2007 Reading List

The numbers:

Number of books read in 2007: 85
New reads: 65 (re-read lots of Ruth Rendell)

Number of books read in 2006: 64
Number of books read in 2005: 56

Average read per month: 7.08
Average read per week: 1.6

Number read in worst month: 1 (June – not sure why)
Number read in best month: 14 (December – holidays)

Male authors: 26
Female authors: 24

Fiction: 75
non-fiction: 10 (marked *; 2006: 4, 2005: 2)

Scifi/fantasy: 21
Mystery/crime: 36
Literature/fiction: 11
Graphic novels: 0
YA: 13

January
*One of the Family by Pearlie McNeil
Nightchild by James Barclay
Fledgling by Octavia Butler
Shooting star by Peter Temple
Words of the heart by Ouida Sebestyen
*Counting the rivers by Pearlie McNeil
Counting the rivers by Ouida Sebestyen
Maigret’s revolver by Georges Simenon
The black book by Ian Rankin

February
Mortal causes by Ian Rankin
The shape of dread by Marcia Muller
Maigret meets a milord by Georges Simenon
Maigret and the hundred gibbets by Georges Simenon
Maigret and Pietr the Lett by Georges Simenon
Shake hands for ever by Ruth Rendell
End in tears by Ruth Rendell
Out by Natsuo Kirino
A surfeit of lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

March
Kissing the gunner’s daughter by Ruth Rendell
The enemy in the blanket by Anthony Burgess
Simisola by Ruth Rendell
Road rage by Ruth Rendell
Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Those who watch by Robert Silverberg
Gifts by Ursula Le Guin
War trash by Ha Jin

April
Raising the stones by Sheri Tepper
Never let me go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Peeps by Scott Westerfeld
The falls by Ian Rankin
The face of the waters by Robert Silverberg
*Stasiland by Anna Funder
Wolf to the slaughter by Ruth Rendell

May
Rainbows end by Vernor Vinge
To fear a painted devil by Ruth Rendell
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
*One pair of hands by Monica Dickens
A killing kindness by Reginald Hill
A sleeping life by Ruth Rendell

June
The Ptolemies by Duncan Sprott

July
Glasshouse by Charles Stross
The Chinese gold murders by Robert Van Gulik
The lacquer screen by Robert Van Gulik
Cover her face by PD James
Shroud for a nightingale by PD James

August
The black tower by PD James
*Eat to live by Joel Fuhrman
Sundiver by David Brin

September
Revelation space by Alastair Reynolds
I am David by Anne Holm
Vida by Marge Piercy
The laughing policeman by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
Over sea, under stone by Susan Cooper
Greenwitch by Susan Cooper
The grey king by Susan Cooper
Silver on the tree by Susan Cooper
*The lost world of the Kalahari by Laurens Van Der Post
*The ethics of what we eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason
*A long way gone by Ishmael Beah

October
The night watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
The world waiting to be made by Simone Lazaroo
The gate to women’s country by Sheri S Tepper
About a boy by Nick Hornby
Wolf brother by Michelle Paver
Day watch by Sergei Lukyanenko
Hard time by Sara Paretsky
Killing orders by Sara Paretsky

November
Guardian angel by Sara Paretsky
Total recall by Sara Paretsky
*The concubine’s children by Denise Chong
Goose girl by Joy Dettman

December
Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Three women by Marge Piercy
The water’s lovely by Ruth Rendell
A place of execution by Val McDermid
Chronicler of the winds by Henning Mankell
The longest way home by Robert Silverberg
In the flesh by Ruth Rendell
A solitary blue by Cynthia Voigt
Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
*Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of seasonal eating by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman
Lullaby by Ed McBain
Vespers by Ed McBain
Widows by Ed McBain

Most memorable:
Out by Natsuo Kirino (enjoyed this, but it gets this status because it was somewhat gruesome)

Most life-changing:
Eat to live by Joel Fuhrman and The ethics of what we eat by Peter Singer and Jim Mason tie.

Particularly enjoyable:
Shooting star by Peter Temple (especially because the author himself sent me my copy!)
*Stasiland by Anna Funder (very evocative, made me want to go to Berlin)
Rainbows end by Vernor Vinge (I am a VV fan)
Glasshouse by Charles Stross (also a Stross fan)
About a boy by Nick Hornby (fun)
*Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of seasonal eating by Barbara Kingsolver, Steven Hopp, and Camille Kingsolver (great writing, thought provoking, and I learned a lot.)

I’m pleased that I read a few more non-fiction titles in 2007 than in previous years. I really enjoyed/got a lot out of all the non-fiction titles, so I think I might have to try and increase this number in 2008.

I don’t seem to have read much in languages other than English in 2007. This list doesn’t include all the Qing Nian Wen Zhai “Youth Digest” magazines I have read during my work commute, I suppose. I might have to seek out more Indonesian/Malaysian novels this year – the public library only seems to have schmaltzy romances which I can’t abide; maybe they will get other genres in if I ask nicely. And I might just start reading in Dutch this year, assuming we can do level 3 Dutch lessons sometime!

I believe a new Peter Temple novel is due this year, as is a new Culture novel by Iain M Banks – I can’t wait to read both of these!

Other people’s lists:
Jessamyn’s, Jiwa Rasa’s (in Malay), Angel’s , and Bibliobibuli’s Best of 2007. What was your reading year like?