I saw this yesterday on Savidge Reads and today on Stuck in a Book -- so following the lead of the two great blogging Simons, here is my own -- I've edited down a bit from their longer versions.
How many books read in 2009?
About 90, which is rather less than last year -- put it down to moving house. I've also started quite a few others and given up before finishing them -- I've done far more of this than usual this year for some reason.
How many fiction and non fiction?
Only eight non-fiction, almost all of them biographies or autobiographies
Male/Female author ratio?
Thirty-one by men, so obviously I do tend to prefer women authors, though interestingly enough my two favourites (below) are both by men.
Favourite book of 2009?
This is hard -- I think it might be a split between An Equal Music by Vikram Seth and Ford Madox Ford's The Good Soldier.
Least favourite?
Probably Stevie Davies Impassioned Clay, which I would not have finished if I hadn't been reading it for a book group.
Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why?
As I said earlier I've done this a lot, for various reasons -- mostly because they just didn't grab me enough. But the top of the list would have to be Engleby by Sebastian Faulks. I'm afraid I couldn't stand it.
How many books from the library?
About twelve, and most of those in the last few months. I've been using the library a lot more since I moved to Oxford.
Any translated books?
Yes. Colette, Ripening Seed, Dostoyevsky, The Idiot, Henning Mankell, The Dogs of Riga and The Fifth Woman, Stefan Zweig, The Girl in the Post Office (which I haven't written about yet), Alan Fournier, The Great Estate .
Most read author of the year, and how many books by that author?
Interestingly enough it turns out to be Jill Paton Walsh -- I've read all four of her Imogen Quy novels, Lapsing, and Goldengrove Unleaving.
Any re-reads?
Quite a few. Several Margery Allinghams, a couple of Michael Innes, one or two by Barbara Pym, and probably others.
Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation?That would be the two William Fiennes books I was lucky enough to win from dovegreyreader -- The Snow Geese and The Music Room. I loved them both.
Which books are you annoyed you didn’t read?
I'd like to have read Hilary Mantell's Wolf Hall and AS Byatt's The Children's Book. No doubt they will both will turn up in a charity shop before long
Did you read any books you have always been meaning to read?
Yes! The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford -- it took me about twenty years to get around to it. So very glad I did.