Reading Project: #BookEnds2021

In 2021, I’ll be doing a wee project I’m calling #BookEnds where I try to finish all the unfinished books around my flat.

There’s a few reasons I’ve acquired so many unread or unfinished books. Some were given as gifts, or are second hand – quite a few are from family or ex-flatmates having a clear out. Some have been found in community bookboxes or were something I picked up for university.

Then sometimes there are books that were bought but fell between the cracks and were left as ones to get back to.

Well, 2020 is their year!

The goal is to finish as many as I can and either keep or pass them along. Being honest, there are some books that I’ve had for years, and attempted so many times I’ve lost count. This project might be the time to admit I might never finish them and give them to someone who will!

That being said, I have sketched out two rough rules:

1. I’m still allowed to buy the book for my monthly book group
2. When buying books, I’ve got to try and keep it to one at a time

I’m probably not going to manage to read all 88 of them – unless someone pays me to do that full-time in the name of “science”, I will accept any and all applications for this role.

But I think all books deserve a chance and if I don’t love them, it’s time to be honest and give them to someone else.

You can follow my progress on my Twitter account, where I’ll be using #BookEnds2021 for everything.

Here is the full list for those of you who are interested (in alphabetical order). Come back to see how it’s updated!

Fiction

1. The Dirk Gently Omnibus, Douglas Adams
2. The Power, Naomi Alderman
3. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson
4. One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
5. Not the End of the World, Kate Atkinson
6. The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood
7. Writing Home, Alan Bennett
8. Ordinary Thunderstorms, William Boyd
9. Waiting for Sunrise, William Boyd
10. Any Human Heart, Wiliam Boyd
11. Restless, William Boyd
12. The Professor and Emma, A Fragment, Charlotte Brontë
13. Vilette, Charlotte Brontë
14. His Bloody Project, Graeme Macrae Burnet
15. Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey
16. The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
17. Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon
18. Arrival, Ted Chiang
19. Love, Pan-Fried, Gray Crosbie
20. Superstition, Sally Coulthard
21. Undermajordomo Minor, Patrick deWitt
22. Akin, Emma Donoghue
23. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
24. Birchfield Close, Joe McNaught
25. Alone in Berlin, Hans Fallada
26. Censored, Matthew Fellion and Katherine Inglis
27. Welcome to Nightvale, Joseph Fink
28. Here I Am, Jonathon Safran Foer
29. My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin
30. Sophie’s World, Jostein Gaarder
31. Clara, Janice Galloway
32. Jellyfish, Janice Galloway
33. Love In Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez
34. White Horse, Yan Ge
35. A Sting In the Tale, Dave Goulson
36. Lanark, Alasdair Gray
37. Less, Andrew Sean Greer
38. Brighton Rock, Graham Greene
39. The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall
40. Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy
41. Pandora’s Jar, Natalie Haynes
42. The Guest Cat, Takashi Hiraide
43. Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, Peter Høeg
44. May We Be Forgiven, A.M. Homes
45. The Bone People, Keri Hulme
46. Avenue of Mysteries, John Irving
47. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
48. The Invisible Child and The Fir Tree, Tove Jansson
49. Fin Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson
50. Comet in Moominland, Tove Jansson
51. The Summer Book, Tove Jansson
52. Wait For Me, Jack, Addison Jones
53. Kiki’s Delivery Service, Eiko Kadono
54. Strange Weather in Tokyo, Hiromi Kawakami
55. If Cats Disappeared from the World, Genki Kawamura
56. The Shining, Stephen King
57. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John le Carré
58. The History of Bees, Maja Lunde
59. Blue Ticket, Sophie Mackintosh
60. Mantel Pieces, Hilary Mantel
61. Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel
62. There are Two Errors in the Title of this Book, Robert M. Martin
63. The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell
64. The Hound of the D’Urbervilles, Kim Newman
65. The Housekeeper and the Professor, Yoko Ogawa
66. The Cinnamon Peeler, Michael Ondaatje
67. The Thrilling Adventuers of Lovelace and Babbage, Sydney Padua
68. Damned, Chuck Palahnuick
69. The Tenderness of Wolves, Stef Penney
70. After Me Comes the Flood, Sarah Perry
71. The Essex Serpent, Sarah Perry
72. My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
73. The Shipping News, Annie Proulx
74. Awakenings, Oliver Sacks
75. Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks
76. Today Will Be Different, Maria Semple
77. The Rosie Result, Graeme Simison
78. The Art of Flight, Fredrik Sjoberg
79. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland
80. Nimona, Noelle Stevenson
81. It’s About Time, Lesley Storm
82. The Little Friend, Donna Tartt
83. Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Yoko Tawada
84. The Bricks that Built the Houses, Kae Tempest
85. Brooklyn, Colm Tóibín
86. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein
87. Pine, Francine Toon
88. Paper Girls Vol. 1, Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chaing
89. The Little Stranger, Sarah Waters
90. Blackout, Connie Willis
91. Doomsday Book, Connie Willis
92. All Clear, Connie Willis
93. The PowerBook, Jeanette Winterson
94. The Fifth Head of Cerebus, Gene Wolfe
95. Into The Woods, John Yorke

Edit: in May 2021, I moved out of a flat and into a house! This meant I also got a lot of books that had been in storage. In June, I got married and asked my wedding guests, if they wished, to bring a copy of their favourite book as a wedding present. All in all, a lot more books entered my shelves.

So, in August I did another sweep and have to add the following books:

96. Life as a Unicorn, Amrou Al-Kahdi
97. When Will There Be Good News?, Kate Atkinson
98. Big Sky, Kate Atkinson
99. Emma, Jane Austen
100. Persuasion, Jane Austen
101. Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
102. Lady Susan, The Watsons and Sanditon, Jane Austen
103. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë
104. The Master and the Margarita, Mikhail Bulgakov
105. Possession, A. S. Byatt
106. Medusa’s Ankles, A. S. Byatt
107. Wild Swans, Jung Chang
108. House of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski
109. Baudolino, Umberto Eco
110. Ducks, Newburyport, Lucy Ellman
111. Old Baggage, Lissa Evans
112. The Longest Journey, E. M. Forster
113. The Silver Darlings, Neil M. Gunn
114. The Seven Wonders of Scotland, Gerry Hassan
115. Alan Turing: The Enigma, Andrew Hodges
116. Last Night in Twister River, John Irving
117. The Hotel New Hampshire, John Irving
118. My Squirrel Days, Ellie Kemper
119. Bright Dead Things, Ada Limon
120. Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening, Marjorie M. Liu
121. The Water Cure, Sophie Mackintosh
122. Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela
123. Fragile Monsters, Catherine Menon
124. The Witch and Her Soul, Christine Middleton
125. Jane Haining: A Life of Love and Courage, Mary Miller
126. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Yukio Mishima
127. The Third Policeman, Flann O’Brien
128. Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell
129. Apple and Knife, Intan Paramaditha
130. The Bees, Laline Paull
131. Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian), Hazel Jane Plante
132. The Chosen, Chaim Potok
133. The Testament of Gideon Mack, James Robertson
134. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks
135. China Room, Sunjeev Sahota
136. Down to Earth, Anne Scott-James
137. The Secret Barrister, The Secret Barrister
138. The Mandibles, Lionel Shriver
139. Winter, Ali Smith
140. Beyond the Deepwoods, Paul Stewart
141. The Bi-ble: New Testimonials, Various
142. Alone in Space, Tillie Walden
143. A Dubious Legacy, Mary Wesley
144. The Dictionary of Lost Words, Mary Wesley