All About Books discussion

Ok so it’s now April and there has been no plan but I’ll list what I’ve read so far and see what categories or patterns emerge. I’ve set up the colour challenge too and have lots of aspirations :

Crime Fiction

Agatha Christie
Murder at the Vicarage (jan 2020)
The Body in the Library (March 2020)

Robert Galbraith
The Cuckoo's Calling Jan 2020
The Silkworm March 2020

Tarquin Hall
The Case of the Reincarnated Client Feb 2020

Dean Koontz
Watchers Feb 2020

Elly Griffiths
The Lantern Men Feb 2020

PD James
Shroud for a Nightingale Feb 2020
Cover Her Face March 2020
A Mind to Murder Feb 2020
Unnatural Causes March 2020

Ian Rankin
Knots and Crosses March 2020

Sharon Bolton
Alive Jan 2020

Children’s Fiction
Mary Poppins Feb 2020

Fantasy
Terry Pratchett
The Colour of Magic Feb 2020
The Light Fantastic March 2020
Equal Rites April 2020
Sourcery

General fiction
Alexander McCall Smith
44 Scotland Street Feb 2020
Espresso Tales March 2020
Love Over Scotland March 2020

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura March 2020


Non Fiction
Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century by John Higgs Feb 2020
The Shepherd's Life: A People's History of the Lake District by James Rebanks Feb 2020
Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life by Samantha Ellis March 2020
Unlikely Friendships : 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom by Jennifer S. Holland March 2020
13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time by Michael Brooks March 2020
Alice in Brexitland by Lucien Young March 2020
Surgeon In Nepal by Peter Clive Crawford Pitt March 2020
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory by Ben Macintyre April 2020
100 Books That Changed the World by Scott Christianson April 2020
Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier April 2020

It appears that you have just started out on the Discworld series - I finally completed it last year and it was a fun ride! As with all series, some books are better than others but overall, I liked how Pratchett made a fun story that still had something to say about our world.

And by the way, it is okay for your reading to have no coherent plan or pattern! You can use this space just to keep us informed on what you have been reading if you want.

Thanks Leslie!

2020is certainly proving challenging enough without inventing reading challenges, however I plan to catch up with some things I’ve had on hold for a long time. Mostly though I have been craving light and easy reading just now.

Re discworld , I’ve read quite a few in the past but decided to read them more or less in order . I missed out Mort because I’ve read that one so many times and also seen it in the theatre and as a musical!

Tweedledum wrote: "Re discworld , I’ve read quite a few in the past but decided to read them more or less in order . ..."

That is what I ended up doing too! I didn't realize that Mort had been made into a play (and a musical too!). Perhaps it didn't make it across the Atlantic, though I am so oblivious to what is going on I may just have missed it.

Tweedledum wrote: "Mostly though I have been craving light and easy reading just now...."

Yeah, I think that the pandemic and associated events have taken many of us that way. My version of light reading is mysteries, so I have been reading & rereading lots of those. I don't quite understand those folks who have responded to the situation by wanting to read books such as Station Eleven - I prefer to bury my head in the sand!

Yes mysteries and crime are my biggest indulgence. As you say it’s a great way to escape a grim reality.

A couple of years ago I went to “The Dorothy L. Sayers lecture” as part of the Essex Book Festival. On this occasion it was given by James Runcie. And very interesting too. At that event the organising team were selling a compilation of Sayer’s reviews of detective stories, Taking Detective Stories Seriously: The Collected Crime Reviews of Dorothy L. Sayers it’s a substantial volume and made me think twice or thrice about ever daring to post a review again! But it did make me feel a whole lot better about reading so much of the genre.

Leslie wrote: "Tweedledum wrote: "Mostly though I have been craving light and easy reading just now...."

Yeah, I think that the pandemic and associated events have taken many of us that way. My version of light ..."

I hear The Plague is flying off the shelves! Not sure I would want to make a dive into Camus right now. Proust maybe.

Tweedledum wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Tweedledum wrote: "Mostly though I have been craving light and easy reading just now...."

Yeah, I think that the pandemic and associated events have taken many of us that way. My ve..."

That is what I mean - why read about plagues and apocalyses at this time?! Although at least in Camus's book, society survives the plague in the end.

Ok I’m ready to identify some categories . Books that fall into more than one category will be put in all categories that apply. One thing a virtual bookshelf can do that a real one can’t !

1. Discworld - 10 books from the series
The Colour of Magic Read
The Light Fantastic Read
Equal Rites Read
Sourcery Read
Eric read


5/ 10
2. Crime/Mystery - 50 books

Agatha Christie
Murder at the Vicarage Read
The Body in the Library Read


Robert Galbraith
The Cuckoo's Calling Read
The SilkwormRead

PD James
A Mind to Murder Read
Cover Her Face Read
Shroud for a Nightingale Read
Unnatural Causes Read
The Black Tower read
Death of an Expert Witness read

Colin Dexter

Last Seen Wearing Read
The Riddle of the Third Mile Read


Sharon J. Bolton
Alive Read
The Split read

Dean Koontz
Watchers Read

Tarquin Hall
The Case of the Reincarnated Client Read

Elly Griffiths
The Lantern Men Read

Ian Rankin
Knots and Crosses Read

Chris Brookmyre
Fallen Angel Read

Nicci French
The Red Room read



Robert Galbraith
Lethal White read May 2020
Career of Evil read May 2020
Troubled Blood read September 2020

Sam Bourne
To Kill the Truth read July 2020

Peter May
Entry Islandread October 2020

Peter James
Find Them Dead read October 2020

Mark Douglas-Home
The Driftwood Girls read

M.C. Beaton
Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley
The Vicious Vet
Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham
Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

S.J. Watson
Before I Go to Sleep

Chris Brookmyre
Fallen Angel read

L.J. Ross
Holy Island read
Sycamore Gap read
Longstone read

J.R. Ellis
The Body in the Dales read


37/50







3. Colour Challenge - 25 books

Red

The Red Room by Nicci French read

Bumped to 2021 ...
The Crimson Fairy Book
Crimson Joy

The Red Fairy Book
Death of a Red Heroine by Qiu Xiaolong


Orange ... bumped to 2021
In The Gold Of Flesh: Poems Of Birth And Motherhood

Yellow... bumped to 2021
The Yellow Fairy Book
Half of a Yellow Sun
The Woman Who Walked in Sunshine

Green ... all bumped to2021
The Green Fairy Book
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate – Discoveries from a Secret World
Wildwood: A Journey through Trees
Girl in a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of the Arnolfini Portrait by Carola Hicks
Green Smoke by Rosemary Manning

Blue ... all bumped to 2021
The Blue Fairy Book
Sentinels of the Sea: A Miscellany of Lighthouses Past
At the Pond: Swimming at the Hampstead Ladies' Pond
From Source to Sea: Notes from a 215-Mile Walk Along the River Thames
Downstream: A History and Celebration of Swimming the River Thames


Indigo (black)
The Black Tower read

Violet ... bumped to 2021
The Violet Fairy Book

Rainbow
The Colour of Magic Read
Chromatopia read
Lethal White read

5/ 25

4. Natural History/ Science - 30 books
13 Things That Don't Make Sense: The Most Baffling Scientific Mysteries of Our Time Read
Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments read
Rescuing the Spectacled Bear read

4/ 30

Postponed to 2021
Tamed: Ten Species That Changed Our World


5. Yorkshire / Lakes / British countriside - 10 books
The Shepherd's Life: A People's History of the Lake District Read


6. History / politics/ current affaires - 10 books

Stranger Than We Can Imagine: Making Sense of the Twentieth Century Read
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory Read
Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now Read
A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America Read
Rage by Bob Woodward read
The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir read
Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth by Rachel Maddow Read
Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump, and an Epic Trail of Destruction
The Twins of Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor

Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady read
Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump read
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man read
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeatread
King John: Treachery and Tyranny in Medieval England: The Road to Magna Carta


12/ 10

Postponed to 2021
Ice Ghosts: The Epic Hunt for the Lost Franklin Expedition

7. Bibliophilia - 10 books
Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life Read
100 Books That Changed the World Read
The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece read
3/ 10



8. Asterix - 10 books
Asterix and the Chariot Race
1/10

9. Random Reads and Good Intentions - 20 books
Carpe Diem: Seize The Day: A Little Book of Latin Phrases Read
Alice in Brexitland Read
Unlikely Friendships : 47 Remarkable Stories from the Animal Kingdom Read







10. Novels and classics - 30 books
Alexander McCall Smith
44 Scotland Street Read
Espresso Tales Read
Love Over ScotlandRead
The Unbearable Lightness of Scones read
The Importance of Being Sevenread
Bertie Plays the Bluesread

If Cats Disappeared from the World by Genki Kawamura Read


City of Girls read
The Sun Also Rises read
The Midnight Library read
Porterhouse Blue read
The Lido read

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame read




11. Faber book of... / Anthologies - 10 books
Nothing doing , though dipped into a few ... I have a great collection of these

12. Gardening, cooking, etc - 10 books

Small Gardens and Backyards read
Compost: The natural way to make food for your garden read

13 .AAB group reads . - 5 books
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame read
City of Girlsread
The Sun Also Rises read
Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
4/5

14. Biography / Autobiography 10 books
The Shepherd's Life: A People's History of the Lake District Read
Take Courage: Anne Bronte and the Art of Life Read
Why Mahler?: How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World read
Surgeon In Nepal Read
My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman's Story read
Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva read
Disloyal: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump
Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady
A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

10/10



15. Children’s Lit 10 books

Mary Poppins Read
Artemis Fowl
The Arctic Incident

3/10

Other books read this year include :
The Puffins Advice: Drawings And Verse By Simon Drew
Great Mistakes of Civilisation
Handel's Warthog Music
Camp David: Nonsense in Art
A is for Aardvark of Course: An Alphabet for the Sophisticated Youngster or the Puerile Adult
Dogsbodies
Spot the Author

Asterix and the Chariot Race

Gustav Klimt: 1862-1918What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Klimt's Women

Alice in Brexitland

Singing Underwater
A Flower Fairies Treasury
The Invisible Child and The Fir Tree

Tweedledum wrote: "Ok I’m ready to identify some categories . Books that fall into more than one category will be put in all categories that apply. One thing a virtual bookshelf can do that a real one can’t !
..."

I love that feature of virtual bookshelves too :)

So I have completed 138 books this year, a little short of my initial intention, but I’m really pleased with this total even though all reading plans quickly bit the dust . My daughter introduced me to Pokémon Go in July and I have to confess that that became a mini obsession cutting down reading time hugely. Still it gave me something to focus on and a curious sense of purpose for someone newly redundant and hence unexpectedly retired.

Majority of books read were some version of crime fiction ... no surprises there but I also read a good number of books relating to Trump one way or another. Sadly not fiction!!!

Artists helped me through the year , Thelwell, Simon Drew, a couple of table top Klimt books curtesy of a friend .

When in doubt I return to comforting fiction and Alexander McCall Smith never fails to raise a smile. 2020 has been the year I took a deep dive into his 44 Scotland Street series and glad to see I’ve quite a few to read as I go into 2021. Terry Pratchett has also proved a good read as ever, Discovered Eric,Pratchett’s hilarious take on Faust a definite new favourite.

The AAB “group reads “ challenge inspired me to read 4 books this year I would otherwise never have thought about:
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame
City of Girls
Stalin's Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva
And
The Sun Also Rises.
Each has proved to be fascinating and compelling and having committed to the read has helped me to focus in a time when that has been difficult. They have also taken me far away from the nightmare of 2020. So thank you AAB team very much for that.

Looking back my overall top book for 2020 must be:
Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler's Defeat by Giles Milton. My father served abroad through WW2 so I was early immersed in the war films that followed the conflict and fascinated by “derring do” but to read the depth of invention, courage, risk etc in Giles Milton’s book was just awe inspiring. It made me appreciate anew what human beings can do when faced with real challenge. While the story of the COVID vaccines is yet to be told it is clear that some day we will be able to read of equal dedication and determination to achieve the seemingly impossible. This gives me hope for the future as we face the multiple dangers of climate change, political machinations, the insidiousness of conspiracy theories etc. Somewhere some quiet determined group of individual fighters for good are beavering away at these problems. They may work in the shadows for now but when their stories are told we will be able to celebrate them.


Signing off for 2020

138 books is quite impressive! I too have enjoyed the 44 Scotland Street series. And still have a number to go... I read one book about Trump in 2020 and that was enough. So good for you!

Glad that you found enjoyed several of the group reads!

I also read a couple of the 44 Scotland Street series in 2020 - my first foray into this series. Very good comfort reads!

Leslie wrote: "Glad that you found enjoyed several of the group reads!

I also read a couple of the 44 Scotland Street series in 2020 - my first foray into this series. Very good comfort reads!"

Yeah ... the power of friendship and kindness