Following Dar's post over at An Exacting Life, I thought that it was high time to revisit my (unread!)
book collection, which I listed, err, some time ago here.
I have actually managed to reduce the book collection quite significantly...but sadly not by actually reading them! I went through them recently and decided that I was very unlikely to actually read or use many of them again- especially books of seventeenth century documents! (Only really useful if you are doing a degree in history). Many of the books are now waiting in a cupboard for someone to buy them from Amazon...
I'm going to make a concerted effort to finish at least one physical book per month- and those that are worth selling will be listed on Amazon and join their friends in the cupboard! There may be some that I decide are not worth ploughing through- straight to the cupboard with them...
So, here is the updated list:
Physical books (all non-fiction)
1.The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn by Alison Weir- I am half way through this- it's slow going, partly because I've not been reading it consistently, and keep forgetting who everyone is.
I've decided that I am unlikely to finish reading this, and also not really enjoying it very much, so it can be rehomed without finishing.
2.The Three Edwards by Michael Prestwich- started this yesterday- I had only read chapters before during degree. Quite a brief history, and thus should be possible to make it to the end!
I've decided that, as the reigns of Edwards I, II and III are no longer top of my list of 'interesting things', I'll sell this without finishing.
3. Newton and the Counterfeiter by Thomas Levenson Finished March 2014.
4. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins Finished March 2014
5. Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy by Malcolm Gaskill
5. Medieval Women by Henrietta Leyser
6. England under the Norman and Angevin Kings by Robert Bartlett Another book that is firmly in the 'past interests' category- so I'm not even going to attempt to read it!
7. How to Read Buildings by Carol Davidson Crangoe
8. The English Civil War by Diane Purkiss
9. Chivalry by Maurice Keen If I didn't read it properly when I was writing a dissertation on medieval chivalry, what makes me think I am going to read it 7 years later?!
10. Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
11. The Wonders of Life by Professor Brian Cox
12. Savage Fortune: An Aristocratic Family in the early Seventeenth Century by Lyn Boothman and Sir Richard Hyde Parker This was relevant to my old job- so it can be made use of by people who still work there, rather than me!
13.A History of Bury St Edmunds by Frank Meeres finished Jan 2014
14. The Suffolk Landscape by Norman Scarfe
15.The National Trust Book of British Castles by Paul Johnson Another one which I have decided that I am not going to finish- to the charity shop!
16. Medieval Warfare edited by Maurice Keen Again, I didn't read this one during my dissertation, why would I be enthusiastic about it now?!
17. Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages by Micheal Prestwich
18. Tournament by David Crouch Another 'didn't read at uni, never will'.
19. The Oxford Illustrated History of Tudor and Stuart Britain by John Morrill Didn't read at uni, won't read now!
20. An Elizabethan Progress by Zillah Dovey Again, more relevant to my previous job, so it can be given to people who may still use it.
21. Britain in Revolution by Austin Woolrych
22. Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England by Amanda Vickery
23. Discovering Life on Earth by David Attenborough
24. Plant Earth by David Attenborough
Since my last post, I don't seem to have made much progress through my Kindle books either (!) I'll carry on reading them when a physical book is not convenient- such as when knitting, which I need both hands for!
Kindle books:
1. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother by William Shawcross- Finished November 2013.
2. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
3. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle by Karen Shanor etc
4. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
5. I Used to Know That- History by Emma Marriott- Finished November 2013
6. Delusions of Gender by Cordeila Fine
7. The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
8. A Brief History of the Third Reich by Martyn Whittock
9. The Universe Inside You by Brian Clegg
10. 50 Facts that Should Change the World by Jessica Williams
11. The Diamond Queen by Andrew Marr
12. Broadmoor Revealed:: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens
13. The Borgias by Christoper Hibbert
14. As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil by Rodney Bolt
15. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
16. Map of a Nation by Rachel Hewitt
17. Written in Stone by Brian Switek
18. God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
19. Birdwatching with your Eyes Closed by Simon Barnes
20. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre Finished November 2013
21. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey: read November 2013
And some Kindle fiction:
22. Dracula by Bram Stoker
23. Beowulf
24.The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
25. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
26. Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R.D. Blackmoor
27. Oliver Twist by Dickens
28. A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
29. Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens
30. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
31. David Copperfield by Dickens
32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
33. The China Bird by Bryony Doran
So, at the rate of one book a month, the physical books along would keep me going for 2 years! And I then have three years of Kindle books to get through... I think I may have to ban myself from buying books (other than knitting books for my City and Guilds course, obviously..!)
I'll write a mini review of each book that I finish/decide to 'rehome' without finishing- although my reviewing skills are such that it will probably be a brief 'yeah, not too boring'...it's been a while since A-level English Lit!
book collection, which I listed, err, some time ago here.
I have actually managed to reduce the book collection quite significantly...but sadly not by actually reading them! I went through them recently and decided that I was very unlikely to actually read or use many of them again- especially books of seventeenth century documents! (Only really useful if you are doing a degree in history). Many of the books are now waiting in a cupboard for someone to buy them from Amazon...
I'm going to make a concerted effort to finish at least one physical book per month- and those that are worth selling will be listed on Amazon and join their friends in the cupboard! There may be some that I decide are not worth ploughing through- straight to the cupboard with them...
So, here is the updated list:
Physical books (all non-fiction)
1.
I've decided that I am unlikely to finish reading this, and also not really enjoying it very much, so it can be rehomed without finishing.
2.
I've decided that, as the reigns of Edwards I, II and III are no longer top of my list of 'interesting things', I'll sell this without finishing.
5. Witchfinders: A Seventeenth Century English Tragedy by Malcolm Gaskill
5. Medieval Women by Henrietta Leyser
7. How to Read Buildings by Carol Davidson Crangoe
8. The English Civil War by Diane Purkiss
10. Six Wives: the Queens of Henry VIII by David Starkey
11. The Wonders of Life by Professor Brian Cox
13.
14. The Suffolk Landscape by Norman Scarfe
15.
17. Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages by Micheal Prestwich
21. Britain in Revolution by Austin Woolrych
22. Behind Closed Doors: At Home in Georgian England by Amanda Vickery
23. Discovering Life on Earth by David Attenborough
24. Plant Earth by David Attenborough
Since my last post, I don't seem to have made much progress through my Kindle books either (!) I'll carry on reading them when a physical book is not convenient- such as when knitting, which I need both hands for!
Kindle books:
2. The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
3. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle by Karen Shanor etc
4. A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe
6. Delusions of Gender by Cordeila Fine
7. The Man Without a Face: the Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin by Masha Gessen
8. A Brief History of the Third Reich by Martyn Whittock
9. The Universe Inside You by Brian Clegg
10. 50 Facts that Should Change the World by Jessica Williams
11. The Diamond Queen by Andrew Marr
12. Broadmoor Revealed:: Victorian Crime and the Lunatic Asylum by Mark Stevens
13. The Borgias by Christoper Hibbert
14. As Good as God, as Clever as the Devil by Rodney Bolt
15. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang
16. Map of a Nation by Rachel Hewitt
17. Written in Stone by Brian Switek
18. God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
19. Birdwatching with your Eyes Closed by Simon Barnes
And some Kindle fiction:
22. Dracula by Bram Stoker
23. Beowulf
24.The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
25. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
26. Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor by R.D. Blackmoor
27. Oliver Twist by Dickens
28. A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens
29. Nicholas Nickleby by Dickens
30. Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
31. David Copperfield by Dickens
32. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka
33. The China Bird by Bryony Doran
So, at the rate of one book a month, the physical books along would keep me going for 2 years! And I then have three years of Kindle books to get through... I think I may have to ban myself from buying books (other than knitting books for my City and Guilds course, obviously..!)
I'll write a mini review of each book that I finish/decide to 'rehome' without finishing- although my reviewing skills are such that it will probably be a brief 'yeah, not too boring'...it's been a while since A-level English Lit!
Happy to hear you are going to keep at them! I think one a month is reasonable even though it will take a while. I also have an e-book on the go all the time - same as you, for places where a book is inconvenient like the exercise machine! I hope someday I will read a Dickens, preferably David Copperfield. It hasn't happened yet!
ReplyDeleteI've read a lot of the 'classics', but somehow I have never managed to read an entire Dickens- I have read parts of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations (we studied the latter at school) but somehow never made it to the end. They are quite heavy going, though.
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