What's a Common Reader -- and what is Uncommon Reading?

Virginia Woolf defined a common reader as someone who is not a scholar; not a critic. A common reader "reads for his own pleasure rather than to impart knowledge or correct the opinions of others. Above all, he is guided by an instinct to create for himself, out of whatever odds and ends he can come by, some kind of whole." By that definition, I'm definitely a common reader -- reading an uncommonly large and diverse collection of books.

Books reviewed on this blog


Here's a list of the books I've reviewed or mentioned on this blog, and the dates on which you can find the review or reference. The presence of an asterisk * indicates that I've reviewed the book.  (Books added to my shelves are not indexed below.)

*Ali, Monica: Untold Story (July 14, 2011)
Atkinson, Kate: Case Histories (June 28, 2011)
*Alison, Rosie: The Very Thought of You (July 3, 2011, July 28, 2011)

*Bartok, Mira: The Memory Palace (July 13, 2011)
Bennett, Alan: The Uncommon Reader (June 28, 2011)
*Bohjalian, Chris: The Sandcastle Girls (July 19, 2012)
*Bolton, S.J.: Now You See Me (July 18, 2011)
*Boyden, Joseph, Through Black Spruce (July 1, 2011)
*Brandys, Kazimierz: Rondo (June 17, 2011)
Brittain, Vera: Testament of Youth (June 14, 2011)
*Brittingham, Kimberly: Read My Hips (July 13, 2011)
*Brooks, Geraldine: March (August 14, 2011)
*Burleigh, Nina: The Fatal Gift of Beauty (October 5, 2011)
Butcher, Tim: Blood River (June 28, 2011)

Chevalier, Tracey: Beautiful Creatures (June 16, 2011)
*Collins, Paul: The Murder of the Century (July 12, 2011)
*Colwin, Laurie: Home Cooking (June 13, 2011)
*Corby, Gary, The Pericles Commission (July 11, 2011)
Cotterill, Colin: The Coroner's Lunch (June 28, 2011)
*Cotterill, Colin: Death at the Whim of a Hat (July 25, 2011)
*Crombie, Deborah: No Mark Upon Her (October 3, 2011)
*Cronin, Justin: The Twelve (October 11, 2012)
*Cumming, Charles: A Foreign Field (July 16, 2012)
*Cumming, Charles: The Trinity Six (July 16, 2012)

Davies, Murray: Collaborator (June 21, 2011)
Deighton, Len: SS-GB (June 21, 2011)
*Duffy, Stella: Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore (June 16, 2011)
du Maurier, Daphne: Rebecca (June 29, 2011)
du Maurier, Daphne: The King's General (June 29, 2011)
du Maurier, Daphne: The Scapegoat (June 29, 2011)
du Maurier, Daphne: Vanishing Cornwall (June 29, 2011)
Dyer, Geoff: The Missing of the Somme (June 14, 2011)

*Edwards, Martin: The Hanging Wood (June 27, 2011)
Eisinger, Jesse: The Wall Street Money Machine (June 26, 2011)
Eksteins, Modris: Rites of Spring (June 14, 2011)
*Eng, Tan Twan: The Garden of Evening Mists (October 9, 2012)
*Enright, Anne: The Forgotten Waltz (August 8, 2012)

Felch, Jason: Chasing Aphrodite (June 28, 2011)
Fermor, Patrick Leigh: A Time of Gifts (June 28, 2011)
*Fesperman, Dan: The Double Game (August 16, 2012)
Fiennes, William: The Music Room (July 13, 2011)
*Flynn, Gillian: Gone Girl (August 8, 2012)
*Forna, Aminatta: The Memory of Love (July 19, 2011)
*Frayn, Michael: Skios (August 3, 2012)
Fussell, Paul: The Great War and Modern Memory (June 14, 2011)

*Gavalda, Anna: French Leave (June 30, 2011)
George, Margaret: The Autobiography of Henry VIII (July 12, 2012)
*George, Margaret: Elizabeth I (June 28, 2011) 
Giridharas, Anand: Chinese Dreams (June 26, 2011)
Godden, Rumer: China Court (June 28, 2011)
*Grossman, Lev: The Magician King (July 27, 2011)

*Harris, Jane: Gillespie and I (August 8, 2012)
Heller, Jason: Taft 2012 (July 13, 2012)
Hitchens, Christopher: The Enemy (June 26, 2011)
Hitchings, Henry: Defining the World (June 28, 2011)
*Hochschild, Adam: To End All Wars (June 14, 2011)
*Hodgkinson, Amanda: 22 Britannia Road (July 3, 2011, July 28, 2011)
Holt, Anne: 1222 (July 13, 2012)
*Horwitz, Tony: Midnight Rising (August 14, 2011)
Howrey, Meg: The Cranes Dance (July 13, 2011)
*Hvistendahl, Mara: Unnatural Selection (July 8, 2011)

*Ignatius, David: Bloodmoney (July 5, 2011)

*Joyce, Rachel: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (July 20, 2012)

*Kelly, John: The Graves Are Walking (October 12, 2012)
*Kempe, Frederick: Berlin, 1961 (June 13, 2011)
Krakauer, Jon: Three Cups of Deceit (June 26, 2011)
*Krebs, Christopher: A Most Dangerous Book (July 3, 2011)
*Kurkov, Andrei: Death and the Penguin (July 10, 2011)
*Kurkov, Andrei: Penguin Lost (July 10, 2011)

Lackberg, Camilla: The Ice Princess (June 15, 2011)
*Lakhous, Amara:  Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (July 26, 2011)
Landay, William: Defending Jacob (July 13, 2011)
Larsson, Stieg: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (June 15, 2011)
Leslie, Jacques: War Wounds (June 26, 2011)
Lewycka, Marina: Strawberry Fields (June 28, 2011)
*Lucarelli, Carlo: Carte Blanche (July 12, 2011)
Lupton, Rosamund: Sister (June 28, 2011)

*Mantel, Hilary: Bring Up the Bodies (July 12, 2012)
Mantel, Hilary: Wolf Hall (July 12, 2012)
McDermid, Val: A Place of Execution (June 28, 2011)
Macintyre, Ben: Double Cross (July 13, 2012)
Macintyre, Ben: The Englishman's Daughter (June 14, 2011)
*Macintyre, Linden: The Bishop's Man (July 1, 2011)
*Mackenzie, Jassy: Stolen Lives (July 4, 2011)
*McKinley, Catherine: Indigo (June 22, 2011)
*Marklund, Liza: Red Wolf (June 15, 2011)
Mawer, Simon: Trapeze (July 13, 2011)
Morgan, Jude: The King's Touch (June 16, 2011)
Morgan, Jude: Passion (June 16, 2011)
*Moskos, Peter: In Defense of Flogging (June 27, 2011)
Murari, Timeri: The Taliban Cricket Club (July 13, 2011)

*Oltuski, Alicia: Precious Objects (July 13, 2011)
O'Shea, Stephen: Back to the Front (June 14, 2011)

Patchett, Ann: Truth and Beauty (July 13, 2011)
*Penny, Louise: The Beautiful Mystery (August 6, 2012)
*Penny, Louise: A Trick of the Light (August 15, 2011)
*Perrottet, Tony: The Sinner's Grand Tour (July 29, 2011)
Perry, Anne: The Sheen on the Silk (June 16, 2011)
*Perry, Thomas: The Informant (June 22, 2011)
*Picardie, Ruth: Daphne (June 29, 2011)
*Pick, Alison: Far to Go (July 28, 2011)
*Pollen, Bella: Summer of the Bear (August 11, 2011)

*Ratner, Vaddey: Under the Banyan (July 19, 2012)
*Rees, Matt Beynon: The Collaborator of Bethlehem (August 1, 2011)
*Rees, Matt Beynon: A Grave in Gaza (August 1, 2011)
*Rendell, Ruth: The Vault (October 3, 2011)
*Robertson, Imogen: Instruments of Darkness (June 27, 2011)
*Robertson, Imogen: Island of Bones (June 27, 2011)
*Robotham, Michael: Bleed for Me (July 16, 2012)
*Robotham, Michael: Shatter (July 16, 2012)
*Rogers, Jane: The Testament of Jessie Lamb (August 16, 2011)
Rotella, Sebastian: Pakistan and the Mumbai Terror Attacks (June 26, 2011)
* Roy-Bhattacharya, Joydeep: The Watch (August 1, 2012)

*Sansal, Boualem: The German Mujahid (July 26, 2011)
Schwartz, John Burnham: The Commoner (July 14, 2011)
*Scott, A.D: A Double Death on the Black Isle (October 1, 2011)
*Segal, Francesca: The Innocents (July 17, 2012)
*Sepulveda, Luis: The Shadow of What We Were (June 30, 2011)
Simonson, Helen: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand (July 20, 2012)
*Skibsrud, Johanna: The Sentimentalists (July 1, 2011)
*Speller, Elizabeth: The Return of Captain John Emmett
*Stuart, Julia: The Pigeon Pie Mystery (July 20, 2012)
Sundaresan, Indu: The Shadow Princess (June 16, 2011)

Taylor, Kate: A Man in Uniform (June 16, 2011)
Thwe, Pascal Khoo: Land of Green Ghosts (June 28, 2011)
Tracy, Lisa: Objects of Our Affection (June 28, 2011; July 13, 2011)

*Upson, Nicola: Two for Sorrow (August 8, 2011)

Walker, Martin: Bruno, Chief of Police (June 28, 2011)
*Williams, Thomas Chatterton: Losing My Cool (July 13, 2011)
Winter, Dennis: Death's Men (June 14, 2011)
*Wolfe, Inger Ash: A Door in the River (October 8, 2012)
Wolman, David: The Instigators (June 26, 2011)