Sunday, December 31, 2006
books i read this year
I know, it’s been ages since I posted. Long story about that. Anyway, as I’ve done the past few years, I post a list of the books I read this year. You can see my past lists here [2005] and here [2004].This year, I met my mark of 32 books, which is what I read last year. Pretty impressive considering last year, I had a goal of 20 books, thinking the lack of a subway in Indiana was going to hinder my reading. There were two opposing factors that contributed to my 32 books this year. To my advantage, I read a few kids books for this article for Gelf Magazine. Those kids books are quick and easy to read. To my disadvantage, I learned how to knit this year and got a Tivo so my reading time was spent instead with knitting needles in hand watching all the old episodes of The X-Files and Alias that I Tivoed. It’s sad, I know.
So without further adieu, here’s the list for 2006.
1. Saints and Sinners - Eamon Duffy [yes, this was at the end of my list last year so technically not a new book, but I read it this year too so it counts]
2. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
3. Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling [reread]
4. The Know-It-All - AJ Jacobs
5. The Magician’s Nephew - C.S. Lewis
6. Wife Living Dangerously - Sara Susannah Katz [written by my former boss, good chick lit]
7. Freakonomics - Levitt/Dunbar [good]
8. Plot Against America - Philip Roth [also good]
9. The Last Battle - C.S. Lewis
10. The Secret Man - Bob Woodward
11. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone - J.K. Rowling [reread]
12. Charlie & the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl [great! I’m such a candy freak so this was a great book!]
13. Between You and Me - Mike Wallace
14. King Dork - Frank Portman [highly rec’d, one of my favorite books this year. It’s young adult lit but totally worth it]
15. The Magazine Article - Peter Jacobi [for a class I took, did you know there are other ways to write an article besides inverted pyramid? fascinating]
16. Best American Magazine Writing 2005 - various [also for class]
17. Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling [reread]
18. Little House on the Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder [great, gift from my friend Stacy]
19 Killing Yourself to Live - Chuck Klosterman [good as usual once you get past the whole hipster pretentiousness]
20. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 - Beverly Cleary [reread, first read it when I was, in fact, eight years old]
21. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret - Judy Blume [great book if you’re 12, not so good if you have to relive that part of your life at 29]
22. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safron Foer [good]
23. Holidays on Ice - David Sedaris
24. Prep - Curtis Sittenfeld
25. The Eyre Affair - Jasper Fforde [not as impressed as I thought I would be]
26. Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling [reread]
27. James and the Giant Peach - Roald Dahl [reread, first was when my teacher read it to us in first grade, I drew a picture of the peach squishing James’s aunts for my book report]
28. On Writing - Stephen King [great]
29. Marley and Me - John Grogan
30. Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen [reread, great as always]
31. But Enough About Me - Jancee Dunn [highly rec’d]
32. Killing Bono - Neil McCormick
Wow. Looking at that list, I had quite a few rereads this year. As always, got some new books for Christmas that I now have to read including Ulysses by James Joyce. I plan to get credit for some of my books at the local used book store and use the credit to by a reader’s guide to help me through that one.
So what books did you read this year that were good? Any recommendations for the rest of us?