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A Book A Week
This year I was trying to read, on average, a book a week. Naturally I read less for pleasure around exam time, and when other stuff is going on (for example a couple of months ago when I tried to think about anything else at all I kept getting sidetracked by my brain going "Ohmygod! Tiny Creature inside me! Size of a Tictac!"), but overall it worked out. It helps that I count re-reads and audio-books (provided they're complete and unabridged).

I also had good intentions about reading a wider variety of books this year, but I have tended to stick mostly to a few favourite authors. Ah well.

If you're interested, the list is under the cut, along with some mini-reviews.



1. The Right Attitude to Rain ~Alexander McCall Smith
2. The Wind in the Willows ~Kenneth Graeme (on audio)
3. Darkly Dreaming Dexter ~Jeff Lindsay (on audio)
4. Uglies ~Scott Westerfeld
5. Taken at the Flood ~Agatha Christie (on audio)
6. Circle of Flight ~John Marsden
7. Cat Among The Pigeons ~Agatha Christie
8. As it Were: A satirical and humourous look through history ~Jonathan Biggins (on audio)
9. Casino Royale ~Ian Fleming
10. Giants of the Frost ~Kim Wilkins (on audio)
11. Pretties ~Scott Westerfeld
12. Sputnik Sweetheart ~Haruki Murakami
13. The Clocks ~Agatha Christie (on audio)
14. Neverwhere ~Neil Gaiman
15. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 ~Sue Townsend
16. Asking for the Moon ~Reginald Hill (on audio)
17. Marked P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
18. The Strange Case of Dr. Jeykell and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson (on audio)
19. The Hound of the Baskervilles ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (on audio)
20. The Coffin Dancer ~Jeffery Deaver
21. Yes Man ~Danny Wallace
22. The Sign of the Four ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (on audio)
23. Sifting through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way ~Charles Bukowski
24. Land of Loss ~K.A. Applegate
25. How to Be Good ~Nick Hornby
26. The Sunday Philosophy Club ~Alexander McCall Smith
27. Underworld ~Reginald Hill (on audio)
28. Skipping Christmas ~John Grisham
29. Murder on the Links ~Agatha Christie
30. Perfect Match ~Jodi Piccoult
31. Jizzle ~John Wyndham
32. A Pinch of Snuff ~Reginald Hill (on audio)
33. The Gum Thief ~Douglas Coupland
34. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul ~Douglas Adams
35. The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett (on audio)
36. Go Ask Alice ~anonymous
37. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe ~C.S. Lewis
38. Ruling Passion ~Reginald Hill
39. Nylon Angel ~Marianne De Pierres
40. The Last Days ~Scott Westerfeld
41 Journey to the Interior of the Earth ~Jules Verne (on audio)
42. As You Like it ~William Shakspeare (on audio)
43. Elephants Can Remember ~Agatha Christie
44. The Careful Use of Compliments ~Alexander McCall Smith
45. Timequake ~Kurt Vonnegut
46. The Return of Sherlock Holmes ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (on audio)
47. Broken ~Kelley Armstrong
48. An April Shroud ~Reginald Hill
49. The Road ~Cormac McCarthy
50. Ozma of Oz ~Frank L. Baum (on audio)
51. Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz ~Frank L. Baum (on audio)
52. Evil Under The Sun ~Agatha Christie (on audio)


The Right Attitude to Rain ~Alexander McCall Smith

The heroine of this series, Isobelle Dalhousie, annoys me with her smug attitude, but I just can't stop reading the things, so they can't be that bad.


Darkly Dreaming Dexter ~Jeff Lindsay

The Dexter series of books is fairly different from the TV show, which meant that it took a little while for the show to grow on me (it's good in its own right, just different).
It's brilliantly written. For the first chapter or so I didn't think I was going to enjoy it because the narrator just seemed like such a whiny angst-ridden wanker, like something out of the World of Darkness RPGs, but somehow he snuck in under my defences. It's entertaining watching him struggle to 'act human', and the way he is in denial about his feelings of affection towards his family. I listened to this one on audio, and it freaked me out a little at first because I had recently listened to So Yesterday by Scott Westerfeld, and it had the same reader, which made it seem like Hunter, the teenage hero of So Yesterday had grown up into a serial killer. ("Nooo! Stay good Hunter!"). I really must get around to reading the rest of the series.


Uglies ~Scott Westerfeld

"Uglies is the first book of the trilogy. The second book is Pretties and the third is Specials. It's about a world in which everyone has an operation when they turn sixteen, making them supermodel beautiful. Big eyes, full lips, no one fat or skinny. This seems like a good thing, but it's not. Especially if you're one of the uglies, a bunch of radical teens who've decided they want to keep their own faces. (How anti-social of them.)" (From Westerfeld's site)

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Uglies trilogy. They're young adult books that don't patronise the intended audience. There are philosophical issues (ideas about beauty and freedom)and a lot of very cool action scenes, mostly involving zooming around on hoverboards. I've heard there's going to be a movie, which could potentially be brilliant, but will probably disappoint me becaue I love the series so much. Uglies is a very quick read, mainly because you will find yourself reading it at the expense of eating and sleeping.


Casino Royale ~Ian Fleming

I'd never read any of the Bond books before, so I was surprised to find that they're even more sexist and misogynist than the films. I did enjoy this book, though. I liked Vesper Lynd for not being a perfect Bond girl. She isn't a field agent, so she doesn't really know how to handle the situation she's throw in to though she does her best. She isn't totally glamourous all time, worrying, for example, that her velvet dress will mark when she sits down spoiling the entrance she wants to make. This book will teach you everything you need to know (and then some) about the game of Baccarat.


Sputnik Sweetheart ~Haruki Murakami

Don't read Haruki Murakami expecting a nice neat ending that wraps up all the loose ends, because you won't get one. I quite liked the spooky feel to this book.


The Coffin Dancer ~Jeffery Deaver

Not my cup of tea at all. It's well written for what it is, I just don't like the genre. I read it anyway, because I was writing a crime story at the time and wanted to read some crime novels with different writing styles.


Marked P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast

A modern vampire story. In this world vampires are commonly known to exist, and certain people just start to become vampires on reaching puberty. The heroine, Zoe Redbird is one of the chosen and is sequestered at a special high school for young vampires. The plot is intriguing, but the authorial voice gets really annoying after a while. It was written in part by a teenager and it sounds like it. The 'valley girl' talk gets really grating, and the author makes up new words whenever she can't think of the right one.


Yes Man ~Danny Wallace

I love all Danny Wallace's books. They're good for a real belly laugh. This one is about another of his 'stupid boy projects', ie. agreeing to say 'yes' to anything anyone suggests to him just to see what happens. Apparently it has now been made into a feature film set in America (Danny's English)and starring Jim Carrey or someone. It looks stupid, but hopefully Danny cashed that cheque the day he got it and never looked back.


Sifting through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way ~Charles Bukowski

I devoured this anthology almost at one sitting. I have a special love for Bukowski. His poems help me when I'm upset or can't sleep.


The Gum Thief ~Douglas Coupland

A rather strange book. Coupland seems to have a real insight into human nature. I particularly like the essays written from the point of view of slices of toast.


Timequake ~Kurt Vonnegut

I'm a big Vonnegut fan and this one didn't disapoint me. It's mostly about Vonnegut's life and family. It led to me wanting to shout "I FRY MINE IN BUTTER!" at innapropriate times.