Book meme!
Jan. 4th, 2015 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tree_and_leaf (not counting chapters of things, individual poems, or articles. I also didn't keep any record of fic).
Antoine Laurain, "The President's Hat", (2013, trans).
Michael Palin, "The New Europe" (2007).
Catriona McPherson, "Dandy Gilver & An Unsuitable Day For a Murder," (2010).
Anne deCourcey, "The Fishing Fleet"
Edelgard Abendstein and Jeaninne Fiedler, "Berlin: an architectural guide" (2013).
Keith Parry, "Trans-Pennine Heritage Hills, People and Transport" (1981).
Reginald Hill, "The Death of Dalziel" (2007).
Harry Mount, "How England Made The English".
George MacDonald Fraser, "Quartered Safe Out Here".
Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures".
Julia Gommel and Steffen Gommel (eds), "Berlin: eine Leseverfuehrung."
Armistead Maupin, "More Tales of the City".
Armistead Maupin, "Further Tales of the City."
Armistead Maupin, "Sure of You."
Jennifer Worth, "Farewell to the East End."
John Buchan, "The Courts of the Morning".
Sheldon Vanauken, "A Severe Mercy".
Malcolm Guite, "Sounding the Seasons."
Janet Kagan, "Uhura's Song".
Diarmaid MacCulloch, "Silence: A Christian History."
Helene Wecker, "The Golem and the Djinni"
Jonathan Raban, "Bad Land."
Jonathan Raban, "Passage to Juneau".
Francis Spufford, "Red Plenty".
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "A Time of Gifts".
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "Between the Woods and the Water."
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "The Broken Road."
Roald Dahl, "James and the Giant Peach."
Jill Tomlinson, "The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark".
Colin Thubron, "Shadow of the Silk Road".
Anne Tyler, "The Amateur Marriage".
Armistead Maupin, "Tales of the City".
Eric Newby, "Round Ireland in Low Gear".
Jim Butcher, "Skin Game".
Rowan Williams, "Being Christian".
Bill Bryson, "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
Ewald Arenz, "Das Diamantenmaedchen."
Elizabeth Peters, "Despoiler of the Dead "
Ian Morgan Cron, "Jesus, my father, the CIA and me."
Michael Ramsey, "The Christian Priest Today."
Charlotte M Yonge, "The Young Stepmother".
CS Lewis, "The Great Divorce."
John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood".
Colin Thubron, "Among the Russians".
Elizabeth Peters, "The Last Camel Died At Noon."
Jonathan Raban, "Passage to Juneau".
James A Corey, "Abbadon's Gate".
Charlotte M Yonge, "Abbeychurch."
Charlotte M Yonge, "Beechcroft at Rockcliffe".
Sioned Evans and Andrew Davison, "Care for the Dying: a practical and pastoral guide".
MR Carey, "The Girl With All The Gifts".
Lindsey Davies, "Nemesis."
Lindsey Davies, "the Silver Pigs."
Lindsey Davies, "Shadows in Bronze."
Catherine Fox, "Angels and Men."
Allie Brosh, "Hyperbole and a Half"
Hadley Freeman, "Be Awesome".
Harry Pearson, "Slipless in Settle".
Peter Groves, "Grace".
Steve Turner, "The Man Called Cash."
Michael Palin, "Himalaya".
Michael Palin, "New Europe."
Mavis Doriel Hay, "Death on the Cherwell".
Anthony Trollope, "The Way We Live Now".
Antony Hope, "The Prisoner of Zenda."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Red Mars."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Green Mars."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Komarr."
Tony Hillerman, "Talking God".
Lois McMaster Bujold, "A Civil Campaign."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Diplomatic Immunity."
Stephen Budiansky, "The Bloody Shirt: Terror after Appomattox."
The Rev'd Richard Cole, "Fathomless Riches."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Blue Mars".
Rowan Williams, "Meeting God in Mark."
Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank."
Ben Aaronovitch, "Foxglove Summer".
Harry Bucknall, "Like a Tramp, like a Pilgrim."
Tony Hillerman, "Listening Woman."
Elizabeth Peters, "A River in the Sky."
Paul Barker, "Hebden Bridge: a Sense of Belonging."
Tony Hillerman, "People of Darkness."
William Least Heat Moon, "River Horse."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Beguilment."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Legacy."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Passage."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Horizon."
Timothy Zahn, "Heir to the Empire."
Timothy Zahn, "Dark Force Rising."
Stephen Cottrell, "Walking Backwards to Christmas."
Catherine Fox, "Unseen Things Above."
DC Fontana, "Vulcan's Glory."
Catherine Fox, "Acts and Omissions"
JRR Tolkien, "The Father Christmas Letters".
Robert Robinson, "Landscape with Dead Dons."
Humphrey Carpenter, "JRR Tolkien: a Biography."
Gosciny and Uderzo, "Asterix the Gallus."
Gerald Durrell, "The Whispering Land."
Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, "Wayfaring Strangers: the musical voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia."
Jo Baker, "Longbourne."
Charles Lewinsky, "Kastelau".
Meme Questions
How many books read in 2014?
102, assuming I counted right (and remembered to log everything). That is a bit disappointing. I have read less since I got married and watched more telly (I have also watched more telly since ordination, which I think is down to tiredness, but is still disappointing). Admittedly some of the novels were pretty long, but still...
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
fiction: 60. (I read less fiction and more non-fiction than I thought!)
poetry: 1 (I read more poetry than that implies, though: I have a tendency to pick poetry books up and read a few poems, then put them back).
non-fiction/memoir: 32
(The bulk of this was travel literature, which I read a lot of and may be my favourite genre at the moment. I also read 3 of what might be termed spiritual memoirs. All blokes - two of them very good (Cron and Coles), the other hideously over-written though interesting on Oxford - but perhaps I should look for some by women. If such things get published).
plays: 0
Male/Female authors?
female: 33 and three half books by women. Lower than I would have guessed....
Most books read by one author this year? 7 (Bujold). I also read a fair bit of Raban, Fermor, Lindsey Davies, Elizabeth Peters, and Tony Hillerman.
Any in translation?
Antoine Laurain, "The President's Hat"
Edelgard Abendstein and Jeaninne Fiedler, "Berlin: an architectural guide" (2013).
John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood".
Gosciny and Uderzo, "Asterix the Gallus." (translated into Scots!)
Also, I read three books in German.
Favourite? Oh gosh, I can't pick one. The stand-outs were the Catherine Fox novels, Richard Cole's autobiography, and Red Plenty. I also loved Red Mars and felt the rest of the series, though enjoyable, didn't quite live up to it. I enjoyed "Foxglove Summer" a lot, too.
Honourable mention to "The Girl With All The Gifts," because I never thought anyone could make me read and thoroughly enjoy a zombie apocalypse novel. I wasn't entirely convinced by the ending, but it really is very good.
Also, should it be relevant to your interests, "Pastoral Care for the Dying" is superb (and the medical background bits on the end of life would, I should think, be helpful for people who are not involved in pastoral care but want to know something about dying).
Least Favourite? I can't decide whether the Elizabeth Peters novels are "mildly diverting" or "meh," but they're definitely at the bottom of what I finished last year. (I picked them up cheap second hand. Not sure if I will bother to read any more. Possibly, if sufficiently cheap, and then re-Oxfam them, as they don't take much mental energy to read, and sometimes you want that).
In terms of books by a writer I do definitely enjoy, "Sure of You", because I began to get both very impatient with Mary-Ann, and also to suspect that Maupin was Flanderizing her in a way that felt ever so slightly misogynist).
Oldest? John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood"
Newest? "Unseen Things Above", which Catherine Fox published as a serial on her blog. (I will buy it when it comes out).
Longest Title? (Funny thing to ask!) Discounting subtitles, either "Dandy MacGilvarray and an unsuitable day for a murder" (does that count as a subtitle?) or "The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark" (which I read to children). My favourite title was also a contender - "Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me."
Shortest Title? Peter Groves, "Grace".
Book that most changed my perspective:. The Rev'd Richard Coles on of dogging (summary: he doesn't any more, but found it surprisingly healing).
Favourite character: Jane, in "Acts and Omissions" and "Unseen Things Above".
Favourite scene: Well the one that remains most vividly with me is the bit in "Fathomless Riches" when he sneaks away from a family Christmas to go and look for casual sex and meets a guy who takes off his coat to reveal that he's naked apart from a piece of tinsel round his cock. But that's more because I can't shake the image...
Favourite Quote: Nothing springs to mind.
What do you want to read in 2015? I want to finally get hold of Least Heat Moon's book on driving around America on small roads (Blue Highways? Lost Highways?). I love his prose style and he writes the sort of thoughtful, history-heavy Americana I really enjoy. I want to read Catherine Fox's "Benefits of Passion" and "Love For the Lost" (I'm less sure about her YA stuff or the judo memoir). And I keep meaning to get hold of "Ancilliary Justice" (and to read more SF in general).
Antoine Laurain, "The President's Hat", (2013, trans).
Michael Palin, "The New Europe" (2007).
Catriona McPherson, "Dandy Gilver & An Unsuitable Day For a Murder," (2010).
Anne deCourcey, "The Fishing Fleet"
Edelgard Abendstein and Jeaninne Fiedler, "Berlin: an architectural guide" (2013).
Keith Parry, "Trans-Pennine Heritage Hills, People and Transport" (1981).
Reginald Hill, "The Death of Dalziel" (2007).
Harry Mount, "How England Made The English".
George MacDonald Fraser, "Quartered Safe Out Here".
Terry Pratchett, "Moving Pictures".
Julia Gommel and Steffen Gommel (eds), "Berlin: eine Leseverfuehrung."
Armistead Maupin, "More Tales of the City".
Armistead Maupin, "Further Tales of the City."
Armistead Maupin, "Sure of You."
Jennifer Worth, "Farewell to the East End."
John Buchan, "The Courts of the Morning".
Sheldon Vanauken, "A Severe Mercy".
Malcolm Guite, "Sounding the Seasons."
Janet Kagan, "Uhura's Song".
Diarmaid MacCulloch, "Silence: A Christian History."
Helene Wecker, "The Golem and the Djinni"
Jonathan Raban, "Bad Land."
Jonathan Raban, "Passage to Juneau".
Francis Spufford, "Red Plenty".
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "A Time of Gifts".
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "Between the Woods and the Water."
Patrick Leigh Fermor, "The Broken Road."
Roald Dahl, "James and the Giant Peach."
Jill Tomlinson, "The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark".
Colin Thubron, "Shadow of the Silk Road".
Anne Tyler, "The Amateur Marriage".
Armistead Maupin, "Tales of the City".
Eric Newby, "Round Ireland in Low Gear".
Jim Butcher, "Skin Game".
Rowan Williams, "Being Christian".
Bill Bryson, "A Short History of Nearly Everything".
Ewald Arenz, "Das Diamantenmaedchen."
Elizabeth Peters, "Despoiler of the Dead "
Ian Morgan Cron, "Jesus, my father, the CIA and me."
Michael Ramsey, "The Christian Priest Today."
Charlotte M Yonge, "The Young Stepmother".
CS Lewis, "The Great Divorce."
John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood".
Colin Thubron, "Among the Russians".
Elizabeth Peters, "The Last Camel Died At Noon."
Jonathan Raban, "Passage to Juneau".
James A Corey, "Abbadon's Gate".
Charlotte M Yonge, "Abbeychurch."
Charlotte M Yonge, "Beechcroft at Rockcliffe".
Sioned Evans and Andrew Davison, "Care for the Dying: a practical and pastoral guide".
MR Carey, "The Girl With All The Gifts".
Lindsey Davies, "Nemesis."
Lindsey Davies, "the Silver Pigs."
Lindsey Davies, "Shadows in Bronze."
Catherine Fox, "Angels and Men."
Allie Brosh, "Hyperbole and a Half"
Hadley Freeman, "Be Awesome".
Harry Pearson, "Slipless in Settle".
Peter Groves, "Grace".
Steve Turner, "The Man Called Cash."
Michael Palin, "Himalaya".
Michael Palin, "New Europe."
Mavis Doriel Hay, "Death on the Cherwell".
Anthony Trollope, "The Way We Live Now".
Antony Hope, "The Prisoner of Zenda."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Red Mars."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Green Mars."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Komarr."
Tony Hillerman, "Talking God".
Lois McMaster Bujold, "A Civil Campaign."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Diplomatic Immunity."
Stephen Budiansky, "The Bloody Shirt: Terror after Appomattox."
The Rev'd Richard Cole, "Fathomless Riches."
Kim Stanley Robinson, "Blue Mars".
Rowan Williams, "Meeting God in Mark."
Elizabeth Peters, "Crocodile on the Sandbank."
Ben Aaronovitch, "Foxglove Summer".
Harry Bucknall, "Like a Tramp, like a Pilgrim."
Tony Hillerman, "Listening Woman."
Elizabeth Peters, "A River in the Sky."
Paul Barker, "Hebden Bridge: a Sense of Belonging."
Tony Hillerman, "People of Darkness."
William Least Heat Moon, "River Horse."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Beguilment."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Legacy."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Passage."
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Horizon."
Timothy Zahn, "Heir to the Empire."
Timothy Zahn, "Dark Force Rising."
Stephen Cottrell, "Walking Backwards to Christmas."
Catherine Fox, "Unseen Things Above."
DC Fontana, "Vulcan's Glory."
Catherine Fox, "Acts and Omissions"
JRR Tolkien, "The Father Christmas Letters".
Robert Robinson, "Landscape with Dead Dons."
Humphrey Carpenter, "JRR Tolkien: a Biography."
Gosciny and Uderzo, "Asterix the Gallus."
Gerald Durrell, "The Whispering Land."
Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, "Wayfaring Strangers: the musical voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia."
Jo Baker, "Longbourne."
Charles Lewinsky, "Kastelau".
Meme Questions
How many books read in 2014?
102, assuming I counted right (and remembered to log everything). That is a bit disappointing. I have read less since I got married and watched more telly (I have also watched more telly since ordination, which I think is down to tiredness, but is still disappointing). Admittedly some of the novels were pretty long, but still...
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
fiction: 60. (I read less fiction and more non-fiction than I thought!)
poetry: 1 (I read more poetry than that implies, though: I have a tendency to pick poetry books up and read a few poems, then put them back).
non-fiction/memoir: 32
(The bulk of this was travel literature, which I read a lot of and may be my favourite genre at the moment. I also read 3 of what might be termed spiritual memoirs. All blokes - two of them very good (Cron and Coles), the other hideously over-written though interesting on Oxford - but perhaps I should look for some by women. If such things get published).
plays: 0
Male/Female authors?
female: 33 and three half books by women. Lower than I would have guessed....
Most books read by one author this year? 7 (Bujold). I also read a fair bit of Raban, Fermor, Lindsey Davies, Elizabeth Peters, and Tony Hillerman.
Any in translation?
Antoine Laurain, "The President's Hat"
Edelgard Abendstein and Jeaninne Fiedler, "Berlin: an architectural guide" (2013).
John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood".
Gosciny and Uderzo, "Asterix the Gallus." (translated into Scots!)
Also, I read three books in German.
Favourite? Oh gosh, I can't pick one. The stand-outs were the Catherine Fox novels, Richard Cole's autobiography, and Red Plenty. I also loved Red Mars and felt the rest of the series, though enjoyable, didn't quite live up to it. I enjoyed "Foxglove Summer" a lot, too.
Honourable mention to "The Girl With All The Gifts," because I never thought anyone could make me read and thoroughly enjoy a zombie apocalypse novel. I wasn't entirely convinced by the ending, but it really is very good.
Also, should it be relevant to your interests, "Pastoral Care for the Dying" is superb (and the medical background bits on the end of life would, I should think, be helpful for people who are not involved in pastoral care but want to know something about dying).
Least Favourite? I can't decide whether the Elizabeth Peters novels are "mildly diverting" or "meh," but they're definitely at the bottom of what I finished last year. (I picked them up cheap second hand. Not sure if I will bother to read any more. Possibly, if sufficiently cheap, and then re-Oxfam them, as they don't take much mental energy to read, and sometimes you want that).
In terms of books by a writer I do definitely enjoy, "Sure of You", because I began to get both very impatient with Mary-Ann, and also to suspect that Maupin was Flanderizing her in a way that felt ever so slightly misogynist).
Oldest? John Chrysostom, "Six Books on the Priesthood"
Newest? "Unseen Things Above", which Catherine Fox published as a serial on her blog. (I will buy it when it comes out).
Longest Title? (Funny thing to ask!) Discounting subtitles, either "Dandy MacGilvarray and an unsuitable day for a murder" (does that count as a subtitle?) or "The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark" (which I read to children). My favourite title was also a contender - "Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me."
Shortest Title? Peter Groves, "Grace".
Book that most changed my perspective:. The Rev'd Richard Coles on of dogging (summary: he doesn't any more, but found it surprisingly healing).
Favourite character: Jane, in "Acts and Omissions" and "Unseen Things Above".
Favourite scene: Well the one that remains most vividly with me is the bit in "Fathomless Riches" when he sneaks away from a family Christmas to go and look for casual sex and meets a guy who takes off his coat to reveal that he's naked apart from a piece of tinsel round his cock. But that's more because I can't shake the image...
Favourite Quote: Nothing springs to mind.
What do you want to read in 2015? I want to finally get hold of Least Heat Moon's book on driving around America on small roads (Blue Highways? Lost Highways?). I love his prose style and he writes the sort of thoughtful, history-heavy Americana I really enjoy. I want to read Catherine Fox's "Benefits of Passion" and "Love For the Lost" (I'm less sure about her YA stuff or the judo memoir). And I keep meaning to get hold of "Ancilliary Justice" (and to read more SF in general).
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-06 04:23 pm (UTC)I haven't read any Moon, but shall put her on my TBR list.
(no subject)
Date: 2015-01-06 04:26 pm (UTC)I bought the Faber as a present for my dad and did the time-honored careful-non-spine-creasing read-before-wrapping. :)