Books I’ve Read in 2016

It being New Year’s Eve, this post feels appropriate for this time of year.

Indeed, another 12 months have passed since I last compiled a list of books read, and I’m very proud to say that I have increased the number of works from last year.

There are, of course, the usual suspects but I have also read some pretty remarkable pieces of writing from a wide variety of topics.

Some people just know how to put thoughts into exquisite words…

What I Have Read

• The House of Silk – Anthony Horowitz
• Moriarty – Anthony Horowitz
• Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower Spy – Garbiella Coleman
• The God Delusion – Richard Dawkins
• The Manly Art of Bartitsu – E.W. Barton-Wright
• The Deduction Guide – Louise Blackwood
• Tricks of the Mind – Derren Brown
• The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection – Arthur Conan Doyle
• The Silmarillion – J.R.R. Tolkien
• Letters From Father Christmas – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown and other stories – Peter Lovesey
• A Grief Observed – C.S. Lewis
• The Screwtape Letters – C.S. Lewis
• Anglo-Saxon Poetry (includes Beowulf) – S. A. J. Bradley
• Free Will – Sam Harris
• Mortality – Christopher Hitchens
• The War Poems of Wilfred Owen – edited by John Stallworthy
• The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Fall of Arthur – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun – J.R.R. Tolkien
• The War Poems – Siegfried Sassoon
• The Magic of Reality – Richard Dawkins
• The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún – J.R.R. Tolkien
• A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories – Charles Dickens

Beautiful Quote

“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers

Intriguing Quote

“The truth is more magical – in the best and most exciting sense of the word – than any myth or made-up mystery or miracle. Science has its own magic: the magic of reality.”
― Richard Dawkins, The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True

Thought-provoking Quote

“To the dumb question ‘Why me?’ the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply: ‘why not?’”
― Christopher Hitchens, Mortality

Amusing Quote

“It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but that you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes Collection

Funny Quote

“Oh God, make me a normal twentieth-century girl!’ Thanks to our labours, this will mean increasingly, ‘Make me a minx, a moron, and a parasite’.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters & Screwtape Proposes a Toast

Influential Verse

“For by my glee might many men have laughed,
And of my weeping may something have been left,
Which must die now.”
― Wilfred Owen, The War Poems

Now I shall begin a new reading list for 2017, and whilst wishing you all the very best this coming year, do you have any suggestions of books I should read and would love?

Happy New Year folks!