2010 will be born in about four-and-a-half hours so I should be out partying, but I have a three-year-old. Our wild and crazy New Year consists of footy jammies and Snow White on VHS.
And a syrah and chocolate covered pretzels for Mommy later.
Many of you are doing the 100 book challenge for 2010 and I’m jealous. I only set goals for myself for the coming year that are manageable and I simply don’t think I could tackle that many books in a year. Pre-kiddo, absolutely. But Crayolas and Fancy Nancy books have taken a bite out of my personal reading time.
I thought I would post a list of the books I want to read in the first few months of 2010 and the books I recall reading in 2009. I didn’t keep a list this year so I’m going to miss some, but such is life.
Books Finished in ’09
The Lightening Thief- Rick Riordan
The Sea of Monsters- Rick Riordan
The Titan’s Curse- Rick Riordan
The Battle of Labyrinth- Rick Riordan
The Last Olympian- Rick Riordan
Shiver- Maggie Stiefvater
Evermore- Alyson Noel
Blue Moon- Alyson Noel
Twilight- Stephenie Meyer
New Moon- Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse- Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn- Stephenie Meyer (My brain cells committed suicide on this one. Sorry, Stephenie!)
Nefertiti- Michelle Moran
The Illuminator- Brenda Rickman Vantrease
Dead Until Dark- Charlaine Harris
Club Dead- Charlaine Harris
Living Dead in Dallas- Charlaine Harris
Life of Pi- Yann Martel
The Poisonwood Bible- Barbara Kingsolver
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter- Kim Edwards
Founding Brothers- Joseph Ellis
Water for Elephants- Sara Gruen
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings- Maya Angelou
The Time Traveler’s Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
The Old Man and the Sea- Ernest Hemingway
The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
Killer Angels- Michael Shaara
Confucius Lives Next Door- T.R. Reid
Kafka By the Shore- Haruki Murakami (This one made my head hurt.)
There were also a few books that I started, but never finished. The Pillars of the Earth (I got 400 pages into that one before I had to put it down. Sigh.), Three Cups of Tea, The Widow of the South, and Olive Kitteridge are all languishing on my shelf.
Books To Read in ’10
Hush, Hush- Becca Fitzpatrick
March- Geraldine Brooks
A Certain Slant of Light- Laura Whitcomb
A Fearful Symmetry- Audrey Niffenegger
The Spanish Bow- Andromeda Romano-Lax
The Zookeeper’s Wife- Diane Ackerman
Traveling With Pomegranates- Sue Monk Kidd & Ann Kidd Taylor
Delilah- India Edghill
The Lost Symbol- Dan Brown
A Strenuous Life- Theodore Roosevelt
The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt & The Crusade For America- Douglas Brinkley (I’ve started this one, but it’s 817 pages in teeny-tiny font.)
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet- Jamie Ford (started this one tonight and am loving it!)
Do you have any other books I should add to my pile? We’re building new bookshelves sometime soon so I need more books! (Like I need a hole in my head, right?)
Happy New Year!
I love Lightning Thief and all its sequels. But I love Greek mythology, so yeah. Those and the Twilight books are the only ones on your '09 list I've read. Well, I've read The Old Man and the Sea but it's been years and I know it was assigned in high school so I disliked it by default.
Shiver is on my '10 reading list. (If I ever finish this draft so I can take a reading break.) So is Hush, Hush. Wings, Graceling, City of Bones, Eyes Like Stars, The Naming, Fall of a Kingdom, Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, Dragonspell, Shades of Grey, The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, and First Among Sequels are all on my '10 reading list.
Yes, I have a lot of books on that list. Thank you birthday and Christmas.
Enjoy your reading list.
Stephanie- I HATED The Old Man & The Sea. Hated, hated, hated. I actually blogged about how much I hated it. My favorite part of writing is including the description and imagery, metaphors and hyperbole. (Sometimes I go overboard, but whatever.) Hemingway may have been a genius, but I wanted to gouge my eyes out reading that thing. Thank heavens it's short!
Impressive reading list from 2009. You did better than me (though I did get to the Stephanie Myer and Charlene Harris books). I must check out Riordan next year.
Happy new year! I should read Lightning Thief. My 5th graders are fans. I'm all about the Fancy Nancy books. She uses very fancy words!
Great lists! You've got some awesome books on there. Have you read Hunger Games yet? Hush, Hush is on my TBR list as well. Enjoy 🙂
100 books. i think i read that many just over the course of last year and not even on purpose, but don't ask me to list them. i don't keep track.
i jumped on over from A Walk in my shoes blog. i'll have to visit later when i have more time.
Ooooohhh you read "The Time Traveler's Wife." Was that good? I've been thinking about picking it up.
I hate all of Ernest Hemingway's books myself, and I pity you for reading one last year. lol "A Farewell to Arms" made me want to cut my wrists. (kidding)
Good luck with your list!!! 🙂
I have never kept a list of all the books I read each year. I definitely need to start doing that! 🙂
Happy New Year, Stephanie!
Ernest Hemingway is severely overrated. Then again, I also feel that way about Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Faulkner, and Herman Melville (with the exception of Moby Dick).
It seems, and no insult meant to the more literary among us, that just because a book is difficult to slog through immediately makes it have literary merit. The Scarlet Letter bored me to effing tears — and I happen to love Dickens's writing, so y'all know it's not because of wordiness — but the way Hawthorne deals with a potentially explosive topic makes me yawn. There are better books out there that deal with the same subject matter in an engaging way. There have to be.
That said, I don't read nearly as much as I probably should. Blame the 65-hour work weeks for that one.
Stephanie, my brain cells committed suicide on book 1 of the shall not be named saga. And I'm with you on the 100 book feat (20's a high number for me, unless one counts picture books :). Still gotta check out RR's series.
I felt the exact same way about Breaking Dawn.
I don't think I could read 100 books in 2010 either– unless that was ALL I did, and gave up writing and revisions.
Happy New Year!!
The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is my favorite! I read it a few weeks ago and Henry still tugs at my heart.
Lorel- I enjoyed the first three books of Twilight, but only made it through the first four of Harris's books. Once she had a fairy godmother I had to throw in the towel.
Katie- I think you'd enjoy The Lightening Thief. It was great and the rest of the series was even better!
Jemi- I haven't read that one. Which genre is it?
Michelle- I love A Walk in My Shoes. It's one of my favorite blogs!
KM- I really enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife. It was a little slow in the beginning and then I was hooked. And the ending was awesome!
Shannon- This is the first year I've attempted a list. I'll actually keep track in 2010 so I don't have to remember them all later on.
Matt- Isn't it a shame that those are the books required in school? I wanted to gouge my eyes out with The Scarlet Letter. I'm thinking of assigning my kids an open-book interview. They read any book based on U.S. History (from their level, of course) and then we'll have a one-on-one chat. They read something they enjoy and I get to find out about new books I might enjoy. Win-win!
Bane- I enjoyed the first book of Twilight- it was like bad crack. I just had to ignore Bella's mopiness and the fact that Edward is really just a creepy stalker. I thought of TLCC several times as I was reading RR's series- I think you'd enjoy them.
Amalia- I'm with you- I'd have to quit writing, revising, and querying to get that many books read. Such is life. Sigh.
Tamika- I'm really enjoying the characters and the history too. My husband and I worked at a couple places mentioned in the book during our stint in Seattle. The research is awesome!
Holy lists, Batman!
Yes yes yes to Niffenegger & Kidd. Also to A Strenuous Life by Roosevelt. They are all on my list, too.
The lost symbol was good but…oh, I don't know. Maybe I've finally fallen out of love with Dan Brown.
Keep those lists coming!!
I'll offer up anything by Jilly Cooper. Her novels are a brilliant read for lazy summer's day.
Also Stephanie I would very much like to thank you for your help with me novelette "Strange" I'm grateful for you advice.
Every happiness in 2010.
Warmest regards,
Simone
Hi Stephanie! I love Reading Lists! I've got some of these on my TBR and I'll definitely check out Rick Riordan. Thanks!
Great list! You can learn so much about a person reading the books that they've read or plan to read. Hope you had a fabulous New Year! Chocolate, wine and Snow White? Sounds like a dream.
This is truly inspiring. Barbara Kingsolver will be presenting writers' workshops at the San Miguel Writers Conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico February 19-23 2010. I just signed up. It looks like a rare opportunity to meet her. Are you going?