A-Z

I finished reading another Persephone Books publication this week – Doreen by Barbara Noble – which Carole very kindly sent me, as a sort of reciprocal gift in BAFAB. Thanks so much Carole! Really good novel, as all of PB’s books are, but I shan’t say much about it now, as dovegreybooks@yahoogroups.co.uk are soon to embark on a group discussion about it, and I don’t want to forestall myself. So I haven’t started talking about Barbara Noble’s book to give a review, this time – Doreen makes an appearance for a subtler reason.

For my birthday last November, a friend of the family (who happens to be a vicar’s wife and mother of twins, but is not Our Vicar’s Wife) gave me a notebook entitled ‘Books I’ve Read, Books I Want To Read’. Well, this was rather a perfect little gift, I’m sure you’ll agree. There are pages for every letter of the alphabet, which invite you to write the author, title, date completed, and compose a comment. I’m afraid I jettisoned the comment section straight away – I need all the space I can get to include all the books I’ve read, and, since I’ve kept a record since 2001, there were plenty to include. What I didn’t realise is that, from 2001 until last week, I had read nothing by an author whose surname begins with N. I, Q, U, X, Y, and Z are similarly empty, but N is now no longer virgin territory – step forward Barbara Noble. I know for a fact that I’ve read E Nesbit, if no other N-ers, but Noble is the first to be entered into the book.

And so I’m going to follow the advice of a particularly unpleasant article I read about ‘How To Make Money From Your Blog’, and present a list. Feel free to send wads of cash in the post afterwards, if it takes your fancy. It interested me, and it might interest you, to see the oldest and most recent entry for each letter of the alphabet. The first book listed is the oldest one under each letter; the second is the most recent, and probably has been mentioned on the blog at some point. If that sounds deadly dull to you, then here’s a question to answer instead – do you keep a list of the books you read? If so, where? And in chronological order, or by author?

Jane AUSTEN – Pride and Prejudice
Jane AUSTEN – Lady Susan

Lynne Reid BANKS – The L-Shaped Room
A.S. BYATT – The Matisse Stories

Lewis CARROLL – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Jackie CLUNE – Extreme Motherhood: The Triplet Diaries

E.M. DELAFIELD – The Provincial Lady Goes Further
Monica DICKENS – One Pair of Feet

Mary ESSEX – Tea Is So Intoxicating
George EGERTON – Keynotes

Helen FIELDING – Bridge Jones: Edge of Reason
E.M. FORSTER – A Room With A View

Gillian GILL – Agatha Christie: the Woman & Her Mysteries
Joyce GRENFELL & Katharine MOORE – An Invisible Friendship

Anne HART – Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot
Zoe HELLER – Notes on a Scandal

Tove JANSSON – The Summer Book
Jerome K. JEROME – Three Men In A Boat

Felicity KENDAL – White Cargo
Barbara KINGSOLVER – The Bean Trees

E.V. LUCAS – Mixed Vintage
John LYLY – The Woman in the Moone (sic…)

Christopher MILNE – The Path Through The Trees
Elizabeth MYERS – A Well Full of Leaves

Michael ONDAATJE – Anil’s Ghost
Maggie O’FARRELL – The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox

David PELZER – A Child Called ‘It’
Margaret PELLING – Work For Four Hands

J.K. ROWLING – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
J.K. ROWLING – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Elizabeth D. SHAFER – Exploring Harry Potter
Jan STRUTHER – Mrs. Miniver

Ann THWAITE – A.A. Milne: His Life
Claire TOMALIN – Katherine Mansfield : A Secret Life

VOLTAIRE – Candide
VERCORS – Sylva

P.G. WODEHOUSE – Quick Service
Leonard WOOLF – Hunting The Highbrow