Books read

2013

Collins, John. Dead Sea Scrolls: a Biography
Hainey, Michael. After Visiting Friends
Jansson, Tove. The Moomins and the Great Flood, Finn Family Moomintroll, Comet in Moominland, Exploits of Moominpappa, Memoirs of Moominpappa, Moominsummer Madness, Moominland Midwinter, Moominpappa at Sea, Moominvalley in November.

McEwan, Ian. Sweet Tooth
Semple, Maria. Where’d you go, Bernadette

2012

Akunin, Boris. The Winter Palace; the Turkish Gambit; Death on the Leviathan; Death of Achilles; Special Assignments
Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending.
Collins, Suzanne. Hunger Games; Catching Fire; Mockingjay
Eugenides, Jeffrey. The Marriage Plot
Franzen, Jonathan. Farther Away.
Frazier, Ian. Travels in Siberia
Gibbons, Stella. Cold Comfort Farm.
Gordon, Lyndall. Lives Like Loaded Guns.
Harbach, Chad. The Art of Fielding
Hoban, Russell Ridley Walker
Le Carre, John. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; the Honourable Schoolboy; Smiley’s People; the Spy who came in from the Cold; Russia House; A Murder of Quality
Massie, Robert Catherine the Great
Maddow, Rachel Drift
Mitchell, David. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoot.
Obreht, Tea. The Tiger’s Wife
Orenstein, Norman J and Thomas E. Mann. It’s Even Worse than it Looks
Rosenbaum, Emily. Behind the Woodpile
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Name of the Wind
Shayne, Ann. Bowling Avenue.
Strayed, Cheryl. Wild
Towles, Amor. Rules of Civility
Walker, Alan and Pat Shipman. The Wisdom of Bones.
Walker, Alan and Pat Shipman. The Ape in the Tree: An Intellectual and Natural History of Proconsul
Woodrell, Daniel. Winter’s Bone

2011

Bacigalupi, Paolo. The Windup Girl
Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games
Davis-Goff, Annabel. The Dower House

Davis-Goff, Annabel. Walled Gardens: Scenes from and Anglo-Irish Childhood

Egan, Jennifer. A Visit from the Goon Squad

Franzen, Jonathan. Freedom
Greenblatt, Stephen. The Swerve.

Grossman, Lev. The Magicians
Grossman, Lev. The Magician King

Hustvedt, Siri. What I Loved
Krauss, Nicole. Great House

McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin

Mankell, Henning. The Troubled Man

Martin, George R.R.  Game of Thrones

Martin, George R.R.  Clash of Kings
Nesbo, Jo. Redbreast

O’Nan, Stewart.  Emily Alone

Penny, Louise.  Still Life

Penny, Louise.  A Fatal Grace

Penny, Louise. The Cruelest Month

Polonsky, Rachel. Molotov’s Magic Lantern

Ransome, Arthur. Swallows and Amazons

Ransome, Arthur. Peter Duck

Ransome, Arthur. Swallowdale

Ransome, Arthur. The Coot Club

Ransome, Arthur. Pigeon Post
Sapolsky, Robert. A Primate’s Memoir
Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. Hidden Life of Deer

Trollope, Joanna. The Rector’s Wife

Trollope, Joanna. The other family

Trollope, Joanna. Other people’s Children

Ureneck, Lou.  Cabin: two brothers, a dream and five acres in Maine

2010

*Batuman, Elif. The Possessed
*Benioff, David. City of Thieves
Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks.
Browning, Dominique. Around the House and In the Garden

Dessais, Robert. Twilight of Love
Ebershoff, David. The 19th Wife
Fitch, Noel Reilly. Appetite for Life : the Biography of Julia Child

Ffeifer, Jules. Backing into Forward

French, Maida Parlow. Apples Don’t Just Grow

*Gardam, Jane. Old Filth
Gardam, Jane. The Man in the Wooden Hat
Goldman, Marshall. Petrostate: Putin, Power and the New Russia
Heileman, John and Mark Halperin. Game Change

Holman-Hunt, Diana. My Grandmothers and I.
Johnson, Marilyn. This Book is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians can save us all.
*Larsson, Steig. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Larsson, Steig. The Girl Who Played With Fire
Larsson, Steig. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Lowry, Lois. The Willoughbys
Mankell, Henning. The Man from Beijing

Mankell, Henning. The Man Who Smiled

Mankell, Henning. The White Lioness

Mankell, Henning. The Dogs of Riga

Mankell, Henning. The Pyramid

Mankell, Henning. Firewall

Mantel, Hilary. Giving up the Ghost.
Mantel, Hilary. Wolf Hall
*McCann, Colum. Let the Great World Spin

Miles, Kathryn. Adventures with Ari

Moore, Lorrie. Who Will Run the Frog Hopital
Niffenegger, Audrey. Her Fearful Symmetry.
Paglen, Trevor. Blank Spots on the Map: The Dark Geography of the Pentagon’s Secret World

Politkovskaya, Anna. A Russian Diary
Salisbury, Harrison E. The 900 Days : the Siege of Leningrad
Sedgwick, Marcus. Blood Red, Snow White
Smith, Alexander McCall. Espresso Tales
Smith, Alexander McCall. The World According to Bertie
Stewart, Trenton Lee. Mysterious Benedict Society
Stewart, Trenton Lee. Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma
Stockett, Katherine. The Help.
Sullivan, Robert. The Thoreau You Don’t Know
Thompson, Elspeth. Tale of two Gardens.
Thompson, Elspeth. Urban Gardener

2009

*Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger

Alameddine, Rabih. The Hakawati
*Barbery, Muriel. The Elegance of the Hedgehog
*Barrett, Andrea. The Air we Breathe

Brooks, Geraldine.  People of the Book

Child, Julia. My Life in France
Clare, Cassandra. City of Bones
Clare, Cassandra. City of Ash
Clare, Cassandra. City of Glass
*Fasman, Jon. The Geographer’s Library
Fasman, John. The Unpossessed City
Ferguson, Ruby. Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary

*Ferris, Joshua. Then we came to the end.

Fisher, Dorothy Canfield. The Home-maker

French, Tana. In the Woods
*French, Tana. The Likeness.
Funke, Cornelia. Inkheart.

Graham, Eleanor. The Children who lived in a barn

Groff, Lauren. Monsters of Templeton.

Groff, Lauren. Delicate, Edible Birds
Harris, Charlaine. Dead and gone
Hughes, Dorothy B. The Expendable Man
Hughes, Molly. A London Child of the 1870’s
Lebovitz, David. The Sweet Life in Paris
Lindqvist, John Ajvide. Let the Right one In
Lockhart, E. The Boyfriend List
Lockhart, E. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

Luard, Elisabeth. My life as a wife.

*Moore, Lorrie Birds of America
Moore, Lorrie The Gate at the Stairs

Moriarty, Jaclyn. Feeling sorry for Celia

Olsson, Linda. Astrid & Veronika
*Palaniuk, Chuck. Choke
Panter-Downes, Mollie. Good Evening, Mrs. Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes
Peck, Winifred. House-Bound
Petterson, Per. To Siberia
Powell, Julie. Julie and Julia

Pryor, Francis. Britain in the Middle Ages.

Robinson, Marilynne. Gilead
Robinson, Marilynne. Home
Shaffer, Mary Ann and Annie Barrows. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Sittenfeld, Curtis. American Wife
Smith, Alexander McCall. The Comforts of a Muddy Sunday
Smith, Alexander McCall. The Miracle at Speedy Motors
Stanger, Margaret. That Quail, Robert
Stevenson, DE. Miss Buncle’s Book
Stevenson, DE. Miss Buncle, Married
*Strout, Elizabeth. Olive Kittridge
Summerscale, Kate. The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher

Trollope, Joanna. Second Honeymoon

Watson Winifred. Miss Pettigrew lives for a day
Wickersham, Joan. The Suicide Index

Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisy Dobbs

Winspear, Jacqueline. Pardonable Lies

Winspear, Jacqueline. An Incomplete Revenge

Winspear, Jacqueline. Among the mad
Wolffe-Monckeberg, Mathilde. On the other side : Letters to my children from Germany, 1940-1946

*Read for book group

2008

Ariely, Dan. Predictably Irrational. (Fascinating)

Atkinson, Kate. One Good Turn

*Ball, Jess. Samedi the Deafness. Very odd, but also curiously readable. Quite odd.

Begley, Louis. About Schmidt.

Bennett, Alan. The Uncommon Reader. (It will take you 45 minutes to read, and it’s charming.)

Berendt, John. the City of Falling Angels

Black, Cara. Murder on the Ile Saint-Louis.

*Chabon, Michael. Yiddish Policemen’s Union

Clarke, Susannah. The Ladies of Grace Adieu

*Clarke, Susannah. Mr. Norrell and Jonathan Strange. (I loved this)

Collins, James. Beginner’s Greek. This is a terrible thing to say, but I can’t believe this was written by a man.

Dessin, Sarah. Lock and Key.

*Diaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. (Poor Pip. Poor Estella)

Ferrnate, Elena. Days of Abandonment.

*Ferrante, Elena. The Lost Daughter. An odd and perfect book.

Ferrante, Elena. Troubling Love.

Fford, Jasper. The Fourth Bear. (I like the Nursery Detective series so much better than the Literary one, and I don’t know why.)

Fraser, Laura. The Italian Affair. (Actually, really good.)

Gilbert, Elizabeth. Eat, Pray, Love

Hale, Shannon. Austenland. (I can’t believe I read this –)

Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days.

Harris, Charlaine. Dead Until Dark. I’m not proud I’ve read this,

Harris, Charlaine. Living Dead in Dallas. And I’m not saying they’re good literature

Harris, Charlaine. Club Dead. Or even very well written

Harris, Charlaine. Dead to the World. But I’m quite sure I’ll read every last one of them. They’re not half bad, although I actually think the tv show is better. Also, I have a hard time thinking of a vampire as very sexy. They’re dead, after all. But I think that’s the driving factor behind the genre. They’re sort of walking sex. Interesting, isn’t it? I think the tv show portrays it better. Still, I read the books.

Harris, Charlaine. Dead as a Doornail.

Harris, Charlaine. Definitely Dead.

Harris, Charlaine. All together Dead.

Harris, Charlaine. From Dead to Worse. I wonder if she’ll write any more?

Jones, Lloyd. Mr. Pip.

Levitt, Steven. Freakonomics. Not as good as the Ariely book, I think.

Luard, Elisabeth. Family Life.

Luard, Elisabeth. Still Life.

*Mitchell, David. Number9Dream Odd and wonderful.

*Murakami, Haruki. After Dark. I liked this.

Moore, Honor. The Bishop’s Daughter.

Paxman, Jeremy. On Royalty.

*Perrotta, Tom. The Abstinence Teacher. (Well, entertaining, but –)

*Petterson, Per. Out Stealing Horses. A wonderful book.

Pohls, Mary F. Accidentally on Purpose

Pollan, Michael. In Defense of Food

Pullman, Philip. Once Upon a Time in the North. (Good.)

Russo, Richard. Bridge of Sighs Were his other books this good? I’ll have to go back and read them.

Smith, Alexander McCall. Morality for Beautiful Girls

Smith, Alexander McCall. Kalahari Typing School for Men

Smith, Alexander McCall. The Full Cupboard of Life

Smith, Alexander McCall. In the Company of Cheerful Ladies

Stubbs, John. John Donne: the Reformed Soul

Taylor, Elizabeth. The Wedding Group

Vergil. The Aeneid. (parts)

Vida, Vendela. Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name

Von Arnim, Elizabeth. The Enchanted April. Hey — what a lovely little book.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. Interesting, especially in conjunction with Eat, Pray, Love.
Holman-Hunt, Diana. Mt Grandmothers and I