#26 – Re-connecting with a childhood friend

I hadn’t seen or spoken to Melanie in at least 27 years.  Our mums knew each other and were pregnant and then in hospital together as we were born days apart.  We went to playgroup together and apparently we used to come out of school holding hands.  But then Melanie’s family moved away and although we kept in touch for a while we lost track and probably hadn’t seen each other since we were about 12.

Melanie found me on Facebook (it does have its uses!) and made contact.  So of course we had to meet up.  We met up end of November to celebrate both our birthdays and enjoyed some tea and cake together and then headed over to the Waffle House to eat and catch up on a lot of years of life.  It was great to catch up and compare memories.  It was entertaining the different things we remembered as we both seemed to remember completely different things.  It is also great to now have our friendship reunited… and hopefully it won’t be quite so long before we see each other again!

#25 – Read 40 books

So the challenge was to read 40 books from birthday to birthday.  But since the Goodreads challenge only runs on calendar year I set myself the double task of 40 books in 2013.

Taken from birthday to birthday for the full year I have read:

1.   Eight Cousins                      Louisa May Alcott              

                                                       finished 6 Dec 12 in Swaziland        ***

2.   The Secret Keeper              Kate Morton                     

                                                       finished 22 Dec 12                           ****

3.   How to be a Woman           Caitlin Moran                    

                                                       finished 7 Jan 13                              ***

4.    Miss Pym Disposes           Josephine Tey                 

                                                       finished 19 Jan 13                            **

5.  Love in a Box: Operation Christmas Child             Emma Carswell                

                                                       finished 27 Jan 13                            ****

6.  Wives and Daughters           Elizabeth Gaskell              

                                                       finished 15 Feb 13                           *****

7.  Little House in the Big Woods       Laura Ingalls Wilder          

                                                       finished 16 Feb 13                           ****

8.  The Hiding Place                   Corrie Ten Boom              

                                                       finished 19 Feb 13                           *****

9.  Case Histories                       Kate Atkinson                    

                                                       finished 24 Feb 13                           ****

10. In all things                            Mary Thomas                  

                                                       finished 28 Feb 13                           ****

11. Six Months, Three days        Charlie Jane Anders        

                                                       finished 28 Feb 13                           ****

12. The Distant Hours                 Kate Morton                     

                                                       finished 19 Mar 13                            ***

13. The Diary of a Young Girl      Anne Frank                      

                                                       finished 19 Apr 13                            *****

14. The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

             Jonas Jonasson                finished 27 Apr 13                           *****

15. The Accidental Tourist            Anne Tyler                        

                                                        finished 11 May 13                            **

16. Notes from a Small Island      Bill Bryson                         

                                                        finished 23 May 13                          *****

17. As they slept (The comical tales of a London commuter)       

               Andy Leeks                       finished 23 May 13                          *****

18. The Beano Annual 1972            finished 26 May 13                          ****

19. The Wedding Gift                    Marlen Suyapa Bodden     

                                                         finished 26 May 13                          *****

20. Tom and Jerry Annual 1972       finished 28 May 13                          *****

21. The Woman who went to bed for a year      Sue Townsend                  

                                                         finished 7 June 13                            **

22. Are you with me?                    Stephen Foster                

                                                         finished 13 July 13                           **

23. The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency      Alexander McCall Smith   

                                                         finished 17 July 13                           *****

24. Tears of the Giraffe                 Alexander McCall Smith   

                                                         finished 19 July 13                           *****

25. Morality for Beautiful Girls       Alexander McCall Smith   

                                                         finished 20 July 13                           *****

26. Sing you home                        Stephen Foster                

                                                         finished 27 July 13                           **

27. Baggy Brown and the Royal baby      Mick Inkpen                       

                                                         finished 18 August 13                      ****

28. The Tipping Point                    Malcolm Gladwell            

                                                         finished 22 August 13                      ****

29. The Happiness project (Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, 

      Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun)

                 Gretchen Rubin               finished 1 September 13                  ***

30. In The Presence of my Enemies      Gracia Burnham          

                                                          finished 6 September 13                 *****

31. Rupert Annual no. 37 – 1972             Alfred Bestall                

                                                          finished 29 September 13               *****

32. Incidents in the life of a Slave girl      Harriet Jacobs (Linda Brent)      

                                                          finished 3 October 13                       ****

33. Donkey Tales                           Mary Thomas                  
                                                          finished 5 October 13                      ****

34. Wimbledon 2013: The Official Story of the Championships                                                    

                Neil Harman                      finished 9 October 13                      *****

35. Pride and Prejudice                 Jane Austen                      

                                                          finished 24 October 13                    *****

36. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies      Seth Grahame-Smith           

                                                          finished 28 October 13                    **

37. Nice Girls Don’t Change the World      Lynne Hybels                 

                                                          finished 29 October 13                    *****

38. The Jungle Book                      Rudyard Kipling                

                                                          finished 1 Nov 13                             ****

39. Bono: In Conversation with Michka Assayas      Michka Assaya                 

                                                          finished 20 Nov 13                           *****

40. Brazil                                        Michael Palin                    

                                                          finished 26 Nov 13                           ****

Then from my birthday until the end of 2013 I also read:

41. The Lake of Dreams                Kim Edwards                    

                                                          finished 4 Dec 13                            *****

42. Peas & Queues: The minefield of Modern Manners      Sandi Toksvig                   

                                                          finished 8 Dec 13                             **

43. Rafa: My Story                         Rafael Nadal 

                                                          finished 13 Dec 13                           *****

44. Make Way for Ducklings          Robert McCloskey            

                                                          finished 22 Dec 13                           **

So, I managed to read 40 books birthday to birthday, 42 books in 2013 and 44 books in total.  Amongst that number there were…  13 biographies; 25 fiction; 17 non-fiction; 6 Christian; 7 historical; 7 travel; 5 classics; 9 humour (not that I found all of them as humourous as they were intended to be!); 9 childrens; 7 re-reads.

It seems I am still a real book lover at heart since 26 of these were paperbacks, 6 were hardback books, and just 12 of those books were read on the Kindle (mostly only read while travelling). 5 books were borrowed from the library, and 6 others borrowed from other people.  4 of the books were given to me.

The Longest book I read was ‘Wives & Daughters’ by Elizabeth Gaskell at 679 pages, though it took me just a couple of days as it is a loved classic which I re-read on the plane journeys on a trip.  The book that took the longest to finish was ‘Brazil’ by Michael Palin; just 320 pages, but hardcover and large in size so not easy to take around with me – so a read at home only book.  The two shortest books, both at 32 pages, were ‘Six Months, three Days’ by Charlie Jane Anders which I read online, and ‘Baggy Brown and the Royal Baby’ which I read with Nathaniel and which is probably the lowest word count of all the books (and the quickest read).

Of the books which I read this year I liked more books than those I didn’t get on so well with.  My stars ratings were: –       18 *****     13 ****     5 ***     8 **     0 *

Birthday to birthday I read a total of 9,125 pages, and in 2013 I read a total of 9,719 pages.  Although actually it would be more as this is from the stat on Goodreads and a couple of the books read don’t have official page counts.  This count also doesn’t include those books which I have started this year but haven’t yet finished.

One of the reading highlights of the year was re-reading 3 of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency books while actually in Botswana and staying on the real Tlokweng road and then at the Sun Hotel.  Being in Gaberone in Botswana made the books come even more alive than they already do.  I have also really enjoyed some great biographies this year - many of them really inspiring.  From well-known contemporary sports and music stars to the sometimes more difficult to read Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl or In The Presence of my Enemies (both of which I’d highly recommend).  I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed reading some great books with my nephews Nathaniel and Sebastian (most of which I did not register on this list) and enjoyed seeing their pleasure in books.  I tried to branch out from the same sort of books I always read and enjoyed using the Goodreads website as a way of discovering new things to read, but have also enjoyed balancing this with a few of my favourite re-reads.  All in all, a good years reading.

At times it felt like quite a slog to keep up the pace to ensure both lots of 40 got read.  And although in 2013 I did end up going 2 above the target I think I will probably lower next year’s target a little to ensure maximum reading enjoyment while still having the challenge there to keep pushing me.