2008 Book list

This is my reading list from 2008.

I only started keeping a reading list in 2004, though I have lists of goals from 1994 and journals since 1984, but they are not getting published. Looks like last year was heavy on UK writers. I'm guessing that every year has been heavy on UK writers or at least stories taking place in the UK. You could say I have a thing for all things British and Scottish. I like the villages, the cars, the beer, pubs, the food (yes I like plain hearty fare), heaths and heathers, tweeds(not many in my color), their trains and stories that contain these things. What do I have that reminds me of the UK, well I have an English mastiff, several Barbour jackets, a 1963 Land Rover, English blue bells, one branch of my family comes from Holland via Manchester and as afore mentioned, lots of books by and about the UK.

Last year, I mainly read Ian Flemming, Michael Bond, Arthur Conan Doyle, P.G. Wodehouse and Graham Green. After reading Graham Green's Monsieur Quixote, I wanted to read Don Quixote, but the size of the book has prevented that from happening. Green's book Travels with my Aunt I enjoyed allot, so much so that I have read it every spring for the past 4 years and I have made it a Tradition. One of the things I like about the book Travels with my Aunt is that they take the Orient Express. Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express was also good read, but Green's Stamboul Train was a bit depressing even though it took place on a train. I really enjoy traveling by train, probably why I like Switzerland, plus the villages, the mountains, the food (I like hearty plain food) the beer, the flowers... When traveling on a train, the ever changing views keep me distracted from any book, a canal here, some group of out buildings there, a cooling tower, allotments. I just love it all.

While growing up, my parents frequently watched PBS TV and there were lots of shows on about Britian, but I don't know where the trains come in. Maybe my dad was a hobo.

P.S. Did you know that the actor who played Auric Goldfinger in the Bond movie Goldfinger also played the bad guy (Baron Bomburst) in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Gert Fröbe