Book Diary 2013

| | imported blog post Monday January 14, 2013 16:06 by sian and crooked rib

Because my Book Diary 2012 was so popular (with me anyway) I've decided to do it again this year. Here goes!

Casting Off: Elizabeth Jane Howard (new, I felt sad reaching the end of the series, like i was losing friends!)

The Women's Room: Marilyn French (the annual re-read begins!)

Wild Strawberries: Angela Thirkell (new & fun, reminded me a bit of Northanger Abbey)

The Girl with the Pearl Earring: Tracy Chevalier (new - how have i not read this before? Beautiful!)

The Siege: Helen Dunmore (new - just brilliant. Also a very good book to read when snowed in! Her writing is so powerful it's hard to believe she wasn't actually there. Helen will be speaking at the Women's Literature Festival.)

The Betrayal: Helen Dunmore (new - how great is it when you love a book and the sequel is fabulous too?)

Petite Mort: Beatrice Hitchman (new - evocative, poetic, a page turner with so many twists you'll be amazed! Beatrice will be appearing at the Women's Literature Festival)

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox: Maggie O'Farrell (new - been meaning to read for a long time. It's brilliant. Heartbreaking, wonderful.)

The Baby Laundry for Unmarried Mothers: Angela Patrick (new, for research. But reading this I wonder why there isn't more of a scandal about the outrageous and cruel way women were treated simply because they were pregnant? Why isn't this horrific treatment of women not more known about?)

Slipstream: Elizabeth Jane Howard (new, very similar to the Cazlet chronicles at the beginning and then goes on past that history)

The Great Gatsby: F Scott Fitzgerald (re-read, I saw the trailer of Luhrmann's AWFUL looking film and so retreated into the beautiful sanctuary of this wonderful, wonderful book)

Moon Tiger: Penelope Lively (re-read and just a wonderfully moving and evocative book)

Bad Pharma: Ben Goldacre (new and everyone must read this book, it is a very important work)

You can't read this book: Nick Cohen (new, very challenging, fascinating, thought provoking. Think we should all read it!)

Artful: Ali Smith (new, beautiful, lyrical, an innovative and exciting way of exploring literature's relationship to our lives)

Get Real: Eliane Glaser (new, angry and informative but sometimes felt like it didn't say much about what we can do to change the issues)

The Greatcoat: Helen Dunmore (new, creepy beautiful - I love her books!)

The young atheist's handbook: Alom Shaha (new, surprisingly moving in places. As an old atheist though it's not really pitched at me, but great for people questioning their beliefs)

A Treacherous Likeness: Lynn Shepherd (new, Lynn spoke at a Women's Literature Festival fundraiser and her book is fab - gripping, twisting and surprising.)

Gossip from the Forest: Sara Maitland (new, beautiful exploration of the history of our countryside and rural culture through fairytales and our forests)

Blood Sisters: Melanie Clegg (new, fantastic historical fiction of women's lives before and during the French Revolution)


Secret Diary of a Princess: Melanie Clegg (new, very enjoyable)

Before the Storm: Melanie Clegg (new, great read, historical fiction about French Revolution)

Pieces of Light: Charles Fernyhough (new - a fascinating and very human look at the new science of memory)