All

I’m writing my posts in reverse order, but hopefully by now I’ll already have unveiled my favourite books read in 2009, and before the end of the year I’ll have listed them all. Today is a little meme I’ve done since I’ve been blogging (here’s last year’s).

Do have a go at this meme, if the will so takes you, and let me know any fun questions that you add in… The last question, about blogging, is a new one for this year.

– How many books read in 2009?
165 at the moment – possibly a lifetime record, but does include 36 plays

– Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
129/36 – which is actually the same number of non-fic as last year, though rather more fiction

– Male/Female authors?
69 books by male authors, 92 books by female authors, and four by mixed authors. Oddly, or perhaps not, the first half of the year (my masters course) was male-dominated, and the second half (my doctoral course) female-dominated…

– Favourite book read?
Howards End is on the Landing by Susan Hill

– Least favourite?
A few I didn’t get on with this year, I must admit. Tea and Tranquillisers by Dianne Hapwood (though Verity had more luck), It’s Hard To Be Hip Over Thirty by Judith Viorst irritated me beyond belief, but I am not over thirty, so perhaps that’s why.

– Oldest book read?
Will be Black Ey’d Susan by Douglas Jerrold, from 1829.

– Newest book read?
Currently reading a promising novel, due for publication next summer…

– Longest book title?
I must confess, I haven’t done a thorough count of all the titles, but I’m pretty confident that Wendy Gan wins with the snappily-titled Women, Privacy and Modernity in Early Twentieth-Century British Writing. Phew!

– Shortest book title?
Last year I managed a mere three letters, but this year I have to add one to that, with Loot by Joe Orton.

– How many re-reads?
31 this year, which is far more than I’ve ever done before. I’ve obviously got to that stage of life… (I’ll be posting some guest bloggers on re-reading soon…) Too many to list, but they’ll be indicated on my end of year list, in the unlikely event that anybody is desperate to know which they are.

– Most books read by one author this year?
For the second year running, AA Milne comes out on top – this year with five. EM Delafield, Virginia Woolf, Tom Stoppard, and Joyce Dennys are joint second with four books apiece.

– Any in translation?
Eight this year – The True Deceiver by Tove Jansson, three plays by Ibsen, Dreamers by Knut Hamsun, The Paper House by Carlos Maria Dominguez, Checkout by Anna Sam, and So Many Books by Gabriel Zaid.

– How many books were borrowed from the library?
You’ll be proud, as 45 were from the university library this year.

– Name a book you’ve read this year which was recommended by a blogger?
The wonderfully eccentric Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley was not only recommended, but given to me by Danielle from A Work in Progress – so thanks Danielle!

I’m not good at self-discipline, obviously, because I haven’t managed to cut my top books of the year down to ten. This is always my intention, but I have failed – and so I have a Top 15. Obviously I could just have listed the top ten on this list, but I didn’t want to ignore the others…

As always, I don’t include re-reads in my list, or more than one book by each author. So some wonderful books (like Henrietta’s War) are missing, because I preferred other books by the author. And I was a little surprised to see that no male authors made the list – at least six were quite close.

Do put a link in the comments to your own Top Books of the year, or if you don’t have a blog, feel free to list your favourite books in the comments.

15. Life and Death of Harriett Frean (1922) – May Sinclair
A short Virago Modern Classic about the life of Harriett, touching most often on themes of spinsterhood and moral choices. More here…

14. Oxford (1965) – Jan Morris
Our Vicar gave me this book about the history of Oxford back in 2004, and I’ve finally read it – though still not got around to writing about it on here. In turns bizarre, affectionate, unlikely, and (being from the 60s) often a historical piece itself, the book is endlessly interesting and characterful.

13. Love’s Shadow (1908) – Ada Leverson
The best thing to happen in publishing this year, in my opinion, was Bloomsbury’s set of reprints, The Bloomsbury Group. This hilarious, wry novel from one of Oscar Wilde’s pals was a wonderful find on their behalf. More here…

12. Straw Without Bricks (1937) – EM Delafield
Also published as The Provincial Lady in Russia, this book is in fact non-fiction about EMD’s time in Soviet Russia – very much split into two halves, and a bit confusing – some very funny, some very serious. More here…

11. Manservant & Maidservant (1947) – Ivy Compton-Burnett
Of the three ICB novels I’ve read this year, this was my favourite – I don’t know how she controls dialogue and characters so excellently, and though the density of her writing means I have to ration her books a bit, she’s becoming one of my favourite writers. More here…

10. The Enchanted April (1922) – Elizabeth von Arnim
One of those novels I’ve had on my shelves for years, and finally read. Manages to be delightful and optomistic without being saccharine – a really lovely book. More here…

9. Lolly Willowes (1926) – Sylvia Townsend Warner
An excellently written novel which begins with showing the plight of a spinster in her brother’s home, but turns around when she moves to the countryside and becomes a witch… More here…

8. The Return of the Soldier (1918) – Rebecca West
Brief but very striking, the best of the many books I read for various book groups this year (and the only one to make my top 15, in fact). An excellent look at shell-shock, as well as a biased narrator, and class wars. Bafflingly, I don’t seem to have blogged about it – I’ll try to do so at some point in 2010.

7. Say Please (1949) – Virginia Graham
A very amusing faux-etiquette guide, with excellent illustrations by Osbert Lancester. More here…

6. The Runaway (1872) – Elizabeth Anna Hart
I read ten Persephone Books titles this year, and this is the first of two to make my top 15 – a charming and unusual children’s story, with Gwen Raverat’s beautiful accompanying woodcuts from the 1936 edition. More here…

5. The True Deceiver (1982) – Tove Jansson
One of my favourite writers, I wait eagerly for Thomas Teal to translate more of her atmospheric, wintery, stark novels and stories. More here…

4. Cheerful Weather For The Wedding (1932) – Julia Strachey
The other Persephone title – short but hilarious and memorable – though this tale of the problems and characters surrounding a wedding day has rather divided the blogosphere. More here…

3. The Heir (1922) – Vita Sackville-West
Short books are doing well… A man becomes, unexpectedly, the heir of a rambling house Blackboys. This novella charts his growing love for the place, and was so good that I read it twice this year. Hesperus’ beautiful edition didn’t hurt either. More here…

2. Economy Must Be Our Watchword (1932) – Joyce Dennys
I hadn’t heard of Joyce Dennys before the Bloomsbury Group reprinted her fictional war diaries, Henrietta’s War – but it was this gem, of a foolish, selfish and utterly un-self-aware woman trying to do war work which was my favourite Dennys book this year. I haven’t blogged about it because it’s impossible to find… for the moment… A little bit more here….

1. Howards End is on the Landing (2009) – Susan Hill
Not often does a book win me over so completely – Susan Hill’s non-fiction book about her year of reading from home is a beautiful paean to books. Whether or not you agree with her opinions, it would be hard not to fall for a book as delightfully bookish as this one. More here… This also marks the fourth year in a row where a non-fiction book has been my favourite read – quite surprising, given how much novels outweigh non-fiction in my reading… perhaps 2010 will be the year of non-fiction for me?

That list again, for clearer reading – and don’t forget to link to your own lists.

15. Life and Death of Harriett Frean – May Sinclair
14. Oxford – Jan Morris
13. Love’s Shadow – Ada Leverson
12. Straw Without Bricks – EM Delafield
11. Manservant & Maidservant – Ivy Compton-Burnett
10. The Enchanted April – Elizabeth von Arnim
9. Lolly Willowes – Sylvia Townsend Warner
8. The Return of the Soldier – Rebecca West
7. Say Please – Virginia Graham
6. The Runaway – Elizabeth Anna Hart
5. The True Deceiver – Tove Jansson
4. Cheerful Weather For The Wedding – Julia Strachey
3. The Heir – Vita Sackville-West
2. Economy Must Be Our Watchword – Joyce Dennys
1. Howards End is on the Landing – Susan Hill

“Oh hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing!”

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

love Simon

I’m going to be honest with you, today’s blog post is copied wholesale from an entry in December 2007. Back then I was sent a copy of A Proper Family Christmas by Jane Gordon-Cumming, and it was perfect Christmas reading. Dollops of Wodehouse and Just William, and even Jam and Jerusalem. I’ve just spotted that there’s even an audio book version available now. Anyway, I don’t often just repeat posts, but lots of people won’t have spotted the review two years ago, and Jane’s book is just so delightful that I want more of you to know about it. A bit late to order it for Christmas presents, perhaps, but might be good for the post-Christmas rush… Anyway – here goes:

I also have an AA Milne quotation for every occasion. Well, I can’t remember exactly how this goes, but something along the lines of: “Every critic instantly assumes that, should a writer be able to make his audience laugh, he secretly wishes he were making them cry”. Milne didn’t always love his critics, but the point is that we shouldn’t underestimate the comic writer – I think it’s much more difficult to make readers laugh than it is to make them cry, and a comic novel done well is a wonderful thing.

Step forward Jane Gordon-Cumming, and A Proper Family Christmas. I was worried people didn’t write books like this any more. Don’t get me wrong, I love pensive, slightly depressing, high-literary fiction more than anyone – Virginia Woolf is one of my favourite authors, after all (though she is incredibly funny, I must add) – but where did novels go which gently laugh at human nature and the tangles they get themselves in? Thankfully Jane G-C has written one such novel, and I know you’ll love it.

William lives by himself in a rambling old house, such as are only found in fiction – well, I say alone, he actually lives with a rather wonderful cat called Scratch. You can’t go wrong with cats in fiction – they’re such amusing and characterful creatures. Anyway, William is an obstreperous old man, but one you can’t help loving. Despite his best efforts, every member of his family descend on his house for Christmas – his forthright siser Margery; widow Hilary and her attractive teenage son; neurotic Lesley and Stephen with their spoilt child Tobias and put-upon nanny Frances; scatty Julia and innuendo-flinging Tony with worldy-wise daughter Posy and flirty nanny Shelley; arty Leo who seems to be perpetually ignored by all; charmer and antiquities expert Oliver. Phew, think that’s everyone. What a cast! Despite a lot of characters and a lot of names, like one’s own family one never gets confused. They all have their place and, like them or loathe them, you can’t help being quietly fond of each and every one.

This novel is definitely a character piece – throw together a lot of disparate and amusing people, and a few Wodehousian plots, and see what happens. And what happens is a witty and touching romp through the intricacies and politics of a family Christmas. If you don’t recognise it all, you’re lucky, but you’ll love it nonetheless. A perfect Christmas present for someone who loves something to read on Boxing Day, just so long as they can’t recognise themselves in its pages… and best not give it to anyone called William, Leo, Margery, Lesley, Stephen, Tony, Shelley, Tobias, Posy, Julia… at a pinch Frances, Oliver, Hilary and Daniel will take it as a compliment…

Sometimes (and very little of late, for which I apologise) I put little sketches up on Stuck-in-a-Book – which are very much amateur, and just to make things a little different around here. I’m a little embarrassed that they will, from now on, appear on the same site as this fantastic caricature/cartoon by Sarah Bailey, a lovely lady local to us in Somerset (go and visit her website). Admittedly most of my blog readers don’t know what I look like, but the sketch does have a little photo of me in the bottom left corner, to give you a clue…

Well, you’ve done me proud, readers – especially on Round Two, I was mightily impressed. I shan’t single out anybody in particular because there are no prizes… but compare what you got to these answers, and give yourself a Christmassy pat on the back.

Round One: Book Covers
(quiz here)
1. To The Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
2. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
3. Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
4. Chocolat – Joanne Harris
5. Notes on a Scandal – Zoe Heller
6. Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
7. Spies – Michael Frayn
8. The Blind Assassin – Margaret Atwood
9. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
10. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
11. Filth – Irvine Welsh
12. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
13. A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess
14. Enduring Love – Ian McEwan
15. Lady Chatterley’s Lover – D. H. Lawrence

Round Two (Characters’ Names)
(quiz here)
1. Oliver Mellors = Lady Chatterley’s Lover (DH Lawrence)
2. Quasimodo = The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Victor Hugo)
3. Bilbo Baggins = The Hobbit (JRR Tolkein)
4. Clare Abshire = The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
5. Rachel Ashley = My Cousin Rachel (Daphne du Maurier)
6. Sir Robert Chiltern = An Ideal Husband (Oscar Wilde)
7. Michael Henchard = The Mayor of Casterbridge (Thomas Hardy)
8. Anne Catherick = The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins)
9. Liesel Meminger = The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
10. Cedric Errol = Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Round Three: Views and Reviews
(quiz here)
1. AS Byatt
2. The Old Curiosity Shop – Charles Dickens
3. Ulysses – James Joyce
4. Martine McCutcheon
5. Dan Brown
6. Saturday – Ian McEwan
7. Jane Austen
8. John Keats
9. Enid Blyton
10. Jordan/Katie Price

Right, final round from me, hope you’ve been enjoying it so far.

Views and Reviews

2) Which book was Oscar Wilde talking about when he said: “One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing.”

3) Which significant, and very long, 1922 novel did Virginia Woolf dismiss as the work of a “queasy undergraduate scratching his pimples.”

4) Which ex-soap actress published her debut novel The Mistress this year, described in The Guardian as ‘arguably one of the most baffling publishing decisions since Headline paid more than minus 37p for Ashley Cole’s emetic memoir My Defence’?

5) Which American author’s writing, from his novel’s first word ‘Renowned’ onwards, did linguist Geoffrey Pullum describe as “not just bad; it is staggeringly, clumsily, thoughtlessly, almost ingeniously bad”?

6) What is the title of the novel, all of which takes place on February 15th 2003, which John Banville described as “a dismayingly bad book. The numerous set pieces are hinged together with the subtlety of a child’s Erector Set.”

7) Who was Mark Twain talking about when he said that, every time he read her most famous book, ‘I want to dig her up and beat her over the skull with her own shin-bone’?

8) Which poet’s Endymion was dismissed by a contemporary reviewer as “imperturbable drivelling idiocy”?

9) It was recently revealed that the BBC had a ban on dramatising a certain children’s author’s books, from the 1930s to the 1950s, describing the author as a ‘tenacious second-rater’ who wrote ‘stilted and longwinded’ books. Who is the author in question?

10) Which celebrity ‘novelist,’ whose 2007 book outside the Booker shortlist, did Lynda La Plante call ‘a terrible thing for young girls who just want pink welly boots.’

We interrupt normal broadcasting (there is a second round of the quiz to have a go at) to say… there’s a Bloomsbury Group competition! If you’re in a book club or reading group, or however you want to term it, you have a chance to win eight copies of one of Bloomsbury’s titles (go for Miss Hargreaves, go on) as well as limited edition greetings cards and bookmarks. For all info, click here. The competition isn’t open for long – I think it closes tomorrow – so hurry, hurry, hurry!

Though I’m writing all these posts on Tuesday afternoon, I’m going to assume that you all did really well on the picture round yesterday – so give yourselves a hearty pat on the back.

Tonight is a round which is harder to describe, but much easier for me to copy and paste into blogger. These are all characters who are better known by the titles of the books in which they appear. I think I’d better give an example – if the character were ‘Mary Boleyn’ then the answer would be ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’. Here goes… (same idea as yesterday – have a go in the comments, but make sure you don’t read the comments first if you want to have a go!) (Oh, and Thomas family – don’t cheat!)

1.) Oliver Mellors
2.) Quasimodo
3.) Bilbo Baggins
4.) Clare Abshire
5.) Rachel Ashley
6.) Sir Robert Chiltern
7.) Michael Henchard
8.) Anne Catherick
9.) Liesel Meminger
10.) Cedric Errol