December is such a busy time, with Christmas to prepare for and evenings out to enjoy – culminating however in some time off work for Christmas. Still I managed some good reading time in the midst of all of that.
Librarything finished the year reading the work of Sylvia Townsend Warner, with which I happily joined in and of course I always like to find some Christmas themed books to read.
I started the month reading Love’s Shadow by Ada Leverson, who in my review I said I hadn’t read before – later I discovered I had read The Limit – and hadn’t loved it. It is hard to keep track!
My very small book group had chosen to read- Lolly Willowes by Sylvia Townsend Warner giving me the perfect excuse to re-read it. It is just as good the second time.
Another Little Christmas Mystery by Lorna Nicholl Morgan, was a very enjoyable little winter mystery but it’s not really set at Christmas. The novel has been retitled to appeal to readers like me, it’s worth reading. Plenty of snow but not a sprig of mistletoe or strand of tinsel in sight.
The selected stories of Sylvia Townsend Warner is a fantastic collection – spanning forty years of her writing life, it shows perfectly, what a consummate short story writer she was.
Alive, Alive Oh! By Diana Athill is another of her wonderful collections of memoirs, I love her spirit and attitude to life and ageing. I happened to read this just a few days before the author’s 100th birthday.
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote was a slim little book I bought last Christmas and didn’t get around to. It contains three little stories for the festive season.
Portrait of a Murderer by Anne Meredith was recently re-issued by the British Library Crime Classics as their fiftieth title. It is a clever, intelligent mystery, which was marred a little by the anti-Semitic treatment of one character.
Winter by Ali Smith – also set at Christmas – was the perfect read for the Christmas weekend, I flew through it, finishing it on Christmas Eve. It made my twelve books of the year list at the last moment.
Long Live Great Bardfield the autobiography of Tirzah Garwood is a brilliant account of the lives of artists Tirzah and her husband Eric Ravilious along with the many people they knew. It is one of three books I still have to review.
The Lime Tree by César Aira was my first book to arrive from the Asymptote book group, a novella from a prolific Argentinian writer whom I have to confess to not having heard of.
Chedsy Place by Richmal Crompton really was my last book of the month and the year – I finished it late on New Year’s Eve – it’s always nice to finish the year tidily.
So, in looking ahead to January, I must begin by looking ahead to my reading challenges this year. I want to try and read a bit more fiction in translation, but that will be only one book a month at the very most.
Of course, #ReadingMuriel2018 starts today – and I am very excited about that – so many people joining in or planning to join in. I began in earnest, started to read The Comforters in bed this morning. For those who want to keep track of the schedule or share thoughts, links etc I have created a dedicated page for the read-along which you can find here.
If all that wasn’t enough – I have also decided to do A Century of Books. Simon from Stuckinabook and Clare from the Captive Reader are doing it too as I think are several others. This is my first time of ACOB – and I have chosen 1919-2018 as my century. I’m not working to any prescribed list – the idea is I fill in each year as I read a book first published in that year. I understand it gets harder as years get checked off. If you want to follow my progress – and I have said it will probably take me two years – I have created another page here, where you can. Not very much to see yet. I am hoping I can do the majority of the reading from my existing tbr – and I am not going to use any re-reads.
heavenali 
Wow! Good luck with the century Ali! I shall be cheering you on! I’ve read The Comforters and Memento Mori but not Robinson I think so I shall have to search that one out….
Thank you, I am looking forward to gradually ticking off as all those years for ACOB. Robinson looks excellent, enjoy.
I think the “A Century of Books” challenge is pretty need — I have my Classics Club list separated into centuries, so I’m kinda-sorta doing something like that? Although, my Club list is only 50 books total, so I’m definitely not hitting a hundred books from every century.
Oh yes, that’s a good way to organise your classic club. Although I do read over 100 books in a year, I’m sure I will need two years to complete it.
I’m looking forward to Winter by Ali Smith because Autumn was so good. Isn’t it funny how a book can make our list at the final moment? That’s what happened to me with My Absolute Darling.
Yes, that’s why I like to wait to finalise my list till the last day and the year. I don’t know My Absolute Darling. Will look it up.
I’ve bought the Selected Stories of STW. I don’t read short stories often enough and these sound really good.
Oh good! Yes they are excellent, really hope you enjoy them.
Good luck with your challenges this year and happy reading! 🙂
Thank you, I think I missed my challenges during 2017.
Oh wow, A Century of Books sounds very challenging indeed! But I imagine you will uncover some awesome reads. Good luck!
It’s my first time attempting, in the past people have done it in a year, but I don’t think I will manage that. I suspect I have too many books from the same period.
Good luck with that century of books challenge. It sounds rather daunting. Will you read the books in order of year of publication or in random order or as the mood takes you?
Oh definitely not in order – that way lies madness, I don’t believe other readers have attempted to do it in order.
A good decision. Hard enough to do this exercise without adding to the stress unnecessarily. BTW I notice my typing created a very odd comment.Would you mind correcting it to save my embarrassment?
No problem, have done that for you. 😀
Well done on your tidy year-end – I finished the year half way through THREE books, which I think is something of a record for me! I’m still working my way through 1914-2013 which I started in 2014, 69 down, so not doing too badly. Have discovered big gaps in my reading preferences! I have done it fairly naturally although my friend Laura bought four books from unread years from me one Christmas and I will have to start searching them out soon – as I said to you on another blog comment, I might start hovering over your 1960s! I am not allowing myself any multiple reads by the same author which makes it hard.
Yes I’m sure I must have plenty of 60s books, there are definitely Mary Hocking books published in the 60s you haven’t read. I probably will allow multiple reads by the same author, though try for not too many.
Here’s my page https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/about/a-century-of-books/ My early 1920s are lacking, then also my early WW2 years and the 80s and early 90s, weirdly. And only one year was covered by the current TBR so I’ll have to seek out stuff to read once that’s done. Maybe five years is not enough!
Great to have you on ACOB with us, Ali!
Thank you Simon.
I’m going to participate in ACOB for the first time. I see the challenge is not only finding books from each year, but also deciding what to do when I have tbr books from the same year that I planned to read this winter. I was going through my tbr piles and so far have two books from 1947 (Chatterton Square and A View from the Harbour) and two from 1949 (The Feast and The Willow Cabin). Do I only read one from each year or read both? Competing the challenge over a two year period looks like a good option.
As each of those books are wonderful I would say read them all as you want to. Then just decide which one will be representative of its year. A two year challenge might be more relaxed. Let me know how you get on. Good luck.
Thank you. I decided to continue with my plan to read what I already have, the books I intended to read this winter and then see where I am in a few months. I also did an inventory of my To Read books, listed all 270+ books by year published, and found I am only missing a few years. This will be fun!
Oh my goodness that is an amazing task, I keep thinking I should do the same, just not sure I can face it.
The link to your A Century of Books list/spreadsheet is broken. I would love to see your list. I am working on putting one together!
Sorry I had set it as private, thinking no one would want to view it now. It’s reinstated (temporarily) for you to view. Good luck.