I first saw this year’s Reading Bingo on Cleo’s blog – she was the one who put me on to it a few years back. Then Marina at Finding Time to Write posted hers and it seemed rude not to join in even if mine is a little tardy. It’s one of those posts which is great fun to put together, a lovely distraction for those needing a little time in their heads over the festive season. So, after a good deal of flicking back through this year’s reading, here’s my 2017 bingo card with links to the books I’ve reviewed.
A Book with More Than 500 Pages – Nathan Hill’s thoroughly enjoyable, panoramic look at American life from the ‘60s to 2011, The Nix, which weighs in at 640 pages.
A Forgotten Classic – Gerard Reve’s The Evenings about which I was not entirely thrilled but many, many Dutch people are
A Book That Became a Movie –  The Shiralee by D’Arcy Nilland, although I haven’t see the film
A Book Published This Year – most of them given that I’m still a slave to novelty but I’ll plump for Victoria Redel’s lovely paean to friendship Before Everything because I loved it so much.
A Book with a Number in the Title – has to be Jon McGregor’s gorgeously poetic Reservoir 13, my book of the year
A Book Written by Someone Under Thirty – Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends which won the 2017 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser and Dunlop Young Writer award
A Book with Non-Human Characters – Laura Kaye’s English Animals although I’m afraid most of them are stuffed.
A Funny Book – André Alexis’ hugely enjoyable caper The Hidden Keys.
A Book by a Female Author – hard to know where to start with this, there are so many, but I’m I going to pick Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller, only left off my books of the year because things were getting out of hand
A Book with a Mystery –  Emily Ruskovich’s striking debut, Idaho, which has a very slow reveal
A Book with a One-word title – Ties by Domenico Starnone notable for its furious opening chapter
A Book of Short Stories – Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees which takes the long view on fleeing conflict
Free square –  Birdcage Walk, the last book from one of my favourite writers, Helen Dunmore, who died earlier in the year
A Book Set on a Different Continent – the Melbourne-set Our Magic Hour which I’ve banged on about so many times on this blog trying to get the word out
A Non-fiction Book – Will Ashon’s Strange Labyrinth which explored the surprisingly odd history of Epping Forest
The First Book by a Favourite Author – this one will have to be left blank, sadly
A Book You Heard About Online – the quietly moving The Closet of Savage Momentos by Nuala Nà Chonchúir but unfortunately I’ve forgotten where I read about it
A Bestselling Book –  Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift. I resisted this having not read anything by Swift to beat his first novel, Waterland, but loved it when I finally gave in
A Book Based on a True Story – Jane Harris’ Sugar Money is the story of an attempt to bring a group of slaves back from Grenada to Martinique in 1765, restoring them from British to French hands.
A Book at the Bottom of Your TBR Pile – The Year of the Runaways by Sunjeev Sahota which was well worth digging out
A Book your Friend Loves – The Invisible Life of Euridice which two friends loved, and fortunately I did too.
A Book that Scares You – Daniel Kehlman’s smartly gothic You Should Have Left
A Book that is More Than 10 Years Old – Tepper Isn’t Going Out by Culver Trillin, a book about parking, believe it or not. It was resurrected by Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, my favourite independent bookshop, who loved this and The Shiralee so much they published editions themselves
The Second Book in a Series –  I’m bending the rules here because this one’s a sequel but you 
never know: The Postman’s Fiancée, Denis Thériault’s follow-up to The Peculiar Life of the Lonely Postman.
A Book with a Blue Cover –  Alex Christofi’s Let Us Be True, a thought-provoking love story.
Just one blank square – maybe I’ll manage a full house next year. Thanks to Cleo and Marina for reminding me just how enjoyable these posts are to put together. Let me know if you’ve spotted any other bloggers’ bingo posts that have taken your fancy.
What fun reads you have found! And well done on a nearly perfect round!
Thank you. So close… Maybe I’ll manage the full card next year. Thanks for the inspiration!
How fun!
Not too late to have a go…
Wow, this is s o impressive that you were able to read books in so many different categories!
Thank you, Melissa. You’d be surprised at how many books I’ve read with blue covers this year…
A fun way of rounding up the year’s reading. Nice to see Reservoir 13 making an unexpected appearance 😉 A fun read, thanks Susan!
Thanks, Belinda. I’ll grab any chance to mention Mr McGregor’s book!
You reminded me to have a go at this – results will be published tomorrow. We have two books in common….
Excellent! I’ll look forward to that. Wonder what they are…
Do people do this reading bingo every year? And do the squares change? It seems like you’re supposed to fill the thing, but typically you win when you get a row!
I do it retrospectively as a bit of fun/escape at Christmas, and having done it once have become hooked. I can’t imagine doing it the other way round and searching out a book to read that would fit a square. There may be annual variations but I stick with this one.
It’s almost like a check to see how diversely you read, or if you stuck to the same type and length of book the whole year through!
I’d never thought of it like that but you’re right, it’s a handy diveristy reckoner.
Brilliant what a fab selection
Thanks, Cleo, and thanks also for putting me on to it.
What a great selection! I too enjoyed playing Reading Bingo this year 🙂
Thank you and I see we both picked an Alex Christofi! I haven’t got around to reading Glass yet but it’s on my list.
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