1. Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James Swanson
So so so good. Especially awesome since I had just been to Ford's Theater and the Peterson house, but I think anyone could enjoy it.
2. Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Loved. I saw her speak at the National Book Festival and I fell in love with her and decided to read all her books and they really haven't let me down.
3. River Secrets by Shannon Hale
Loved, even though I wasn't expecting to since I hadn't loved Razo in the previous books.
4. Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Pretty standard James Patterson fare. Fast-paced and enjoyable.
5. Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Love. Obviously. Probably my favorite of hers thus far.
6. Medina Hill by Trilby Kent
Had potential but eh. Reviewed for the book blog tour here.
7. Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper
It started off so slowly that I almost gave up but by the end I was intrigued. The 2nd book in the series won a Newbery, so I'd like to stick with it and see where it goes.
8. Aurelia by Anne Osterlund
Not the great American novel, but with intrigue and romance and a princess in danger, what's not to enjoy? Bonus points for being a fairly quick read.
9. The Messenger by Lois Lowry
The sequel to Gathering Blue AND the book that ties The Giver and The Messenger together.
10. Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Not as awesome as the Hunger Games books but not bad for a first book. It's also geared toward a younger audience. A good addition to the boy list. I'd like the read the next one.
11. The Wyrm King: Book 3 of Beyond the Spiderwick by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black
Because these books are so short and tend to be kind of confusing anyway I was halfway through before I realized I was reading an entirely different series than The Spiderwick Chronicles that I had halfheartedly been working my way through. So basically I have no idea what I just read.
12. Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
Continuing to love this series.
13. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
I just bawled and bawled. It's sad to read books about bad things happening to good people. It's so much worse when those bad things actually happened and many good people truly suffered. Poor Afghanistan.
14. Academy 7 by Anne Osterlund
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this because the cover and description make it seem like a total fluff book. But it had this kind of intergalactic politics gone wonky Star Wars vibe going on and I found it all very enjoyable.
15. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
I had non stop zombie nightmares afterward. I was not man enough for this book, apparently.
16. Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrated by Nathan Hale
I've never read a graphic novel before so as far as I'm concerned it was just dandy.
17. Rumors (Luxe #2) by Anna Godbersen
For some reason this one just dragged for me. I flew through the first one but just couldn't get quite as in to the second one.
18. A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb
Beautiful and charming and love.
19. The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan
I think this series is only getting better. I can't wait for Wes to read these when he gets older.
20. Cult Insanity: A Memoir of Polygamy, Prophets and Blood Atonement by Irene Spencer
I have nothing but love for Irene Spencer. Both of her memoirs are just...above and beyond. She has the kind of personal strength I wish for myself.
21. Idlewild by Nick Sagan
This was...trippy.
22. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
So good.
23. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Finally, something that is actually worthy of her.
24. The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls
Amazing and horrifying at the same time.
25. Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
So in love with this author.
26. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Aaron's mom pulled this off the shelf and told me it should cut in my reading line. She's usually spot on in her recommendations and she didn't disappoint with this one. Loved it.
27. M. Butterfly by David Henry Hwang
Fascinating play based on a true story.
28. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
Not quite as awesome as his first but still really really good.
29. When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery by Simon LeVay
Excellent and fascinating stories but the writing gets a tad too technical in parts and there was at least one chapter where a diagram would have really useful.
30. Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon
Fun little mystery. I think the best part is that it takes place in Venice and it's always fun when books take you to places like that.
This was definitely my slowest quarter thanks to NaNoWriMo, but I still read quite a few really great books.
I will say that Janssen beat me soundly. I read 146 books this year and she read 199. Which means she read FIFTY THREE more books than me. Ouch. Many of those were in this last quarter when I read 30 and she read 61.
My final page count was 45,671. In elementary school we had this thing called the "Thousand Page Club" which encouraged kids to read and to track what they read. Every time you hit a thousand pages you got a prize from a special box in the principal's office (usually a sparkly new PENCIL!!) AND a free book of your choice that the principal wrote a little note in for you. I know I got a few books during my time there, but this year alone I would have been in the Thousand Page Club 45 times. I kind of wish my old principal was still there so I could write him a note about that. I'm pretty proud.
Janssen ended up 54,894 pages. Sheesh. She'd have gotten 9 more books from Principal Corritone than me.
In any event, all future book related posts will be on my book blog since that's what it's there for and all.
As much fun as I had reading almost nonstop in 2009 I'm kind of looking forward to a more relaxed reading schedule this year. In order to read my 50 classics I have to read an average of 4.2 books a month, or about a book a week. That is so. much. less. I can totally handle that.
Happy reading in 2010!
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5 comments:
I loved the Over Sea, Under Stone series...LOVED it. And yes, it does pick up a bit.
xox
I love reading your lists. I'm super surprised you liked Book of a Thousand Days so much as it was by FAR my least favorite of her books (and obviously I am SHOCKED that we could have our own opinions on anything!).
MR. CORRITONE CONTINUES TO BE MY HERO.
Please put a reminder in your regular blog occasionally about your book blog so I can catch up. I'll never remember to check that one too!
WOW, That is a freakin lot of reading. How do you have time to do anything else? I know you cooked more, did some projects and wrote a novel, you even found time to get pregnant, lol! did you do without slepp? does Wes recognize you without a book?? LOL ;)
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