The #spbkchat best books of the year list

Our last chat of 2011 was another lively one, as we talked about our best reads of the year. Next week, we're looking ahead to books you're most looking forward to in 2012.

Happy New Year, everyone!

The list:


Titles:
Rides a Dread Legion
Nekropolis
Three Cups of Tea
Three Cups of Deceit
No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (series)
Isabel Dalhousie (series)
Scotland Street
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Reluctant Fundamentalist
No Ordinary Deal
The Spirit Level
Decision Point
Lunch in Paris
Mr Pip
The Reader
Shardlake (series)
Dissolution
The Story of Tom Brennan
The World Unfolds
After the Quake
IQ84
Deanna Raybourn (series)
Raymond Carver
Sex and Stravinksy
The Hand that First Held Mine
Unbroken
The Name of the Star
Last Letter from Your Lover
Lady of the English
Secret River
Me Before You
Caribou Island
Tiny Sunbirds
The Baron in the Trees
Ghost Story
Down the Rabbit Hole
Tomorrow Pamplona
Matthew Swift (series)
Dresden Files (series)
A Far Cry from Kensington
The Peacock Emporium
Ship of Brides
Parallel Stories
Glorious Nemesis
Purgatory
Londoners
Kraken
The Chicken Thief
The Silent Land
Ready Player One
Little Princes
Adam Bede
Phineas Fin
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Men Briefly Explained
Lady of the English
The Rose Garden
The Street Sweeper
We Need to Talk About Kevin
A Discovery of Witches
Anna and the French Kiss
Lola and the Boy Next Door

The Winter Sea
Bridge of Clay
A Monster Calls
Chaos Walking (series)
Shadowy Horses
Dragon Bound
Seven Types of Ambiguity
Toby Daye (series)
Mariana
Black Hawke
Mercy Thompson (series)
The Book Thief
Kitty (series)
Magic (series)
Glenroy (series)
Violin Lessons
The Silent Cry
Silence
The Woman on the Bus
The Tiny Wife
The Rose Garden
Great Expectations
Nightsiders
Love and Romanpunk
Battle Royale
Far Away
The Rose Garden
Rules of Civility
Brides of Rollrock Island
Glitter Rose
Tender Morsels
State of Wonder
Luminescence
Whispering Willow
His Name in Lights
The Name of the Wind
The Wise Man 's Fear
Burn Bright
Roil
Debris
The Loner
Madigan Mine
Miss Pettigrew's Home for Peculiar Children
Witch Eyes
After the Golden Age
Black Juice
Beside the Sea
The Arrival
The King's Bastard



Authors:
Peter Corris
Charlaine Harris
Gail Carriger
Raymond Feist
Kate Griffin
Tim Waggoner
Harukai Murakami
Greg Mortesen
Alexander McCall Smith
Craig Sivley
Jasper Jones
Kathleen Jones
Catherine Cookson
Katherine Mansfield
Jane Kelsey
Anh Do
George Bush
Deanna Raybourn
Elizabeth Bard
CJ Sansom
Maggie O'Farrell
Julia Spencer-Fleming
Michele Drier
Carol Sklenicka
Barbara Trapido
Laura Hillenbrand
Maureen Johnson
JoJo Moyes
Elizabeth Chadwick
Kate Grenville
Italo Calvino
Jim Butcher
Muriel Sparks
Peter Nadas
Ladislav Klima
Tomas Elroy Martinez
Craig Taylor
Fiona Leonard
Graham Joyce
Conor Grennan
George Eliot
Anthony Trollope
Anne Bronte
Tim Jones
Susannah Kearsley
Elliot Spencer
Deb Harkness
Stephanie Perkins
Sheila Rowbotham
Joanna Bourne
Seanan McGuire
Thea Harrison
Mark Zusak
Patricia Briggs
Carrie Vaughn
Ilona Andrews
Stephen Carroll
Elliot Perlman
Arnold Zable
Oe
Shusaku Endo
Pauline McLynn
Andrew Kaufmann
Susannah Kearsley
Amor Towles
Margo Lanagan
David Vann
Ann Patchett
Jansen
Patrick Rothfuss
Patrick Ness
Marianne De Pierres
Jamieson
Anderton
Jardine
McDermott
Veronique Olmi
Shaun Tan
Rowena Cory Daniells


Links:
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resource/the-spirit-level
http://www.locusmag.com/index.php
http://spbkchat.blogspot.com/p/topics.html
http://festival.co.nz/writers-and-readers

The #spbkchat general chat/Merry Christmas list

Seasons greetings from #spbkchat!!! Hasn't the year gone fast?

For our second-last 2011 chat, we had an open forum/merry Christmas chat. Next week we're chatting about our best books of the year.

We're also asking for suggestions for future chat topics. Ping us on twitter (me, Marg or Nat) or leave us ideas in the comments. :-)

And remember, that although #spbkchat is time-zone specific to Asia/the Pacific, anyone's welcome to pitch up and join in. The more the merrier!

The list:

Titles:
IQ84
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
The Slap
Harmony
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Little Women and Werewolves
Android Karenina
Little Women
The Hunger Games
Rebus (series)
The Scottish Prisoner

Millennium trilogy
Norwegian Wood
Black Ice
Army of Thieves
The Midnight Palace
A Christmas Carol
Neon Court
A Tempering of Men
Scott's Last Biscuit: The Literature of Polar Exploration
House of Leaves
Dresden Files (series)
I am Half-sick of Shadows
The Gina Champion Mystery
The Pearl Hunters
Dr Who (TV series)

Authors:
Murakami
Agatha Christie
Christos Tsioklas
Kate Griffin
Gail Carriger
Ian Rankin
Project Itoh
Gary D Smidt
Leah Giarratano
Janet Frame
Diana Gabaldon
Matthew Reilly
Charles Dickens
Sarah Monette
Elizabeth Bear
Sarah Moss
Jim Butcher
Alan Bradley
Kim Wilkins

Links:
http://www.inside-true-blood-blog.com/blog/2011/12/22/true-blood-the-christmas-special.html?cmpid=ABC159
http://spbkchat.blogspot.com/p/topics.html
http://bellesbookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-2012-reading-challenges.html
http://www.australianwomenwriters.com/p/australian-women-writers-book-challenge_25.html
http://murakamichallenge.blogspot.com/

The #spbkchat children's favourites list

Another lively chat about childhood favourites!

Next week - general chat/Merry Christmas!

The list:

Titles:
Freckles
Girl of Limberlost
Double Lotte
Sweet Valley High (series)
Fearstreet (series)
Three Men in Snow
Babysitters Club (series)
Emil and the Three Twins
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Anne of Green Gables (series)
A Hundred Million Francs
No Flying in the House
A Wrinkle in Time
Misty of Chincoteague
Mixed-Up Files
Dr Dolittle
Charlotte's Web
Never Say Goodbye
Mad Magazine
Rocket to Limbo
The Anything Box
Ranger (series)
Frying Classroom
The Ringmaster's Secret
Choose Your Own Adventure (series)
P S I Love You
The Bone People
Angelique (series)
Trixie Beldon (series)
Hardy Boys (series)
Swallows & Amazons
The Dark is Rising (series)
The Secret Garden
Little Women
Daddy Long Legs
Goosebumps (series)
Last of the Mohicans
Watcher on the Tower
Little Women
Katy (series)
Treasure Island
Kidnapped
Gawaine and the Green Knight
The Crystal Cave (series)
The Silmarillion
My Friend Flicka
Call of the Wild
A Terhune's Lad: A Dog
Caspar the Friendly Ghost
Richie Rich
Archie
The Silver Brumby (series)
The Man Who Was Magic
Manxmouse
Horse in the House
Smoke
Nancy Drew (series)
Other Sandals
High Road Home

Snow Cloud Stallion

Peyton Place
Beautiful Girl
Mrs Pepperpot
Tom Brown's Schooldays
The Happy Prince
The Selfish Giant
A Wizard of Earthsea (series)
Brothers Grimm (series)
The Snow Queen
Harry Potter (series)
A Little Princess
The Fir Tree
The Little Mermaid
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The Little Bookroom
Baby Island
Jacob I Have Loved
A Summer to Die
The Monster at the End of this Book
Moomintroll (series)
Sherlock Holmes (series)
Harry the Dirty Dog
101 Dalmations
Starlight Barking
Little House (series)
Magic (series)
Abbey Girls (series)
Naughtiest Girl in the School (series)
Famous Five (series)
Secret Seven (series)
Mandingo
Spot (series)
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Obernewtyn
Possum Magic
Goodnight Moon
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Muddle Headed Wombat
Elmer the Elephant
Pride & Prejudice
Pippi Longstocking
Biggles
We Didn't Mean to Go to Sea
Swallows and Amazons
TinTin
Nina
Asterix
His Dark Materials (series)
Artemis Fowl (series)
The Magic Pudding
Glory Gardens (series)
Black Beauty
The Swiss Family Robinson
The Emerald Atlas
Tomorrow, When the War Began (series)
Botternikes and Gumbles
A Rag and a Bone and a Hank of Hair
A Little Bushmaid
Across the Barricades
The Hunger Games (series)
Summer of My German Soldier
Cupola House
The Changeling
The Chronicles of Prydian
Peter Pan
The Little Prince
Seven Little Australians
National Velvet
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Katie and the Big Snow
Aesop's Fables
Mother Goose
The Pigeon
Where the Wild Things Are
Heidi
The Nest
Billabong (series)
The Wind in the Willows
The Witches
Matilda
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Hobbit
Jane of Lantern Hill
Magic of Marigold
The Blue Lantern
Snugglepot
Cuddlepie
Blinky Bill
Jacob Two Two Meets the Hooded Fang
Animorphs (series)
Digit Duck
Eagle of the 9th
Carbonel
The Riddle of the Trumpalar
Carbonel (series)
Babar


Authors:

R L Stine
Christopher Pike
Roald Dahl
Paul Jennings
P R Frost
Erich Kastner
Paul Berna
Betty Brock
Marguerite Henry
Chris Cutcher
Nancy Farmer
Madeline L'Engle
Enid Blyton
Judy Blume
Alan E Nourse
Zenna Henderson
John Flanagan
Jean Plaidy
Hugh Walters
Barbara Conklin
Susan Cooper
Catherine Gaskin
Mary Stewart
Elizabeth Goudge
J R R Tolkien
Paul Gallico
Sally Watson
Jack London
Phillip Turner
Geoffrey Trease
Ursula le Guin
Andre Norton
Elizabeth Enright
Noel Streatfield
Alf Proysen
Alfred Hitchcock
Oscar Wilde
V C Andrews
Eleanor Farjeon
E E Nesbitt
Robert Heinlein
Isaac Asimov
Carol Ryrie Brink
Katherine Paterson
Lois Lowry
Statton Porter
Hans Christian Anderson
E J Oxenham
C S Lewis
Jane Austen
Baroness Orczy
Beatrix Potter
Colin Thiele
Phillip Pullman
Eoin Colfer
John Stephens
John Marsden
Patricia Wrightson
Elizabeth Enright
Eleanor Estes
Nicholas Fisk
Agatha Christie
Mabel Leigh Hunt
Mary Elwyn Patchett
Zilpha Keatley
Kate deGoldi
Pamela Allen
Ethel Turner
Mary Durack
Mary Grant Bruce
Mo Willems
Johanna Spyri
L M Montgomery
Arthur Ransome
Emilio Salgari
Jules Verne
Anthony Buckeridge
Morris Gleitzman
Barbara Sleigh
Dr Seuss


Links:
http://www.facebook.com/AbbeysBookshop

The #spbkchat music list

Another great chat - all about music, and music-themed books. Next week we're talking about childhood favourites.

On to the list:

Titles:
IQ84
Cloud Atlas
Nodame Cantabile
Killing the Rabbit
A Suitable Boy
An Equal Music
The Music of Words
Phantom of the Opera
The Thieving Magpie
Neon Angel
Two Weeks Notice (film)
Music and Lyrics (film)
Contagion (film)
Don't Start Me Talking
The Magic Engineer (Recluse series)
Singing the Dogstar Blues
Music and Silence
About a Boy
Archer's Good
A Visit from the Goon Squad
The Music of Chance
Getting Over Jack Wagner
Audrey Wait!
Psalm at Journey's End
Discworld (series)
Soul Music
Pet Shop Boys, Literally
The Tempest
This is Your Brain on Music
In a Grove
Dragons of Pern (series)
Stories We Could Tell
Spellsinger (series)
Spellsong
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Lit Riff
Five Flavours of Dumb
Harmonic Feedback
Virtuosity
I Wanna Be Your Joey
Guitar Girl
Popular Music
Haunted Ballads (series)
Dash and Lily
The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Where She Went
Norwegian Wood
Sputnik Sweetheart
If I Stay
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
Shakespeare Wrote for Money
High Fidelity
Say Anything (film)
Fever Pitch
Grosse Point Blank (film)
Before the Poison
Nocturnes



Authors:
Slash
Murakami
Tomoko Ninomiya
David Mitchell
Alison Goodman
Vikram Seth
Rossini (composer)
Cherie Currie
Marc Lawrence (composer)
Rose Tremain
Jay Rubin
Paul Kelly
Sharon McCrumb
L E Modesitt Jnr
J Rubin
Diana Wynne Jones
Paul Auster
Erik Fosnes Hansen
Chris Heath
Carrie Vaughn
David Levithan
Akutagawa
Anne McCaffrey
Tony Parsons
Alan Dean Foster
Jim Morrison
Bob Dylan
Esi Edugyan
Mikael Niemi
Deborah Grabien
Morgan Matson
Nick Hornby
Kazuo Ishiguro



Links:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/musical-fiction
http://tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com/2011/12/1q84-book-one-split-decision.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Schumann
http://www.classical.net/music/books/fiction.php
http://www.webrary.org/rs/flbklists/musicfic.html
http://www.suzs-space.com/2011/10/after-dark-haruki-murakami/

The #spbkchat religion/spirituality chat list

Another lively chat  - we've been a talkative lot lately - lol.

On to the list, and next week we're talking books about music :-)

Titles:
Brother Cadfael (series)
Nine Tailors
Death at Intervals
IQ84
Kafka on the Shore
Silence
Ghosts & UFOs & Mysterious Creatures
The Genesee Diary
The After-Death Room: Journey Into Spiritual Activism
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Spirit Abroad: A 2nd Selection of NZ Spiritual Verse
Jacob I Have Loved
Life After God
The Submerged Cathedral
Samaria (series)
Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret
Pagan in the City
Uncommon Heroes (series)
O'Malley (series)
Spiral Dance
5th Sacred Thing
A Complicated Kindness
Heroes of Quantico (series)
The Odyssey
The Iliad
Eat, Pray, Love
Holy Cow
The Satanic Verses
Harry Potter (series)
The Da Vinci Code
Holy Blood and the Holy Grail
The House of Mirth
Angels and Demons
Zen Bones, Zen Flesh
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
The Book of Tao
The Bible for Sinners
His Dark Materials (series)
The Red Tent
The Sparrow
Children of God
Narnia (series)
The Origins of Pagan and Christian Beliefs
The Screwtape Letters
In This House of Brede
Mere Christianity

The Preacher's Bride

I <3 Mormons

Red/White/Black (series)

Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture

Paradise Lost

This Present Darkness

Piercing the Darkness

Absence of Mind

A Thousand Lives

The God Delusion

Authors:
Dorothy L Sayers
Agatha Christie
Shusaku Endo
Jose Saragamo
Harukai Murakami
Julie Miller & Grant Osborne
Jo Davy & James Gilberd
Susan Hill
Michael McColly
Jean-Michel Bauby
Douglas Coupland
Charlotte Wood
Shusaku Endo
Sharon Shinn
Judy Blume
Margaret and Katherine Paterson
Eason
Starhawk
Miriam Toews
Salman Rushdie
Sarah McDonald
Edith Wharton
Matthew Reilly
Christopher Rowland and Jonathon Roberts
Phillip Pullman
Karen Armstrong
Maria Doria Russell
C S Lewis
Edward Carpenter
Rumer Godden
Tricia Goyer
Sherry Jones
Jody Hedlund
Ted Dekker
Arthur Evans
Aimee & David Thurlo
Milton
Frank Peretti
Marilynne Robinson
H V Morton
Richard Dawkins

Links:
http://www.tonysreadinglist.blogspot.com/2011/06/its-oh-so-quiet.html
http://cuteoverload.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments
http://www.eyeonbooks.com/interviews/david-javerbaum-the-last-testament/