I’ve long admired the currently reading list on the sidebar of the excellent ganching’s blog.

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I’m totally stealing this idea and putting together a list of books I’ve been reading relatively recently. I figured I’d start with 2015 (which is kind of relatively recent) because I had a whole bunch of blog posts to assist with compilation. And perhaps this will shame me into getting a wriggle on with War & Peace.

53 books! A heck of a lot better than my current five (at 01/06) for 2016!

So, the detail – in rough order (and please indulge my bullet points)

Note that links are to amazon, but definitely not affiliate links or anything of that sort):

January
⛑ Marion Coutts: The Iceberg. Loved. This absolutely blew me away.
⛑ Karen Joy Fowler: We are all completely beside ourselves. Loved. I so did not expect the twist.
⛑ Sarah Waters: The paying guests. I didn’t hate it, but I liked the Night Watch much, much better.
⛑ Liane Moriarty: Little Big Lies. I really didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. She really nails the Australian primary school ecosystem. Light, fun read.
⛑ Marie Kondo: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying. Actually, I may have read this in late December. Bonkers – but her approach has definitely influenced the current round of decluttering. Is there anyone on the planet who has not read this yet?
⛑ India Knight: In your prime. Some of this didn’t apply to me (teenage children, aging parents). I’m never quite sure how I feel about her bossy, all-knowing way of writing. I veer from thinking “fabulous!” to the complete opposite. The content didn’t stay with me.
⛑ Liane Moriarty: The husband’s secret. I bought this because I’d loved Little Big Lies. Definitely not as good – characterisation still spot on though.

February
⛑ Stuffocation: Living More With Less which seems to have put me off reading for a while.

March
⛑ essentialism: the disciplined pursuit of less which I found interesting(ish) – premise being that you probably should not say yes to everything.
⛑ getting things done, I know – I don’t know who I am anymore either.
⛑ I’m still plodding through wolf in white van. After January with loads of reading, this is quite disappointing.

April
⛑ I am still making my way through getting things done. I read two pages in bed and my kindle falls on my face because I am asleep. That is not to dismiss it because there is some very good stuff in there.

May
⛑ completed getting things done.
⛑ wolf in white van finally finished and I can’t say that I loved it.
⛑ I really, really enjoyed the power of habit.

June
Absolutely nothing

July
⛑ The memoir of our new chairman – expected to be the most hands-on chair in SML history. Very accomplished and interesting man and I feel this gave a pretty good insight into what we can expect. I’ve met with him once and he was incredibly astute. Very Interesting times ahead.
⛑ Malcolm Knox: supermarket monsters – The Price of Coles and Woolworths’ dominance – This sums up why we’re not shopping at Coles/Woolies. Felt it could have used a bit more
⛑ Jennifer L Scott: Lessons from Madame Chic – 20 Stylish Secrets I Learned While Living in Paris – pretty fluffy. She ain’t no madame thingy
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Killed at the whim of a hat – cute! not quite so charming and delightful as Dr Siri, but nonetheless very readable (if you like this sort of thing).
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Grandad, there’s a head on the beach – also pretty cute! Timely, as we’d only just been discussing the ethics of buying what are probably slave prawns.
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Jimm Juree – Axe Factor – (I was on a Jimm Juree roll here!) this one was not quite so good as the previous two.
⛑ Colin Cotterill: Dr Siri – six and a half deadly sins – charming and delightful as ever.
⛑ Sarah Hepola: Blackout – Remembering the things I drank to forget – bought this after reading an extract in the Guardian. It was very good.

August | September
⛑ stuck on Martin Edwards: the golden age of murder, which I’d had exceptionally high hopes of – sadly I don’t find it terribly well written and not particularly engaging. Maybe time to abandon it and move on to the rest of the virtual stack.

October
⛑ Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen: The Rabbit Back Literature Society. Can’t say I was a huge fan of this. I suspect I’m missing a whole lot of Finnish context. Heather and I bought this at the same time. He finished it way before I did because I was persisting with the golden age. Discussing it afterward we found we were both a bit “ummm … what exactly was that?”
⛑ Michael Connelly: Nine Dragons (Harry Bosch). I got this ages ago as a kindle deal for $0.98 cents. I’ve been recommended the series by a couple of people and had mostly enjoyed the tv series (it had All The Tropes! some quite terrible acting in parts). But I really didn’t feel the love for the book.
⛑ E C Bentley: Trent’s Last Case This was one of the many books I made a note of from Golden Age of Murder. It was very of its time and quite silly. I was particularly pleased by the concept of having to explain rear-view mirrors and finger-prints to the layman. Truly the past is another country.

October | November | December
⛑ The delightful and also silly Patricia Wentworth: Miss Silver series:
   ⚬ Grey Mask
   ⚬ The Case is Closed
   ⚬ Lonesome Road
   ⚬ Danger Point
   ⚬ The Chinese Shawl
   ⚬ Miss Silver Intervenes
   ⚬ The Clock Strikes Twelve
   ⚬ The Key
   ⚬ The Traveller Return
   ⚬ Pilgrim’s Rest
   ⚬ Latter End
   ⚬ Spotlight
   ⚬ Eternity Ring
   ⚬ The Case of William Smith
   ⚬ Miss Silver Comes to Stay
   ⚬ The Catherine Wheel
   ⚬ Through the Wall
   ⚬ The Brading Collection
   ⚬ The Ivory Dagger
   ⚬ Anna, Where Are You?
   ⚬ The Watersplash
   ⚬ Ladies’ Bane
   ⚬ Out of the Past
   ⚬ Vanishing Point
   ⚬ The Silent Pool
   ⚬ The Benevent Treasure
   ⚬ The Listening Eye