Reading Roundup Post 2015

Boxing day afternoon has been a leisurely game of Upwords, bought for me many, many Christmases ago by my mother-in-law. Having conducted extensive living room research we have concluded that cooperation is superior to competition: today we worked together to build our words and achieved a score of 685, which exceeds previous competitive games where the best total game score (either just the two of us or with four players when Claire visited) was only 669.

As the end of the year fast approaches here is my roundup of the year's reading. 50 books, which was a surprise as I have felt somewhat lacklustre for much of the time. Of my 101 Books challenge I have read a mere 13, the most wonderful of which has to be The Lord of the Rings, which absorbed Monkey and myself completely for several weeks. The best non-fiction was definitely 'This Changes Everything' by Naomi Klein, but a fiction choice is more tricky. I seem to have read a lot of more 'experimental' type writing, like 'A Girl is a Half-formed Things' and 'Dept. of Speculation', which were more challenging than enjoyable as such, so I think I will have to plump for 'A Tale for the Time Being' by Ruth Ozeki. Lots of interesting books in the pipeline; 'H is for Hawk' acquired from my dad and 'Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and her family feuds' by Lyndall Gordon lent to me by Julie, that will definitely lead to some more poetry reading. Mum also sent me a paper copy of this fascinating article about Jane Austen's novel Emma, which has really inspired me to give her another chance. 

On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz
The Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
We are all Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
The Hen Who Dreamed She Could Fly by Sun-Mi Hwang
Hunger by Knut Hansun
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
Man at the Helm by Nina Stibbe
Twelve Moons by Mary Oliver
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Weathering by Lucy Wood
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Lighthouse by Alison Moore
Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Last Kings of Sark by Rosa Rankin-Gee
Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor
Love, Again by Doris Lessing
Kierkegaard: a guide for the perplexed by Claire Carlisle
Here Be Dragons by Stella Gibbons
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing by Eimear McBride
Small Ceremonies by Carol Shields
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital by Lorrie Moore
The Explorer by James Smythe
Too Many Magpies by Elizabeth Baines
The First Bad Man by Miranda July
This is not the End of the Book by Jen-Claude Carriere
Post capitalism by Paul Mason
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula LeGuin
Things to Make and Break by May Lan Tan
Compartment No. 6 by Rosa Liksom
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel
A Song for Issy Bradley by Carys Bray
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Run by Ann Patchett
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
Paper Towns by John Green
Lost Cat by Caroline Paul and Wendy MacNaughton
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig