Reflections on the puddle of life

So it is time to post about this year's reading. The book I'm currently reading, Beth Gutcheon's Still Missing is likely to take me up to year end so I might as well post this now. I've been pretty lucky this year to have read a lot of really good books, and I've already shared my thoughts on the great female writers I've discovered in the last 12 months. Next year I'm moving on to mammoth novels, so will be reading a lot less in terms of numbers but more in terms of depth (hopefully anyway). I'm already looking forward to it. I'm also planning to continue to read a good balance of fiction by male and female writers, and I also want to explore more mythology - following on from reading Icelandic sagas I've developed a bit of an interest in Scandinavian history and mythology, but I'd also like to know more about the Greeks as well as British Folklore and mythology. So there's a lot to pack in to one small reading year, but fortunately for me having about 1 3/4 hours on the train every working day kind of helps.

Aside from the reading it's been a funny year. I've really struggled with the past year. It's the first time I've ever felt truly tired and close to defeat. I know work has a lot to do with it, but it's not just work. It never is. I need to work out what's going on there and find a way to rebalance my life so that I can find time and room for fun and activity instead of coming home every day and vegetating. I have a lot of self-belief though, so I'm sure I can figure it out

And on a sad note, Richard the cat passed away on Christmas Eve. The house is quiet without her. Here's wishing her a peaceful, happy journey to the great cat campsite in the sky. We miss you, daft cat.

Anyway, without any further ado, here is this year's read-athon from Fifth.

Fiction - novels
The English Patient - Michael Ondaatje 4.5/5
Love - Angela Carter 4/5
Rituals (re-read) - Cees Nooteboom 5/5
We Had it So Good - Linda Grant 3/5
The Bell - Iris Murdoch 4/5
Cloud Atlas (re-read) - David Mitchell 5/5
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark 5/5
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing 5/5
Identity - Milan Kundera 2.5/5
Remainder (re-read) - Tom McCarthy 5/5
What I Loved - Siri Hustvedt 4/5
The Immoralist - Andre Gide 3/5
Boy Meets Girl - Ali Smith 4/5
The Sailor from Gibraltar - Marguerite Duras 4.5/5
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel 4.5/5
The True Deceiver - Tove Jansson 4.5/5
Moominsummer Madness - Tove Jansson 4.5/5
The Enchanted April - Elizabeth Von Arnim 4.5/5
An Awfully Big Adventure - Beryl Bainbridge 3.5/5
The Summer Book - Tove Jansson 4/5
Home - Marilynne Robinson 4.5/5
The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles 4/5
Like -Ali Smith 4.5/5
Little Boy Lost - Marghanita Laski 4.5/5
Angel - Elizabeth Taylor
4.5/5
The Victorian Chaise-longue - Marghanita Laski 4/5
The Magus - John Fowles 5/5
After Dark - Haruki Murakami 3.5/5
Theodora - Stella Duffy 4.5/5
The Blank Wall - Elizabeth Sanxay Holding 4/5
Aiding and Abetting - Muriel Spark 4/5
Egil's Saga 5/5
Fugitive Pieces - Anne Michaels 4.5/5
Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy 4.5/5
My Antonia - Willa Cather 5/5
N.P. - Banana Yoshimoto 4.5/5
Fire in the Blood - Irene Nemirovsky 4/5
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami 3.75/5
The Book of Clouds - Chloe Aridjis 4/5
The Tiger's Wife - Tea Obreht 4.5/5
Crooked House - Agatha Christie 4/5
The Ravishing of Lol Stein - Marguerite Duras 3.75/5
Moon Tiger - Penelope Lively 4.5/5
The Magician's Assistant - Ann Patchett 4.5/5
The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper 5/5

Fiction - short stories
Souvenir from Japan - Angela Carter 4/5
The Witch - Chekov 4.5/5
Heart's Wings and other stories - Gabriel Josipovici 4.5/5
The Foxes Come at Night - Cees Nooteboom 4.5/5

Poetry
The Odyssey - Homer 5/5
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Simon Armitage version 5/5
Beowulf (Seamus Heaney) - 4.5/5
Gilgamesh 4/5

Plays
No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre 4.5/5
The Respectful Prostitute - Jean-Paul Sartre 5/5
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennessee Williams 4/5
Abigail's Party - Mike Leigh 4/5
Hay Fever - Noel Coward 4/5
Talking Heads 2 (monologues) - Alan Bennett 5/5
Hitting Town - Stephen Poliakoff 3/5
The Burial at Thebes (Sophocles' Antigone) - Seamus Heaney Translation 4/5
Clouds - Aristophanes 3/5

Non-fiction
Living Dolls - the return of sexism - Natasha Walter 4.5/5
A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf 5/5
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks 4/5

Phew, that's a lot of reading. I'd have liked to have read more non-fiction because I reckon I could learn a lot if I devoted even a small portion of my reading time to it, but it's finding stuff you want to read that's the challenge. But anyway, I think I have enough goals for the next 12 months. Putting less pressure on myself is one of them. Let's see if I can stick to that.

Have a lovely 2012 one and all. May it bring you many books, excellent reading and lots and lots of joy.