“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I ain’t read.” – Abraham Lincoln

What I’m Reading exemplifies my freakish tendency to make lists about absolutely anything. All links are to my Amazon Associates store, just so you know.

2011

Banks, Iain – Dead Air

Barnes, Julian – The Sense of an Ending

Bauby, Jean-Dominique – The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly

Berendt, John – The City of Falling Angels – Beautifully written portrait of Venice.  A must-read for anyone wishing to scratch beneath the tourist-clad exterior of Italy’s most beautiful city.

Brontë, Charlotte – Jane Eyre

Brookmyre, Christopher – Boiling a Frog – Sharp, witty and fast-paced.  Taught me several new expletives, which will no doubt come in handy at some point!

Bryson, Bill – Down Under – Didn’t inspire a yearning to visit, but brilliant writing nonetheless.

Bryson, Bill – Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe – Bryson at his best, ’nuff said.

De Botton, Alain – The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work

De Botton, Alain – Status Anxiety

De Botton, Alain – The Consolations of Philosophy

Faulkes, Sebastian – Engleby

Fey, Tina – Bossypants – This book made me laugh really hard.  Out loud.  Without warning.

Frank, Anne – The Diary of a Young Girl – One of the greatest European classics there is.  

Gilbert, Elizabeth – Committed: A Love Story – A well-balanced blend of fact and personal anecdote.  Gilbert’s writing is almost good enough to eat.  It’s about marriage, by the way.

Gombrich, E.H – A Little History of the World

Grieve, Guy – Call of the Wild – Memoirs of a year in the Alaskan wilderness.  A good read for anyone interested in outdoor survival.

Hall, Alexis – In the Red – 30-something woman in piles of debt ditches shopping to try and pay it off.  Not the book to read if you’re in serious debt and looking for a way out – more of a fun and frivolous two-day read.

Hornby, Nick – High Fidelity

Hornby, Nick – Juliet, Naked – Classic stuff from my favourite male author.  Be prepared to laugh out loud.  In public.

Huxley, Aldous – Brave New World – Classic, compelling dystopia.  Read this book.

Kesey, Ken – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Thought-provoking American classic set in an Oregon mental asylum.  Challenging ideas presented through a highly readable story.  Brilliant.

Krakauer, Jon – Into The Wild – Review post here.  The best book I’ve read in a long time.

Larsson, Steig – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium 1)

Larsson, Steig – The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium 2)

Larsson, Steig – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest (Millennium 3)

Lewis, C.S. – The Chronicles of Narnia, The Magician’s Nephew – Children’s classic, and precursor to The Dark Materials (see below).  Spot the Harry Potter references if you can.

Lewis, C.S. – The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – As enchanting to me aged 24 as it was aged 8.  Beautiful.

Naish, John – Enough: Breaking Free from the World of More – I expected great things from this, and was left a little disappointed and uninspired.  Easily forgettable.

Nesbit, E. – The Railway Children – Tale of hardship viewed through the eyes of children.  Beautifully written.

Nicholls, David – One Day

Palin, Michael – Around The World In Eighty Days – Master Palin can do no wrong in my eyes.  A good read for travel fans.

Palin, Michael – New Europe – Wonderful writing about a side of my own continent I know shamefully little about.

Proulx, Annie – The Shipping News – I was disappointed by The Shipping News, having heard rave reviews about it for years.  Readable, but forgettable.

Pullman, Philip – Northern Lights (His Dark Materials) – As intriguing to adults as it is to children.  Full of wonderful ideas.

Pullman, Philip – The Subtle Knife (His Dark Materials 2) – See above.

Pullman, Philip – The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials) – Simply wonderful.  Please read.

Root, Tim – Love, Empowerment and Social Justice – I remember finding this interesting at the time but I’ve since forgotten what it was all about.  Probably as good a sign as any.

Scott Fitzgerald, F – The Great Gatsby

Stone, Irving – The Agony And The Ecstasy – Historical biography of Michelangelo.  Manages to avoid becoming dry, which is quite the feat for such a big tome.

Tolkien, JRR – The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings 1)

Torday, Paul – The Girl On The Landing – Clever story, weirdly chilling.  A good read.

2010

Andrews, Cecile & Urbanska, Wanda – Less is More

Austen, Jane – Sense and Sensibility

Babauta, Leo – The Power of Less

Banks, Iain M – The Player of Games (The Culture)

Bryson, Bill – Notes From A Small Island

Clavell, James – Shogun (I read 400 pages of this mammoth tome before giving up.  I feel that those 400 pages should count for something, but beheadings and warships in 16th century Japan are simply not my cuppa.)

Coelho, Paulo – The Devil and Miss Prym

Coelho, Paulo – Eleven Minutes

Coelho, Paulo – The Zahir

Garcia Marquez, Gabriel – Love in the Time of Cholera (I had this cruelly snatched away from me by the library before I had a chance to finish it, so am only really two thirds of the way through – down with other people requesting my books!)

Clarke, Gerald – Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland

Hodgkinson, Tom – How To Be Idle

Hornby, Nick – How to be Good

Ishiguro, Kazuo – Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

Ishiguro, Kazuo – The Remains of the Day

Kampfner, John – Freedom For Sale: How We Made Money and Lost Our Liberty

Kingsolver, Barbara – The Poisonwood Bible

Martel, Yann – Life of Pi

McEwan, Ian – On Chesil Beach

McEwan, Ian – Enduring Love

McEwan, Ian – Black Dogs

McEwan, Ian – Saturday

Peston, Robert – Who Runs Britain?

Rankin, Ian – Knots And Crosses

Rowling, J K – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Roy, Arundhati – The God of Small Things

Salinger, J D – The Catcher in the Rye

Saramago, Jose – Blindness

Schlink, Bernhard – The Reader

Seldon, Anthony – Blair

Image above from here.