(different cover)
Part of a wicked 5 for £5 offer praying on the book-loving public with limited shelf space. Woe is me, that's another book added to the growing Mt Toberead!

January 2012 - i've taken over this old book The Waves by Virginia Woolf (withdrawn from bookcrossing) to make into my reading list/book log for this year :)

(01/01/12)
Read 01
The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

(03/01/12)
Read 02
A Display of Lights(9) by Val Gilbert (not registered)

This was an interesting idea, introducing a selection of Telegraph cryptic crosswords with little portraits of their compilers; 6 individuals with a particular intellect, wide interests (as one would expect) and also a mixed history of work & relationships. Maybe the spark of genius to come up with such obscure and witty connections does take a special person? I need to progress from my mastery (mostly!) of the Daily Mail crossword to one of the 'big 5' mentioned here. An interesting little read, and I will return and try some of the grids...

(06/01/12)
Read 03
A Brief History of the Future (The Origins of the Internet) by John Naughton

(13/01/12)
Read 04
Waving at Trains by Roger McGough

(12/02/12)
Read 05
Engleby by Sebastian Faulkes

(26/02/12)
Read 06
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson (unregistered) - review to follow

A signed copy, no less, so not being registered here :( That said I'm happy to extol the book. JR does an excellent journalistic job, avoiding too much pop-psychology, although sometimes almost falling into the Louis Theroux's innocent abroad trap. Ronson investigates what psychopaths are, how to spot then ('The Psychopath Test') and how to cure them (you can't). In the field he interviews real jailbirds, south American gangsters at liberty in New York, and happily retired psychopathic businessmen. All good fun, and a good game to look for the clues in high profile figures, friends, family and work colleagues alike!

(29/03/12)
Read 07
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo

(16/04/12)
Read 08
The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman by Bruce Robinson

(28/04/12)
Read 09
Imagining Numbers by Barry Mazur (not registered)

Borrowed off my landlord, a book he hasn't got around to reading. And, to be honest if I wasn't such a maths geek I would have given up a long time ago. Mazur seemed to delight in making the whole process tortuous, jumping around between renaissance mathematicians, some difficult maths, some patronising repetition of simple maths, and trying to draw parallels with writing, reading and similar human imaginative endeavours; 'the yellow of the tulip' crops up randomly a lot of times. The title and subtitle 'particularly the square root of minus fifteen' were illusive until about the last 50 pages when he at last revealed the 'trick', thinking of '-1' as a transformation of a number line, and introducing complex numbers and co-ordinates on an real/imaginary plane of numbers - like cartesian but different. If only he had got to this a bit earlier, i'm sure there are other interesting things that he could have explored. A bit of a wasted opportunity i'm afraid :( A generous 4 stars...

(07/05/12)
Read 10
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(11/05/12)
Read 11
The Year 1000 by Robert Lacey & Danny Danziger

I abandoned reading The Fatal Englishman by Sebastian Faulks :(

(29/05/12)
Read 12
Ordinary Thunderstorms by William Boyd

(07/06/12)
Read 13
The Psychic Tourist by William Little

(01/07/12)
Read 14
Deception Point by Dan Brown

(July'12)
Read 15
The Spy Who Loved Me by Ian Fleming

I abandoned reading Straw Dogs by John Gray :(

(31/07/12)
Read 16
The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

(08/08/12)
Read 17
Quantum of Tweed by Conn Iggulden

(10/08/12)
Read 18
The Cleverness of Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith

(27/08/12)
Read 19
Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

(01/09/12)
Read 20
Apocalypse 2012 by Lawrence E. Joseph

(25/09/12)
Read 21
This Book Will Save Your Life by A. M. Homes

(09/10/12)
Read 22
Kiss & Tell by Alain de Botton

(13/10/12)
Read 23
Next by Michael Crichton

(18/10/12)
Read 24
The Continental Drifter by Tim Moore

(22/10/12)
Read 25
Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason

(31/10/12)
Read 26
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

(03/11/12)
Read 27
The Business by Iain Banks

(25/11/12)
Read 28
Gallows View by Peter Robinson

(07/12/12)
Read 29
Independent on Sunday Book of Interview, Volume 1: Men View by various

(13/12/12)
Read 30
Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

(20/12/12)
Read 31
What I was by Meg Rosoff

(26/12/12)
Read 32
The Science of Superheroes by Gresh & Weinberg