Saturday, 29 November 2014

Reading England 2015 Book List


For a general and very handy reference, I've included O's list of books by English county, copied from her blog.


Bedfordshire

                The Two Sisters by H. E. Bates
                My Uncle Silas by H. E. Bates
                Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan


Berkshire

                The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
                Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy 
                Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
                Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome
                The Merry Wives of Winsor by William Shakespeare
                The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde

Bristol

                Evelina by Fanny Burney

Buckinghamshire

                Lark Rise to Candleford by Flora Thompson


Cambridgeshire

                The Longest Journey by E. M. Forster
                Maurice by E. M. Forster
                Jacob's Room by Virginia Woolf
                Glory by Vladimir Nabakov


Cheshire

                Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell


Cornwall

                Frenchman's Creek by Daphne du Maurier
                Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
                Basil & Rambles Beyond Railways by Wilkie Collins
                Basil & Rambles Beyond Railways by Wilkie Collins


Cumbria

                The Tennant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
                The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices by Charles Dickens & Wilkie Collins
                The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
                Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
                Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope
                The Journals of Dorothy Wordsworth


Derbyshire

                Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë [uncertain]
                Adam Bede by George Eliot
                Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
                The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker


Devon

                Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
                Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore
                The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
                Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley
                He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope
                Rachel Ray by Anthony Trollope


Dorset

                The Worm Forgives the Plow by John Stewart Collis
                Moonfleet by J. Meade Faulkner
                Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
                The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
                The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
                Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
                Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy
                Thank you, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse


Durham

                  (see Tyne & Wear)

Essex

                Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
                Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
                Nightingale Woods by Stella Gibbons
                The Turn of the Screw by Henry James


Gloucestershire

                Cider With Rose by Laurie Lee
                The Tailor of Gloucestershire by Beatrix Potter

Hampshire

                Watership Down by Richard Adams
                The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins


Herefordshire 

                On The Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin
                The Diaries of Francis Kilvert by Rev. Francis Kilvert


Hertfordshire

                Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
                Howard's End by E.M. Forster


Huntingdonshire

                To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf


Kent

                The Darling Buds of May by H. E. Bates
                The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
                Murder in the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot
                Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
                The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
                Cakes and Ale by W. Somerset Maugham
                Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham


Lancashire

                Hard Times by Charles Dickens
                Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell
                North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
                Redburn by Herman Melville
                The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell
                Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson


Leicestershire

                The Right to an Answer by Anthony Burgess


Lincolnshire

                John Marchmount's Legacy by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
                The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
                Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson


London

                Emma by Jane Austen
                Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
                A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
                The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Buttler
                The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton
                Fanny Hill by John Cleland
                No Name by Wilkie Collins
                Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
                A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
                Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens
                Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
                The Nether World by George Gissing
                New Grub Street by George Gissing
                The Diary of a Nobody by George and Wheedon Grossmith
                Hanover Square by Patrick Hamilton
                Esther Waters by George Moore
                The Diary of Samuel Pepys
                Vanity Fairy by William Makepeace Thackerary
                Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
                Night and Day by Virginia Woolf


Norfolk

                The Big Six by Arthur Ransome


Northamptonshire

                Mansfield Park by Jane Austen [uncertain]
                Mistress Masham's Repose by T. H. White


Northumberland

                Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott
                Ruined City by Nevil Shute


Nottinghamshire

                Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence
                The Rainbow by D. . Lawrence
                Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence
                The White Peacock by D. H. Lawrence


Oxfordshire

                The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford
                Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh


Shropshire

                Howards End by E. M. Forster
                A Shopshire Lad by A.E. Housman


Somerset

                Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
                Persuasion by Jane Austen
                No Name by Wilkie Collins
                The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding
                Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer
                The Belton Estate by Anthony Trollope
                Aunts Aren't Gentlemen by P. G. Wodehouse


Staffordshire

                Anna of the Five Towns by Arnold Bennett
                The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett
                Adam Bede by George Eliot


Suffolk

                Celia by Fanny Burney
                No Name by Wilkie Collins
                We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea by Arthur Ransome


Surrey

                The Watsons by Jane Austen
                A Room With a View by E. M. Forster
                The Time Machine by H. G. Wells


Sussex

                Sanditon by Jane Austen
                The Worm Forgives the Plow by John Stewart Collis
                The Last Post by Lord Maddox Ford
                The Collector by John Fowles
                Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
                Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
                The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
                The History of Mr. Polly by H. G. Wells
                The Invisible Man by H. G. Wells

Tyne & Wear (formerly Durham)

                Afternoon Off by Alan Bennett
                The novels of Catherine Cookson
                The Stars Look Down by A.J. Cronin
                Rokeby by Walter Scott

Warwickshire

                The Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden
                Tom Brown's School Days by Thomas Hughes
                Kenilworth by Walter Scott
                As You Like It by William Shakespeare

Wiltshire

                The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
                The Chronicles of Barset by Anthony Trollope
                Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh


Worcestershire

                Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
                The Well of Loneliness by Radcyffe Hall


Yorkshire

                Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë [uncertain]
                Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
                Shirley by Charlotte Brontë
                The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
                No Name by Wilkie Collins
                Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens
                The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith
                A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
                The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Laurence Sterne
                Dracula by Bram Stoker



For those who would like to learn where the counties are situated in England, some handy references are: this link to a map of the counties; as well as this quiz; and this quiz; and this jigsaw puzzle.

Picture me rubbing my hands together gleefully.  I just can't wait!




8 comments:

  1. Impressive list
    This challenge looks like it will be more fun than hard work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm happy that I'm taking time to think about the challenges I'm going to participate in this coming year, and this one seems especially fun! I already know the location of a number of counties in England that I didn't know before. Will you join? I hope so!

      Delete
  2. I'm very excited about this challenge and can't wait to get reading.

    Have just had some fun with the quiz - I did get a couple right!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know! I want to start reading right now!

      Oh great! You tried my quiz. I've learned so much already but for the second quiz I can't get a couple of the counties to fill in. I think I'm spelling Durham right but it won't accept it. Oh well. At least now I know exactly where it is.

      Delete
  3. I'm so glad you're joining! I want to start now as well! Can't believe it's December tomorrow - time flies, so 2015 will no doubt come frighteningly quickly! :)

    By the way - I made a mistake - I shouldn't have lost Durham from the list. If you add Durham, then take Afternoon Off by Alan Bennett and Rokeby by Walter Scott from Tyne and Wear and put it under Durham it'll be correct.

    (I don't know what I was thinking!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These counties are confusing. One quiz gets particular when I enter "Durham" instead of "County Durham", another splits up Sussex, etc. I now understand what a problem they've been to you! I'll make the necessary changes! For some reason, my editing function is picky with this ..... I have to copy it to Word and back again to make it uniform otherwise my fonts go wonky. :-Z I have another change to make so I'd better get on it!

      Delete
  4. I was wavering when I saw Jane post about it and now I see you too going on and on about this!! How can I deny fate and I plunge in...though I am planning to limit myself to only 6 books...but something tells me there will be more...LOTS MORE!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Whenever I'm unsure, I choose the lowest level and then get really proud of myself when far exceed it. Just try saying "no" to these challenges! I didn't do a very good job last year, but this year I'm trying to be good ..... well, better, at least ..... ;-)

      I'm so happy to hear that you'll be joining. We can help keep each other on track!

      Delete