Three from seven

 
    It is only since 2002 that I've kept a list of the books I've read, and I do look at it frequently, partly to remind myself what is there and also to link the books by association with other things that were going on in my life at the time I was reading them. Just as the newspapers often run 'on this day' pieces, pulling up notable events from their archives or remembering significant anniversaries, so I thought I'd take off the shelves the books I was reading on this date each year since 2002 - just for fun, and I hope, some interest, in case you haven't come across them before.

Of the seven from 2002-08 (given that this year's are on these pages anyway), the four 'runners-up' first:
A House in the Country, Jocelyn Playfair
 Life in a Cold Climate: Nancy Mitford - A Portrait of a Contradictory Woman, Laura Thompson
The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards
Here at the end of the world we learn to dance, Lloyd Jones

But now 'the prize-winners', as it were, from c. 26th. May, 2002 onwards, the real corkers I remember fondly and would recommend highly:
The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor - beautiful, elegant, perfect.
An Equal Music by Vikram Seth - a music-lover's novel.
Period Piece by Gwen Raverat - Darwin's granddaughter's memoir of her Cambridge childhood; original, funny, delightful.

Comments

[Laura Boland]

I read The Story of Lucy Gault when it first came out and it was absolutely my book of that year. I think it was 2003. I gave it to a friend recently which I now regret as I have a hankering for a reread.

[Cornflower]

I want to re-read it, too, Laura, as I remember it as being quite superb. (Yes, 2003 was the year I read it!)

[Danielle]

I also read the Trevor book and have always wanted to read more of his work. A House in the Country sounds good and I have it waiting to read, too. I like looking back over my reading journal sometimes as well. It's interesting to see how my reading has changed over time!

[Linda Gillard]

AN EQUAL MUSIC would also be on my list of all-time greats. I've always wondered if it appeals to non-music lovers as much as to music lovers? I don't really think of it as being a book about music, more around music.

It has the distinction for me of being one of the very few contemporary reads I thought could have been longer. Modern books usually have me itching to lay waste with the blue pencil.