In December 2009 I did a recount: about 230 books. Ouch. I think books must breed in the dark. So I moved on to a new challenge: get the pile of books down below 200 by Jan 25, 2010, when I started a new full time job. I didn't quite make it - discounting the new books added to the pile, I had 3 books to go - but I did smash my previous number of books read in a year, so that's something.
The 2010 challenge was to read 50 books; that way it would only take 4 years to read all the books I own, instead of seven... o.O In July, however, being thoroughly sick of owning so many books I don't actually especially want to read, I culled, brining the list below 200.
In 2011, I've placed myself under a book buying embargo: no new books (except for from my top 4 authors) until the end of the year. I also went through and culled further, and am really, REALLY hoping to get the list under 125. I'd say 100, but sadly, a lot of the remaining books are non-fic and/or quite heavy going. So we shall see...
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes ~ Diana Gabaldon
- A Study In Scarlet ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- A Tale of Two Cities ~ Charles Dickens
- A Zest for Herbs ~ Caroline Holmes
- And Another Thing... ~ Eoin Colfer
- And The Angels Were Silent ~ Max Lucardo
- Artificial Sunshine ~ Maureen Dillon
- Assassination: Political Murder Through The Ages ~ Xavier Waterkeyn
- Bewitched & Betrayed ~ Lisa Shearin
- Black Markets ~ Goodwin
- Black Out ~ John Lawton
- Captivate ~ Carrie Jones
- Catcher in the Rye ~ J.D. Salinger
- Christ in the Old Testament ~ James A. Borland
- Christmas Every Morning ~ Bergren
- Command Decision ~ Elizabeth Moon
- Cordelia’s Honor ~ Lois McMaster Bujold
- Courageous ~ Jack Campbell
- Crime in Literature ~ Vincenzo Ruggiero
- Crime Investigation~ John D. Wright
- Crossroads of Twilight ~ Robert Jordan
- Dark Alchemy ~ Various
- Dark and Stormy Knights ~ various
- Dark Horse ~ Tami Hoag
- Death's Acre ~ Bass & Jefferson
- Deep Water ~ Debi Gliori
- Desire of Ages ~ Ellen G. White
- Do I Really Have To Teach Reading? ~ Chris Tovani
- Emma ~ Jane Austen
- Engaging The Enemy ~ Elizabeth Moon
- Entice ~ Carrie Jones
- Eucalyptus ~ Murray Bail
- Every Move You Make ~ David Malouf
- Fearless ~ Jack Campbell
- Feng Shui for Beginners ~ Richard Craze
- Flying Stories ~ Various
- Fool's Fate ~ Robin Hobb
- For The Love Of A Dog: Understanding Emotion In Your Best Friend ~ Patricia McDonnell
- Grave Peril ~ Jim Butcher
- Great Expectations ~ Charles Dickens
- Grimm's Fairy Tales
- Hard Times ~ Charles Dickens
- Hexed ~ various
- His Last Bow ~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
- How Dogs Learn ~Burch & Bailey
- How To Behave So Your Dog Behaves ~ Yin
- How Weather Works ~ Rene Chaboud
- Hunger ~ Michael Grant
- Hunting Down the Universe ~ Michael Hawkins
- I'm Not Good Enough ~ Jaynes
- Ice Bird ~ David Lewis
- In The Living Forest
- Ink ~ Hal Duncan
- Intelligence in Animals ~ Reader's Digest
- Ironside ~ Holly Black
- Jane Eyre ~ Charlotte Bronte
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell vol. 2 ~ Susanna Clarke
- Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell vol. 3 ~ Susanna Clarke
- Jurassic Park ~ Michael Crichton
- Lady Susan ~ Jane Austen
- Last of the Wilds ~ Trudi Canavan
- Life, The Universe and Everything ~ Douglas Adams
- Light - Science and Magic ~ Fil Hunter
- Malafrena ~ Ursula Le Guin
- Malinche ~ Laura Esquivel
- Mansfield Park ~ Jane Austen
- Marque and Reprisal ~ Elizabeth Moon
- Measuring Time ~ Helon Habila
- Mercy Alexander ~ George Tiffin
- Midnight's Children ~ Salman Rushdie
- Mission Canyon ~ Meg Gardiner
- Mockingjay ~ Suzanne Collins
- Mossflower ~ Brian Jacques
- Mostly Harmless ~ Douglas Adams
- Mrs Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolf
- My Life As a Supersized Superhero with Slobber ~ Bill Meyes
- Must Love Hellhounds ~ Meljean Brook
- Murano: A History of Glass ~ Gianfranco Toso
- Murano: The Glass-Making Island ~ Rosa Barovier Mentasti
- Mysteries of the Rainforest ~ Reader's Digest
- Naked City ~ Jim Butcher (ed)
- Nature and Art ~ Inchbald
- Nature's Masterpieces ~ Reader's Digest
- No Wonder They Call Him Saviour ~ Max Lucardo
- Northanger Abbey ~ Jane Austen
- Notes from A Big Country ~ Bill Bryson
- Odd and the Frost Giant ~ Neil Gaiman
- Oliver Twist ~ Charles Dickens
- On Fairy-Stories ~ Tolkien
- One Night With The King ~ Tommy Tenney
- Parasite Rex ~ Carl Zimmer
- Perfect Chemistry ~ Simone Elkeles
- Persuasion ~ Jane Austen
- Relentless ~ Jack Campbell
- Resistance to Civil Government ~ Thoreau
- Search for Life ~ Monica Grady
- Secret of the Wolves ~ Dorothy Hearst
- Secrets of the Sea ~ Reader's Digest
- Seven Little Australians ~ Ethel Turner
- Seventh Son ~ Orson Scott Card
- Shaman’s Crossing ~ Robin Hobb
- Ship of Destiny ~ Robin Hobb
- Signs and Symbols: What They Mean and How We Use Them ~ Mark O'Connell and Raje Airey
- Six Hours One Friday ~ Max Lucardo
- Smokescreen ~ Robert Sabbag
- So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish ~ Douglas Adams
- Somebody’s Horse ~ Morrison
- Son of a Witch ~ Gregory Maguire
- Spook’s Mistake ~ Joseph Delaney
- Strange Brew ~ various
- The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ~ Mark Twain
- The Alchemyst ~ Scott
- The Apocalyptic Vision and the Neutering of Adventism ~ George R. Knight
- The Architecture of Happiness ~ Alain De Botton
- The Art of Racing In The Rain ~ Garth Stein
- The Brain That Changes Itself ~ Norman Doidge
- The Count of Monte Cristo ~ Alexandre Dumas
- The Dark Is Rising Sequence ~ Susan Cooper
- The Dead-Tossed Waves ~ Carrie Ryan
- The Demon's Lexicon ~ Sarah Rees Brennan
- The Distant Beacon ~ Janette Oke
- The Five Love Languages of Children ~ Chapman & Campbell
- The Ghost With Trembling Wings ~ Scott Weidensaul
- The Glass Palace ~ Amitav Ghosh
- The Great Game ~ Frederick P. Hitz
- The God of Small Things ~ Arundati Roy
- The Golden Fool ~ Robin Hobb
- The Hunger Games ~ Suzanne Collins
- The Jesus I Never Knew ~ Philip Yancey
- The Lizard Cage ~ Karen Connelly
- The Mad Ship ~ Robin Hobb
- The Man With The Lead Stomach ~ Jean-Francois Parot
- The Mystery of Time ~ John Langone
- The Name of The Rose ~ Umberto Eco
- The Official CIA Manual of Trickery and Deception ~ Keith H. Melton
- The Picture of Dorian Gray ~ Oscar Wilde
- The Pirate ~ Christopher Wallace
- The Prelude ~ William Wordsworth
- The Restaurant at the End of the Universe ~ Douglas Adams
- The Ruins of Gorlan ~ John Flannagan
- The Sense of Being Stared At ~ Rupert Sheldrake
- The Serpent Scroll ~ David Edgren
- The Shipping News ~ Annie Proulx
- The Silmarillion ~ J.R.R. Tolkein
- The Wizard of Oz ~ L.F. Baum
- The World’s Most Mysterious Places ~ Readers’ Digest
- The Zookeeper’s War ~ Steven Conte
- Thunderhead ~ Mary O’Hara
- Tithe ~ Holly Black
- To Kill A Mockingbird ~ Harper Lee
- Tommo and Hawk ~ Bryce Courtney
- Trading in Danger ~ Elizabeth Moon
- Trainspotting ~ Irvine Welsh
- Trash ~
- Turtle Island ~ Sergio Ghione
- Understanding Exposure ~ Brian Peterson
- Valiant ~ Holly Black
- Valiant ~ Jack Campbell
- Vellum ~ Hal Duncan
- Victory Conditions ~ Elizabeth Moon
- Walden ~ Thoreau
- Weather ~ Various
- What Colour Is Your Parachute? ~ Bolles
- Where She Went ~ Gayle Forman
- Why Spy? ~ Frederick P. Hitz
- Wicked ~ Gregory Maguire
- Wild Animus ~ Rich Schapero
- Wild At Heart ~ John Eldridge
- Witches: History of a Persecution ~ Nigel Cawthorne
- Wolves ~ L. David Mech
- Wormwood ~ G.P. Taylor
- Young Miles ~ Lois McMaster Bujold
- Young Zaphod Plays It Safe ~ Douglas Adams
- Zombies vs. Unicorns ~ Holly Black (ed)
