100 Books Read in 362 days

From 25th December 2011 until 24th December 2012 I read 100 books in 362 days.  Why I hear you ask…just to see if I could and it’s a good excuse to read. So in no particular order those books were…

    1. The Rebel – Albert Camus
    2. Sissinghurst: An Unfinished History – Adam Nicolson
    3. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
    4. Hadrian VII – Frederick William Rolfe
    5. The Divine Comedy – Dante Alegheri
    6. Aku-Aku – Thor Heyerdahl
    7. The Man Every Woman Wants – Miranda Lee
    8. Night of the Crabs – Guy N. Smith
    9. The Rights of Man – Thomas Paine
    10. Gullivers Travels – Jonathan Swift
    11. God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations For Modern Science – James Hannam
    12. Of Love and Other Demons – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    13. No One Writes to the Colonel –  Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    14. Under The Jaguar Sun – Italo Calvino
    15. Knowledge of Angels – Jill Paton Walsh
    16. The Book of Imaginary Beings – Jorge Luis Borges
    17. Lewis Carroll In Numberland – Robin Wilson
    18. The Dogs and the Wolves – Irene Nemirovsky
    19. Jezebel – Irene Nemirovsky
    20. The Football Men: Up Close with the Giants of the Modern Game – Simon Kuper
    21. Death of a Dustman – M. C Beaton
    22. Down and Out in Paris and London – George Orwell
    23. Danse Macabre – Stephen king
    24. No Smoke, No Fire – Dave Jones
    25. Wasa-Wasa – Harry Macfie & Hans G. Westerlund
    26. Measuring the World – Daniel Kehlmann
    27. Snuff – Terry Pratchett
    28. Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
    29. The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci – Jonathan D. Spence
    30. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
    31. Fahrenheit 451 – Ray Bradbury
    32. In Siberia – Colin Thubron
    33. The Red House Mystery – A. A Milne
    34. The Mystery of Holly Lane – Enid Blyton
    35. The Devil and Sherlock Holmes – David Grann
    36. Mr Bliss – J.R.R. Tolkien
    37. Drinking Arak off An Ayatollah’s Beard – Nicholas Jubber
    38. Berlin –  Antony Beevor
    39. The Wind Through the Keyhole – Stephen King
    40. The Battle for Gullywith – Susan Hill
    41. Have A Little Faith – Mitch Albom
    42. Educating Jack – Jack Sheffield
    43. Mountains of the Mind: A History of a Fascination – Robert Macfarlane
    44. This is not the end of the book; – Umberto Eco
    45. My Quest For the Yeti – Reinhold Messner
    46. The Elephant Vanishes – Haruki Murakami
    47. Allan Quatermain – H. Rider Haggard
    48. My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes – Gary Imlach
    49. Death of a Celebrity – M. C Beaton
    50. In Arcadia – Ben Okri
    51. The Green Man – Kingsley Amis
    52. Bertrand Russell’s Best – Bertand Russell, edited by Robert E. Egner
    53. The Art of Travel – Alain de Botton
    54. All Our Worldly Goods – Irene Nemirovsky
    55. Elephants Can Remember – Agatha Christie
    56. Jeeves in the Offing – P. G Wodehouse
    57. Fifty Shades of Grey – E. L James
    58. The Mystery of Tally-Ho Cottage – Enid Blyton
    59. The Histories – Herodotus
    60. ‘Salem’s Lot – Stephen King
    61. Vita Brevis – Jostein Gaarder
    62. Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick
    63. The Virgin Suicides – Jeffrey Eugenides
    64. The Second World War – Antony Beevor
    65. The Screwtape Letters – C. S. Lewis
    66. Death of a Village – M.C Beaton
    67. The Road – Cormac McCarthy
    68. Strange Pilgrims – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    69. The Story of San Michele – Axel Munthe
    70. The Hundred and One Dalmatians – Dodie Smith
    71. Why England lose and Other Curious Football Phenomena Explained – Simon Kuper & Stefan Szymanski
    72. Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
    73. Red Dragon – Thomas Harris
    74. The news Where You Are – Catherine O’ Flynn
    75. Strange Meeting – Susan Hill
    76. The Greatcoat – Helen Dunmore
    77. Titus Groan – Mervyn Peake
    78. A Brief History of Infinity: The Quest to Think the Unthinkable – Brian Clegg
    79. The Mystery of the Missing Man – Enid Blyton
    80. Crabs’ Moon: Night of the Crabs 2 – Guy N. Smith
    81. David Golder – Irene Némirovsky
    82. Memoirs From the House of the Dead – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
    83. Rome and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations – Mark Goodman
    84. Ur of the Chaldees – Sir Leonard Woolley
    85. TV Cream Toys: Presents You Pestered Your Parents For – Steve Berry
    86. The English Patient – Michael Ondaatje
    87. A Maze of Death – Philip K. Dick
    88. Death of a Poison Pen – M. C Beaton
    89. Up In The Bronx – Stephen Baum
    90. In Evil Hour – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    91. Keep the Aspidistra Flying – George Orwell
    92. The Phantom Tollbooth – Norton Juster
    93. Myths of the Near Future – J. G. Ballard
    94. The Thirty-Nine Steps – John Buchan
    95. Rush: The Autobiography – Ian Rush
    96. Invisible Cities – Italo Calvino
    97. The Painted Veil – W. Somerset Maugham
    98. But Not Yet – Lucy Tasker
    99. Through A Glass, Darkly – Jostein Gaarder
    100. Wolf Hall – Hilary Mantel

54 Replies to “100 Books Read in 362 days”

  1. I am aiming for 100 read by the end of the year so it’s still a challenge. I’m glad to see the art of reading is still going strong, I shall check out your Classics club post haste!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. This is an amazing list! I’m ashamed now…My list is nothing compared to yours hahaha I really love to read and hope someday I’ll have a list to be proud of. 🙂 Congratulations for this!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. You have read some great books and anyone that can read War and Peace and two other books is pretty impressive. I’m attempting to reach 100 books this year, the pressure is definately on, but you have inspired me to get a move on now.

      Like

    1. Hopefully I’ll get to the magic 100 this year. I shall be checking out your blog later as I have to go to work now at this stupidly earlier hour. Hope you have a great day and are very much inspired.

      Like

    1. I love to mix it up a bit and keep myself bouncing through lots of different styles and subject matter, and even more exciting is a history of the popes which I am much looking forward to sinking into.

      Like

      1. That does sound interesting, when I see the grand castles and properties they owned around here and in Avignon, it really makes me wonder about their lifestyles back in the day when they were a club of very wealthy and revered men. My how things have changed.

        Like

        1. I bet it was a fantastic lifestyle for them. If only the joy of reading hadn’t been given to the masses then they’d probably be safe in their castles still and we’d have to blog about something different.

          Like

  3. Wow! I should’ve done this, too! Unfortunately, I joined Goodreads later this June so only those books I’ve read after I signed up were in the list.

    Let’s keep up reading! 🙂

    Like

    1. I was sad enough to keep all mine in a pile until April when I thought to list them for my own benefit and now i am aiming for 100 for the year. I like a challenge. I shall have to dig my Goodreads account up again myself.

      Like

      1. This comment answers my question a few minutes ago. You have a Goodreads account! 🙂 Please add me!

        It is a good thing to have a challenge because you can test (and sometimes push) yourself to your limit. I think you can do well more than a hundred. I wish I could, too. Perhaps I’ll start this January.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Yeah do it, it’s fun although can get a bit stressful when you end up stuck on a big book for weeks on end. I like to set a challenge a year. Last year I didn’t buy any books which ended up being easier than it sounded. I should beat one hundred this year, just started book ninety. I shall add you when I get around to updating it.

          Like

          1. I feel frustrated when I read a book, especially a classic, for more than a week so my current strategy is to read two or three easy reading novels then tackle a hard one. Good luck in reading 11 more books and by the looks of it, you will meet your 100 mark.

            I’ll wait for the invite 🙂

            Like

            1. That is a good plan, I may steal that for my own future use. Half wy through book 90 now so I am in positive spirits. As long as I avoid Moby Dick I shall be alright.

              Like

              1. A good plan indeed and I hope I can stick to it. Some books are just too good but would occupy two-four weeks of my reading time so sometimes I avoid them. Pity that

                Like

    1. I love to try and read all the big names. I am hoping to read some other big hitters this year. I always take one to the pub as it makes me seem way more intelligent than I possibly am., lol.

      Like

    1. I completed it last year, I was aiming for the 365 but I did it despite a break for the European Championships, which as usual England failed to do anything good in.

      Like

    1. When you put it like that it does seem pretty good. I really wish I would have had the same drive this year to attempt reading the same amount. Still there is always next year and perhaps I will read Children’s books and aim for 200.

      Like

    1. I like to set myself challenges, although I didn’t have one this year. I really need to get around to reviewing all the rest of the books, methinks…

      Like

    1. I haven’t read any Steinbeck yet…which makes me under read…I shall remedy this post haste. Greetings and welcome to the blog and the New Year!

      Like

  4. Hey, I just noticed this. 25th December 2011 until 24th December 2012 is 365 days, not 362! You should have included a math book instead of that up in the Bronx one.

    Like

    1. Ha, I had three days off as a treat in the middle in which I wasted my time watched bad TV quizzes probably…I learned nothing so the TV quizzes were true to form!

      Like

  5. Holy Moly, 100. Impressive. I’ll make around sixty this year, though I feel I should be able to count Moby Dick and Anna Karenina as two : ) Great List, looks a lot like mine, though I only read on Stephen King, His memoir. It was fantastic. Looking forward to following your blog, paz, Abby

    Like

    1. Welcome to the blog. You actually managed to read all the way through Moby Dick, I am impressed! I think you should gte three books for that one, I never made it past the chapter detailing all the different types of whales. King has written some really good books, he manages to evoke such atmosphere when his characters talk.

      Like

  6. Oh my my! Seriously 100 books. ❤
    How I wish I could arrange time to have as wide list as yours.
    I am flabbergasted. Trust me on this.
    Going through above comments, I realized that you have goal of another 100 books, good luck for that. 🙂

    Like

    1. This was a few years ago and it was a challenge near the end but the obsession took over. I haven’t read that many in a single year again but maybe one day…well year!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. My bad.
        How could I not see the dates.🙈
        I’m really sorry. I just went through some of the last comments and didn’t bother my eyes to look at the year when they were posted.
        Embarrassing!😑

        Like

        1. Think nothing of it, it is nice to be remembered of the old posts now and again. It does give me an idea for another 100 post but that would mean spending loads of money buying books so thank you!

          Liked by 1 person

          1. 😄
            It’s alright then.
            But spending money on books is like spending for one’s wisdom. So it won’t be a bad deal, I guess.😉
            All the best for your future’s 100 post😀

            Like

            1. You’re right, books are the gift that keep on giving and look good when new people come around your house too. Thank you for your unknowing inspiration.

              Liked by 1 person

  7. I’m supremely jealous and inspired at the same time by this list. I’ve been struggling to keep up with reading these days, although I have made up for lost time in the past few weeks. 100 books in less than a year is goals right there. Thanks for the motivation! I’m going to scoot now, get home and read through the night. Also, that’s an impressive selection of books. I have crossed out quite a few of these on my list and added a few from here too. 🙂

    Like

    1. I only decided to try for the hundred after somehow managing to get time off at Christmas and flying through the books, it seemed an attainable goal after my fifteen books by the of January. I hope to add more to your list in the near future. I hope you managed some sleep after your night reading!

      Like

      1. Yes, I’ll find your space when I lack the stimulus. I managed to read in absolute bliss tonight, with a cup of coffee and no interruptions. It’s 4:30 a.m. here and I’m finally off to bed, after this unusual reading session! Good night!

        Like

  8. I love the idea of making a stack of 100 books and aiming to get through them like Jaffa Cakes, like marathon miles, like a challenge that could see me photographed with one foot on a pile of 100 books and a Napoleonic look on my face. I often forget what I’ve got and what I really wanted to read, so really like the idea of this number, and to detail which titles. Even if I change it through the year, I’d still be able to take the picture.

    Like

    1. Why is it that eating a whole packet of Jaffa Cakes isn’t particularly challenging these days. Unlike the 100 books that I noly chose to do as I had a good start in January and read about twelve of them. I think you should take a photo of you with whatever books you do conquer, in fact do it each year and get a crown too! We hoarders have the simultaneous pain of forgetting about awesome boos we have but finding them months or years later to great delight. It keeps the blood pumping for me.

      Liked by 1 person

Share your thoughts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.