Recent Book Activity

Current Status Report
Reading:Down Under, by Bill Bryson
Favourite cuppa: Earl Grey
Most recent cocktail: Mojito! Yum!
Mood: YELLOWHere Comes the Sun.
Film eagerly awaited: None, currently
TV avidly watched: The Closer, The Wire: I'm all about the police drama, it seems.

After practising enormous self-restraint and not joining any more rings or rays, I have now reduced my list of rings/rays to TWO I am still awaiting. This gargantuan effort resulted in extra energy which my subconscious used to urge me into buying more books to add to the vast pile of books I have yet to read.

Originally from the UK, I moved to New Zealand in search of a better life.



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Books Read in 2008 (most recent at the top):
31. The Damage Done, by Warren Fellows 30. The Dogs of Riga, by Henning Mankell29. Wasting Police Time, by PC David Copperfield 28. A Widow for One Year27. Failed States, by Noam Chomsky 26. The Fifth Woman, by Henning Mankell25. The Political Animal, by Jeremy Paxman 24. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, by Jennifer Lynch 23. The Winner, by David Baldacci22. It's Your Time You're Wasting, by Frank Chalk 21. Slash, by Slash & Anthony Bozza20. Wasting Police Time, by P.C. David Copperfield 19. A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon18. One L, by Scott Turow 17. Iceberg, by Clive Cussler16. Clinical Trial, by April Christofferson 15. Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell14. When Madeline Was Young, by Jane Hamilton 13. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin 12. A Life Stripped Bare, by Leo Hickman11. What's the Matter with America? by Thomas Frank 10. Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer9. Out, by Michiko Kakutani 8. Rumours of a Hurricane, by Tim Lott7. The Field, by Lynne McTaggart 6. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, Xiaolu Gu 5. Moab is my Washpot, by Stephen Fry4. Parliament of Whores, by P.J. O'Rourke 3. March, by Geraldine Brooks2. The Troublesome Offspring of Cardinal Guzman, by Louis de Bernieres 1. Mr. Pip, by Lloyd Jones

Books Read in 2007 (most recent at the top):
33. The Angel of History, by Bruno Arpaia 32. Mr American, by George MacDonald Fraser31. First Pass Under Heaven, by Nathan Hoturoa Gray 30. The Seymour Tapes, by Tim Lott29. Conviction, by Richard North Patterson 28. The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx27. The Husband, by Dean Koontz 26. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy25. The Beauty Myth, by Naomi Wolf 24. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Things Done, by Jeff Davidson 23. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest22. The Edible Woman, by Margaret Atwood 21. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by JK Rowling 20. Middlemarch, by George Eliot19. The Devil and Miss Prym, by Paulo Coelho 18. Signor Vivo and the Coca Lord, by Louis de Bernieres 17. The Manchurian Candidate, by Richard Condon16. Absolute Power by David Baldacci 15. Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton14. Brokeback Mountain & Other Stories by Annie Proulx 13. DC Confidential, by Christopher Meyer12. Blue Shoes & Happiness, by Alexander McCall-Smith 11. Picnic At Hanging Rock, by Joan Lindsay10. Is it just me or is everything shit? by Steve Lowe & Alan McArthur 9. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck8. The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad 7. The Pelican Brief, by John Grisham6. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker 5. The Dialectic of Sex, by Shulamith Firestone 4. Deception Point, by Dan Brown3. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt 2. Freakonomics, by Stephen D. Levitt1. The Call of the Weird, by Louis Theroux


Bookrings/rays I am waiting for my turn in:
Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Bookmanu) The Shadow of the Wind (Anglers-nest)

Bookrings/rays I've read and sent on:
The Color Purple (Raindrop162004)The Secret History (SqeakyChu) The Secret History, by Donna TarttRiding in Cars with Boys (needmorezoloft) Death in Yellowstone (rob-b)Long Walk to Freedom (LennyB) The Secret Life of Bees (Denny08)Dune (1972Galadriel) Running with Scissors (tabby-cat-owner)Are You Dave Gorman? (silverstarry) My Sister's Keeper (LGinder)Geek Love (KathyS) Never Let Me Go (Napper)Slaughter House Five (Icekween01) Under the Banner of Heaven (Silverstarry)Lonely Planet Unpacked (Michelle1977) Diary of a Mad Bride (MysteryMish)Saturday (tobysrus) The Virgin Suicides (JenatLeisure)House of Sand & Fog (labmomnm) Bill Bryson's African Diary (Ebumu)Digital Fortress The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Moimeme) Atonement (Hellie)The Collector (DJgib)Cold Mountain (cambridgelass)

Bookrings/rays I've organised:
Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox - NOW ARRIVED HOME!
Sorting Out Billy by Jo Brand
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - MIA
An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro - NOW HOME!


Registrations: I'm working my way left to right along my bookshelves and RL tends to get in the way so it might take a while, but I'll get there!

A word about my 'Status' definitions
AVAILABLE: I have read this book and am going to release it in the future. I may also consider trading it, and I would certainly bookring/ray it.
TO BE READ: This book is on my pile of things to read. I will get there in the end but it might take some time...
PERMANENT COLLECTION: This will be books that I am not going to release or trade or bookring/ray. It will either be because they were gifts, because they belong to my husband, because there is something special about them (expensive, or autographed or something), or because they are just too brilliant for me to let go.
TRAVELLING: Released into the wild, or posted/given to someone and awaiting a journal entry.
RESERVED: My husband has decided he would like to read this book in the future but the likelihood is that he will happily make it available once he has done so. Alternatively, the book is being held in anticipation of a trade.


Trading
I am open to offers to trade, but if you wish to contact me to propose a trade then please offer something in return, and I will expect to receive your book first before I mail mine out. If you have something on the wishlist I'm more likely to accept but it's not a given that it has to be on the wishlist.

My Wish List