I have been away from the book blogging community for a while. These temporary absences might happen more often now that I am in my final year of graduate school and trying really hard to get everything organised so that I will be able to graduate this year. This means that during the last 10 days or so, I haven’t checked any blogs and that I will once again hit the “mark all read” button in my Google Reader.
Anyway, here is what I read in January. I will review most of these books in the upcoming week. Oh, and Amy was kind enough to email me her spreadsheet, so I now have statistics to show you as well. Even if I am not as precise as Amy is.
I read 8 books during January (9, if you count A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. Which I did not count because it is published together with A Vindication of the Rights of Men and some of Wollstonecraft’s thoughts on the French Revolution. I am kind of sorry that I do not get to count the book, but it feels like cheating if I do). The books made up a total of 2040 pages. Other fun facts? All books were written by women, a lot of them were about issues tied to feminism. I read my first GLBT book.
The books I read:
- The Memoirs of Emma Courtney – Mary Hays
- The Last Letter From Your Lover – Jojo Moyes
- The Summer Book – Tove Jansson
- Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
- Anna of Byzantium – Tracy Barrett
- So Long A Letter – Mariama Bâ
- Reading Women: how the great books of feminism changed my life – Stephanie Staal
- Luna – Julie Anne Peters
I have no goals for February, except keeping up with the reading (and all the reviews this time) for A Year of Feminist Classics. And hopefully catching up on all those reviews I still have to write.
Um, and maybe buy a little less. Except that I already failed miserably. I came across a book sale yesterday. The books were so cheap that I bought 24. And tonight, the annual 3-day book sale of the biggest book shop in Groningen starts. Ah, guess I have to procrastinate on restricting my book buying until March.
Hey Iris – no pressure but I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on ‘Reading Women’. Not heard of that book, but it sounds exactly the sort of thing I would like! Lyndsey
Oh ho no will power at all *smug face*
That’s so cool that all the books you read last month were by women. And I agree with teadevotee it would be nice to hear something about Reading Women if you have time.
You did read quite a bit, even if you didn’t have that much time!
Those 24 books, that’s terrible. As a punishment, I think you should do a post (with pictures) showing us what they are. So we can drool.
Wrapping up books in a month sounds interesting. But it looks nice if I read as much as you. I only finish 2novellas and 2 books in a month. I’m soooo slow.
Hehe your reading material is different compare to me, yours more womanly
Great reads. I read 8 books too (five women).
I adore Tove Jansson. I loved True Deceiver. I do own The Summer Book and must read it soon.
24 books! They must have been pretty cheap.
Looks like you did some great reading in January, definitely more than I did.
All the best with your studies, Iris!
And you read so many great books in January, and have don’t pressure yourself so!
Welcome back and hang in there! So… Mansfield Park! I won’t pressure for your thoughts, but whenever you decide to publish them, I’ll be on the front line. Also, Anna of Byzantium sounds really interesting, I’m in a Byzantium/Istanbul mood lately.
Great list of books you read in January. Looking forward to your reviews. Good luck at the book sale tonight!
I think 2,000 pages while you are going to school is awe-inspiring. I couldn’t read that as a stay at home mom! Keep up the great work. My biggest issue these days is keeping up with the darned reviews. For every one I get written, I have three that pop up!
Wow what a lot of new books! How exciting – I’m awful jealous
And all the best with school and blogging 
I’m a sucker for book sales, too. I can’t wait until our library has their big Spring sale! Best of luck with all your school work! I’m amazed at how much non-school reading you’ve been able to accomplished. I read next to nothing when I was in school.
You’re doing pretty well, finishing graduate school AND reading nine books in a month
Hahaha, oh no, stay away from the book sale! Do you have more space in your bookcase?
great jan Iris ,what a wonderful haul cheap books are so hard to resist at times ,hope you have a great feb ,all the best stu
It’s nice to see you back! I’m curious to hear about Reading Women too, I’m going to see if I can find a copy. (Honestly, I think you could count Vindication as one book, just because it was published with other things doesn’t mean it’s not a classic in it’s own right… Breakfast at Tiffany’s is only about 100 pages and usually published with a few short stories to pad the book, but it counts as a book on its own!)
Buying books at a book sale doesn’t count. If you get them super cheap it’s not really buying books. That’s my rule!
I think it’s cool that you only read books by women, especially if it wasn’t on purpose. And I do not blame you about taking a mini-blogging break; I would be so stressed if this was my last semester.
I can never resist a good book sale. Yesterday there was a pile of FREE books in the library for the picking, and I snagged three books. If the rest had not been books by Danielle Steele or Nora Roberts I would have carried off several more. (That was a really roundabout way of saying that I also don’t blame you for being unable to resist a good book sale.)
I’m a slow reader. I could never get through as many books in a month. I could easily buy as many though. Heh!
Yay for your first lgbt book
I absolutely loved Luna!!! Looks like a great reading month for you! Hope school continues to go well for you…don’t stress yourself out too much.
All women? Tut, tut.
Oh, wait… my 11 for January were all by men
Oh you didn’t show us a picture of all the books you bought – you know that is a must
Looks like you had a great reading month despite the busyness of school. I don’t have big reading plans for February but I do hope to catch up on some of my book reviews. I always fall behind on those.