So, for some strange reason unbeknown to myself, I have decided to start a ‘book blog’. Well, it’s not exactly unbeknown, I know I did it because of that horrible tradition that is new years resolutions. Every year I have a different one, and a few of the same, which mainly revolve around starting the gym again and losing weight, but there pretty much givens that I tend to have broken by 12.01 am on New Years Day. But no, this year, I gallantly decided that I would increase the size of that lovely organ in my head, my brain. And how would I do this I asked myself, ah that’s it, read more! It’s not that I didn’t read before, I do read, I love reading, but sometimes I get a bit lazy with it. So my aim is to read one book a month. Of course all books are different shapes and sizes, so if the book is particularly colossal, I will give myself a two month deadline. I sound like I’m taking this far too seriously, but I am determined that this is a new years resolution which I am going to keep! So, here I am, starting my ‘Book Bible’. Yippee! I’m now starting to wonder if it was such a good idea, because, to tell the truth, I have no idea where to start! Why is it that when your having a nosey around the internet at all these other lengthy, professional blogs, they all seem so, well, lengthy and professional! It’s not that I am wondering where might I get the time to write all that they seem to be able to fill their perfectly presented, sickingly enviable pages with (although that does worry me slightly), but more where might I find all them words and ideas in my brain?! But then, I am a writer, and a writer who is creative, inventive and thoughtful! Yes! I will do this. I will write a ‘Book Bible’, as I have ‘inventively’ called it. I will attempt to read all the books I have always wanted to read, but somehow, never got round to, and I will record and review my reading for you lovely people! If you would like to recommend books for me to read, fiction or non-fiction, sci-fi or chick lit, historical thriller or political biography (although I would rather there were fewer requests on the latter, politics isn’t something which fills me with the greatest anticipation to quench my thirst for knowledge on, especially if it involves Gordon Brown or John Prescott, yeesh!). But that said, I am pretty much open to any suggestions! Even if you feel that you cannot be bothered to read a book to find out if it is actually worth reading (I know the feeling), I will kindly do it for you. That’s just the sort of person I am! So, lets get going! My ‘January book’ is, ‘An Education’ by Lynn Barber. A not particularly lengthy book, I should be able to finish it in a couple of weeks or so. It looks interesting, and I always like reading about peoples lives which are more interesting and eventful than mine! I also, as often happens, saw an advert for the film before I had heard of the book, and then wanting to see the film, decided I had to read the book before watching the film or it would ruin the book! Alas, the film is long gone from the cinema, so it looks like I’ll have to be renting that one from Blockbuster!
Books I endeavour to read!
- The Gift – Cecilia Ahern
- P.S I Love You – Cecelia Ahern
- The Book of Tomorrow – Cecelia Ahern
- Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel
- Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernes
- The Old Man and the Sea – Ernest Hemingway
- Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
- Invisible Women – Jacky Trevane
- Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
- Catcher In The Rye – J.D. Salinger
- To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
- Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Wolf
- Less Than Zero – Brett Easton Ellis
- I Capture The Castle – Dodie Smith
- The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
- The Lost Symbol – Dan Brown
- Deception Point – Dan Brown
- Digital Fortress – Dan Brown
- The Mill on the Floss – George Eliot
- Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
- Good Wives – Louisa M Alcott
- Memoirs of A Geisha – Arthur Golden
- The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets – Eva Rice
- The White Tiger – Aravind Adiga
- On Kindness – Adam Philips and Barbara Taylor
- Fidel & Che: A Revolutionary Friendship
- Three Letter Plague – A Young Man’s Journey Through A Great Epidemic – Jonny Steinberg
- The Monster of Florence – Douglas Preston
- The White King – Gyorgy Dragoman
- Diana Athill – Somewhere Towards the End – Diana Athill
- Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates
- Land of Marvels – Barry Unsworth
- Once on a Moonless Night – Dai Swie
- The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Victor Hugo
- Les Miserables – Victor Hugo
- Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
- Tess of the D’Ubervilles – Thomas Hardy
- The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
- Aesop’s Fables – Aesop
- Lord of the Flies – William Golding
- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Crime and Punishment – Fyder Postoyersky
- The Canterbury Tales – Chaucer
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
- Lady Windmere’s Fan – Oscar Wilde
- A Woman of No Importance – Oscar Wilde
- An Ideal Husband – Oscar Wilde
- P.S. I Love You – Cecelia Ahern
- Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
- Random Acts of Heroic Love – Danny Schienmann
- Then We Came to an End – Joshua Ferris
- Rome and the Vatican
- Long Walk to Freedom – Nelson Mandela
- Statues Without Shadows – Anna Swan
- Northern Lights – Philip Pullman
The Millennium Trilogy – Stieg Larsson
- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Girl Who Played with Fire
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
The Harry Potter books – JK Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The Lord of the Rings books – J.R.R Tolkien
- The Fellowship of the Ring
- The Two Towers
- The Return of the King
Children’s Classics
- Cider With Rosie – Laurie Lee
- Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
- The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
- A Little Princess – Frances Hodgson Burnett
- A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
- The Jungle Books – Rudyard Kipling
- Peter Pan – J.M. Barrie
- Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
- Alice Through the Looking Glass – Lewis Carroll
- The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
- Black Beauty – Anna Sewell
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain
- Anne of Green Gables – L Montgomery
- Goodnight Mister Tom – Michelle Magonian
- Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
- Watership Down – Richard Adams
- Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
- Polyanna – Eleanor Porter
- Fairy Tales – Han Christian Anderson
- Robin Hood – Henry Gilbert
- Lassie Come Home – Eric Knight
- Bambi – Felix Salten