A yuletide in baking / Another year in books

Hear me Alone - Thando Mgqolozana 
Foe - J.M. Coetzee
Big Sur - Kerouac
      Savage. Crazed. Bold. And insightful
Seeing - Jose Saramago
Another Day of Life - Ryszard Kapuscinksi

The Boat - Nam Le
The Etiquette of Freedom - Gary Snyder
The State of Africa - Martin Meredith
      Felt like I should know more than I did after my brief visit to South Africa and Angola. This was horribly enlightening. Still feel like I should know more... but an excellent introduction.
Tarka the Otter - Henry Williamson
      I wish I could swim like an otter.

The Book of the Bivvy - Ronald Turnbull
      Made me buy a bivvy instantly and start planning overnight sojourns within reach of a London train - unluckily a train strike, a recurring knee problem and a summer (year) of rain has postponed it... 2013??
Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Great Britain - George Monbiot
The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order - George Monbiot
      If George wasn't talking about such big issues, he'd be hilarious - and sometimes he is anyway.

No Logo - Naomi Klein
      Felt like I read this ten years too late - but almost interesting now as a historical document of the early noughties. Easy example of media control distilling public anger.
Sea Wolf - Jack London
      Swashbuckling tales of spindly-legged-English-gents-turned-tough-little-bastids don't come more swashbuckling!
Translation in Language Teaching - Guy Cook
With a Daughter's Eye - Mary Catherine Bateson
      Ever wondered what parenting was like for the intellectual classes pre-war? 
Fire Season - Phillip Connors
      Sitting around in pants and frisbee-golf on a mountain, what's not to like

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz
      I want to read more Diaz - nuff said
Earth in the Balance - Al Gore
      Hard to believe this was written in 1992, and hard to see what Gore has actually achieved since apart from widen his readership - but worthy of being read all the same
The Crossing - Cormac McCarthy
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers
       Does what it says on the tin - ADVICE: skip the first section and start right in with the actual story

Eating Animals - Jonathan Safran Foer
      Terrifying - in the process of trying to find out how much is applicable in the UK to make better food choices. Have though, decided to cut down my general meat consumption.
How We Are Hungry - Dave Eggers
Hunger - Knut Hamsun
      Incredibly written in the 19th century - he writes like Kerouac at his most crazed
The Shipping News - Annie Proulx
      Gorgeous.

26 books, several loaves, apricot cake, macaroons (sort of) and a panettone - take that 2012.