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Following the lead of Kirsty at Other Stories, I shall commence my 2009 blog-fest with a book meme.
How many books read in 2008?
A mere 57, which is well below average. In my defence, m’lud, I did have to read an awful lot of journal articles for my dissertation, along with selected chapters of impenetrable volumes of literary criticism. Oh, and there was also various programming books, which no-one will want to hear about.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
28 fiction and 39 non-fiction.
Male/Female authors?
27 female and 30 male.
Favourite book read?
Oh dear, I’m hopeless at choosing favourite books. The best I can do under the circumstances is to narrow it down to 5, namely:
After the Victorians by A N Wilson
Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
L’Assomoir by Emile Zola
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Least favourite?
That one’s easy: A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland. Such was my disgust, I immediately sold it on Amazon Marketplace.
Oldest book read?
Hmm, that’s testing my Victorian chronology. I believe it was The Old Curiosity Shop, published in 1841.
Newest?
That would be the aforementioned A Book of Silence, which was also the most short-lived on the papal shelves.
Longest book title?
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate Summerscale. I must confess to not having counted properly, but that title *looks* the longest on the page.
Shortest title?
Nana by Emile Zola.
How many re-reads?
Rather a lot, as my brain is horribly unretentive and tends to forget a book as soon as I start the next one. I re-read the following for my MA:
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
East Lynne by Mrs Henry Wood (a girl can’t re-read this book too many times)
Lady Audley’s Secret by M E Braddon
Aurora Floyd by M E Braddon
The Doctor’s Wife by M E Braddon
John Marchmont’s Legacy by M E Braddon (are you detecting a theme here?)
Not Wisely But too Well by Rhoda Broughton
Cometh up as a Flower by Rhoda Broughton
Daniel Deronda by George Eliot
Oh, and I re-read Cold Comfort Farm, just because it’s an absolute hoot.
Most books read by one author this year?
That honour goes to Monsieur Zola with six titles, closely followed by Mary Elizabeth Braddon with five. I hadn’t realised quite how smitten I was with Zola.
Any in translation?
All of the Zola novels plus Maupassant’s Bel-Ami. I really must learn French properly.
And how many of this year’s books were from the library?
Oops, only one – Dion Boucicault by Richard Fawkes – and that’s only because it wasn’t available to buy anywhere. I did borrow other books, but mainly for reference purposes. One of my many new year resolutions will be to avail myself of the local library service.
I now hereby tag my lovely partner to produce her 2008 Book Meme….
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