I’m banning myself from buying any more books.
…
If I have one weakness is has to be hoarding books, I have three books shelves that are literally groaning under the weight of their cargo, my shelves are dipping worryingly in the middle and I’ve taken to stacking books in the cracks between furniture, the worst part of it is that I actually have a huge pile of books that still need to be read.
Don’t believe me? I give you photographic evidence: 
So, without any further ado/waffling I give you:
MY 2014 READING LIST:
THE VICTORIAN CITY by Judith Flanders: an exploration of Charles Dickens’ London, focussing on the lives of everyday people and poverty.
THE EAGLE UNBOWED by Halik Kochanski: put simply, this book details life within occupied Poland during the second world war.
HOW WE LIVED THEN by Norman Longmate: I’ve actually made a significant dent into this book and it’s brilliant, it’s accounts of everyday life during the second world war taken from the people of Britain. It’s split into sections such as ‘children’ and ‘food’ and gives a real, personal account of the war. Invaluable for all history geeks!
TOO MANY MURDERS by Colleen McCullough: classic murder mystery set in 50s/60s America, featuring a ridiculous amount of deaths and everything to keep a murder mystery lover happy.
THE WORST STREET IN LONDON by Fiona Rule: a chronicle of Dorset Street in London from its prosperous beginnings to criminal associations. A fascinating insight into the criminal underworld of the East End of London.
FORGOTTEN VOICES OF THE SECRET WAR by Roderick Bailey: Another one in the ‘Forgotten Voices’ series, this focusses on the work of SOE during the second world war.
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH by Vera Brittain: for those of you who don’t know this is a pretty famous book written by Vera Brittain, a nurse during the first world war about her personal experiences. I’m waiting until I’m in a better mental place before I delve into this one.
TRUE WORLD WAR ONE STORIES foreword by Malcolm Brown: a collection of stories about life in the trenches, in 1930 the editor of Everyman Magazine requested accounts of the Great War, this is what he got.
RESPECT FOR ACTING by Uta Hagen: put simply, this is Uta Hagen’s views on acting, the craft and everything.
A NURSE AT THE FRONT edited by Ruth Cowen: this is the first world war diary of Sister Edith Appleton, who spent all four years of the war working as a nurse on the front lines.
MY DEAR I WANTED TO TELL YOU by Louisa Young: fiction novel based around the experiences of three people during the first world war, I bought this because apparently it deals with facial injuries and the development of plastic surgery during the first world war, one of my favourite topics.
STAGE ACTING TECHNIQUES by John Hester: I’m an actress, this book was recommended to me by one of my tutors… no idea what to expect from it but hopefully it should be good.
AN ACTOR PREPARES and BUILDING A CHARACTER by Constantin Stanislavski: I have the third book in the series and have read all three but I thought that I would be a good idea to fill up my collection and reread all three of them in order. For those who aren’t actors Stanislavski is widely regarded as the father of method acting and in fact naturalistic acting in general, he is possibly the most famous practitioner of all time… but that’s just my opinion.
BLIND FURY by Lynda La Plante: I’ve seen the rest of this series on TV but they don’t seem to be making the last one so I picked it up in a charity book shop for about 99p, I’ve never read any of her writing before but if the TV series is anything to go by I should love it.
CELTIC FAIRY TALES by Joseph Jacob: this is such a weird book, I wasn’t sure how much mythology to expect in it, I’ve dipped in and out but it’s a really interesting collection of stories and I want to read it properly to absorb all the Celtic weirdness that it holds.
A LIFE IN SECRETS by Sarah Helm: really looking forward to this one; it’s all about Vera Atkins and her search for the missing SOE agents in the aftermath of the second world war, trying to stop myself from picking it up and reading it right now!
Phew, so there we go- that’s what I plan to make my way through during 2014!
(This is going to take hours to tag… *cries*)
’til next time, Wren
The Druid Bird 