Published January 1, 2013 by

A Year in Books

I read 25 books in 2012. I made my goal. Just.

I was going to step out every single one of them but I think perhaps a few key mentions.

Some of the best of a medium book year.

Bringing up Bebe – Pamela Druckerman
I had a baby this year. That’s big. This book is authentic. Interesting and needless to say, relevant. Except that I am not in France. I wish I was in France.

The Lacuna – Barbara Kingsolver
Not what I expected. Hard work. Somewhat haunting. I feel like I didn’t know enough of the history to do it justice.

Le Grand Meaulnes – Alain Fournier
Immensely satisfying and devastating. A bookclub read. The whole thing dripped of unfairness and lost childhood.

The Go-Between – L.P. Hartley
The pawn in a lovers game. This was brilliant. A rich read. Another bookclub selection.

The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho
I really didn’t think much of the first half at all, much to the disgust of Catherine… however there was something about this book. Poignant like the Little Prince. Perhaps it was trying a little hard but it plucked at insights with deft fingers and caught you up before you realised it.

The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Definitely the most fun read of the year. Loved it! Best page tuner since Harry Potter. A genre right up my alley and surprisingly well crafted despite it’s popularity.

So there you have it the overview overlap: baby, hard work, satisfying, rich, poignant, fun.

My year.

And for 2013?

Books: I hope to read at least 30 and delve into some which I have had the intention of reading for quite some time, beginning with Great Expectations (with a little Terry Pratchett on the side to keep things amusing) and to return to some theological/poetic reads to keep the mind and heart turning, beginning with Simple Spirituality (which I have already started) and a little Le’Engle on the side.

Life: To be more present. To be more creative and intentional in how I spend my time.

Follow what I’m reading on Goodreads (PS. this site ticks lots of my boxes: books, stats, lists, categorisation. Love it.)

…oh yeah, I totally stole this post idea from Christop

Books Experiments Life

Published July 24, 2012 by

Underground Public Library

This is a truly excellent project. Photography and reading are two of my favourite things.

Check out the Underground New York Public Library.

I am currently reading: The Surgeon of Crowthorne (for bookclub) – what are you reading?

Blogging Books Photography

Published May 14, 2011 by

Incredible things are happening in this world

Two of my favourite things have come together in a delightful cacophony of surprise. Unorchestrated and without warning.

Peng!33 is pretty much my favourite Iron & Wine song and I am re-reading (for bookclub) One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez – one of the finest, most delightfully strange books I have ever read.

It appears that Peng!33 borrows it’s lines from One Hundred Years.

“Incredible things are happening in this world, magical things are happening in this world… across the river are all kinds of magical instruments, while we’re still living here like donkeys/monkeys”

I didn’t even have to Google.

It’s as if there really are magical instruments across the river!

Books Music

Published July 22, 2010 by

The Book Depository

It is a gold mine amongst the plethora of dollar sucking Amazon purchases (*read outrageous postage). I don’t often buy books online – or much online really, considering how much I am online.

But this my friends is THE place: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/

Pay ye no postage.

Pay ye low prices.

Appologies for not blogging lately. I am too stuffed. I am enjoying work muchly but I am still adjusting to this whole full time thing, it’s taking me longer than I anticipated.

Books

Published June 8, 2010 by

Big Listers

I am reading the most excellent book at the moment: ‘To See Every Bird on Earth” – Dan Koeppel I had a short fling when I was younger with the whole bird watching thing. It lingers in different forms… the ‘Beside Book of Birds’ – which I love for both the book design and the content. But really it’s the collecting thing. The listing. The organisation. The categories… I must go back to the museum again soon.

My mother is a big lister. She writes them in her spare time. Things like: Words that rhyme with xyz. Odd. Not just one here and there. Lots. And me: Font collections. Books. RSS subscriptions. Posterous. Collections fascinate me.

It’s incredibly satisfying being a ‘big lister’ in some way shape or form (if I can stretch the bird watching definition further, as Koeppel does anyway). I do hope that this book continues to resonate. Blair, I believe this is my ‘I get you Nick Hornby’, because, ‘I kind of get you Richard Koeppel’.

image source

Books Life Lists