Books read 2015 - 2019

FROM NOVEMBER 2015 (when I first started blogging!)

Irma Voth - Miriam Toews

My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante

The Story of a New Name - Elena Ferrante

The Glorious Heresies - Lisa McInerney

The End of Vandalism - Tom Drury

Night Waking - Sarah Moss

Bodies of Light - Sarah Moss

Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay - Elena Ferrante

The Story of the Lost Child - Elena Ferrante

The Heart Goes Last - Margaret Atwood (Kindle)

Exposure - Helen Dunmore

Every Eye - Isobel English (Persephone)

There Were No Windows - Norah Hoult (Persephone)

The Centre of the Bed - Joan Bakewell (NF)

Signs for Lost Children - Sarah Moss

Under a Silent Moon - Elizabeth Haynes

Into the Darkest Corner - Elizabeth Haynes

The Family on Paradise Pier - Dermot Bolger

The Hummingbird - Kati Hiekkapelto

Joy and Josephine - Monica Dickens

The Winds of Heaven - Monica Dickens (Perspehone)

The Shell Seekers - Rosamund Pilcher

The Happy Prisoner - Monica Dickens

One of the Family - Monica Dickens

In the Morning I'll be Gone - Adrian McKinty

Rain Dogs - Adrian McKinty

I Hear the Sirens in the Street - Adrian McKinty

Emma and Kate - Monica Dickens

Closed at Dusk - Monica Dickens

Last Year When I was Young - Monica Dickens

The Fancy - Monica Dickens

No More Meadows - Monica Dickens

Thursday Afternoons - Monica Dickens

Thin Air - Ann Cleeves

Meadowland: the Private Life of an English Field - John Lewis-Stempel (NF)

Three Houses (NF) - Angela Thirkell

Burnt Diaries (NF) - Emma Tennant

In a Fish Bone Church - Catherine Chidgey

The Shadows in the Street - Susan Hill

My Father's House (NF) - Miranda Seymour

The Bend for Home (NF) - Dermot Healy

Martin John - Anakana Schofield

The Museum of You - Carys Bray

A Song for Issy Bradley - Carys Bray

Malarky - Anakana Schofield

The Running Hare (NF)- John Lewis-Stempel

Six Facets of Light (NF) - Ann Wroe

The Power of the Dog - Thomas Savage

My Name is Lucy Barton - Elizabeth Strout

Nobody is Ever Lost - Catherine Lacey

Vinegar Girl - Anne Tyler

Rebel Footprints (NF) - David Rosenberg

Dreamstreets: A Journey through Britain's Village Utopias (NF) - Jacqueline Yallop

The Outrun - Amy Liptrott

The House at the Edge of the World - Julia Rochester

The Woman who Walked into the Sea - Mark Douglas-Home

The Railwayman's Wife - Ashley Hay

Emerald Square - Lar Redmond (NF)

Accidents in the Home - Tessa Hadley

In the Woods - Tana French

Iris and Ruby - Rosie Thomas

The Gardens of the Dead - William Broderick

A New View of the Irish Language - (Eds) Caoilfhionn Nic Phaiden & Sean O' Cearnaigh (NF)

By Night Unstarred - Patrick Kavanagh

Sligo: Land of Yeat's Desire - John Cowell (NF)

An Unconsidered People: The Irish in London - Catherine Dunne (NF)

The Lives of Women - Christine Dwyer Hickey

Grace Williams Says it Loud - Emma Henderson

Tea at Four o Clock - Janet McNeil

The Small Widow - Janet McNeil

Hawthorn and Child - Keith Ridgeway

Oh Dear, Silvia - Dawn French

Revenge of the Tide - Elizabeth Haynes

The Likeness - Tana French

Advice for Strays - Justine Kilkerr

Holy Orders - Benjamin Black

Even the Dead - Benjamin Black

Faithful Place - Tana French

Tidal Zone - Sarah Moss

Gun Street Girl - Adrian McKinty

Nightingale Wood - Stella Gibbons

Westwood - Stella Gibbons

The Plot: A Biography of My Father's English Acre - Madeleine Bunting (NF)

The New Moon with the Old - Dodie Smith

A Question of Identity - Susan Hill

The Soul of Discretion - Susan Hill

The Sixth Lamentation - William Broderick

The Matchmaker - Stella Gibbons

The Betrayal of Trust - Susan Hill

Birders: Tales of a Tribe (NF) - Mark Cocker

The Burning Boys - John Fuller

Freedom - Jonathan Franzen

Barkskins - Annie Proulx

The Dark Circle - Linda Grant

Days without End - Sebastian Barry

Elizabeth Jane Howard: a Dangerous Innocence (NF) - Artemis Cooper

Daddy's Gone a Hunting - Penelope Mortimer (Persephone)

Keeping on, Keeping On - Alan Bennett (NF)

TOTAL from November 2015 to December 31st 2016 = 97 books read

 JANUARY 2017

Long Live Great Bardfield - Tirzah Garwood (Persephone)

The Godwits Fly - Robin Hyde (Persephone)

A Harp in Lowndes Square - Rachel Ferguson (Furrowed Middlebrow)

FEBRUARY 2017

Love, Nina - Nina Stibbe

The Fledgling -  Frances Faviell  (Furrowed Middlebrow)

Stuart : A Life Backwards - Alexander Masters (NF)

Every Eye - Isobel English (Persephone) (a re-read)

Don't Die in Autumn - Eric Dempsey (NF)

Somewhere Towards the End - Diana Athill (NF)

Estuary: out from London to the Sea - Rachel Lichenstein (NF)

MARCH 2017

A Brush with Nature - Richard Mabey (NF)

The Dogs of Littlefield - Suzanne Berne

My Salinger Year - Joanna Rakoff (NF)

A Line Made by Walking  - Sara Baume

The Three of Us: A Family Story - Julia Blackburn (NF)

Man at the Helm - Nina Stibbe

Wild Food - John Lewis-Stempel (NF)

Common Ground - Rob Cowen (NF)

APRIL 2017

The Blackbird Singularity - Matt Wiven

A Footman for the Peacock - Rachel Ferguson

Evenfield - Rachel Ferguson

We Have Always Lived in the Castle - Shirley Jackson

The Rivers of London - David Aaronovitch

The Mad Lomasneys - Frank O Connor

The Secret Place - Tana French

Bewildering Cares - Winifred Peck

MAY 2017

No News at Throat Lake - Lawrence Donegan (NF)

Miss Mole - E.H. Young

Dadland - Keggie Carew (NF)

All We Shall Know - Donal Ryan

JUNE 2017

Making Conversation - Christine Longford (Persephone)

 The Fortnight in September - J.C. Sherriff

(Persephone)

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair - Joel Dicker

The Wood for the Trees: The Long View of Nature from a Small Wood - Richard Fortey (NF)

Marnie - Winston Graham

A Life Discarded: 148 Diaries Found in a Skip (NF) - Alexander Masters

Bag Eye at the Wheel - Colin Grant

Summer of my Amazing Luck - Miriam Toews

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins (I know; I'm very late to this party!)

About Time: Ageing Disgracefully - Irma Kurtz (NF)

How to be Both - Ali Smith

JULY 2017

Turned out nice again (NF) - Richard Mabey

Kerracher Man (NF) - Eric Macleod

This Must be the Place- Maggie O Farrell

A World of Love - Elizabeth Bowen

The Ballad of Lee Cotton - Christopher Wilson

Spilling the Beans (NF) Clarissa Dickson-Wright

Blood Ties - Jennifer Lash

Abide with Me - Elizabeth Strout ( re read)

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (Kindle)

AUGUST 2017

The Little Girls - Elizabeth Bowen

Amy and Isabelle - Elizabeth Strout (Kindle)

Bertie, May and Mrs. Fish. - Xandra Bingley

Round Ireland in Low Gear - Eric Newby (NF)

The Ladies of Llangollen - Elizabeth Mavot (NF)

In My House - Alex Hourston - (Kindle)

According to Yes - Dawn French

The Girl who Saved the King of Sweden - Jonas Jonassen

A Death at the Palace - M.H. Bayliss

Place of the Heart - Steinunn Sigurdardottir

Burial Rites - Hannah Kent

SEPTEMBER 2017

Reader for Hire - Raymond Jean

Landskipping - Anna Pavord - (NF)

Love of Country: A Hebridean Journey - Madeleine Bunting (NF)

Timepiece: A Dublin Memoir - John Banville (NF)

The Long Drop - Denise Mina

Anything is Possible - Elizabeth Strout

The Wolf Pit - Will Cohu

Walk the Lines: London Underground, Overground - Mark Mason (NF)

Molly Keane: A Life - Sally Phipps (NF)

OCTOBER 2017

Augustown - Kei Miller

Midwinter - Fiona Melrose

A Life of My Own - Claire Tomalin (NF)

The Last London - Iain Sinclair (NF)

Moon Over Soho - David Aaaronovitch

The Nakano Thrift Shop - Hiromi Kawakami

Land of Plenty - Journey through the Fields and Food of Modern Britain - Charlie Pye-Smith (NF)

Just Off for a Walk - Stephen Reynolds (NF)

The Light Between Oceans - M. L. Steadman

Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch

Broken Homes - Ben Aaronovitch

NOVEMBER 2017

Foxglove Summer - Ben Aaronovitch

The Hanging Tree - Ben Aaronovitch

At the Edge: Walking the Atlantic Coast of Ireland and Scotland - Joseph Murphy (NF)

The Weather House - Nan Shepherd

New Finnish Grammar - Diego Marani

Nora Webster - Colm Toibin

DECEMBER 2017

Smile - Roddy Doyle

All the Birds Singing - Evie Wyld

Salvage the Bones - Jesmyn Ward

The Gift of Reading - Robert McFarlane (NF)

The King of the Badgers - Philip Hensher (re-read)

Rumer Godden: A Storyteller's Life - Ann Chisholm (NF)

TOTAL for 2017 = 92 books read

JANUARY 2018

James Ravilious: A Life - Robin Ravilious (NF)

Greenbanks - Dorothy Whipple (Persephone)

Because of the Lockwoods - Dorothy Whipple

High Wages - Dorothy Whipple

Illumination Nights - Alice Hoffman

Blackbird House - Alice Hoffman

A Map of the World - Jane Hamilton

FEBRUARY 2018

Grief is the Thing with Feather - Max Porter

A Manual for Cleaning Women - Lucia Berlin

MARCH 2018

A Week in December- Sebastian Faulks

Scottsboro - Ellen Feldman

On the Marshes: A Journey into England's Waterways - Carol Donaldson (NF)

The Excellent Lombards - Jane Hamilton

Nothing But Grass - Will Cohu

The Giant of Aberdeeen County - Tiffany Baker


APRIL 2018

A Winter Away - Elizabeth Fair

Native Heath - Elizabeth Fair

Beatrice - Noelle Harrison


Fair and Tender Ladies - Lee Smith

Seaview House - Elizabeth Fair

The Mingham Air - Elizabeth Fair

When the Floods Came - Clare Morrall

Some Luck - Jane Smiley (1st in a trilogy called 'The Last Hundred Years')

MAY 2018

Early Warning - Jane Smiley (2nd in trilogy)

Golden Age - Jane Smiley (3rd in trilogy)

The Last of the Lockwoods - Claire Morrall

Simon ; the genius in my basement - Alex Masters (NF)

Spring Tide -  Cilla and Rolf Borjlind

JUNE 2018

Dark Places - Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

The Light Years - Elizabeth Jane Howard (Book 1 of 'The Cazalet Chronicle')

Marking Time - Elizabeth Jane Howard (Book 2 of The Cazalet Chronicle')

Confusion - Elizabeth Jane Howard (Book 3 of 'The Cazelet Chronicle')

Casting Off - Elizabeth Jane Howard (Book 4 of 'The Cazelet Chronicle')

All Change - Elizabeth Jane Howard (Book 5 of 'The Cazalet Chronicle')

The Balkan Trilogy - Olivia Manning

JULY 2018

A Dance to the Music of Time 12 Volumes - Anthony Powell

A Question of Upbringing
A Buyer's Market
The Acceptance World
At Lady Molly's
Cassanova's Chinese Restaurant
The Kingly Ones
The Valley of Bones
The Soldier's Art
The Military Philosphers
Books Do Furnish A Room
Temporary Kings
Hearing Secret Harmonies

The Lives of Stella Bain - Anita Shreve

Please Mr.Postman - Alan Johnson (NF)

Helpless - Barbara Gowdy

Claxron: Field Notes from a Small Planet - Mark Cocker (NF)

The Girl on the Wall: One Life's Rich Tapestry - Jean Baggott (NF) (K)

Ablutions - Patrick De Witt (K)

Elizabeth is Missing - Emma Healey (K)

Brampton Wick - Elizabeth Fair (K)

Anny: A Life of Anne Thackeray - Henrietta Garnett

Brendan Behan's Island: An Irish Sketch Book - Paul Hogarth and Brendan Behan (NF)

London Particulars: Memoirs of An Edwardian Boyhood (NF) -  C. H. Rolph

A Bit on the Side - William Trevor (SS)

The Hill Bachelors - William Trevor (SS)

The Life and Crimes of Agatha Christie - Charles Osborne (NF)

AUGUST 2018

The Last September - Elizabeth Bowen

The Mulberry Empire - Phillip Hensher

Winter's Bone - Daniel Woodrell

Cold Earth - Ann Cleeves

Hester and Harriet - Hilary Spiers (K)

The Greenhouse - Audur Ava Olafsdottir (K)

The Cove - Ron Rash (K)

An Event in Autumn - Henning Mankell (K)

We are all Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler (K)

Daybreak - Viktor Arnar Ingolfsson (K)

Human Remains - Elizabeth Haynes (K)

A Place Near Heaven: A Year in West Cork - Damien Wright (NF)

The Green Road into the Trees: A Walk Through England - Hugh Thomson (K) (NF)

The Man Who Went into the West: A Life of R.S. Thomas - Byron Rogers (K) (NF)

The Return - Hakan Nesser (K)

The Last Will - Lisa Marklund

Burned - Thomas Enger

My Name is Leon - Kit De Waal

The Invisible Ones - Stef Penney

SEPTEMBER 2018

The Echo Maker - Richard Powers

Things We Set on Fire - Deborah Reed (K)

The Tottenham Outrage - M. H. Baylis

Black Day at the Bosphorus Cafe - M. H. Baylis

Unspoken - Luke Allnut (NF) (K)

The Lie of the Land - Amanda Craig

Reservoir 13 - Jon McGregor

The Friendly Ones - Philip Hensher

Dashing for the Post: The Letters of Patrick Leigh-Fermor (NF)

From a Low and Quiet Sea - Donal Ryan

Whistle in the Dark - Emma Healey

All the Good Things - Claire Fisher

OCTOBER 2018

Dashing for the Post: The  Letters of Patrick Leigh-Fermor (NF)

The Paper Lovers - Gerard Woodward

Clock Dance - Anne Tyler

The Trick to Time - Kit De Waal

Respectable - Lynsey Hanley (NF)

A Time of Gifts - Patrick Leigh-Fermor (NF)

Out of the Woods: The Armchair Guide to Trees  - Will Cohu (NF)

The English Village: History and Tradition - Martin Wainwright (NF)

The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton - Kathryn Hughes (NF)

NOVEMBER 2018

Lethal White - Robert Galbraith

The Clock Maker's Daughter - Kate Morton

Transcription - Kate Atkinson

The G File - Hakan Nesser

DECEMBER 2018

Cotter's England - Christina Stead (An original green Virago edition; I haven't read one of these for ages)

The Great Western Beach: A Memoir of a Cornish Childhood Between the Wars - Emma Smith (NF)

As Green as Grass: Growing Up Before, During and After the Second World War - Emma Smith (NF)

The Salt Path - Rayner Winn (NF)

Greengates - R.C. Sherriff (Persephone)

A Sky Full of Birds: In Search of Britain's Great Bird Gatherings - Matt Merritt (NF)

TOTAL BOOKS READ - 2018 = 113

JANUARY 2019

Where Poppies Blow: The British Soldier, Nature and the Great War - John Lewis - Stempel (NF) Present from eldest grandson's girlfriend at Christmas.

Lies Sleeping - Ben Aaronovitch  (No.7 in 'The Rivers of London series).

Anthony Powell - Hilary Spurling (NF) Present from eldest grandson at Christmas.

The Seagull - Ann Cleeves

The House in the Country - Joyce Playfair  (Perspehone)

Style Me Vintage Accessories: A Guide to Collectable Hats, Gloves, Bags, Shoes, Costume Jewellery and More - Naomi Thompson and Liz Tregenza. (NF)

FEBRUARY 2019

Basil Street Blues - Michael Holroyd (NF)

Princes in the Land - Joanna Cannan (Persephone)

The Dun Cow Rib: A Very Natural Childhood - John Lister-Kaye (NF) Christmas present from OH

Molly Fox's Birthday - Deirdre Madden

Oliver, Loving - Stephan Merril Block

MARCH 2019

Lady Rose and Mrs. Memmary - Rose Ferguson (Persephone)

The Corner: A Year in the Life of a Inner-City Neighbourhood - David Simon and Edward Burns

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

Bricks and Mortar - Helen Ashton (Persephone)

The Woman who Kept Everything - Jane Gilley (Kindle)

The Kindness of Place - Damien Enright (NF)

Hidden Nature: A Voyage of Discovery - Alys Fowler (NF) Birthday present

Bookworm: A Memoir of Childhood Reading - Lucy Mangan (NF) Birthday present

APRIL 2019

Manhattan Transfer - John Dos Passos

An Imaginative Experience - Mary Wesley

The Mark and the Void - Paul Murray

Winter Break - Bernard MacLaverty

Wilding - Isabella Tree (NF) (Kindle)

Three Things about Elsie - Joanne Cannon

MAY 2019

Song of the Rolling Earth: a Highland Odyssey - Sir John Lister Kay (NF) Birthday present

A Sensible Life - Mary Wesley

Alive, Alive, O - Diana Athill (NF)

The Camomile Lawn - Mary Wesley

Wildings: The Secret Garden of Eileen Soper - Duff Hart-Davies (NF)

Cold Earth - Sarah Moss

Go, Went, Gone - Jenny Erpenbeck

A Green and Pleasant Land: How England's Gardeners Fought the Second World War - Ursula Buchan (NF)

JUNE 2019

Underland - Robert Macfarlane (NF)

To the River - Olivia Laing (NF)

The Ice Princess - Camilla Lackberg

The Lost Boy - Camilla Lackberg

Wild Fire - Ann Cleeves

The Durrells of Corfu - Michael Haag (NF) (Present from Vix of Vintage Vixen)

The Buried Angels - Camilla Lackberg

Diamond Street: The Hidden World of Hatton Garden (NF) - Rachel Lichenstein

JULY 2019

The Heart's Invisible Furies - John Boyne

Care of Wooden Floors - Will Wiles

At the Water's Edge: a walk in the wild - John Lister Kaye (NF) (Birthday present)

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee (gave up; it didn't grip me in any way)

One Green Field - Edward Thomas - (NF)

Let Us Now Praise Famous Gardens - Vita Sackville West (NF)

Invitation to the Waltz - Rosamond Lehmann - (Green Virago collection)

The Weather  in the Streets - Rosamond Lehmann (Green Virago collection)

A Note in Music - Rosamond Lehmann (Green Virago collection)

AUGUST 2019