I have been tagged in a meme by the lovely Simon at Stuck in a Book. Unfortunately I still need more time to decide on my 10 rules of life, so I’m going to answer the other meme on his blog about the books I read this year. It seemed fitting for New Year’s Eve.
How many books read in 2008?
A disappointing 52. Still, it’s one for every week of the year.
Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
42 fiction versus 10 non-fiction
Male/Female authors?
29 male, 23 female, and 1 anonymous
Favourite book read?
As previously stated, The Victorians by A.N. Wilson
Least favourite?
How could we forget the unfinishable Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith?
Oldest book read?
I do believe that would be Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which was originally published in serial as The String of Pearls between 1846-1847.
Newest?
A handful of proof copies of books which I received before they were published, such as The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber and The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer.
Longest book title?
Nineteenth-Century Religion and Literature: An Introduction by Mark Knight and Emma Mason.
Shortest title?
Silk by Alessandro Baricco. Which incidentally gave Child 44 a run for its money as my least favourite book of the year.
How many re-reads?
Only three, and two of those (Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde) were for uni reasons. The other, The Crying of Lot 49 was for my sometime-reading group.
Most books read by one author this year?
Only one author appeared more than once in 2008, and that was the wonderful Ali Smith.
Any in translation?
2: Silk and The Ice Palace by Terjei Vesaas.
And how many of this year’s books were from the library?
Shamefully, only half a book. I originally got Women and Literature in Britain 1800-1900 out of the university library, only to discover that it was really, really interesting, and so found my own copy second hand. And of course I read lots and lots of chapters from uni library books for essays, but not any entire books.
As for tagging other people… I think you should all have a go. Drop me a comment so I can see your efforts.
Other Stories 
I did a step better than you, and turned down Child 44 when it was offered to me for review… could tell I wouldn’t be able to get past the first five pages.
By: Simon T on January 1, 2009
at 11:26
I loved this post as well as Stuck in a Book’s list so I did my own. Thanks for all the opinion, information and inspiration this past year.
By: LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD on January 2, 2009
at 20:24
I have also been tagged with this meme but it needs a bit of thought. I have bookmarked your new location and will be dropping by.
Happy New Year!
By: Elaine on January 3, 2009
at 11:22
[…] the lead of Kirsty at Other Stories, I shall commence my 2009 blog-fest with a book […]
By: Victorian Geek » Blog Archive » 2008 Book Meme on January 3, 2009
at 17:03