The list so far for 2004 ...

TITLE AUTHOR WHEN FINISHED Where from? RATING 1 - 5 COMMENTS

1 Pay it Forward
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Jan 2nd 2004
BC ring 4 Good easy read

2 The Woman Who Walked into Doors
Roddy Doyle
Jan 17th 2004
BC ring 4 Emotional topic (DV) handled well

3 The Story of O
Pauline Reage
Jan 22nd 2004
BC Ring 2 Car crash novel – hated but rubbernecked.

4 Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui
Karen Kingston
Jan 22nd 2004
BC Ring 4 Motivating – just have to hope it works!

5 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Mark Haddon
Jan 25th 2004
Birthday present 4 About an autistic boy. Lovely tale, unusual style, tactile cover!

6 Rabbit-Proof Fence
Doris Pilkington
Jan 31st 2004
BC Ring 2 Far too simply told, good basic story but style disappointed.

7 Girl, Interrupted
Susannah Heysen
Feb 4th 2004
BC Ring 5 Excellent observations of life in a mental institution

8 The Five People you Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
Feb 11th 2004
Bought myself 4 Who will be waiting for me? Who will I wait for?

9 Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Lynne Truss
Feb 16th 2004
Xmas present 4 Enjoyable, where’s the Tippex?!

10 Googlewhack
Dave Gorman
Feb 19th 2004
Bought myself 4 Writer rushed towards the end, but a good funny read.

11 The Tin Drum
Gunther Grass
Didn’t finish
BC Ring N/a Just couldn’t get going on this one, only read 56 pages in three weeks!

12 I Don’t Know How She Does It
Allison Pearson
March 5th 2004
BC Ring 4 Much deeper than was expecting, serious issues yet good fun.

13 Eating Cake
Stella Duffy
March 29th 2004
BC ring 4 Again deep chick lit, made me think hard about marriage etc

14 Do Not Pass Go
Tim Moore
10th April 2004
BC ring 4 London via the Monopoly board – too much info for one read

15 The Eyre Affair
Jasper Fforde
9th April 2004
BC ring 5 Fab literary detective book

16 Traveling Mercies
Anne Lamott
16th April 2004
BC ring 3 Enjoyable but didn’t quite get what it was about

17 Jenny – My diary
Yorick Blumenfeld
16th April 2004
BC ring 4 Diary of a nuclear war survivor – scary stuff

18 Lost in a Good Book
Jasper Fforde
14th May 2004
BC ring 5 Excellent, roll on part three!

19 Exodus
Julie Bertagna
21st May 2004
BC ring 5 Survival in a drowned world; a stark warning

20 Dad’s Life
Dave Hill
26th May 2004
My book 3 A pleasant read but not groundbreaking

21 A is for Alibi
Sue Grafton
1st June 2004
BC 3 Okay, will give the next a try. Nothing special.

22 Electric God
Catherine Ryan Hyde
4th June 2004
BC 3 Not as good as PIF but enjoyable all the same

23 The Songlines
Bruce Chatwin
14th June 2004
My book (now on BC ring) 4 Fascinating stuff; a bit heavy in the middle but
ultimately satisfying

24 The Summer Book
Tove Jansson
15th June 2004
BC RABCK (but bought my own copy now!) 4 Lovely book, about summer in Finland but about so much more.

25 She Said Yes
Misty Bernall
5th July 2004
My book (now on BC ray) 3 Posthumously controversial!

26 The Well of Lost Plots
Jasper Fforde
22nd July 2004
BC ring 3 Disappointing compared with the previous two books.

27 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
JK Rowling
16th July 2004
Library book 5 Overlong but best of the HP books so far.

28 Angels in the Mirror
21st July 2004
BC Ring 4 Really interesting book about the Vodou culture, accompanying CD good

29 Vurt
Jeff Noon
10th August 2004
BC Ring 4 A challenging sci-fi read but well worth the effort – eventually!

30 Painting Ruby Tuesday
26th July 2004
BC Ring 4 Enjoyable read, a slightly different spin on a novel.

31 Spirit Paths and Fairy Roads
28th July 2004
BC Ring 3 Interesting but too much geography and not enough background

32 Try and Make Me
2nd August 2004
Mine 5 Defiant child parenting – inspiring!

33 B is for Burglar
Sue Grafton
4th August 2004
BC Ring 4 Much better than A is for …

34 Not on the Label
14th August 2004
Mine 5 Never go in a supermarket again – scary. Anyone fancy The Good life?!

35 No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Alexander McCall Smith
18th August 2004
Mine 4 Took a while to get into but was a lovely unusual read.

36 The Food Our Children Eat
Joanna Blythman
Didn’t finish BC ring 1 Gave up after seventy pages. Far too preachy!

37 Notes on a Scandal
Zoe Heller
22nd August 2004
Mum’s 4 A gripping tale of obsession but a disappointing ending

38 What We Did on our Holiday
John Harding
15th August 2004
BC (out on ray now) 5 Mentions Cromer! Touching tale of family life and aging parents.

39 The Defiant Child
Douglas Riley
24th August 2004
Mine 3 Description of ODD good, action plan not much help

40 Tuesdays with Morrie
Mitch Albom
26th August 2004
BC Ring 5 Fantastic book about life and death, made me weep but ultimately uplifting.

41 The Explosive Child
Sept 2004
Mine 4 Much better ideas for dealing with ODD

42 The Solitaire Mystery
Jostein Gardner
Sept 2004
BC Ring 5 Fantastical sotry of a strange islan, interlaced with philosophy. Love it. Look out for copy for PC.

43 The Prophet
Gilbran Kahil
Sept 2004
BC Ring 4 Interesting spiritual poetry, some really good sections on children and love.

44 The Little House
Phillipa Gregory
Sept 2004
BC 5 Easy read, spooky story, loved it.

45 The Ruby in the Smoke
Phillip Pullman
3rd Oct 2004
BC Ring 4 Lovely read, Victorian London, much easier than Northern Lights!

46 Tears of the Giraffe
Alexander McCall Smith
Oct 2004
Mine 3 Very slow, got halfway through and decided nothing was happening but still enjoyed it in an odd way … too gentle really.

47 24/7
Jim Brown
Oct 2004
BC RABCK (now out as ray) 4 Enjoyable thriller about a reality TV show turned nightmare. A bit convoluted but good fun.

48 The Duchess of Bloomsbury
Helene Hanff
Oct 2004
BC Ring 4 Follow up to 84 Charing X Rd. London through the eyes of a US Anglophile. Good fun, easy read.

49 The Bang Bang Club
Greg Marinovich
Oct 2004
BC Ring 5 Harrowing but thought provoking. About photographers following violence in apartheid SA. Difficult subject but glad I made the effort.