Signed copy of Number9dream
In 2005 I read 53 books, amounting to a total of 14.767 pages. The post about my personal reading challenges in the years 2005 – 2008 will tell you I had actually hoped to get to 15.000 pages, but alas. So that’s the challenge I failed this year — but I had two more!

  1. to read a book from each decade from 1900 until 2005
  2. to finish all bookcrossing books in my possession before the year closed (which happened to be 16 in total)

I succeeded in both these missions!

Here’s my complete list of books finished in 2005. Bold titles belong to the decades challenge, those with an asterisk (*) were BX-copies on my shelf that needed to be read.

  • In april was het gras op , Ruth Feigenbaum ( 1999 ) nonfiction
  • De vernuftige edelman van La Mancha Don Quichot II , Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( 1615 )
  • Kaas en de evolutietheorie , Bas Haring ( 2001 ) * nonfiction
  • Museumhuizen , Ella Reitsma ( 2003 ) nonfiction
  • Het museum van de toekomst , Anita van Mil & Marije Verduijn ( 2001 ) nonfiction
  • Number9dream , David Mitchell ( 2001 )
  • Deception on his mind , Elizabeth George ( 1997 )
  • Kafka on the shore , Haruki Murakami ( 2003 )
  • Get everything done and still have time to play , Mark Foster ( 2000 ) * nonfiction & bx-copy –> I bought a copy for myself
  • Gedoemd tot kwetsbaarheid , Geert Mak ( 2005 ) * nonfiction
  • Oracle night , Paul Auster ( 2003 )
  • Specht en zoon , Willem Jan Otten ( 2004 )
  • Property , Valerie Martin ( 2003 )
  • Microserfs , Douglas Coupland ( 1995 )
  • Saturday , Ian McEwan ( 2005 )
  • Avondgezichten: liefdes uit het leven van Prins Genji (Genji Monogatari), plus inleiding , Murasaki Shikibu ( vanaf 1002 )
  • Het stenen bruidsbed , Harry Mulisch ( 1959 )
  • De dood wil mij niet (La mort ne veut pas de moi), Yolande Mukagasana ( 1997 ) nonfiction
  • Killing critics , Carol O’Connell ( 1996 )
  • Ministerie van pijn (Ministarstvo boli) , Dubravka Ugresic ( 2004 )
  • Girl with a pearl earring , Tracey Chevalier ( 2001 ) *
  • Ministerie van pijn (Ministarstvo boli) , Dubravka Ugrešić ( 2004 )
  • The bridge of San Luis Rey , Thornton Wilder ( 1927 )
  • Strangers (Ijintachi to no natsu) , Taichi Yamada ( 1987 )
  • De verzamelaar (The collector) , John Fowles ( 1963 )
  • The Samurai’s Garden , Gail Tsukiyama ( 1995 ) * bx-copy –> bought a copy of my own!
  • Sonny Boy , Annejet van der Zijl ( 2004 ) *
  • El Negro en ik , Frank Westerman ( 2004 ) nonfiction
  • Spookliefde , Vonne van der Meer ( 1995 ); audio book
  • Through the green valley , Barbara Gowdy ( 1988 )
  • Women of the silk , Gail Tsukiyama ( 1991 )
  • Van oude mensen, de dingen, die voorbijgaan.. , Louis Couperus ( 1906 )
  • Fingersmith , Sarah Waters ( 2002 ) *
  • Scoop , Evelyn Waugh ( 1938 )
  • De zaak Sotheby’s , Peter Watson ( 1997 ) nonfiction
  • In pursuit of the proper sinner , Elizabeth George ( 1999 )
  • Een museum is ook maar een mens ( 1999 ) nonfiction
  • The shadow of the wind , Carloz Ruiz Zafón ( 2001 )
  • De buitenproef , Thomas Rosenboom ( 1983 ); audio book
  • The time traveller’s wife , Audrey Niffenegger ( 2004 )
  • Dichtertje , Nescio ( 1917 )
  • Cal , Bernard MacLaverty ( 1983 ) *
  • Vanonder de koperen ploert , Hans Vervoort ( 1975 ) nonfiction
  • Kitchen , Banana Yoshimoto ( 1988 ) *
  • Eens was ik een mens (Se questo è un uomo) , Primo Levi ( 1947 ) * nonfiction
  • Steffie Steek in de klauwen van het leven , Dubravka Ugresic ( 1982 ) *
  • [De indologen , Cees Fasseur ( 1993 )] nonfiction ~ temporarily put aside
  • Stone angel , Carol O’Connell ( 1997 )
  • The museum guard , Howard Norman ( 1998 ) *
  • Behind the scenes at the museum , Kate Atkinson ( 1995 ) *
  • Tokyo , Mo Hayder ( 2004 ) *
  • Srebrenica: het zwartste scenario , Frank Westerman en Bart Rijs ( 1997 ) nonfiction
  • De stenen dagboeken , Carol Shields ( 1993 ) *
  • Extremely loud & incredibly close , Jonathan Safran Foer ( 2005 ) *

Biggest disappointment: probably Don Quixote because I had expected so much of it. But I’m glad I persevered because now I really know what it’s about and that makes it easier to spot references in other books. That’s fun ;)
I really didn’t like The Collector and Specht en zoon.

Thankfully I have lots of favourites to compensate: Number9dream (you had probably guessed that ;), Kafka on the shore, Oracle night, Property, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Strangers, The samurai’s garden, Fingersmith, The time traveller’s wife, Eens was ik een mens, Extremely loud & incredibly close.