At the end of 2011 I had the idea to extend my reading, both
in quantity, and if not quality then at least in breadth. I read too many
history books, not enough fiction and when classic literature comes up as a
category on Pointless I don’t do as well as if the category is football managers,
Harry Potter or obscure 1980’s sitcoms.
So I decided to try and read 50 books in 2012, roughly one a
week. But, as usual, planning like this went to shit and I failed. I read 20
books. My maths A-level tells me this is 40% of my target.
Now, I don’t think I’d have read 50 books if nothing happened
at all this year but I’d have got a great deal closer if three things hadn’t
have got in the way and I’m using these as mitigation. These were:
-
Decorating – In April we decided to decorate the
living room, a task involving a couple of weeks intense activity where I could
only think of flooring and fish tanks. Not books. You know, I have an allotment
too so I’m claiming that in my defence.
-
London 2012 – I didn’t read during London 2012,
I spent August and half of September weeping silently on the sofa. And then
took up archery.
-
A Song Of Ice & Fire – For this see later
on.
But what books did I read?
Starting with a heavyweight. I got this as a Christmas
present and thought it would be funny. It was, mildly. Would be much better as
the audiobook though I feel.
A comprehensive history of Charles II’s first decade on the
throne. I doubt there is anything else to possibly write about these ten years.
Was religion a block on medieval scientific advance? Yes.
This book set out to prove that was wrong and that the church didn’t really
hinder thinking and invention. But after you’ve read about heresy charges for
the fiftieth time you started to wonder what the author was getting at.
Fact: I had never read any Sherlock Holmes stories until
this year. Second fact: he ain’t all that smart.
Possibly the grimmest book I’ve ever read (and I’ve read a
large amount of war books). Using a lot of first person history, this isn’t a
light hearted glowing report on humanity. It’s bleak, vivid, eloquent and just
massively fucking depressing.
But that didn’t stop me reading another WW1 book straight
after. Also grim, with more accounts of corpses, heads being shot off and
seeing all your friends mown down my machine guns.
Everyone likes the Gormenghast trilogy don’t they? My wife
does, she’s a goth. A quick peek ahead will show I haven’t read either of the
other two though, so why is that? Titus Groan is slow and for many this is part
of the charm and I do admire Peake’s control of the English language. But, you
know, it just didn’t enthral me as much as it should.
Enjoyable yet slight history of Bletchely Park during WW2.
Here’s a tip, if you want an in-depth history of something then avoid a book
with Daily Mail quotes on the cover.
Autobiography of a man who endured extraordinary torture, inhumanity
and sheer bad luck under the Japanese in WW2. It’s occasionally difficult to
read from the distance of over 60 years from the events as there is a
bitterness and hatred here for an entire nation, which even though completely
understandable because of what he went through seems alien in 2012.
The first and best of the Peter Grant series of fantasy
novels. Good fun (hence the fact the other two are also on this list).
Second Peter Grant book. Not as good, but still fun.
I like the frothy history writing of John O’Farrell but this is the first novel of his I’ve read.
I obviously enjoyed it as I read it in under two days.
I would have read a lot more books if it wasn’t for these
beasts. Have you seen the size of them? And you spend half of your time
flicking back to all the maps or list of characters in the appendix. Anyway, if
you’ve seen the TV series you know what happens here.
And in this one.
Oh God, the things I now know that I can’t mention to people
who are just watching the TV series. This is the best book of the series so
far.
And most readers probably agree this isn’t the best.
The third Peter Grant book. How fast is he knocking these
out? Again, it’s fun but with references to sci-fi, Space Hulk and D&D I
feel he’s now talking to a small group of people. He’s not going to entice in
new readers if he gets mentioning D20s.
I like games. Dave Gorman likes games. He wrote a book about
it. I read it.
A history of London Underground. I’d recommend this to
people who like the London Underground. I like the London Underground. London
Underground.
I read this while on jury duty. It seems unfair I now have
to wait till either Martin cranks out the 50 thousand page sixth volume, or
just dies and ruins it for everyone.
Do I think I’ll read more in 2013? Yes. I mean there isn’t
an Olympics is there (sob)? I also have a lot of sport biographies and you can
usually read them in a single afternoon.
