My Book List With All My Favourite Books

My best books 2013 is an on-line diary of all the books that I've read and enjoyed this year - my very own best books 2013. I've always loved reading and now I wish that I'd kept a record - a book diary - of all the marvelous books I've read. It's never too late - as they say and in the auspicious year of 2013 I begin to list the lovely books that come my way.

Since I moved to rural France I can no longer take for granted the fact that I can put out my hand, or trip to the nearest Library and pluck whatever book from a shelf. Well - I could do that here if I could read French. Alas - I have a reading age in French of about ten.

Solution? Buy books from Amazon. Quick, easy and they've never let me down. But how to choose which books to read? Personal recommendation is always the best so I joined a group of literary ladies who know how to enjoy themselves and over sumptuous lunches we swap our favourite books and exchange our good reads. It occurred to me that it would be nice to share these little gems with other like-minded readers who can't be here to join us.

Fingersmith: Buy from Amazon.co.uk

I've just finished this book and loved it. How could so much be packed into one smallish novel? It's a biography, a cautionary tale, a commentary on politics, a history of a beleaguered nation, an hilarious story of an old man who marries a ruthless would-be immigrant and, last but not least, a history of the tractor. What more could you want?

If you long for the meaty fiction of the past, for Dickens or the Bronte sisters, for satisfying plots, vivid imagery and beautiful language then this book is for you. It is the same old baby-switch scenario but deliciously told and with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very last minute.

The story revolves around two young orphan girls, Maud and Sue, a den of petty thieves in the heart of London, a crumbling country mansion, a villainous, handsome hero and a rich, wicked uncle. Sarah Waters throws into this mix a good handful of pornography - poison, and a rush of lesbian erotica. It is an absolute delight.

By Sarah Waters

I loved Fingersmith so much that I bought 'Tipping the Velvet' and thoroughly enjoyed that too.

This story follows a young oyster girl, Nancy, from her home town through to the music halls of the 1890's where she falls head over heels in love with a male impersonator or 'masher' called Kitty. There follows a journey from starlet to prostitute and finally to .... well, I'm not going to spoil the ending - read it yourself! A wonderful lesbian romp with all the color of London in the naughty nineties.

Lovely costumes, beautiful women and a lovely atmosphere. Please note - some nudity and scenes of love-making

This is a family history which traces the story through a collection of little carved Japanese objects - netsuke. But it is so much more than a history of a Jewish family that made a vast fortune - and lost it.

The Hare With Amber Eyes tells of the arts and politics of the turn of the 19th century over Europe. The role that members of the Ephrussi family played as patrons of the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. It follows the family footsteps from Odessa in Russia all over the world, but best of all, it is a thrilling adventure, with a nail-biting escape from Hitler's Vienna. It is complete with the death-defying bravery of a heroine, with sex (very lightly touched upon) and a new start after the horrors of the Second World War.

I can't wait for the film of the book!

Finished this wonderfully witty and funny - if shocking - book by Brooke Magnanti written under the pen name of Belle de Jour. The book is well-written in an easy journalistic style - Brooke Magnanti now has articles all over the net on a wealth of subject matter, and she has recently written and presented her own BBC Radio 4 series.

The Intimate Adventures Of A London Call Girl is drawn from real life. I love a true story. Brooke Magnanti worked as a high-class call girl in London for a year or so 2003 - 2004 to pay her way through a science doctorate. Of course she was looking to a brilliant career in the scientific field and, despite writing about her life on a successful blog and subsequently becoming a published author, she guarded that anonymity for quite some time.

Despite being a little dubious about some of the lurid practices that goes on in the trade, the book is much more than an erotic journey - not even an erotic journey. Yes, there's plenty of sex, and much of it I found most unpleasant, but Magnanti also describes the joy she took in her work, her professional pride and throughout the book the humanity of the situation shines through.

Read it for sex tips, read it for an insight into the life of a top-notch working girl, read it for a good laugh, a bit of a cry perhaps - read it for all of these. My verdict - a jolly good read.

I Couldn't Resist Ordering the BBC Secret Diary of a Call Girl - DVD Complete series box set starring Billie Piper. And I'm really enjoying it! If you're looking for some horrid, porny film - this is not going to do the trick - but it is pretty frank and having watched a bit my husband and I decided not to allow our 15 year old son to see it - we think over 18 only.

Why? Because it treads the line between describing the exact realities of being a call girl, and the wide variety of services her clients demand, alongside a funny, witty, humane and touching storyline and dialogue.

As always, the BBC have cracked it. Billie Piper (ex-Dr Who companion) plays her role wonderfully, flipping between her girl-next-door life as Hannah and her call girl self Belle. Dr Who (alias Matt Smith) is in it too!

Secret Diary of a Call Girl - Series 1-4 Complete [DVD]: Buy from Amazon.co.uk

Salley Vickers is the author of Miss Garnet's Angel and it was this book that I first heard of, however a friend had Instance of the Number 3 - so in I launched and so far so good. I love the language - it isn't the easiest, and I find myself re-reading passages. The sentence structure seems to hark back to the last century.

The story though, is fairly simple.It begins with a death. Peter dies, his wife is not inconsolable and his mistress befriends his wife. Then the young and beautiful boy appears. I'm looking forward to seeing how all this unfolds.

Salley Vickers's Numbers

Salley Vickers acknowledges her debt to Rupert Kingfisher and his play The Prisoner's Dilemma. She says it what this that first alerted her to the 'creative possibilities' of the number three.

In her Preface she tells us about the belief amongst the ancient schools that the number 3 is unstable. She points out that in many cases 3 is very stable indeed - stools with three legs, the Holy Trinity. However, she maintains that 'three is a protean number - with a tendency to collapse into 2 or expand towards 4 ...

The plot revolves around a 'menage trois' which is revealed upon the death of Peter. Peter's widow and mistress form an alliance which is, in turn, disturbed by the arrival of a third. Comic and farsical in a dry-humoured kind of way, I didn't exactly find it a bundle of laughs. It's fun, though, to turn the numbers around - Vickers suggests that religion in Ireland stemmed from the magic that reingned before Saint Patrick set foot there. The number 21 is famous, apparently 'for its power to charm.' The painting of the holy family by Leonardo da Vinci which shows the Virgin seated on the lap of Saint Anne clutching the baby Jesus is also a recurrent image (see below), and the Holy Trinity is compared to 'a Neapolitan ice ... stawberry, pistachio and chocolate... each an essential part of the whole ...'

I'm not sure about this book. I do think it might be a much improved experience if you brush up your John Donne and Hamlet in particular, and Shakespear in general. I think my basic education is much too hazy to enjoy the nuances of the plot.

This is one of the sorts of books I love best - a fictionalised account of a real event. I feel that I get to learn something the easy way. Set in Paris, 1785 a youngish man is given the job of demolishing the Paris graveyard. vibrant, visual, poetic, this is an easy read with a deceptively simple story that, nevertheless, suruptitiously not only tackles a great city in a great historical moment but also the biggest guestions of life and death: reason and insanity, love and violence, gooness and evil, purity and decay, innocence and guilt.

I couldln't put this book down.

What are you waiting for??? My choice was the Kindle Paperwhite - I didn't want to splash too much cash, but I did want to be able to read in bed without disturbing my partner. I wanted to be able to get English books quickly and easily and I wanted to be able to save money by taking advantage of FREE books - all the classics - despite a lifetime of reading there are still many fab books to read. Having said that there is not much difference now in price between the Paperwhite and the older versions of Kindle Fire.

More reasons for buying a Kindle:

- Light to hold - great if you're older and find it hard to support large books

- You can read the text size that suits you - again, good if, like me, you can't see as well as you'd like

- Light, small and slim - slip it into your handbag

- Pay a bit more and get more Internet access

Which Kindle is for you?

These are the books that I've found, been given or recommended that I hoped I'd enjoy but didn't - for one reason or another. The list only includes books that I think I SHOULD have enjoyed. Other people think they're great or they are great books for one reason and another - so you might still like to give them a try.

Some I finished, but others I couldn't make ti to the end.