FlossieT's 2011 Books

Reading Now

Stardust - Neil Gaiman
The Prisoner of Paradise - Romesh Gunesekera
Middlemarch - George Eliot
Blindness - Jose Saramago
The Electric Michelangelo - Sarah Hall
A Singer's Notebook - Ian Bostridge
Connected - Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler
Cambridge, Norfolk & Suffolk Unlocked

With the kids
Firebrand - Gillian Philip
Un Lun Dun - China Mieville
Over Sea, Under Stone - Susan Cooper

Read in 2011

January
1. The Carnivorous Carnival - Lemony Snicket
2. The Slippery Slope - Lemony Snicket
3. The Grim Grotto - Lemony Snicket
4. The Penultimate Peril - Lemony Snicket
5. The End - Lemony Snicket
6. My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece - Annabel Pitcher
7. Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys
8. There But For The - Ali Smith
9. In Great Waters - Kit Whitfield
10. Eleven - Mark Watson

February
11. Coconut Unlimited - Nikesh Shukla
12. Neris and India's Idiot-proof Diet - India Knight and Neris Thomas (yes, I am going to count this. It was funny.)
13. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
14. Twitchhiker - Paul Smith
15. Lasting Damage - Sophie Hannah
16. Why Don't You Come for Me? - Diane Janes
17. Cinderella Ate My Daughter - Peggy Orenstein

March
18. Genus - Jonathan Trigell
19. A Visit from the Goon Squad - Jennifer Egan
20. Predictably Irrational - Dan Ariely
21. The Afterparty - Leo Benedictus
22. The Illumination - Kevin Brockmeier
23. Wise Children - Angela Carter
24. Someone Else's Garden - Dipika Rai
25. The Tiny Wife - Andrew Kaufman
26. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
27. The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber
28. Aphrodite's Workshop for Reluctant Lovers - Marika Cobbold

April
29. The Devil's Mask - Christopher Wakling
30. The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs - Christina Hopkinson
31. 101 Things to Do Before You Diet - Mimi Spencer
32. Friday Nights - Joanna Trollope
33. The Coincidence Engine - Sam Leith
34. The Uncoupling - Meg Wolitzer
35. The Summer Without Men - Siri Hustvedt
36. Chinaman - Shehan Karunatilaka
37. Girl Reading - Katie Ward
38. Sunstroke - Tessa Hadley
39. Before I Go To Sleep - S.J. Watson
40. The Gate of Angels - Penelope Fitzgerald
41. Sweet Valley Confidential - Francine Pascal
42. The Adoration of Jenna Fox - Mary E. Pearson
43. Divided Kingdom - Rupert Thomson

May
44. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness
45. Life Class - Diana Athill
46. Good Behaviour - Molly Keane
47. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
48. Cold Light - Jenn Ashworth
49. The Death-Defying Pepper Roux - Geraldine McCaughrean
50. Grace Williams Says It Loud - Emma Henderson
51. Three Men and A Boat - Jerome K Jerome
52. The Magician's Book - Laura Miller

June
53. To Say Nothing of the Dog - Connie Willis
54. Rebecca - Daphne du Maurier
55. Neuromancer - William Gibson
56. Night Waking - Sarah Moss
57. Out of Shadows - Jason Wallace
58. When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead
59. The Truth About Celia - Kevin Brockmeier
60. Where Has My Little Girl Gone? - Tanith Carey
61. The Bride's Farewell - Meg Rosoff
62. Doomsday Book - Connie Willis

July
63. Blow on a Dead Man's Embers - Mari Strachan
64. Rereadings - edited by Anne Fadiman
65. Pigeon English - Stephen Kelman
66. On Canaan's Side - Sebastian Barry
67. The London Train - Tessa Hadley
68. Let the Great World Spin - Colum McCann
69. Instead of a Book - Diana Athill
70. Embassytown - China Miéville
71. Just for One Day - Louise Wener
72. Bit of a Blur - Alex James
73. On the Beach - Nevil Shute

August

74. The Lieutenant - Kate Grenville
75. How to Be a Woman - Caitlin Moran
76. Windows on the World - Frederic Beigbeder
77. The Filter Bubble - Eli Parriser
78. Into the Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes
79. The Secret River - Kate Grenville
80. Bounce - Matthew Syed
81. The End of Everything - Megan Abbott
82. What I Did - Christopher Wakling
83. The Rapture - Liz Jensen
84. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles - Fabio Geda
85. Rupture - Simon Lelic
86. Max Barry - Company

September

87. The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
88. In-Flight Entertainment - Helen Simpson
89. The Blue Flower - Penelope Fitzgerald
90. The White Lie - Andrea Gillies
91. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
92. A Life Apart - Neel Mukherjee
93. The Stranger's Child - Alan Hollinghurst
94. The Sleeping Army - Francesca Simon
95. The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey
96. BBC National Short Story Award 2011 Anthology
97. The Beautiful Indifference - Sarah Hall

October
98. North Child - Edith Pattou
99. Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
100. The Crash of Hennington - Patrick Ness
101. Waterslain Angels - Kevin Crossley-Holland
102. The Child Who - Simon Lelic
103. A Time of Mourning - Christobel Kent
104. The Trick of It - Michael Frayn
105. How to Paint a Dead Man - Sarah Hall

November
106. Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
107. Central Reservation - Will le Fleming
108. The Dig - John Preston
109. Married Love - Tessa Hadley
110. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith
111. Three Girls and Their Brother - Theresa Rebeck

December
112. Angelmaker - Nick Harkaway
113. Magic For Beginners - Kelly Link
114. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Burrows
115. In Darkness - Nick Lake
116. One Moment, One Morning - Sarah Rayner

With the kids
Mr Gum and the Cherry Tree - Andy Stanton
Mr Gum and the Secret Hideout - Andy Stanton
The Magic Thief - Sarah Prineas
The Magician's Nephew - C.S. Lewis
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
The Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
The Horse and His Boy - C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian - C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis
The Thornthwaite Inheritance - Gareth P Jones
The Silver Chair - C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis
The Children of Green Knowe - Lucy M. Boston
Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl
Born to Run - Michael Morpurgo

Abandoned
The Spoiler - Annalena McAfee
The Godless Boys - Naomi Wood
Daphne - Justine Picardie
When God Was a Rabbit - Sarah Winman
The Testament of Jessie Lamb - Jane Rogers
Starter for Ten - David Nicholls

Reread
The Tiny Wife - Andrew Kaufman (this time with pictures/on paper)
The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Time of the Ghost - Diana Wynne Jones
Fire and Hemlock - Diana Wynne Jones
The Beautiful Indifference - Sarah Hall

Hello. I feel a bit of a fraud signing myself up for a new thread here, as I've failed miserably to keep up with the group in 2010, but I need somewhere to hang out so... better the devil (or rather, lovely people) you know, right?

No real goals for reading this year. Spectacular failure last year has cured me of that one. But I AM going to write a proper review for every book I feel merits one.

I will probably be absolutely terrible at keeping up with other people's threads, for which I apologise fulsomely NOW, but I will do my best to reply to comments you leave me on my own (though it may take me a few days).

I'm glad that you decided to join us in 2011, Rachael. Happy New Year to you and your family!

Happy New Year Rachael. It does get rather busy in here, few of us are able to keep up. I always enjoy seeing what you've been reading. What has your son moved onto now that the Cherub series is finished?

All we can do is try! Happy 2011!

Welcome back!

Glad to see you back in 2011, Rachael!

Nice welcome, people - thank you. I don't expect to be much more participative than I was last year, but I feel nicely warm-fuzzy now *hugs you all*.

>4 avatiakh: Kerry, he's re-reading (and re-reading and re-reading) CHERUB, and occasionally venturing out into something off the Booktrust list of books for teen boys (one of which he got a copy of through school thanks to Booktrust's now-under-threat book-gifting programme). I despair. We're reading Sarah Prineas's Magic Thief together as our 'bedtime book', but like many books that we've read together in the last year or 2, it's taken well over half the book to really get going/become exciting. Ho hum. I'm going to try to read with him more regularly this year and see if we can get through a few more of the books on his shelves that he's barely touched... he's hopefully participating in the Guardian's new website section for young readers, so he needs to pull his socks up a bit!!

Oh, those proper reviews...oh oh oh, the headaches they cause. Still and all, Rachael, it makes me happy to see you've come back. I've hoped you would, despite 2010's surprises that kept it from being the goal year you wanted.

2011! Onward!

Yay! Glad to see you back!

I really enjoyed the Cherub series, and think it's a great action series for teen boys (and girls). He might like The Borribles, it's quite subversive with lots of action and set in London. The other YA I read lately and enjoyed was The Hunchback Assignments which won the Canadian children's literature prize. My son has finally left the clutches of Darren Shan and ventured to other books, well Harry Potter rereads.
With all the budget cuts, the reading programmes and libraries are really threatened in some parts of England, it is fairly dismal to hear about.

Welcome back Rachael!

#2 It's ok because we all fail miserably to keep up with the group (apart from Stasia who is superhuman).

On the goals, I find writing a proper review sometimes makes me less likely to keep up with the group as I don't feel I have the energy/brainpower to write it so I don't update my thread, so I feel bad about reading other people's if I'm ignoring my own and it rapidly spirals out of control.

What I'm trying to say (very clumsily) is that we would rather see you posting a list or a very short summary of the books you've read than not posting because you don't have time to write a review.

And Happy New Year!

#8: ((Hugs)) right back at you!

Welcome back Rachael! Happy New Year.

Don't worry, I failed to keep up with people as well, we can be rubbish together this year :)

Rachael

It is so good to see you back! All good wishes for a Happy New Year. Please post when you can without feeling any pressure at all.

Welcome back, Happy New Year and hallo Rachael! I've also been struggling to keep up these last couple of months - fb seems much easier somehow, but it's much less satisfying...

Good to see you back anyway, perhaps we can arrange another Patrick Ness date this year? ;o)

Hurrah, welcome back to the fray!

It's not about the # of books, it's about the discussions... I failed to finish my 1010 AND my off-the-shelf challenges last year...

*waves manically at everyone*

>12 souloftherose: Heather - the thing about "proper reviews" is that I do want to spend a bit more time reflecting on why I liked something. Actually putting it into words is something I really enjoy. The problem is that it does take more brainpower and effort than just reading... Anyway, I'm updating my running list in my first post as best I can.

>17 flissp: Fliss 'A Monster Calls' in May... have failed to nab a proof despite extensive grovelling to Walker. Curses. May is a long way away!!!!

I am having a really good reading year so far. Have at the very least Liked Very Much everything I've read so far, and loved most of it. Hurrah. This is good because last year was a bit of a disappointment on that front: very little that I really LOVED. Reading notes to follow in the next week or two, I hope.

I've heard a couple of lovely reports on My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece - I asked for a Waterstones copy on Twitter, but no joy.

How are you finding Twitchhiker? I just ordered a copy after reading an online review which made it sound really intriguing.

>20 elkiedee: My Sister Lives... is a good one. Won't say too much yet as that's definitely one I want to do "properly". Trying to persuade the 11YO to read it at the moment.

Twitchhiker is OK, but I'm about 60 pages in and nothing much has happened yet - it's a bit navel-gaze-y. Also making me reflect on the question of timing; when he started working on his idea, the author had something like 200 followers, and somehow parlayed that into a greater following. I can't imagine someone doing that now, unless they were stunningly well-connected - it's too big, and there's too much noise. Although Stephen Fry does still seem to be a bit of a kingmaker. Anyway, I'm reading it a bit at a time as my 'bedtime book', so I don't need to worry about being kept awake by the need for "just one more chapter".

edit for typo

Hi There

So good to have you back with us!

#19 Wooo for "A Monster Calls"! But May?! Bah. ..and bah to a lack of proofs too...

...by the way, there is talk of a possible London meet up over HERE, although it hasn't progressed very far and looks like it may end up mid week, but thought you might be interested...

Glad to see some Cambridge people!

15> Can I join the 'not able to keep up' group as well:)

I think a Cambridge meet up might be worth a go too at some point.

Glad to see you back this year!

elkiedee that would be great!

Hi There

I'm compiling a list of birthdays of our group members. If you haven't done so already, would you mind stopping by this thread and posting yours.

Thanks.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/105833

Angela Carter is one of the few names I recognise among the authors you've read so far this year, but I don't know Wise Children - is it any good?

>29 gennyt: it's great fun - a bit of a vaudeville romp, Shakespeare crossed with music hall. I haven't read much Angela Carter yet, and so far much prefer her "fairy stories" to the novels I've read - but I'm going to keep trying...

Nice to see you here - I'm reading the book you've abandoned at the moment, The Spoiler, to review for the Bookbag. What did you think of Between Shades of Grey?

#30 Me too so far - although, it is true, I haven't read that much of her stuff. Loved The Bloody Chamber. Wise Children sounds like it will be one to chase though?

#30, 32 It's the fairy stories I've read so far also, but I'd like to try something else one day.

Hi Rachel!

Thinking of you and sending hugs.

>31 elkiedee: Luci, I LOVED Between Shades of Gray. Thought it was an absolutely wonderful book - YA, but with so much to recommend it to non-YA readers. Moving, engaging and I finished it at 2 a.m. Am reviewing it for Writeaway at the moment (very, very, very overdue).

>32 flissp: Wise Children is fun but a bit daft - you need to be in the mood for clever literary reference with a healthy dash of silliness. A bit OTT.

>33 gennyt: I have Wayward Girls and Wicked Women(?) on my list for a future read as well. I do think her short stories are excellent.

>34 Whisper1: Hi Linda! Sending hugs back...

Didn't realise that Shades of Grey was directed at YA! Clearly I've been reading too many of them lately...

Re Wise Children, a bit daft is always a good thing for me, ditto OTT (as long as it's not in OTT in the melodrama category). I shall search it out!

Fliss, I think you might be thinking of a different title. Between Shades of Grey is about a family being deported from Lithuania to Siberia. There was a Bookbag review copy but at this time of year there are ridiculous numbers of books coming out and I'd already asked for as many books as I felt I could or should take on. I've preordered a copy as it comes out in April.

#37 ah, missed the "between" part ;o) - that's what happens when i skim read at the end of a long week!

It wasn't particularly clear as we hadn't mentioned authors in our exchange, and LibraryThing suggests the Jasper Fforde book and doesn't recognise this title too.

Not the first time someone I've mentioned the book to has made that mistake either! I've got a copy of Shades of Grey somewhere too but somehow haven't been in the mood to tackle it... had heard mixed reviews.

I put off reading Between Shades of Gray for ages as it sounded like it would just be unremittingly tragic, but it's not at all - incredibly well paced, and the teen narrator gives the author room to lighten the mix with memories; the sort of solipsistic reflections that would come across as inappropriate in an adult narrator feel completely right for a 15-year-old girl. I really can't recommend it highly enough.

Did you ever read The Endless Steppe or was it too much before your time? It's a memoir of a teenager and her family who were deported from Poland to Siberia - it was probably just as well for them they were, improbable as that sounds, as even she acknowledges, as they were a wealthy Jewish family and this was the early 1940s. They survived the Russian deportation rather better than they might have done the Nazis.

Life is tough in Siberia but the narrator adapted well and made friends, and by the end of their time there was quite sad to leave, I think. She went to the US where she died just a couple of years ago (in her late 70s/early 80s) and has two daughters who both became YA authors, I think, must go look this up.

Nope, never read that - sounds really interesting! I did feel shocked that I didn't know more about the period before i started - but that's partly, Ruta Sepetys says, why she wrote the book: because it's so often overlooked.

So out of date. Going to work backwards... May books:

44. A Monster Calls - Patrick Ness - just the most beautiful book, by which I mean 'physical object': gorgeously produced, incredible illustrations which very nearly trump the text. And the story is wonderful too - Conor, whose mum is sick (we presume with cancer, though it's never actually specified), is visited by a monster in the dead of night, which tells him stories - but in return wants him to tell it the truth. Totally different animal to Chaos Walking but just as thought-provoking in its own way - all about shades of grey, and how we navigate our way in the world, and how we cope with the enormity of being alive. Very moving.

45. Life Class - Diana Athill: I've had the hb of this since it came out and somehow never got round to it, which is appalling since Stet, one of its constituent parts, has been on my TBR wishlist for years longer than that, even. She writes SO well - about publishing, editing, writing, and about her own childhood and adulthood - and with such ruthless clarity and insight about her own behaviour and motivations. Loved this.

46. Good Behaviour - Molly Keane: one Ms Athill raves about, and again, I'd had a copy for ages without actually reading it, so it seemed appropriate. Not my cup of tea. Apparently Hilary Mantel said it was "the book she wished she'd written", and it has a well-put-together unreliable narrator (which ordinarily I love), but the basic theme of upper-crust people exposing their own nastiness and pettiness left me completely cold.

47. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole: discussing Good Behaviour on Twitter, this came up as another book that divided opinions: most loved it, one or two hated it. Another unread-on-the-shelves-for-ages so I thought, why not? And again, I am out of synch with most of the Western world, it seems, for I didn't especially get on with it: I just can't stomach Ignatius, and I don't find him funny. Expanded a bit more on why here.

Hope everyone's doing well. Sorry I'm such a rubbish challenge member...

And here I was thinking how perfect your short little notes on each book is! Your description of Patrick Ness' book reminded me that I only read the first and I am now interested in reading the next to. And you have convinced me I probably shouldn't waste my time with Toole's book. I admire and respect people who write pages about each book but I rarely read the whole review - I skip to the end for the punch line. What's the book about and did you like or not and why is susinct and helpful. Keep it up!

I do love Molly Keane's books but A Confederacy of Dunces has never appealed to me - not read it and don't plan to - and I know a lot of people who've hated it. I saw one of your Twitter comments and it made me laugh.

I also have Life Class in hardback, but it's just too big - did you carry it around when leaving the house or just read it at home?

Hi, Rachael! I first read A Confederacy of Dunces in 1980 or 1981, when I was a college student in New Orleans. It was all the rage at the time, as he accurately depicted a fading and quirkly subculture of New Orleanians known somewhat disparagingly as "Yats", short for the local greeting "Where y'at?", and I enjoyed it the first time around. I re-read it last year, and I found it to be tedious, irritating, and a bit vulgar.

I'm eager to get your impression of Chinaman.

#43: I really wish my local library had a copy of Life Class. *sigh*

>44 mamzel: Aw, thanks, mamzel. I haven't kept up with anyone else's threads, or even kept my own up to date this year, which isn't very community-minded of me...

>45 elkiedee: Luci, I just read it at home - definitely too chunky for carrying - even though it broke my heart to leave it! The pb edition looks much more compact.

>46 kidzdoc: hi Darryl! Glad to hear it's not just me that didn't get on with Dunces. Have only ever heard it universally praised as hilarious before, but it just didn't do it for me. My favourite bits were Dorian Greene and his crowd, but the rest I could take or leave, really.

I will get to Chinaman... that's one I want to write up "properly", though, as it was really good and deserves a bit more than a quick sum-up.

>47 alcottacre: Stasia, might they have bits of it..? It's a collection of memoirs that have all been published separately, so might well be available under their original names (Yesterday Morning, Instead of a Letter, Stet and Somewhere Towards the End). That is, if they were published in the US, of course!

I always smile when I see a post on your thread! I hope are well.

Hugs

#48: Sadly, no. The only book my local library has by Athill is a mystery.

>48 FlossieT:: Excellent. I'll look for your review of Chinaman.

#45/46 I think I've mentioned this before, but A Confederacy of Dunces, which I tried to read when it first came out and was so highly touted, is one of the very few books I actively hate! (Needless to say, I never finished it.)

I admit I've been too put off by the nos of people that seem to either love or loathe A Confederacy of Dunces to even try it. It's like the endless debate between a born-again Christian and an atheist -- I just end up wanting to throw up my arms and walk away.

Going back a ways -- I do remember The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig, which I read as a child. Still a little-known part of history... I went to a museum in Riga a few years ago that is all about the history of the Latvian people and their treatment during the Soviet years, including the deportations. There were some amazing exhibits of items that were crafted or devised in exile, sometimes in gulag camps. What startled me most was talking to ordinary Latvians -- they were happy to live under the Germans from 1941 onward, and didn't mind the Nazi Jewish policies because so many of the Bolshevik commissars that mistreated the intelligensia, etc. were Jewish that they had come to equate Communist oppression with Jews. *eyes roll* I actually met one elderly man who was proud of supporting the Nazis and said the worst day of his life was when they left and the Russians returned. Sigh.

>53 Chatterbox: oh my goodness, I can't imagine hearing the "proud of supporting the Nazis" sentiment. My parents and their friends might've found escaping from Lithuania to Germany the lesser of two evils, but supporting the Nazis? No way.

>53 Chatterbox: Chatterbox, I started reading the "Confederacy" book to my high school age daughter a few years ago. The beginning of the book was some of the funniest writing I had ever come across. I was in tears, reading aloud, but as it was getting late, I quit reading to my daughter. Because I was enjoying the book so much I decided to read ahead. Boy, was I happy that I did! The next scene was shockingly vulgar and I had to put the book aside. It was very upsetting, because the book had so much potential, but at that point was unsalvageable.

Hello. I've been keeping up with my running list in my first post, if not with any comments or the rest of the group (sorry people). This year has been insane... Anyway, I hit my 75 on the (hot, crowded, late) train home tonight so I couldn't let that go without posting something. Caitlin Moran was the book that did it - I've been reading it off and on on my phone for a month or so, not always necessarily agreeing with her politics, but she is a very, very funny lady, and the world needs more of them. Actually, it doesn't: there are LOADS of them (us) out there, but it needs to pay more attention to them. So there.

Hope everyone's well!

Well done. My newly launched NCT branch reading group has chosen How to Be a Woman as our second discussion book, hopefully some time in September.

I would be particularly interested to know what you thought of the new Mari Strachan and the Rereadings book. Is the Diana Athilll book Instead of a Letter or has she written a new one?

Congratulations on meeting your 75, lots of great reading in there.

Congratulations on hitting the 75 books mark, Rachael! I'm curious to get your take on the following books you've read (and anything else you've especially enjoyed):

There But For The by Ali Smith
The Afterparty by Leo Benedictus
Chinaman by Shehan Karunatilaka
Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman
Embassytown by China Miéville

Congratulations on reaching the 75 book mark!!!

Congratulations on reaching 75 this early in the year, Rachel! What was On Canaan's Side like?

Congrats!

Congratulations on reaching 75!

>57 elkiedee: Luci, there will be lots to talk about... it reads like a book that was delivered in a hurry!! Patchy, but the bits that are good are very, very good. Mari Strachan: to be completely honest, was a bit of a disappointment after Earth Hums. It's not at all bad, but it lacks the magical spark of her first. 3.5 stars absolute max. Instead of a Book is a new DA - a collection of letters between her and the poet Edward Field, out September (Granta again). Lovely and illuminating and made me horribly, horribly sad for the demise of the letter as an everyday form of communication (have you seen Letter Lounge?)

>58 avatiakh: thanks Kerry - hope all's well with you.

>59 kidzdoc: Darryl, I promised you a proper review of Chinaman and I still haven't done it... sorry. Short answer: an unreliable narrator to stand with the best of them; I found the cricket jargon quite hard going, but if you just keep flipping the pages, you get there in the end. Ali Smith, lazily, I reviewed for Belletrista and LOVED. Pigeon English I didn't like as much as the rest of the world seems to have done, though after White Tiger, well... who knows? The Afterparty was great fun, but sadly has a lot of that fun bouncing around on cultural references that you may not share. Do you watch American Idol at all? That would be a good starting point. And Embassytown.... made my brain hurt. It's the first of his I've read in full (reading Un Lun Dun with my eldest at the moment as bedtime story), and the ambition is inspiring. It's just it might take me a reread or two before I've entirely grappled with it.

>60 ronincats:, 62, 63, 64 thanks Roni, Jim, Mary and Stasia! Oh, so nice to hear from you all. And sorry I have been such a useless group member this year.

>61 cushlareads: hi Cushla! On Canaan's Side is not as good as Secret Scripture TBH (or should that be IMHO?), but he's created another great narrator that keeps you reading very effectively. I liked it enormously more than Brooklyn, which covered some of the same themes.

On holiday soon - in a large car in which there will be very few children as most of them are travelling by train. UNMISSABLE EXCUSE TO TAKE TOO MANY BOOKS.

I hope you (and your books) have a lovely holiday together, Rachael!

Have a great holiday!

If you liked On Canaan's Side more than Brooklyn I am going to read it, because I really loved Brooklyn!

I don't know what it's like but I downloaded Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry the other day - currently 99p/$1.61 for Kindle.

#68: I read Annie Dunne a couple of years ago. I will be interested in seeing what you think of it, Luci.

I'm stopping by and waving hi.

mistletoe smooches!

Merry Christmas Rachael!

Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family, Rachael! I look forward to getting together with you again in 2012.

Merry Christmas, Racheal!

Happy New Year, everyone, and wishing you some good reading in 2012. I haven't looked a challenge group up for this year as I have been utterly hopeless at keeping up in 2011, so it seems daft to even think I'll manage to keep a thread going... but I hope to check in on you all at least once or twice during the year.

I liked the Mari Strachan nearly as much as the first.

What did you think of Tessa Hadley's Married Love? I know you liked her first collection of short stories. I reviewed this one for the Bookbag, in fact it ended up being my last 2011 review over Christmas.

I hope you will reconsider creating a 2012 group thread, even if you can't keep it up to date (and I've let mine go this year) it would be nice to see you there.

Hi Luci! I may cave later in the year but for now... I just can't keep up with everyone.

I didn't really enjoy the Mari Strachan, to be honest, but I absolutely loved her first - so it had a lot to live up to. Ditto Tessa Hadley - I thought Married Love was OK, but nothing like as good as Sunstroke - but again, it's a question of having a high standard to live up to!!

77: Thanks for that, Racheal. I've been really tempted to buy an expensive new copy of Married Love because I loved Sunstroke so much. Your words have persuaded me to wait for the copies my local library has on order!