March Reading

It's been another busy month in terms of reading; my stomach problems really flared up and I spent three weeks incapable of doing much else outside of work apart from reading. The total of 95 books would in fact be even higher had I not succombed to a sick-virus last week where I went for 36 hours without opening a book! (This is unheard of for me - I can't remember when I last went so long without reading, definitely an indicator of being really poorly!).

As you can see I carried on reading my way through my shelf of Virago Modern Classics (do see my other blog for some reviews). I reread some more favourite children's books, including three of Jean Estoril's Drina books, and I also read three of her other ballet books which were new to me and which I very much enjoyed.

Highlights included two titles from the Orange longlist - This is how and Hearts and Minds, Legend of a suicide (which I finally got from the library), and A month in the country (recommended by a former colleague), and The cleaner (for which I nearly, but didn't quite break my lenten book buying ban). In terms of Virago Modern Classics, I especially enjoyed Elizabeth and her German Garden and The solitary summer, both by Elizabeth Von Arnim, to be reviewed soon.

Plans for April? I have caught up with the backlog of Virago Modern Classics for my Virago Venture, so it will depend on what new ones I acquire and find in the library as to how many I read during April. I will certainly be reading the two remaining Angela Carter VMCs that I have yet to read as part of Paperback Reader's Angela Carter month.

I've got a huge pile of library books that is split fairly evenly between chicklit and titles that were previously listed for the Orange prize. I'm intending to read from the back list of Orange titles over the next few months to continue my Orange Wednesday feature, so you can look out for more of those posts! I've also got a library copy of My driver, which is Maggie Gee's follow up to My cleaner.

I have a parcel of books from my parents for my birthday, and another book from a friend to open on Saturday; I gave them a wishlist of books to choose from so I have no idea what I will be getting, but they might end up being read in April. And of course, I'm off on holiday on Friday with a stack of lovely books, so I am looking forward to indulging myself in lots of books that I have been saving for sometime, and there is some new children's fiction from favourite authros in which to indulge.

Here is the full list:

The wrong Chalet School	EBD	C RR
The way things are	Delafield, EM	VMC
The man who disappeared	Morall, Clare
Two serious ladies	Bowles, Jane	VMC
Caught in Cornwall	Bolitho, Janie
It's hard to be hip over thirty	Viorst, Judith	P
Somewhere more simple	Molteno, Maria
The difference a day makes	Matthews, Carole
Chatterton square	Young, E.H.	VMC
Providence	Brookner, Anita
Sing me who you are	Berridge, Elizabeth
A model childhood	Wolf, Christa	VMC
A gate at the stairs	Moore, Lori
House on Clewe Street	Lavin, Mary	VMC
Swimming pool season	Tremain, Rose
Act of love	Dale, Celia
Facing the music	Torvill and Dean	AB
The ice cream girls	Koomson, Dorothy
The ballet family	Estoril, Jean	C
Manja	Gmeyner, Anna	P
The sweetest thing	Shaw, Fiona
101 teatime treats	BBC Good Food	NF
Strike for a kingdom	Gallie, Menna
Beside the sea	Oemi, Veronique
The ballet family again	Estoril, Jean
The witch of Exmoor	Drabble, Margaret
Size 12 is not fat	Cabot, Meg
How to break your own heart	Alderson, Maggie
Cotter's England	Stead, Christina	VMC
Legend of a suicide	Vann, David
Brief lives	Brookner, Anita
Precious bane	Webb, Mary	VMC
Love in a headscarf	Zahra, Shelina
My world	Andrews, Julie	AB
Ballet twins	Estoril, Jean	C
Tortoise by candlelight	Bawden, Nina	VMC
Dear Austen	Bawden, Nina	AB
A tea rose	Donnelly, Jennifer
O Pioneers	Cather, Willa	VMC
Life at the palace	Birch, Carol
Drina dances in Italy	Estoril, Jean	C RR
Life before man	Atwood, Margaret	VMC
Gluten-free cookbook for kids	Rabovich, Adrina	NF
Perfect meringues	Graham, Laurie
Trouble at Ponyways	Beresford, Judith	C
Ruffian on the chair	Bawden, Nina
Temples of delight	Trapido, Barbara
Drina dances in Madeira	Estoril, Jean	C
The rising tide	Keane, Molly	VMC
The wife's tale	Lansens, Lori
How to be married	Williams, Polly
Kinflicks	Alther, Lisa	VMC
Maddy Alone	Brown, Pamela	C
Work	Toynbee, Polly	NF RR
The little company	Dark, Eleanor
Grumpy old men: secret diary	Prebble, Stuart
Month in the country	Carr, JL
Boy trouble at Trebizon	Digby, Anne	C RR
Never more than human	Laverty, Maura	VMC
According to Lubka	Graham, Laurie
Tennis term at Trebizon	Digby, Anne	C RR
Familiar passions	Bawden, Nina
The cleaner	Gee, Maggie
The lacquer lady	Tennyson Jesse, F	VMC
Solitude of prime numbers	Giardino
The heir	Sackville-West, Vita	VMC
Leaving earth	Humphreys, Helen
This is how	Hyland, MJ	O
The match-maker	Conlon-McKenna, Marita
Elizabeth and her German garden	Arnim, Elizabeth von	VMC
Hearts and Minds	Craig, Amanda	O
Blue skies and gunfire	Peyton, KM	C
Cherry Ames: visiting nurse	Wells, Helen

The ice house	Bawden, Nina	VMC
Where are the snows?	Gee, Maggie
The secret son	Lalami, Laila
Cherry Ames: boarding school nurse	Wells, Helen
Tell me a riddle	Olsen, Tillie	VMC
Truth about melody browne	Jewell, Lisa
Princess diaries: to the nines	Cabot, Meg	C
Fine of two hundred francs	Triolet, Elsa	VMC
A week in December	Faulks, Sebastien
Julie Andrews: an intimate biog	Stirling, Richard
Married with baggage	Chidley, Elise
Love	Morrison, Toni
Company of swans	Ibbotsen, Eva	C
Solitary summer	Arnim, Elizabeth von	VMC
Savage lands	Clark, Clare
The river	Wastvedt, Tricia
Kife after lunch	Harrison, Saraha
Mealtimes and milestones	Barker, Constance	AB
Unlit lamp	Hall, Radclyffe	VMC
Keeping up with Magda	Dewar, Islar
Afternoon of a good woman	Bawden, Nina	VMC
Fasting and feasting	Desair, Anita
Trespass	Tremain, Rose