throwing waffles

1. A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
2. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
3. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
4. Key of Light by Nora Roberts
5. The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
6. Key of Knowledge by Nora Roberts
7. Key of Valor by Nora Roberts
8. The Story Girl by L.M. Montgomery
9. The Titan’s Curse by Rick Riordan
10. Sea Swept by Nora Roberts
11. Rising Tides by Nora Roberts
12. Inner Harbor by Nora Roberts
13. The Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan
14. Chesapeake Blue by Nora Roberts
15. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
16. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
17. The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
18. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
19. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
20. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
21. Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
22. Jewels of the Sun by Nora Roberts
23. Tears of the Moon by Nora Roberts
24. Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris
25. Heart of the Sea by Nora Roberts
26. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
27. The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg
28. A Trip to the Stars by Nicholas Christopher
29. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
30. The Umpire Strikes Back by Ron Luciano
31. Graceling by Kristin Cashore
32. The Passage by Justin Cronin
33. Fire by Kristin Cashore
34. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer
35. The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
36. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Stieg Larsson
37. Insatiable by Meg Cabot
38. Unwind by Neal Shusterman
39. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
40. The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
41. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
42. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
43. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
44. Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore
45. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
46. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen
47. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
48. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
49. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
50. Night World Book 1 (Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress) by L.J. Smith
51. The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory
52. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
53. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling
54. Matched by Ally Condie
55. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
56. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
57. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

Last year, I resolved to read more than 40 books, and I think it’s safe to say that I definitely managed to do that. 2010 was a year of reading like a maniac, the likes of which I haven’t seen in a while. (In fact, the last year I read more than 50 books was the 2007, the year I took that YA lit class in library school, which had me reading 33 books over one semester.) I seem to normally hover around 40 books in a good-reading year, 25 in a bad-reading year, so this year feels really good.

The highs in books this year were of course the last two books in the Martin series, the Percy Jackson series, Maggie Stiefvater’s two YA novels, the Passage, the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (seriously, read it), the Millennium trilogy, and of course the Hunger Games series, which totally rocked my socks. I also read a whole lot of books I’m not exactly embarrassed to have on my list, but… it’s not like I’m going to brag about exactly how many Nora Roberts books I read this year. (Although I will stand behind my assertion that there’s a time and a place for a purely predictable story with an absurdly happy ending. I have never been one who thinks that everything one reads needs to be literary, smart, or educational.)

And considering the fact that I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter series from the beginning (spurred by the first half of the Deathly Hallows movie, naturally), it’s interesting that I haven’t actually read books 1-4 since before I started keeping track of my reading (so, 2004 or earlier). I read books 5 and 6 in 2005, 6 and 7 in 2007, and in 2009, I read book 6 once and book 7 twice. Not that anyone cares about that other than me, but it explains why it has been so enjoyable to re-read the series from the beginning.

Anyway! So what will by book resolution for 2011 be? I want to stick with the read-like-a-maniac thing, so my goal will be to read 52 books in 2011, and to read at least two classics that I haven’t read before. So I’ll leave this post with a question: what’s your favorite classic book? Mine is Jane Eyre; I collect copies and re-read it every few years and just love it. (Interesting too, since I haven’t yet been able to get through a Jane Austen novel.)

In Previous Years…
Books Read in 2009
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006
Books Read in 2005

Books Read in 2009:

In Previous Years…
Books Read in 2008
Books Read in 2007
Books Read in 2006
Books Read in 2005

Books Read in 2008:
1. Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressman Taylor
2. Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman
3. The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea Buchanan
4. Book of Salt by Monique Truong
5. PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
6. The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett
7. Grammar is a Sweet, Gentle Song by Erik Orsenna
8. Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
9. The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark Ukra
10. The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon
11. There’s No Place But Here by Cecelia Ahern
12. You Suck: A Love Story by Christopher Moore
13. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
14. The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
15. Goodbye, Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
16. Schuyler’s Monster: A Father’s Journey with his Wordless Daughter by Robert Rummel-Hudson
17. Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
18. Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst
19. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
20. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
21. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
22. Pretties by Scott Westerfeld
23. Specials by Scott Westerfeld
24. The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty
25. Tithe by Holly Black
26. Kampung Boy by Lat
27. Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey by Chuck Palahniuk
28. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
29. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
30. Shooting War by Anthony Lappe and Dan Goldman
31. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore and David Lloyd
32. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
33. Host by Stephenie Meyer
34. Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk
35. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
36. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
37. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
38. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
39. What It Is by Lynda Barry
40. Novel About My Wife by Emily Perkins
41. Y: The Last Man volumes 1-10 by Brian Vaughn
42. Things Not Seen By Andrew Clements
43. Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen
44. Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen

In my first year in a while (2004 being the only other one) in which my reading was not at all affected by being in school, I’m sad to report that I didn’t exactly destroy the book resolution I made last year. (Which was to read 52 books in 2008.) I came close, though, so I am okay with that. (Then again, I counted Y: The Last Man as one book, when in reality it was ten volumes of graphic novels, so it’s arguable.) But as reading goes, I read a lot and that makes me happy. I read a LOT of graphic novels this year, and while perhaps that was initially fueled by a desire to keep up with what’s garnering buzz in the library world, it’s now just because I like them very much. I loved Y: The Last Man and Watchmen, and would HIGHLY recommend both, especially if you dig science fiction, fantasy, and snarky humor (although not as much with Watchmen on the snarky front). I had a bit of a teen scifi/fantasy phase, which I grew tired of after a while, but I find that happening when I read too much of any genre.

As for goals for 2009 reading? I’m not sure. Ideally, I’d like to hit the 52 books mark for real, so I think I’m sticking with that.

In previous years…
Books read in 2007
Books read in 2006
Books read in 2005

Books Read in 2007:
1. The Illustrated Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (Illustrated by Dame Darcy)
2. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
3. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
5. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
6. Skellig by David Almond
7. Coraline by Neil Gaiman
8. A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer
9. Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye
10. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
11. My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
12. Heart’s Delight by Per Nilsson
13. Doing It by Melvin Burgess
14. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher
15. How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen
16. Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
17. Sorcery and Cecelia OR The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
18. Zel by Donna Jo Napoli
19. Scarlet Moon by Debbie Viguie
20. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen
21. With Courage and Cloth: Winning the Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote by Ann Bausum
22. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
23. Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Carter
24. God Went to Beauty School by Cynthia Rylant
25. Shakespeare: His Work and His World by Michael Rosen
26. Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
27. Looking for Alaska by John Green
28. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
29. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki
30. American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang and Gene Yang
31. Feed by M.T. Anderson
32. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
33. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block
34. how i live now by Meg Rosoff
35. The Adventures of Blue Avenger by Norma Howe
36. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return by Marjane Satrapi
37. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer
38. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff,Christ’s Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
39. Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore
40. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
41. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
42. An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
43. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling (audio)
44. Just in Case by Meg Rosoff
45. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling (audio)
46. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling (audio)
47. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
48. Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
49. No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories by Miranda July
50. The Professor’s Daughter by Joanna Sfar and Emmanuel Guibert
51. Early Bird: A Memoir of Premature Retirement by Rodney Rothman

I am especially happy to report that I completely destroyed my 2007 Book Resolution, which was simply to read more than 24 books. I’m actually kind of impressed that I came so close to the 52 books a year/one book a week magic number. Granted, 3o or so of the books I read in 2007 were for my young adult literature class, but I managed to keep up the pace relatively well for the rest of the year, all things considered. So what will my 2008 Book Resolution be? To read 52 books! (But just as a cover-my-own-ass measure, I’d be completely happy if I read 35 books, too.)

In previous years…
Books read in 2006
Books read in 2005