Books read in 2011

It's a bit late, but I should try and analyse my booklist for 2011! First of all, I should point out that I think I might have missed out some books, as I ended up being a bit busy at times and got behind with keeping my list up to date. Secondly, the list below is in the wrong order! I've read 49 books this year.

1. Deep Waters - Barbara Nadel
2. The Black Book - Orhan Pamuk
3. Arabesk - Barbara Nadel
4. A 3rd helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul
5. Nation - Terry Pratchett
6. A Chemical Prison - Barbara Nadel
7. The Wizard of the Crow - Ngugi Wa Thiong'o
8. Cosmic - Frank Cottrell Boyce
9. Framed - Frank Cottrell Boyce
10. Skinner's Festival - Quintin Jardine
11. Carbon Diaries 2017 - Saci Lloyd
12. Carbon Diaries 2015 - Saci Lloyd
13. Monsters of Men - Patrick Ness
14. The Ask and the Answer - Patrick Ness
15. The Knife of Never Letting Go - Patrick Ness
16. When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit - Judith Kerr
17. The Bride's Farewell - Meg Rosoff
18. Out of Shadows - Jason Wallace
19. The Butterfly Tattoo - Philip Pullman
20. A Rush of Blood - Quintin Jardine
21. The Secret Adversary - Agatha Christie
22. The Pale Horse - Agatha Christie
23. Belshazzar's Daughter - Barbara Nadel
24. The Secret Countess - Eva Ibbotson
25. No and Me - Delphine de Vigan
26. Skinner's Rules - Quintin Jardine
27. HIVE: Zero Hour - Mark Walden
28. HIVE: Rouge - Mark Walden
29. Pretty Dead Things - Barbara Nadel
30. Petrified - Barbara Nadel
31. Dance with Death - Barbara Nadel
32. The Other Side of You - Salley Vickers
33. An Expert in Murder - Nicola Upson
34. HIVE: Dreadnought - Mark Walden
35. The Diamond Takers - Karen Wallace
36. The Time Machine - HG Wells
37. Maps for Lost Lovers - Nadeem Aslam
38. Season of the Songbirds - Nadeem Aslam
39. Some Kind of Black - Diran Adebayo
40. The Lacuna - Barbara Kingsolver
41. Toast - Nigel Slater
42. Her Fearful Symmetry - Audrey Niffenegger

So...

Books by men - 29
Books by women - 20
Books by Barbara Nadel - 7
Books by Mark Walden - 3
Books by Quentin Jardin - 3
Crime/thrillers - 14 (ish?)
Children's/young people books - 18
A prize for literary merit? - Would probably go to Patrick Ness, for the trilogy starting with The Knife of Never Letting Go.

But this year has mostly been about escapism, relaxing from the stress of my day to day job! (Until this summer that is!)

HIVE: Zero Hour by Mark Walden

Well worth waiting for, can't wait for the next one now! Love reading about Otto Malpense and his friends. This one had a bit of an unexpected turn - well, two really. Look forward to finding out what happens next!

HIVE: Rogue by Mark Walden

At last, I was able to borrow Rogue from the school library! Otto on the dark side - not good! But a great story, once again! Now I just need to get my hands on Zero Hour ...

Books Read in 2010

My review of books in 2010 ...

• 37. Destination Unknown - Agatha Christie
• 36. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
• 35. Brown Eyes - ed Nicole Moore
• 34. When She Was White - Judith Stone
• 33. Father Brown Stories - GK Chesterton
• 32. Looking for JJ - Anne Cassidy
• 31. The Last Gospel - David Gibbons
• 30. Magic: New Stories - ed JK Rowling
• 29. The Hours - Michael Cunningham
• 28. City of the Beasts - Isabelle Allende
• 27. BogChild - Siobhan Dowd
• 26. A Swift Pure Cry - Siobhan Dowd
• 25. The Shoe Queen - Anna Davis
• 24. Girl Meets Cake - Susie Day
• 23. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle
• 22. The London Eye Mystery - Siobhan Dowd
• 21. Daughter of Fortune - Isabel Allende
• 20. The Amnesia Clinic - James Scudamore
• 19. Inkdeath - Cornelia Funke
• 18. The Queen and I - Sue Townsend
• 17. Semi-Detached - Paul Heathorn
• 16. The Stuff of Nightmares - Malorie Blackman
• 15. City of Stars - Mary Hoffman
• 14. The Water Bearer - Dianne Hofmeyr
• 13. August Heat - Andrea Camilleri
• 12. Escape Velocity - Mark Walden
• 11. The Overlord Protocol - Mark Walden
• 10. Completely Unexpected Tales - Roald Dahl
• 9. The Great Automatic Grammatizator and Other Stories - Roald Dahl
• 8. The Constant Gardener - John Le Carre
• 7. That Thing Around Your Neck - Chimamanda Ndozi Adichi
• 6. The Cypriot - Andreas Koumi
• 5. Inkspell - Cornelia Funke
• 4. We Need to Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver
• 3. Flying with Icarus and Other Stories - Curdella Forbes
• 2. The Shakespeare Secret - JL Carrell
• 1. Flood Child - Emily Diamand

So. What have I read this year?

Children's books - 17
Poetry - 1
Short stories - 6
Non-fiction - 1
International - 6
Crime/mystery/suspense - 8 (I think, debateable I suppose!)
Men - 15
Women - 22

Three books by Siobhan Dowd, two anthologies by Roald Dahl, two more in the HIVE series by Mark Walden, two more by Isabel Allende.

Think what is particularly interesting is that I've had quite a tough working year; whilst I'm still travelling on public transport, I've been spending more time marking and less time reading. Also, there have been many times I've been to see the school librarian and simply said, I need something easy that will transport me quickly but not need too much thought, hence lots of children's books and more short stories than normal. I haven't read too many biographies this year; in fact it appears I have only read one non fiction book this year, about Sandra Laing in South Africa.

Next year I hope to read a bit more non-fiction, and some longer novels. I got a couple of great books for Christmas - I hope to read them now and write reviews soon; I also have a couple of good non-fiction books that I need to finish! So, this time next year then for our review of 2011?

Review of 2009

Review of 2008

Review of 2007

Escape Velocity by Mark Walden

Dr Nero has been captured! And how can Otto do the computations that he is capable of? Another gripping read! I love this series! Very exciting and full of adventure, as well as being quick and easy to read!

The Overlord Protocol by Mark Walden

My librarian has finally got some more HIVE books! Otto and Wing have managed to leave the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, but will the staff at HIVE be able to protect them from afar? Another great read from this series!

Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden

Otto is kidnapped and taken to a top secret underground location, where he discovers that other skilled children have also been taken to be trained ... He makes friends, and together, they plan their escape.

Loved this book, which I read on a long bus journey north, and was disappointed when I realised it is the first in a series and not all my questions were answered. Looking forward to the next one!