I DID IT

 

1. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

2. Anna Karenin by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy

3. Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson

4. The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger

5. Waiting for the Barbarians by JM Coetzee

6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

7. Atonement by Ian McEwan

8. The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

9. On the Road by Jack Kerouac

10. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

11. Great Tales of English History by Robert Lacey

12. Hamlet by William Shakespeare

13. Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

14. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

15. Animal Farm by George ORwell

16. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

17. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

18. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

19. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

20. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

21. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

22. The Secret River by Kate Grenville

23. Me Cheeta by James Lever

24. The Road by Cormac McCarthy

25. The Tempest by William Shakespeare 

26. Not Untrue & Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin 

27. King Lear by William Shakespeare

28. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

29. Life of Pi by Yann Martel

30. Henry IV, Part One by William Shakespeare

31. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

32. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

33. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

34. A Fortunate Life by AB Facey

35. Breath by Tim Winton

36. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

37. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

38. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

39. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons

40. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

41. Dirt Music by Tim Winton

42. A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro

43. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

44. Tinkers by Paul Harding

45. Blind Faith by Ben Elton

46. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

47. The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert

48. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

49. The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde 

50. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens 

51. The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall 

52. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey 

53. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson 

54. Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

55. Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 

56. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout 

57. Stuff White People Like by Christian Lander 

58. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald 

59. Wicked by Gregory Maguire 

60. Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt 

61. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams 

62. A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings by Charles Dickens 

63. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka 

64. Tully by Paullina Simons 

65. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows 

WEEK FIFTY-THREE - 'THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY'

'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society' by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
December 28 - 31, 256 pages

I did it! I read (at least) one book every week for the whole of 2010! I can't believe it.

But back to this book. It is entirely narrated through a series of letters written between various characters. It is very nicely done. On the cover of the novel it says that that it will make you feel really good. And that's definitely what it does. The characters are very likeable.

This novel also made me more excited about reading. And writing. And letters. It was very nice in that way. I'm all for people bonding over books. A very easy book to gobble up in a few sittings.

That's me done. It's been great. Happy New Year!

WEEK FIFTY-TWO - 'TULLY'

'Tully' by Paullina Simons
December 22 - 25, 592 pages

I've had this book sitting by my bed waiting for me to read it for months. It wasn't that I didn't want to read it, but that it is so thick that I needed to wait for a week when i wasn't so busy so I'd have time. And then I sped through it in four days! I couldn't put it down. It's very good. Simons is such a talented writer (I also read 'The Bronze Horseman' this year).

The novel is pretty sad. It definitely pulls you in and makes you feel for the characters. Throughout the whole book, I didn't know how I wanted it to end, let alone how I thought it would end. Part of the fun, I guess.

I'm very glad I read this. It definitely made me think, and feel. Very good.

I know it's week fifty-two, but I'm making this a fifty-three week year, because it's not over until Friday. One more week to go!

WEEK FIFTY-ONE - 'A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTOR IN UKRAINIAN'

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
December 17 - 18, 324 pages

A friend saw this book and asked me what it was about. I assured her that it was very funny, and then explained the storyline. She was a bit disappointed, it didn't sound very funny. But it is. It is so bizarre. But very good. It is a great read. So easy to just gobble it up in a few sittings.

It's quirky and so different. I want to read some more novels by Lewycka. They all have great covers, too.

Oh, and it's not actually a short history of tractors in Ukrainian. But it does briefly touch on their history. It's surprisingly interesting. Nothing on the novel's characters and their crazy relationships with each other, though.

WEEK FIFTY - 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL'

'A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Writings' by Charles Dickens
December 6 - 11, 264 pages

I love Dickens. You know I love Dickens. And you can't love Dickens and not read 'A Christmas Carol'. That I knew the storyline back to fron and seen many knock-offs is irrelevant: I need to read the real thing. It's very Christmassy. And jolly. I didn't actually enjoy it as much as his other novels. It wasn't funny and sarcastic. The characters don't have much depth. And the moral is served to you on a silver platter. No work required. But it is a nice little story. I enjoyed it for that.

The other 'Christmas writings' are quite nice, too. Nothing too special but definitely helped me get in the festive spirit! Christmas is so soon!

'... while there is infection in disease and sorrow, there is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good-humour.'

WEEK FORTY-NINE - 'ANGELA'S ASHES' & 'THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE'

'Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt

November 29 - December 3, 426 pages

This is a great book. It opened my eyes. I know very little about Ireland and its history so reading McCourt's story was like discovering a new world. His anecdotes of what he had to face in everyday life in a poverty-stricken family are eye-opening. Your heart opens to him and his struggles. It is also beautifully told. McCourt is a wonderful writer. I will definitely be reading more of hiss books. This one tells the story of his childhood, I want to know what happens next!

'The Restaurant at the End of the Universe' by Douglas Adams

December 3 - 5, ~150 pages

Just like its prequel, this novel is hilarious. I am constantly amazed by the perfect way in which Adams constructs his sentences. How is he so funny?!

WEEK FORTY-EIGHT - 'WICKED'

'Wicked' by Gregory Maguire

November 22-25, 406 pages

I feel like I'm just about the only person who hasn't seen the musical of 'Wicked' so I decided to do the next best thing: read the book.

It is far more complex than I anticipated. Some sections of the novel I really got into, and some left me confused; there is a lot going on. It was nice, though. Especially since I haven't read 'The Wizard of Oz' recently and so I rediscovered parts of that story as well. There are some quite funny one-liners, but not much humour apart from them. It's a really interesting and inspired take on a classic story. I was particularly intrigued by the debates on 'evil' - what, where, how and why? Fascinating.