Books Read 2021

 I have been rather slack this year, there have been a number of Citizen Science call outs throughout the year which I didn't get around to sharing. 

Despite that, I have actually read a number of books this year. Nowhere near the numbers I read in earlier years, but more than in recent years. I took up the challenge to read books at lunch, as driving myself to work meant that I no longer had the longer and more often chance to read to and from work on the train. Not to mention that aging eyes find it slightly harder to read later in the day when the light level is low (especially when the text is an odd colour and small in size).

On the topic of driving, a recent radio show host asked one of their guests on the topic whether they thought that audio books counted as reading a book, and the guest thought so, though I didn't - in the same way different actors will put different slants to the same character, an audio book will give different views on characters: tone of voice and delivery of character, narrative or narrator. That's one of the wonders of reading, it's your imagination that takes you to a place, and as much as it has been created by someone else, when you read it, you put your slant on it. What do you all think?

So here are the books from 2021, mostly novels, though also a couple of non-fiction ones in there as well.

 1. A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to liberate an American town (and some bears) -       Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

     27/12/20 - 1/1/21

 2. The Grove of the Caesars - Lindsay Davis

     5-7/1

 3. The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn - Colin Dexter 

    13-17/1

 4. Service of The Dead - Colin Dexter

    17-21/1

 5. Murder's Immortal Mask - Paul Doherty

    23-29/1

  6. Dress in the age of Jane Austen: Regency Fashion - Hilary Davidson  

    ?? - 24/6

 I had a big gap between starting and then actually getting stuck into the book, not to mention finishing, (as this is a wonderful tome) and as I don't tend to write the dates down until I've finished, I forgot when I actually started it. Whilst it is a great book, in both writing and related pictures, it has the drawback that the text is in mid-grey and on the smaller side.

 7. Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett

    27/7 - 15/8

  8. A Hat Full of Sky - Terry Pratchett

    14-25/9

  9. Rhett Butler's People - Donald McCaig 

    2-4/10

 I read this as an acquaintance rewatched Gone with The Wind, and was very sad that due to a particular scene, Rhett Butler, someone she had liked growing up and into adulthood, now seemed a wrong/bad man. So I thought I would re-read this more modern sequel. I also read little bits of Gone With the Wind after, to check pieces from the original afterwards.

10. The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett

       9/11

11. Empire of Ivory - Naomi Novik

      16/12

12. A Comedy of Terrors - Lindsey Davis

      28/12/21 - 4/1/21

     

 So there we go, more than last year and half-half re-reads/new ones this year. Not bad.