A Literary Round-Up of the Most Unliterary Kind

It would be interesting, I thought to myself, to see just how many books I read during the past 12 months. Not being one to write them all down (although I always mean to) anywhere except on this blog, my random musing led to a whole evening's worth of trawling through blog posts. My word but I do ramble on about nothing in particular to you patient lot!

Are you ready for the list? Then here we go:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
In the Blue House by Meaghan Delahunt
The Last Cigarette by Simon Grey
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell
Jeff in Venice/Death in Varanasi by Geoff Dyer
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
Caravaggio by Andrew Graham-Dixon
Marrying the Mistress by Joanna Trollope
Selected short stories by Zola
The Italian Affair by Laura Fraser
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris
Aphrodite's Hat by Sally Vickers
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Mr Chartwell by Rebecca Hunt
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Hidden Bhutan by Martin Uitz
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
Horses Make a Landscape More Beautiful by Alice Walker
Laurie Lee biography by Valerie Grove
Elegies by Douglas Dunn
Christopher Isherwood's Berlin Stories
Colour of Memory by Geoff Dyer
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Fireworks by Angela Carter
Fludd by Hilary Mantel
Whigs on the Green by Nancy Mitford
Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
Foundation: A History of England by Peter Ackroyd
about 10 Agatha Christies re-read for comfort purposes in September. Yes, sedate, stately crime from the 30s and 40s can be comfort reading.

So there we are: a grand total of 43, averaging 3.58 a month. I had been a little concerned that my reading tended towards the safe, comfortable, overwhelmingly middle-class, and that I thought no more of extending my range or stepping out of the comfort zone than I did of becoming vegetarian: it's reassuring to see that it's not necessarily the case. That I am capable of moving out of that zone with other voices. Standing out amongst the new books (shown in blue) are: In the Blue House, Mr Chartwell, Zola, The Bloody Chamber, Fludd, Whigs on the Green (for Mitford's lightest of touches) and Any Human Heart.
My only fails (to finish) were The House of the Spirits, and the Crimson Petal and the White - life is too short and reading time too precious to waste on books that don't make your very soul vibrate with excitement when you read them.

The run up to Christmas and new year will be spent revisiting some old friends - Pratchett, Gaiman, Austen and Masefield - I think another 4 can be fitted in before the 1st January dawns.
And next year? My mum has already handed me a copy of the Bookseller of Kabul, and I feel it's time to tackle writings from hotter, stranger countries than this damp and gloomy one I inhabit. Although I have promised myself a Bronte (Tenant of Wildfell Hall), a Duffy (The Bees) and a James (Death Comes to Pemberley); I'll be looking towards India, China, Afghanistan and Africa, to name but a few, to take me far away from daily life. Suggestions?