Let’s start in the library.

J. Kaye from J. Kaye’s Book Blog hosted the 2009 Support Your Local Library Challenge.

You could commit to reading 12, 25 or 50 library books in 2009. I went for the maximum, and I knew it wouldn’t be a problem.

Here are a few reasons why I love  libraries:

• I am lucky to have a good public library service – I can order any book in the county or in a large reserve stock for just 50p.
• I also belong to the wonderful Morrab Library. There are only 19 private subscription libraries in the UK and this one is just a few minutes walk from home.
• I can still visualise where my favourite books were in the library when I was a child.
• Without libraries I wouldn’t be able to read anything like as widely as I do.
• I pass the library as I walk home from work. A little look around the shelves after a difficult day is wonderfully theraputic!
• I like to think I can influence what the library stocks by ordering and borrowing books. I have been known to borrow under-borrowed books that I own to help their statistics.
• Don’t book lovers have a duty to support libraries? If we don’t we can’t assume they will still be there and then how will people who can’t afford to buy books read and how will other people discover books?
• I first met my fiancé in the library!

I’ve  read 106 library books this year.

Some wonderful new authors and a few books that I hadn’t heard of until I saw them on the shelves.

I’ve added some to my shelves since, there are more I’d like to.

And I’ve uncovered a few put of print gems.

The full  list is here.

And so to the pub

The 2009 Pub Challenge was hosted by Michelle at 1morechapter.com.

Read at least nine books published for the first time in your country in 2009. I’ve done 3 rounds – 27 books.

Here they are:

ROUND 1

• The Island at the end of the World by Sam Taylor
• The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry
• The Paris Enigma by Pablo de Santis
• The Girl Who Played With Fire by Steig Larsson
• Henry: Virtuous Prince by David Starkey
• True Murder by Yaba Badoe *
• A Very Persistent Illusion by L C Tyler
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• Leaving The World by Douglas Kennedy

ROUND 2

• Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
• The Spy Game by Georgina Harding *
• The Alchemy of Murder by Carol McCleary
• Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
• Ten Little Herrings by L C Tyler *
• Hammer by Sara Stockridge
• Angels With Two Faces by Nicola Upson
• The Best of Men by Claire Letemendia
• Among The Mad by Jacqueline Winspear *

ROUND 3

• The Owl Killers by Karen Maitland
• Kisses on a Postcard by Terence Frisby *
• The Rapture by Liz Jensen
• The Finest Type of English Womanhood by Rachel Heath
• Stone’s Fall by Ian Pears
• The Boy with the Cuckoo-clock Heart by Mathias Malzieu *
• The Girl With Glass Feet by Ali Shaw *
• Dancing With Mr Darcy: stories inspired by Jane Austen & Chawton House *
• Thaw by Fiona Robyn

(There are a few more I’ve read but not written about yet and, I suspect, a couple I’ve missed.)

Some great books – the ones I’ve starred are la creme de la creme!