Danielle's reading intentions for 2015

[Danielle]

This last year I drew up a reading list almost every month. I was actually constantly changing and searching for books that would fit certain challenge criteria. This was fun and worked well for most of the year. These last months however I ended up with too many English books. Another drawback of this method was that I didn't succeed in finishing my audio books within a year. And, ah well, I actually buy too many audio books....

So, for 2015 I drew up a list for a whole year, including:
- audio books bought in 2014
- books situated in other countries
- books for a challenge based on listopia and that were in some way already on my radar, so to speak.

Of course, the list will not meet all the criteria of all the challenges I care to do, but nonetheless a great deal will. As I easily give up on books, the list will change constantly. And I probably will read some other books as well, like very recently published books for my blog (and for the full deck challenge)

[Danielle]

This is the list I drew up in the middle of December:

1: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Read this when I was 17 and would like to read it again. I bought the audio version some time ago.
2: The Son-in-Law by Charity Norman; the audio book version
3: The Murder Bag by Tony Parsons; audio book version
4: The Songs of the Kings by Barry Unsworth; audio book version
5: Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates; audio book version
6: Where Women Are Kings by Christie Watson; audio book version
7: The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook; audio book version
8: The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad; audio book version
9: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; audio book version
10: Shadow of the Silk Road by Colin Thubron; audio book version
11: Murder Is Easy by Agatha Christie; audio book version
12: Orders from Berlin by Simon Tolkien; audio book version
13: Death in Holy Orders by P.D. James; audio book version
14: The Spy Who Loved by Clare Mulley; audio book version
15: South Riding by Winifred Holtby; audio book version
16: Fathers and Daughters by Anthea Fraser; audio book version
17: Burmese Days by George Orwell; audio book version
18: The Quincunx by Charles Palliser
19: An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
20: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed
21: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot
22: Zenzele: A Letter for My Daughter by J. Nozipo Maraire
23: The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer
24: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
25: The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
26: The Constant Gardener by John le Carré; audio book version
27: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
28: The Glass Room by Simon Mawer
29: The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill; audio book version
30: Autobiography by Morrissey; audio book version
31: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
32: Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
33: The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
34: Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf
35: The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland
36: What is the What by Dave Eggers
37: The Rebels' Hour by Lieve Joris
38: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal
39: Call of the Jungle by Sabine Kuegler
40: Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
41: Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende
42: Good Morning, Mr. Mandela: A Memoir by Zelda la Grange
43: The Lighthouse by P.D. James; audio book version
43: China Witness: Voices from a Silent Generation by Xinran
44: Berlin Noir: March Violets / The Pale Criminal / A German Requiem by Philip Kerr. I read March Violets already and still need to read the other two books.
45: The Discreet Hero: A Novel by Mario Vargas Llosa


Other books I could read or might read: Independent People; The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

Sorry for not adding links - I will add links further on.

[Danielle]

Currently I'm reading book nr.39: Call of the Jungle by Sabine Kuegler. I was very much in need of a memoir to read.

[Paul]

There are some interesting choices there Danielle. I normally have fair idea of what I am going to read each month too

[Catherine]

That's a nice looking list Danielle. Some on there I'd like to read. : )

[Danielle]

Thanks Catherine and Paul. I hope you both have a jolly good new reading year ahead of you; happy new year

[Danielle]

Derek wrote: "Danielle, I have read and recommend the secret agent. There's a couple of books on your list that I would love to read too: No. 1 and especially no. 26, which was highly recommended to me. All the ..."

Thanks Derek

[Danielle]

Read: Call of the Jungle

Gave up on: The Discreet Hero: A Novel

Currently reading: nr 25: The Grass is Singing

[Danielle]

No. It is a funny title though, but probably not for those who live or travel to Africa. According to Wikipedia the title is taken from a line of a poem by T.S. Elliot: Wasteland.

It is set in Zimbabwe in the 1950'ties. So it is about imperialism and discrimination

[Pink]

How are you finding The Grass is Singing? I read this last year with another book group and really liked Doris Lessing's writing, though the story was quite bleak.

[Danielle]

Pink wrote: "How are you finding The Grass is Singing? I read this last year with another book group and really liked Doris Lessing's writing, though the story was quite bleak."

It is the first book I read by Doris Lessing, and I enjoy it, both the reading and the story.

[Pink]

It's the only book I've read of hers too, but I'd like to try more in future.

[Danielle]

Read: The Grass is Singing and Orders from Berlin. Both 5 star reads. Like Pink, I would like to read other books by Doris Lessing. And I hope to find more books by Simon Tolkien.
Also read Death in Holy Orders, but didn't enjoy it much.

Gave up on: A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy and Good Morning, Mr. Mandela: A Memoir. Both books left me cold and that is no good sign for a memoir.

[Danielle]

About 4 hours left in The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville. Enjoying this one.

Gave up on: The Owl Killers

[Paul]

I have only read one book by Karen Maitland and was underwhelmed by it.

[Danielle]

I liked Karen Maitlands writing but I have a problem with characters chopping of hands and characters in fear of their life. It is an issue I mostly have with historical fiction situated in the middle ages, I'm afraid.

[Catherine]

Danielle wrote: "About 4 hours left in The Spy Who Loved: The Secrets and Lives of Christine Granville. Enjoying this one.

Gave up on: The Owl Killers"

I gave up on the Owl Killers too. I found it just too unrelentinglly depressing.

[Danielle]

Read: Burmese Days and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

I had started South Riding last week, but had to stop and when I picked up the audio book yesterday, I lost track. So I have to re-start. I'm going to do this later on this year. It looks promising.

Didn't get into Fathers and Daughters

[Danielle]

Leo Africanus, The Aftermath, The Tenderness of Wolves and What is the What wasn't for me.

I read Shadow of the Silk Road and The Coroner's Lunch. The Coroner's Lunch almost made me cry. I liked the idea of an elderly coroner and the setting. Shadow of the Silk Road was in many ways very interesting. I liked the second half of the book much better than the first; probably as I read quite some books on China these last years.

Currently reading The Glass Room

I don't think I will be able to read or cross every book on the list, but that's fine by me.

[Danielle]

I did about half of my list. And I'm quite pleased with the result.