I'm a 29 year old male with thick hair and crooked glasses, living in Auld Reekie with a lovely wee Scottish lassie, and occasionally staying with my folks in the East Riding, UK. I worked at Borders in York from 2006 - 2007, which was fantastic - great people and tons of books! I now work as an [unqualified] Librarian (or "Reading and Information Advisor," if you like) for both City of York and York University libraries, which means I try to surround myself with books as often as I can, and occasionally get to read some, too! I like classic novels and most contemporary fiction, especially anything with a war-based or romantic theme. I also like books with a fantasy or sci-fi twist. When not trawling my way through a "proper" book (the Quincunx will simply have to wait for now, I'm afraid), I dip into comics, picture books, and, best of all, short stories - be they ghost, horror, children's or plain weird! My favourite authors are Sebastian Faulks and Arthur C. Clarke. The best book I read in 2006 was Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke. In 2007, I think maybe Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier. 2008 was also terrific; Devil May Care was a ripping yarn and I discovered Alan Moore's Watchmen. :)

I have started using Goodreads to keep a reading diary. Please visit!

Last Updated:23/09/09

Currently Reading

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood
Comet in Moominland by Tove Jansson
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank L. Baum

*books I would recommend

Books I have read in 2009

Buffy Season Eight (Volume 1 & 2)[Graphic Book] by Joss Whedon and Brian K Vaughan
Queuing for Beginners by Joe Moran
Yoko Tsuno Vol.1: On the Edge of Life [Graphic Book] by Roger Leloup
The Disaster Area by J.G. Ballard
Matilda by Roald Dahl
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
Ghostworld [Graphic Novel] by Daniel Clowes
Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland
More About Paddington by Michael Bond
Lawless: Criminal Volume 2 [Graphic Novel] by Ed Brubaker
The Tain by China Mieville
Sea of Poppies by Amitah Ghosh
A Little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich
The Book of the Dead [Dark Horse] by various authors
Mr Toppit by Charles Eton
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain*
The Boat by Nam Le
Maigret Goes Home by Georges Simenon
Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert
The Unbearable Bassingdon by Saki
Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage [Graphic Novel] by Grant Morrison
Criminal: Coward [Graphic Novel] by Ed Brubaker
Bicentennial Man [Short Story] by Isaac Asimov
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennet
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin*
The BFG by Roald Dahl [Audiobook read by Geoffrey Palmer]
The Road to Perdition [Graphic Novel] by Max Allan Collins and Richard Piers Rayner
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Tales by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas*
Batman: The Killing Joke [Graphic Novel] by Alan Moore
Poe: A Life Cut Short by Peter Ackroyd
Batman: Year One [Graphic Novel] by Frank Miller
Netherland by Joseph O'Neil
A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond*
Dune by Frank Herbert*

Books I read in 2008

The Boy in the Dress by David Walliams
Tales of Terror From the Black Ship by by Chris Priestley
A Christmas Carol [Radio 4 Book at Bedtime] by Charles Dickens (read by David Jason)
Batman: Hush [Graphic Novel] by by Jeph Loeb
Watchmen [Graphic Novel] by Alan Moore and David Gibbons*
Kampung Boy[ Collected Comic Strips] by Lat
The Trouble with Wenlocks: A Stanley Wells Mystery by Joel Stewart
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling*
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud*
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing*
Anita Blake: Guilty Pleasures. Book 1 [Graphic Novel] by Stacie M. Ritchie (based on the book by Laurell K. Hamilton)
A Midsummer Night's Dream [Manga Version] by Richard Appignanesi
Toast by Nigel Slater
The Timewaster Diaries: A Year in the Life of Robin Cooper by Robin Cooper
Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith*
Pies and Prejudice by Stuart Maconie
The Idle Burglar by Georges Simenon
The Seige of Krishnapur by JG Farrell
Lucas by Kevin Brooks
The Life of Birds by Quentin Blake
Batman: Chalice [Graphic Novel]
1602 [Graphic Novel] by Neil Gaiman
The Cleft by Doris Lessing*
Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks (writing as Ian Flemming)*
Octopussy by Ian Flemming
Romeo and Juliet [Manga Version] by Richard Appignanesi
The Railway Children by E. Nesbitt*
The Resurrectionist by James Bradley
Sensible Hare and the Case of Carrots by Daren King
The Room of Lost Things by Stella Duffy
No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy*
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Both by Simone Lia and Tom Gauld
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones*
Harm by Brian Aldiss
Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley
Dream Angus by Alexander McCall Smith

Books I read in 2007

A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Lord of the Flies by William Golding*
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
The Wasp Factory by Ian Banks*
Talk to the Hand by Lynne Truss
Fup by Jim Dodge*
The Book of Sand and Shakespeare's Memory by Jorge Luis Borges
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier*
The Naked Jape by Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson*
The Stone Pilot by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell
Northern Lights by Philip Pullman*
Mr Ape by Dick King-Smith
Frank Skinner by Frank Skinner
Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
Skellig by Daivid Almond*
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Mouse Noses on Toast by Daren King*

Books I read in 2006

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier*
Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke*
Valis by Philip K. Dick
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller*
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck*
The One Kingdom (Swans' War) by Sean Russell
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell*
The Girl at the Lion D'or by Sebastian Faulks

Books I have read a percentage of

Pigeon Feathers by John Updike
The Soho Tiger [poetry] by Ruth Padel
The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
Wrack by James Bradley
Last Letters from Hav by Jan Morris (didn't settle into)
The Book of Other People [Short Stories] by Various Authors (edited by Zadie Smith)
Into The Woods by Lyn Gardner
Closing Time by Joseph Heller (regrettably, did not like)
The Christmas Books by Charles Dickens
The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson
Watching the English by Kate Fox
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
Superman: The Complete History by Les Daniels
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (will not finish)
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination by Neil Kagan
The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G. W. Dahlquist
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
Shikasta by Doris Lessing


My "Wish" List!

The Quiet American by Graham Greene
The Gift by Alison Croggon
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
PopCo by Scarlett Thomas
Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills

I think sometimes it's important to acknowledge the pictures in books, as well as the words - be they comic panels, illustrations, or the design of the jacket. I'm particularly fond of Mini Grey's illustrations and there are no drawings more charming than Joel Stewart's. I can also recommend David Roberts (look him up, he has cool hair!) whose Goreyesque illustrations can be found in children's publications for all ages, including Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror. Scaredy Squirrel has the honour, alongside Mouse Noses on Toast, of being a children's book that made me laugh out loud - the best kind! :)

Please consider using Bookmooch - a book swapping website. I have released some of my registered book crossing books this way. My bio is here.

www.bookmooch.com

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