It was Jo’s idea – celebrate the first six months of the reading year by putting six books into each of six categories.
Not quite as easy as it looks. I’ve tweaked the categories to suit my reading style, and because I wanted to push disappointments to one site and simply celebrate some of the books many I have loved. And I’ve done it!
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Six Books that took me on extraordinary journeys
The Harbour by Francesca Brill
A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to the Kashgar by Suzanne Joinson
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce
The Fever Tree by Jennifer McVeigh
The City of Beautiful Nonsense by E Temple Thurston
The House on Paradise Street by Sofka Zinovieff
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Six books that took me by the hand and led me into the past
The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman
The Last Summer by Judith Kinghorn
The Colour of Milk by Nell Leyshon
Tom-All-Alone’s by Lynn Shepherd
The Painted Bridge by Wendy Wallace
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Six books from the past that drew me back there
The One I Knew the Best of All by Frances Hodgson-Burnett
A Burglary by Amy Dillwyn
The Frailty of Nature by Angela Du Maurier
Harriet by Elizabeth Jenkins
The New Moon With the Old by Dodie Smith
As It Was & World Without End by Helen Thomas
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Six books from authors I know will never let me down
The L-Shaped Room by Lynne Reid Banks
The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Closed at Dusk by Monica Dickens
Monogram by G B Stern
Palladian by Elizabeth Taylor
In the Mountains by Elizabeth Von Arnim
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Six books I must mention that don’t fit nicely into any category
Shelter by Frances Greenslade
Still Missing by Beth Gutcheon
When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones
Alys, Always by Harriet Lane
The Roundabout Man by Clare Morrall
Diving Belles by Lucy Wood
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Six Books I started in the first six months of the year and was still caught up with in July
The Young Ardizzone by Edward Ardizzone
The Deamstress by Maria Dueñas
Greenery Street by Denis MacKail
Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace by Kate Summerscale
The Warden by Anthony Trollope
White Ladies by Francis Brett Young
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Do think about putting your own sixes – it’s a great way of perusing your reading, and I’d love to read more lists.
Fleur in her World 
I like the title of each list. Really makes you spend some time with the books and contemplate your reading choices a bit!
What an excellent idea….and so creatively done! Your list has many titles I am not familiar with; I shall have to look them up. (You can see my list here.)
Great tweaking. Especially the books that don’t fit into a category. I like books like that.
More books to add to my tbr list!
I love your category titles! I’ve only read a few of the books you’ve listed but most of the others are books that I’d like to read at some point.
I just read an excellent review of “Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace” in the Globe newspaper published in Boston, MA USA. The book sounds intriguing and sensitive. I’m looking forward to reading it. I’d like to see you do a review of it.
I’ve just done my list and it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be and it also made me realize I’m not doing too well on posting on what I read this year. All these lists are going to play havoc with the TBR!
Excellent lists! I love this idea and may do a little tweaking of my own over the next couple of days.
I loved A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar…this is such a fun idea! I’m off to see if I can organize my titles in any comprehensive way. Thanks for sharing!
Great lists! You’re right, Dame Agatha never let’s you down! Here’s my Six in Six.