1.
Kitchen Diaries 2 - Nigel Slater. (Annoying little turd.)
2.
Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict - Laurie Viera Rigler. (Interesting premise but it was stretched out too long.)
3.
The White Queen - Philippa Gregory. (Historical fiction about Elizabeth Woodville - undemanding.)
4.
The Murders in the Rue Morgue and other stories - E. A. Poe. (Dupin is the forerunner of Holmes - but less exciting.)
5.
Master and God - Lindsey Davis (Superior historical fiction set in the reign of Domitian)
6.
Lemon Meringue Pie Murder - Joanne Fluke (Might have been more thrilling had the eponymous pie been the murder weapon)
7.
Bess of Hardwick - Mary S. Lovell. (Lively and scholarly biography.)
8.
The Mating Season - P.G. Wodehouse. (Jeeves and Wooster in full effect.)
9.
The Anglo-Saxons - ed. James Campbell (dry, dry, dry
)
10.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - trans. Simon Armitage (should have read it 25 years ago, better late than never)
11.
The Hare with Amber Eyes - Edmund de Waal (Potter chases netsuke - delightful)
12.
Manon Lescault - Abbé Prévost (What a silly pair! Unpleasant, too)
13.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson (Surprisingly readable)
14.
The Hip Chick's Guide to Macrobiotics - Jessica Porter (A lot of very useful nutrition advice behind the hippy woo)
15.
A Street Cat Named Bob - James Bowen (Cat redeems addict)
16.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles - trans. Anne Savage (Still bloody tedious - maybe I'm just not interested in Anglo-Saxon history?)
17.
Whispers Underground - Ben Aaronovitch (Supernatural murders beneath modern London. Spiffing!)
18.
Beowulf - trans. Seamus Heaney (Fantastic translation.)
19.
Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel (The rise of Thomas Cromwell. So wonderful you don't even notice how long it is.)
20.
Treasures of Tutankhamun - Howard Carter (Abridged - NOT the 3-volume excavation report!)
21.
Food and Healing - Annemarie Colbin (Food as medicine, medicine as food - illuminating)
22.
A Feast of True Fandangles - Patrick Campbell (Still funny after all these years...)
23.
Eats, Shoots and Leaves - Lynne Truss (The grammar Nazi's bible - delicious.)
24.
Nightmare Abbey - Thomas Love Peacock (Satire on Gothic novels and sensibility)
25.
666 Charing Cross Road - Paul Magrs (Jolly vampire romp - clever and funny)
26.
The Secret History - Procopius (Acerbic observations live and direct from imperial Byzantium)
27.
Very Good, Jeeves - P.G. Wodehouse (Delightful stuff)
28.
The Girl who Played with Fire - Stieg Larsson (Page-turningly gripping -up until 3am with it!)
29.
Talk to the Hand - Lynne Truss (The sheer bloody rudeness of daily life. Funny 'cos it's true!)
30.
The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest - Stieg Larsson (Disappointingly slow compared to the other two - livened up after about 600 pages!)
31.
The Elizabethan World Picture - E.M.W. Tillyard (Just as good as I remember it, from some 30 years ago...
)
32.
The Conspiracy of Catiline - Sallust (I wrote an internet essay on this shit. I wonder where it is?)
33.
The Court of Oliver Cromwell - Roy Sherwood (Interesting factually, but appallingly poorly written.)
34.
First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women - John Knox (Fuckwit.)
35.
The Vampyre - a tale - John Polidori. (Meh. Must re-read biography of Byron - much better.)
36.
The True Darcy Spirit - Elizabeth Aston. (Anachronistic twaddle. Faintly amusing.)
37.
Depression - Dorothy L. Rowe (Wise and moving)
38.
Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders - Gyles Brandreth. (Great fun - a pleasant surprise!)
39.
Journal of the Plague Year - Daniel Defoe. (A cheery little romp...
)
40.
Chaucer and the House of Fame - Phillippa Morgan (Yes, THAT Chaucer. Solving murders. Oy vey.)
41.
French Women Don't Get Fat - Mireille Guiliano (They bloody well do if they guzzle KFC!
)
42.
Shakespeare's Counselor - Charlaine Harris (Pedestrian murder mystery)
43.
Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett (Ahhhhh, that's better. Always a delight.)
44.
Charlemagne's Tablecloth - Nichola Fletcher (A piquant history of feasting. Warmly recommended to anyone interested in food!)
45.
The Roman Empire - John Wacher (Oh, alas - this was dull in the extreme.)
46.
1066 and All That - W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman (Re-read - all XC's fault for mentioning surfeits of lampreys!)
47.
Death Comes to Pemberley - P.D. James. (Neither good Regency pastiche nor good murder mystery.
Null points, madame.)
48.
Spanking the Maid - Robert Coover (Bah - not what it said on the tin. What Nanny Ogg would call "One o' they mettyfors.")
49.
Empress Orchid - Anchee Min (The Last Emperor's mother ascends to power... horrifying.)
50.
Number Ten - Sue Townsend (Rather laboured social satire. Readable but not exciting.)