Year in Books
Well, I've wrapped up my reading for the year, although there's one YA that might still make it onto the list, depending on what I end up doing this afternoon...
Here's the list for the year, 54 in all....
Simon Winchester's A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD was a truly terrifying book, discussing the San Francisco 1906 Earthquake and Fire, after a lengthy explanation of plate tectonics and the geology of North America, with fascinating side trips to other regions. I love his writing - and I love narrow-focus nonfiction books - but this one just enraptured me. For years, my college roommate lived in San Mateo, with huge plate glass windows looking out over the watershed, which was a polite name for the San Andreas fault. The entire time I read the book, I kept picturing her home after The Big One. Sigh....
RESCUING ROSE has been on the Red Dress shelf for some time; I'm almost through working through my backlog of RDI books. Several years ago, when I first came up with a chicklit idea (which never saw completion, alas), I browsed through one of Wolff's books (MINTY MALONE, for those keeping score), but I didn't buy it. Minty ends up being a minor character in this one. Ah, the intertwining of art...
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS was an interesting read for me - I've heard about it nonstop, between the movie and the grand success in the YA field, and all the sequels, and, and, and... I expected the stories of the four girls to be far more intertwined, and I expected the magic of the pants to be more germane to the plot resolution. While the girls' stories didn't completely resonate for me (and, let's face it, I'm nearly triple the age of the intended audience...) I was impressed by some of the serious topics tackled: losing virginity, dying friends, the politics of merged families, etc.
I also started a Red Dress book, which didn't make it past the 50-page test. There were at least four third-person narratives, and no indication in the text when narrative POV changed. I found myself honestly confused multiple times (not just snarkily confused, which is often the case), and I decided that I didn't want to work that hard.
So. That wraps up the year in books. As for next year? I'm not sure what it will bring. Less Red Dress, certainly, because I've worked through almost all of the backlist. More non-fiction, because I have some wonderful titles just waiting in the wings. More mystery/thriller/suspense, because I miss the genre. Some long works, because I'm resolved not to be afraid of them. (I don't set a goal of how many books to read in a year because I don't want to avoid long works, for fear of upsetting the numeric goal.)
That said, I have more than 50 books that have been on my to-be-read shelf for months; I've marked them each with a Post-It flag, so that I'll be able to tell how long they've been there. (Purple and pink tags are January 2007; I'll use other colors to match acquisitions during the year...) Anything not read in a year will be consigned to the Library gift bag in January 2008.
And you? What are your reading goals, hopes, dreams for the new year?
Here's the list for the year, 54 in all....
SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS, by Ann Brashares
RESCUING ROSE, by Isabel Wolff
A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, by Simon Winchester
BUNDLE OF JOY, by Ariella Papa
POISON STUDY, by Maria V. Snyder
THE END, by Lemony Snicket
JADE TIGER, by Jenn Reese
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODFROG, by Laurie Graff
ON AGATE HILL, by Lee Smith
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, by Sophie Kinsella
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, by Lauren Weisberger
PEGASUS DESCENDING, by James Lee Burke
HOW NANCY DREW SAVED MY LIFE, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, by Jonathan Safran Foer
DRAMA CITY, by George Pelecanos
TRASH SEX MAGIC, by Jennifer Stevenson
THE BRASS BED, by Jennifer Stevenson (read in manuscript form, so that I could blurb it before its 2007 release!)
THE BREAKUP CLUB, by Melissa Senate
HIGH FIDELITY, by Nick Hornby
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER, by Jane Sigaloff
PAY THE PIPER, by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
ENCHANTED, INC, by Shanna Swendson
MR TIMOTHY, by Louis Bayard
HAND-ME-DOWN, by Lee Nichols
FASHIONISTAS, by Lynn Messina
NAME & ADDRESS WITHHELD, by Jane Sigaloff
UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, by Jon Krakauer
MARCH, by Geraldine Brooks
TALL, DARK & DEAD, by Tate Hallaway
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, by Audrey Niffenegger
ME VS. ME, by Sarah Mlynowski
THE THIEF WITH NO SHADOW, by Emily Gee (read for blurbing purposes - not yet publicly available!)
IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN, by Sarah Dunant.
MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS, by Carole Matthews
FISHBOWL, by Sarah Mlynowski
THE LADY AND THE UNICORN, by Tracy Chevalier.
THE MATZO BALL HEIRESS, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro.
THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini.
PREP, by Curtis Sittenfeld.
WHAT MEN WANT, by Deborah Blumenthal.
THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC, by Jane Yolen.
WONDERBOY, by Fiona Gibson.
FREEDOMLAND, by Richard Price.
MEAN SEASON, by Heather Cochran.
THE LOST PAINTING, by Jonathan Harr.
HARDLY WORKING, Betsy Burke.
THE ART OF DECEPTION, by Ridley Pearson.
DO THEY WEAR HIGH HEELS IN HEAVEN, by Erica Orloff.
THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, by Joan Didion.
LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, by Libby Malin.
ON THE VERGE, by Ariella Papa.
THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, by C.S. Lewis.
A LITTLE CHANGE OF FACE, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.
THE SEA, by John Banville.
RESCUING ROSE, by Isabel Wolff
A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, by Simon Winchester
BUNDLE OF JOY, by Ariella Papa
POISON STUDY, by Maria V. Snyder
THE END, by Lemony Snicket
JADE TIGER, by Jenn Reese
LOOKING FOR MR. GOODFROG, by Laurie Graff
ON AGATE HILL, by Lee Smith
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC, by Sophie Kinsella
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, by Lauren Weisberger
PEGASUS DESCENDING, by James Lee Burke
HOW NANCY DREW SAVED MY LIFE, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, by Jonathan Safran Foer
DRAMA CITY, by George Pelecanos
TRASH SEX MAGIC, by Jennifer Stevenson
THE BRASS BED, by Jennifer Stevenson (read in manuscript form, so that I could blurb it before its 2007 release!)
THE BREAKUP CLUB, by Melissa Senate
HIGH FIDELITY, by Nick Hornby
LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER, by Jane Sigaloff
PAY THE PIPER, by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
ENCHANTED, INC, by Shanna Swendson
MR TIMOTHY, by Louis Bayard
HAND-ME-DOWN, by Lee Nichols
FASHIONISTAS, by Lynn Messina
NAME & ADDRESS WITHHELD, by Jane Sigaloff
UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, by Jon Krakauer
MARCH, by Geraldine Brooks
TALL, DARK & DEAD, by Tate Hallaway
THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, by Audrey Niffenegger
ME VS. ME, by Sarah Mlynowski
THE THIEF WITH NO SHADOW, by Emily Gee (read for blurbing purposes - not yet publicly available!)
IN THE COMPANY OF THE COURTESAN, by Sarah Dunant.
MORE TO LIFE THAN THIS, by Carole Matthews
FISHBOWL, by Sarah Mlynowski
THE LADY AND THE UNICORN, by Tracy Chevalier.
THE MATZO BALL HEIRESS, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro.
THE KITE RUNNER, by Khaled Hosseini.
PREP, by Curtis Sittenfeld.
WHAT MEN WANT, by Deborah Blumenthal.
THE DEVIL'S ARITHMETIC, by Jane Yolen.
WONDERBOY, by Fiona Gibson.
FREEDOMLAND, by Richard Price.
MEAN SEASON, by Heather Cochran.
THE LOST PAINTING, by Jonathan Harr.
HARDLY WORKING, Betsy Burke.
THE ART OF DECEPTION, by Ridley Pearson.
DO THEY WEAR HIGH HEELS IN HEAVEN, by Erica Orloff.
THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING, by Joan Didion.
LOVES ME, LOVES ME NOT, by Libby Malin.
ON THE VERGE, by Ariella Papa.
THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, by C.S. Lewis.
A LITTLE CHANGE OF FACE, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted.
THE SEA, by John Banville.
Simon Winchester's A CRACK IN THE EDGE OF THE WORLD was a truly terrifying book, discussing the San Francisco 1906 Earthquake and Fire, after a lengthy explanation of plate tectonics and the geology of North America, with fascinating side trips to other regions. I love his writing - and I love narrow-focus nonfiction books - but this one just enraptured me. For years, my college roommate lived in San Mateo, with huge plate glass windows looking out over the watershed, which was a polite name for the San Andreas fault. The entire time I read the book, I kept picturing her home after The Big One. Sigh....
RESCUING ROSE has been on the Red Dress shelf for some time; I'm almost through working through my backlog of RDI books. Several years ago, when I first came up with a chicklit idea (which never saw completion, alas), I browsed through one of Wolff's books (MINTY MALONE, for those keeping score), but I didn't buy it. Minty ends up being a minor character in this one. Ah, the intertwining of art...
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS was an interesting read for me - I've heard about it nonstop, between the movie and the grand success in the YA field, and all the sequels, and, and, and... I expected the stories of the four girls to be far more intertwined, and I expected the magic of the pants to be more germane to the plot resolution. While the girls' stories didn't completely resonate for me (and, let's face it, I'm nearly triple the age of the intended audience...) I was impressed by some of the serious topics tackled: losing virginity, dying friends, the politics of merged families, etc.
I also started a Red Dress book, which didn't make it past the 50-page test. There were at least four third-person narratives, and no indication in the text when narrative POV changed. I found myself honestly confused multiple times (not just snarkily confused, which is often the case), and I decided that I didn't want to work that hard.
So. That wraps up the year in books. As for next year? I'm not sure what it will bring. Less Red Dress, certainly, because I've worked through almost all of the backlist. More non-fiction, because I have some wonderful titles just waiting in the wings. More mystery/thriller/suspense, because I miss the genre. Some long works, because I'm resolved not to be afraid of them. (I don't set a goal of how many books to read in a year because I don't want to avoid long works, for fear of upsetting the numeric goal.)
That said, I have more than 50 books that have been on my to-be-read shelf for months; I've marked them each with a Post-It flag, so that I'll be able to tell how long they've been there. (Purple and pink tags are January 2007; I'll use other colors to match acquisitions during the year...) Anything not read in a year will be consigned to the Library gift bag in January 2008.
And you? What are your reading goals, hopes, dreams for the new year?
I like the post-it idea. I've acquired a bad habit of buying discards after I stamp them at work ... and a box full of books as a result.
My reading goal is just to relax and read more books. I've kind of put them off this year while working on my own stuff, and that's a bad habit to get into. ^__^
I stick to quilting now. I can rip out the seams that don't work. :-)
My 2007 reading goal is to be a better, prompter writer of my reviews. And not to take on another reallllllly long reread like MISTS OF AVALON if I can avoid it. (We're discussing it in my Jan. book club, and it's been at least a decade, and I wanted to be able to discuss the book as it's actually written, not as I might remember it, if that makes sense...)
In changing offices over the past week, I spent a lot of time handling my favorite books from high school and college. I'm feeling the need to re-read some of them, but I'm almost afraid to, lest they've lost some of their magic...
(Anonymous)
new fan
This year I am planning on reading two books that I should have read a long time ago, but never did: Pride and Prejudice and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I am currently reading Girls Guide to Witchcraft, which I picked up on a whim, so I plan on buying and reading your other books, too. I look forward to chatting with you all again soon!
WitchyWoman
Re: new fan
(And, I hope that you enjoy my other books!)
Re: new fan