read at least 50 books a year

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson – brilliantly and very poetically written, thoroughly enjoyed this.

Animal Planet by Scott Bradfield – discovered this on New Year’s Eve and it started off as one of the most amazing books I thought I would read .. but in the middle it got too human, it was almost as though someone else wrote the middle. The first few chapters and the last ones were really brilliant though. The middle just got all ugly and modern and American and lost the meaningful touch it started off with. Maybe it was supposed to be that way.

Cold Tom by Sally Prue – a bizarre children’s story, well written and very intriguing, the sort of book I wish I’d written :o)

This is a lovely children’s book I just finished. It is a nice story especially for a child who has lost a sibling I think ..

It is by Jenny Nimmo and it won the Smarties Prize.

Oh Smarties .. I love those things.

I am reading two more really nice books (grown up books for a change) but won’t list them here till I finish them.

Atala by Francoise Rene de Chateaubriande (translation of French classic)

Silently Seduced by Kenneth Adams (non fiction on emotional abuse)

The Last Vampire by Willis Hall (really funny children’s book)

from “read all the books I have before getting new ones” to “read 50 books a year”. Realising that it makes more sense to set realistic do-able goals than vague really hard ones .. that’s just demoralising. If I have 50 books listed by next Christmas I’ll count this as done!

Well I’m off to the book fair in about ten minutes so I suppose I should count this as a goal not reached. but it has motivated me to read more and so I shan’t count it asa failure.

Now wait a minute .. why does failure get such a bad name .. there’s nothing wrong with failing. That’s the only way we get somewhere, in the end. I’m sick of kids being taught that success and competition and rivalry are all that matter.

So I failed! Whoo-hoo! It’s a happy failure. It’s given me a new goal to work toward.

to book fairs so I’m not sure I will succeed! But I have started going through my books, passing on a few I know I won’t read. Currently reading a translation by a French writer Chateaubriand, called Atala .. very interesting ..

I also blog about my books .. put down my favourite quotes there, and then I find it easier to let go of all but my very most favourites.

I’m exaggerating of course. I still have several hundred-too-many books lying in piles all over the place.

Let’s see how many I get through by the end of 2009.