It's the first of January 2011, and a very happy new year to all who visit here! It's also Cornflower Books' second birthday so of course we must have a little prize draw. To enter, please just leave a comment on this post telling us what you're reading as the year begins, and I'll draw a name out of the hat in a few days' time and send the winner a copy of a book I've much enjoyed.
You are most welcome to have a go no matter where in the world you live, and as it's Buy A Friend A Book week, too, all the more reason to take part.
Good luck, and all the best to you!
Best wishes for 2011 dear Cornflower and thank you for such a stimulating and interesting blog.
Having thoroughly enjoyed reading Wait for Me: Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister by Deborah Devonshire I have stepped back a few centuries to read Bess of Hardwick by Mary S Lovell. Sort of top and tailing the story of Chatsworth really.
I look forward to another year of great reading with the Cornflower reading group.
Posted by: Jill | 01 January 2011 at 12:21 AM
Happy New Year! As the year turns I'm finishing up Women in Love by Lawrence and will start Sapphique by Catherine Fisher. I enjoy your blog - congrats on your anniversary!
Posted by: Anbolyn | 01 January 2011 at 12:25 AM
Happy New Year and happy birthday! I've enjoyed reading your blog and reading along with the book group a few times. It's still 2010 here, but I'm going to be reading Salley Vickers too in the new year (Dancing Backwards...I read and enjoyed her earlier books and I think I learned from you that I had missed one!) Wait for Me is next after that for me, too.
Posted by: Audrey | 01 January 2011 at 01:15 AM
I just finished Howard's End Is On The Landing by Susan Hill. I was nice to dip into during these busy Christmas days. I didn't always agree with her thoughts about favourite books and authors, which only made the reading that much more fun.
I am now at that perfectly delicious moment of choosing what to read next and vacillating between The Children's Hour by AS Byatt and Freedom by Jonathan Franzen.
Posted by: pamela | 01 January 2011 at 01:16 AM
Happy anniversary and happy New Year. I'm midway through Rebecca West's This Real Night and enjoying it a great deal.
Posted by: Susan | 01 January 2011 at 01:19 AM
Happy New Year Cornflower! Is CB only two now? It seems like I've been visiting much much longer! :) I'm celebrating the new year with John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps. Best wishes!
Posted by: Danielle | 01 January 2011 at 02:00 AM
Happy New Year to you Cornflower. As the new year begins I am on my last chapter of The Double Comfort Safari Club and about to start Forster's WHere Angels Fear to Tread.
Posted by: Sarah | 01 January 2011 at 02:16 AM
My very best wishes to you for 2011.
I just started a few minutes ago Barbara Pym's Excellent Women. I like this period of time in whch the book is set.
Posted by: Mystica | 01 January 2011 at 02:29 AM
Happy new year! As ever, I'm out of synch with your book group and so I've just started Housekeeping. I don't think it's quite what I'm in the mood for, so I'm tempted to put it aside to start a rather musty-smelling old copy of Children of the Archbishop by Norman Collins.
Posted by: m | 01 January 2011 at 03:03 AM
Happy New Year Cornflower! I've just started Yiyun Li's short story collection Gold boy, Emerald Girl and am enjoying it so far.
Posted by: Sarah | 01 January 2011 at 03:05 AM
Happy Birthday and Happy New Year! Thanks for your insightful, interesting blog. I'm in the middle of The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering, a bit of a downer as a subject, but fascinating book. I'm also just beginning The Gendarme.
Posted by: Linda C. | 01 January 2011 at 03:12 AM
Happy New Year Cornflower! I finished Debo's memoirs yesterday & last night started Convent on Styx by Gladys Mitchell, a convent school mystery.
Posted by: Lyn | 01 January 2011 at 03:50 AM
Happy New Year-to you-here on the West Coast it is only 8 pm-I am finishing The Distant Hours and starting The Piano Teacher.
Posted by: Esme | 01 January 2011 at 04:17 AM
Great fun- thanks-
Posted by: Carla | 01 January 2011 at 05:20 AM
Happy anniversary and Happy New Year! One of my favorite discoveries of 2010 was your blog, so I'm very happy that you're here and that your blog has reached this milestone. I'm also hoping to participate in your book club off and on this year.
The New Year in these parts is just a few minutes old and I haven't started anything new yet. But I plan on beginning the new reading year with The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I've been anticipating it for a long time now, so it's very exciting that it's time now!
Posted by: M (notarevolution) | 01 January 2011 at 05:41 AM
Happy Hogmanay (I'm in Oregon, west coast of the US, so that's actually accurate).
I'm roughly halfway through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. What a treat for any Dickens fan!
Wonderful and happiest of new years to all.
Posted by: Marina McIntire | 01 January 2011 at 07:06 AM
Happy New year and blog-birthday, Cornflower. I'm reading Hancox by Charlotte Moore, one of my Christmas presents, having just finished Susan Hill's The Small Hand which was also a gift.
Posted by: Carol Norton | 01 January 2011 at 07:45 AM
Happy New Year to Cornflower and to all here who make this site so interesting.
I'm reading 'Stargazing' bu Linda Gillard (thanks to Cornflower's mention on the radio). The 1st Chapter was a great hook - I nearly missed a free lunch beacause I found it so difficult to put down! Recommended.
Posted by: Sandy | 01 January 2011 at 09:49 AM
Happy New Year to you and yours, Cornflower.I am reading " The Private Patient" by P D James . She does write so well
Posted by: Anne | 01 January 2011 at 11:12 AM
Happy New Year
I've just started Wolf Hall, which my bookclub has as its January choice. I'm enjoying what I have read so far - HM makes you feel you are there, though it does require more concentration that some books to keep track of who is who etc. even with the useful lists at the start of the book.
Posted by: Karin | 01 January 2011 at 11:16 AM
Happy New Year and well done for maintaining the high standard of the Cornflower blog.
I'm re-reading Nigel Slater's Toast after watching the TV adaptation.
Posted by: Barbara | 01 January 2011 at 11:22 AM
I'm reading Jude Morgan's 'A Little Folly'. Lovely, old-fashioned historical romance.
Posted by: Ros | 01 January 2011 at 11:37 AM
Happy New Year and birthday! I'm reading ian MacEwan's Atonement and 'The End of Oil' by Paul Roberts.
Posted by: Crafty Green poet | 01 January 2011 at 11:41 AM
Happy New Year Cornflower! And thank you again for the blog.
I'm reading Precious Bane and AMS's The Charming Quirks of others - and feeling I am in Edinburgh, so hello!
Lizzie
Posted by: Lizzie | 01 January 2011 at 12:03 PM
Happy New Year, Cornflower! I'm reading Persuasion (again) - the first book I downloaded to my new Kindle.
Posted by: Joanna | 01 January 2011 at 12:13 PM
Happy New Year and second birthday greetings! I've just finished re-reading 'A Man Lay Dead' by Ngaio Marsh and the Peter Mayle Provence books & about to start on some Mankell.
Posted by: fifiquilter | 01 January 2011 at 01:26 PM
Happy New Year.I'm reading a 'feel good' book by Trisha Ashley called'Twelve Days Of Christmas'.It is a lovely story with romance and a little mystery combined.Thanks for your interesting blog and amlooking forward to your varied reading recommendations.
Posted by: margaret46 | 01 January 2011 at 01:48 PM
Congratulations on your second anniversary and a very happy New Year to you as well! I very much enjoy reading both your blogs. My current read is a knitting book that I received for Christmas called "The Haapsalu Shawl" by Siiri Reimann. It is an incredible book of Estonian knitting history and patterns. I have read it so many times since Christmas that I have practically memorized it. I think I will need to read it several times more before I decide what I want to make from it!
Posted by: Kate/Massachusetts | 01 January 2011 at 02:12 PM
Happy New Year to you and to CB! CB was one of my favorite finds of 2010. I'm currently reading Edith Wharton's House of Mirth.
Posted by: Susan in TX | 01 January 2011 at 03:08 PM
Happy New Year and Happy Birthday to this lovely blog. I finished reading one of my best books of 2011 a few days ago: PATRIMONY by Philip Roth. Marvellous. Now I'm reading one of my Christmas presents: THE WHOLE WORLD by Emily Winslow. She's an American living in Cambridge and the novel, a psychological thriller, is set here. Very entertaining so far!
Posted by: adele geras | 01 January 2011 at 03:09 PM
Rather embarrassing, but after following your blog for years, I have decided to join in the Book Group's reading, and yesterday I started The Bookshop (also currently reading This Organic Life - Gussow). Also wanted to mention that the Reading Map is smashing, and whets my appetite to read or reread the books with a fresh eye. Thank you!
Posted by: Barbara Tollen | 01 January 2011 at 03:15 PM
Happy 2011 to you and congratulations on Cornflower Books' second birthday!
I have got myself into the situation where I am reading 5 books at the same time, unfortunately (and unusually):
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
Perfectly Pure and Good - Frances Fyfield
Book of Days - James L Rubart
Solar - Ian McEwan
How the Light Gets In - M J Hyland
Hopefully I will finish at least one quite soon!
Please enter me for the birthday draw!
Posted by: Yvann | 01 January 2011 at 03:32 PM
Very pleased to hear you're enjoying it, Sandy. Happy New Year to you, Cornflower and all her readers.
Posted by: Linda Gillard | 01 January 2011 at 03:47 PM
I'm reading THE GREAT WAR & MODERN MEMORY by Paul Fussell which is fascinating - much more readable than it sounds. It's a book about the development of language and literature in the aftermath of WWI. Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, I'm also reading HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE by Jeaniene Frost, a paranormal novel. This is market research as my current work-in-progress is a paranormal (but definitely no vampires!)
Happy New Year to all.
Posted by: Linda Gillard | 01 January 2011 at 04:11 PM
happy new year &happy birthday.Celebrate!1 just started Sand In My Shoes byJoan Rice.
Posted by: rhonda | 01 January 2011 at 04:20 PM
Are boys allowed to comment too? If so, I'm reading Dance To The Music of Time, of course, as well as History of the World in 100 Objects, and Turned Out Nice, a possible account of the future British Isles ecolsystems after 100 years of climate change.
Have a very good new year - and remember there are some great non-fiction books out there, too, and poetry!
Have put up my new calendar today - you'd hate it, full page pictures of birds, starting with a massive buzzard's head.
Posted by: Lindsay | 01 January 2011 at 04:54 PM
Am reading In Memoriam by Tennyson. Such insight into grief and hope. Strangely reassuring.
Posted by: Naomi | 01 January 2011 at 05:09 PM
My first book of the year is Blaming by Elizabeth Taylor. A special book as it was a Christmas gift from my daughter and what a great read so far!
Posted by: Darlene | 01 January 2011 at 05:13 PM
I plan to finish London Belongs to Me by Norman Collins and to start Romantic Moderns. And maybe a couple others....
Happy New Year!
sherry
Posted by: www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkpLlIOk0gdQQmS_0i_kllntzurLjaIHjE | 01 January 2011 at 05:17 PM
Happy New Year!
I have just started The Sonnets by Warwick Collins. I came across it through Cornflower Bookgroup (just under a year ago!) and put it on my Amazon Wish List ... and my number came up at Christmastime.
Posted by: Barbara MacLeod | 01 January 2011 at 05:21 PM
Happy New Year! I'm mid-stream with: The Mind's Eye by Oliver Sacks, The Good Remains by Nani Power which a friend recommended and This Child's Gonna Live by Sarah E. Wright. This year I want to finally read A Hundred Years of Solitude, Midnight's Children, all of Shakespeares sonnets and the Grapes of Wrath. Susan E. from East Coast US
Posted by: Susan | 01 January 2011 at 05:28 PM
Happy New Year Cornflower and Cornflowerbooks!
I am reading Daniel Huws Memories of Ted Hughes 1952 - 1963.
Posted by: catharina | 01 January 2011 at 05:30 PM
Happy New Year, Karen!
I am reading Anita Shreve's "Rescue". It is a Christmas gift which I am very much enjoying. I was disappointed in Shreve's book previous to this one ("A Change in Altitude")but am happy to say that this one is back to her high standards.
Posted by: Julie Fredericksen | 01 January 2011 at 05:38 PM
I'm unexpectedly in the middle of Drood by Dan Simmons. Good and scarey.
I dream to live in a world where books and reading are valued. Thanks for being part of that.
Posted by: LoriAngela | 01 January 2011 at 06:23 PM
Happy New Year! I've just started reading _Romantic Moderns_ by Alexandra Harris. I've also picked up a proof of something from the staffroom at work. (If you have to work on New Year's day,you should take advantage of the perks!) Can't remember either the name, or the author, but it looks as if it will be rather light and frothy.
Posted by: rosie | 01 January 2011 at 06:51 PM
Happy New Year, Cornflower & family, & a happy birthday to Cornflower Books. I haven't read anything since Christmas as we have had family staying here & delightful grandchildren to entertain - O, well I've done lots of reading bedtime stories - Little Grey Rabbit anyone? Sadly they went home today, so I am about to start Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear - the fourth Maisie Dobbs mystery - I really enjoyed the previous three.
Posted by: Gill | 01 January 2011 at 07:49 PM
Happy New Year Cornflower Books and Cornflower. I am just finishing The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. I have wanted to read this all last year but never had some quiet time to do so until the past two days. Lined up next is Virginia Woolf, Hermoine Lee's biography and like several other's here, Romantic Modern's.
Posted by: Fran H-B | 01 January 2011 at 10:01 PM
Do not put my name in for the draw as I've already gotten a book from you - but I've discovered the Mapp/Lucia series and enjoying it very much.
Posted by: jodi | 01 January 2011 at 10:07 PM
Happy new year, Karen, and happy birthday to Cornflower Books! I'm starting the year off with The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel and Jane Austen's Mansfield Park and enjoying both. :)
Posted by: claire | 01 January 2011 at 10:18 PM
I'm reading "Hilda Annersley, Headmistress" by Lesley Green, and "The Vicar's Daughter" by E H Young.
Posted by: Geraldine | 01 January 2011 at 10:47 PM