What Ya Readin' - Singled Out

I have been dipping in and out of Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson for some time. The time lapse was not because I wasn't enjoying the book but because I had a very short late pregnancy concentration span!

I was holding my place in the book with my Persephone High Wages bookmark (which came out with the last biannual). I didn't realise the irony of this until I read Simon's post on High Wages. It turns out to have been a most appropriate choice!

Obviously, as the title indicates, one of the saddest aspects of the first world war highlighted in the book is the number of women who either lost their lover / fiancee / husband in the war and never found anyone else to fill the gap left in their affections, or those who never found a lover at all. Which is worse, I guess, comes down to whether you hold to "love and lose" as preferable to never having loved. The stark reality, though, was that for those women of age during the war and those that came of age at the war's end there simply were not enough men left to go around. The issue was even more pertinent for middle and upper class women as, relatively, the officer class ( with whom they were likely to find their mate) suffered much higher casualty rates than their men. Nicholson gives the reason as the officer's leading the men into battle, as well as the simple fact that many working class men were not healthy enough to join up in the first place. I remember my high school teacher commenting on the irony of this not being healthy enough to go and die!

Singled Out has the tagline "How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War". But, I don't think the word 'survived' goes far enough to explain what some of these women did. Yes, some did just survive on low wages and without the fulfillment of their dream to marry and have children, but others embraced the freedom their inability to marry gave them and went on to establish thriving careers and enjoyable home lives.

Nicholson highlights the change in perception of unmarried women from "surplus women" to valued contributors to society. On page 323

Not being married allowed....[women] .... to play to their formidable strengths. They were pioneers. Single women like this changed the world they lived in. And there were so many of them: scientists, teachers, doctors, politicians, lawyers, artists and explorers. The vivissitudes of life - ridicule, prejudice, disappointment - had not subdued this parade of indominatble ladies. A thread of determined ambition ran through them. They would fly, they would discover, they would build, educate, help, cure, protest, transform.

Singled Out tells the story of many of them - both famous and forgotten. My favourite story was that of Gertrude Maclean who set up the Universal Aunts business for " capable ladies with all the auntly virtues: good health, time to spare, maturity and a can-do attitude" (p. 299).

Singled Out makes revealing reading and I think would be enjoyed by anyone who reads literature of the 1920s and 1930s. After all, many of the women who wrote then - including Richmal Cromptom and Elizabeth Goudge - had been 'singled out'.

What Ya Readin Junior: Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

As we continue to be lashed by wind and rain, and surrounded by fog here in south-east Queensland......five days and counting..... the dogs and my existence has taken on a cabin-feverish aspect. I have only been out for food and community commitments. And, the dogs are desperate for a walk....but I am not braving the driving rain. We even had to debate whether we could make it to church on Sunday the fog was so thick. We did in the end, but after one aborted early attempt.

Fortunately today something to break the monotony of the days- a parcel arrived from my mother-in-law in the UK. Mostly, it contained the makings for baby girl's nursery curtains but there was also the most delightful book. I just have to rave about it in case anyone else has a baby they are buying for!

Well known Australian author Mem Fox has teamed up with UK Illustrator Helen Oxenbury in '10 Little Fingers and 10 Little Toes". The words are gloriously simple, but the sentiment is beautiful. There is lots of repetition of words - so perfect for young listeners. The Penguin Books Australian website has a sample of the illustrations. I hadn't heard of the book before but it turns out it was on the New York Times bestseller list for 18 weeks.

The premise is every child around the world has, " as everyone knows" , "10 little fingers and 10 little toes"; and your own special child also has "3 little kisses on the tip of their nose". Too lovely.

Here is Mem Fox singing it!.... http://www.memfox.com/mem-sings-a-book.html

What Ya Readin': Mrs Tim of the Regiment

Mrs Tim of the Regiment by D.E. Stevenson was one of my Christmas books. I had been very excited to hear it had been republished, as early last year I read another D.E. Stevenson book - Miss Buncle's Book which I loved. Besides which, for an officer's wife a book about being an officer's wife held lots of appeal.

I thoroughly enjoyed Mrs Tim of the Regiment and am hoping the Bloomsbury will republish some others in the series. Though aspects of army life have changed since the 1930s, when the book was published, I was overwhelmed by the timelessness of many of the issues Mrs Tim encounters - my copy of the book is well tagged with post-it notes. And, there are some great lines about army life.....

'One of our dear C.O.'s most popular ideas,' adds the Child, 'Never knew a man to have so many popular ideas'. (p. 22)

'After some preliminary conversation Nora says that she particularly wanted to see me today, because.......she wonders if I can help her with a crossword......-'A word of nine letters meaning "Living in the abode of another",' she says firmly. Suggest 'Officer's wife', but Nora says that is too many letters, and the third must be Q.' (p. 12)

'It is only that you have nothing in common,' I interrupt him breathlessly. 'Guthrie, so listen to me, and believe that I know what I'm talking about - it wouldn't be quite so bad if you could marry and settle down in a home with friends round you, and each have your own interests and amusements, but Service people can't do that. They've got to be pals, making each other do for everything, finding their home, and their friends, and their interests all in each other'. (p. 242)

Actually the book is very similar in tone to the Provincial Lady books, possibly because both are diary form written around the same period. There are some very amusing lines.....

'Am bitterly aware that Tim is one of those men who do not understand clothes or women, but reflect afterwards that perhaps this is just as well in some ways. Men who understand women being sometimes too understanding of women other than their wives.' (p. 29)

'Major M, asks what on earth I am writing, and is informed by Tim that it is my strange custom (since 1st Januray) to record any daily doings in the enormous tome which he now beholds. Tim also volunteers information that the book is kept securely locked and that he doesn't 'think it will last long'. Realise that it is my perseverence he doubts (not the book's durability) and throw a sofa cushion at his head.

What Ya Readin': The Snack Thief

I recently finished my fifth Andrea Camilleri novel. I started reading the series about four years ago but it initially failed to capture my interest. I noticed that Yvonne had a similar experience with his novels and so, with that in mind, gave them another go last year. I was won over. However, I am not reading the novels in any particular order, just as they come to hand.

In 'The Snack Thief' Inspect Montalbano is investigating the murder of an old man in a lift shaft. On the same day as the murder occured a Tunisian man working on an Italian fishing trawler was machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily's coast. Montalbano suspects there is a link between the two killings. His investigation soon leads him to the elderly man's cleaner - a beautiful Tunisian named Karima - who, with her son, has gone missing. Karima, it seems, also has links to Tunisian terrorists.

Her son, the 'snack thief' of the title, is found by Inspector Montalbano when he starts stealing other school children's mid-morning snacks. At this stage, Inspector Montalbano realises that Karima may have met with foul play and her son is also likely to be in danger. He takes the son into his own custody but soon discovers that there are very high powers indeed involved in the murders.

In essence 'The Snack Thief' is about international terrorism, and the lengths a government will go to to protect their citizens. What intrigued me about this book was that the inside cover reveals that it was first published in its original Italian in 1996. I was only 12 at that time, but it does not strike me that the mid 1990s was a period when issues of international terrorism featured large in literature.

As always, Camilleri is witty in his writing. I loved these lines...

'What's wrong?' Signora Antonietta asked in alarm.
There is no Sicilian woman alive, of any class, aristocrat or peasant, who, after her fiftieth birthday, isn't always expecting the worst. What kind of worst? Any, so long as it's the worst. Signora Antonietta conformed to the rule. (p. 40)

and

Thinking he'd had a light lunch, he felt obliged to eat everything. (p. 55)

What Ya Readin': Detecting in Scotland

Well five days into 2010 and I have started to make an indent on my pile of Christmas book. They were exactly what I wanted, though it helps that I ordered the ones my husband gifted me to ensure that they were:)

I decided to commence the year catching up on what had happened in Alexander McCall Smith's Isabel Dalhousie series. I had the two latest novels outstanding. They lived up to my expectations and, as usual with AMS novels, I felt like I was leaving a good friend when I reached their closing pages.

In the 'Comfort of Saturdays' Isabel is drawn into the case of a Doctor who appears to have been mistakenly accused of falsifying a report on the safety of an experimental drug. Meanwhile, in her private life she is having issues with Jamie's friendship with the American composer, Nick Smart; who is arrogant and very rude to Isabel from the outset.

In 'The Lost Art of Gratitude' Isabel is convinced by an associate of an earlier case - Minty Auchterlonie (from vague memory she featured in the first of the Isabel Dalhousie series) to investigate threats she has been receiving, supposedly from the father of her young son. Isabel's niece Cat has a new love interest, inappropriate as usual, a tight-rope walker called Bruno.

Isabel and Jamie's son, Charlie, is growing up. He has his first kilt, goes to his first birthday party (though whether the invitee could be called his friend is debatable as in their first encounter Roderick is described by Isabel as 'an alpha baby trying to take her son's boot from him by brute force') and says his first word 'olives'. Their are also romantic developments afoot for Isabel and Jamie as they consider formalising their relationship.

What I like about Alexander McCall Smith's novels is his gentle but witty and thought provoking prose. From the Lost Art of Gratitude (p. 49)

'Jamie himself had referred to what he called her Pre-Raphaelite beauty; 'Holman Hunt might have painted you,' he had said. She had protested that she found this most unlikely, but she had been flattered, and had filed the remark away in her memory, to be taken out and reflected upon, as such compliments should be, when one was feeling one's worst, on a bad-hair day.'

What Ya Readin': Miss Buncle's Book

I can not heap sufficient praise upon Miss Buncle's Book. I rarely sit down and read a book through these days, but that is precisely what I did with Miss Buncle's Book. Miss Buncle's Book was belatedly added to the list of Persephone books I wanted for my birthday. My birthday treat was going to Persephone's shop to purchase some of the books I have been coveting for a while.

Miss Buncle is dealing with declining returns from her investments and must find a new source of income. She decides to write a book. She bases it on her experience of village life with very clear characterisations of a number of her villages dominant personas.

Upon publication there are ructions in the village as people take offence at how they are portrayed. They are determined to unclover the writer - but Miss Buncle is too innocuous to be suspected. The extremes the villagers go to to get a confession are hillarious.

Please, please get a copy if you can. Yvonne was in raptures too! And, she brought to my attention that Bloomsbury are republishing Mrs Tim of the Regiment later in the year. I can't wait.

What Ya' Readin: 'Cold Comfort Farm'

Initially, Cold Comfort Farm rather underwhelmed me. Its tagline as "the comic classic of rural life" and its opening paragraph held so much promise that I set my expectations high.

Cold Comfort Farm is a novel of gentle wit. When Flora Poste's parents die suddenly she is left, at age 20, possessing "every art and grace save that of earning her own living". Despite her Father's reputation as a wealthy man, he turns out to have been a poor one and she is left only a small inheritance. She decides to find a relative to live with who will house her in exchange for "her beautiful eyes and a hundred pounds a year", and whom she will take "in hand, and alter his or her character and mode of living to suit my taste. Then, when it please me, I shall marry".

Flora chooses to live with her peculiar extended relatives, the Starkadders. The Starkadders are in possession of a large farm in Sussex. They are ruled over by the tyrannical Aunt Ada Doom and the religiously fevoured Amos. Slowly, Flora either reforms or dispenses with each of the farm's residents. She does it with such poise and, seemingly, such little premeditation that one can't help but be impressed.

Stella Gibbon's Cold Comfort Farm is somewhat Austenesque in its humour and, I now believe, holds a well earned place in the affection of its many readers' hearts some 80 years after its first publication.

What Ya Readin': 'Resistance'

After seeing Elaine recommend 'Resistance' by Agnes Humbert on her blog I rushed to my book shelf to pull off my copy and discovered that though I had a book of the same title, it had a different author. Undeterred, I set about reading 'Resistance' by Owen Sheers.

The premise of the novel is that in late 1944 the Germans have successfully invaded England. In a remote Welsh valley, not long after, all the men disappear in a single night. Without any knowledge of their menfolk's safety or whereabouts the women are left to cope with running their farms.

Some weeks later a single German patrol of six men comes to the valley. They have been sent by the SS Command to recover a map. When winter comes suddenly, cutting off the valley from the outside world, the Germans and villagers must negotiate an uneasy truce to ensure their survival.

Owen Sheers has created a convincing story line. Both his German characters and the Welsh women are portrayed with compassion. Both sides are tired of the war and in their isolation their common humanity overcomes their countries' equinimity.

Owen Sheers' Resistance is a vivid and compelling novel. As a first novel, it offers a tantalising glimpse of what Owen Sheers' may come to offer as a novelist.

What Ya Readin': On Books Read (Lately)

I wanted to do a separate post on some books I have read and am currently reading, but seem to have run out of time. So, I shall be succint. Just before I left Sydney I read Northanger Abbey. Loved it. My favourite Jane Austen. I think it has one of the most brilliantly witty novel endings ever!

I am currently reading "The Victorian House" which is a very well written history of how the Victorians ran their houses. I also have "The Welsh Girl" on the go, I believe it was nominated for the Booker last year. I can see why, as it is on an interesting subject - German POWs in Wales in WW2- and written from several perspectives. Worth a go.

Finally, I have just started the latest Phryne Fisher mystery "Murder on A Midsummer Night" - it is up to Kerry Greenwood's usual standard. I saw it on the 3 for 2 at Borders about 10 days ago but managed sufficient self-will not to purchase it immediately. I finally succumbed yesterday when I was in town. I should have bought it the first day as I know resistance to Kerry Greenwood novels is futile. I love the Phryne Fisher character too much. Who could resist a titled Lady Detective investigating 1920s Melbourne mysteries!

What Ya Readin': Trying Things Twice

I have been reading Jan Struther's Try Anything Twice. You may know Jan Struther from her famous novel Mrs Miniver - made into a movie of the same name. Or, as I do, from the well known hymn "When a Knight Won His Spurs". I love the Libera version of it, and you can see and hear it on Youtube.

Try Anything Twice is a collection of essays. So many have captured my imagination but "Ainsworth-Zazoulian" has to be a favourite. I am very much a list person. I write them, revise them and make lists of my lists. Each morning I make my daily 'to do' list at work, and towards the end of the day make my "to do" list for the evening. "Ainsworth-Zazoulian" is about Jan Struther's re-writing of her address book. It starts off with a wonderful ode to list writers.

"There are people who never make lists, relying upon their memories or upon their friends' reminders; there are people who do make lists, but grudgingly and without relish, as a means to an end, like a Puritan making love; and there are people to whom making lists is an end in itself, a pure, abstract and never-failing delight.

To the third class I am happy, though not particularly proud, to belong. Not proud, because I know only too well that the habit of list-making, carried to excess, can waste a lot of time: many is the letter I might have written if I had not first made a list of the letters I intended to write. Happy, because - unlike most pastimes - it is cheap, harmless to other people, and independent of your age or your income. When I was eight I made lists of all my toys, of all the cooks we had ever had, of all the plays I had ever been to - not counting pantomimes, which I scorned - and of all the languages I claimed to know (the last was a longish one, because a single word of each was enough to count, and I had a good many uncles in foreign parts); and when I am eighty, no doubt, I shall still be at it, making grim little lists of all the things I meant to learn and all the places I never went to see.

As a day with a dry-fly on the Kennet is to a fisherman, so to a list-maker is the moment, all too seldom recurring, when he feels justified in treating himself to a new address-book. Address-book-making is the pinnacle, the fine fleur, of the listmaker's art. For one thing, it is not a flimsy, ephemeral affair, like a shopping-list, no sooner made than it begins to be marred by smug ticks or triumphant crossings-out: an address-book is a permanent masterpiece, to be superseded perhaps, in a year or two's time, but never, if you have any proper feeling, thrown away."

Well, I must away I have a book to add to my read book list!

What Ya Readin': Miss Mapp and Lucia

I have just finished the wonderful first three books in the Mapp and Lucia series - Queen Lucia, Miss Mapp and Lucia in London. I had heard Simon rave about them and Elaine too. I love domestic literature so, I felt I had to give them a go. Last time Borders had a discount voucher I grabbed the first omnibus - Lucia Rising - published by Penguin.

Initially I had trouble getting into the characters. But, now I realise you are not supposed to 'like' either Miss Mapp or Lucia, as people they are utterly unlikeable social climbers. Rather one is supposed to become completely absorbed in their tribulations and triumphs in small town politics and in Lucia in London…the greater London scene. I absolutely adored Lucia in Lucia in London. Indeed, it seems I have joined the so-called Luciaphiles.

I have spent the last two days of my train trips to work utterly engrossed, delighting in Lucia's initial downfall at Riseholm and subsequent restoration to her reightful throne as Queen of that small village. And may I say, Daisy Quantock - unfortunately deposed, by Lucia, of her hard won Riseholme crown - is my favourite character. I don't suppose there is a lot of point me adding another summary to the excellent ones that are already out in the blogoshere. So, instead, I will point you in the direction of other devoted fans and let their ravings speak for me: Simon and Elaine .

I was impressed to find that Alexander McCall Smith is also a fan of E.F. Benson, and like Elaine before me, was thrilled when I found a Mapp and Lucia reference in his latest book The Unbearable Lightness of Scones. For any AMS fans out there that haven't been following it I would urge you to rush over to The Telegraph website and start catching up on AMS's latest daily novel. There was a reference to Mapp and Lucia in last Friday's edition.

What Ya Readin': Some Diverse Reads

I have been reading some varied genres in recent weeks.

First, I read "The Misses Mallett" by E.H. Young, a Virago Modern Classic. I picked my copy up at a book fair and I am glad I did because I loved it. The back of the cover says it is "reminiscent of Jane Austen". How very true that is. Good thing I have a couple more E.H. Young novels on my book shelf.

There are three Mallet sisters and one Mallet niece who live together in a house the small country town of Radstowe. The two oldest sisters - Caroline and Sophia - are large, jolly and aging spinsters.

While the bossy Caroline asserts that "The Mallets do not marry", their beautiful younger half-sister Rose awaits the arrival of a man who will take her away to an exciting life. She turns down the advances of the young Francis Sales - the eligible local squire. Only when Francis marries does he gain allure in Rose's eyes. When his young wife is tragically injured in a riding accident, Rose and Francis commence a love affair - emotional only, because Rose refuses to give herself to Francis while his wife is alive.

Then comes Henrietta, the daughter of the Mallet's wayward brother, who arrives in Radstowe after the death of her mother. She shares the beauty of her Aunt Rose and has a wilful spirit deciding that she will break the Mallet mold and marry. Unfortunately she falls in love with the unavailable Francis Sales. Henrietta and Aunt Rose gently compete for the love of an ineligble man.

I just finished "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak. I ordered it a couple of months ago to read for Cornflower's book group, but never got round to doing so. The novel is set in Germany in 1939 as the Nazi's reach the height of their power, is narrated by death, and is the story of a young girl - Liesel and those around her. Her foster parents, her best friend Rudy Steiner, and a Jew named Max whom her foster parents shelter. Their world slowly disintegrates as the allied bombs start to fall.

This is a very unique book. I have heard diverse views on it. Though it took me a while to get into, I enjoyed it. It is stylistically unique and if you enjoy reading modern fiction I would recommend it.

Finally, I read "The Rise and Fall of the British Nanny" by Jonathon Gathorne-Hardy. Interesting if you are curious about Victorian and Edwardian English history. Gathorne-Hardy looks at the socio economic conditions that gave rise to the existence of the Nanny, and the social impacts of a Nanny raised generation. For instance, Gathorne-Hardy talks about how 'lower class' Nannies shaped the habits, mannerisms, speech and knowledge of upper class children. Gathorne-Hardy also posits a fundamentally important question "How was it that hundreds of thousands of mothers could simply abandon their little children to the absolute care of other women?". I could see parallels between this question and the debate about childcare today.

Quotable....

Not much happening here. I am having a busy week at work. I have a very yucky report to write and it seems to be a case of one step forward, two steps back. For every new sentence I write I end up deleting several others. Yikes!

I received some lovely fabric today in the mail and I was going to post on that, but it is now too dark for photographs so that will have to wait until tomorrow.

So, in the absence of having anything particularly interesting to report I thought I would share with you something that made me chuckle. I was going through my commonplace book. A notebook where I write done quotes that appeal to me, mostly from books I have read. The thing is, I often forget what I have written down and so they strike me as fresh each time I re-read it.

Anyhow, this comes from The Provincial Lady, by E.M Delafield. I must thank Simon over on Stuck in a Book for introducing me to this lovely lady. Her books are so much fun, and so real! They might have been written 60 years ago, but they are no less 'current' for it. Anyway I am sure everyone has at least once found themselves in this situation....

"Make very inferior exit of my own, being quite unable to think of any reason for going except that I have been wanting to almost ever since I arrived - which, cannot, naturally, be produced".

What Ya' Readin': Recently Seen Reading

I realise it is a while since I did a post on the books I have been reading. I have had a couple of really good ones too!
I just finished Last Curtsey: The End of the Debutantes by Fiona MacCarthy. It is about the women who made their debut in 1958. This was the last year that debs were presented to the Queen. Fiona MacCarthy was herself a debutante in that year and gives a full rundown on how preparations were made for the season, the season and life afterwards. She outlines how difficult many titled families were finding it to meet all the expenses associated with the season in the post war era. Many had houses that were falling apart and were being taxed to the hilt by death duties. It was extremely well written and interesting.


Second, and such a fun read To the Manor Born by Peter Spence. This is laugh out loud stuff. My favourite part was when Audrey pretends to go on holiday. She drives out in her Royles and then has her Butler drive her back home concealed in the boot. She proceeds to spend the following week "holidaying" hidden in her cottage and using a ray lamp to get the tan she is supposedly getting in Greece. From the cover

"Audrey fforbes-Hamilton enjoys all the little luxuries that a woman of her position and ancestry might expect - a manor in the country, a modest staff, the awed respect of the local village and, of course, a few shillings in the bank. But with the death of her husband all that changes.

As Audrey moves to the coach-house with Brabinger; her loyal but decrepit butler; she has to face the horros of the real world - supermarkets, launderettes, buses, possibly even a job. But worse is to follow when the new Lord of the Manor arrives. Now Audrey prepares to do battle on behalf of her reputation, class and the hallowed name of fforbes-Hamilton".

What Ya Readin': A Secretly Good Read...

I have just finished a really wonderful book. It came as a recommendation from the wonderful author Deanna Raybourn - who has a really fun blog and writes quirky murder mystery books. I can highly recommend Silent in the Grave, and have Silent in the Sanctuary in my reading pile for an upcoming trip.

Several weeks ago Deanna demanded that her blog readers read Eva Rice's book The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets. Deanna likened it to I Capture the Castle - a book I adore. It was duly, and rapidly, ordered from The Book Depository. And, I love it. It has gotten pride of place on my bookshelf (the cover is very pretty and I am a sucker for covers), and will sit next to my copy of I Capture the Castle as soon as the person who borrowed it 3 months ago gets around to returning it (what is the ettiquite for getting back loaned books? I seem to be singularly unlucky in this regard).

Anyway from the dust jacket

"Set in the 1950s, in an England still recovering from the Second World War, The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets is the enchanting story of Penelope Wallace and her eccentric family at the start of the rock 'n' roll era.

Penelope longs to be grown-up and to fall in love; but various rather inconvenient things keep getting in her way. Like her mother a stunning but petulant beauty widowed at a tragically early age, her younger brother, Inigo, currently incapable of concentrating on anything that isn't Elvis Presley, a vast but crumbling ancestral home, a severe shortage of cash, and her best friend Charlotte's sardonic cousin Harry...."

You must read it, you simply must.......

What Ya Readin': Books not read!

I pinched this from Monograms and Manicures Blog. She is having an amazing time in Europe at present so do pop over and have look. Anyway, I thought I would have a go. The ones in bold I have read, those in italics are on my shelf to read. I have only read 16...looks like I have some reading homework.

"106 Books of Pretension
1. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
2. Anna Karenina
3. Crime and Punishment
4. Catch-22
5. One Hundred Years of Solitude
6. Wuthering Heights
7. The Silmarillion
8. Life of Pi
9. The Name of the Rose
10. Don Quixote
11. Moby Dick
12. Ulysses
13. Madame Bovary
14. The Odyssey - on my husband's bookshelf
15. Pride and Prejudice
16. Jane Eyre
17. The Tale of Two Cities
18. The Brothers Karamazov
19. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
20. War and Peace
21. Vanity Fair
22. The Time Traveler’s Wife
23. The Iliad - well it's on my husbands shelf
24. Emma
25. The Blind Assassin
26. The Kite Runner
27. Mrs. Dalloway
28. Great Expectations
29. American Gods
30. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
31. Atlas Shrugged
32. Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books
33. Memoirs of a Geisha
34. Middlesex
35. Quicksilver
36. Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
37. The Canterbury Tales
38. The Historian : a novel
39. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
40. Love in the Time of Cholera
41. Brave New World
42. The Fountainhead
43. Foucault’s Pendulum
44. Middlemarch
45. Frankenstein
46. The Count of Monte Cristo - again, on my husband's bookshelf
47. Dracula
48. A Clockwork Orange
49. Anansi Boys
50. The Once and Future King
51. The Grapes of Wrath
52. The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
53. 1984 - always thought I should read this given its my birth year
54. Angels & Demons
55. The Inferno
56. The Satanic Verses
57. Sense and Sensibility
58. The Picture of Dorian Gray
59. Mansfield Park - actually I have read half
60. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
61. To the Lighthouse
62. Tess of the D'Urbervilles
63. Oliver Twist
64. Gulliver’s Travels
65. Les Misérables
66. The Corrections
67. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
68. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
69. Dune
70. The Prince
71. The Sound and the Fury
72. Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
73. The God of Small Things
74. A People’s History of the United States : 1492-Present
75. Cryptonomicon
76. Neverwhere
77. A Confederacy of Dunces
78. A Short History of Nearly Everything
79. Dubliners
80. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
81. Beloved
82. Slaughterhouse-Five
83. The Scarlet Letter
84. Eats, Shoots & Leaves
85. The Mists of Avalon
86. Oryx and Crake : a novel
87. Collapse : How Societies Choose To Fail Or Succeed - my husband says this is brilliant.
88. Cloud Atlas
89. The Confusion
90. Lolita
91. Persuasion
92. Northanger Abbey - I just saw the new BBC adaptation and I really want to read it now.
93. The Catcher in the Rye
94. On the Road
95. The Hunchback of Notre Dame
96. Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side of Everything (uh, I have an economics degree)
97. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : An Inquiry Into Values
98. The Aeneid
99. Watership Down
100. Gravity's Rainbow
101. The Hobbit
102. In Cold Blood : A True Account Of A Multiple Murder and It's Consequences
103. White Teeth
104. Treasure Island
105. David Copperfield
106. The Three Musketeers

What Ya Readin': Sunday Saying

I keep a commonplace book where I write quotes and excerpts from books that appeal to me.


This year we were given the gift of one extra day in February because it is a leap year.

Walter De La Mare celebrates this:


Sweet February Twenty-Nine!-

This is our grace-year, as I live

Quick, now! this foolish heart of mine;

Sieze thy perogative!


From Sarah Ban Breathnach's Simple Abundance. Picture from http://www.hickerphoto.com/.