I simply love to read, and my idea of a good time is lying on the sofa, with a book in hand and a cuppa nearby. I usually read for pleasure and insight, and I like the idea of having lots of books surrounding me. When I feel like reading
them, I'll just pick from my shelf without having to worry about deadlines and fines, but will still borrow from the library when I'm feeling poor. Some of my faves are thrillers, mysteries, supernatural, fantasies, adventural, true crime files, historical,
bios & memoirs kind of stuff. Children's books & Fairy Tales too. I seldom read Romance, Chick-Lit and Self-help.
=D
And thanks to all the wonderful people in bookcrossing who have shared their books with me, and introduced me to authors whom I wouldn't have known if not for this site.
Books read from the
1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die Challenge:
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18. Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf) #698 17. A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway) #663
16. Rabbit, Run (John Updike) #457 15. Hard Times (Charles Dickens) #888
14. Empire of the Sun (J.G.Ballard) #253 13. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens) #898
12. Tarzan of the Apes (Edgar Rice Burroughs) #747
11. The Grass is Singing (Doris Lessing) #538 10. Candide (Voltaire) #970
09. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery) #574
08. A Passage to India (E.M.Forster) #708 07. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) #902
06. The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien) #494
05. The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing) #440 04. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (Haruki Murakami) #125
03. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) #904 02. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Lewis Caroll) #868
01. Veronica Decides to Die (Paulo Coelho) #090
Books read in 2012:
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04. My Name Is Anne, She Said, Anne Frank: The Memoirs of Anne Frank's Best Friend (Jacqueline Van Maarsen)
03. Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914 (Stanley Weintraub) - Library
02. Valkyrie (Philipp Freiherr with Florence and Jerome Fehrenbach von Boeselager)
01. Gulliver's Travels (Jonathan Swift)
Books read in 2010 (13) and 2011 (12):
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25. Theodore Boone: The Abduction (John Grisham) 24. The Little Stranger (Sarah Waters)
23. American Gods (Neil Gaiman) 22. Breathless (Dean Koontz)
21. The Good Guy (Dean Koontz) 20. Death Notes (Ruth Rendell)
19. Silk (Alessandro Baricco) 18. Haunted Wisconsin (Michael Norman, Beth Scott)
17. Ford County (John Grisham) 16. A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
15. Smoke and Mirrors (Neil Gaiman) 14. StarDust (Neil Gaiman)
13. Coraline (Neil Gaiman) 12. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
- reading very slowly11. The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman)
10. Matilda (Roald Dahl) 09. The Witches (Roald Dahl)
08. The Dress Lodger (Sheri Holman) 07. 84 Charing Cross Road/The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (Helene Hanff)
06. The Endless Steppe (Esther Hautzig) - surprise book from ghostofarose
05. Plain Truth (Jodi Picoult) 04. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows)
03. The Greedy Rabbit and other stories (Enid Blyton)
02. Mr Nosey (Roger Hargreaves) 01. The Silence of the Lambs (Thomas Harris)
Books read in 2009:
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47. Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf) - RAY 46. The Constant Princess (Philippa Gregory) - RING
45. The Diary of Rags (Roanna Pang, Deborah Ong & Maehanyi Frances Rajendram)
44. Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) - RAY 43. Harry the Homeless Puppy (Holly Webb) - Library
42. Have a Little Faith (Mitch Albom) 41. A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemingway) - RAY
40. Rabbit, Run (John Updike) - RAY 39. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) - RING
38. Norwegian Wood (Haruki Murakami) - RAY 37. The Reader (Bernhard Schlink) - RING
36. The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield) - RING
35. Dreams from My Father (Barack Obama) 34. Bodies in a Bookshop (R.T.Campbell) - RAY
33. Hard Times (Charles Dickens) - RAY 32. A Young Girl's Wartime Diary (Si Hoe Sing Leng) - Library
31. Empire of the Sun (J.G.Ballard) 30. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens)
29. Firestarter (Stephen King) 28. The Last Emperor (Edward Behr)
27. Outside Beauty (Cynthia Kadohata) 26. The 5 W's WHY (Erin McHugh) - RABCK
25. How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill)
24. The Story of English (Robert McCrum, Robert MacNeil & William Cran) - RING
23. Cause of Death (Patricia Cornwell) - RABCK 22. The Chemistry of Death (Simon Beckett)
21. The Shack (William Paul Young) - RAY 20. Last Known Victim (Erica Spindler) - RAY
19. Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) - RAY 18. The Painted Veil (W. Somerset Maugham) - RING
17. Tarzan of the Apes (Edgar Rice Burroughs) - RAY
16. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Roald Dahl) 15. Fantastic Mr Fox (Roald Dahl)
14. The Bookseller of Kabul (Asne Seierstad) - RAY
13. Stuart Little (E.B. White) 12. Andrée's Story - The Complete Record of His Polar Flight, 1897 - RING
11. Out Stealing Horses (Per Petterson) - RAY 10. The Tales of Beedle the Bard (J.K.Rowling) - RING
09. The Collected Tales of Nikolai Gogol - RAY 08. Total Silence (T.J.MacGregor) - RAY
07. We, The Accused (Ernest Raymond) - RING 06. Three Tales from The Arabian Nights (new translations by Malcom & Ursula Lyons)
05. Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood) - RING 04. Confessions of a Yakuza (Junichi Saga / John Bester-translator)
03. The Hiding Place (Corrie ten Boom w/John & Elizabeth Sherrill) - RABCK
02. The Oxford Murders (Guillermo Martinez) - RAY
01. The Road (Cormac McCarthy) - RAY
Books read in 2008:
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54. Eleven Minutes (Paulo Coelho) - RING 53. Approaching Hoofbeats - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Billy Graham)
52. A Bear Called Paddington (Michael Bond) / Read by Stephen Fry - AUDIO RING
51. The Other Boleyn Girl (Philippa Gregory) - RING
50. The Grass is Singing (Doris Lessing) - RABCK 49. Man Crazy (Joyce Carol Oates)
48. The Dead Room (Heather Graham) - RAY 47. Candide (Voltaire) - RING
46. From Buddha to Jesus (Steve Cioccolanti) 45. A Glimpse of Grace - A True Story (Mary Forsythe) - friend's copy
44. The Tenth Circle (Jodi Picoult) - RING 43. Strangers (Taichi Yamada) - RAY
42. The Case for Christ (Lee Strobel) - TRADE 41. The Piano (Jane Campion & Kate Pullinger)
40. the country ahead of us, the country behind (David Guterson)
39. The Little House (Philippa Gregory) 38. A Yellow Raft in Blue Water (Michael Dorris) - RAY
37. Flowers in the Attic (Virginia Andrews) 36. tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
35. The Little Prince (Antoine De Saint-Exupery)
34. The Penelopiad (Margaret Atwood) - RAY 33. A Passage to India (E.M.Forster) - RAY
32. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) 31. The Geographer's Library (Jon Fasman) - RAY
30. Marley & Me (John Grogan) 29. The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom)
28. Closely Observed Trains (Bohumil Hrabal) - RAY
27. For One More Day (Mitch Albom) 26. The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
25. Totto-chan - The Little Girl at the Window (Tetsuko Kuroyanagi)
24. Laced (Carol Higgins Clark) 23. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) - RING
22. Watership Down (Richard Adams) - Animal Lit - RAY
21. Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) - Animal Lit 20. Kira Kira (Cynthia Kadohata)
19. Out (Natsuo Kirino) 18. Lola comes home (Claudine Cullimore)
17. Orfe (Cynthia Voigt) - RAY 16. The Mysterious Mr Quin (Agatha Christie)
15. Silent Night: The Remarkable Christmas Truce of 1914 (Stanley Weintraub) - Library
14. Yesterday's Child (Barbara Wood) 13. Biggles the Rescue Flight (Capt. W. E. Johns)
12. The Heart of a Boy (Edmondo de Amicis) 11. Mystery of the Whale Tattoo - The Hardy Boys (Franklin W. Dixon)
10. Chinese Tales of the Supernatural (Retold by Benjamin Chia)
09. The Return of the King (JRR Tolkien) Part 3 of The Lord of the Ring - friend's copy
08. The Two Towers (JRR Tolkien) Part 2 of The Lord of the Ring - friend's copy
07. Keeping Faith (Jodi Picoult) - RAY 06. The Fellowship of the Ring (JRR Tolkien) Part 1 of The Lord of the Ring - friend's copy
05. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - RABCK 04. Where You Once Belonged (Kent Haruf) - RAY
03. The Golden Notebook (Doris Lessing) - RING 02. Three Cups of Tea (Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin)
01. Moving On and Moving Up (Naomi Dowdy)
Books read in 2007:
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36. Till Armageddon (Billy Graham) - TRADE 35. End of the Spear - A True Story (Steve Saint)
34. The Complete Winnie-the-Pooh (A.A.Milne) - RABCK
33. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass (Lewis Carroll) - RABCK
32. A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton - Shenandoah Sisters (Michael Phillips) #2/4
31. My Sister's Keeper (Jodi Picoult) - RAY 30. Angels (Billy Graham)
29. Angels Watching Over Me - Shenandoah Sisters (Michael Phillips) #1/4
28. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Ishmael Beah)
27. The Tea House on Mulberry Street (Sharon Owens) - Library 26. Once (Morris Gleitzman) - RING
25. The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (Harumi Murakami) - RING
24. The Man who listens to Horses (Monty Roberts) - RAY 23. Postmortem (Patricia Cornwell) - RAY
22. Savage Cry (Charles G. West) - RAY 21. A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini) - RAY
20. The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards) 19. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) - RAY
18. Spirit Willing, Flesh Weak (Julie Cohen) - RABCK
17. Come, Tell Me How You Live (Agatha Christie Mallowan) - Library
16. Life & Death in Shanghai (Nien Cheng) 15. Expecting God to speak to you (Tracy Williamson)
14. Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines (Bruchac Joseph) - Library
13. Windtalkers (Max A.Collins) - Library 12. Agatha Christie - An Autobiography
11. An Affair to Remember - the Greatest Love Stories of all time (Megan Gressor & Kerry Cook)
10. I Want to Live: The Diary of a Young Girl in Stalin's Russia (Nina Lugovskaya) - Library
09. Shanghai Diary: A Young Girl's Journey from Hitler's Hate to War-torn China (Ursula Bacon) - Library
08. Dear John (Nicholas Sparks) - Library 07. The Green Mile (Stephen King)
06. The Christmas Thief (Mary & Carol Higgins Clark)
05. Men are from Mars, Women from Venus (John Gray) 04. Shanghai Sisters - A Memoir (Miranda Eu)
03. Reader's Digest Crime Casebook - True Life Crime Stories
02. Reader's Digest Crime Files Vol 1 & 2 01. Veronica Decides to Die (Paulo Coelho)
“A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum.” Henry Miller
Bookrays/rings I am participating in:
01.Adventures of Don Quixote (Miguel De Cervantes) Christina82
02.Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot chich
03.Anansi Boys (Neil Gaiman) chich
04.The Graduate (Charles Webb) Danielle23
Bookrays/rings hosted by me:
Completed
~ The Memory Keeper's Daughter (Kim Edwards)
~ A Long Way Gone - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Ishmael Beah)
~ A Day to Pick Your Own Cotton (Michael Phillips) - Shenandoah Sisters #2
~ The Shadow of the Wind (Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
~ From Buddha to Jesus (Steve Cioccolanti)
~ Marley & Me (John Grogan)
~ The Christmas Thief (Mary & Carol Higgins Clark)
~ Man Crazy (Joyce Carol Oates)
~ For One More Day (Mitch Albom)
~ Ben, in the World (Doris Lessing) - 1st copy
~ The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
~ Confessions of a Yakuza - A Life in Japan's Underworld (Junichi Saga)
Stalled Rings/Rays
1. The Pact (Jodi Picoult) - RAY
stalled with bookcraver since Jul 2009
2. Fingersmith (Sarah Waters) - RING
stalled with Nisaba000 since Feb 2009