Okay, you may have noticed the absence of my 2011 resolutions, that's because I'm not making any. I don't stick to them so what's the point? One of my resolutions last year was to read more and I've got to be honest I didn't make much headway with that for one reason or another.
2010 seemed like a crazy year - it flew by and I was busy with school activities, family history, work and by the time I settle down in the evening my head just isn't in the right place for reading anything other than Grazia or Heat but I am going to try harder this year. Okay, so all those things that filled my head in 2010 haven't gone away but I'm going to make more time to read and work on the HUGE pile of books that are waiting for me.
I've just finished reading Breaking Dawn for the second time and am now deliberating over what to read next. Here's my 2011 reading list;
Flowers in The Attic - Virginia Andrews
Garden of Shadows - Virginia Andrews
Seeds of Yesterday - Virginia Andrews
Petals on the Wind - Virginia Andrews
If There be Thorns - Virginia Andrews
Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
Gangs of Birmingham - Philip Gooderson
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
One Day - David Nicholls
The Holocaust - Martin Gilbert
The Last Curtsey - Fiona MacCarthy
Elizabeth the Queen - Alison Weir
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte
Emma - Jane Austen
The Lady Elizabeth - Alison Weir
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton
Elizabeth Taylor biography - Alexander Walker
Things I Want My Daughters Know - Elizabeth Noble
Far From the Madding Crowd - Thomas HardyPenguin Poems for Life - Laura Barber
Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger
Children of England: The Heirs of King Henry VIII - Alison Weir
America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis - Sarah Bradford
On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan
The Mill on the Floss - George Eliot
Love in the Present Tense - Catherine Ryan Hyde
The Photograph - Penelope Lively
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Since I Don't Have You - Louise Candlish
Bad Science - Ben Goldacre
For One More Day - Mitch Albom
Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Albom
The Making of Modern Britain - Andrew Marr
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel
Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn - Alison Weir
The Secret History of Georgian London - Dan Cruickshank
The Mitfords - Charlotte Mosley
Black Diamonds - Catherine Bailey
Wicked - Jilly Cooper
That's quite a list and looking at that now I think I'm going to plump for The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to start with. I'd better get cracking!
If you've ready any of these do stop and leave me a comment. If one of them is cruddy then let me know and I may not waste my time! Have you got a reading list this year?
love & kisses
Mrs M x
Right, Anne of Green Gables is my favourite book EVAR so I think you're on to a good one, there! Also, having studied Jane Eyre a few times for various courses I can also confirm that it is amazing. I have 'America's Queen' on my reading list as well - I meant to read it over Christmas but ended up reading something much less demanding due to my cold, and I've also had Wolf Hall on my TBR pile for about 6 months. This is a good idea to list, I'm looking forward to seeing how you get on with it.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roisin. I've read both Anne of Green Gables and Jane Eyre before, but we're talking ages ago, probably in the 1980s so I want to re-read them because I probably didn't get much out of them at the time.
ReplyDeleteI'm not nearly so organised! I make lists of books I have read, but dont plan ahead other than in a very general 'I'' read that one day' style.
ReplyDeleteI love the Tenant of Wildefell Hall when I read it a few years ago, those Brontes are such angry ladies. The Secret History is one of my favourite books ever. And Far from teh Madding Crowd has some beautiful description of rural England. Top lists, and I'm glad to see it isn't all too 'worthy' - I tend to balance out by reading one sensible book followed by some enjoyable dross!
Thanks Margaret, that's good to know that you have enjoyed some of the books I am yet to read. I try to read a good mix, depending on my mood. I'm quite into history but I'm also not opposed to a light "chick lit" and love to read the classics too!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good list.
ReplyDeleteI love Emma! My second favourite Austen after Pride & Prejudice.
I think re-reading Anne as an adult could be quite interesting, as I got older I read the later books in the series and got quite a lot out of it, but think I would prefer them less now than when I was a teen. Lots of good choices in that list though - have you read any Nancy Mitford?
ReplyDeleteWow, that's some list! The Secret History is totally brilliant, I love it. I hardly read anything these days, maybe I'll get back to it when I'm getting more sleep..?
ReplyDelete