2014 in Books

Once again, Goodreads spent the year nagging and cajoling me into reading more. Missed my target for this year though, only getting 27/35 (A target which was revised down twice!). Not quite as many as last year... but in my defence, I did start teacher training part way through...

Number of new books- 25 (I re-read The Machine Gunners and Looking for JJ)
Fiction/Non-fiction ratio- 12:13
Longest Book- White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, 950pp.
Shortest Book- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, 89pp.
Quickest Read- The Queen and I and The Machine Gunners, one day.
Longest Read- Nixonland: America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-72, May 21st- Dec 7th.

Most Read Author- Hilary Mantel, but only two books! Only repeat author.
Ebooks- The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Athelstan: The First King of England, Burial Rites, An Officer and a Spy, The Dying Days, Nixonland: America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-72 (6).
Useless Fact- I had to actually check that Umberto Eco wasn't being serious when he claimed The Name of the Rose was written based on an ancient manuscript he'd then lost...

Full List:

A Classless Society: Britain in the 1990s, Alwyn Turner

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson

Athelstan: The First King of England, Sarah Foot

A Spot of Bother, Mark Haddon

Burial Rites, Hannah Kent

An Officer and a Spy, Robert Harris

Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms, 1638-1660, Trevor Royle

The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria, Max Adams

The Machine Gunners, Robert Westall

Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, John le Carre

Making Sense of the Troubles, David McKitterick and David McVea

The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell

The Queen and I, Sue Townsend

The Stories of English, David Crystal

In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government, Matthew D'Ancona

The Benn Diaries, 1940-1990, Tony Benn

Looking for JJ, Anne Cassidy

Bring Up the Bodies, Hilary Mantel

White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties, Dominic Sandbrook

Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England, Michael Wood

The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco

The Daylight Gate, Jeanette Winterson

The Dying Days, Lance Parkin

Nixonland: America's Second Civil War and the Divisive Legacy of Richard Nixon, 1965-72, Rick Perlstein

Just Law: The Changing Face of Justice, and Why it Matters to Us All, Helena Kennedy

School Wars: The Battle for Britain's Education, Melissa Benn