Friday, January 02, 2015

2014 reading



Just a list for now - 50 54 in total (I'm surprised at how little I've read when it seems I spent a huge chunk of every day doing precisely that). Of those 50 54,  three four were rereads (although again I thought I'd reread more this year than usual). Confusion reigns. I got rid of so many books when I left Alberta. I'm not missing them at all, although they were certainly difficult to part with (that makes sense if you know me). But there will always be books.

I gave up competitive reading last year or the year before. By competitive reading I mean staying on top of at least the Booker, Giller and Governor General's award short lists reading, and ensuring I'd read all the year's Big New Books in a timely fashion. It was stressing me out - I felt like my reading was being directed by malevolent algorithms designed by publishers and colluded with by librarian hold requests. In other words, I was driving myself nuts and for what - a leisure activity?

Luminous this year: Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, which I wanted never to end; Miriam Toews' All My Puny Sorrows; and Ben H. Winters' dystopian trilogy beginning with The Last Policeman. I have a real aversion to those dystopian tales so it's a huge compliment to Winters' writing and his characterization that I read all three in the series.

(Just added: Robinson and MacLeod  plus two more of the Ian Hamilton Ava Lee series - January 4, 2015. N.B. There are two 'started but not finished titles that should be included - Susan Delacourt's Shopping for Votes and Alison Loat and Michael MacMillan's Tragedy in the Commons: Former Members of Parliament Speak Out About Canada's Failing Democracy.)

Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson

No Great Mischief - Alistair MacLeod (reread on the news of his death)

The Scottish Banker of Surabaya - Ian Hamilton

The Two Sisters of Borneo - Ian Hamilton

Back When We Were Grownups - Anne Tyler (reread)

The Wild Beasts of Wuhan - Ian Hamilton

Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life - Trevor Cole

Boy, Snow, Bird - Helen Oyeyemi

Just One Evil Act - Elizabeth George

Small g - Patricia Highsmith

The Wildfire Season - Andrew Pyper

Emancipation Day - Wayne Grady

Fault Lines - Nancy Huston

The Lady Elizabeth - Alison Weir

When Will There Be Good News? - Kate Atkinson

The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag - Alan Bradley

Let Me Be Frank with You - Richard Ford

Benediction - Kent Haruf

The Emperor's Children - Claire Massud

The Last Life - Claire Messud

Digging to America - Anne Tyler

Life After Life - Kate Atkinson

The Orenda - Joseph Boyden

The Burgess Boys - Elizabeth Strout

The Shadow Girls - Henning Mankell

Bedtime Story - Robert J. Wiersma (reread)

Medicine Walk - Richard Wagamese

The Bear - Claire Cameron

The Land of Dreams - Vidar Sundstol

The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny

The Last Policeman - Ben H. Winters

Evergreen - Rebecca Rasmussen

Hell Going - Lynn Coady

Countdown City - Ben H. Winters

World of Trouble - Ben H. Winters

Corduroy Mansions - Alexander McCall Smith

All My Puny Sorrows - Miriam Toews

Dead Politician Society - Robin Spano

Death Plays Poker - Robin Spano

The Second Deadly Sin - Asa Larsson

Until Thy Wrath Be Past - Asa Larsson

A Treacherous Paradise - Henning Mankell

A Fatal Grace - Louise Penny

The Cuckoo's Calling - Robert Galbraith

Standing in Another Man's Grave - Ian Rankin

Trespass - Rose Tremain

Mount Pleasant - Don Gillmor

The Child's Child - Barbara Vine

All That Is - James Salter

Hotel du Lac - Anita Brookner (reread)

The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt (reread)

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

Helpless - Barbara Gowdy

One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson

The Betrayers - David Bezmozgis

Photo: You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. - Colette

No idea where I got this ornament, but I laughed when I read the quote. As long as I do them with enthusiasm, then.













No comments: