"The Pages I Turned Last Year..." Or: My 2012 Reading List:

In 2011 I decided to begin keeping lists of all the books I read over the last twelve months, the idea being twofold; that I could keep track of what I have read, and also for when anyone asks me for recommendations I have them virtually at my fingertips.

For anyone interested in what I read in 2011, the list can be found within this post

Here:

As for 2012, it was a less than fruitful year of page-turning for me, it seems, having only managed to finish seven whole books (It can take me a while to finish a book as I don’t get an awful lot of time to read) but nevertheless, whilst the quantity falls short, the quality certainly does not.

• The World for a Shilling  (Michael Leapman)

• The Dead Mans Message (Florence Marryat)

• Tom all Alones  (Lynn Shepherd)

• Twice Round the Clock  (George Augustus Sala)

• The Somnambulist  (Essie Fox)

• Three Men in a Boat  (Jerome K Jerome)

• People of the Abyss  (Jack London)

• Devoured (DE Meredith)

• Bleak House (Charles Dickens)

As I write this I am still reading Bleak House and after an apprehensive start, enjoying it immensely. I can recommend thoroughly all the books above, although ‘The Dead Man’s Message’ was a little moralistic, being a kind of ‘A Christmas Carol’ meets ‘The Divine Comedy’ tale about living an honest and true life, and ‘Twice Round The Clock’ seemed terribly long-winded to me; a little like listening to a drunk old uncle talk about the good old days.

That said, the former was fairly short, and the latter contained a lot of interesting information, so I would still recommend them, albeit with the above advice offered.

I'm more than happy to talk about and discuss any of these books, so feel free to leave comments below or chat to me on Twitter about them. You'll find me on there under the name @Amateur_Casual