2013 in Books

It turns out that four years of a humanities degree requires a hell of a lot of reading. And, if you're not careful, it'll put you off reading for fun. To try and get back into reading, this year I used Goodreads (which I'd recommend to anyone and everyone!) to set a target of 50 books to read before the year was out. And I did it! Just some interesting stats:

Numbers of new books- 49 (poor Nightwatch was my only re-read!)
Fiction/Non-fiction ratio- 27:23 (ish...)
Longest Book- World Without End, 1237pp
Shortest Book- Sad Book, 8pp
Quickest Read- The Vinland Sagas and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, one day
Longest Read- The Odyessy, April 29th- Sept 8th
Most Read Author- George R.R. Martin, 5 books and one short story!
Ebooks- Dracula, Mere Christianity and Worlds of Arthur
Useless Fact- Read Dracula on the way to Whitby. There was a thunderstorm my first night there. Was terrified the rest of the holiday!!

Total List:

American Caesars, Nigel Hamilton
A Storm of Swords, Part I: Steel and Snow, George R.R. Martin
A Storm of Swords, Part II: Blood and Gold, George R.R. Martin
Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class, Owen Jones
A Feast for Crows, George R.R. Martin
The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle
A Dance with Dragons, Part I: Dreams and Dust, George R.R. Martin
A Dance with Dragons, Part II: After the Feast, George R.R. Martin
Map Addict, Mike Parker
The Verdict: Did Labour Change Britain?, Polly Toynbee and David Walker
The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology, Kevin Crossley-Holland
The Folklore of Hertfordshire, Doris Jones-Baker
The Lords of the North, Bernard Cornwell
All the President's Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America, Anon.
Time's Anvil: England, Archaeology and the Imagination, Richard Morris
Cameron: Practically a Conservative, Francis Elliott
The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne
Snuff, Terry Pratchett
Edward the Confessor, Frank Barlow
What's the Point of School?, Guy Claxton
One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War, Mike Dobbs
The Life of Alfred the Great, Asser
The Wild Rover, Mike Parker
England and its Rulers, 1066-1272: Foreign Lordship and National Identity, Michael Clanchy
Swansong, Bernard Cornwell
Sheildwall, Justin Hill
Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey, Rachel Hewitt
The Honourable Schoolboy, John le Carre
Fatal Path: British Government and Irish Revolution, 1910-1922, Ronan Fanning
Then Everything Changed, Jeff Greenfield
Legends, Robert Silverberg
Burmese Days, George Orwell
Dracula, Bram Stoker
The Odyssey, Homer
Libra, Don De Lillo
World Without End, Ken Follett
Five Days in May: The Coalition and Beyond, Andrew Adonis
Nightwatch, Terry Pratchett
The Historian's Craft, Marc Bloch
Tearing Down the Curtain: The People's Revolutions in Eastern Europe, The Observer
Harvest, Jim Crace
Worlds of Arthur, Guy Halsall
Argo, Antonio Mendez
Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis
Book of Marvels and Travels, Sir John Mandeville
Sad Book, Michael Rosen
Vive La Revolution: A Stand-up History of the French Revolution, Mark Steel
The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution, 1381-1926, Frank McLynn

The Wit and Wisdom of... Nelson Mandela

We live with the hope that as she battles to remake herself, South Africa, will be like a microcosm of the new world that is striving to be born.

This must be a world of democracy and respect for human rights, a world freed from the horrors of poverty, hunger, deprivation and ignorance, relieved of the threat and the scourge of civil wars and external aggression and unburdened of the great tragedy of millions forced to become refugees.

The processes in which South Africa and Southern Africa as a whole are engaged, beckon and urge us all that we take this tide at the flood and make of this region as a living example of what all people of conscience would like the world to be.

We do not believe that this Nobel Peace Prize is intended as a commendation for matters that have happened and passed.

We hear the voices which say that it is an appeal from all those, throughout the universe, who sought an end to the system of apartheid.

We understand their call, that we devote what remains of our lives to the use of our country's unique and painful experience to demonstrate, in practice, that the normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples.

Moved by that appeal and inspired by the eminence you have thrust upon us, we undertake that we too will do what we can to contribute to the renewal of our world so that none should, in future, be described as the "wretched of the earth".3

Let it never be said by future generations that indifference, cynicism or selfishness made us fail to live up to the ideals of humanism which the Nobel Peace Prize encapsulates.

Let the strivings of us all, prove Martin Luther King Jr. to have been correct, when he said that humanity can no longer be tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war.

Let the efforts of us all, prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

Let a new age dawn!

Receiving the Noble Peace Prize in 1993 alongside F.W. de Klerk for their work in dismantling apartheid.