Robert Louis Stevenson (essay), Winter Evening by Archibald Lampman (poem), various poems by Jock Tamsen, and Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake (reread)
2017: Besides many of the poets, there was Melville, Tolstoy, the original Beauty and the Beast, and The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe
2016: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson; A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson; Three Men In A Boat by Jerome K Jerome; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy; “A Tradition of Eighteen Hundred and Four” by Thomas Hardy; “The Boy Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was” by the Brothers Grimm; “The Wedding Night” by Ida Craddock; extracts from the diary of John Evelyn; extracts from Lord Byron’s letters about Villa Diodati; plus poems: The Darkling Thrush and The Oxen by Thomas Hardy (may be early 20th Century); Ode on Venice by Lord Byron; Bells by Edgar Allan Poe; Sonnet LXVI by Shakespeare; Sir Walter Raleigh to His Son; Fair Jenny, MacPherson’s Farewell, and Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robbie Burns; Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley; England and Switzerland, 1802, and extracts from Preludes by Wordsworth
2015: Only 1! The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang. Also three poems, two of which were rereads: “The Fly” by William Blake; “Tyger, Tyger” by William Blake; “January Brings the Snow” by Sara Coleridge
2014: Only 2! Byron’s Childe Harold and Andersen’s The Snow Queen
2013: Only 1! Le Comte de Monte-Cristo par Alexandre Dumas. Plus a few poems, and the Grimm brothers’ story “The Blue Light”
2012: Only 1! The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, plus poems by Longfellow and Browning, and “The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe
Books from 1900 to 1960 (mostly): Some of the Charles Schulz, many of the Dr Seuss, and some of the Eric Hill books, plus:
Silent
Spring by Rachel
Carson
The
Sea Around Us
by Rachel Carson
A
Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold
Selected
Poems by Anna Akhmatova (Folio Society)
Reader’s
Digest March and December 1965
The
House at Pooh Corner
by AA Milne (reread)
Running
Water by AE
Mason
The
Borrowers
by Mary Norton
The
Sun Also Rises
by Ernest Hemingway
Don
Fernando
by Somerset Maugham
The
Lord of the Rings
by JRR Tolkien (annual reread; first time on screen!)
Simple
Stories (reread)
The
Cockatoucan
by E Nesbit
Pippi
Goes Abroad
by Astrid Lindgren
I
Heard the Owl Call My Name
by Margaret Craven (cried at end)
The
Velveteen Rabbit
(reread)
The
Case of the Cat’s Meow
by Crosby Bonsall
Madeline
and the Gypsies
and Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans
Harold’s
Purple Crayon Treasury
by Crockett Johnson (five stories)
Curious George: Librarian for a Day
Curious George: Librarian for a Day
Good
Night Little Bear
(Little Golden Book)
The
Store-Bought Doll
(Little Golden Book)
Goodnight
Moon by
Margaret Wise Brown
Brown
Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
by Bill Martin and Eric Carle
The
Little Steamroller
by Graham Greene
The
Giving Tree
by Shel Silverstein (reread)
The
Iron Tonic
by Edward Gorey
Miffy
in the Snow
Cats
by Eleanor Farjeon (poem)
Anlatamiyorum
by Orhan Veli (poem)
2018: Besides the poetry, board books and MG, comics, and non-fiction, there was Night by Elie Wiesel; Each Man’s Son by Hugh MacLennan; Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon; The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien; Two Is Lonely, The Backward Shadow, and The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks; Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie (reread); The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham; Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith; The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö; Six Against the Yard, Ask a Policeman, Scoop, Behind the Screen, Anatomy of Murder, No Flowers by Request, and Crime on the Coast by the Detection Club; The Painted Veil and Catalina by Somerset Maugham; The Voice in the Box by Paul Villiard (short story about the telephone; http://www.telephonetribute.com/a_true_story.html); The Cat Who Wasn’t There by Lilian Jackson Braun; Play the Piano Drunk Like a Percussion Instrument Until the Fingers Begin to Bleed a Bit by Charles Bukowski; Daisy Miller by Henry James; and Three Stories for Children by Isaac Bashevis Singer
2017: Besides the poetry, board books, and non-fiction, there was Alistair MacLean, J. R. R. Tolkien, the Rev. Awry, Beatrix Potter, Astrid Lindgren, and Madeleine l’Engle, along with The Mistletoe and Sword by Anya Seton, The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck, and A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie).
2016: All the Agatha Christie, Beatrix Potter, Milne, Maugham, Waugh, and G.K. Chesterton, all of the Inklings (Tolkien, Owen Barfield, C.S. Lewis, plus Dorothy Sayers), and the following (roughly up to 1962): Traitor’s Purse by Margery Allingham; Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; Maigret Chez les Flamands by Georges Simenon; “That Hell-Bound Train” by Robert Bloch; “Homage to Switzerland” by Ernest Hemingway; A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert Gertrude Bell (compiled by Georgina Howell); Humble Bundle Peanuts collection (strips by Charles Schulz); Walkabout by James Vance Marshall Dream Days by Kenneth Grahame; plus poems: Dirge Without Music by Edna St. Vincent Millay; Career, and Human life in this century by Yevtushenko; Willow by Anna Akhmatova; and younger readers: Emily’s Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary; The Hockey Sweater by Roch Carrier; Winter Tree Birds by Lucy Ozone and John Hawkinson; Babar and his Family by Laurent de Brunhoff; Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag; Baby Animals (illustrated by Garth Williams), Scuffy the Tugboat, and The Saggy Baggy Elephant (Little Golden Books)
2015: Lots of Christie, Dahl, de la Mare, Eaton, Farjeon, Milne, Steinbeck, and Tolkien, as well as The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter; The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper; Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson; The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey and Gustaf Tenggren; The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf; Many Moons by James Thurber, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin; Heidi by Johanna Spyri; William Tell Told Again by P. G. Wodehouse; Peanuts Volume 1 by Charles Schulz; “Oh, Whistle, And I’ll Come To You, My Lad” by M. R. James (short story); First and Second Things by Lewis; The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury; Flowers for Mrs Harris by Paul Gallico; Aunt Sass by P.L. Travers; Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell; “Birds of Passage” by Peter McArthur (poem); and “The Mother” by Nettie Palmer (poem)
2014: The Tintin books, L.M. Montgomery, Tolkien, Maugham, Sayers, Christie (plus The Floating Admiral by the Detection Club, including Christie, Sayers, Chesterton, etc.), Wodehouse, Graves, Milne, and Tutankhamen’s Tomb by Howard Carter
2013: Lots of Tolkien, Josephine Tey and L.M. Montgomery, plus: Esio Trot by Roald Dahl; Poet’s Pub by Eric Linklater; The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (reread); To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street by Dr Seuss; The Magician’s Nephew by Lewis (reread); “Four Fables for Our Time” by James Thurber (short story) (reread); “You Should Have Seen the Mess” by Muriel Spark (short story) (reread); “Ha’penny” by Alan Paton (short story) (reread); The Screwtape Letters, Chapter 1 by Lewis (read by John Cleese) (reread); “Why, Of Course” by James Edmond Casey (short story); “Acquainted With the Night” by Robert Frost (poem); Medieval Civilisation by Jacques le Goff; All My Life Before Me: The Diary of C.S. Lewis; Stories in Words by Lewis; Emerson; and The Reader Over Your Shoulder by Robert Graves and Alan Hodge
2012: A lot (counting short stories), including all the Tolkien, plus Christie, Sayers, Milne, Bradbury, Waugh, Chute, Maugham, Remarque, Chesterton, and Bodies and Souls (1950s Dell Paperback of crime stories by Christie, Chesterton, etc.)2011: Only 12 novels and 2 short stories, plus The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson
2010: 27
2009: 17
2008: c. 25
Beta Reads: Only 2 this year! Quite a few ARCs, but I guess I don’t have time for helpful beta reads at the moment.
2018: 4
2017: 7
2016: 7
2015: 4
2014: 3
2013: 2
2012: 4
Forumites were at it again this year! Here are the latest releases I read; new this year are some of the artists I support on Patreon!
We
Once Were Here (essay; https://anthc.org/news/we-once-were-here/)
My
Grape Cellar
by Laura Bradbury
A
Vineyard for Two
by Laura Bradbury
Epilogue
to A Vineyard for Two by Laura Bradbury
Rising
Heat anthology featuring Jillian Barnes
Dream
Logic by Alice Fraser (poem)
Whirlwind
by Claire Gregory (poem)
The
Puzzle of You
by Leah Mercer
Within
the protection of law: debating the Australian convict-as-slave narrative by
Jennie Jeppesen (journal article)
True
Writing is Rewriting by Beth Shope (essay)
The
Comedy at Kualoa by Monica Byrne (short story)
Wellesley
Albright talk given by Monica Byrne
Five
letters from new laverne by Monica Byrne (short story)
empathy
is nothing by Amanda Palmer (poem)
Induced
to Tell by Claire Greer (journal article)
Ranger’s
Baby Rescue
by Lara Lacombe
Most Surprising Book: For different reasons: at just the right times:
Running Water by A E Mason – I had no idea this author existed. He’s quite good!
The
Witch Next Door
and The Witch Grows Up by Norman Bridwell – I’d forgotten these books! I
loved them as a kid, and was very excited to find them at the library book sale
Goodnight
Moon by
Margaret Wise Brown – I’ve read lots of Brown; she’s hit or miss. But everyone
makes fun of this one, and it’s one of her better ones! I hadn’t read it before
2018: Two Is Lonely, The Backward Shadow, and The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks: so modern for their time; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story): beautiful; Handywoman by Kate Davies: inspiring; Six Against the Yard by the Detection Club; A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache Smith; 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass; The Worry Week by Anne Lindbergh; Reader’s Digest June 1965 (reread); Time Twister by Ged Maybury (reread); The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid; La Disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker (also, Cosmos by Carl Sagan: a surprise, because I expected to like it and didn’t)
2017: Honourable mentions go to A Priest in Gallipoli: The War Diary of Fr Hugh Cameron by John Watts, and Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie), and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
2016: The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott); The Rose on the Ash-Heap and English People by Owen Barfield; Up At the Villa and The Casuarina Tree by Somerset Maugham (novella); The Gustav Sonata and The Road Home by Rose Tremain; Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
Discovering new authors (including classics I’d never read before): Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel; The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro; Kill Me Quick and The Mzungu Boy by Meja Mwangi; Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor; Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina; Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Fun books and younger readers: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff; The Creatures of Number 37 by John Watts; The Cybil War and The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars; Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems (Elephants Can’t Dance, Let’s Go For A Drive and There is a Bird on Your Head); Who’s A Pest, Mine’s the Best, and The Case of the Hungry Stranger by Crosby Newell Bonsall;
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien, My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl, Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie), and Many Moons by James Thurber, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin
2014: Louise Penny, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield, and The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
2013: Poet’s Pub by Eric Linklater, The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, and Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling
2012: World War Z by Max Brooks
Nationalities of Authors: Here are the nationalities of authors whose books I read this year (I introduced this category in 2016):
Australia
Canada
England
France
Ireland
New Zealand
Russian Federation
Scotland
Spain (Sephardim)
Sweden
Switzerland
Togo
Turkey
United States
2018: Australia; Austria; Canada; England; France; Ireland; New Zealand; Norway; Romania; Scotland; Sweden; Switzerland; United States; Wales
2017: Australia; Canada; England; France; Germany; Kenya; Russian Federation; Scotland; Sweden (in translation); United States
2016: Australia; Canada; France; Germany; Ireland; Kenya; Norway; Russian Federation; United Kingdom; United States
New category: My publications!
Yes, I have my own book to add to the list!
2017: Summer Fire by Deniz Bevan
Hope you enjoyed this recap!
2018: Two Is Lonely, The Backward Shadow, and The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks: so modern for their time; The Dream of a Ridiculous Man by Dostoyevsky (short story): beautiful; Handywoman by Kate Davies: inspiring; Six Against the Yard by the Detection Club; A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache Smith; 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass; The Worry Week by Anne Lindbergh; Reader’s Digest June 1965 (reread); Time Twister by Ged Maybury (reread); The Skeleton Road by Val McDermid; La Disparition de Stephanie Mailer by Joel Dicker (also, Cosmos by Carl Sagan: a surprise, because I expected to like it and didn’t)
2017: Honourable mentions go to A Priest in Gallipoli: The War Diary of Fr Hugh Cameron by John Watts, and Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, A Daughter’s A Daughter by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie), and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.
2016: The Rose and the Yew Tree by Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott); The Rose on the Ash-Heap and English People by Owen Barfield; Up At the Villa and The Casuarina Tree by Somerset Maugham (novella); The Gustav Sonata and The Road Home by Rose Tremain; Arthur and George by Julian Barnes
Discovering new authors (including classics I’d never read before): Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel; The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro; Kill Me Quick and The Mzungu Boy by Meja Mwangi; Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor; Weep Not, Child by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o; One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina; Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen; Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Fun books and younger readers: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and 84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff; The Creatures of Number 37 by John Watts; The Cybil War and The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars; Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems (Elephants Can’t Dance, Let’s Go For A Drive and There is a Bird on Your Head); Who’s A Pest, Mine’s the Best, and The Case of the Hungry Stranger by Crosby Newell Bonsall;
2015: Farmer Giles of Ham and Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien, My Uncle Oswald by Roald Dahl, Absent in the Spring by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie), and Many Moons by James Thurber, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin
2014: Louise Penny, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield, and The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
2013: Poet’s Pub by Eric Linklater, The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks, and Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith aka J.K. Rowling
2012: World War Z by Max Brooks
Nationalities of Authors: Here are the nationalities of authors whose books I read this year (I introduced this category in 2016):
Australia
Canada
England
France
Ireland
New Zealand
Russian Federation
Scotland
Spain (Sephardim)
Sweden
Switzerland
Togo
Turkey
United States
2018: Australia; Austria; Canada; England; France; Ireland; New Zealand; Norway; Romania; Scotland; Sweden; Switzerland; United States; Wales
2017: Australia; Canada; England; France; Germany; Kenya; Russian Federation; Scotland; Sweden (in translation); United States
2016: Australia; Canada; France; Germany; Ireland; Kenya; Norway; Russian Federation; United Kingdom; United States
New category: My publications!
Yes, I have my own book to add to the list!
2017: Summer Fire by Deniz Bevan
Hope you enjoyed this recap!
Next year I hope to shorten some of the presentation of data from previous years, to make overall comparisons easier to see...
As for ROW80... For the last round of 2019, my goals were to:
- keep up with (complete?!) The Antipodean Time for NaNoWriMo
- solve the plot hole in The Handful of Time
- keep up with school and everything else (a corollary to this is that it's been about a year since I've actively commented on other blogs. I'm hoping to remedy this and get back to regular visiting and commenting by next summer, once school is over.)
- maybe knit something else! I've collected a few "I wish I had..." ideas from friends, including leg warmers and a tuque
This post will stay up over the holidays, so here is early notification of
Tolkien’s birthday toast!
“Each year on 3 January, the Tolkien Society encourages Tolkien fans from across the world to celebrate the Professor’s birthday with a simple toast-drinking ceremony.
At 9pm your local time, simply raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is simply:The Professor!
All you need to do is stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words “The Professor” before taking a sip (or swig, if that’s more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.”
This is rather timely, as my mini-interview about being a Tolkien fan, held
during Tolkien 2019 (I promise to blog about that event, and about the Tolkien
exhibit at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, soon!) is now available (best with a browser other than Firefox)!
Happy New Year to all!
Here is the full unedited list of 2019 books, with apologies for
the lack of formatting and proper annotation of authors’ names!
Before men become men, they
are their mothers' little boys (essay; http://anovelwoman.blogspot.com/2008/04/before-men-become-men-they-are-their.html); Tales from a Hack by Ryan
Bevan; Surtout n’entrez pas dans le
sac! by Nicolas Hubesch and Gnimdewa Atakpama; We Once Were Here (essay;
https://anthc.org/news/we-once-were-here/); Bring It On Home by Kait Nolan; Rising Heat anthology
featuring Jillian Barnes; a limerick by Neil Gaiman; Simple Stories (reread); How the Grinch Stole Christmas
by Dr Seuss; rereads of all children’s
books from Christmas 2018; Anlatamiyorum by Orhan Veli
(poem); Les contraires and some other
board books in French; 999 tetards; La boulangerie; Puss in Boots (Ladybird version); We’re All In This Together by
Charles M Schulz; Hop on Pop by Dr Seuss; Yummy Yucky (board book); The Sharing A Shell Song by
Julia Donaldson; Andrew’s Loose Tooth by Robert
Munsch; Whoops! But It Wasn’t Me (A
Charlie and Lola story); You’ll Flip, Charlie Brown by
Charles M Schulz; Nice Shot, Snoopy by Charles M
Schulz; Spot’s Baby Sister by Eric
Hill; Spot’s Toys by Eric Hill; Who Do You Think You Are
Charlie Brown? by Charles M Schulz; It’s Chow Time, Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz; Spot Goes to the Park by Eric
Hill; Madeline and the Gypsies; A Bush Christening by AH
Paterson; Good Night Little Bear (Little
Golden Book); The Witch Grows Up by Norman
Bridwell; The Witch Next Door by Norman
Bridwell; Charlie Brown and Snoopy by
Charles M Schulz; Think About it Tomorrow Snoopy
by Charles M Schulz; Mr Worry by Roger Hargreaves; The Zip, Shopping for Socks
(twice-weekly reading practice books read to me by a certain first grader. I’ve
stopped keeping track of them); The House at Pooh Corner by AA
Milne (reread); Tabby McTat by Julia Donaldson
and Axel Scheffler; Happy Pig Day! by Mo Willems; Surprise Pancakes for Mum; Toc! Toc! Qui Est La?; Pippi Goes Abroad by Astrid
Lindgren; The Origin of the Flow by John
Scalzi (short story); Le meilleur livre pour
apprendre a dessiner une vache (reread); Pigs Make Me Sneeze by Mo
Willems; What A Bad Dog; Educated by Tara Westover; My Grape Cellar by Laura
Bradbury; Goodnight Moon by Margaret
Wise Brown; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do
You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle; What Was I Scared Of? by Dr Seuss; The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s
Christmas Eve by Eric Carle; Oh the Thinks You Can Think!
by Dr Seuss; Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems; Peppa the Mermaid; The Giving Tree by Shel
Silverstein (reread); Dream Logic by Alice Fraser
(poem); Whirlwind by Claire Gregory
(poem); Women and Power by Mary Beard; The Lost Sock; A Children’s Book of Verse
illustrated by Eric Kincaid; Le Tigre by Joel Dicker; At the Park; Tous derriere le tracteur; Peppa Goes Swimming; ‘Within the protection of law’:
debating the Australian convict-as-slave narrative by Jennie Jeppesen; I Heard the Owl Call My Name
by Margaret Craven (cried at end); Today I Will Fly by Mo Willems; Charlie Brown comics (rereads
from previous years); Knitting Season essays by Kate
Davies; The Puzzle of You by Leah
Mercer; Arctic Five Arrive; Minibeasts; The Smartest Giant in Town by
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Sleepy Little Caterpillar; Little Frog and the Tadpoles; The Lord of the Rings by JRR
Tolkien (annual reread; first time on screen!); A Better Man by Louise Penny; Postscript by Cecelia Ahern; The Consuming Fire by John
Scalzi; Head On by John Scalzi; 10 Apples Up On Top by Dr
Seuss; Untitled by Eric Steiner
Carlsen (short story); Turner: The Sea and The Alps,
exhibition catalogue, Luzern Kunstmuseum (skimmed); Roar by Cecelia Ahern; The Taken by Vicki Pettersson; Lock In by John Scalzi; It’s Good to Have a Grandpa by
Maryann Macdonald and Priscilla Burris; It’s Good to Have a Grandma by
Maryann Macdonald and Priscilla Burris; Now You See Me by Chris
McGeorge; short stories by RB (beta
read); The Punisher, chapter 1; My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan; The Very Itchy Bear by Nick
Bland; The Very Noisy Bear by Nick
Bland; The Very Hungry Bear by Nick
Bland; The Very Brave Bear by Nick Bland; In ancient days tradition
shows (Old English poem); True Writing is Rewriting by
Beth Shope (essay); The Comedy at Kualoa by Monica
Byrne (short story); I Miss You, Stinky Face, by
Lisa Mccourt; She liked the sea by George RR
Martin (quote); Holmfirth: A Bygone Era by P
Riley (skimmed); Little Miss Stubborn by Roger
Hargreaves; Little Miss Late by Roger
Hargreaves; Little Miss Dotty by Roger
Hargreaves; The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia
Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Olobob Top Let’s Visit Big
Fish’s Pond; Charlie and Lola I Am Not
Sleepy and I Will Not Go To Bed; Peppa’s Castle Adventure; Peppa’s Fairy Tale; Bing’s Birthday Party; Teletubbies A Snowy Day; Find Spot at the Zoo by Eric
Hill; That’s Not My Bee; That’s Not My Squirrel; Where Is Busy Bee; The Little Puddle by Axel
Scheffler; Sneezy Bear by Neil Griffiths; Don’t Wake Up Tiger by Britta
Teckentrup; Once Upon A Wild Wood by Chris
Riddell; What Pet Should I Get by Dr
Seuss; Find Spot at the Museum by
Eric Hill; Ten Little Monsters by Mike
Brownlow; Ten Little Robots by Mike Brownlow; Square by Barrett and Klassen; Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll
(poem; reread); Waiting Is Not Easy by Mo
Willems; Cats by Eleanor Farjeon (poem); The Sea Around Us by Rachel
Carson; Tis a Fearful Thing by Yehuda
Halevi (poem); Proumzy; 5 Caillou books; I Can Read With My Eyes Shut
by Dr Seuss; Aboie, Georges!; Non, non et non; Elmer’s Walk; Peppa in Space; Dr Seuss’ ABC; The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss; Ou est mon renne; Peppa’s Dentist Trip; Miffy in the Snow; Reader’s Digest December 1965; Reader’s Digest March 1965; Running Water by A E Mason; Zog and the Flying Doctors by
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; The Iron Tonic by Edward Gorey; The Scarecrows’ Wedding by
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; The Tiger Who Came to Tea by
Judith Kerr; The Little Steamroller by
Graham Greene; some chapters in forthcoming
book by JJ; Green Eggs and Ham by Dr Seuss; Where’s Oor Willie; What I Like About You by Kait
Nolan; Baby It’s Cold Outside by Kait
Nolan (extended version of Snowed In With A Ranger); The Sun Also Rises by Ernest
Hemingway; Don Fernando by Somerset
Maugham; Fire and Blood by George R. R.
Martin; A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
by George R. R. Martin; All In One Piece by Jill
Murray; Philippe Petit, Artist of Life
by Paul Auster (introduction); Finally 12 by Wendy Mass; I Survived the Sinking of the
Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis; Mr Christmas by Roger Hargreaves; The Case of the Cat’s Meow by
Crosby Bonsall; Harold’s Purple Crayon
Treasury by Crockett Johnson (five stories); The Gruffalo by Julia
Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Les animaux des montagnes
suisse - Auzou; La mer, les fleuves et les
lacs - Auzou; Les animaux à protéger - Auzou; Les animaux de Suisse - Auzou
(reread); Les animaux de la ferme -
Auzou; Out of Bounds by Val McDermid; One Two Three by Sandra
Boynton; Je ne veux pas de petit frere!; Bonjour docteur; Etoile; Would You Rather Be A Bullfrog
by P. Eastman; A Song of Ice and Fire: A
Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin; Epilogue to A Vineyard for Two
by Laura Bradbury; Ed the Pup: Ed is Afraid of
the Dark; Ed the Pup: Ed’s New Baby Sister; Les mots douce – bonjour; A Song of Ice and Fire: A
Feast for Crows by George RR Martin; Wellesley Albright talk given
by Monica Byrne; A Vineyard for Two by Laura
Bradbury; Dancing Away With My Heart by
Kait Nolan; empathy is nothing by Amanda
Palmer (poem); Heroes to the Rescue, a Ben
& Holly’s Magic Kingdom book; Franklin volume 1; Franklin volume 2; Paris Notebooks by Mavis
Gallant; A Squash and a Squeeze by
Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Double Sens, a Casterman book; Madame Tintamarre by Roger
Hargreaves; Mme Sage by Roger Hargreaves; Little Critter storybook
collection by Mercer Mayer; Planete Terre, a KidiDoc book; Usborne 1001 Things to Spot in
the Sea; Les mots douce – pardon; Mr Birthday by Roger
Hargreaves; A Song of Ice and Fire: A
Storm of Swords by George RR Martin; The Wonky Donkey by Craig
Smith; “My Heart Leaps Up” by William
Wordsworth (poem); The Outsider by Stephen King; Where’s Mr Lion (Nosy Crow
books); We Are the Gardeners; A l’envers a l’endroit; A Song of Ice and Fire: A
Clash of Kings by George RR Martin; Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins; Ashes of Berlin by Luke
McCallin; A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game
of Thrones by George RR Martin; The Cockatoucan by E Nesbit; Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig
Bemelmans; Sparkly Learn Your Numbers; Sparkly Learn Your ABCs; Five letters from new laverne
by Monica Byrne (short story); Year One by Nora Roberts; Let’s Get a Pup; Purple, Green and Yellow by
Robert Munsch; Moira’s Birthday by Robert
Munsch; Mud Puddle by Robert Munsch; La petit soeur de Franklin; Nursery Rhymes illustrated by
Sarah Nightingale; Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the
Bus by Mo Willems; Just Go To Bed by Mercer Mayer; Room on the Broom by Julia
Donaldson and Axel Scheffler; Postman Pat to the Rescue; Induced to Tell by Claire
Greer (essay); The Velveteen Rabbit (reread;
tears!); The Borrowers by Mary Norton; The Pale House by Luke
McCallin; Berenstain Bears Detectives
(pumpkin); Il etait une fois, mon imagier
des contes; The Year I Met You by Cecelia
Ahern; Silent Spring by Rachel Carson; Boo! Made You Jump (Charlie
and Lola); Les comptines de la famille; Crocoloup aime les oeufs de
Paques; Johnny Boo and the Mean Little
Boy; Selected Poems by Anna
Akhmatova (Folio Society); A Baby Sister for Herry
(Sesame Street); Elliot Bakes a Cake by Andrea
Beck; My Baby Brother is a Little
Monster (Sesame Street); The Store-Bought Doll (Little
Golden Books); The Great Escape by Paul
Brickhill; Ranger’s Baby Rescue by Lara
Lacombe; Emily Brown and the Thing; Climate Change Begins at Home
by Dave Reay; Winter Shadows by Margaret
Buffie; From this hour I ordain myself
(poem) by Walt Whitman; A Merry Christmas by Katherine
Paterson (essay); The Shortest Day (poem) by
Susan Cooper; A Model Dog by John Scalzi
(short story); Who’d Be A Fly?; Usborne: bon appetit; Don’t Put Your Finger in the
Jelly, Nelly; A Sand County Almanac and
Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold; In the Nest by Milbourne; The Ugly Five by Julia
Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (made me cry!); Peppa Pig A Trip to the Moon; Peppa Pig The Naughty Tortoise; Peppa Pig Sports Day; Zog by Julia Donaldson and
Axel Scheffler; Storybox Santa Heads for the
Sun; Amazing Aeroplanes; The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by
Mo Willems; Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late
by Mo Willems; Chef Sugarlips by Tawna Fenske; Listen to the Moon Christmas
bonus scene by Rose Lerner; Emily’s Baby Brother by Claire
Masurel; Stay A Little Longer by Kait
Nolan; Curious George: Librarian for
a Day; l’Ane Trotro range sa chambre; Insidious Intent by Val
McDermid; In her maiden bliss - edited
version of a review by JRR Tolkien of Hali Meidenhad: An alliterative prose homily
of the thirteenth century, edited by F. J. Furnivall and O. Cockayne, first
published in the Times Literary Supplement
Comments
www.thepulpitandthepen.com
But, honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing more of Norman Bridwell, Robert Munsch, Doctor Seuss, and of course, my all-time sobfest favorite, The Velveteen Rabbit, again!
How are things with you?
I'm writing this because you participated in either the Nineties or Noughties blogfest almost a decade ago: http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/2012/10/james-forrester-interview-surrey.html
Do people still do blogfests? I haven't been invited to one in a long time.
By popular demand I'm doing it again, the Tweenies blogfest (I've decided for everyone that's what we should have been calling decade between the Noughties and the Twenties all along). I would be grateful if you would consider taking part this time as well.
The plan is that on the 28th of December we each post something that we love from each year from 2010 to 2019, be it a film, book, TV show, comic, anything. Something great and why we love it: http://davewrotethis.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-tweenies-blogfest.html
Dave
Thanks so much for the offer, Dave! Unfortunately, I never had time to participate in this, between school and work and so on. Hope you had a fun blogfest!