My 2007 reading is recorded in a small brown, hardbacked notebook with a picture of the London Eye on its cover. I am pretty sure that it was given to me by my sister-in-law as I have never been on the London Eye and I rarely buy souvenirs. It contains entries for 389 books which I read in the year – many of these were light and easy to read books but my reading also included some non-fiction and more challenging novels.
The first book I read in the year was Truth and Fiction in the Da Vinci Code by Bart D Ehrman. The Da Vinci Code was big at the time and I had read it. I was also fortunate in that I had read The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln which provided much of the material for the plot of Dan Brown’s book. Bart D Ehrman uses historical records to indicate the improbabilities in the theory behind both books. At the time it was useful for me to understand where the errors were in The Da Vinci Code although I was pretty sure that it and the book on which it was based were inaccurate. I have read a number of books by Bart D Ehrman about the historicity of the bible and the writings of the early church. I have also now read all of Dan Brown’s other novels which I have enjoyed as he is a great storyteller.
The final book which I read in the year was a complete contrast. It was Mind Over Matter by Nora Roberts. This is a very light romance and completely forgettable, if very enjoyable at the time. It’s not one I’ve kept or would seek out to reread but at busy or difficult times I enjoy a totally predictable novel with a satisfying ending.
What I mainly notice from my perusal of the little brown notebook for the year is that I read a lot of biographies and books about women. These included three biographies by Claire Tomalin – Mrs Jordan’s Profession, The Life and Death of Mary Wolstencraft and Jane Austen. I also read Good Wives, Significant Sisters and Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Margaret Forster. More biographies included The Viceroy’s Daughters by Anne de Courcey, A Circle of Sisters by Judith Flanders, The Mitford Girls by Mary S Lovell, The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller and Sisters to the King by Maria Perry. I still own all of these books and they form the kernel of my collection of biographies which now encompasses five shelves, the majority of which are about women.
I am not a sporting person, except for following cycling (not participating), but this year I read three books about sport which form the basis of a very small collection I have now accumulated – My Father and Other Working Class Heroes by Gary Imlach (which is actually about football) and two books by Matt Rendell, Blazing Saddles and The Death of Marco Pantani which are about cycling.
All of these non-fiction books are only a small number of the total. Most of the books I read in the year were crime or urban fantasy or thrillers/suspense. My notebook is filled with names of authors such as Tanya Huff, Laurell K Hamilton, Keri Arthur, Patricia Briggs, Mike Carey, Lisa Gardner, Tess Gerritsen, Karen Rose, Karin Slaughter and Charlaine Harris. Each of these authors has written many books and I will have read most or all of them – this kind of book was the bedrock of my reading life at the time and still features heavily in my choices today.
Anne Is Reading 