So it is that time of the year again, when I launch my Challenge Tuesday with a whizzbang starter and get a few under my belt to see me through the first few weeks.
Or not, as the case may be…
Firstly, I’ve got to report my final tally for 2016 being a vaguely disappointing 41 books. It’s not that bad a number, but more that I missed both my original and my revised targets that feels a little negative.
However, it has forced me to accept that I cannot do everything I might want to do – read, write, study, work, act, sew, crochet, play table tennis, go to the gym, spend time with loved ones… There are only 24 hours in a day, and I like to spend some of them asleep. I have to make better choices for my time.
So this year’s challenge is to read works with a view to enhancing my writing. It may be something from a relevant genre for style ideas, or a writer I admire for their strong prose or beautiful imagery, their use of themes or metaphors. It might be research – a biography or history book, for example. It might be poetry for the rhythm. Who knows? There’s no set number, just a purpose.
Let’s see where that concept takes me!
In the meantime, here’s the list of books from 2016:
Book 1 – The Path of Daggers, by Robert Jordan
Book 2 – Winter’s Heart, by Robert Jordan
Book 3 – The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 4 – Tears of the Giraffe, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 5 – Morality for Beautiful Girls, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 6 – The Kalahari Typing School for Men, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 7 – The Merlin Conspiracy, by Diana Wynne Jones
Book 8 – A Little Love Song, by Michelle Magorian
Book 9 – Stone Mattress, by Margaret Atwood
Book 10 – What We Believe But Cannot Prove, edited by John Brockman
Book 11 – The Full Cupboard of Life, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 12 – In the Company of Cheerful Ladies, by Alexander McCall Smith
Book 13 – The Mayor of Casterbridge, by Thomas Hardy
Book 14 – The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy
Book 15 – Summer, by Edith Wharton
Book 16 – The Double Clue, and other Hercule Poirot Stories, by Agatha Christie
Book 17 – The Dressmaker, by Rosalie Ham
Book 18 – The Beauties and the Furies, by Christina Stead
Book 19 – The Seance, by John Harwood
Book 20 – North of Nowhere, by Liz Kessler
Book 21 – A Wizard of Earthsea, by Ursula Le Guin
Book 22 – The Tombs of Atuan, by Ursula Le Guin
Book 23 – The Farthest Shore, by Ursula Le Guin
Book 24 – Tehanu, by Ursula Le Guin
Book 25 – A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon
Book 26 – The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce
Book 27 – Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
Book 28 – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
Book 29 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling
Book 30 – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, by J.K. Rowling
Book 31 – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling
Book 32 – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, by Muriel Spark
Book 33 – The Last Anniversary, by Liane Moriarty
Book 34 – Pyramid, by David Gibbins
Book 35 – My Soul To Take, by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Book 36 – Willow, Wine, Mirror, Moon: Women’s Poems from Tang China, translated by Jeanne Larsen
Book 37 – The Axeman’s Jazz, by Ray Celestin
Book 38 – Chocolat, by Joanne Harris
Book 39 – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Book 40 – Lady Oracle, by Margaret Atwood
Book 41 – A Cup of Sake Beneath the Cherry Trees, by Kenkō; translated by Meredith McKinney
If you have any ideas for the 2017 list, please let me know in the comments – I’d love to know what makes you sit up and take notice, as a writer!
Happy reading,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
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