Listmania!
In 2008, I read . . . . . . (Part I)
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist: the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century EnglandWhat Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist: the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England by Daniel Pool
Buy used from: £8.48
A useful quick reference.
Green Eggs and Ham (Dr Seuss Green Back Books)Green Eggs and Ham (Dr Seuss Green Back Books) by Dr. Seuss
Buy new: £3.57 / Used from: £0.98
Fun for adults as well as children.
The Bell JarThe Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Buy new: £4.75 / Used from: £0.01
A very truthful account of the slide to mental breakdown.
A Doll's House (Dover Thrift)A Doll's House (Dover Thrift) by Henrik Ibsen
Buy used from: £0.01
Still relevant. The portrait of a marriage as it quietly, subtly falls apart.
The Virgin SuicidesThe Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Buy new: £5.40 / Used from: £0.18
Excellent depiction of how sufferers of mental illness appear to those on the outside.
Welcome to TemptationWelcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
Buy used from: £0.01
I hate to criticize but this was shallow, insipid and not particularly entertaining.
The Yellow Wallpaper (Virago modern classics)The Yellow Wallpaper (Virago modern classics) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Buy new: £4.27 / Used from: £0.01
Riveting stuff about a 19th century woman suffering from 'hysteria' and the dubious treatment advocated by the male authority figures in her life.
Invisible Darkness: the Strange Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla HomolkaInvisible Darkness: the Strange Case of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka by Stephen Williams
Buy used from: £2.73
A detailed account of the famous muder case. It's good, but makes for very grim reading.
Remember Me?Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella
Buy new: £13.49 / Used from: £0.01
This was shallow and insipid too but it was also entertaining and so I didn't mind as much.
Deadly Innocence (New Comprehensive Biochemistry)Deadly Innocence (New Comprehensive Biochemistry) by Scott Burnside
Buy used from: £0.93
I read this because I wanted to see if it corroborated the other account (above) of the same crime. It was (mercifully) less detailed about the murders themselves.
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Penguin Popular Classics)The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Penguin Popular Classics) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Buy new: £2.00 / Used from: £0.01
Very good as a psychological study, although I wasn't as chilled as I'd expected to be.
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Buy new: £6.47 / Used from: £0.01
Fantastic romance, but a bit put off by the rampant racism. I don't mind it from the characters; it adds to the authenticity somewhat. But Mitchell herself comes across as a real bigot.
The Rose Of SebastopolThe Rose Of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £0.01
What a nice suprise. A really satisfying story with characters that felt real, and I got to learn something about the Crimean War.
The French Lieutenant's Woman (Vintage Classics)The French Lieutenant's Woman (Vintage Classics) by John Fowles
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £1.45
This book is beloved of literary critics, but I found it a bit, well, turgid, frankly.
Love in the Time of CholeraLove in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Buy new: £5.99 / Used from: £2.15
Didn't enjoy this either, if I'm honest. You can get away with anything once you've won the Nobel Prize.
The Oxford Book of SonnetsThe Oxford Book of Sonnets
Buy used from: £3.84
A really great selection to dip into or read cover to cover.
The Garden of EdenThe Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway
Buy new: £6.50 / Used from: £2.57
My first Hemingway. Not what I expected at all. I didn't think his prose would be so lively and I kept waiting for more misogyny. Instead, it was a page-turner.
The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Buy new: £5.73 / Used from: £3.50
Just amazing. Was in pieces by the end though.
The Red and the Green (Vintage classics)The Red and the Green (Vintage classics) by Iris Murdoch
Buy new: £8.09 / Used from: £2.50
Set mostly on the eve of the Easter Rebellion in Dublin. Iris Murdoch is becoming one of my favourite authors.
The RoadThe Road by Cormac McCarthy
Buy new: £2.99 / Used from: £1.49
Chosen by my Reading Group. The relationship between father and son, as they struggle to survive in post-apocalyptic America, is very moving.
The Return of the Soldier (Virago modern classics)The Return of the Soldier (Virago modern classics) by Rebecca West
Buy new: £5.96 / Used from: £0.01
Wonderful novel about three women who must cope when the soldier they all love returns from the war suffering from (unrealistically depicted) shell-shock.
The Five People You Meet in HeavenThe Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Buy new: £4.97 / Used from: £0.01
Nice easy read. Very life-affirming.
A Lost Lady (Virago Modern Classics)A Lost Lady (Virago Modern Classics) by Willa Cather
Buy used from: £0.01
One of those well to-do but adulterous lady stories, a bit Madame Bovary except more from the male perspective.
On Chesil BeachOn Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Buy new: £4.82 / Used from: £0.01
I loved this. I can't think of anything negative to say. Such a realistic depiction of sexual repression. And, contrary to so many of the reviews, it is still relevant.
The Kite RunnerThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Buy new: £4.79 / Used from: £0.01
A good opportunity to find out more about the history of the conflict in Afghanistan. Author not so great at character development though.