It was Jo’s idea last year, and we’re doing it again this year.
Celebrate the first six months of the reading year by putting six books into each of six categories.
It’s not quite as easy as it looks. I tweaked the categories last year to suit my reading style, and I’ve tweaked them a little more this year to make sure that the right books got in.
Here they are!
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Six Books that tugged at my heartstrings
The Night Rainbow by Claire King
The Lonely by Paul Gallico
A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson
The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery
The Young Clementina by D E Stevenson
Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
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Six books illuminated by wonderful voices from the twentieth century
The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham
The Fool Of The Family by Margaret Kennedy
A Pixy in Petticoats by John Trevena
Mariana by Monica Dickens
Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
The Slaves of Solitude by Patrick Hamilton
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Six books that took me to another time and place
Serving Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard
This January Tale by Bryher
The Love-Charm of Bombs by Lara Feigel
In Diamond Square by Mercè Rodoreda
The Pinecone by Jenny Uglow
A Commonplace Killing by Siân Busby
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Six books that introduced me to interesting new authors
Death of Lyndon Wilder and the Consequences Thereof by E.A. Dineley
The First Book Of Calamity Leek by Paula Lichtarowicz
Telling the Bees by Peggy Hesketh
The Sea Change by Joanna Rossiter
Chaplin and Company by Mave Fellowes
The View on the Way Down by Rebecca Wait
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Six books I must mention that don’t fit nicely into any category
The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty
Yew Hall by L.M. Boston
Orkney by Amy Sackville
A Five Year Sentence by Bernice Rubens
The Asylum by John Harwood
Perfect by Rachel Joyce
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Six Books I started in the first six months of the year and haven’t quite finished … yet …
The Palace of Curiosities by Rosie Garland
The House on the Cliff by Jon Godden
Elijah’s Mermaid by Essie Fox
The Criminal Conversation of Mrs Norton by Diane Atkinson
Warpaint by Alicia Foster
The Rich House by Stella Gibbons
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Do think about putting your own sixes – it’s a great way of perusing your reading, and I’d love to read more lists.
Fleur in her World 
Hmmm. I tried, a little. Not as easy to find sixes as I would have thought, so I’m especially impressed with your list!
A little bit of working backwards helps Audrey – find the books you want to celebrate and then see how you can group them. And I did a little bit of a cheat on the last two categories!
Thanks for joining in and spreading the word!
More books to add to my ever growing list.
Thank you for doing this again – the books I read at the start of the year were beginning to feel distant and so it was the right time for a little retrospective.
I’m so glad to see this meme make the rounds again this year… such an entertaining exercise! Letters From Skye sounds like a wonderful book.
This was a fun idea — it was hard deciding how to group my reads though! Still, I gave it a go, and enjoyed looking back over my reading so far this year.
I loved reading your choices Jane, and the categories you used, and you inspired me to have a go at this too. It’s a nice way of thinking back and taking a moment to remember.