“Books are a uniquely portable magic.” – Stephen King
I read 44 books this year, which is about par for the course. It’s an eclectic batch, comme d’habitude.
Four of the books were sent to me from the depths of Lancashire by my former Latin master John McC. I thank him again for introducing me to these great books by wonderful writers: After Rain by William Trevor; The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor; Amongst Women by John McGahern; and Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry.
What delights will 2012 bring?
(An * after the entry means I re-read the book.)
JANUARY
1. Armadillo by William Boyd
2. Shutter Isalnd by Dennis Lehane
3. The Naïve and Sentimental Lover by John le Carré
FEBRUARY
4. Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson
5. Genesis by Karin Slaughter
6. Smiley’s People by John le Carré *
MARCH
7. Take No Farewell by Robert Goddard
8. Smoking in Bed by Bruce Robinson *
9. With Nails by Richard E. Grant *
APRIL
10. Modern Short Stories edited by S.H. Burton *
11. Inspector Ghote’s Good Crusade by H.R.F. Keating
12. The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
MAY
13. The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock
14. The Mad God’s Amulet by Michael Moorcock
15. The Sword of Dawn by Michael Moorcock
16. The Runestaff by Michael Moorcock
17. Stars and Bars by William Boyd *
18. The Beach by Alex Garland *
JUNE
19. The Tesseract by Alex Garland *
20. White Star by James Thayer
21. Out of Africa by Karen Blixen
JULY
22. In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larrson
23. Isle of Dogs by Patricia Cornwell
24. Dracula’s Diary by Michael Geare
AUGUST
25. Mirrorshades (cyberpunk anthology)
26. What is a Googly by Rob Eastaway
27. When I Was a Lad by A. A. Thomson
28. Wolves Eat Dogs by Martin Cruz Smith
29. After Rain by William Trevor
30. The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor
SEPTEMBER
31. Return of the Dancing Master by Henning Mankell
32. Strange Affair by Peter Robinson
33. L’ingratitude des fils de Pierre D’Ovidio
34. Depths by Henning Mankell
OCTOBER
35. Battle of Britain by Edward Bishop
36. Confession de Minuit de Georges Duhamel
37. Salavin’s Journal by Georges Duhamel
38. The Lyonnais Club by Georges Duhamel
NOVEMBER
39. End of the Illusion by Georges Duhamel
40. Deaf Sentence by David Lodge
41. Amongst Women by John McGahern
DECEMBER
42. Family Matters by Rohinton Mistry
43. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
44. La Danseuse du Gai-Moulin de Georges Simenon
I’ve not read any of those.
Wishing you and yours a Very Happy & Healthy New Year Dumdad. I’m looking forward to reading what you get up to in 2012.
Good to see your list of books read in 2011, I will be posting mine tomorrow. And I’ll make a note of the books your teacher recommended, I have already read all that Rohinton Mistry can provide, great stuff!
Happy New Year to you and your family. May 2012 be full of happiness and good health, good books, good food, good fun and lots more blogging.
gad. that list is frickin amazing – you put me to shame. makes me realize how much good reading i’ve been missing. am planning a new year’s resolution about this right now.
best to you and yours, dd, for a very happy new year.
Akela, Shammy et Amanda,
I hope you all have the very best of years in 2012.
Shammy,
I’d never heard of Rohinton Mistry before! I shall certainly read more of his stuff.
Books to order here, then! Thank you for new ideas.
And…bated breath…is that THE A.A. Thomson, cricket writer…tales of his youth?
Fly,
Yes!
Rohinton Mistry is a favorite of mine. That’s a spectacular list. Why so many in May? vacation month?
Great list, DD. Mistry hasn’t written much in the past few years. Such A Long Journey and A Fine Balance are both terrific.
Here’s to another good year’s reading!
Laurie,
The four Michael Moorcock sci-fantasy novels were all quite short.
Bill,
I look forward to reading more Mistry soon.
A very interesting list, and most of them I haven’t heard of! The only one of your list which I have read is The Time Traveller’s Wife – I really enjoyed it. I read her next book – Fearful Symmetry – which was good, but not quite as ‘brain challenging’ as the Time Traveller one.
Catching up with blog reading, so here’s a belated Happy New Year from me.