Recent Book Activity

I brought a book back from USA to Australia in June 2004 and got a few people started into BookCrossing. Now I have finally joined instead of staying as Anonymous Finder. So, eris-in-oz and djt, YOU CAN STOP NAGGING!

I looked for the best photo of me and found this one, taken when I was at my prettiest at age 5 or 6.

In 2005 I read 78 books of which 33 are registered on BookCrossing. In 2004 I read 71 books of which 7 are registered on BC. I have kept track of all books read since 1956 and of those read prior to 2004 already 30 of those I owned, have been registered and more to come!
In these 50 years I have read only 1,578 books, not counting texts, short stories from magazines, Schoolgirls' Own Libraries, etc. The most read in one calendar year was 130 in 1974, mostly from the local library. The poorest year was 1970 with only 6 books, but I did have a new house and 2 very small children.

I have always prided myself in finishing any book I start no matter how uninteresting it may get. However, there is one exception: About 40 years ago I was trying to read Bunyon's "A Pilgrim's Progress" and got only just halfway - it was the most boring book imaginable. In the last 10 years I have wallowed in secondhand books as well as my usual new ones, and have read quite a few unusual books, some more interesting than others. Now I find I have more books at home than I can read, so am releasing ones I think I will pass, but a few at a time. So some of my TBR books may become AVL if anyone wants them.

Another year of reading has finished and in 2006 I only managed to read 85 books, of which 61 are registered on bookcrossing, some by myself, some by others. I've managed to release quite a few and find a few as well. Now my New Year's resolution is to read more than 100 in 2007 and keep releasing and hunting.

I failed to reach my goal! In 2007 I only managed to read 97 books of which 71 are registered on bookcrossing by various people including myself. I’ll have to read thinner books in 2008.
Many of those I read were murder mysteries and from one of them I quote the following. “A murder mystery is the normal recreation of the noble mind”, some sage once said. I feel very noble now!

I did it! In 2008 I managed to read 100 books of which 60 are registered on bookcrossing by various people including myself. There were a few thinner books, but I shall improve on my total in 2009. I’m still reading many murder mysteries but there were other adventures, histories and fantasies, some better than others, including a few tear-jerkers.

In 2009 I managed to read 102 books of which 75 are registered on bookcrossing by various people including myself. Actually one book is not quite finished but will be soon. I enjoyed using a monthly theme challenge to release books in 2009, which made me look at the books in my TBR collection, so am creating my own challenge for 2010. Note that I start with murder and end with death and do some poison in the middle. Yes, I have a lot of thrillers on my pile!

In 2010 I managed to read 117 books of which 109 are registered on bookcrossing by various people including myself. I enjoyed my monthly theme challenge to release books, a total of 381 as part of my challenge. I released some books which did not fit a theme and have created a new challenge for 2011 to cover as many of my books as I can. The hardest bit is reading them in time to release in the right month and so some books have to be moved to future months!