1. Armadillo by William Boyd
I really like William Boyd books and have read quite a few of them, but this one, while readable, was a bit of a disappointment with its passive main character, reminiscent of an Evelyn Waugh hero, and unlikely plot. I'm still a Boyd fan though!
2. 1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke
James gave me this book for Christmas; it isn't the sort of book that I would have chosen myself but I really enjoyed it. I thought it would be jokey and insubstantial, however it was very interesting as well as amusing and I felt that I learned a lot about the history of France, including the Hundred Years War, Napoleon, and de Gaulle - who sounds appalling!
3. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Book club)
Didion wrote this book in the year following her husband's sudden death in December 2003. She is an excellent writer who captures the pain and irrationality if bereavement very well.
4. Dead Simple by Peter James
I heard this crime thriller reviewed favourably on the radio. I enjoyed it fine because it had a really interesting idea and was fast-moving, a real page turner. On the other hand its plot became more and more unlikely towards the end - how unlucky can one victim get?!
5. Left Neglected By Lisa Genova
What an interesting book! It certainly gave me plenty of food for thought, about lifestyle choices and how quickly life can change. Very relevant to me I think.
6. Time's Arrow by Martin Amis.
This is a strange one! But very interesting. Jamie recommended it to me. Not a completely original idea, but I have never seen the "time in reverse" theme being addressed quite like this. It really made me think about the parallels between destruction and creation.
7. The Girl in the Polka Dot Dress by Beryl Bainbridge.
Bainbridge's last novel, which was unfinished at the time of her death. It is all leading up to a certain event, but she didn't get the chance to draw it all together. Still an interesting read.
8. Before I go to sleep by S J Watson
Heather and I really enjoyed this while we were in Paris. Reminded me of a film I saw recently called Memento which was also about short term memory loss. I think that there is PLENTY to say about it!
9. Blue Nights by Joan Didion.
The sequel to The Year of Magical Thinking, this time about her daughter's death. Very sad.
10. American Wife by Elaine Ford.
A short story collection. Quite compelling, each one makes you want to know more about the characters and what happens to them. When I went to my EK book club it turned out that I had downloaded the wrong book! I should have read a book of the same title Curtis Sittenfeld!
11. How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran.
I didn't warm to Caitlin Moran at first, but she won me over with her views on high heels. She is a very different sort of person to me, but I like her.
12. My Big Fat Teen Crisis by Jenny Smith
My sister Jennifer's second book to be published, and it is dedicated to ME! I am honoured and delighted! Aimed at the teenage girl reader, it is a jolly good read about growing up with good insights about social networking.
13. Furnace by Wayne Price
I bought this book of short stories because I was going to hear the author speak at Aye Write on Friday 16th March. The stories are contemporary and rather bleak, but well written. And now my copy of the book is signed by the author, who is a pleasant man.
14. Ramshackle by Elizabeth Reeder
I bought this book at Aye Write when I heard the author speak at the same event as Wayne Price. It's quite good but very much a first attempt.
15.Jamais Contente by Marie Desplechin
When I was in Paris I decided to buy a French book and because it's ages since I have read a French novel I decided that a book aimed at teenagers would be fun and not too challenging. Well it was quite fun but unsurprisingly far too young for me!
16. Aftermath: On Marriage and Separation by Rachel Cusk
I read about this on Justine Picardie's blog and was intrigued. Despite it being panned on Amazon, I found it a very interesting if painful read.
17. Every Last One by Anna Quindlen
Oh boy, this was a harrowing read. It centred round a harrowing incident in a woman's life, probably the worst thing that can happen to anybody, and then continued with how she had to live with it. I thought it was very well written but didn't follow through some of the storylines and ultimately it was very depressing.
18. American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld
This is the book that I should have read for my EK book club's March meeting, and one of the girls kindly lent it to me. It is a fictional biography of a girl who goes on to become the First Lady of the USA, and was a fascinating read. It has a lot of elements of the life of Laura Bush including a tragic car accident, if I was her I would be very upset.
19. The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill
I am very fond of a good crime novel, and I enjoyed this one, although I couldn't help noticing that the police in it seemed very ineffective! I thought the detective and the other main characters were quite interesting and although it's a bit quirky I liked it enough to download the sequel straight away.
20. The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill
The sequel to The Various Haunts of Men. Mopey Simon Serrailler has another crime to solve amidst all his family issues. He is more dysfunctional than all the criminals. The story was annoying and the ending was completely unsatisfactory, however I still enjoyed it and wanted to read more.
21. The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill
I just had to find out what happened next. At least there was a proper ending to this one. I will read more Simon Serrailler novels but should have a break now because I have a habit of getting a bit obsessive about reading one author.
22. Let's pretend this never happened by Jenny Lawson
I have been reading Jenny Lawson's blog for a while now so that's why I bought the book. I like her quirky writing style and although there were too many "asides" to the editor I found it very amusing.
23. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust
The second volume of Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" Our narrator goes to Balbec on the longest holiday of all time!
24. In my Wildest Dreams by Leslie Thomas
Some of my pupils were doing a textual analysis of an extract from this and I wanted to read more. It is a very good autobiography of an interesting man.
25. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James
I wanted to read this because there is such a buzz about it just now. Unfortunately it is rubbish!
26. The Quiet Twin by Dan Vyleta
My lovely colleague Midge gave me a copy of Vyleta's "Pavel & I" so I decided to read The Quiet Twin first in the mistaken belief that it's a "prequel", which it isn't! Anyway it took me a while to get into but I really enjoyed it despite its bleak pre-war Austrian setting. A bit like The Book Thief but not quite as good.
27. The Vows of Silence by Susan Hill
How could I resist returning to my favourite moody detective! This time the link between the killings was so obvious that I was frustrated at how long it took for Serrailler to pick up on it! But then how could he with so much going on in his family life!
28. The Shadows in the Street by Susan Hill
Oh dear oh dear! There's another serial killer on the loose in Lafferton and Serrailler is called back from his holiday to sort things out. Very slowly.
29. The Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill
At last Simon has met a woman he likes who likes him back, but of course there are complications and anguish. Meanwhile my credulity is stretched by a very unlikely murder plot!
30. Perfect People by Peter James
Recommended (with reservations) by Jamie. And coincidentally my second Peter James book this year. It has some really good and intriguing ideas, but I found it a bit unsatisfactory because there were so many directions that it could have taken and I felt that the author didn't explore these.
31. Daphne by Justine Picardie
I really enjoyed this, however I felt that the present day main character was almost unbelievably passive. I like the bits about Daphne du Maurier and want to find out more about her.
32. Waiting for Sunrise by William Boyd
This is the book that William Boyd read from at the Aye Write festival. A first world war spy story that was a good read but had some glaring plot flaws. Come on Mr Boyd, you have written much better books than this!
33. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
I loved this! Clever and original story and a gentle feel to it despite its sadness. A pleasure to read.
34. Pavel and I by Dan Vyleta
My second Dan Vyleta book. It took bit of getting into and was quite grim at times, set just after the 2nd World War in Berlin. But it was an excellent book that will stay in my mind for a long time.
35. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin
A bit of a departure from my usual fiction, this is a book about how to maximise your own happiness by looking at different aspects of your life and making some changes. I was inspired enough by this that I'm going to give it a try!
36. The Story of a Soul by Saint Therese of Lisieux
Recommended by Gretchen Rubin I was intrigued to read this book. What an amazing person Therese was. I found this book very inspiring.
37. The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins
I read this because Davie is studying it for his Higher English. Although it is very sad it also has touches of humour and good observation of human character. I enjoyed it.
38. Kiss Me Like a Stranger by Gene Wilder
An autobiography by one of my favourite comic actors which was very interesting after he stopped whining about his clearly happy childhood.
39. Gillespie and I by Jane Harris
This was a book club choice and it is one of the best books that I have read for a long time. It was really cleverly written and I was not sure what was going to happen until really near the end. It was full of quiet menace and I loved it.
40. Must You Go by Antonia Fraser
This is Antonia Fraser's autobiography of her life with Harold Pinter and I found it very interesting. She seems to be a very positive and energetic woman who was devoted to Pinter as well as her family.
41. A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil by Christopher BrOookmyre
An unusual detective story set in Glasgow interspersing a murder inquiry with tales of the characters' schooldays. I really enjoyed it and it made me think about what life is like these days for school pupils.
42. How Proust can change your life by Alain de Botton
How could I resist a book with a title like this? It is very amusing and well written.
43. How to be Good by Nick Hornby
A great idea but with rather an unsatisfactory ending. I still quite enjoyed it though.
44. In Search of Lost Time: The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust
Back to Proust, inspired by Alain de Botton's affectionate tribute. Now our narrator is hanging around aristocratic salons, predictably disappointed with the people he finds there!
45. The Man who forgot his Wife by John O'Farrell
A book club choice and a lot of fun, it also had a satisfying ending.
46. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
I am a big fan of Ann Patchett and yet again she has excelled with this intriguing novel set in the Amazon rain forest. It is the third book of hers that I have read (Bel Canto and Run being the others) and it is quality stuff!
47. Words in a French Life by Kristin Espinasse
A pleasant journal about life as an American married to a Frenchman and living in the south of France. A sort of wistfulness pervades it and a feeling of being an outsider despite having a happy family life.
48. A Perfectly Good Man by Patrick Gale
Another book club choice. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very original, I couldn't wait to see how it would unfold. The only problem was the second last chapter which I thought was a bit too neat! A good read.
49. Blossoming in Provence by Kristin Espinasse
I was interested to read Kristin Espinasse's next book, and it was very readable, another series of vignettes about her life in France with her young family. I would like to see her branch out into another form of writing.
50. Cross Stitch by Diana Gabaldon
A book club choice. It had a really intriguing start then turned into quite a rather clichéd historical romance. But then it improved again towards the end, so I ended up quite enjoying it, although I won't be reading any more of the series.
51. The Butterfly House
A quite readable psychological mystery about a young woman who has had a damaged childhood, and its repercussions years later.
52. Care of Wooden Floors
An unusual book
