Friday, January 1, 2010

My Year in Books - 2009

This year I set myself a goal through LibraryThing of reading 75 books. I managed 79. In addition to tracking titles, I also tracked how many pages I read, ending with over 27,000 (an average of 75 pages per day!) Other goals are to read at least twice as many new books as rereads and to maintain variety in my reading genres. I did pretty darn well! Here's a look at how I did:

1. Jumble Pie by Melanie Lynne Hauser
2. The History of Now by Daniel Klein
3. The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
4. The Book of Lost Things by John Connelly
5. Fairy Tales by The Brothers Grimm
6. The Vegetarian Table: North Africa by Kitty Morse
7. The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan
8. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
9. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
10. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
11. The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E.M. Berens
12. The Children of Henry VIII by Alison Weir
13. Middlemarch by George Eliot
14. Darling Jim by Christian Moerk
15. The Warden by Anthony Trollope
16. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer*
17. Barchester Towers by Anthony Trollope
18. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
19. The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
20. Internal Affairs by Connie Dial
21. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
22. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
23. The Return of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
24. The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
25. The Late Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow
26. The Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters*
27. The Valley of Fear by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
28. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
29. Something Blue by Emily Giffin
30. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
31. The Demi God Files by Rick Riordan
32. His Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
33. Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
34. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
35. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
36. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
37. Broken Angel by Sigmund Brouwer
38. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich*
39. Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! by Terry Brooks
40. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling*
41. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling*
42. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
43. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling*
44. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling*
45. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling*
46. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling*
47. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling*
48. Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
49. Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
50. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
51. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton*
52. Three Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens
53. On the Couch by Alisa Kwitney
54. The Ancient Greeks for Dummies by Stephen Batchelor
55. Loved Me Once by Gail Hewitt
56. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger
57. Emma by Jane Austen
58. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
59. Doctor Who: The Time Traveler's Almanac
60. Persuasion by Jane Austen
61. The Lost Constitution by William Martin
62. A Year of Cats and Dogs by Margaret Hawkins
63. Mythology for Dummies by Christopher and Amy Blackwell
64. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame
65. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
66. Doctor Who: A Writer's Tale by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
67. Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation by Gregory Maguire
68. Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa
69. A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street by Milam McGraw Propst
70. Ociee on her Own by Milam McGraw Propst
71. The Best of Creative Non Fiction: Vol. 3 edited by Lee Gutkind
72. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer*
73. The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash by Milam McGraw Propst
74. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer*
75. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer*
76. Beer and Philosophy edited by Stephen Hale
77. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
78. The Return by Victoria Hislop
79. Truly, Madly by Heather Webber
*reread

All in all, a lot to be happy about! 13 rereads to 66 new reads. 11 non-fiction to 68 fiction, 22 of which were classics. Also of note I had quotes from two reviews used on the back of the book when it was published and had a question I submitted used in an interview with Gregory Maguire (who said it was a good question!)

My goals for 2010 are to read 100 books and attempt to average 100 pages a day of reading. I want at least 67 of those books to be books I've never read before and at least 15 of them to be non-fiction. Helping me along the way, I'm hoping to read all of Shakespeare's plays this year, some of which I've read before of course, but none since college. That should certainly help me with my challenge!

How about you? Did you have a goal in 2009? Do you have one this year? I'd love to hear opinions or answer questions about any of the books I've listed above!

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your reading challenge success. I hadn't realized as the year went by how many of Austen's books you read. Which was your favorite?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of those three I liked Persuasion the best, mostly because it was so un-Austen like. You know I'm not a fan, but another challenge I've given myself is to work my way through various top 100 lists and I had to read these three for the one I'm doing now.

    ReplyDelete

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I'm human, so I've got some issues, but all things considered I guess I'm reasonably normal. My parents are still married. My best friends are my sisters...okay, so I'm normal for the 1850's whatever. I'm opinionated and nerdy. I'm walking the line between tweener-style pop culture love (witness my ever-burning New Kids love and inexplicable Twilight obsession) and elitist culture snob (I can't seem to get enough 19th century British Lit and historical biographies) but, after 30 years, I'm finally learning not to give a crap what anyone else thinks about me. Oh, and those are my feet in the picture. The socks were made by a friend.

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