2013 & 2014 in books

Time for the year in books... in fact I realised that I totally missed 2013 so that kicks us off....
Quite frankly 2013 was crap, maybe that's why. 2014 was better. Bring on 2015!

2013
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Paying For It - Chester Brown
The Arrival - Shaun Tan
Doctor Fischer of Geneva or The Bomb Party - Graham Greene
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Moranthology - Caitlin Moran
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
The Shadow of the Sun - Ryszard Kapuscinski
How to be a Woman - Caitlin Moran
What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M Miller
If on a Winter's Night a Traveller - Italo Calvino
This is How You Lose Her - Junot Diaz
The Old Ways - Robert Macfarlane
American Pastoral - Philip Roth

Straight White Male - John Niven
Let the Games Begin - Niccolo Ammaniti




2014 - 30 books!!
Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M Pirsig
This is the third time I've read this as previously mentioned on the blog. I have no doubt that it'll be one I revisit each seven year itch.

Painting Isabel - Dave Rea
But Beautiful - Geoff Dyer
Wow oh wow - made me go and find all the music mentioned and listen in synaesthetic union.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
I read this to escape the madhouse that was the residential CELTA course I was co-running at the time. One of the least pleasant professional experiences of my life - but this book shone through!

Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris
Reads excellently but for the full experience listen to him reading "Jesus Shaves"

Open Veins of Latin America - Eduardo Galeano
When in Latin America... did you know that almost every consumable good available in 19th century Latin America was British made??

Life - Keith Richards
One I probably wouldn't have read unless it was given to me - but hugely enjoyable when Keith runs through his youth hunting for rare US R&B vinyl around London.

Tishomingo Blues - Elmore Leonard

Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut

Dress Your Family in Denim & Corduroy - David Sedaris
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek - Annie Dillard
Annie Dillard was a huge find for the year and I read several more by her. The right combination of curiosity and answers for anyone surrounded by organisms!

The Third Policeman - Flan O'Bryan
The Continental Op - Dashiell Hammett
The Pale King - David Foster Wallace
Dave delivers again - just wish he was still writing

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves - Karen Joy Fowler
An impulse buy after a recommendation - I would also recommend this!

Las Burbrujas - 
I started reading kids books in Spanish - translates roughly as 'Witch-Bubbles'

The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano


The Last Girlfriend on Earth - Simon Rich
Loved this; was laid up on a couch in Potosi - the highest (coldest) city in the world - with a sprained ankle. Blitzed through it in an afternoon laughing all the way. Then re-read my favourites!

Encounters with Chinese Writers - Annie Dillard
El Cuarto Del Juegos - 
more Spanish

Lonesome Traveller - Jack Kerouac

Inca Land - Hiram Bingham
Fun to read as I was exploring the Sacred Valley in Peru - the OG Indie Jones


Teaching a Stone to Talk - Annie Dillard

La Medicina Maravilla de Jorge - Roald Dahl
Spoilt Brats - Simon Rich

The House of the Spirits - Isabelle Allende

Blood Meridien - Cormac McCarthy
Coming Through Slaughter - Michael Ondaatje
How Music Works - David Byrne
A musical equivalent of John Berger's Ways of Seeing ... and a whole lot more!

Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong - Terry Teachout
A very quick read for a thick book - made me like Louis even more

taken from a letter Louis sent shortly before he died
"my whole life has been happiness. Through all of the misfortunes etc, I did not plan anything. Life was there for me and I accepted it. And life, whatever came out, has been beautiful to me, and I love everybody."

Here's to accepting a beautiful 2015. Happy New Year x