Book Meme 2008

Catherine tagged me to complete this:

How many books read in 2008?
37, not including a few books re-read.

Fiction/Non-Fiction ratio?
22 fiction, 13 non-fiction and one volume of poetry. I would have guessed that I read more non-fiction than fiction; perhaps the non-fiction stays with me for longer.

Male/Female authors?
10 male, and 23 female authors.

Favourite book read?
I find it impossible to pick favourites, but highlights this year included Virgina Nicholson's Singled Out, Alison Light's Mrs Woolf and the Servants, and Every Eye by Isobel English.

Least favourite?
Definitely The Diary of a Provincial Lesbian, with Arlington Park a close runner-up.

Oldest book read?
The oldest book read for the first time is Maud Pember Reeves's Round About a Pound a Week, originally published in 1913, although I also re-read The Mayor of Casterbridge.

Newest?
I think that is Ali Smith's Girl meets Boy, first published November 2007, although I can't quite motivate myself to check the bibliographic information for everything I've read.

Longest book title?
The Mitfords: letters between six sisters, provided words after a colon can count.

Shortest title?
A tie (and a rhyme) between Every Eye and Roger Fry.

How many re-reads?
As well as the Hardy noted above, I've re-read most of The Diary of a Provincial Lady, Love from Nancy: the letters of Nancy Mitford, and also the letters between Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh. And the Round the Horne scripts. I usually re-read Cold Comfort Farm at least once a year, but my partner doesn't remember me doing so this year. What was I thinking?

Most books read by one author this year?
Three by STW, and three by EMD if you count the Diary, which I re-read every year.

Any in translation?
Four: Fattypuffs and Thinifers, Suite Francaise, Nomad's Hotel and The Master and Margarita

And how many of this year’s books were from the library?
Oh dear. None at all. I must get out of the habit of buying odd books because they are a penny second-hand on Amazon, when I could get them from the library. I have a good local library and my employer's library at my disposal, so there's really no excuse.